theSIGNAL SCIENCE
15 July 2026
"The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you."
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Science

NASA Pays $600 Million to Put a Neighbourhood on the Moon

Three private companies have won contracts worth nearly $600 million to land four new missions on the Moon by late 2028, pushing humanity's first permanent lunar outpost closer to reality.

Picture a postal service that delivers to the Moon. That is, more or less, what NASA is now paying for. The agency has chosen three American companies — Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines — to carry out four separate lunar landings before the end of 2028. The contracts total nearly $600 million, and the goal is not just a quick visit.

NASA wants to build something that stays. The money is spread unevenly but deliberately. Astrobotic received the largest share — $297.9 million — to complete two separate deliveries.

Firefly Aerospace took $144.2 million for one mission, and Intuitive Machines secured $148.3 million for another. All four flights fall under NASA's CLPS initiative, a programme that treats rocket transport to the Moon rather like a courier contract: NASA specifies the cargo, and private companies figure out how to get it there.

Each firm will fly upgraded versions of landers already tested on earlier missions, which should, in theory, reduce the number of nasty surprises. What makes this round of contracts genuinely strange and exciting is what might hitch a ride on one of those landers. NASA is considering sending a rover called PROMISE to the Moon — a hybrid cousin of the Mars rovers Perseverance and Curiosity.

Photo: NASA Hubble Space Telescope / Unsplash
A commercial lunar lander descends toward the Moon's cratered grey surface in late 2028.
Discuss
  • Why might NASA prefer private companies to deliver cargo rather than doing it itself?
  • The PROMISE rover is based on Mars rover designs. What are the advantages and risks of this approach?
  • NASA has 17 lunar deliveries planned. Does quantity of missions guarantee quality of science?
Science

Ozempic may slow biological aging clocks

One drug. Three brand names. Now, possibly, a fourth trick nobody expected. Researchers at UC San Diego studied 108 adults living with HIV — a group whose cells age unusually fast, even when the virus is controlled. Half received weekly semaglutide injections. Their biological clocks, measured by chemical tags on DNA, slowed by 9% compared to those who got a placebo. The finding, published in *Nature Communications*, is the first randomised human trial to show this effect.…
  • If a drug slows biological ageing, should healthy people be allowed to take it?
∞
These new awards to our commercial partners, totalling nearly $600 million to land more missions on the Moon with science payloads, demonstrate our commitment to accelerating our effort to build a long-term presence on the lunar surface.
Lori Glaze, Associate Administrator for Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate, NASA
Science

Soyuz Crew Heads to Space Station

Picture this: a rocket punching through the Kazakh sky, carrying three people toward a laboratory orbiting 400 kilometres above your head. That is exactly what happened on Tuesday, when NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. For Menon, it is his very first trip to space — a moment he has surely been dreaming about for years. Dubrov and Kikina, however, have been here before; this is their second journey each. The trio is expected to live and work aboard the International Space Station for roughly eight months, before returning to Earth in April 2027.…
  • Should space station missions be led by a single nation, or always stay international?
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theSIGNAL IN THE LAB
1VOCABULARY
courier contracthitch a ride
nasty surprisesbiological clocksrandomised human trial
lifted offsecured
2GRAMMAR FOCUS
Inversion with negative adverbials
When sentences begin with negative or restrictive adverbials such as 'Not only', 'Hardly', 'Never', or 'No sooner', the subject and auxiliary verb are inverted, as in a question form. This structure is used for emphasis and formal effect.
had · did · was · were · only · never · before
  1. Not did NASA award contracts for lunar deliveries, but it also began planning a resource-seeking rover called PROMISE.
  2. Hardly the Soyuz lifted off from Baikonur before it was already climbing toward the International Space Station.
  3. Never NASA considered sending so many separate landers to the Moon in such a short space of time.
  4. Not only semaglutide already used to treat diabetes, but researchers now suspect it may slow biological ageing.
  5. No sooner the results been published in Nature Communications than scientists began debating the full mechanism.
  6. Not only Anil Menon travel to the ISS for the first time, but he did so alongside two experienced cosmonauts.
3IDIOMS
Define each idiom in your own words. Then write one sentence of your own using the idiom.
  1. hitch a ride (Article 1: 'what might hitch a ride on one of those landers')
  2. nasty surprises (Article 1: 'should reduce the number of nasty surprises')
  3. figure out (Article 1: 'private companies figure out how to get it there')
  4. punching through (Article 3: 'a rocket punching through the Kazakh sky')
  5. been here before (Article 3: 'Dubrov and Kikina, however, have been here before')
4CRITICAL THINKING
Semaglutide was tested specifically on people living with HIV, whose cells age faster than average. How confident should we be that the 9% slowing of biological ageing applies to the broader population, and what ethical questions arise if the drug is eventually marketed as an anti-ageing treatment for healthy, wealthy consumers?
5CREATIVE · HEADLINES
Write a headline for the NASA lunar contracts story in each of the following styles. One line each, no explanation:
  • TABLOID NEWSPAPER
  • LUXURY MAGAZINE
  • ACTIVIST BLOG
6WRITING
Anil Menon is about to spend eight months living in a laboratory the size of a six-bedroom house, floating 400 kilometres above Earth. Write a diary entry from his first night aboard the ISS, exploring both the wonder and the psychological challenges of that reality.
7DEGREES OF EXTREMITY
Complete each ladder from mild to strong.
  • useful→→
  • odd→→
  • interested→→
  • reduce→→
  • problem→→
  • quick look→→
8SPEAKING
  1. Which resource found on the Moon would most change human civilisation?
  2. Should astronauts on long missions volunteer as medical test subjects?
  3. Can a private company ever truly replace a national space agency?
  4. Does slowing ageing make human life more or less meaningful?