Links, relays, surface networks, and compute: moving data between Earth, orbit, and the surface.
Communications, relay, and data jobs are this shelf. Alpine is the orbit relay on ispace Mission 2.5. Lunar Pathfinder is the relay on Blue Ghost Mission 2. Lonestar Independence and Freedom are the data payloads on IM-1 Odysseus and IM-2 Athena. Nokia LSCS is the surface network on IM-2 Athena. Moon Pi is the compute payload on Griffin-1.
Mission brief
Altus-1 is the data relay on IM-3 Trinity. CAPSTONE is the relay from Advanced Space. The Chang'e-7 relay satellite carries surface traffic for that flight. LuGRE is the GNSS receiver on Blue Ghost Mission 1.
Schematic
Categories are communications, comms relay, and data and compute. Relay rows include Alpine, Altus-1, CAPSTONE, the Chang'e-7 relay, and Lunar Pathfinder. Data rows include Lonestar Freedom, Lonestar Independence, and Moon Pi.
Moon Pi is a community payload from Stand Up Maths that calculates the constant pi on the lunar surface, using spare rover computing capacity on Griffin-1. · Griffin-1 (Moon Base II) · NET late 2026
The deployable antenna on Firefly's Elytra vehicle provides radio-frequency calibration for LuSEE-Night from lunar orbit, under an $18 million NASA contract. · Blue Ghost Mission 2 · NET 2027
Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory provided the Iris deep-space radio and navigation firmware on flown CAPSTONE, supporting DSN links and one-way radiometric experiments with the CSAC.
Swedish Space Corporation sole ground-station communications provider for Blue Ghost M1 transit and surface ops (Santiago, Hawaii, Australia + partners).
Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory supplies the communications system on CAPSTONE 02, including direct-to-Earth radios and the crosslink between the two spacecraft.
NASA delivered NavCube3-mini to Intuitive Machines on 13 Jul 2026 for integration into Altus-1, IM's first lunar relay satellite under Near Space Network Services.
SpaceX Updates: fabricating a flight-article Starship HLS cabin with functional avionics and power, crew systems and mechanisms, ECLSS, cabin/crew communications, and cabin thermal control.
ispace's Space Strategy Fund polar project notice states Mission 4 is expected to deploy a communications relay satellite into lunar orbit to support polar payload ops and the Lunar Connect data-relay service path.
OHB System AG is a core team member for Argonaut LDE guidance, navigation and control (GNC), electrical power systems (EPS), and telecommunications (TT&C), plus procurement of solar array, batteries, LIDAR, and a series of transponders (ESA consortium briefing).
NASA Glenn awarded Modulate Space Corporation a firm-fixed-price contract of approximately $38 million, announced 2026-09-30, contract 80GRC026C0017, place of performance Boerne, TX, to develop key elements of a 5G lunar-surface communications system with built-in Wi-Fi 6.
Vast Lunar Programs proposes a communications and positioning constellation for continuous lunar south pole coverage and improved space situational awareness for surface and orbital operations.
Vast Lunar Programs proposes a lunar surface power station with solar generation, energy storage, and power distribution for subsequent Moon Base activities.
Vast Satellite is a high-power satellite bus line announced 19 May 2026, built on Haven-1 subsystems and Haven Demo flight heritage.
Flights
CAPSTONE2022-06-28 · Flown CAPSTONE (2022 Electron→Photon).Hakuto-R Mission 12022-12-11 · Private Japanese lander.Chandrayaan-32023-07-14 · ISRO national soft-landing mission near lunar south polar highlands.IM-1 Odysseus2024-02-15 · IM-1 Odysseus (TO2-IM): first commercial soft landing (Feb 2024).Chang'e-62024-05-03 · CNSA national far-side lunar sample-return via Queqiao-2 relay.Blue Ghost Mission 12025-01-15 · Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1 (TO19D ~$93.3M): Falcon 9 launch 2025-01-15 · soft landing (upright) Mare Crisium 2025-03-02 · all 10 NASA science/tech payloads operated through a full lunar day (+ hours into night).IM-2 Athena2025-02-27 · IM-2 Athena (PRIME-1 path): south polar attempt (Mar 2025).CP-12 Draper / ispace APEXCancelled July 2026 · Draper APEX 1.0 far-side CLPS award (CP-12).Griffin-1 (Moon Base II)NET late 2026 · Astrobotic / Voyager Lunar Systems Griffin Mission One, NASA Moon Base II.IM-3 TrinityNET Q1 2027 · Intuitive Machines IM-3 (CLPS CP-11): Nova-C Trinity, NASA Moon Base III.Blue Ghost Mission 2NET 2027 · Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 2 (CS-3 ~$112M, charter-bg2): planned far-side dual-stack (Blue Ghost stacked on Elytra Dark + ESA Lunar Pathfinder).CAPSTONE 02NET 2027 · NASA hired Advanced Space on 24 July 2026 to fly two identical 400 kg (882 lb) spacecraft to lunar orbit in 2027.Chang'e-7NET 2027 · CNSA south-pole complex (orbiter, lander, rover, hopper) focused on water-ice and polar environment.IM-4NET ~2027 · Six NASA science payloads to Mons Mouton / south polar highlands.ispace Mission 2.5 AlpineNET 2027 · ispace U.S.Artemis IIINET late 2027 · NASA: Artemis III is a 2027 crewed demonstration in low Earth orbit.Altus-1 (IM lunar data relay)NET ~2027 · Intuitive Machines Altus-1 is the company's first lunar data relay satellite under NASA Near Space Network Services (NSN).IM-6 (Moon Base CS-8)NET ~2028 (CS-8 Moon Base) · 2028 Moon Base batch.Starship Lunar Cargo (HLS path)NET late 2020s-2030s (HLS path) · SpaceX Starship lunar architecture: NASA HLS crew lander path plus heavy cargo configurations.Blue Ghost Mission 3NET ~2028 · Six NASA science payloads to Gruithuisen Domes.Artemis IVNET early 2028 · NASA: Artemis IV is the first planned crewed south-polar landing, early 2028.ispace Mission 4 polar landerNET 2029 · ispace Japan polar landing, currently scheduled 2029, on the ULTRA lander line (same ULTRA design used on Mission 3).IM-5 Nova-DNET ~2030 class · First cargo-class Nova-D CLPS.Argonaut Mission 1 (ArgoNET)NET ~2030-2031 · ESA Argonaut Lunar Descent Element (LDE) is Europe's cargo lander transport element, primed by Thales Alenia Space Italy with Thales Alenia Space France, Thales Alenia Space UK, OHB System AG, and Nammo Space (UK) (ESA consortium 20 Nov 2025).Gateway PPE + HALOPaused · Paused Gateway integrated architecture: Maxar Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) with Northrop Grumman HALO habitation.