Firefly Aerospace, an aerospace company located in Cedar Park, Texas, has been awarded a $75 million subcontract from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to assist in the MoonFall mission, which aims to establish a permanent human presence on the moon. Scheduled to launch no earlier than 2028, the mission will involve the delivery of four lunar drones to the moon’s south pole. These drones will be deployed from Firefly’s Elytra spacecraft and will utilize rocket propulsion to navigate the lunar terrain, conducting mapping operations to identify safer landing sites for future missions under NASA's Artemis program. The south pole is considered a challenging environment for exploration, yet it may contain frozen water, vital for future human habitation. Firefly's CEO, Jason Kim, noted the excitement surrounding the mission and the company’s rapid expansion to support lunar operations, which includes doubling its facility size. This mission represents a significant step in NASA's Moon Base initiative, which envisions a network of habitats and infrastructure on the moon.