The House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics held a hearing titled “Leveraging Commercial Innovation for Lunar Exploration: a review of NASA’s CLPS initiative,” bringing together NASA officials, planetary scientists and CEOs from three CLPS providers to review recent missions, program risks and next steps.

Committee members and witnesses agreed CLPS has accelerated U.S. commercial lunar activity even as members pressed NASA about program costs, schedule slips and the agency decision to cancel the VIPER rover task order. Dr. Jennifer Fox, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, told the subcommittee that "CLPS missions are high risk, high reward experiments led by our American commercial vendors" and that NASA is using lessons learned to shape a follow-on effort (CLPS 2).

The hearing opened with lawmakers and witnesses highlighting recent commercial achievements: Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander returned high‑definition imagery and more than 120 gigabytes of surface data; Intuitive Machines completed two South Pole landings and demonstrated new propulsion and navigation capabilities; and Astrobotic said it is preparing a much larger lander, Gryphon, capable of carrying a one‑thousand‑plus‑pound rover. Witnesses said those missions are proving U.S. companies can supply end‑to‑end lunar delivery, spur investment, and build the infrastructure needed for sustained exploration.

At the same time, witnesses and lawmakers described programmatic challenges. NASA and the providers acknowledged delays, failed missions and cost growth. The subcommittee discussed Inspector General findings that CLPS task orders have averaged long schedule slips and nontrivial cost increases; witnesses and members sought more detail on which overruns were driven by changes in requirements versus provider technical issues. Dr. Fox said NASA is preparing to move toward a CLPS 2 approach that incorporates lessons learned and supports a steadier manifest cadence; industry witnesses urged block buys and multi‑year commitments to stabilize supply chains and workforce planning.

The VIPER rover was a focal point. Dr. Brial Deneve, principal staff scientist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, described VIPER as a high‑value science payload intended to characterize volatiles at the lunar south pole and warned the cancellation risked ceding important science leadership if data are not obtained. Ranking members and witnesses repeatedly asked why NASA terminated further work on VIPER after the rover hardware was largely built. Dr. Fox said VIPER was not fully complete, that costs and schedule made further agency support impractical within available budgets, and that NASA has issued a call for proposals from external parties to provide delivery and operations partnerships for VIPER.

Lawmakers pressed NASA for more transparency about workforce impacts and procurement oversight. Dr. Fox agreed to provide the subcommittee with center‑level Science Mission Directorate workforce figures in response to questions about recent personnel actions and administrative decisions. Members also asked how NASA tracks ownership and foreign investment among its key contractors; Fox said she would refer specific procurement questions to the agency’s procurement office and supply information for the record.

Witnesses described technical priorities for CLPS 2, including longer surface lifetimes (surviving the lunar night), surface power infrastructure, and precision navigation. Astrobotic’s CEO, John Thornton, advocated a commercial lunar power grid ("LunarGrid") to support year‑round operations and to attract international and commercial customers; Intuitive Machines’ Steven Altemus highlighted a near‑space communications and navigation network the company is building under a multi‑billion‑dollar NASA contract; and Firefly’s Jason Kim recommended steady multi‑year funding to support a two‑to‑three mission annual cadence.

The hearing included repeated references to national competitiveness. Multiple members framed CLPS as a strategic tool to maintain U.S. leadership in space and as an element of competition with China. Witnesses argued that regular commercial missions, an open lunar economy and shared infrastructure would strengthen U.S. position in cislunar space.

The subcommittee did not take any formal votes. Members said they will follow up in writing and keep oversight active as NASA executes the CLPS transition to its next phase.

Looking ahead, NASA said it will review responses to its request for proposals for alternative delivery of VIPER, continue preparing CLPS 2 planning, and provide additional data requested by the committee.