But with this program, NASA is looking to replicate the success of SpaceX, the private rocket company led by Elon Musk. SpaceX carries cargo, and soon will carry astronauts, to the International Space Station. NASA provided much of the money needed to develop the Falcon 9 rocket, and SpaceX now has a thriving business launching commercial satellites as well.

For the new NASA program, called Commercial Lunar Payload Services, the moon landers would be far too small to carry people, but they could ferry scientific experiments to the lunar surface. They could also help NASA scout and study potential locations for bases, particularly in the eternally-shadowed craters near the moon’s poles that are filled with frozen water.

Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for the science directorate, said there were already many experiments that scientists know they want to send to the moon. He gave the example of retroreflectors — essentially, fancy mirrors that reflect light in the direction it came from. The Apollo astronauts deployed them during their moon landings, but placing additional reflectors on the moon would enable precise measurements of its gravity.

More ambitious science projects could include astronomical observatories on the far side of the moon, where interference from Earth is blocked entirely.

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The companies, a mix of established NASA contractors and space start-ups, are:

Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh;

Deep Space Systems of Littleton, Colo.;

Draper of Cambridge, Mass.;

Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Tex.;

Intuitive Machines of Houston;

Lockheed Martin of Littleton, Colo.;

Masten Space Systems of Mojave, Calif.;

Moon Express of Cape Canaveral, Fla.;

Orbit Beyond of Edison, N.J.

In some ways, the NASA program is a revival of the Lunar X Prize. Astrobotic and Moon Express were founded with the aim of winning that prize. In addition, Orbit Beyond will use the lander developed by Team Indus, the India-based company that was one of the prize’s finalists. Draper is teaming up with a company that grew out of a Japanese Lunar X Prize team — iSpace, which recently secured $90 million in funding of its own.