Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will have 13 months to develop a low-orbit telescope that will be part of a space mission expected to launch in 2027 to help select future moon landing sites, map mineral deposits, and eventually identify deep space threats to Earth.

The LLNL monolithic telescope project, in partnership with the Department of Defense and the private rocket company Firefly, joins an effort to reignite the United States’ lunar exploration program – dormant for more than a generation – and compete in a rapidly growing space-exploration industry.

“The huge demand for space services is a whole new world, even compared to just 15 years ago,” said Ben Bahney, LLNL’s program lead. “Even for a non-human space mission, this is a very aggressive schedule… Fundamentally, the re

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