Impulse Space, a company founded by celebrated SpaceX propulsion engineer Tom Mueller, has officially revealed its ambitious roadmap for a commercial lunar delivery service. The space logistics firm plans to transport medium-sized payloads to the Moon’s surface, with the first missions slated to begin as early as 2028. The announcement signals a significant new entrant into the burgeoning lunar transportation market, aiming to provide reliable and cost-effective logistics for government and commercial partners.
The core of the strategy is a new, internally developed transportation system designed to fill what the company calls a “critical gap” in the current market for lunar cargo. Unlike existing services that cater to either very small or very large payloads, Impulse is targeting the delivery of assets in the 0.5 to 13-ton range. This capability is intended to accelerate the development of a sustainable lunar economy by enabling the deployment of crucial infrastructure, such as rovers, power generators, and habitation modules, on the lunar surface. The company’s vision aligns with national space exploration goals, aiming to support a sustained human presence on the Moon and facilitate future missions deeper into the solar system.
A Two-Stage Architecture for Lunar Transit
Impulse Space’s plan relies on a versatile two-stage system that combines the capabilities of two distinct spacecraft, both developed in-house. The first component is the Helios kick stage, a high-performance orbital transfer vehicle that the company already has deep in development. For lunar missions, Helios will function as a cruise stage, providing the powerful propulsion needed to transport its payload from Earth orbit to the Moon. This vehicle is a cornerstone of the company’s broader in-space mobility services.
The second component is a newly designed lunar lander that will ride attached to the Helios stage during the initial phases of the journey. Once in orbit around the Moon, the lander will separate from Helios to perform the final, critical descent to the surface. By developing both the cruise stage and the lander in tandem, Impulse aims to create a highly optimized and reliable system. The engine for this lander is already under development and will use a nitrous and ethane bipropellant, a combination the company has successfully used in space on its Mira vehicle.
Mission Profile From Launch to Landing
The journey to the lunar surface begins with a launch from Earth aboard a commercial medium- or heavy-lift rocket, such as a Falcon 9, Vulcan, or New Glenn. The combined Helios and lander stack will be deployed into low Earth orbit as the primary payload. Shortly after deployment, the Helios stage will ignite its engine to perform the trans-lunar injection burn, a crucial maneuver that propels the spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit and onto a path toward the Moon.
This transit phase is expected to last approximately one week. Upon arrival in low lunar orbit, the mission’s second phase begins. The Impulse-made lunar lander will separate from the Helios kick stage, which will have completed its primary role. From there, the lander will use its own propulsion system to execute a braking burn and begin a controlled descent to its designated landing site on the lunar surface. A key feature of this architecture is that it does not require complex and costly in-space refueling, which simplifies the mission profile and reduces overall costs.
Bridging a Critical Cargo Delivery Gap
Company founder Tom Mueller stated that the new architecture is designed to address a specific unmet need in the logistics of building a lunar presence. Currently, opportunities for lunar delivery are concentrated at two extremes. On one end, NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program focuses on small-scale scientific and technological payloads. On the other end, the Human Landing System (HLS) vehicles are being developed to transport astronauts and the massive payloads required for human missions.
Impulse’s service targets the underserved middle market, offering a delivery capacity for payloads ranging from 500 kilograms up to 13 metric tons. This “midsized” category is crucial for deploying the foundational infrastructure needed for a permanent lunar base. Payloads in this class could include lunar terrain vehicles, communication relay systems, power generation equipment, and initial habitation modules that are too large for CLPS landers but do not require an HLS-class vehicle. By filling this gap, Impulse aims to become a key enabler of future scientific and commercial activities on the Moon.
Development Timeline and Strategic Goals
Projected Capacity and Cadence
Impulse is moving forward with an aggressive schedule, planning for its first lunar landing in 2028. The company estimates that each mission using the Helios and lander combination will be able to deliver up to 3 metric tons of cargo to the Moon. With a planned cadence of two missions per year, Impulse expects to transport a total of 6 tons of payload to the lunar surface annually beginning in 2028. Development of the critical systems is already progressing, with the Helios kick stage scheduled for its first orbital flight late next year.
Enabling a Sustainable Off-World Economy
The lunar delivery service is a major step in Mueller’s long-term vision of accelerating humanity’s future beyond Earth. By providing reliable and cost-effective transportation for essential infrastructure, the company hopes to lay the groundwork for a thriving and self-sustaining lunar economy. This includes supporting resource utilization, such as the potential mining of valuable resources like helium-3, which Mueller noted as a possibility. Ultimately, the company sees a sustained human presence on the Moon as a vital staging ground for future crewed missions deeper into the solar system, fulfilling the promise of exploration that has captivated the public for decades.