On June 26, NASA announced the selection of 41 proposals from 37 American companies under its 2025 Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity (ACO). Unlike traditional procurement contracts, ACO partnerships let companies use NASA facilities, software, and expertise without exchanging funds — accelerating technology readiness while keeping commercial ownership with the developer.
Three projects illustrate the breadth of challenges being tackled. Lockheed Martin will develop a modular compact energy system with wireless power transfer using fiber lasers and a space-based heat rejection system, designed to keep equipment and habitats running through the two-week-long lunar night when surface temperatures drop to -173°C. Without such power, any sustained lunar presence would be impossible.
Kall Morris Inc. is building Asteria, a supplemental payload attachment system that uses a non-destructive controlled-release adhesive to attach to orbital assets without pre-installed infrastructure — enabling satellite life extension, improved tracking, and debris mitigation. Meanwhile, small business Moonprint Solutions is creating flexible isolation covers that protect hardware from the Moon's razor-sharp dust, a problem that plagued Apollo astronauts and remains one of the most difficult engineering challenges for long-duration missions.
The selected technologies span space transportation engine elements, guidance and navigation, landing systems, in-space servicing and assembly, and energy management. Since the ACO program launched in 2015, NASA has supported more than 110 projects with an estimated $30 million in agency resources, leveraging an additional $32 million from industry. Each new agreement will run 12 to 24 months, with many technologies expected to feed directly into NASA's Artemis program and commercial lunar services.