NASA has awarded three more companies with contracts to deliver payloads to the moon's surface as part of its effort to build a lunar base. CBS News space consultant Bill Harwood has the details.

Conceptualized just a few months ago, NASA’s moon base plans are rolling out in earnest as the space agency maps out plans to deliver assets to the lunar surface.

An engineering development version of the NASA rovers currently operating on Mars takes a spin at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. (NASA via YouTube) NASA is considering repurposing an engineering development version of the nuclear-powered Mars rovers for a different destination: the moon’s south polar region.

NASA ​administrator Jared ‌Isaacman on Tuesday ​said ​three companies — Astrobotic, ⁠Firefly ​Aerospace and ​Intuitive Machines — were awarded ​contracts ​to send more ‌uncrewed ⁠lunar landers to the ​moon's ​surface ⁠under the ​agency's ​Artemis ⁠moonbase project.

As part of plans to establish a lunar base, the space agency may send to the moon a spare test version of the rover — as well as a soccer ball.

NASA officials said Tuesday that they are seriously considering sending the full-scale engineering model of the Perseverance rover, which is currently housed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California,

NASA has unveiled new details about its plans to build a long-term human presence on the moon. During a news conference on Tuesday, NASA leaders outlined updates about the Artemis-linked Moon Base program,

NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the lunar surface in 2027 hinges on a spacecraft that remains stubbornly elusive in its reliability: SpaceX’s Starship. Towering at 403 feet, the largest rocket ever built was originally conceived as a Mars vehicle but has since been repurposed as a central element of NASA’s Artemis program.