NASA seeks Artemis CubeSat interest

NASA said on May 21 that it is asking organizations to signal interest in flying CubeSats on future Artemis missions, opening a new request for information tied to lunar flights that will use the Space Launch System rocket and commercial partners. The agency said responses are due by Monday, June 1, for initial consideration. NASA framed the notice as an early market-sounding step rather than a procurement announcement. The agency’s public post directs interested groups to a formal notice on NASA’s website. ### Who is NASA asking to respond? Organizations interested in launching CubeSats on future Artemis missions are the target audience for the request, NASA said. The agency said it is looking for responses from groups that may want to use secondary payload opportunities on upcoming Artemis flights. NASA said the request covers future Artemis missions rather than a single named launch. (nasa.gov) The agency’s Artemis program is the umbrella for missions intended to return astronauts to the Moon and build out a broader lunar exploration architecture. ### What exactly does NASA want to learn? NASA said the request seeks input on secondary payload accommodations, integration approaches and mission concepts for CubeSats that could fly on Artemis lunar missions with commercial partners. (nasa.gov) The agency described the effort as a way to gather information from potential participants before any later selection steps. “The SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and the Artemis missions provide great opportunities for teams to conduct important, science and technology investigations that contribute to the expansion of human space exploration,” NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free said in the agency’s post. NASA said the request is meant to help it understand what organizations may want to fly and how those payloads could be integrated. (nasa.gov) ### Why CubeSats on Artemis missions? CubeSats are small satellites that can fly as secondary payloads, using excess launch capacity alongside a primary mission. NASA has already used Artemis-related missions to carry small satellites, including CubeSats associated with Artemis I and planned CubeSats for Artemis II. NASA’s January 2026 SmallSat update said four CubeSats are set to fly inside the Orion stage adapter on Artemis II, and that all four are provided by countries that signed the Artemis Accords. (nasa.gov) That gives a recent example of how NASA has been using Artemis missions to carry smaller investigations alongside the main flight hardware. ### Which Artemis missions could this affect? (ntrs.nasa.gov) NASA did not name a specific mission in the May 21 request, but the agency has recently said it is studying CubeSat opportunities on later Artemis flights. In a separate update on preliminary Artemis III plans, NASA said it is seeking both international and domestic interest in potentially flying CubeSats to deploy in Earth orbit and may share other opportunities as the mission concept develops. (nasa.gov) NASA’s recent Artemis III planning update also said the mission is being defined as a crewed Earth-orbit test flight involving Orion and commercial landers from Blue Origin and SpaceX. That context suggests the CubeSat request sits within a broader push to define payload and partner roles across future Artemis missions. ### What happens next? (nasa.gov) Monday, June 1, 2026, is the date NASA gave for initial responses. The agency said the full notice is available on its website and that submissions received by that date will be considered in this initial round. NASA did not announce any awards, selected payloads or launch dates in the May 21 post. The next concrete step is the response deadline, followed by whatever follow-up NASA chooses based on the information organizations submit through the notice process. (nasa.gov 1) (nasa.gov 2)