These companies are partners with NASA through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. CLPS is the first phase of NASA’s Artemis program, the agency’s initiative to send the first woman and the next man to the Moon. But CLPS is focused on robotic vehicles and science, rather than human spaceflight. The goal is to send instruments and science experiments to the surface of the Moon using commercial landers that are developed and operated by private companies.
The outcome in Brussels today signals a tough road ahead to secure commitments on climate action not only from European nations, but from other big polluters as well. New president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen just released the EU’s Green Deal on December 11, a sweeping package of policy proposals aimed at drastically reducing emissions by 2050. Her announcement followed the November declaration by the European Parliament of a "climate emergency" — a phrase that activists with Greenpeace hung from the building where the Council met in Brussels.