NASA chose SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynetics to design and build three lunar landing systems that could take people to the lunar surface. The three companies will study their designs next year, and eventually NASA will choose a lander that will take the first woman and the next man to the moon's surface.
This lander is an important part of NASA's Artemis program and is an agency initiative to return humanity to the moon by 2024. Last year, vice president Mike Pence asked NASA to accelerate his plans to return to the moon, and NASA is working hard. Do by that way. Over the past decade, NASA has developed a giant space rocket known as the Space Launch System and a crew capsule called Orion, bringing people into space. The largest missing piece in the equation was a lander that took humans to the moon.
NASA now has a lunar lander contract with three competitors. This contract is worth $ 955 million. Although the company will invest its own funds for development. And it will last for 10 months as the company improves the design. In February next year, NASA will decide which company will perform the demonstration mission and eventually send the lander into space. NASA will also procure the rockets needed to take the lander to the moon.
All three render designs are unique. Blue Origin's lander is an integrated lander vehicle (ILV) based on the Blue Moon lander, which was first released by the company last year. However, Blue Origin's lander is actually built by a team of companies that includes Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper. All four companies will provide hardware for the landing system, and the vehicle can launch from the new Vulcan rocket of the United Launch Alliance, which is currently under development.
Headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, Dynetics has a design called the Dynetics Human Landing System and plans to build it with various commercial partners. The lander design looks like a rabbit, but it requires two large solar arrays that extend upwards along with a very low crew cabin, making it easy for astronauts to easily descend to the surface. The Dynetics lander is also designed to fire from ULA's future Vulcan Rocket.
Meanwhile, SpaceX has bid for the next-generation spacecraft starship developed by Boca Chica, Texas in the past few years. The spacecraft lands on different worlds, such as the Moon and Mars, and descends to a solid surface using the main engine. To descend to the moon's surface, the elevator will unload the astronaut on top of the spacecraft that landed according to the vehicle's rendering.
Boeing, a longtime NASA contractor developing a space launch system for NASA, did not choose a lander. Boeing is struggling with the development of a spacecraft that recently contributed to NASA's decision. The Space Launch System (SLS) has been on schedule for many years and has suffered from numerous cost overruns. Meanwhile, the crew capsule that Boeing is developing for NASA, called the CST-100 Starliner, suffered from several software flaws during its first demonstration mission in space, preventing international space stations and vehicles from docking.
The awarding of this contract means that NASA is adjusting its plans for Artemis. The original plan was to send people to a new space station that NASA wants to build on the orbit of the moon called the gateway. The gateway serves as a training outpost for astronauts to live and study for a short period of time. The astronaut was able to ride the lander docked at the gateway and descend to the surface of the moon. The gateway has long been touted as a way to create a sustainable presence around the door, and the Artemis mission was created in a different program than the Apollo program of the 1960s and 70s and the fast moving moon and back.
Through this award, NASA is bypassing the gateway scheduled in 2024 to land at least on the moon's surface. “I want the phone to highlight a sustainable architecture for everyone and how important it is for the whole host. NASA manager Jim Bridenstine said at a press conference. "We have a priority to reach the moon by 2024. Also, I don't think a gateway is required to get to the moon by 2024."
I am not sure if removing the gateway still helps speed things up. None of the selected companies have prototyped landing vehicles. SpaceX and Blue Origin have successfully tested the various hardware required for landers such as the main engine, but no flight-ready landers have been built.
Meanwhile, NASA can use SLS and Orion to take people to the moon and land on the final finish line landing system. SLS has yet to fly with its debut release, which will be released in 2021. The epidemic can cause NASA to stop producing and developing SLS and Orion systems, resulting in additional delays. Time is running out to meet the 2024 deadline. Now you need to check whether there are companies that can prepare the lander within 4 years.