Bidding on the new HLS contract closed in December. NASA officials declined to say in the conference what made Blue Origin's bid the winning option, saying documentation would be coming out shortly. Lockheed Martin will provide a cislunar transporter to refuel the reusable Blue Moon, which will remain in a "parking orbit" between landing missions to reduce cost. Noting that Japan's ispace and Israel's SpaceIL failed to land their robotic, privately developed landers safely on the surface of the moon recently, Couluris said Blue Origin will lean upon its large industry team for "lessons learned so we don't repeat those lessons again" on the Artemis 5 mission.īlue Origin's "SLD National Team" also includes Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic and Honeybee Robotics. After docking with Gateway, two astronauts will move into Blue Moon to journey to the south pole of the moon for about a week. The astronauts will launch separately aboard NASA's Space Launch System rocket in an Orion spacecraft. The 15-month period will provide time to review their options."We'll be testing out full lander systems and the full architecture prior to any astronauts entering the vehicle, and that will be roughly one year prior," John Couluris, Blue Origin's vice president for lunar transportation, said during the same press conference.Īrtemis 5 calls for Blue Moon to launch on a yet-to-be-announced rocket and dock with Gateway, a future NASA-led outpost in lunar orbit. But if that challenge is unsuccessful, the individual members of the National Team are preparing to go their own ways. "In addition to those collective efforts, we are also providing our unique skills and capabilities to exploring alternative perspectives for a long-term sustainable program to take humans back to the Moon to stay.”Ī source confirmed that the National Team is likely to stay together as long as there is a chance to win the original contract, awarded solely to SpaceX. “We continue to work in partnership with Blue Origin and the National Team to meet NASA’s ambitious goals to return to the Moon and Mars," said Steve Krein, vice president of Civil and Commercial Satellites for Northrop Grumman. One of these companies, Northrop Grumman, said it remained committed to the National Team but was also keeping its options open. The companies will also mitigate lunar lander risks by conducting critical component tests and advancing the maturity of key technologies.įurther Reading This is probably why Blue Origin keeps protesting NASA’s lunar lander awardīlue Origin and two other National Team members-Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman-were among the winners of the new, smaller awards this week.
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