NASA hires SpaceX to develop next lunar lander – IT Pro – News

SpaceX has momentum and SpaceX’s proposal offers not only what NASA requires, but also a lot of potential. The other solutions can deliver exactly 2 people and a small module. With SpaceX Starship, you also buy the potential to carry a lot more mass, should you feel the need later on. With the other 2 you have to design completely new solutions.

Another thing I suspect is what could happen if they don’t choose SpaceX. Then it could well be that SpaceX is on the moon completely independently before NASA does. Elon Musk wants to go to Mars. Fitting a moon landing into the Starship development and testing program strikes me as just the kind of stunt Elon Musk would like to do if given the chance.

On the other hand, that $ 2.89 billion is going to enable much of the development of the entire Starship program. Much of the development needed for the Starship lunar module is undoubtedly also needed for Starship development in general, but is now funded by NASA under this contract. Who knows how long SpaceX would last without such a contract from NASA.

In short, it seems like a serious win-win situation for SpaceX and NASA. The competition must now really start to worry.

[Reactie gewijzigd door locke960 op 17 april 2021 15:49]

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