After the firm SpaceX received from the agency NASA contract to supply a manned lunar lander for the first two Artemis program missions to land on the moon, it was clear that sooner or later a second supplier would also be selected. On the one hand, NASA wants to support more companies and also take advantage of the variety of offers that will ensure the optimal cadence of landing on the moon. The agency therefore decided to choose a different lander for the Artemis V mission than the one submitted by SpaceX. On May 19, NASA announced at a ceremonial presentation that the so-called National Team, led by Blue Origin, had won the contract. In addition to it, companies are also involved in the Blue Moon lander project Lockheed MartinDraper, Boeing, Astrobotic a Honyebee Robotics.
The total value of the firm-fixed-price contract is $3.4 billion. “Today, we are excited to announce that Blue Origin will be NASA’s second contractor to build the Human Landing System that will carry Artemis astronauts to the surface of the Moon,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, adding, “We are in the golden age of human spaceflight, made possible by NASA’s commercial and international partnerships. Together, we are investing in the infrastructure that will pave the way for the first astronauts to land on Mars.“
The South Pole of the Moon as seen by the Clementine probe
Source: NASA
As part of the Artemis V mission, a crew of four will be transported to the Gateway Station by an Orion spacecraft launched by a rocket SLS. Once Orion connects with Gateway Station, the crew splits up. Two astronauts will remain on the station, the other two will board the lander, which will be attached to the station. After detaching from the Gateway, the lander will embark on a roughly week-long mission to the Moon’s south pole, where the astronauts will conduct scientific research. About a year before the Artemis V mission itself, a verification unmanned mission is scheduled to take place, during which all key elements of the entire system will be tested in practice to ensure that they are ready for the presence of a crew. The Artemis V mission itself is currently planned for 2029.
NASA emphasizes that the Artemis V mission represents an important intersection where the demonstration of initial lunar exploration capabilities meets the development of essential systems to support repeated complex missions in lunar orbit and on the lunar surface. Adding another partner for the development of manned lunar landers will allow NASA to increase competition, reduce costs to taxpayers and, most importantly, promote a regular cadence of landings on the moon, which will have a beneficial effect on further investments in the lunar economy. This, in turn, will help NASA achieve its goals related to the lunar orbit and its surface, as well as future manned missions to Mars.
Starship by SpaceX and Blue Moon by the National Team – two manned lunar landers of the Artemis program.
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Two years ago, NASA signed a contract with SpaceX to create a manned lunar lander for the Artemis III mission. As part of the contract, the agency also ordered SpaceX to develop its design to meet the agency’s requirements for sustainable exploration and demonstrate the lander on the Artemis IV mission. As a result of a new contract with Blue Origin to provide a lander for the Artemis V mission that meets the same requirements for a sustainable lander (including options for larger crew size, longer mission duration, and more cargo to the Moon), there will be multiple providers the ability to compete for additional contracts in the future to meet NASA’s lunar surface access needs for additional Artemis missions.
„The existence of two different lunar lander designs with different approaches to meet NASA’s needs provides greater robustness and ensures a regular frequency for landing on the Moon,” said Lisa Watson-Morgan, program manager Human Landing System from the Marshall Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and added: “This competitive approach encourages innovation, reduces costs, and invests in commercial capabilities to expand business opportunities that can serve additional customers and support the lunar economy.The selected Blue Moon lander should be able to deliver 20 tons of cargo to the moon in reusable mode, and around 30 tons in disposable mode, which could be used to deliver living modules to the surface of the moon.
Progressive lander development from Blue Origin over the years.
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The company Blue Origin itself specifies on its website that, together with its partners from the National Team, it will develop and deliver not only a lander capable of precise landing anywhere on the surface of the Moon, but also a so-called cislunar transporter. Both machines are to use a mixture of liquid oxygen and hydrogen as propellants, the high specific impulse intended to provide a dramatic advantage in a power-hungry mission. The firm also points out that less powerful but long-storable propellants (such as hydrazine and nitrogen dioxide used in the Apollo program) have historically been preferred due to the vaporization of cryogenic propellants during longer-duration missions.
Thanks to the agreement with NASA, Blue Origin should use a breakthrough technology that will turn high-efficiency hydrolox into long-term storable propellants. The company has undertaken to develop and put into operation special cryocoolers that will draw energy from photovoltaic panels and will be able to reach temperatures of around 20 kelvin. In addition to the mentioned cryocoolers, the company promises to deploy other technologies to prevent the boiling of liquefied gases. At Blue Origin, they also hinted at a more distant future. These technologies could also be used in the case of high-performance nuclear thermal propulsion, which could benefit significantly from stored liquid hydrogen reserves. The company also indicated that in the future, oxygen and hydrogen could be produced directly on the moon from the ice reserves there.
Sources of information:
https://www.youtube.com/
https://www.nasa.gov/
https://www.blueorigin.com/
Image Sources:
https://www.nasa.gov/…/image/bluemoon_nasa_option_2023-05-19_01.29.31_0.jpg
https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/higher_res/clementine/clem_southpole.jpg
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2023-05-19 22:10:30
#Blue #Origin #supply #lander #Artemis
