Photo: Blue Origin
Few of us can soon forget how mad (in an official way) Jeff Bezos got when NASA decided not to go for Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander for the Artemis mission, choosing Elon Musk and the product of his SpaceX instead.
The SpaceX piece of hardware is unceremoniously called Starship Human Landing System (HLS) and will be used by NASA for “both an uncrewed and a crewed lunar landing demonstration” during the Artemis III mission later this decade.
But Artemis III, the first mission of the program meant to put American boots on the Moon once again, is just the beginning of the new, ambitious space exploration program, and NASA will need a hell of a lot more landers for the task at hand.
As such, back in March of this year, the agency announced the draft solicitation for new landers, opening the doors to Bezos and others to compete for the pieces of tech that would serve subsequent Artemis missions.
This week, NASA announced the final call for proposals for the lander, once again inviting all interested parties to submit “proposals for sustainable lunar lander development and demonstration.”
The call is meant for “companies interested in developing and demonstrating astronaut Moon landers” post-Artemis III and will conclude on November 15. The selected entities will have to “perform one uncrewed and one crewed lunar landing demonstration,” and NASA promises it will “certify any lander system to meet its requirements prior to the crewed demonstration mission(s).”
Full details of the call, titled Human Landing System Sustaining Lunar Development, can be found at this link.
As for the Artemis program, last time we were updated on the first mission was last week, when NASA said it’s targeting September 27 for launch, with a backup date, if the conflicting scheduling with the Crew-5 mission can be reconciled, set for October 2.
But Artemis III, the first mission of the program meant to put American boots on the Moon once again, is just the beginning of the new, ambitious space exploration program, and NASA will need a hell of a lot more landers for the task at hand.
As such, back in March of this year, the agency announced the draft solicitation for new landers, opening the doors to Bezos and others to compete for the pieces of tech that would serve subsequent Artemis missions.
This week, NASA announced the final call for proposals for the lander, once again inviting all interested parties to submit “proposals for sustainable lunar lander development and demonstration.”
The call is meant for “companies interested in developing and demonstrating astronaut Moon landers” post-Artemis III and will conclude on November 15. The selected entities will have to “perform one uncrewed and one crewed lunar landing demonstration,” and NASA promises it will “certify any lander system to meet its requirements prior to the crewed demonstration mission(s).”
Full details of the call, titled Human Landing System Sustaining Lunar Development, can be found at this link.
As for the Artemis program, last time we were updated on the first mission was last week, when NASA said it’s targeting September 27 for launch, with a backup date, if the conflicting scheduling with the Crew-5 mission can be reconciled, set for October 2.
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