Image: © KKF/Stock.adobe.com
The cargo deliveries to the lunar surface are scheduled to take place ‘no earlier’ than 2032.
Earlier this year, NASA asked Elon Musk-owned SpaceX and Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin to develop lunar landers for cargo deliveries to the moon. Now, it has announced plans for at least two delivery missions to the moon with large cargo. However, the space agency’s plans will not materialise for almost a decade.
In 2023, NASA had asked the two privately-owned space exploration companies to develop cargo versions of their crewed human landing systems for its Artemis series of missions (now in development for for Artemis III, IV and V). The Artemis missions aim to put humans back on the moon, with plans to establish the first long-term human presence on the moon. The programme plans to land the first humans near the moon’s south pole as early as 2026.
The US space agency wants SpaceX’s Starship cargo lander to deliver a pressurised rover to the moon – currently in development by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency – “no earlier” than 2032 and Blue Origin to deliver a lunar surface habitat no earlier than 2033. The companies’ cargo deliverers are expected to land approximately 12,000-15,000kg of payload on the lunar surface in support of Artemis VII along with later missions.
“Based on current design and development progress for both crew and cargo landers and the Artemis mission schedules for the crew lander versions, NASA assigned a pressurised rover mission for SpaceX and a lunar habitat delivery for Blue Origin,” said Dr Lisa Watson-Morgan, the program manager of the human landing system at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
“These large cargo lander demonstration missions aim to optimise our NASA and industry technical expertise, resources, and funding as we prepare for the future of deep-space exploration.”
In 2022, Artemis I launched with three astronaut mannequins on board, orbiting 130km above the lunar surface, and according to NASA, the Artemis II mission – the first crewed Artemis mission around the moon – is set to launch in September 2025.
Missions III and above, which NASA recruited SpaceX and Blue Origin for, plans to land the mission’s first astronauts on the lunar surface.
“The Artemis campaign is a collaborative effort with international and industry partners. Having two lunar lander providers with different approaches for crew and cargo landing capability provides mission flexibility while ensuring a regular cadence of moon landings for continued discovery and scientific opportunity,” said Stephen D Creech, assistant deputy associate administrator for technical at the Moon to Mars programme office.
On Tuesday night (19 November), in a semi-successful sixth test flight, SpaceX’s Starship rocket reignited one of its engines in space before descent, but the rocket’s launch tower failed to catch the booster mid-air.
In 2021, Bezos’s Blue Origin filed a lawsuit in the US Court of Federal Claims over NASA awarding a $2.9bn contract to SpaceX for its Artemis programme. However, the lawsuit was quickly thrown out.
Recently, Blue Origin filed a public comment with the US Federal Aviation Administration to limit the number of Starship launches from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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