Artykuły o Artemis Human Landing Systems

[Orionid]

NASA selects three companies for human landing system awards
by Jeff Foust — April 30, 2020


A lunar lander proposed by SpaceX and based on its Starship vehicle is one of three concepts selected by NASA for its Human Landing System program. Credit: SpaceX

WASHINGTON — NASA announced April 30 it has selected three companies to begin work on designs for human lunar landers, one of which the agency still hopes will be ready to land humans on the moon by the end of 2024.

NASA selected teams led by Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX for 10-month study contracts for the Human Landing System (HLS) program. The combined value of the awards is $967 million.

“Let’s make no mistake about it: We are now on our way,” Doug Loverro, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said in a media teleconference to announce the awards, saying it completed NASA plans under the Artemis program to return humans to the moon. “There are no more puzzle pieces to add. We’ve got all the pieces we need.”

The largest award went to the team led by Blue Origin, which received $579 million. That so-called “national team,” announced in October, includes Draper, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Blue Origin will develop the descent module, based on its Blue Moon lander design, while Lockheed provides the ascent module, Northrop builds the transfer stage, and Draper develops avionics and related systems.

A team led by Dynetics with more than 25 subcontractors received $253 million. Dynetics announced in January it had bid on the HLS program, with Sierra Nevada Corporation as one of its partners. The Dynetics design features a single module capable of both descending to the surface and ascending back to orbit.

SpaceX received the third HLS award, valued at $135 million. SpaceX is offering its Starship vehicle for lunar landings, which would be launched on its Super Heavy booster and fueled in Earth orbit by other Starship vehicles before departing for the moon. SpaceX had not announced its intent to bid on the program, declining to answer questions about it in the past, although the company was widely rumored to have submitted a bid.


A Dynetics proposal for a human lunar lander selected for further study by NASA. Credit: Dynetics


A lander concept by a “national team” led by Blue Origin and including Draper, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Credit: Blue Origin

The three winning bidders will begin work with NASA to refine their concepts, including defining requirements for each lander. “We’re going to spend the first three months understanding the awardees’ designs,” said Lisa Watson-Morgan, NASA’s HLS program manager. “This is far more than just studies. It’s going to encompass deep design, development, long-lead procurements for each of the awardees.”

That work will lead to a level of maturity for each design equivalent to a preliminary design review. NASA plans to conduct a “continuation review” by the end of the 10-month studies, she said, “so we know, quickly, who we think has the best shot of making 2024.”

The lander most likely to be ready for a 2024 landing will go forward, but NASA suggested one or both of the other companies could be retained to develop landers better suited for later missions where NASA has emphasized sustainability.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said the lander selected for the 2024 mission likely will not make use of the lunar Gateway. “We believe that getting to the moon by 2024 does not require the Gateway,” he said when asked about previous comments by agency officials, like Loverro, that suggested the Gateway was not on the critical path. “The Gateway is not required for that 2024 mission, and, in fact, I would go as far to say that it’s not likely that we will use the Gateway for the 2024 mission.”

Bridenstine added that NASA was not formally taking the Gateway “off the table” for that initial 2024 mission, and that the Gateway is “critically important” for later phases of lunar exploration.

None of the three companies proposed using the Space Launch System for their lunar landers. Blue Origin said their lander can launch either on its own New Glenn vehicle or United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan, while Dynetics has baselined Vulcan and SpaceX its own Super Heavy booster for Starship. Bridenstine said SLS will still be used for launching the crewed Orion spacecraft to lunar orbit, where it will dock with the Gateway or directly with the selected lander.

NASA said its budget proposal released in February was sufficient to fund development of the HLS lander systems, along with the rest of the Artemis architecture needed for a 2024 landing. Bridenstine said he met with members of Congress of both parties in recent days about the upcoming HLS awards and found broad support for the effort.

“They have all been very supportive of the effort to get to the moon,” he said. “We have a budget request that reflects that budget priority and I have not heard anybody suggest that, because of the coronavirus pandemic, we’re going to have to cut NASA.”

It’s unclear, though, when and how Congress will act on that budget request, or if NASA will spend much or all of the 2021 fiscal year on a continuing resolution that would fund the agency at 2020 levels and deprive it of the additional funding needed for Artemis. Bridenstine did note that, if Congress does take up a new stimulus spending package focused on infrastructure as part of its response to the pandemic, he hopes that NASA will be a part of that bill.

Notably absent from the winners was Boeing, which announced in November it had proposed a lunar lander system that could be launched in one piece on the SLS. NASA officials on the call declined to state why Boeing was not selected, or if it had received other proposals, saying that would be included a source selection statement.

That source selection statement, posted on a procurement site April 30, confirmed Boeing submitted a proposal — along with another, previously unknown company, Vivace — but offered no explanation of why it was not selected.

“While Boeing is disappointed not to have been selected for HLS, we remain focused on delivering our elements of NASA’s Space Launch System, the rocket that will take Americans to the Moon and Mars,” Boeing spokesman Jerry Drelling said in a statement to SpaceNews.

Source: https://spacenews.com/nasa-selects-three-companies-for-human-landing-system-awards/

[Orionid]

Blue Origin wins lion’s share of NASA funding for human-rated lunar lander
April 30, 2020 Stephen Clark [SFN]


Artist’s illustration of Blue Origin’s lunar lander with an ascent stage, and astronauts on the lunar surface. Credit: Blue Origin

NASA has selected Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX to move forward with development of human-rated lunar landers, committing nearly $1 billion in funding for a range of moonship concepts that include a variant of SpaceX’s next-generation Starship vehicle, officials announced Thursday.

“These are three companies that we believe have a lot of capability that are going to enable us to get to the moon,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “Each one of them is very different. They have all proposed something very different and unique, which has a lot of value to us.”

Blue Origin, founded by Amazon president and CEO Jeff Bezos, is partnering with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to develop and build a crewed lander. Dynetics is collaborating with Sierra Nevada Corp. on its lunar lander concept.

NASA said Blue Origin’s contract is valued at $579 million, and Dynetics will receive $253 million for the 10-month contract base period. That money covers just the first phase of a multi-year lunar lander development effort that NASA predicts could cost $18.4 billion through the end of 2024.

Each commercial lander contractor team is expected to provide private funding to support lunar lander design and development.

The $135 million contract with SpaceX marks the most significant government investment to date in SpaceX’s Starship system, but Blue Origin and Dynetics won larger lunar lander contracts from NASA.

“Looking at the different (HLS) contractors, each one of them is very different,” Bridenstine said. “Some of them are likely to be more interested in going fast, others are more likely interested in creating the breakthrough technologies that are going to drive down cost and increase access.”

“SpaceX proposed the Starship,” Bridenstine said. “It’s obviously a very different solution set than any of the others. But it also could be absolutely game-changing. So we don’t want to discount it. We want to move forward. If they can have success, we want to enjoy that success with them.”

The development of a commercial human-rated lunar lander is expected to drive NASA’s schedule for returning astronauts to the moon. Last year, the Trump administration set a 2024 goal for the first lunar landing with astronauts since the last Apollo moon mission in December 1972.

The program, named Artemis, includes the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket and Orion crew capsule, and a mini-space station named the Gateway to be assembled in a distant, elliptical orbit around the moon.

Congress appropriated $600 million for the Human Landing System, or HLS, program in fiscal year 2020, short of the Trump administration’s $1 billion request. The White House requested more than $3.3 billion for the human-rated lander program in fiscal year 2021, which begins Oct. 1.

“We’ve selected the best of industry’s ideas to team with NASA,” said Doug Loverro, associate administrator of NASA’s human exploration and operations mission directorate. “This is really the last piece of the puzzle to go ahead and get us back to the moon. We’ve got all the other pieces in work already, and this is the last big piece. We are ready to move forward on this.

The three contractor teams will continue refining their Human Landing System concepts for the next 10 months before a “continuity review” next February. At that time, NASA could down-select to two HLS contractors, and pick one for the Artemis program’s first crewed lunar landing mission — known as Artemis 3 — before the end of 2024.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do over the next 10 months,” Loverro said. “We’ve got to go ahead and work with the contractors to define the right requirements for each of them, the right technical trades that enable one of those two important objectives — getting there fast and getting there sustainably — and to really get us pointed in the right direction.”


Artist’s concept of SpaceX’s Starship on the lunar surface. Credit: SpaceX

A key to NASA’s vision for a “sustainable” crew presence on or near the moon is the Gateway station. NASA officials originally hoped the Gateway would be in position near the moon in time for the Artemis 3 mission in 2024, allowing elements of the lunar lander to be assembled, or aggregated, at the Gateway before the arrival of astronauts on an Orion crew capsule.

Bridenstine told Spaceflight Now the Artemis 3 mission will no longer go through the Gateway, but NASA is not backing away from the program.

“When we think about a sustainable presence at the moon, we absolutely need a Gateway,” Bridenstine said. “The Gateway gives us the ability to reuse landers, over and over again, which drives down cost and it increases access. The Gateway gives us access to different orbits around the moon, so we can get to the north pole, the south pole, the equatorial regions, and everything in between.

“The Gateway is also transformable,” Bridenstine said. “We can use it eventually for our ship to Mars. The Gateway gives us the opportunity to do science, and it gives us a lot of credibility with our international partners, who are very interested in helping us build out the Gateway. I just want to emphasize … we are 100 percent committed to the Gateway.”

But the Trump administration’s goal to land astronauts on the moon by the end of 2024 has forced NASA to defer some work.

“It is also true that we’re 100 percent committed to getting to the moon as fast as possible,” Bridenstine said. “So anything that is not necessary, we intend to remove from that path for speed. So the first moon landing, we’re intending not to use the Gateway. We’re intending to basically take an Orion crew capsule and dock it to a Human Landing System that will be in orbit around the moon, and then go down to the surface of the moon.

“That means that we will not have the Gateway in place for the first landing on the surface of the moon,” he said. “The second time when we land humans on the moon, we absolutely want to have the Gateway in the mix because we need to land on the moon by 2024, and we need to have a sustainable presence by 2028.”


Artist’s concept of the Gateway mini-space station near the moon, showing an Orion spacecraft just before docking. Credit: NASA

Boeing also submitted a proposal for NASA’s Human Landing System, but NASA ended up preferring bids from other contractor teams. NASA and government watchdog groups, such as the Government Accountability Office, have criticized Boeing’s performance on the Space Launch System, which launch Orion crew capsules with moon-bound astronauts.

The core stage of the Space Launch System is built by Boeing. Delays on the core stage have been largely responsible for delays in the first SLS test launch from 2017 until late 2021.

Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule, designed to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, has also run into problems. The first unpiloted Starliner test flight failed to reach the space station in December, and Boeing plans to fly a previously-unplanned Starliner demonstration mission to the station without astronauts later this year before beginning crewed flights.

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Human Lander System program, which is modeled on the public-private partnerships forged by NASA’s commercial cargo and crew development initiatives to transport supplies and astronauts to the International Space Station.

“Each company proposed a little bit different that they needed to do on their designs during the base period,” Loverro said. “They all proposed different amounts of money in order to go ahead and get that work done. The total amount that we awarded for all three of them together is about $967 million.”

For the first 10 months, Blue Origin’s team will get about 60 percent of the total funding amount.

“They’re all proposing a different amount of their own corporate investment within those figures as well,” Loverro said. “We felt that all the prices were reasonable for what the companies proposed to do.”

Bezos, Blue Origin’s founder, announced last year that Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman will build elements of the company’s human-rated lunar lander, and Draper will lead development of the lander’s avionics and guidance systems.

Bezos said Blue Origin has assembled a “national team” of aerospace contractors to develop, build and fly the three-stage spacecraft, which is based on Blue Origin’s previous work on the Blue Moon cargo landing system.

Northrop Grumman will supply a transfer stage to maneuver the lunar lander from a high orbit around the moon — where the Orion and Gateway will be located — to a lower altitude in preparation for landing. Blue Origin will oversee the development of a descent stage to perform a precision landing with the astronauts.

The descent stage will be powered by Blue Origin’s BE-7 engine, a deeply throttleable engine fed by cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants.

Lockheed Martin will build an ascent stage to boost the crew off the moon’s surface back toward the Orion spacecraft, which will be flying on its own for the Artemis 3 mission, or docked at the Gateway on subsequent flights. The ascent module could eventually be reused for multiple trips to the moon’s surface and back.

Elements of Blue Origin’s Integrated Lander Vehicle, or ILV, would launch on the company’s own New Glenn rocket and United Launch Alliance’s next-generation Vulcan rocket, according to NASA.

“For these initial contracts … given what the contractors proposed, both Blue Origin and Dynetics proposed solutions that could use Gateway or could go directly to Orion,” Loverro said. “SpaceX proposed a solution for this base period that they’re working on that would just go to Orion.”


Doug Loverro speaks at the 2014 International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight. Credit: ISPCS

Elements of lunar landing vehicles will launch separate from the SLS and Orion flight that will carry the astronauts. In the case of Blue Origin and Dynetics, the lander elements would depart Earth on commercial rockets and then be “aggregated” in lunar orbit to await the arrival of the Orion astronauts, according to Loverro.

SpaceX’s reusable Starship will launch on top of a giant booster named the Super Heavy. The Starship vehicle, which serves as the upper stage on top of the Super Heavy booster, is designed to be refueled in space, enabling it to carry people and cargo to the moon, Mars and other solar system destinations.

“Utilizing parking orbit refueling, Starship is able to deliver unprecedented payload mass to a variety of Earth, cislunar, and interplanetary trajectories,” SpaceX wrote in a Starship user’s guide.

The user’s guide published by SpaceX indicates the vehicle can deliver more than 100 metric tons to the lunar surface, assuming in-orbit refueling for its methane-fueled Raptor engines. In that case, a separate craft would have to launch to deliver the fresh propellant to the Starship.

“SpaceX is more of an aggregation in Earth orbit,” Loverro said. “But they still have to meet up with Orion in lunar orbit.”

Several prototypes of the Starship vehicle have been built by SpaceX for testing at the company’s launch site in South Texas. After clearing a pressure test earlier this week, a Starship test vehicle could be test-fired in the coming days ahead of a 500-foot (150-meter) up-and-down hop test.

“I think Starship … will be flying quite soon,” said Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, earlier this week. “I think you’ll see regular flights within a couple of years, and that’s a very big rocket.”

By itself, the Starship vehicle will stand around 160 feet (50 meters) tall with a diameter of roughly 30 feet (9 meters), dwarfing the other human-rated lunar lander concepts. It will land and take off vertically, powered by Raptor engines each capable of generating nearly a half-million pounds of thrust at full power.

Last year, SpaceX signed an agreement with NASA to use the Starship to potentially carry robotic rovers, science experiments and other cargo to the moon’s surface. Now it could carry people.

While the Starship is designed as an all-purpose vehicle — capable of deploying satellites, science probes and crews — it would launch from Earth without a crew for NASA’s Artemis missions.

“In all architectures, the Orion capsule with the crew are launched on an SLS … and meet up with the Human Landing Systems at the moon,” Loverro said. “For the first mission, we’re doing that just directly between Orion and the Human Landing System. For the follow-on missions, we will then use Gateway as the intermediary.”

Dynetics has released little information about its proposed lunar lander, which would be developed in partnership with Sierra Nevada Corp.

The Dynetics Human Landing System would launch as a single structure providing ascent and descent capabilities, according to NASA. It would lift off from Earth on ULA’s Vulcan rocket.

Based in Alabama, Dynetics released an artist’s illustration of its human-rated lander in January that appears to show a large pressurized compartment, two large propellant tanks and power-generating solar panels extending vertically from spacecraft on the lunar surface.

A Dynetics spokesperson said in January that the company “put together a very impressive team of experienced small and mid-sized companies” for the HLS proposal.


Artist’s concept of the Dynetics proposal for a Human Landing System. Credit: Dynetics

Bridenstine said NASA hopes to move forward with all three landers after the continuity review next year. But it depends on the budget Congress appropriates for the program.

“We are hopeful that we can go forward with all three,” Bridenstine said. “It doesn’t mean that we will, but I think that each one of them is so unique and different, that we want to see what are the best capabilities that each of these companies bring to the table that we can take advantage of. That’s what this base period is really all about.

“If we did down-select, we would probably down-select to two,” Bridenstine said. “We wouldn’t probably go below two. That’s because there’s a difference between going fast and going sustainably, and a lot of these different companies have different solution sets for achieving each of those requirements.”

Loverro said NASA wants to evaluate how each lander concept evolves before picking a final design.

“We definitely want to keep as many companies in the mix as we can,” Loverro said. “We know that likely we will begin to point at different objectives, or different approaches, because the approaches are so different. That’s the advantage of trying to keep as many of them. We can both make sure that we are focused on both the fast objectives and the sustainable objectives, and at the same time allow multiple approaches for those objectives.

“Clearly, we’d love to go ahead and keep three on-board, but the budget will probably require that we go ahead and move to fewer contractors,” Loverro said. “Two is probably the least that we’ll get to. We need to keep competition going. Obviously, that’s critically important as well. And we need to make sure that we are able to focus each contractor on the objectives that we believe are most important for them.”

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/04/30/blue-origin-wins-lions-share-of-nasa-funding-for-human-rated-lunar-lander/

[Orionid]

NASA selects SpaceX to develop crewed lunar lander
by Jeff Foust — April 16, 2021 [SN]


NASA selected SpaceX for a $2.89 billion contract to develop a lunar lander version of its Starship vehicle and fly a demonstration mission to the surface of the moon. Credit: SpaceX

WASHINGTON — NASA has selected SpaceX as the sole company to win a contract to develop and demonstrate a crewed lunar lander, while keeping the door open for others to compete for future missions.

NASA announced April 16 that it awarded a contract to SpaceX for Option A of the Human Landing System (HLS) program, which covers development of a crewed lunar lander and a demonstration mission. The fixed-price, milestone-based contract has a total value of $2.89 billion.

SpaceX was one of three companies that received initial HLS contracts nearly one year ago for early design work on their lander concepts. SpaceX offered a version of its Starship vehicle, launched on its Super Heavy booster and refueled in low Earth orbit before going to the moon.

NASA officials previously stated they would attempt to make more than one Option A award in order to preserve competition in the program. “Competition — having multiple suppliers for us — is an extremely important principle. It’s on our minds,” Mark Kirasich, director of the advanced exploration systems division at NASA, said in February.

However, in a hastily arranged call with reporters to announce the selection of only SpaceX, officials acknowledged that limited budgets forced them to select only SpaceX. The agency received $850 million for the HLS program in fiscal year 2021, about one-fourth its original request.

“We weighed a lot of things, including what we’re getting from the demonstration mission, what we want for our potential future procurement for our sustainable landers, and it was in NASA’s best interest, along with the budget that was there, for us to award to one,” Kathy Lueders, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said.

In a source selection statement, NASA said that SpaceX’s price was lower than the other two teams, led by Blue Origin and Dynetics, “by a wide margin.” SpaceX received a technical rating of “Acceptable” and management rating of “Outstanding,” compared to a technical rating of “Acceptable” and management rating of “Very Good” for Blue Origin and “Marginal” and “Very Good” ratings for Dynetics. Blue Origin’s price was “significantly higher” than SpaceX and Dynetics was “significantly higher” than Blue Origin.

Lueders, the source selection authority for HLS, concluded that while Blue Origin’s proposal “has merit,” she did not select it for a second Option A award “because I find that its proposal does not present sufficient value to the Government” and because of the limited funding after selecting SpaceX for one award. “I do not have enough funding available to even attempt to negotiate a price from Blue Origin that could potentially enable a contract award.”

Dynetics fared even worse, with Lueders concluding that its proposal “is overall of limited merit and is only somewhat in alignment with the objectives as set forth in this solicitation.”

Future competition

That Option A award will support development of the Starship lunar lander, and include at least one uncrewed test flight to land on the lunar surface before NASA proceeds with a crewed mission. “We want to make sure that everything is checked out and everything is ready” before putting NASA astronauts on the spacecraft, said Lisa Watson-Morgan, NASA HLS program manager.

However, after that crewed demonstration mission NASA will procure landing services through a separate contract. Agency officials said they will accelerate planning for that contract, where NASA will procure landing services for multiple missions. “As early as next week, we’ll be engaging industry for their input on how to best fashion and enable competition for this very important acquisition,” said Kirasich at the media briefing.

That future contract will be a full and open competition, allowing the other HLS competitors and perhaps other companies to compete with SpaceX. Any competitor, though, would be at a disadvantage as they will lack SpaceX’s Option A contract to fund lander development.

Another open question is the schedule for SpaceX’s Option A mission. Steve Jurczyk, NASA acting administrator, said the request for proposals put in a 2024 goal for that mission. However, he noted the agency is currently performing a “comprehensive review” the overall Artemis program, including schedules and budgets. He said earlier in the briefing that NASA’s goal was to return humans to the lunar surface “as quickly and safely as possible.”

“These human-rated system developments are very complex, and there is risk. The NASA team will have the insight into the progress that SpaceX is making,” he said. “If they’re hitting their milestones, we may have a shot at 2024.”

“We always fly when it’s safe,” Lueders added.

Reactions

SpaceX, which did not participate in the NASA briefing, issued only a tweet acknowledging winning HLS. “We are humbled to help @NASAArtemis usher in a new era of human space exploration,” the company wrote.

Twitter

Blue Origin, in a statement to SpaceNews, had little to say about the NASA selection of rival SpaceX over its “National Team” that included Draper, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. “The National Team doesn’t have very much information yet. We are looking to learn more about the selection.” Dynetics did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

One member of Congress, though, was critical of NASA’s decision. “I am disappointed that the acting NASA leadership decided to make such a consequential award prior to the arrival of a new permanent NASA administrator and deputy administrator,” said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), chair of the House Science Committee.

Johnson had been critical of NASA’s approach of using industry partnerships to develop human landers and procure landing services, rather than a more conventional contracting approach, where NASA would own the vehicles and intellectual property.

“The decision to make the award today also comes despite the obvious need for a re-baselining of NASA’s lunar exploration program, which has no realistic chance of returning U.S. astronauts to the Moon by 2024,” she added, calling for the agency’s new leadership to “carry out its own review of all elements of NASA’s Moon-Mars initiative to ensure that this major national undertaking is put on a sound footing.”

Source: https://spacenews.com/nasa-selects-spacex-to-develop-crewed-lunar-lander/

[Orionid]

Op-ed | Multiple Providers Limit Risk in Returning to the Moon  
by Jonathan H. Ward — May 21, 2021 [SN]


Clockwise from left: Human Landing System concepts from SpaceX, Dynetics and Blue Origin.

It’s certainly been an eventful few weeks for America’s space program with the recent return of astronauts from the International Space Station and confirmation of NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. However, readers of this publication know that there’s controversy swirling around NASA these days after the agency awarded the Artemis Human Landing Systems contract to a single contractor, SpaceX, instead of NASA’s typical standard of awarding to multiple contractors. Proponents of the move have argued that by breaking with precedent and simply awarding the contract to SpaceX, NASA is proving that it is “serious about returning to the moon” and that official concerns are overblown. Frankly, I couldn’t disagree more.

Source: https://spacenews.com/op-ed-multiple-providers-limit-risk-in-returning-to-the-moon/

[Orionid]

Who will race SpaceX to the moon?
by Jeff Foust — May 31, 2021 [SN]


SpaceX, which won a $2.89 billion contract to develop a lunar lander and fly a single crewed demo mission, was widely considered the underdog in NASA’s Human Landing System Option A competition. Credit: SpaceX

For months, NASA had strongly suggested that it would select two companies for the next phase of its Human Landing System (HLS) program. Just as with the commercial cargo and crew programs, agency officials said, having two companies develop and demonstrate lunar landers would provide redundancy and ensure NASA was getting the best deal.

“Competition — having multiple suppliers for us — is an extremely important principle,” Mark Kirasich, director of NASA’s advanced exploration systems division, which includes the HLS program, said at a conference in February.

Source: https://spacenews.com/who-will-race-spacex-to-the-moon/

[Orionid]

Bezos offers billions in incentives for NASA lunar lander contract
by Jeff Foust — July 26, 2021 [SN]


Jeff Bezos said that Blue Origin would cover up to $2 billion in initial costs for development of a lunar lander, as well as fund a demonstration mission, if NASA providers the company with a second Human Landing System award. Credit: Blue Origin

WASHINGTON — Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos says his company will cover more than $2 billion in costs if NASA will award it a second Human Landing System (HLS) contract.

In a July 26 letter to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Bezos said the company would waive up to $2 billion in payments in the first years of a new award, as well as pay for a demonstration mission, should NASA give the company an HLS award like the one SpaceX received in April to develop and demonstrate a crewed lunar lander.

Source: https://spacenews.com/bezos-offers-billions-in-incentives-for-nasa-lunar-lander-contract/

[Orionid]

Nelson remains hopeful Congress will provide additional lunar lander funding
by Jeff Foust — July 30, 2021 [SN]


NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said he is "very optimistic" Congress will provide NASA with additional funding for a second HLS award, but declined to comment on Blue Origin's proposal to reduce its costs to get that contract. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

ORLANDO — NASA Administrator Bill Nelson says he remains confident that Congress will provide NASA with additional funding so it can select a second lunar lander developer but declined to comment on Blue Origin’s proposal to lower its costs to enable a contract.

Source: https://spacenews.com/nelson-remains-hopeful-congress-will-provide-additional-lunar-lander-funding/

[Orionid]

GAO denies Blue Origin and Dynetics protests of NASA lunar lander contract
by Jeff Foust — July 30, 2021 Updated 6:45 p.m. Eastern with Dynetics statement. [SN]


The GAO concluded that NASA did not violate procurement law and evaluated proposals fairly when it made a single Human Landing System award in April to SpaceX. Credit: SpaceX

ORLANDO — The U.S. Government Accountability Office denied protests July 30 that Blue Origin and Dynetics filed of NASA’s award of a single lunar lander contract to SpaceX.

In a statement, the GAO said that NASA did not violate procurement law when it decided to make a single Human Landing System (HLS) award to SpaceX in April after previously stating its intent to make two such awards.

Source: https://spacenews.com/gao-denies-blue-origin-and-dynetics-protests-of-nasa-lunar-lander-contract/

[Orionid]

Blue Origin suit stops work on NASA HLS contract with SpaceX
by Jeff Foust — August 19, 2021 [SN]


A schedule for Blue Origin's suit in the Court of Federal Claims includes a "voluntary stay of performance" by NASA on its HLS award to SpaceX through the end of October. Credit: SpaceX

SANTA FE, N.M. — NASA will stop work on a Human Landing System award to SpaceX through the end of October as a federal court takes up a suit filed by Blue Origin protesting the contract.

The Court of Federal Claims issued a schedule Aug. 19 for a suit filed by Blue Origin protesting NASA’s HLS award to SpaceX. The schedule lays out deadlines for filings to be made by both Blue Origin and the federal government, the defendant in the case. Oral arguments in the suit are scheduled for Oct. 14.

Source: https://spacenews.com/blue-origin-suit-stops-work-on-nasa-hls-contract-with-spacex/

[Orionid]

Court filing outlines Blue Origin’s case against NASA SpaceX lunar lander award
by Jeff Foust — September 22, 2021 [SN]


SpaceX’s Starship, which won a NASA award in April, is the biggest example of NASA’s use of services for the Artemis program but not the only one. Credit: SpaceX

WASHINGTON — Blue Origin is seeking to overturn NASA’s award of a lunar lander contract to SpaceX by arguing that SpaceX’s proposal failed to meet requirements for reviews that made it “unawardable.”

Source: https://spacenews.com/court-filing-outlines-blue-origins-case-against-nasa-spacex-lunar-lander-award/

[Orionid]

Federal court rules against Blue Origin in HLS lawsuit
by Jeff Foust — November 4, 2021 Updated 12:45 p.m. Eastern with NASA statement. [SN]


The Court of Federal Claims ruled against Blue Origin in its suit against NASA about its selection of SpaceX’s Starship (above) for a single Human Landing System award. Credit: SpaceX

WASHINGTON — The Court of Federal Claims has ruled against Blue Origin in its suit about the agency’s selection of SpaceX for a single Human Landing System award.

In a one-page filing Nov. 4, Judge Richard A. Hertling granted a motion by the federal government, the defendant in the case, to dismiss the case filed by Blue Origin in August. The full opinion, like other filings in the case, remains under a protective order, although Hertling requested the parties in the case to propose redactions for a public version of the opinion by Nov. 18.

Source: https://spacenews.com/federal-court-rules-against-blue-origin-in-hls-lawsuit/

[Orionid]

NASA to support development of second Artemis lunar lander
by Jeff Foust — March 23, 2022 [SN]


NASA will select a second company to develop a crewed lunar lander alongside the existing Human Landing System award for SpaceX's Starship. Credit: SpaceX

WASHINGTON — NASA announced March 23 that it will support development of a second lander to transport astronauts to and from the lunar surface to provide competition with SpaceX for the later “sustainable” phase of the Artemis program.

The agency said it will soon kick off a competition for what it calls Sustaining Lunar Development, which will back work on a second lander separate from the existing Human Landing System (HLS) award made to SpaceX in April 2021. The award will include both an uncrewed demonstration landing and a crewed landing, much like SpaceX’s HLS Option A contract.
https://spacenews.com/nasa-to-support-development-of-second-artemis-lunar-lander/

Northrop Grumman weighing options for new Artemis lunar lander competition
by Jeff Foust — March 31, 2022 [SN]


Northrop Grumman's role in the Blue Origin-led "National Team" was to provide the transfer element (left) of its proposal lunar lander, but the company says it's weighing the option of leading its own bid for a new NASA lander competition. Credit: Blue Origin

WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman says it’s still considering whether to rejoin a Blue Origin-led team for a second Artemis lunar lander competition or to go on its own.

In a media briefing March 30 about the company’s overall contributions to the Artemis program, executives said they were “encouraged and excited” about NASA’s plans to procure a second lander through the new Sustaining Lunar Development effort announced March 23. That lander will join the one being developed by SpaceX and based on its Starship vehicle through Option A of the Human Landing System (HLS) program.
https://spacenews.com/northrop-grumman-weighing-options-for-new-artemis-lunar-lander-competition/

Artemis lunar lander contenders revisit team rosters for round two
by Jeff Foust — April 7, 2022 [SN]


Robert Lightfoot, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space, said his company is using this week's Space Symposium to meet with prospective partners for a NASA lunar lander competition. Credit: Tom Kimmell Photography

COLORADO SPRINGS — Companies interested in a NASA competition for a second Artemis lunar lander are using this week’s 37th Space Symposium to find partners that may result in different teams than the earlier lander competition.

NASA released a draft version of the request for proposals (RFP) for its Sustaining Lunar Development project March 30. That will fund development of a second lunar lander, alongside SpaceX’s Starship, to take astronauts to and from the lunar surface for the later “sustainable” phase of the Artemis program.
https://spacenews.com/artemis-lunar-lander-contenders-revisit-team-rosters-for-round-two/

Wniosek zaproponowany przez senatora Berniego Sandersa, aby NASA nie mogła wspierać co najmniej dwóch firm zdolnych do opracowania HLS przepadł w głosowaniu senatorskim. Blue Origin zatem może nadal ubiegać się o udział w programie HLS.
[posty aktualizowane]

Senate rejects effort to strip NASA lunar lander provision from authorization bill
by Jeff Foust — May 5, 2022 [SN]


Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called language authorizing $10 billion over five years to develop at least two lunar landers a handout to Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin. Credit: C-SPAN

WASHINGTON — Senators overwhelmingly voted against a motion May 4 that would have dealt a setback in NASA’s efforts to select a second company to develop an Artemis lunar lander.

The motion, sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), would have instructed senators participating on a conference committee with the House on the United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) to remove a section authorizing funding for the Human Landing System (HLS) program and directing NASA to support at least two companies.
https://spacenews.com/senate-rejects-effort-to-strip-nasa-lunar-lander-provision-from-authorization-bill/