A team led by Blue Origin delivered a full-scale mockup of the moon lander that could carry NASA astronauts to the moon in 2024.
American astronauts are expected to take orbits to the moon in four years (which a very ambitious timeline), but NASA still needs a landlander to make it.
The space agency has reached out to the private sector for help, the shoulders tap of Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Dynetics and issuing $ 579 million, $ 135 million, and $ 253 million to the companys, respectively. That’s a combined $ 967 million for NASA partners to develop a human landing system for the Artemis Moon mission.
Blue Origin, founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, has taken a giant leap in this intranational space race by deliver a full-scale mockup from his lunar lander to NASA. Although to be fair, SpaceX and Dynetics are still a lot going on because the space agency wants to get multiple solutions for maximum flexibility. However, the design approved for the Artemis I mission will represent NASA’s first month lander since the Apollo Lunar Module.
Blue Origin, as the main contractor, leads the team responsible for the Integrated Lander Vehicle (ILV). Known as the National Team, it includes Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper.
The 40-foot (12-meters) ILV replica will be housed at NASA’s Space Mobile facility at the Space Center in Houston, Texas. From now until early 2021, NASA engineers will perform a number of tests and simulations with the model.
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“The learning we get from full-scale mockups cannot be done any other way,” Brent Sherwood, vice president of Advanced Development Programs at Blue Origin, said in a company statement. “Taking advantage of NASA’s expertise and feedback at this early stage, we can develop a secure commercial system that meets the agency’s needs.”
NASA and the National Team can now evaluate this particular approach; the lander must be able to deliver crew, equipment and supplies to the lunar plane and then take off again.
“Increase state-fan-de-being able to personally see, interact with and evaluate art instruments with the physical being of a full-up lander is critical, ”said Kirk Shireman, vice president of Lunar campaigns at Lockheed Martin Space. “It will inform our design and requirements earlier in the program, enabling us to accelerate our development and meet the 2024 landing goal.”
Blue Origin hopes to fly the definitive system “within a few years”, which, given the 2024 timeline, will cut it short.
ILV has a modular design to accelerate progress, as each segment can be individually tested and refined, without adversely affecting the red as a whole. The system consists of three distinct elements: the Transfer Element, the Descent Element, and the Ascent Element.
Northrop Grumman is working on the Transfer Element, which will send the lander from the lunar orbit, and send it en route to the lunar surface. The company relies on technology of their Cygnus car, which is used to deliver supplies to the International Space Station.
Blue Origin is building the Descent Element, which the company will combine Blue Moon cargo lander and its BE-7 LOX / hydrogen engine, both of which have been in development for more than three years.
Lockheed Martin is working on the Ascent Element, which is where the crew will work. The Ascent Element includes avionics, software, a lifecyclesupport system, and crew controls. The spaceship Orion, also built by Lockheed Martin, will also participate in the Artemis mission. Draper will provide the avionics to accompany the landing of the lander.
That Blue Origin’s solution for a human landing system seems to be coming together, even if it’s still early days. Only time will tell if this solution is the best fit for NASA’s Artemis mission and if the National Team can meet the requirements on the timeline.
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