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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space company is working on a landing system that could get astronauts to the moon as early as 2024, but is also keeping its options open to deliver a ton of cargo to the lunar surface a year earlier. .
Blue Origin Chief Scientist Steve Squyres outlined the current status of plans for an Amazon-like cargo delivery to the moon today during a virtual symposium presented by the Center for Space Policy and Research at the University of Washington. .
The idea isn’t exactly new: Blue Origin unveiled its Blue Moon cargo lander concept with the Trump administration in early 2017, even before President Donald Trump formally took office. And a Blue Origin executive mentioned the 2023 date for a cargo landing more than two years ago during a space conference in the Seattle area.
But Squyres ‘comments served to confirm that mission 2023, which would provide an early test of the technology for the manned landing system, remains part of Bezos’ grand vision for creating a sustainable human presence on the moon. “We have to go back to the moon and this time stay,” Bezos told me in 2018.
There is no indication NASA has placed its order for cargo delivery yet, but Squyres said that if the go-ahead is finally given, the unmanned mission would target a location not far from the site selected for the manned landing in 2024. .
“NASA talks about Artemis Base Camp as kind of our first foothold on the lunar surface,” he said. “And this is the opportunity to start doing this. This lander in 2023 can deliver up to 1,000 kilograms, a full metric ton of cargo, to the surface. Part of that cargo can be emergency supplies, tools, spare parts, a rover for the crew to drive if NASA has it ready in time. “
That could set the stage not only for the planned 2024 landing, but also for follow-up missions. “Downstream of this, we envision sending larger crews to the lunar surface, delivering cargo to the lunar surface to build that permanent presence,” Squyres said.
Blue Origin is working with industry partners, including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper, to develop a system that could land astronauts on the moon and bring them back from the lunar surface to their way station in space. The unmanned cargo lander would not require the ascent module that Lockheed Martin is building for the crew-capable landing system.
For what it’s worth, SpaceX and Dynetics are also working on lunar landing systems, and SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell has talked about sending an unmanned Starship cargo mission to the moon by 2022.
Squyres, who joined Blue Origin last year, knows well what is required for robotic landings off Earth. During his time at Cornell University, he served as the principal investigator for NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity rover missions to Mars.
Squyres noted today that NASA is working on several robotic probes to test the technologies required for Artemis lunar expeditions. One such probe is the VIPER rover, which will be launched to the south polar region of the Moon in late 2022 or 2023. VIPER will assess the prospects for extracting water ice that could be used as a resource for lunar operations.
Squyres said technology demonstrations targeting lunar water extraction and use are a “very, very active area of research right now” for NASA and its partners. But he said more innovations will be needed to support a sustainable human presence on the moon.
“When you talk about what is going to be built on the lunar surface, I think the most immediate need is for landing and launch platforms that will make flight operations safe in a base where there are people and infrastructure,” he said. said.
Without such platforms, rocket-propelled landings and takeoffs are likely to destroy moon rocks and soil all over the place, Squyres said.
Lunar soil, also known as regolith, could be used as a building material on the moon, said Shirley Dyke, who heads the Institute for Resilient Extraterrestrial Habitats at Purdue University. But he said a huge knowledge gap would have to be filled first.
“We don’t have as much information on the regolith,” Dyke said. “We know the basic properties and the basic contents, I must say, but what we don’t know is the variability, the range of different possible materials as it travels through different places on the moon.”
Dyke said lunar builders will have to find a substitute for at least one basic ingredient used in Earth-style construction.
“There is a magical material here on Earth called Portland cement,” he said. “And that doesn’t exist on the moon.”
