Space: NASA has surprising favorites for the Monderland concept

According to the will of the US government. In the US, astronauts are slated to land on the moon again in late 2024. But there is no moon landing without a lunar lander. As part of its Artemis program, which launched in 2017, NASA has now awarded three development contracts totaling nearly $ 1 billion. Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX are included. Boeing is not among them.

At $ 579 million, the so-called Blue Origin national team won more than half the sum. Blue Origin acts as the prime contractor, followed by arms companies Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper. It is a conventional three-part concept reminiscent of the Apollo lunar module. Blue Origin takes over the development of the so-called landing element based on the Blue Moon hydrogen powered lander, which until now only exists as a concept. The ascent item, i.e. the rocket to be launched from the moon, including the crew capsule, will come from Lockheed Martin. It is said to take the crew back to the Orion spacecraft in lunar orbit.

Northrop Grumman builds the so-called transfer element, which drives the flight from the orbit of the high moon to the orbit of the low moon and vice versa. Draper is responsible for the development of flight control. Blue Origin’s New Glenn is intended to be a launch vehicle for flight from Earth, but is still in development. If this sturdy rocket from Blue Origin wasn’t ready in time, the three lander modules could also be brought into moon orbit by smaller rockets and only assembled there.

Dynetics receives $ 253 million for the Alpaca lander. Dynetics acts primarily as a contractual partner for NASA. Behind is a merger of 25 companies. The Sierra Nevada Corporation, which is currently developing the Dreamchaser mini-ferry for cargo flights to the ISS, is said to have played an important role in planning the project. Also in attendance is the European company Thales Alenia, which has also developed parts for the Orion spacecraft, ISS freighter, and space station modules.

Dynetics Alpaca lands in one piece

Alpaca is a completely new concept of the lunar lander, consisting of a single unit. The lander takes off with the same engines and the same technology that was used for the transfer, approach, and landing itself. Instead of multiple stages, the lander has disposable fuel tanks so that no useless mass with high fuel consumption has to gently land on the moon. If there is no large rocket to launch the lander, full tanks can also be flown to the moon separately and docked in the lander. This reduces the launch mass required per rocket, which means the United V Launch Alliance’s smallest Vulcan rocket can also be used for launch. Dynetics should be flexible in its choice of rockets, which would also allow launch with a New Glenn or Falcon Heavy from SpaceX.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, on the other hand, shouldn’t play a role in their moon plans.