NASA names companies that will take man back to the moon

The trio of the company that will develop the landing system for the Artemis manned space program are Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper. This is stated in a press release.

They are all part of what is called the Blue Origin national team, where Blue Origin is the main contractor for the program. And as part of this, each player is tasked with tossing the straw into the pile.

While Draper provides aviation electronics and navigation solutions, Northrop Grumman provides technology that brings the landing system into a low orbit around the moon. Subsequently, the contribution of the main contractor comes into the picture, allowing landing at the lunar south pole. The Lockheed Martin part becomes relevant when it’s time to move home, and should result in a starting solution.

The work of developing all this is done more or less earlier. According to the press release, the system is based on Lockheed Martin’s Orion manned vehicle, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus dito and the Blue Origins Blue Moon lunar lander and BE-7 engine.