NASA Artemis Lunar Lander Selection.

NASA’s Selection For Artemis Lunar Lander Mission

NASA Picks SpaceX for Artemis Human Lunar Lander Development (Updated 2021-04-17).

Five contractors presented designs for the Artemis Lunar Landing system in November 2019. And now, the final three are announced by NASA.

NASA has selected three American companies, for human kind’s next Moon landing. And the three selected American companies Blue Origin, Dynetics, and SpaceX, develop and design human landing systems for the Artemis program.

This will grant cash awards to manage their concepts before the final selection. NASA determined that each landers price was fair and reasonable.

NASA has selected SpaceX, Dyneticsand Blue Origin National Team to develop and design and human landing systems (HLS) for the agency’s Artemis program. Credit: NASA Photo.

Also, with these awards, NASA is on the path to land the next astronauts on the Moon’s surface by 2024, and establish sustainable human exploration of the Moon by the end of this decade.

And the three winners were Dynetics, Blue Origin, and SpaceX. But many were astonished that not only did SpaceX recommend using Starship, a vehicle much more ambitious than needed, but NASA included them as a finalist. And this marks the first time NASA has put capital directly towards Starship development.

SpaceX

First is the SpaceX design is a single-stage solution utilizing their starship. And, the SpaceX proposal included in-space propellant transfer demonstration and uncrewed test landing.

Dynetics – A Leidos Company

Dynetics has several partners that they will be operating with. They also have a very unique low-slung crew module, placing the crew very close to the lunar surface for access and transfer. Dynetics will perform a demonstration flight to verify key capabilities for its lander system.

A team led by Dynetics, and including Sierra Nevada Corporation, presented a proposal for this lander design for NASA's Human Landing System competition. Credit: Dynetics. — A team led by Dynetics, and including Sierra Nevada Corporation, presented a proposal for this lander design for NASA’s Human Landing System competition. Credit: Dynetics.

National Team

Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper.

And the third team is the National Team with Blue Origin as the prime. This team’s design is a three-stage architecture consisting of a descent, ascent, and transfer elements. With this various set of architectures, NASA is positive in the US ability to perform the Artemis missions.

Because for landing on the Moon in 2024, it will be the most dangerous and complex flying task attempted by humans in more than 50 years, and it’s only been accomplished six times ever.

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

To The Moon 2024?

It’s great that we have three finalists that are so very diverse in their strengths and weaknesses. And the capabilities that they potentially offer in the near future and the long-term future.

This picture made available by NASA in April 2020 depicts Artemis astronauts on the Moon. On Thursday, the agency published the three companies that will build, develop, and finally fly the lunar landers to the Moon by 2024. Credit: NASA.

Updates News on Artemis Mission

As NASA plans to send the first man and woman to the Moon by 2024, and the Artemis mission to do that will include a commercially developed lunar human landing system. In April, the agency awarded initial funding to three human landing system proposals that will compete to be selected for the mission.

SpaceX, Dynetics, and The National Team (Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper) were each awarded initial funding.

The National Team delivered on a significant milestone in the process.

An engineering mockup of the Blue Origin-led human landing system has been delivered to the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

NASA Introduces Full-Scale Mockup of Blue Origin-Led National Team’s Human Landing System

A Blue Origin-led team has handed over to NASA an engineering mockup of a human landing system that could bring astronauts to the lunar surface. Blue Origin was one of the three prime contractors tapped by NASA in late April to develop a landing platform supporting the agency’s Artemis moon mission in 2024.

Blue Origin works on the crew lander vehicle’s Descent Element and oversees program management, mission engineering and operations, and safety and mission assurance.

Lockheed builds the reusable Ascent Element and leads manned flight training and operations. Northrop is responsible for the system’s Transfer Element while Draper offers flight avionics and decent guidance.

Picture showing the new full-scale mockup of the lunar lander that could carry NASA astronauts to the Moon in 2024. Credit: Blue Origin.

“Testing this engineering mockup for crew interaction is a step toward making this historic mission real,” said Brent Sherwood, vice president of advanced development programs at Blue Origin. “The learning we get from full-scale mockups can’t be done any other way.

The lunar lander’s full-scale mockup will stay at NASA Johnson Space Center

Benefitting from NASA’s expertise and feedback at this early stage enables us to develop a safe commercial system that meets the agency’s needs.”

The lunar lander’s full-scale mockup will stay at NASA Johnson Space Center’s Building 9 in Houston throughout early 2021 for simulations and more new tests.

And hopefully, in a year or so, we’ll find out which one of these gets to take the first US astronauts to the surface of the moon in a very long time later in the decade. So best of luck to all the teams.

That’s it, and I hope you enjoyed this article. Please check out this interesting article: Summary of Apollo 11 Events.

Or maybe take a look at this new book ‘How We Got to the Moon’ will reveal a stunning look at Apollo 11 Mission to the Moon.