NASA has selected five U.S. companies to help the agency enable a steady
pace of crewed trips to the lunar surface under the agency’s Artemis
program. These companies will make advancements toward sustainable human
landing system concepts, conduct risk-reduction activities, and provide
feedback on NASA’s requirements to cultivate industry capabilities for
crewed lunar landing missions.
The awards under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships
(NextSTEP-2) Appendix N broad agency announcement are firm fixed-price,
milestone-based contracts. The total combined value for the awards is $146
million, and the work will be conducted over the next 15 months. The
companies that received awards and their award values are:
- Blue Origin Federation of Kent, Washington, $25.6 million.
- Dynetics (a Leidos company) of Huntsville, Alabama, $40.8 million.
- Lockheed Martin of Littleton, Colorado, $35.2 million.
- Northrop Grumman of Dulles, Virginia, $34.8 million.
- SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, $9.4 million.
“Establishing a long-term human presence on the Moon through recurring
services using lunar landers is a major Artemis goal,” said Kathy Lueders,
NASA’s associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at
Headquarters in Washington. “This critical step lays the foundation for U.S.
leadership in learning more about the Moon and for learning how to live and
work in deep space for future missions farther into the solar system.”
The selected companies will develop lander design concepts, evaluating their
performance, design, construction standards, mission assurance requirements,
interfaces, safety, crew health accommodations, and medical capabilities.
The companies will also mitigate lunar lander risks by conducting critical
component tests and advancing the maturity of key technologies.
The work from these companies will ultimately help shape the strategy and
requirements for a future NASA’s solicitation to provide regular astronaut
transportation from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon.
"Collaboration with our partners is critical to achieving NASA’s long-term
Artemis lunar exploration goals,” said Lisa Watson-Morgan, Human Landing
System Program manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
Alabama. “By partnering with innovative U.S. companies, we will establish a
robust lunar economy while exploring new areas of the Moon for generations
to come.”
This opportunity is distinct from the initial crewed lunar landing
demonstration mission awarded under the NextSTEP-2 Appendix H procurement,
which will serve as the proof of concept for the Artemis architecture.
NASA’s goals under Artemis include enabling a safe and cost-efficient
long-term approach to accessing the lunar surface and becoming one of
multiple customers purchasing services in a lunar transportation market.
Much of what the agency develops for the Moon will be applied to future
exploration at Mars.
NASA’s Artemis missions include landing the first woman and first person of
color on the lunar surface, sending a suite of new science instruments and
technology demonstrations to study the Moon, and establishing a long-term
presence there.
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