Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will enlist the help of legacy aerospace companies like Lockheed Martin to help build its lunar lander
- Blue Origin will enlist the help of three companies to build its lunar lander
- Companies include Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper
- Each company will be responsible for a different element
- The goal is to meet a 2024 timeline for getting humans back to the moon
Blue Origin said it will no longer go-it-alone on the development of a lander designed to bring humans back to the lunar surface.
In a press conference from the Jeff Bezos-owned aerospace company, Brent Sherwood, vice president of advanced development programs, said Blue Origin will team up with legacy defense and aerospace contractors like Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, and Draper to bring its lander, called Blue Moon, to fruition.
It’s partnership with those companies will help expedite the Blue Moon’s production and also increase the odds that Blue Origin meets an ambitious 2024 deadline to return to the moon set by NASA.
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Blue Origin will enlist the help of several defense and aerospace contractors in its efforts to build a lander that can deliver humans back to the moon (File photo)
‘This is the kind of thing that is so ambitious, it needs to be done with partners,’ said Bezos, who owns e-taling stalwart Amazon, at the 70th International Astronautical Congress held this week in Washington.
‘This is the only way to get back to the Moon fast.’
The lander’s elements will now be spread across the partners according to the company.
Blue Origin, as prime contractor, will provide the ‘descent element’ vehicle that would lower astronauts to the lunar surface.
Lockheed Martin is responsible for the reusable ‘ascent element’ vehicle that will take astronauts from Earth to space and will also lead crewed flight operations and training.
Northrop Grumman provides the ‘transfer element’ vehicle that would help conjoin the lander with a future space station in lunar orbit, called the Gateway.
Draper would lead descent guidance and flight avionics.
All the companies will be under added pressure after US Vice President, Mike Pence, announced an expedited 2024 goal of returning astronauts to the moon that hastened an original target by four years.
In May, NASA announced it had asked 11 companies to carry out studies and produce prototypes of human landers for the Artemis program.
Besides Blue Origin, these included Boeing, SpaceX, the Sierra Nevada Corporation and others.
WHAT IS THE BLUE MOON LANDER?
Blue Origin unveiled its lunar lander during a secretive event in May
Jeff Bezos has revealed his space exploration company’s new lunar lander, dubbed Blue Moon.
The spacecraft is capable of carrying and delivering payloads to the moon’s surface.
‘This is an incredible vehicle and it’s going to the moon,’ Bezos said.
Blue Origin has long called out a mission to the moon as one of its foremost priorities and spent the past three years working to develop the craft.
It harnesses many of the same ‘propulsion, precision guidance, vertical landing and landing gear systems’ utilized by New Shepard, Blue Origin’s rocket meant to ferry humans to the moon.
The craft is equipped with fuel cells to provide ‘kilowatts of power’ that are capable of lasting for long-distance missions.
Once Blue Moon arrives at its destination, it uses machine learning algorithms to land with precision on the lunar surface.
Blue Moon can deliver several metric tons of payload to the moon, thanks to its top deck and lower bays, the latter of which will allow for ‘closer access to the lunar surface and off-loading,’ the firm said.
With this technology, Blue Origin hopes it will prepare us to be able to send humans back to the moon as soon as 2024.
The spacecraft is capable of carrying and delivering payloads to the moon’s surface. ‘This is an incredible vehicle and it’s going to the moon,’ Bezos said