NASA has introduced plans to develop a second lunar lander for the upcoming Artemis missions to the Moon. The area company will solicit proposals from U.S. firms, with a goal date for supply inside the subsequent 4 to 5 years.

Called Sustaining Lunar Development, the second NASA contract to design and construct a lunar lander is supposed to additional the area company’s objective of building long-term operations on and across the Moon. SpaceX is within the technique of constructing a lunar lander, however NASA needs a second possibility—one with extra bells and whistles in comparison with the primary. And by bringing in a second vendor, NASA hopes to cut back prices and foster innovation.

“Today’s announcement is what I said to Congress. I promised competition, so here it is,” Bill Nelson, NASA administrator, advised reporters yesterday. “Competition leads to better, more reliable outcomes,” he added. “It benefits everybody. It benefits NASA. It benefits the American people.”

Like the primary lunar lander, the second have to be able to delivering astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon’s floor, however it’ll should be a bit beefier. The second Human Landing System (HLS) might want to dock with Lunar Gateway—a deliberate orbital outpost—permit for crew transfers, home a bigger crew, and be able to transporting extra stuff to the lunar floor. Said Lisa Watson-Morgan, program supervisor for the Human Landing System, on the press convention: “We want more cargo, more up-mass, more science.” Like the unique contract, the successful bidder should exhibit one uncrewed and one crewed mission. NASA didn’t disclose different necessities of the second HLS, other than these remarks.

NASA intends to difficulty a draft request for proposals on the finish of March and maintain an business day in early April. A last request for proposals, unique to U.S. firms, can be issued later this spring, with NASA planning to announce the successful bid early subsequent 12 months. The Sustaining Lunar Development contract implies that two firms will compete for future service contracts to the Moon. That stated, the second HLS will solely apply to later Artemis missions, as SpaceX is the supplier for Artemis 3, at present scheduled to occur no sooner than 2025. NASA is eyeing a timeframe of round 2026-2027 to have the second lander accessible.

SpaceX was awarded a $2.9 billion contract to construct a lunar lander on April 21, 2021. The Elon Musk-led firm will use a Starship car for this function. Per its contract, SpaceX should exhibit the idea throughout an uncrewed take a look at (at present scheduled for 2024), adopted by the crewed Artemis 3 mission, through which NASA intends to ship a person and lady to the lunar floor. Watson-Morgan stated “everything is going great with the development of the SpaceX lander,” saying the corporate is reaching its milestones and that the “SpaceX model is improving every day.” Further particulars weren’t given, regardless of repeated questions from reporters throughout the news convention.

That NASA needs a second HLS possibility shouldn’t be a giant shock. The area company initially deliberate to select from two of three finalists, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Dynetics, however budgetary constraints compelled NASA to decide on only one. For its 2021 price range, NASA requested $3.4 billion from Congress to develop a number of Artemis landers, however it obtained one-fourth of that quantity. Blue Origin, led by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, disagreed with the choice, launching a lawsuit towards NASA in a federal court docket—a case he in the end lost (Dynetics additionally sued, unsuccessfully). By advantage of yesterday’s announcement, nevertheless, it appears NASA is again on observe with its need to area at the very least a pair of lunar landers.

Interestingly, SpaceX shouldn’t be allowed to bid for the Sustaining Lunar Development contract, however it could possibly train a provision, often known as Option B, in its current HLS contract. Under this feature, SpaceX would “transform” its proposed HLS “into a spacecraft that meets the agency’s requirements for recurring services for a second demonstration mission,” in line with a NASA press release. To which the area company added: “Pursuing more development work under the original contract maximizes NASA’s investment and partnership with SpaceX.” Watson-Morgan stated Option B has not but been exercised by SpaceX, however “we’re planning on working towards that.”

NASA stated the request for a second HLS shouldn’t be an indication that the area company has misplaced religion in SpaceX’s capability to construct a lander. Jim Free, affiliate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, stated the area company is “helping American companies to be the first service providers on the Moon,” and that they’re making an attempt to “lower costs through competition,” he advised reporters.

Nice phrases, however it’s not instantly clear to me {that a} second lander will decrease NASA’s prices. The authentic Blue Origin proposal got here with a price ticket of $5.99 billion, whereas Dynetics supplied an answer costing someplace between $8.5 billion and $9.5 billion.

NASA’s intention is to have at the very least one human touchdown on the Moon for the span of a decade, stated Nelson, and a further lander will improve the cadence of crewed missions. Each Artemis mission will construct on learnings from the earlier, which in flip is preparation for the primary human mission to Mars within the late 2030s or early 2040s, Nelson stated. As Free put it, all the things NASA “designs, builds, and procures” for Artemis is finished with a “lens towards Mars.”

The worth of the Sustaining Lunar Development contract wasn’t disclosed, as that can rely on the upcoming federal price range announcement. Nelson stated he’s assured that the required funds can be made accessible. “We’re expecting to have both Congress support and that of the Biden administration,” he stated, and “we’re expecting to get this competition started in the fiscal year 2023 budget.”