Last Update: May 20, 2023, 00:54 IST
Blue Origin’s lander, called Blue Moon, is being developed with a number of partner companies including Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobiotic and Honeybee Robotics. (Image: Reuters)
Blue Origin’s lander was selected for the Artemis 5 mission, currently scheduled for 2029
Two years after Elon Musk’s SpaceX was awarded the contract to ferry astronauts to the surface of the Moon, NASA announced Friday that it has selected Blue Origin, a rival space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, to build a second lunar lander. .
Blue Origin’s lander was selected for the Artemis 5 mission, currently scheduled for 2029. The company must first demonstrate that it can safely land on the Moon without a crew.
“Honored to be on this journey with @NASA to land astronauts on the Moon – this time to stay,” Bezos, the Amazon founder and former CEO, said on Twitter.
The contract amounts to $3.4 billion, but John Koulouris, in charge of lunar transportation at Blue Origin, said during a press conference that the company itself will contribute that amount to develop the craft “well north”.
The Artemis program marks NASA’s return to the Moon after more than 50 years and is made up of multiple missions, each of increasing complexity.
In 2021, the US agency selected SpaceX to build a lander for Artemis 3, the first mission in a series in which actual astronauts set foot on the lunar surface.
The contract was for $2.9 billion, though SpaceX is supplementing that amount with its own funding.
Blue Origin had also previously competed for the contract, and filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against NASA when SpaceX was selected as the sole lander provider.
The space agency originally intended to offer two contracts, a practice usually used to guard against likely fails, but said it was constrained by budget concerns.
NASA also selected the SpaceX lander for its Artemis 4 mission in 2022, but also requested submissions from other companies for the rest of the program.
“We want more competition. We want two landers,” NASA boss Bill Nelson said Friday. “It means you have credibility. You have backup.”
Blue Origin’s lander, called Blue Moon, is being developed with a number of partner companies including Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobiotic and Honeybee Robotics.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP,
