After NASA’s contracts with SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ private company “Blue Origin” will be responsible for building a lander capable of transporting astronauts to the lunar surface. Before reaching the Moon in 2029 (with the the mission of Artemis V) however, the company will have to demonstrate the reliability of the system.
The contract signed last Friday amounts to 3.4 billion dollars; with these funds Blue Origin will have to provide a lunar landing system that respects NASA’s requirements and with the possibility of connect to Gateway – the future space station in orbit around the Moon.
The space agency’s contract with SpaceX currently extends to the Artemis III and Artemis IV missions, but the partial success (or failure) of Starship’s launch last month, led the agency to engage other companies for subsequent missions.
“We want more competition. We want more landers,commented NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.It means we have more reliability. We have a reserve.“
As we know, the launch pad from which Starship took off exploded, causing a lot of damage to its surroundings. As reported in fact, the ramp she was not ready for such a powerful rocket: several safety systems to contain the flames were missing, including one flame trench and a fire suppression system, and it’s unclear why the launch hasn’t been postponed further.
Now, with Blue Origin’s involvement, NASA will have some more security. The next lunar launch will be Artemis II in 2024, which will see a crew of astronauts travel around the Moon for the first time in 50 years.