Jeff Bezos announces an all-star team for Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lunar lander

Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos discusses his space ambitions during a fireside chat at the International Astronautical Congress in Washington, D.C. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle)
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos discusses his space ambitions during a fireside chat at the International Astronautical Congress in Washington, D.C. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos says his Blue Origin space venture is heading up a team of top space companies — including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper — to build a landing system to take NASA astronauts to the moon as early as 2024.

“This is a national team for a national priority,” Bezos said here at the International Astronautical Congress, where he received the International Astronomical Federation’s first Excellence in Industry Award on Blue Origin’s behalf.

Blue Origin would serve as the prime contractor for the lander project, with its Blue Moon lander serving as the heart of the system.

Bezos said Northrop Grumman, which built the lunar lander for the Apollo program a half-century ago, would be responsible for the orbital transfer vehicle that would take astronauts from a moon-orbiting Gateway platform to a lower lunar orbit.

Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for NASA’s Orion deep-space capsule, would build the ascent module that would sit atop the Blue Moon lander and bring the astronauts back from the lunar surface.

And Draper, which worked on avionics for Apollo, would work on the descent guidance system and flight avionics.

Blue Origin executives said that the system has been proposed for NASA’s use under the terms of the space agency’s NextSTEP-2 Appendix H solicitation. NASA is expected to select at least a couple of landing systems for further development in January. The systems that are selected would serve as key elements in NASA’s Artemis program to send “the first woman and the next man” to the lunar surface in as little as five years.

In May, Bezos unveiled a mockup of the Blue Moon lander and revealed that his privately held space company was working on a hydrogen-fueled BE-7 engine to provide propulsion. During this week’s congress, the mockup has been set up at the same convention center where Bezos made the big reveal.

Blue Origin’s CEO, Bob Smith, said in a news release that he and his colleagues at Blue Origin were “humbled and inspired to lead this deeply committed team that will land NASA astronauts on the moon.”

“Combining our partners’ heritage with our advance work on the Blue Moon lunar lander and its BE-7 engine, our team is looking forward to working with NASA in support of the Artemis program,” Smith said.

Check back for updates in this developing story.

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source: yahoo.com