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21st century Armstrong who set foot on the Moon again will descend from one of these three spacecraft. NASA has chosen the three designs that will compete to bring two astronauts - a man and a woman - to the lunar surface in 2024, if the planned schedule is achieved. These are the proposals of the American companies Blue Origin, Dynetics and Space X, which will have a total of $ 967 million to advance in the development of these modules to land ( lander ). Boeing's design has been left out of the race.
Within 10 months, NASA will choose which one or which ones to keep for its Artemis program with which it plans to send humans back to the Moon. Since 1972, no one has stepped on it again. During the Apollo missions, astronauts (three on each mission) traveled on Apollo spacecraft, which were powered by Saturn V rockets from Florida. Each Apollo ship consisted of three independent modules or compartments.
The crew traveled in the so-called command module. Upon reaching lunar orbit, two crewmen put the lunar module (which they used to land) and the other remained waiting for their companions in the command module. When they finished their work on the Moon, the two astronauts ascended the lunar module again to dock with the command module. The third component was the service module and provided power and propulsion.
The current plan is as follows: Astronauts will take off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard the Orion spacecraft being built by NASA (powered by the super rocket Space Launch System or SLS ) and descend on the Moon in one of the three vehicles developed by these private companies. Another likely component of the Artemis program is the future Gateway platform, which will permanently orbit the Moon and serve as a link between astronauts working on the satellite's surface and spacecraft coming from Earth. It is likely that this small station, in which the European Space Agency (ESA) participates, is not ready for 2024 but NASA is counting on it for the following missions of the Artemis program.
Three different systems for Artemis
The three moon landing systems chosen this week by NASA are visibly different, both in concept and design. The most futuristic is SpaceX, with a minimalist vehicle that will take Elon Musk's philosophy of reusing expensive space components to reduce costs to the Moon . The star of this proposal, which NASA has awarded $ 135 million, is Starship , an adaptable space vehicle for different purposes that, in its version for a manned mission to the Moon, has a spacious cabin for the two of them astronauts who will emulate Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
The Californian company will take advantage of the proven technology of its Raptor engines , its Falcon rockets and the unmanned Dragon ships that are currently used to carry supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX is building, also for NASA, a manned spacecraft ( Crew Dragon ) that will take American astronauts to the ISS.
The Starship spacecraft would take off from Earth aboard the SpaceX Super Heavy rocket , powered by Raptor engines . Another Starship ship would store fuel and stay in low Earth orbit, like a space station. The fuel would be replenished by other Starship vehicles , which would act as tanks. The ship to land would make a stop at the gas station in low orbit, fill up its fuel tank and continue its journey to lunar orbit.
Also billionaire Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and owner of the newspaper The Washington Post , has managed to put his lunar module among the finalists thanks to an alliance led by his company Blue Origin (Kent, Washington) and of which Lockheed Martin is part, Northrop Grumman, and Draper, among others. All of them constitute a solid group called the National Team backed by years of experience. This proposal is the one with the highest financing of the three: $ 579 million.
Your lander is called an Integrated Lander Vehicle ( ILV ) and it has three stages or phases. The Northrop group is in charge of a module that works as a transfer (to take astronauts from a distant lunar orbit to a near orbit) and whose design is based on that of the Cygnus spacecraft that supplies the ISS.
Blue origin manufactures the descent module (it takes astronauts from a low lunar orbit to the surface), which will carry BE-7 cryo engines. Lockheed will be in charge of manufacturing the module that ascends after the lunar mission, and that carries a cabin for the crew that is reminiscent of that of Orion . For his part, Draper is developing the software and the component navigation and guide chapter.
The National Team plan is flexible and allows the SIL to dock with both the Orion spacecraft on which astronauts arrive from Earth and the Gateway platform, from where it would await the arrival of the crew. In the same way, the lander could be launched from Earth with commercial rockets like New Glenn (from Blue Origin) or in combination with NASA's SLS .
Less known to the public is the Dynetics company (from Huntsville, Alabama), but it does not mean that it is less likely to win the final contract. This company leads a team that includes 25 subcontractor companies with military and space experience, specialized in manufacturing the different components that will make up their Dynetics Human Landing System ( DHLS ) or manned landing system. For its improvement, NASA gives it $ 253 million.
The same module will descend to the lunar surface and ascend again to dock with the Orion spacecraft , and there will be multiple modular vehicles, launched in advance, that will supply fuel at different stages of the mission.
The lander is also designed to dock with the Gateway station. The lunar module crew seats are very close to the lunar surface to facilitate entry and exit from the spacecraft. This proposal would probably use the Vulcan rocket .
"It is the first time since the Apollo era that NASA directly funds a manned moon landing system," said Jim Bridenstine, director of the space agency, who, although funding for the Artemis program is not assured, remains confident that the The first mission to the lunar surface will be launched in 2024.
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