Posted on 02/10/2019 3:53:07 AM PST by vannrox
NASA seeking proposals for human-rated lunar lander systems
An artist’s illustration of a completed lunar Gateway flying around the Moon with a commercially-developed lunar lander. Image Credit: NASA
With SLS and Orion in the latter stages of development, NASA wants to work with industry to develop a human-rated lunar lander by the mid-to-late 2020s.
NASA is working to return astronauts to the Moon under Space Policy Directive-1. In order to do that sustainably, the agency announced plans on Dec. 13, 2018, to work with U.S. companies to develop systems to land on the lunar surface. A formal request for proposals was published on Feb. 7, 2019, with responses due by March 25.
An artist’s illustration of a human-rated lunar lander on the surface of the Moon. Image Credit: NASA
“Building on our model in low-Earth orbit, we’ll expand our partnerships with industry and other nations to explore the Moon and advance our missions to farther destinations such as Mars, with America leading the way,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in a NASA news release. “When we send astronauts to the surface of the Moon in the next decade, it will be in a sustainable fashion.”
According to NASA, the goal is to design and develop reusable systems to land on the Moon with human-class landers being tested by 2024 and human landings by 2028.
NASA said its approach to sending humans to the moon involve three elements to provide “transfer, landing and safe return.” This involves using the lunar Gateway for round trips to and from the surface.
However, a requirement of the systems being fully reusable would mean that surface refueling would need to be developed. So in order to speed up implementation, NASA said it expects only two of the lander elements to be reusable and refueled using fuel transferred from Earth to the Gateway.
“Once the ability to harness resources from the Moon for propellant becomes viable, NASA plans to refuel these elements with the Moon’s own resources,” the agency’s announcement reads. “This process, known as in-situ resource utilization or ISRU, will make the third element also refuelable and reusable.”
An illustration of a partially completed lunar Gateway with a logistics module docked to it. Image Credit: NASA
This comes only a few months after NASA announced it is seeking information for cargo delivery services to the yet-to-be-built lunar Gateway.
Consisting of around six major elements, the Gateway would be much smaller than the International Space Station and placed in a highly elliptical near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon.
It would be built by SLS and Orion, with the first element potentially being launched by a commercial rocket in 2022, over the course of several years in the early-to-mid-2020s. The first crews could visit the outpost as early as 2024.
In order to supply the Gateway, NASA is seeking input from industry, and hopes to procure logistics services much like the Commercial Resupply Services contract supplying the International Space Station.
NASA said it is interested in a logistics module that can carry pressurized and unpressurized cargo and hopes to use the service at least three times, with the first mission as early as 2024.
Love it!
Is it big enough to hold all the despicables in congress?
Americans will one day again walk on the moon, but will they need to get landing clearance from the PRC?
Americans will one day again walk on the moon, but will they need to get landing clearance from the PRC?
We should have already had bases on the moon and Mars. Think of all the money pissed away on social (socialist) programs.
They’ve had DECADES to do this.
Yet, as sooooon as the Chinese take an interest in the Moon..?
Da Gummint wakes up.
Hey, it’s great they’re doing this. I like this.
But I notice that these days the only way Da Gummint takes initiative is when they’re FORCED to.
There’s a good lesson, there.
Were it not for Elon Musk —yes I know it’s fashionable here to bash him— NONE of this would be happening.
AT ALL.
Great series. They just finished shooting season four. If you haven’t done so, read the Expanse book series.
Or just let Elon do it for a fraction of the $$$ and time...
I just noticed that on amazon about a half hour ago...now i have a reason to watch season 2 after hearing that syfy channel cancelled it.
Almost downloaded the first book last night, chose Philip k. dick instead.
will get it soon, i believe it won the Hugo award..
“If you haven’t done so, read the Expanse book series.”
Because of the gap between seasons, I tend to forget a lot. I was considering going back to S1E1 and re-watching but not so sure now because I didn’t realize there was a book series. Might have to read that instead.
Season 4? Be still my beating heart!
Millennial engineering:
The whole wide stance legs and retro rocket thing takes up too much space and adds complexity.
Should just go with a parachute.
Seriously, I was always fascinated by the multi-faceted shape of the lunar lander. Not the usual way to make a pressure vessel, but I guess it only adds the volume you need. All the artist conceptions before and since (see the article) have been simple shapes like cylinders or spheres.
Particularly wild is the standing position of the landing pilot, with his large window looking down on the lunar surface. The engineers at Grumman were certainly thinking outside the box. To think of all these situations where no one had been before, and come up with solutions that worked is a testament to their skill.
The Demwits led by LBJ voted nearly en masse for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, and it was Vietnam that (among other things) truncated manned space exploration. the left spins it of course -- the claim that Vietnam devastated the so-called Great Society programs, and that Nixon destroyed Apollo.
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