/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25745281/nasa_blue_origin_lander.png?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1 "NASA needs SpaceX and Blue Origin to ship cargo to the moon")
The company needs Elon Musk’s SpaceX to make use of its Starship cargo lander to ship a pressurized rover to the Moon “no earlier” than 2032, whereas Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin can be tasked with delivering a lunar floor habitat no ahead of 2033. Each launches will help NASA’s Artemis missions, which purpose to carry people again to the Moon for the primary time in over 50 years.
Each corporations are growing human touchdown programs for Artemis missions — SpaceX for Artemis III and Blue Origin for Artemis V. NASA later requested each corporations to develop cargo-hauling variants of these landers, able to carrying 26,000 to 33,000 kilos of apparatus and different supplies to the Moon.
NASA says it would challenge proposals to SpaceX and Blue Origin firstly of subsequent 12 months.
“Having two lunar lander suppliers with totally different approaches for crew and cargo touchdown functionality gives mission flexibility whereas making certain a daily cadence of Moon landings for continued discovery and scientific alternative,” Stephen D. Creech, NASA’s assistant deputy affiliate administrator for the Moon to Mars program, mentioned within the announcement.