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NASA selects nine companies for commercial lunar lander program
NASA has picked nine companies, ranging from startups to aerospace giants, to be eligible for future contracts to deliver payloads to the surface of the moon, but with no guarantee of business for any of them. NASA announced Nov. 29 the selections as part of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, where the agency will buy space on future commercial lunar landers to carry science instruments and other payloads. The winning companies are:
- Astrobotic Technology, Inc.: Pittsburgh[, Pennsylvania]
- Deep Space Systems: Littleton, Colorado
- Draper: Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Firefly Aerospace, Inc.: Cedar Park, Texas
- Intuitive Machines, LLC: Houston[, Texas]
- Lockheed Martin Space: Littleton, Colorado
- Masten Space Systems, Inc.: Mojave, California
- Moon Express: Cape Canaveral, Florida
- Orbit Beyond: Edison, New Jersey
The companies selected range from a major aerospace corporation, Lockheed Martin, to little-known startups, and from companies that were longtime competitors in the now-expired Google Lunar X Prize for commercial lunar landers to those that had not previously publicly expressed plans for such landers.
[...] In the press release announcing the winning companies, NASA said the companies are eligible for up to $2.6 billion in awards over the next ten years. The agency didn't disclose the maximum contract amounts for each company. The awards are all indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts, and it's not unusual for the actual value of such awards to be far less than the maximum value. For now, each company will receive a small, unspecified amount of funding to develop a payload users' guide. NASA will later compete individual task orders among the companies to fly specific payloads to the moon.
[...] NASA is providing no development money for any of the CLPS companies, who will have to raise the funding needed for their landers from other sources. Both Bridenstine and Zurbuchen acknowledged that some of the winners might not be able to deliver on their landers, while new companies may emerge that could be eligible to join the program through future "on-ramps."
Also at Space.com and Ars Technica.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by martyb on Friday November 30 2018, @04:13PM (1 child)
Better make that THREE omissions: ULA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin.
On the other hand, it does note:
So, presumably at a later date, they could be invited to participate.
Given that SpaceX has already tossed a Tesla Roadster to beyond Mars orbit, they are certainly up to the task of getting something to orbit the moon. My sense is that NASA is still pushing for SLS (Space Launch System) so cannot openly advocate for an alternative just yet.
Another factor in this is that SpaceX has already sold a trip around the moon and back [nytimes.com]. When that flight completes, NASA will find it much harder to continue to give in to the politicians pushing for it (and who are benefiting from all the contract work in each of their districts). Given the incredible cost of developing SLS, at some point it will become abundantly clear that it would be much more cost effective to just book a flight on a Falcon Heavy or BFR/BFS[*] (or New Glenn, or whatever). Until then, there are too many forces arrayed against NASA actively endorsing a competitor to one of their primary funding sources.
Lastly, SpaceX would really like to get to Mars, so would not want to antagonize NASA who they could court for purchasing missions there (and thus provide much-needed funding for BFR/BFS[*].
That all said, we are living in amazing times for rocketry. I grew up watching the Apollo flights on TV and as much as I am saddened it has taken this long, it is nice to see a resurgence of interest in rocketry!
[*] They're now called: 'Starship' and 'Super Heavy' instead of 'BFS' (Big Falcon Spaceship) and 'BFR' (Big Falcon Rocket).
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday November 30 2018, @04:53PM
There was a mention of using the LOP-G at the press conference, which heavily implies the use of the SLS. So in that sense this program is connected to wasting a lot of money.
But these companies here are likely to contract with SpaceX to deliver their payloads.
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