NASA has picked Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos, to build a second lunar lander for the Artemis programme. Blue Origin’s lander will be used for the Artemis 5 mission, scheduled for 2029, and the company will need to demonstrate its ability to safely land on the Moon without a crew. The deal is valued at $3.4 billion, with Blue Origin committing additional funding to develop the craft.
NASA’s Artemis programme, which comprises of many missions of escalating complexity, marks the agency’s return to the Moon after more than 50 years. NASA gave SpaceX the go-ahead for the Artemis 3 mission, which will be the first to put people on the lunar surface, in 2021. Blue Origin had also submitted a bid for that contract, but when SpaceX was chosen as the only supplier of landers, it brought an unsuccessful lawsuit against NASA.
NASA originally intended to offer two contracts but due to budget restrictions choosing only one. However, the agency expressed a desire for more competition and reliability by having multiple landers.
Blue Origin’s lander, called Blue Moon, is being developed in collaboration with partner companies such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Astrobotic, Honeybee Robotics, and Draper. Lockheed Martin will be responsible for developing a critical refueling element, as Blue Moon needs to be refueled in lunar orbit before descending to the Moon’s surface. Blue Origin plans to use its New Glenn rocket, which has yet to fly, to launch the lander and the refueling shuttle.
