Blue Origin: National Team human landing system proposal for NASA Moon mission submitted [Video]

NASA awarded three distinct human landing system proposals from Blue Origin, Dynetics, and SpaceX for further development in April. These 21st-century human landing systems are designed to transfer astronauts from the Orion spacecraft to the surface of the Moon on Artemis missions happening this decade. Blue Origin, which leads the National Team, shared a major update on its HLS progress today.

Blue Origin says the National Team submitted its “Option A proposal” to NASA this week while highlighting the collective experience of the four companies working together on the HLS:

The National Team submitted its Option A proposal this week to land the first woman and next man on the Moon in partnership with NASA. Blue Origin leads the Human Landing System (HLS) National Team, which includes Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper. Together, these partners guided Apollo, established routine orbit cargo transfer, developed today’s only crewed lunar spaceship, and pioneered planetary precision landing with liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen vehicles. The proposed solution uses flight heritage and modularity to manage risk, move fast, and attain sustainable operations on the Moon.   

That’s not the only update Blue Origin shares today. The company also notes that the National Team is progressing along with more than two dozen technical demonstrations using their human landing system design — and there’s video.

During the base period alone, the National Team is completing 25 technical demonstrations, making key progress toward NASA’s mission. Watch this video to learn more about the technical demonstrations and the approach to get America back to the Moon to stay.   

Here’s a breakdown of what each company in the National Team is responsible for in HLS development:

• Blue Origin is responsible for the descent element
• Lockheed Martin is responsible for the ascent element and crew cabin
• Northrop Grumman is responsible for the transfer element and is developing a future refueling element
• Draper is responsible for guidance, navigation and control, avionics, and software systems

This is the National Team HLS design from April compared to December:

The National Team is receiving $579 million out of the $967 million awarded to the development of the Artemis Human Landing System. Alabama-based Dynetics landed a $253 million award, and SpaceX secured a $135 million award for a Starship-based human landing system.

More

• NASA taps SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Dynetics to develop human landing systems for Artemis moon mission
• National Team delivers Blue Origin-led human landing system mockup for Moon mission to NASA
• Blue Origin launches New Glenn and New Shepard merch store

Enjoy reading Space Explored?

Help others find us by following on Apple News and Google News. Be sure to check us out on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, join our Discord!