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NASA has selected 11 American companies to help them build the next lunar landing gear that will transport humans to the surface of the moon.
The 11 companies will conduct studies and work on prototypes of undercarriages over the next few years. All of this is part of NASA's Artemis mission, and the mission mission in 2024 dates back to the surface of the Moon.
Here are some of the companies. Obviously, very big hitters are involved.
- Aerojet Rocketdyne
- Boeing
- Blue origin
- Lockheed Martin
- Northrop Grumman
- Sierra Nevada
- SpaceX
Last week, the timeline of NASA's Artemis mission on the moon was advanced several years, until 2024. That means a lot of work remains to be done. To help these 11 companies get started, NASA uses what they call undefined contract actions.
This allows companies to start working while the contract is being negotiated. It looks like NASA will lose some weight, but that's what you get when politicians step in to dictate a schedule for a complex mission.
You do not need to read between the lines of this NASA press release to see that they feel the pressure of time.
"We are taking important steps to start development as quickly as possible, including invoking a NextSTEP option that allows our partners to start working while we are negotiating," said Greg Chavers, who is responsible for formulating the program. Marshall Land Flight Center human landing system from NASA. in Huntsville, Alabama.
"We look forward to gathering the industry's first feedback on the requirements of our human landing system, and the undefined contract action will help us do that."
NASA does not know these companies, so it seems that it is necessary to be flexible when concluding contracts with them. NASA seems confident in describing the overall goal and leaving the design to the companies themselves, at least in the beginning.
"This new approach does not prescribe a design or number of specific elements for the human landing system," Chavers said.
"NASA needs the system that allows our astronauts to come to the surface and bring them home safely, leaving a lot of detail to our trading partners."
Although the nomination of 11 companies is recent, NASA laid the foundation for this initiative in April, publishing so-called pre-solicitations.
The first pre-solicitation, which took place on April 8, signaled NASA's intention to solicit business proposals aimed at conceiving only the ascendant element of the human lunar Lander.
Later, on April 26, they expanded their pre-solicitation to include several elements of the integrated undercarriage, including the ascent, descent and transfer vehicle.
The undefined contract actions announced by NASA will help the eleven successful companies meet Artemis' ambitious timetable.
But NASA still needs the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion capsule to allow Artemis to reach its target of 2024. And both developments have been delayed.
The way forward in space seems to be public-private partnerships, and NASA has already worked and continues to operate, with many of the 11 named companies.
If NASA can do it right and bring Artemis to the moon in time, it will become a world leader in public-private partnerships, just as it has been a world leader in space exploration for decades.
This article was originally published by Universe Today. Read the original article.
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