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DALLAS – NASA will provide $ 146 million to five companies, representing the three teams that previously competed to develop the Artemis lunar lander, to conduct studies on future lunar lander concepts.
NASA announced on September 14 the awards for what the agency calls Annex N of its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP). NASA issued a Request for Proposals for Annex N NextSTEP in July to support work on what NASA calls “sustainable” human landing system concepts to support missions after Artemis 3, the world’s first mission. crewed moon landing of the Artremis program.
Three of the winners are part of the so-called “national team” led by Blue Origin, which received $ 25.6 million. Lockheed Martin received $ 35.2 million and Northrop Grumman received $ 34.8 million.
While all three companies received individual awards, a Lockheed executive confirmed that they are still part of the Blue Origin-led team while exploring other options. “Lockheed Martin continues to be committed to the national team and its thoughtful, safe and sustainable landing gear system,” said Lisa Callahan, vice president and general manager of commercial civilian space at Lockheed Martin, in a statement. at SpaceNews.
“As a long-time and trusted NASA partner, we also believe it is important to provide additional approaches to help shape the strategy both for a sustainable human presence on the moon and also for the future. human missions to Mars, ”she added.
The team led by Blue Origin was one of three bidders for the Human Landing System (HLS) program, where NASA is funding the development of a lunar lander and a demonstration mission. Dynetics, another HLS bidder, received $ 40.8 million.
The Blue Origin and Dynetics national team lost to SpaceX, which won a $ 2.9 billion prize in April for a lunar lander based on its Starship vehicle. SpaceX also received an Annex N award worth $ 9.4 million, by far the smallest of five created by NASA.
Neither NASA nor any of the companies have disclosed details of what they plan to do with the awards. In its statement, NASA said the funding would support concept studies and risk reduction activities, and give companies the opportunity to comment on NASA’s requirements for human landing services. as a crew.
Annex N is intended to serve as a gateway for NASA’s Lunar Exploration Transportation Services (LETS) program, where NASA will purchase crewed lunar landing services for subsequent Artemis missions, just as it does for services commercial crew and cargo for the International Space Station.
Blue Origin in particular had opposed this approach, arguing that it disadvantaged companies other than SpaceX, with its HLS award, in a future LETS competition. Blue Origin and Dynetics protested the HLS award to the Government Accountability Office, claiming in part that NASA’s decision to award a single HLS award violated the terms of the competition.
The GAO rejected those claims in July, but Blue Origin filed a lawsuit against the government in the Federal Claims Court on August 13 to appeal the ruling. As part of a deal to speed up the deal, the government agreed to voluntarily suspend NASA’s HLS price to SpaceX until November 1. The award was also suspended during GAO’s review of the two protests.
NASA has expressed a desire for a second HLS award, but is currently lacking funding to do so. Agency officials, including administrator Bill Nelson, have asked Congress to provide additional funding either in the agency’s spending bill for fiscal year 2022 or in a separate spending program of ” fiscal reconciliation ”of $ 3.5 trillion. The House version of the 2022 Appropriation Bill included only a small increase in HLS funding, while the House version of the Budget Reconciliation Package offers nothing for HLS. The Senate is still working on its versions of the two bills.
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