Space News thread

[Takeovers]

Another set of contracts given out by NASA for their Artemis manned lunar landing concept. The plan is to have humans land on the Moon in 2024. Though it is still very doubtful that Congress will provide the funding needed for that timeframe.

As a reminder. Artemis is the sister of Apollo. The name was chosen because there will be a woman going to the Moon this time.

Once again the Boeing offer did not even make it to a more detailed evaluation. It was eliminated in the first round.

This is a contract for the early phase of the project, lasting only 10 months. Based on the merits of the selected projects and available funding from Congress they will select the concept or concepts for more development after the 10 months period.

The 3 winners are

Blue Origin with partners Northrup Grumman and Northrup Grumman. Called the "National Team". Got over $500million. Picture on the right.

Dynetics with Sierra Nevada and a lot of other partners. Got about $250 million. Picture in the middle.

SpaceX on the left. Got about $130 million.


A picture of the 3 winning concepts, roughly scaled to size by a forum member, may be slightly off but not by much.



On the left, a SpaceX Starship variant modified for Artemis. It can not land back on Earth and is painted white for the lunar thermal environment.