NASA partners with SpaceX, Blue Origin, and more to send large payloads to the Moon
0Reported today on The Verge
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Reported today in The Verge.
NASA partners with SpaceX, Blue Origin, and more to send large payloads to the Moon
In its ongoing effort to send cargo - and eventually people - to the lunar surface, NASA announced five new partnerships with commercial space companies that have designed robotic landers that can take large payloads to the Moon. The additions include some well-known industry heavyweights, such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Sierra Nevada Corporation, which have already partnered with NASA for other projects.
The newcomers will join an already formed pool of nine companies that are part of NASA's fledgling CLPS program, which stands for Commercial Lunar Payload Services. The goal is to have multiple different capabilities for transporting scientific instruments and cargo to the Moon, as NASA attempts to send people back to the lunar surface by 2024.
Being chosen to be part of the CLPS program doesn't guarantee each company a NASA contract to send their spacecraft to the Moon. It simply means that NASA will consider using these companies if and when it wants to send cargo or scientific instruments to the lunar surface. NASA will put out calls for capabilities that the agency wants, and the companies will bid to have the opportunity to ferry NASA's cargo to the Moon. In May, NASA selected three companies from its original pool of participants - Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, and Orbit Beyond - to send robotic landers to the Moon in the early 2020s, with each spacecraft carrying a variety of payloads. Only two of those companies are continuing toward that goal now, as Orbit Beyond said it would not be able to meet its late 2020 deadline.
The companies being added today - SpaceX, Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Ceres Robotics, Tyvak Nano-Satellite Syst