{"id":18254,"date":"2018-11-29T22:10:26","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T14:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-picks-nine-commercial-teams-for-moon-deliveries-including-dark-horses\/"},"modified":"2018-11-29T22:10:26","modified_gmt":"2018-11-29T14:10:26","slug":"nasa-picks-nine-commercial-teams-for-moon-deliveries-including-dark-horses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-picks-nine-commercial-teams-for-moon-deliveries-including-dark-horses\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA picks nine commercial teams for moon deliveries \u2013 including dark horses"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_465014\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-465014\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-465014\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/181129-mccandless-630x439.jpeg\" alt=\"Lockheed Martin lunar lander\" width=\"630\" height=\"439\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/181129-mccandless-630x439.jpeg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/181129-mccandless-768x536.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/181129-mccandless-1260x879.jpeg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/181129-mccandless.jpeg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-465014\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lockheed Martin is offering its McCandless lunar lander, shown here with an onboard rover in an artist\u2019s conception, for future NASA missions to the moon. (Lockheed Martin Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>NASA says it\u2019s partnering on lunar delivery services with nine commercial teams, headed by companies that run the gamut from the space industry\u2019s heavyweights to startups.<\/p>\n<p>The lineup, announced today by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine at the space agency\u2019s headquarters in Washington, D.C., will take part in a program known as Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS. The program is aimed at boosting the development of lunar landing services for NASA and commercial payloads, starting with shipments weighing at least 22 pounds (10 kilograms).<\/p>\n<p>Up to $2.6 billion in delivery contracts will be meted out over the next 10 years, NASA said in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWelcome to the competition,\u201d Bridenstine said.<\/p>\n<p>Bridenstine said the program would concentrate on science payloads. \u201cWe believe there is a lot of amazing science that we can do on the surface of the moon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1068224497830965248&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2018%2Fnasa-picks-nine-commercial-teams-moon-deliveries-including-dark-horses%2F&amp;sessionId=53ccfccb61f61ae9d0624dd0fae6cb5ca1d4a3fa&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1068224497830965248\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782802116509928167=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">JUST ANNOUNCED: Our partners who will help us explore the Moon include @Astrobotic, @DeepSpaceTweets, @Firefly_Space, @Int_Machines, @LockheedMartin, @MastenSpace, @MoonEx, @DraperLab and Orbit Beyond. Watch: https:\/\/t.co\/MHnB7ULfRm Ask ?s using #askNASA pic.twitter.com\/htpezfIocG<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NASA (@NASA) November 29, 2018<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Deliveries could start as early as next year. Eventually, NASA envisions using commercially developed landers for payloads as massive as several tons, which would set the stage for lunar development and settlement.<\/p>\n<p>Because the payload requirements for the first phase of the program are relatively small, CLPS provides opportunities for relative newcomers in the space industry. Several of the teams announced today took part in the Google Lunar X Prize, a competition that ended early this year without anyone winning the top prize.<\/p>\n<p>The nine teams will be led by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Astrobotic Technology<\/strong>, Pittsburgh, a former X Prize competitor that\u2019s developing a lunar lander and rover. Astrobotic\u2019s commercial partners include DHL, Airbus DS, Dynetics and United Launch Alliance.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Deep Space Systems<\/strong>, Littleton, Colo., a subcontractor on NASA\u2019s deep-space Orion crew spaceship and other spacecraft.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Draper<\/strong>, Cambridge, Mass., a longtime space contractor that is partnering with General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, Japan\u2019s ispace venture and Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries. Draper is developing a robotic lander called Artemis-7.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Firefly Aerospace<\/strong>, Cedar Park, Texas, a satellite launch startup that\u2019s developing a spectrum of rockets.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Intuitive Machines<\/strong>, Houston, an engineering consulting firm that has designed a lunar lander called Nova-C. Intuitive Machines has also partnered with Deep Space Systems and Firefly, and it\u2019s been involved in a legal dispute with Moon Express.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lockheed Martin Space<\/strong>, Littleton, one of the biggest companies in aerospace and prime contractor for Orion as well as NASA\u2019s Mars InSight lander. Lockheed Martin is offering its McCandless lunar lander, named after the late NASA astronaut (and Lockheed Martin executive)&nbsp;Bruce McCandless.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Masten Space Systems<\/strong>, Mojave, Calif., which has been working on lunar lander technology for more than a decade.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Moon Express<\/strong>, Cape Canaveral, Fla., an X Prize competitor that\u2019s partnering with&nbsp;Sierra Nevada Corp., Paragon Space Development Corp., Odyssey Space Research and NanoRacks. Moon Express\u2019 executive chairman is Seattle-area entrepreneur Naveen Jain.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Orbit Beyond<\/strong>, Edison, N.J., a startup that\u2019s targeting Earth-to-moon operations in partnership with&nbsp;TeamIndus, an X Prize competitor based in India; as well as with Advanced Space, Honeybee Robotics, Ceres Robotics and Apollo Fusion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>NASA already has some payloads in mind for delivery, including scientific instruments that had been due to fly on the recently canceled Resource Prospector mission. Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA\u2019s associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, said some payloads would almost certainly focus on issues that are important for future human exploration, such as how to deal with radiation exposure.<\/p>\n<p>Zurbuchen said the services offered by the nine teams would become \u201cpart of the catalog\u201d for NASA to choose from when making plans for future lunar missions. \u201cThis catalog will change over time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>In a follow-up exchange on Twitter, NASA said it would look at cost, schedule and technical feasibility when selecting vendors for lunar delivery services.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re essentially buying a ride to the surface of the moon,\u201d NASA told GeekWire. \u201cThat means from launch to a safe landing so that we can operate our instruments. We have not provided development funds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The list announced today doesn\u2019t include some well-known names in the space industry, such as Blue Origin, Boeing and SpaceX. Those companies could still get in on later phases of the program that would require more payload capability \u2014 for example, the multiple-ton landing capability that\u2019d be required for crewed missions to the lunar surface.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lockheed Martin is offering its McCandless lunar lander, shown here with an onboard rover in an artist\u2019s conception, for future NASA missions to the moon. (Lockheed Martin Illustration) NASA says it\u2019s partnering on lunar delivery services with nine commercial teams, headed by companies that run the gamut from the space industry\u2019s heavyweights to startups. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[697,2642,4572,443,503,472,2043,2255,625,2910],"class_list":["post-18254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-astrobotic","tag-deep-space-systems","tag-draper-lab","tag-firefly-aerospace","tag-intuitive-machines","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-lunar-lander","tag-masten-space-systems","tag-moon","tag-moon-express"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18254"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}