The Blue Origin led “National Team,” a catchy marketing gimmick by the way, has delivered a lunar lander engineering mockup to NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston. It is one of three companies vying for the opportunity to eventually send humans back to the Moon, including someday Canadians.
The National Team includes Blue Origin, the lead team, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper Labs. The team is competing against Dynetics and SpaceX to supply NASA with a Human Landing System for the Artemis program.
In a press release, Blue Origin says “the full-scale engineering mockup (below) showcases two elements of the National Team’s multi-element architecture – the Ascent Element (AE) and Descent Element (DE). Standing at more than 40 feet, it is the Blue Origin National Team’s update to Apollo’s Lunar Module (LM) and will be used to validate the National Team’s approaches for getting crew, equipment, supplies, and samples off and on the vehicle. The team will collaborate with NASA organizations including JSC’s Astronaut Office to perform engineering and crew operations tests with astronauts aiming to fly the final system within several years. ”
Canadian astronauts on a lunar lander?
While Canada has committed to the Lunar Gateway as part of the larger Artemis program, the longer term goal would one day see Canadian astronauts land on the Moon.
Having the mockup at the JSC, home of the astronaut core, will allow engineers and astronauts, including Canada’s astronaut core to look around the mockup and provide input.
The Trump administration has tasked NASA to send American astronauts to the Moon by 2024. That date now seems unrealistic based on the current budget Congress is willing to provide NASA. Could that change? Could NASA get the money it needs to get astronauts on the Moon by 2024. It would take a republican majority in the House and Senate and President Trump reelected along with surmounting a very tight timeline. Is that scenario likely to happen? No.
So when would Americans land on the Moon again? The more likely scenario is around 2028. When would Canadian astronauts step foot on the Moon? It’s much too soon to say anything definitive. Before a date can be contemplated, Canada would have to make the formal decision to actually send astronauts to the Moon, and then commit funding.
Canadian astronauts will most likely be assigned to the Lunar Gateway first, and then if a human lunar program is still being funded, make their way to the Moon’s surface a couple of years later.
About the Human Landing System Mockup
In announcing the development of the mockup at JSC, Blue Origin released the video above explaining its purpose.
“The Descent Element is based on Blue Origin’s Blue Moon cargo lander and BE-7 LOX/hydrogen engine, both in development for more than three years. The Ascent Element incorporates avionics, software, life support hardware, crew interfaces, and mission operations from Lockheed Martin’s human-rated, deep-space Orion vehicle that will fly on the Artemis I and II missions. A consistent cockpit experience and training from Orion to the AE makes the end-to-end mission safer for Artemis. The Transfer Element, a propulsive stage that starts the lander on its descent trajectory from lunar orbit, is based on Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus vehicle that provides logistics resupply to the International Space Station; and Draper provides descent guidance and avionics to the National Team.”
“The mockup will remain at JSC through early 2021 for a series of tests and simulations. Over the coming months, the National Team will continue to build and increase mockup fidelity. NASA’s Human Landing System Program is managed at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.”