NASA: Commercial Lunar Payload Services [business end: 33 engine Super Heavy booster]

[Dr Mordrid]

COTS for the Moon, it apprears the balloon has gone up.

There are several small lunar landers getting ready to fly, but Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander is said to be good for 4 metric tons of cargo and SpaceX's BFS spaceship will be a flipping monster.

Contracts amounts from $25k to $2.5 billion.

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportun...s&tabmode=list

Solicitation Number: 80HQTR18R0011R
Notice Type: Presolicitation
Synopsis:
Added: Apr 27, 2018 3:44 pm
The purpose of this requirement is to acquire end-to-end payload services between the Earth and lunar surface for NASA Headquarters' Science, Human Exploration and Operations and Science Technolgy Mission Directorates. The contractors shall provide all activities necessary to safely intergrate, accomodate, transport, and operate NASA Payloads using contractor provide assets, including launch vehicles, lunar lander spacecraft, lunar surface systems, Earth re-entry vehicles and associated resources.

Please consult the list of document viewers if you cannot open a file.
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[Dr Mordrid]

The CLPS timeline puts commercial human lander unmanned tests in the 2024-2025 time frame.

SpaceX may well beat this with a Starship test.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-se...onauts-on-moon

NASA Seeks US Partners to Develop Reusable Systems to Land Astronauts on Moon

As the next major step to return astronauts to the Moon under Space Policy Directive-1, NASA announced plans on Dec. 13 to work with American companies to design and develop new reusable systems for astronauts to land on the lunar surface. The agency is planning to test new human-class landers on the Moon beginning in 2024, with the goal of sending crew to the surface in 2028.

Through multi-phased lunar exploration partnerships, NASA is asking American companies to study the best approach to landing astronauts on the Moon and start the development as quickly as possible with current and future anticipated technologies.
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[Dr Mordrid]

NASA CLPS commercial lunar landers, and one is huge...

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/new-companies-join-growing-ranks-of-nasa-partners-for-artemis-program

New Companies Join Growing Ranks of NASA Partners for Artemis Program

NASA has added five American companies to the pool of vendors that will be eligible to bid on proposals to provide deliveries to the surface of the Moon through the agencys Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.

The additions, which increase the list of CLPS participants on contract to 14, expand NASAs work with U.S. industry to build a strong marketplace to deliver payloads between Earth and the Moon and broaden the network of partnerships that will enable the first woman and next man to set foot on the Moon by 2024 as part of the agencys Artemis program.

American aerospace companies of all sizes are joining the Artemis program, said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. Expanding the group of companies who are eligible to bid on sending payloads to the Moons surface drives innovation and reduces costs to NASA and American taxpayers. We anticipate opportunities to deliver a wide range of science and technology payloads to help make our vision for lunar exploration a reality and advance our goal of sending humans to explore Mars.

The selected companies are:

* Blue Origin, Kent, Washington



* Ceres Robotics, Palo Alto, California



* Sierra Nevada Corporation, Louisville, Colorado



* Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems Inc., Irvine, California



* SpaceX, Hawthorne, California


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[Dr Mordrid]

These awards are usually what the company bid.

NASA Human Landing System (HLS) awards

3 phases,
Base Obligation: 10 month study
Option A: for 2024 landing
Option B: post-2024 missions

Blue Origin $10.182B (max)

https://beta.sam.gov/awards/90321762%2BAWARD

Base Obligation: $213,421,381.00
Base and Option A: $483,394,546.00
Base and Option B (Total): $10,182,757,413.00

Dynetics $5.273B (max)

https://beta.sam.gov/awards/90129403%2BAWARD

Base Obligation: $92,242,980.00
Base and Option A: $237,789,559.00
Base and Option B (Total): $5,273,244,085.00

SpaceX $2.252B (max)

https://beta.sam.gov/awards/90321762%2BAWARD

Base Obligation: $94,474,607.00
Base and Option A: $134,959,441.00
Base and Option B (Total): $2,252,508,638.00

[Dr Mordrid]

In light of the Artemis program going jnternational; meet the JAXA/Toyota crewed Moon rover,

JAXA+Toyota Moon rover.jpg

[MultimediaMan]

Note to Toyota: No Takata Airbags, No Nissin Brakes, No Electronics manufactured by Denso (Toyota Recalled more cars than they built in 2012-2013 - not all 2013 year models, but total number of cars recalled)

[Dr Mordrid]

Italy joins the Artemis program

Google Translated...

https://www.corriere.it/cronache/20_settembre_25/c-l-intesa-la-nasa-l-italia-missione-luna-143dfa08-ff6a-11ea-bab8-81c46a04ebd3.shtml

There is an agreement with NASA, Italy on a mission to the Moon

Agreement signed: Rome will invest over 1 billion euros. The project of building the first colony on the satellite

The Moon is also getting closer to Italy. An agreement of intent signed yesterday live in Rome and Washington leads to the goal of returning to our natural satellite, namely the construction of the first lunar colony. Thus specifies the document signed by NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine and Riccardo Fraccaro, undersecretary of the Prime Minister with responsibility for aerospace policies. Our national scientists and industries will be involved in three directions. The first concerns collaboration in the construction of the house-laboratory in which the astronauts will live and in the development of technologies to ensure the carrying out of the missions. The second commitment concerns the research that can be carried out at the base involving scientists from various disciplines, from biology to astronomy. All exploration and research activities will require a sophisticated communication network capable of allowing a constant connection with the Earth by transferring large amounts of data.

Artemis program

All this is part of the Artemis Programthat NASA has started to return to the moon with a woman and a man in 2024. But it will only be the first step to arrive at a stable settlement 4 years later. Meanwhile, the lunar space station Gateway will also be built to facilitate operations in which Japan, Canada, Europe and (soon) Russia already participate. All this will bring work to our industries which will carry out the various parts by developing innovations capable of guaranteeing the survival of the astronauts - explains Fraccaro -. The government expects an investment of over 1 billion, setting in motion an economic return that will go well beyond. The aim is to involve, in addition to the large companies already involved in the sector, other medium-small companies that until now have never thought of working for space but given their skills they can find ways of development on the lunar border.
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[Dr Mordrid]

Young Austin Barnard at Boca Chica caught a pic of a SpaceX Starship Human Lander System nose cone with NASA livery.

IMG_20201022_152837.jpg

https://twitter.com/austinbarnard45/status/1319318065872556035

[Dr Mordrid]

STARSHIP WINS NASA HLS COMPETITIO!!

SHOCKER!!

First that they'd only choose one provider, second that they'd back such an unconventional vehicle.

Actually flying, even crashing, big metal and having Starship HLS, crew pods, and an elevator prototype which could be demonstrated likely didn't hurt. Also, NASA getting very comfortable with Crew Dragon.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/16/spacex-sole-winner-in-nasas-hls-moon-lander-program-report.html

Elon Musk’s SpaceX beats Bezos’ Blue Origin in NASA contest to build astronaut lunar lander

KEY POINTS

• Elon Musk’s SpaceX beat out teams led by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Leidos subsidiary Dynetics to win a NASA contract to build its next crewed lunar lander.

• SpaceX’s contract is worth $2.9 billion.

• For NASA’s Human Landing Systems program, Musk’s company bid a variation of its Starship rocket, prototypes of which SpaceX has been testing

Elon Musk’s SpaceX beat out teams led by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Leidos subsidiary Dynetics to win a nearly $3 billion contract to build NASA’s next crewed lunar lander.

“It is one more step, in an exciting group of steps, that will get us to a sustainable human landing system to the moon,” Kathy Lueders, the leader of NASA’s human spaceflight program, said in the agency’s announcement.
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[Dr Mordrid]

Starship HLS (there will likely be a Cargo variant)

IMG_20210416_220207.jpg

https://www.spacex.com/updates/starship-moon-announcement/index.html

APRIL 16, 2021

STARSHIP TO LAND NASA ASTRONAUTS ON THE MOON

Only 24 humans have been to the Moon, and no one has been back since 1972. Today, NASA announced they have selected Starship to land the first astronauts on the lunar surface since the Apollo program. We are humbled to help NASA usher in a new era of human space exploration.

Together, NASA and SpaceX have successfully executed similarly bold and innovative partnerships, including restoring America’s ability to launch astronauts to orbit and return them safely home. We will build upon our shared accomplishments, and leverage years of close technical collaboration to return to the Moon. In doing so, we will lay the groundwork for human exploration to Mars and beyond.

Sustaining a human presence on the Moon will require the safe and affordable transportation of crew and significant amounts of cargo. SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket represent an integrated and fully reusable launch, propellant delivery, rendezvous, and planetary lander system with robust capabilities and safety features uniquely designed to deliver these essential building blocks.

Flying between lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon, Starship will carry crew and all of the supplies, equipment, and science payloads needed for extensive surface exploration. Building off the safety and reliability of Dragon and Falcon, Starship will feature proven avionics, guidance and navigation systems, autonomous rendezvous, docking and precision landing capabilities, as well as thermal protection, and a spacious cabin with familiar displays and interfaces utilized on Dragon.

SpaceX is rapidly advancing Starship development, drawing on an extensive history of launch vehicle and engine development programs. Since January 2020, SpaceX has built 10 Starship prototypes, with production and fidelity accelerating on each build. SpaceX has manufactured and tested more than 60 of Starship’s Raptor engines, accumulating nearly 30,000 seconds of total test time over 567 engine starts, including on multiple Starship static fires and flight tests. We have conducted six suborbital flight tests, including two 150-m hops and four high-altitude flights. SpaceX has also built a full-size Super Heavy booster as part of a pathfinder effort, and currently has five vehicles in production.

We are honored to be a part of NASA’s Artemis Program to safely land the first woman and next man on the surface of the Moon, as the first of many, many more people to follow.

[Dr Mordrid]

NASA ASAP is now involved in Starship HLS. What they've identified as risks are pretty much known & we've seen SpaceX working on many of them.

Twitter thread...

https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/...LgC99Wylel67Mg

Michael Sheetz ✓ @thesheetztweetz (CNBC)

NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel says SpaceX this month provided the agency with "an integrated master schedule" on HLS Starship development.
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ASAP: "NASA also conducted some site visits to Boca Chica and Hawthorne that indicated there's been significant progress in the overall production of Starship and HLS."
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ASAP: SpaceX also gave NASA a "good understanding of some of the challenges" the company is having with Raptor engine production.
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ASAP identified the required Starship cryo-fluid transfer/management of refueling as a top risk to the HLS program.
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ASAP also identified landing technologies accuracy / stability / hazard avoidance as another top risk to HLS Starship. "Some of the mitigations include the fact that there will be uncrewed test landings prior to the first human landing."
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ASAP: Other Starship HLS risks "include things like software and hardware integration, flight rate, hardware turnaround times and reuse." "NASA is working on all of those and trying to make sure that it's comfortable with the approach that is being proposed by SpaceX."

[Dr Mordrid]

Artemis, Starship, HLS and LETS (lunar exploration*transportation system) news

https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/1506726498052497408?t=33rrQUTm1IzAt-ri4u8ZUA

Eric Berger@*SciGuySpace (Ars Technica space writer)

Lisa Watson-Morgan, Human Landing System Program manager for NASA, said "So far SpaceX has met all of their milestones to date." Agency has set 2024 as a target date for an uncrewed demonstration flight to the lunar surface.

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Regarding NASA's announcement today, there's a lot of new Moon missions. SpaceX had one uncrewed landing and one crew (Artemis 3). Now they're getting another uncrewed landing *and* crew landing. A second company will get development $$, and perform uncrewed and crewed landing.

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After all of this, both of these bidders, SpaceX and the second one yet to be provided, will have a chance to bid on future Artemis landings. The good news is that NASA seems pretty serious about doing a lot on the Moon.

[Dr Mordrid]

Zowie!!

Business end of the 33 Raptor 2 engine Super Heavy booster (#7)

On the Starbase orbital launch pad, prepping for proof tests, cryotests, static fires, etc.*

Thrust,

17 million lb-force
7712 tonne-force

https://twitter.com/PPathole/status/1509572608152719360

20220404_161559.jpg

[Dr Mordrid]

Starship HLS elevator prototype

Starship HLS is targeting a 2024-2025 uncrewed test landing at the lunar South Pole. Assuming all goes well, it will do a crewed landing about 2 years later, the NASA Artemis 3 mission.

https://twitter.com/SpcPlcyOnline/status/1562161422003589121

https://twitter.com/SpcPlcyOnline/status/1562168280709824513

20220825_183834.jpg

20220825_183616.jpg