NASA quietly postponed its plan last week to award two high-profile manned lunar lander contracts, pushing the finish line back two months for a pivotal program under the Trump administration’s hasty timeline to get astronauts to the moon by 2024. With short funding from Congress and a new government focused on more pressing national issues, the move was expected.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX, a team of aerospace giants led by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, and Leidos-owned Dynetics, jointly won $ 967 million in seed funding from NASA last year to develop rival concepts for a human lunar landing system . It is the space agency’s first attempt to spend money on astronauts’ lunar lands since the Apollo program in the 1970s.
Last Wednesday, NASA told the three contractors that an extension to their development contracts “will be required,” and chose a new grant date of April 30. According to the Trump administration’s timeline, the agency planned to choose two of the three bidders in late February, giving a stamp of approval for two systems that would inevitably take people to the moon.
The delay was almost certain: The spending bill passed by Congress in December gives NASA $ 850 million for the Human Landing System program, well below the $ 3.2 billion it took to adhere to the 2024 timeline. But NASA remained committed to the February award date and, similarly, the 2024 moonshot. A delay was also expected as Biden’s team waits to release space policies and focus more on climate change and curbing pandemic, leaving the long-term fate of NASA’s Artemis program uncertain.
Now NASA says the delay is to give it more time to evaluate the bidders’ proposals and to “retain the ability to switch seamlessly” from the development phase, but added that it may not cover the full extension period. needs and could award the lander contracts earlier. The expansion also gives the companies more time to design and develop their lander systems, NASA said.
SpaceX’s lunar lander field to NASA is Starship, an approximately 16-story fully reusable vehicle that the company launched and landed in short, sub-orbital test flights – dubbed “hops” – in Boca Chica, Texas. The company’s chunk of development money was $ 135 million.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin received the top award, $ 579 million, for the development of his Blue Moon lander. The company announced in 2019 a “National Team” consisting of Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper to work on the project. Dynetics was awarded $ 253 million for its lander and is partnering with Sierra Nevada Corp.
The Biden administration has yet to choose a NASA administrator or release space policy targets, but it is expected to delay the Artemis program’s moon sprint by 2024 – a date widely considered unrealistic. This month, the government announced its team to the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy and chose pioneering geneticist Eric Lander as Biden’s chief science adviser.
Trump’s NASA chief Jim Bridenstine left office on inauguration day after serving since 2018 and spawning the Artemis program. He handed over control to his number 2, Steve Jurczyk as acting administrator.