NASA, in collaboration with its partners, is embarking on an ambitious mission to explore the Moon through the Artemis campaign. As part of this endeavor, SpaceX and Blue Origin, the agency’s human landing system providers, are now developing large cargo landers. These modified versions of the human lunar landers will be capable of delivering up to 15 metric tons of cargo to the Moon’s surface.
Concept design of a large cargo lander on the lunar surface. (Image Credit: Boeing).
Key Highlights
- Payloads may include essential equipment like pressurized rovers.
- These cargo variants won’t have human life support systems.
- The goal is to maximize scientific exploration and pave the way for long-term lunar research.
New Delhi: NASA is planning to return to the Moon with the ambitious Artemis campaign, which will see astronauts assemble a semipermanent base on the Moon, to act as a staging ground for future deep space missions to the outer Solar System, and to rehearse crewed missions to Mars . NASA has anticipated a requirement for large cargo landers, and is looking to source them from private American companies.
NASA has already contracted SpaceX and Blue Origin for crewed landers to provide astronauts with access to the lunar surface. Now, NASA has asked the two companies to develop cargo versions of their human lunar landers, capable of delivering up to 15 metric tons of payload to the lunar surface. The cargo landers are expected to be in service before the Artemis VII mission, currently slotted for 2031.
NASA expects the cargo landers to be variants of the landers for humans currently being developed for the Artemis III, IV and V missions. The differences will be in the payload interfaces and deployment mechanisms, with the cargo craft not requiring to have human life support systems.
The landers may be used to deliver rovers to the lunar surface
Human Landing System Program Manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Lisa Watson-Morgan says, “It’s essential that NASA has the capability to land not just astronauts, but large pieces of equipment, such as pressurized rovers, on the Moon for maximum return on science and exploration activities. Beginning this work now allows SpaceX and Blue Origin to leverage their respective human lander designs to provide cargo variants that NASA will need in the future.”
In the past, NASA used to contract the development of space vehicles to private industries, before operating it themselves. Now, the private companies are required to operate the spacecraft for NASA as well. NASA is also looking to source Moon buggies from private industries for lunar exploration.
