COTS Lunar lander Inititative

SpaceNut · 2014-01-19 13:58:47

NASA announces Commercial Lunar lander inititative

In an effort to further NASA’s increasing involvement with commercial companies, the space agency has announced that it is researching opportunities to have commercial companies develop spacecraft capable of landing on the Moon.
NASA is looking for proposals from possible commercial partners which, according to a NASA-issued press release, it hopes will lead to, “reliable and cost-effective commercial robotic lunar lander capabilities that will enable the delivery of payloads to the lunar surface.”
On Monday, Jan. 27, NASA will host a teleconference where those interested in submitting proposals will have the opportunity to query NASA about what this new announcements entails. After that, interested firms will have until Mar. 17 to submit their proposals. If everything proceeds apace, selections will be made in April and Space Act Agreements (SAAs) announced the month after that.
NASA views the benefits as two-fold. First there is the commercial benefit of lunar exploration and exploitation. The Moon is awash in resources such as titanium, water and various other minerals and metals as well as what some view as an important fuel source the rare (on Earth) isotope helium 3 (China has made statements which suggest its interest in the Moon is less about prestige and more about the resources contained there). Secondly is the scientific missions of exploration that the space agency would like to accomplish on the Moon.

louis · 2014-01-19 17:59:29

NASA is a sad parody of its former self.

Obviously just a reaction to the Chinese runaround robot.

SpaceNut · 2014-01-19 20:39:12

Was it an xprize or google I dont remember but Morpheus was the only one to take off and land on another pad.

Under Lunar CATALYST these firms are required to land payloads ranging from 66 – 220 lbs (30 to 100 kilograms) and 551 to 1,102 lbs (250 to 500 kilograms) to a variety of lunar destinations.

RGClark · 2014-01-22 09:05:54

SpaceNut wrote:

NASA announces Commercial Lunar lander inititative
In an effort to further NASA’s increasing involvement with commercial companies, the space agency has announced that it is researching opportunities to have commercial companies develop spacecraft capable of landing on the Moon.
NASA is looking for proposals from possible commercial partners which, according to a NASA-issued press release, it hopes will lead to, “reliable and cost-effective commercial robotic lunar lander capabilities that will enable the delivery of payloads to the lunar surface.”
On Monday, Jan. 27, NASA will host a teleconference where those interested in submitting proposals will have the opportunity to query NASA about what this new announcements entails. After that, interested firms will have until Mar. 17 to submit their proposals. If everything proceeds apace, selections will be made in April and Space Act Agreements (SAAs) announced the month after that.

Lunar CATALYST is a good step. However, it is interesting to note they are limiting it to small cargo landers. Why? Perhaps because of the realization that a large lander could also be used for manned missions. The primary impetus for this program was Bigelow’s drive for private manned bases on the Moon, so it is odd that man-capable landers are excluded.

NASA’s commercial space program for LEO flight has shown an order of magnitude reduction in development costs by following the commercial space approach. The obvious thing to try is to extend this to BEO missions as well.

In fact it might even be two orders of magnitude cheaper for such a commercial space lunar lander. NASA has stated we can’t return to the Moon because, by their estimates, a lunar lander would cost $10 billion. However, Dave Masten of Masten Space Systems is working on a Centaur-derived lander he calls Xeus that he estimates can be developed for only $50 million. At the very least NASA should be supporting such efforts by SAA agreements, if not in fact partially-funding them by using the cost-sharing partnerships proven so successful with their commercial space program.

Bob Clark

Last edited by RGClark (2014-01-22 09:08:15)

SpaceNut · 2014-01-22 19:46:00

The company has been rather quite...

http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacet … asten.html

Masten's Kyle Nyberg observes the Xombie vehicle on the pad prior to flight test operations. Xombie won the Level One, second place prize of $150,000 in the 2009 Lunar Lander Challenge.

http://nineplanets.org/news/masten-xombie-technology/

Masten Space Systems tested a new “Xombie technology” experimental vertical-takeoff and landing rocket along collaboratively with the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center to test a new algorithm for “pinpoint” landing of spacecraft on other planets. Masten was involved with the sky crane landing of Curiosity on Mars and judging from that the term “pinpoint” isn’t just hyperbole.

RGClark · 2014-01-22 21:23:18

What they have been doing lately including discussion of the Xeus lunar lander here:

Profile | Joel Scotkin, Chief Executive, Masten Space Systems.
By Dan Leone | Jan. 7, 2013
http://www.spacenews.com/article/profil … ce-systems

Bob Clark

SpaceNut · 2016-12-01 21:12:37

Wow what ever happened to this program?

RGClark · 2017-03-14 08:19:24

SpaceNut wrote:

Wow what ever happened to this program?

With the current administration wanting to return to the Moon perhaps the Xeus lander will get funding. More about the Xeus lander:

Xeus.
Under Development in Partnership with ULA.
http://masten.aero/vehicles-2/xeus/

I actually favor multiple commercial approaches to our returning to the Moon, such as the lunar cargo lander being planned by Blue Origin:

Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin propose ‘Amazon-like’ delivery to the moon in 2020.
BY ALAN BOYLE on March 2, 2017 at 7:32 pm
http://www.geekwire.com/2017/blue-moon- … ding-2020/

The planned lander is to carry a 10,000 pound payload to the lunar surface. This is about the size of the gross mass of the ascent stage of the Apollo lunar lander.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Lu … cent_stage

Actually a lighter ascent stage could be formed using the, already built and tested, methane Morpheus lander:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mo … ifications

Then the Blue Origin cargo lunar lander planned for 2020 could serve as the descent stage of a manned lander in 2020 also.

Bob Clark

SpaceNut · 2019-08-18 21:17:45

seems Nasa is ready to work on the key element needed for a moon landing.

NASA picks Alabama's 'Rocket City' for lunar lander job

Marshall Space Flight Center beat out Houston's Johnson Space Center and three Republican members of Congress from Texas are not happy about NASA's pick (Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, and Rep. Brian Babin — had asked that the decision be reconsidered. ).

The new lunar lander — not yet built or even designed — is meant to carry an American woman and a man to the moon's south pole by 2024. Under the plan, the astronauts will depart for the surface from a small space station around the moon and return there.

When asked why he chose Marshall, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine explained to reporters that propulsion is a critical element of lunar landers.
"I would argue that when it comes to propulsion, there is no place in the world that is more experienced and better than the Marshall Space Flight Center," he said.
"it is absolutely true that when you think about the module where our astronauts will be, that cannot be done without the Johnson Space Center."
More than a third of the 360 jobs — 140 — will be at Marshall. Eighty-seven will be at Johnson and the rest elsewhere.

Not going to be off the shelf....

SpaceNut · 2019-10-02 18:20:11

NASA opens call for Artemis lunar landers

NASA is expected to make multiple awards to industry to develop and demonstrate a human landing system. The first company to complete its lander will carry astronauts to the surface in 2024, and the second company will land in 2025. Typical spaceflight hardware can take six to eight years to develop. With less than five years to land astronauts on the Moon, every word and requirement counts.

artemis-program-intuitive-machines-nova-c-lunar-lander-marker-hg.jpg

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis

Artemis details

SpaceNut · 2019-10-06 14:45:00

Seems that we have a company that wants to SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to blast off in 2021 with private lunar lander developed and created by Houston-based Intuitive Machines will blast off into space and toward Earth's moon.

With its ability to carry some 220 pounds of space instruments, Nova-C will be fitted with five NASA payloads for its journey. After arriving on the moon, the lander is expected to send data back to Earth for a period of 13.5 Earth days.

SpaceNut · 2019-11-27 21:01:38

It seems that Nasa's SLS and Orion have become to much for the old guard to build a lunar lander and are looking for others to help with there wants and desires. The Altair was to be able to go to the moon on its own rocket such that it was going to be a 2 rocket launch to get there but at least we would be there and now ....
NASA Shares Mid-Sized Robotic Lunar Lander Concept with Industry

In one recent study, NASA developed a concept for a mid-sized lander that would deliver a rover to the polar regions of the Moon. This design focuses on demonstrating a highly accurate, large payload lunar landing vehicle. The system-level requirements focus on maximizing the mass delivered to the surface while maintaining landing site accuracy.
"This lander was designed with simplicity in mind to deliver a 300 kilogram rover to a lunar pole,"

So what are the things that we need in the landers design?

The solar panels on the roof does 2 things in that it acts as a sun shade and energy source for the crew which means they will be able to stay longer than Apollo did.

Of course this is for cargo but what is there going to be for man?

https://www.nasa.gov/content/commercial … d-services

SpaceNut · 2020-04-08 23:14:01

Masten wins NASA lunar lander award

Masten won a task order for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program valued at $75.9 million. Masten will deliver nine science and technology demonstration payloads to the lunar surface near the south pole by December 2022 on the company’s XL-1 lander.
The CLPS payloads, with a mass of about 80 kilograms, will serve as the initial, anchor customer for that mission, Sean Mahoney, chief executive of Masten, said in an interview. He said there are “hundreds” of kilograms of additional payload space available on the lander, and that the company is working to line up additional customers.

SpaceNut · 2020-07-17 20:48:54

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa … -services/

https://www.nasa.gov/nextstep/humanlander

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-seeks … s-on-moon/

https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/04/30/c … -concepts/

https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/orga … s-program/

Bezos unveiled the BE-7 engine, which will be used to control the lander’s descent. The Blue Moon lander weighs roughly 33,000 pounds when it’s loaded with fuel, but by the time it touches down on the lunar surface, it will weigh a mere 7,000 pounds.

https://www.wired.com/story/the-physics … s-surface/

https://space.stackexchange.com/questio … -a-cryogen

http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi- … etype=.pdf

SpaceNut · 2020-09-16 19:54:00

NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) program
The Human Landing System is a part of the $976 million worth of contracts that NASA awarded to Dynetics, SpaceX and the 'National Team' led by Blue Origin and consisting of Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper Laboratory

Will this lander carry humans to the moon? Dynetics unveils lunar mock-up

Dynetics is one of three companies that received HLS contracts from NASA in April for initial design studies of a lander that can transport astronauts to and from the lunar surface. The Dynetics lander relies on in-space refueling to be able to carry out its mission. That refueling will initially be done by additional launches carrying propellant that is transferred to the lander. The lander will be launched on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket. For the initial 2024 landing mission, Laurini said that launch will be followed by two additional Vulcan launches. Propellant from those rockets’ Centaur upper stages will be transferred to the lander.
One challenge with this approach is with “boiloff,” or loss of cryogenic propellants as they warm up. To address this, Dynetics plans to carry out the Vulcan Centaur launches on “14 to 20 day centers,” or roughly two to three weeks apart, said Kim Doering, vice president of space systems at Dynetics. “We worked closely with NASA on our concept of operations, and the Orion plans, to ensure that our operational scenario is viable and feasible.”
That in-space refueling technology will be tested in space prior to a crewed flight of the lander. “We have put together a plan that will demonstrate all of the critical functions of the lander. We will demonstrate in-orbit refueling of the lander,” Doering said. “We’ll check everything out before we put a crew on that lander.”
In the long term, propellant for the Dynetics lander could come from other sources. Laurini said the lander could be a customer for future commercial propellant depots around the moon, or use propellant created from extracting water ice on the lunar surface. “Having the ability to fill our liquid oxygen tanks on the lunar surface could enable new mission classes,” she said, “like hopping around to other parts of the moon to accomplish some key science objectives.”

DYNETICS-HUMAN-LANDING-SYSTEM-MOCKUP-SCHEMATICS-740x410.png

SpaceNut · 2020-11-06 18:43:06

Not your Grandfathers LEM... Northrop Grumman updates Transfer Element portion of National Team lunar lander

part of a three-piece Human Landing System (HLS) lunar lander.
major elements provided by the companies:
1.Transfer Element – Northrop Grumman
2.Descent Element – Blue Origin
The initial descent will be performed by the BE-7 engine using liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid hydrogen that will have been in space for a maximum of five/six months at that point — given design lifetimes for the Transfer Element.
3.Ascent Element – Lockheed Martin
4.Descent Software and Flight Avionics – Draper

SpaceNut · 2020-12-28 21:43:48

Waiting is the hardest thing to do... SpaceX, Blue Origin, Dynetics await NASA lunar lander decision

Restructured but text is all there...

SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, Calif., is developing the Starship, a fully integrated lander intended for launch on the Starship Super Heavy rocket. It also is being developed, having completed a prototype test flight to nearly 8 miles high Dec. 9
Blue Origin, of Kent, Wash., plans to develop a three-stage lander to be launched on its own New Glenn rocket and United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket. But neither of those rockets has launched; both are being developed.
All three proposed landers could be refueled at the moon, but Dynetics' lander is designed to be easily reusable for multiple hops around the moon, Robert Wright, Dynetics' program manager, said in an interview Thursday.
Both SpaceX and Blue Origin would require a crew to descend on long ladders from a cabin high atop a landing vehicle.
But putting the crew cabin higher over the ground is an advantage for Blue Origin's lander, Blue Moon, the company's chief scientist Steve Squyres said in a recent video news release. Therefore, he said, the Blue Moon lander would put the crew and ascent engines on top, "out of harm's way." "When you land on an unprepared surface, on no landing pad, there are bad things that can happen," such as rocket thrusters kicking up sharp rocks, Squyres said. "The other thing that can happen is you can crunch your engine on the ground when you land."
Dynetics' lander will provide ascent and descent capabilities and also is planned to be launched on the Vulcan. Dynetics is a tech and engineering firm and a subsidiary of engineering firm Leidos. Dynetics is the only lander with a horizontal crew cabin, as opposed to an upright, vertical cabin, which would allow faster and easier access to the lunar surface, Wright said. Dynetics' Wright said the company's lander still protects the engines with its design, which shows the bottom of a barrel-shaped capsule extending below the engines to protect them from the ground.
"Having the horizontal capsule, or chamber, means astronauts would have more room to put spacesuits on, and a dust barrier to prevent gritty moon dust from entering the quarters."

SpaceNut · 2022-04-23 07:41:20

Repost

Mars_B4_Moon wrote:

NASA Selects Private Companies To Ship Supplies, Science To The Moon Ahead Of Human Missions
https://www.wmfe.org/nasa-selects-priva … ons/112552

SpaceNut · 2024-01-27 13:26:43

Vertex Moon mission getting closer to launch

Lunar Vertex is NASA's first so-called PRISM mission (Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon). PRISM taps into the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program that uses privately built landers to deliver NASA science and other payloads to the lunar surface.
PRISM missions are meant to be lower-cost, faster-to-flight programs. There is a mass limit of just over 100 pounds (45 kilograms) - so the science instruments have to be small - and the budget for the first PRISM suite is just $30 million (excluding the lander and the launch vehicle).
Lunar Vertex is first in line, and recently has hit a number of major milestones on its way to a June 2024 launch. Vertex will put a rover on the Moon at the mysterious "lunar swirl" Reiner Gamma.

BB1hjU2l.img?w=620&h=416&m=6

looks good

Mars_B4_Moon · 2024-03-03 14:45:30

NASA largely satisfied with Intuitive Machines lunar delivers despite 'challenges'

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA … s_999.html

New Mars Forums

Announcement

#1 2014-01-19 13:58:47

COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#2 2014-01-19 17:59:29

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#3 2014-01-19 20:39:12

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#4 2014-01-22 09:05:54

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#5 2014-01-22 19:46:00

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#6 2014-01-22 21:23:18

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#7 2016-12-01 21:12:37

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#8 2017-03-14 08:19:24

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#9 2019-08-18 21:17:45

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#10 2019-10-02 18:20:11

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#11 2019-10-06 14:45:00

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#12 2019-11-27 21:01:38

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#13 2020-04-08 23:14:01

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#14 2020-07-17 20:48:54

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#15 2020-09-16 19:54:00

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#16 2020-11-06 18:43:06

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#17 2020-12-28 21:43:48

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#18 2022-04-23 07:41:20

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#19 2024-01-27 13:26:43

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

#20 2024-03-03 14:45:30

Re: COTS Lunar lander Inititative

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