Designer | National Team (Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Draper Laboratory) |
---|---|
Country of origin | US |
Applications | crewed lunar lander |
Production | |
Status | Selected by NASA as the second HLS Lander |
Built | 0 |
The Integrated Lander Vehicle (ILV) was a human spaceflight lunar lander design concept proposed in 2020/21 for the NASA Human Landing System (HLS) component of the Artemis program. Blue Origin was the lead contractor for the multi-element lunar lander that was to include major components from several large US government space contractors including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper Laboratory.
The lander concept was initiated in 2019, and in April 2020, Blue Origin won a US$579 million contract from NASA for a year-long design concept study to be completed in early 2021 in competition with two other designs. [1] [2] NASA had intended to subsequently issue build and test contracts to one or two of the three 2020 awardees in order to advance the human landing element of the Artemis Program. In the event, the ILV proposal was not selected by NASA in April 2021, and a sole HLS award was won by SpaceX with the Starship HLS proposal. [3] [4] [5]
Blue Origin protested the award to SpaceX at the US Government Accountability Office, but lost the protest by late July. [6] [7] In mid-August, Blue Origin filed a lawsuit in the US Court of Federal Claims challenging "NASA's unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals." [6] [8]
The National Team of Blue Origin/Northrop Grumman/Lockheed-Martin/Draper was just one of three organizations who developed lunar lander designs for the Artemis program over a year-long period in 2020–21 under the NASA HLS funding rubric. The funding for the design process during 2020/21 was that NASA would pay the combined contractors US$579 million in design development funding. The other teams selected were Dynetics—with SNC and other unspecified companies with the Dynetics Human Landing System (DHLS)—with US$253 million in NASA funding, and SpaceX, with its Starship HLS concept, with US$135 million in NASA design funding. [2] [1]
Initial design work for the Integrated Lander Vehicle began in 2019. [9]
ILV was designed by "the National Team", consisting of Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper. [1] [2] Blue Origin led the combined integration effort, and designed the descent element. Northrop Grumman designed the transfer element, for the initial engine firing to place the ILV on a trajectory from the Gateway space station in NRHO (near-rectilinear halo orbit) and toward the lunar surface with an initial descent burn. Lockheed-Martin designed the ascent element, that will depart the lunar surface and return the astronauts to the Gateway and Orion capsule in lunar orbit. [9]
The HLS initial design phase was planned to be a ten-month program, ending on 28 February 2021, [10] where NASA planned to evaluate which contractors would be offered contracts for initial demonstration missions and select firms for development and maturation of their lunar lander system designs in February. [11] [12] However, on 27 January 2021, NASA informed each of the HLS contractors that the original ten-month program would be extended two months to end on or before 30 April 2021. [10]
On April 16, 2021, NASA rejected Integrated Lander Vehicle and instead selected Starship HLS for crewed lunar lander development [5] plus the two lunar demonstration flights, in a contract valued at US$2.94 billion over several years. [13] [4] There were technical weaknesses identified in the Blue Origin proposal which was not selected. "Immature propulsion and communications systems, along with concerns about third party suppliers, 'create serious doubt as to the realism of Blue Origin's proposed development schedule,' according to the source selection statement" from NASA. The significant redesigns necessary of ILV to build "a more sustainable architecture" for the long term were also called into question. Additionally, NASA found that Blue Origin did not provide a comprehensive plan to operate the vehicle commercially, beyond the NASA contracted work. [3]
Although NASA had previously stated it wanted multiple dissimilar Human Landing Systems, "only one design was selected for an initial uncrewed demonstration and the first crewed landing, due to significant budget constraints" based on the HLS funds allocated by Congress. NASA has indicated that Blue Origin would be free to compete for subsequent missions that are not a part of the initial two demonstration flights. [3] It is unclear what plans exist within Blue Origin for continuing on with the work, considering the Moon landing system architecture had become dependent on the existence of major subsystems being designed and built by other vendors, who also did not receive more NASA funding after early 2021. [9]
Blue Origin protested the award to SpaceX at the US Government Accountability Office, but lost the protest. [6] On 30 July 2021, the GAO rejected the protest and found that "NASA did not violate procurement law" in awarding the contract to SpaceX, who bid a much lower cost and more capable human and cargo lunar landing capability for NASA Artemis. [7] [14] Soon after the appeal was rejected, a contracted payment of $300 million was made to SpaceX. [15] The protest action delayed NASA from authorizing work on the contract, and thus delayed the start of work by SpaceX for 95 days. [6]
In mid-August, Blue Origin filed a lawsuit in the US Court of Federal Claims challenging "NASA's unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals." [6] [8]
The ILV lander system design consisted of three elements: a transfer element, a descent element, and an ascent element. ILV was proposed to be used for long-duration crewed lunar landings as part of NASA's Artemis program. The Integrated Lander Vehicle (ILV)—also known as the "National HLS"[ citation needed ]—was designed for long-duration in-space use, as well as long stays on the lunar surface. [9] The Blue Origin ILV system was proposed to NASA to dock in lunar orbit either with the Lunar Gateway or with the Orion crew vehicle. [16]
If built, the ILV HLS variant was tentatively planned to be launched to lunar orbit by one of several different launch vehicles—including, potentially, the Blue Origin New Glenn or the United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur—for the lunar transit to join up with the NASA Lunar Gateway and a NASA crew to be shuttled to the lunar surface. In the mission concept, a NASA Orion spacecraft would carry the NASA crew to the lander where they would depart and descend to the lunar surface in the ILV. After lunar surface operations, the ILV ascent element would ascend and return the crew to the Orion. [1] [2]
To be built by Northrop Grumman based on Cygnus cargo vehicle. Uses the BE-7 engine.
To be built by Blue Origin, based on Blue Moon proposal - To use BE-7 engine. [16]
To be built by Lockheed-Martin - based on technology used in Orion capsule. Uses 3 XLR-132 engines for main propulsion.
A lunar module is a lunar lander designed to allow astronauts to travel between a spacecraft in lunar orbit and the lunar surface. As of 2021, the Apollo Lunar Module is the only lunar module to have ever been used in human spaceflight, completing six lunar landings from 1969 to 1972 during the United States' Apollo program.
Blue Origin Enterprises, L.P., commonly referred to as Blue Origin is an American aerospace manufacturer, government contractor, launch service provider, and space technologies company headquartered in Kent, Washington, United States. The company makes rocket engines for United Launch Alliance (ULA)'s Vulcan rocket and manufactures their own rockets, spacecraft, satellites, and heavy-lift launch vehicles. The company is the second provider of lunar lander services for NASA's Artemis program and was awarded a $3.4 billion contract. The four rocket engines the company has in production are the BE-3U, BE-3PM, BE-4 and the BE-7.
A lunar lander or Moon lander is a spacecraft designed to land on the surface of the Moon. As of 2024, the Apollo Lunar Module is the only lunar lander to have ever been used in human spaceflight, completing six lunar landings from 1969 to 1972 during the United States' Apollo Program. Several robotic landers have reached the surface, and some have returned samples to Earth.
The Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) was a component of the U.S. NASA Vision for Space Exploration plan. A competition was held to design a spacecraft that could carry humans to the destinations envisioned by the plan. The winning design was the Orion spacecraft.
Dynetics is an American applied science and information technology company headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama. Its primary customers are the United States Department of Defense (DoD), the United States Intelligence Community, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Artemis 3 is planned to be the first crewed Moon landing mission of the Artemis program and the first crewed flight of the Starship HLS lander. Artemis 3 is planned to be the second crewed Artemis mission and the first American crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in December 1972. In December 2023, the Government Accountability Office reported that the mission is not likely to occur before 2027; as of January 2024, NASA officially expects Artemis 3 to launch no earlier than September 2026 due to issues with the valves in Orion's life support system.
The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is a space station which is planned to be assembled in orbit around the Moon. The Gateway is intended to serve as a communication hub, science laboratory, and habitation module for astronauts as part of the Artemis program. It is a multinational collaborative project: participants include NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). The Gateway is planned to be the first space station beyond low Earth orbit.
Blue Moon is a family of lunar landers and their associated infrastructure, intended to carry humans and cargo to the Moon, under development by a consortium led by Blue Origin and including Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic, and Honeybee Robotics. Two versions of Blue Moon are under development: a robotic lander planned to land on the Moon in 2024, and a larger human lander planned to land a crew of four astronauts on the lunar surface for the NASA Artemis V mission in 2029.
The Artemis program is a Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. It is intended to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The program's stated long-term goal is to establish a permanent base on the Moon to facilitate human missions to Mars.
Artemis 4 is a planned mission of the NASA-led Artemis program. The mission will include the fourth use of a Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle, will send an Orion spacecraft with four astronauts to the Lunar Gateway space station, install a new module on the Gateway, and conduct the second lunar landing of the Artemis program.
Artemis 5 is the fifth planned mission of NASA's Artemis program and the first crewed flight of the Blue Moon lander. The mission will launch four astronauts on a Space Launch System rocket and an Orion to the Lunar Gateway and will be the third lunar landing of the Artemis program. In addition, Artemis V will also deliver two new elements to the Gateway Space Station.
The Boeing Human Landing System (HLS) was the name of a proposed lunar lander concept by Boeing that was submitted by Boeing to NASA on 5 November 2019 as part of the Artemis program and the NextSTEP H. The proposal was presented as the "quickest and simplest method" for a 2024 Moon landing. The lunar lander concept was not selected for funding by NASA as part of Artemis in the 30 April 2020 announcement.
Starship HLS is a lunar lander variant of the Starship spacecraft that is slated to transfer astronauts from a lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back. It is being designed and built by SpaceX under the Human Landing System contract to NASA as a critical element of NASA's Artemis program to land a crew on the Moon.
The Dynetics Autonomous Logistics Platform for All-Moon Cargo Access (ALPACA)—also known as Dynetics HLS—(ILV) is a human spaceflight lunar lander design concept proposed in 2020/21 for the NASA Human Landing System (HLS) component of the Artemis program. Dynetics was the lead contractor for the ALPACA lander—other contractors included Sierra Nevada Corporation—for NASA's Artemis Program.
A Human Landing System (HLS) is a spacecraft in the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Artemis program that is expected to land humans on the Moon. These are being designed to convey astronauts from the Lunar Gateway space station in lunar orbit to the lunar surface, sustain them there, and then return them to the Gateway station. As of 2024 NASA intends to use Starship HLS for Artemis III, an enhanced Starship HLS for Artemis IV, and a Blue Origin HLS for Artemis V.
Starlab is a planned LEO commercial space station, which is expected to launch no earlier than 2028. It is currently being designed by Starlab Space, a joint venture between Voyager Space and Airbus. It is planned to be launched before the decommissioning of the ISS.
On 13 August 2021, Blue Origin filed a complaint to the United States Court of Federal Claims about NASA's award of $2.9 billion to SpaceX. The award was used by the company to further develop Starship HLS, a lunar lander that NASA selected for the Artemis program. On 4 November 2021, the Court of Federal Claims dismissed the complaint, and the accompanying memorandum opinion was titled Blue Origin v. United States & Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Blue Origin's complaint and prior actions have received attention from the news media and spaceflight industries.
The Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) is an unpressurized rover being developed for NASA that astronauts can drive on the Moon while wearing their spacesuits. The development of the LTV is a part of NASA's Artemis Program, which involves returning astronauts to the Moon, specifically the lunar south pole, by 2026, but the LTV will not fly until Artemis V in 2030 at the earliest. The LTV will be the first crewed lunar rover developed by NASA since the Lunar Roving Vehicle used during the Apollo program.
The Commercial LEO Destinations program is a public/private partnership program of the NASA, to help facilitate the building of private commercial space stations (CSSs) in low Earth orbit.
protest prevented SpaceX from starting its contract for 95 days while the GAO adjudicated the case.