Five US Major Tech Firms To Develop Artemis Program Lunar Landing Concepts - NASA

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th September, 2021) NASA has chosen five leading US advanced technology and defense contractors to help it develop concepts for repeated manned landings and missions on the Moon as part of the Artemis Program, the agency announced on Tuesday.

"NASA has selected five US companies to help the agency enable a steady pace of crewed trips to the lunar surface under the agency's Artemis program," the release said. "These companies will make advancements toward sustainable human landing system concepts ...to cultivate industry capabilities for crewed lunar landing missions."

The awards were issued under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP-2) and are worth a combined value of $146 million, and the work will be conducted over the next 15 months, the release said.

"The selected companies will develop lander design concepts, evaluating their performance, design, construction standards, mission assurance requirements, interfaces, safety, crew health accommodations, and medical capabilities. The companies will also mitigate lunar lander risks by conducting critical component tests," the release said.

The companies are: Blue Origin Federation of Kent, Washington, $25.6 million; Dynetics of Huntsville, Alabama, $40.8 million; Lockheed Martin of Littleton, Colorado, $35.2 million; Northrop Grumman of Dulles, Virginia, $34.8 million and SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, $9.4 million, the release added.