19 May 2023 , 15:57
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Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos has today announced a $3.4 billion plan to travel to the moon in a collaboration with NASA - and bizarrely said it will be "to stay".
In a tweet, Bezos said: "Honored to be on this journey with @NASA to land astronauts on the Moon - this time to stay."
NASA awarded Bezos and his private rocket firm a $3.4billion contract to take astronauts back to the moon, said NASA's exploration chief Jim Free on Friday, May 19.
He continued to say, in his tweet: "Together, we'll be solving the boil-off problem and making LOX-LH2 a storable propellant combination, pushing forward the state of the art for all deep space missions."
Bezos' company, Blue Origin, is the second company to be awarded a contract as part of NASA's Artemis programme. The first was Elon Musk's SpaceX which won a $3 billion contract in 2021.
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It is unclear what Bezos meant by "to stay" but it appears to tease the prospect of a permanent human station on the Moon.
And it suggests a ramping up of the billionaire space wars as it hints at a more ambitious project than Musk's.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said: "Today we are excited to announce Blue Origin will build a human landing system as NASA's second provider to deliver Aretmis astronauts to the lunar surface.
"We are in a golden age of human spaceflight, which is made possible by NASA's commercial and international partnerships. Together, we are making an investment in the infrastructure that will pave the way to land the first astronauts on Mars."
The contract includes, in addition to design and development work, one uncrewed demonstration mission to the moon's surface before a crewed demo on the Artemis V mission in 2029.
A rendering of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander that will return astronauts to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program.A statement from Blue Origin says that under the contract, Blue Origin and National Team partners "will develop and fly both a lunar lander that can make a precision landing anywhere on the Moon's surface and a cislunar transporter."
NASA said Blue Origin "will design, develop, test, and varify its Blue Moon lander to meet NASA's human landing system requirements for recurring astronaut expeditions to the lunar surface, including docking with Gateway, a space station where crew transfer in lunar orbit."
The space agency went on to say that adding another human landing system to the Artemis programme will "increase competition, reduce costs to taxypayers, support a regular cadence of lunar landings, further invest in the lunar economy, and help NASA achieve its goals on and around the Moon in preparation for future astronaut missions to Mars."
Jess Bezos' Blue Origin company has been awarded a $3.4 billion contract with NASA (Formula 1 via Getty Images)In the Artemis V mission, NASA's Space Launch System rocket will launch four astronauts to lunar orbit aboard the Orion spacecraft. Once Orion docks with Gateway, two astronauts will then transfer to Blue Origin's human landing system which will take them on a week long trip to the Moon's South Pole region.
One here, they'll be carrying out science and exploration capabilities and "establishing the foundational systems to support recurring complex missions in lunar orbit and on the surface" as part of the Moon to Mars exploration approach.
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SpaceX was previously contracted to demonstrate an initial human landing system for the Artemis III mission. SpaceX was also asked to evolve its design to meet requirements for the sustainable exploration and to demonstrate the lander on Artemis IV.
The contract with Blue Origin to demonstrate on Artemis V a lander that meets the sustainable lander requirements, as well as capabilities for increased crew size, longer missions and taking more to the Moon means multiple providers will be able to compete for future opportunities for Artemis missions.
Jeff Bezos took to social media to announce the news""Having two distinct lunar lander designs, with different appraoches to how they meet NASA's mission needs, provides more robustness and ensures a regular cadence of Moon landings," explained Lisa Watson-Morgan, manager of the Human Landing System Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
"This competitive approach drives innovation, brings down costs, and invests in commercial capabilities to grow the business opportunities that can serve other customers and foster a lunar economy."
NASA's Artemis mission will see the first woman and first person of colour sent to the Moon. NASA will then take what they learn and establish on and around the Moon in order to, hopefully, send the first astronauts to Mars.