In one Press release published on March 23, NASA finally made known its desire to develop a second lander, alongside SpaceX’s Starship. According to the US space agency, “Competition leads to better quality results with greater reliability”.
NASA wants two landers
This is a new twist for the Artemis program. If NASA initially planned to select two partners to play the competition and put all the chances on its side, the American agency had finally selected only one company, lack of budget : SpaceX. In 2021, the space agency awarded a unique contract to SpaceX worth 2.9 billion dollars (2.6 billion euros), to develop a spacecraft (the Starship) and a lander capable of carrying humans to and from the lunar surface.
The EU agrees on the Digital Markets Act!
Currently, NASA and SpaceX are already working on the realization of the first Artemis lander. It will be ready in 2025, although many experts believe that is totally unlikely. The second lander requested by NASA will have to be ready for “2026 or 2027”, according to the US Space Agency. NASA logically had to choose two partners among the three finalists : SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynetics. Unfortunately, the agency received only 25% of the budget requested from Congress, that is to say only 850 million dollars (770 million euros).
What to worry about SpaceX?
As a result, NASA chose SpaceX, in part because the company offered the most affordable deal. This decision was obviously not well taken by the other finalists. Blue Origin even filed suit against the United States Federal Court. Jeff Bezos’ company accused the American agency of have chosen only one company to design the lander that will land humans on the Moon. Blue Origin absolutely wants to be part of this adventure and there may be a chance that it will happen.
According to NASA Director Bill Nelson, “Competition benefits everyone. NASA takes advantage of this. It benefits the American people. I promised there would be competition, so here it is”. NASA’s new partner will be selected this year, before the summer. Everybody, except SpaceX which is already part of the Artemis program, can compete in this new competition to obtain a contract with NASA. In light of this announcement, the space agency adds that it will make some changes to the existing contract with SpaceX.
No change for the Artemis III mission which will be to put humans on the Moon again. In contrast, NASA later planned to purchase Starship flights to continue returning to the Moon regularly. According to NASA’s statement, the second company chosen this year will most likely compete with SpaceX for other lunar missions.