WASHINGTON — Blue Origin revealed new details about its development of an Artemis lunar lander as the company nears the first launch of a smaller lander.
This opens up the solar system.” He didn’t offer schedules for testing the transporter or the Blue Moon Mark 2 lander.
Preparing Blue Moon Mark 1 Blue Origin is also working on the Blue Moon Mark 1, a robotic lander capable of placing up to three metric tons on the lunar surface.
Couluris confirmed at the conference that Blue Origin would fly the Blue Moon Mark 1 lander for the first time this year.
Blue Origin is building a second Blue Moon Mark 1 lander, about six to eight months behind the first.
WASHINGTON — As the company approaches the first launch of a smaller lander, Blue Origin disclosed new information regarding its development of an Artemis lunar lander.
Blue Origin’s senior vice president of lunar permanence, John Couluris, presented a new drawing of a “transporter” vehicle that will support its Blue Moon Mark 2 lander during his remarks at the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium’s spring meeting on May 19.
Since receiving a $3.4 billion award from NASA two years ago to construct Blue Moon Mark 2 for the Human Landing System (HLS) program, Blue Origin has not disclosed much about the architecture, including the transporter. Other businesses that were a part of the Blue Origin-led “National Team” were initially supposed to develop the transporter, but according to industry sources, Blue Origin has since taken over development of the transporter.
In reference to the transporter, he stated, “This vehicle has evolved significantly since we first won.”. The vehicle’s mission is still to gather liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant in Earth’s orbit before transferring it to a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the moon. From there, it will deliver the propellants to the Blue Moon lander so that it can land on the moon.
He did not say how many refuelings would be required, but he said the transporter will be put into low Earth orbit on a New Glenn rocket and then loaded with extra propellant from the upper stages of the New Glenn. The same seven-meter-diameter tanks as the upper stage will be used. “It uses the same assembly line instead of making custom tanks for individual vehicles,” he said.
The system’s “zero-boiloff” technology, which stops cryogenic propellant losses, is a crucial enabler. He stated that the company is making progress on the zero-boiloff technology, which keeps liquid hydrogen at 20 kelvins, or 20 degrees Celsius above absolute zero, and liquid oxygen at 90 kelvins. “You always hear, ‘wow, that’s hard to do,’ and it is hard to do,” he said.
Blue Origin has integrated its initial prototype and placed it in a thermal vacuum chamber in collaboration with NASA. He declared, “We will demonstrate that we are continuously holding hydrogen and oxygen as storable propellants by June.”. We plan to begin our flight units by December. “.”.
Couluris maintained that a breakthrough would occur if liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen could be stored for long periods of time. The propellant combination, which can be derived from water on the moon or other celestial bodies, performs the best among the main chemical propulsion systems.
According to him, a fully fueled transporter can move roughly 100 metric tons from Earth orbit to lunar orbit, with potential uses outside of the moon. He claimed that this vehicle could carry up to 30 metric tons to Martian orbit with only minor modifications, mostly on communications. It can cause the asteroid belt to open up. The solar system becomes open as a result. “”.
Schedules for testing the Blue Moon Mark 2 lander and the transporter were not provided by him. At a separate panel at the May 20 conference, Blue Origin’s Senior Director of Civil Space, Jacki Cortese, stated that the company anticipates performing both a crewed and an uncrewed test landing of Blue Moon Mark 2 before the end of the decade.
Getting ready for Blue Moon Mark 1.
Additionally, Blue Origin is developing the Blue Moon Mark 1, a robotic lander that can land up to three metric tons on the moon. Some of its technologies, like the BE-7 engine, are similar to those of the larger Mark 2 lander.
The Blue Moon Mark 1 lander will be flown by Blue Origin for the first time this year, Couluris confirmed during the conference. In order to fly a camera payload on that mission, the company was given a task order last year through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
He predicted that the Mark 1 lander would touch down on the moon’s south pole this year. In a facility in Florida, that lander is presently being put together. In roughly six weeks, the car will be ready to leave our factory, he stated. Following that, we ought to launch in a few months. “.”.
According to Cortese, the lander will first undergo testing in a sizable thermal vacuum chamber at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. After a seven-day journey to the moon, it will land on a New Glenn after returning to Florida for launch.
It will take Blue Origin six to eight months to build a second Blue Moon Mark 1 lander. “Now, we’re building with purpose to become hardware-rich,” Couluris stated. In the event that the first mission fails, “we’ll learn from it, we’ll learn from the objectives we succeeded in and the ones we didn’t succeed in, and we’ll incorporate those into the next vehicle.”. “.”.
Blue Moon is being worked on in a special facility, according to Cortese. She stated, “We intend for it to be a production line capability,” but she did not reveal the lander’s anticipated production rate. Citing supply chain issues, she continued, “It was really important for us to procure all hardware for two Mark 1 missions years ago.”.
Ideally, she stated, “Mark 1’s first mission will be successful, and we’ll be able to incorporate any findings and fly again.”. “We have another lander ready to go if it fails.”. For us, that was a very significant factor. “”.
