American space giant NASA has announced its plans for a second human lunar lander for the first time since the 1970s for its Artemis program that is the agency’s major spaceflight initiative to send humans back to the moon.
Competition To Build The Vehicle
There is a tough competition between companies as NASA is calling on commercial space companies to propose their ideas for the lunar lander that can take people to and from the Moon’s orbit and the lunar surface, with the target to get it ready by 2026 or 2027.
But here’s the thing, NASA already has a contract with SpaceX for its Artemis program which it awarded to SpaceX worth $2.9 billion to develop the lander which aims to land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon.
NASA had originally wanted to pick two companies for the program to have a competition and to keep costs down, the three finalists being- SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynamics. But the agency ultimately chose one due to budget constraints.
The Winning Bid
NASA had requested Congress for $3.4 billion to fund the Artemis project for the year 2021 but received only $850 million i.e., 25 % of what was asked. Due to this NASA went with SpaceX as it offered the most affordable bid.
The Lawsuit
But picking one finalist didn’t set well with the losing Blue Origin . Hence, Blue Origin decided to sue NASA in the federal court but lost. In October, the Senate Appropriation Committee introduced a bill that would direct NASA to pick a second company but in the most recent budget bill it was not forced to do so and also received the full $1.195 billion that the agency asked for to develop the lunar landers. NASA is announcing official plans to select another company ahead of President’s Joe Biden’s budget request expected next week.
