How Nasa wants to land humans on the Moon with help from Bezos and Musk
Nasa is preparing for one of the most ambitious rehearsals in the history of human spaceflight as it works towards returning astronauts to the Moon
Nasa is preparing for one of the most ambitious rehearsals in the history of human spaceflight as it works towards returning astronauts to the Moon. Before humans step onto the lunar surface again, the US space agency plans to test two different commercial Moon landers in lunar orbit during the Artemis-III mission. One of the landers is built by Elon Musk's SpaceX and the other by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. Read Full Story The approach is designed to reduce risk and improve the safety of future Moon landings. Under the plan, astronauts aboard Nasa's Orion spacecraft will separately rendezvous and dock with both lunar landers in orbit around the Moon. The tests will allow engineers to evaluate how the spacecraft perform in space before astronauts use one of them to descend to the lunar surface. Nasa has said that the rehearsal will provide valuable operational data for future crewed lunar missions.
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas. (Photo: AP) WHY SPACEX AND BLUE ORIGIN? Instead of developing its own lunar lander, Nasa has awarded contracts to private companies under its Human Landing System (HLS) programme. SpaceX is developing a lunar version of its massive Starship spacecraft, while Blue Origin is building the Blue Moon lander. Having two independent systems gives Nasa greater flexibility and reduces the chances of delays if one vehicle encounters technical issues. A lunar lander is a spacecraft that ferries astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon's surface and back. Orion, by contrast, is designed to transport the crew between Earth and lunar orbit but is not built to land on the Moon. Illustration depicts Blue Origin's Blue Moon MK1 spacecraft on the surface of the moon. (Photo: AP) The dual-lander strategy is also expected to encourage competition and lower long-term costs while helping establish a sustained human presence on the Moon.
GETTING TO ARTEMIS-III Nasa's Artemis programme aims to return humans to the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972, with a long-term goal of building a sustainable presence near the lunar South Pole before eventually sending astronauts to Mars. The agency recently completed Artemis-II, its first crewed mission under the Artemis programme. The mission carried four astronauts around the Moon aboard the Orion spacecraft without landing, successfully testing the spacecraft's life-support systems, navigation and deep-space operations before a crewed landing attempt. Artemis-III, currently targeted for 2027, is expected to become the first mission to land astronauts near the Moon's South Pole. Scientists are particularly interested in this region because permanently shadowed craters may contain water ice, a resource that could one day provide drinking water, breathable oxygen and rocket fuel for future lunar bases. Introducing Artemis III.
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