The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has awarded a total of $146 million for contracts under the agency’s Artemis program, it said in a statement. Blue Origin Federation was valued at $25.6 million, while SpaceX was valued at $9.4 million.
The highest award value of $40.8 million was achieved by Dianetics, a Leidos company, followed by Lockheed Martin for $35.2 million and Northrop Grumman for $34.8 million.
Over the next 15 months, the selected companies will develop lander design concepts, evaluate their performance, design, construction standards, mission assurance requirements, interfaces, safety, crew health accommodation and medical capabilities. Companies will also reduce lunar lander risks by conducting critical component tests and advancing maturity of key technologies.
“Establishing a long-term human presence on the Moon through recurring services using lunar landers is a major Artemis goal,” Cathy Laiders, NASA’s associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at Headquarters in Washington, said in the statement. “This important step lays the foundation for US leadership to learn more about the Moon and how to live and work in deep space for future missions to the Solar System.”
These awards are in addition to the Human Landing System contract awarded to SpaceX earlier this year, which is still being disputed.
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NASA’s Artemis mission includes landing the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface, sending a suite of new science instruments and technology demonstrations to study the Moon, and establishing a long-term presence there.
IANS. with inputs