Blue Origin to try again for NASA contract to build a second lunar lander for Artemis III

Jeff Bezos’s aerospace company Blue Origin will try its luck again at obtaining a NASA contract as the agency is open for bids regarding the development of a second Moon crew lander for the Artemis III mission. As of now, only Elon Musk's Starship has a $2.9 billion contract for developing Starship Human Landing System (HLS) which it won in 2021. In a new announcement on March 24, NASA said that it would create additional opportunities for commercial companies to develop another vehicle under the contract named the Sustaining Lunar Development (SLD). 

NASA has planned the Artemis program to make humans return to the Moon after over five decades and says that it would ensure humanity's next big leap, a trip to Mars. Speaking of the forthcoming bidding, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said as per NASA, "Competition is critical to our success on the lunar surface and beyond, ensuring we have the capability to carry out a cadence of missions over the next decade". 

Blue Origin confirms its participation in the bidding

After losing the first contract to SpaceX, Blue Origin has confirmed that it would bid for the SLD award, CNBC's Michael Sheetz reported. In an official statement, the company said, "Blue Origin is thrilled that NASA is creating competition by procuring a second human lunar landing system ... Blue Origin is ready to compete and remains deeply committed to the success of Artemis." In addition to Bezos' firm, another US company Dynetics has also come up as a competitor for the contract as it said in its statement, "As a current performer on NASA's Appendix N contract, we have made great progress in our lander design and risk reduction. We look forward to reviewing the upcoming RFP and the opportunity to participate in the Artemis campaign". 

Talking about the idea of a second company, Lisa Watson-Morgan, program manager for the Human Landing System Program said as per NASA's statement, "We expect to have two companies safely carry astronauts in their landers to the surface of the Moon under NASA’s guidance before we ask for services, which could result in multiple experienced providers in the market". 

Image: Twitter/@NASA