NASA has awarded a NextSTEP-2 Appendix P Sustaining Lunar Development contract to Blue Origin.

Blue Origin’s National Team partners include Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic, and Honeybee Robotics.

Under this contract, Blue Origin and its partners will develop and fly both a lunar lander that can make a precision landing anywhere on the Moon’s surface and a cislunar transporter.

These vehicles are powered by LOX-LH2. The high-specific impulse of LOX-LH2 provides a dramatic advantage for high-energy deep space missions. Nevertheless, lower performing but more easily storable propellants (such as hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide as used on the Apollo lunar landers) have been favored for these missions because of the problematic boil-off of LOX-LH2 during their long mission timelines. Through this contract, we will move the state of the art forward by making high-performance LOX-LH2 a storable propellant combination.

“Under SLD, we will develop and fly solar-powered 20-degree Kelvin cryocoolers and the other technologies required to prevent LOX-LH2 boil-off,” said a Blue Origin release. “Future missions beyond the Moon, and enabling capabilities such as high-performance nuclear thermal propulsion, will benefit greatly from storable LH2. Blue Origin’s architecture also prepares for that future day when lunar ice can be used to manufacture LOX and LH2 propellants on the Moon.”

Blue Origin and its partners are already at work and are excited to be on this journey with NASA.

“Congratulations to Blue Origin on this achievement. Lockheed Martin is excited to be part of Blue Origin’s National Team and we are looking forward to building humanity’s first Cislunar Transporter,” said Kirk Shireman, vice president of Lunar Exploration Campaigns at Lockheed Martin Space. “We value Blue Origin’s thoughtful approach to developing human-rated flight systems and are thrilled to be part of a diverse team that combines innovation, deep experience and a strong industrial base.”

Partner Boeing released the following statement: “Boeing is honored to continue supporting NASA’s deep space mission objectives as a part of Blue Origin’s National Team for the NextSTEP2-BAA Appendix P contract. We believe our decades of experience maintaining a human spaceflight program, alongside our partners’ expertise, will ensure a vehicle that can provide transport to the Moon safely, quickly and sustainably.”