{"id":17091,"date":"2019-11-28T05:25:01","date_gmt":"2019-11-28T05:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/?p=17091"},"modified":"2020-06-09T12:39:11","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T12:39:11","slug":"new-companies-commit-to-commercial-lunar-payload-services-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/new-companies-commit-to-commercial-lunar-payload-services-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"New Companies Commit to Commercial Lunar Payload Services Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kevin Wilcox<\/a> | Appeal Knowledge services <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Expansion provides a wide array of approaches to landing science and technology on the Moon.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years before the first astronauts of NASA\u2019s Artemis program land on the Moon in 2024, the lunar surface will become a much busier place. NASA has increased the number of companies participating in the\u00a0Commercial Lunar Payload Services<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(CLPS) initiative \u00a0by more than 50 percent, in advance of plans to build to at least two deliveries per year. The companies bring diverse specialties to an initiative scheduled to begin deliveries to the lunar surface in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the eight companies that applied, NASA selected five: Blue Origin, Kent, Washington; Ceres Robotics, Palo Alto, California; Sierra Nevada Corporation, Louisville, Colorado; SpaceX, Hawthorne, California; and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems Inc., Irvine, California. They join nine companies selected in 2018. These companies can respond to NASA task orders to deliver science and technology demonstrations to the surface of the Moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The companies\u2019 different strengths provide NASA with diverse options for CLPS deliveries to the lunar surface, according to Steve Clarke, Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration at NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate. \u201c\u2026 As NASA continues to lean forward and use commercial services to explore the Moon, we want as many\u2014and as diverse\u2014ideas as we can on the table. So, we look forward to \u2026 hearing, reading, assessing those ideas when we put out those task orders,\u201d said Clarke, speaking at a press call announcing the additional companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vice President Mike Pence examines the VIPER engineering test unit with VIPER project manager and director of engineering at NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center Daniel Andrews (center) and VIPER project scientist Anthony Colaprete (left) at Ames on Thursday; in California\u2019s Silicon Valley.\u00a0
Credit: NASA\/Dominic Hart<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The diverse options for landing on the Moon range from large, potentially reusable spacecrafts, to lunar landers reminiscent of Apollo\u2019s highly successful LEMs, to derivatives of heritage satellite busses. NASA envisions being just one of many customers to which the companies will provide end-to-end lunar landing services, sometimes with multiple customers in a single flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we do is put out delivery task orders\u2014 now to all 14\u2014who can choose to bid\u2026 In those task orders will be specific requirements and objectives we want to meet. Some can have specific dates. Some may have specific locations we want to go to on the surface of the Moon. And we will have quite a cadence of task orders,\u201d Clarke said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are looking forward to broad, innovative ideas on achieving the NASA objectives, along with the other commercial customers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CLPS initiative will develop a robust commercial presence in space that will bolster NASA\u2019s goals to have an extended human presence on the Moon and to stage future missions to Mars. The first payloads the CLPS initiative delivers early in the next decade will provide crucial information about the Moon\u2019s resources and prove technologies that NASA will need to eventually travel to Mars. Future payloads could place experiments and tools in advance of the arrival of Artemis astronauts, enhancing their productivity on the lunar surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brent Sherwood, Vice President of Advanced Development Programs at Blue Origin, said the company is honored to be part of the CLPS initiative , noting that their Blue Moon Lander, with its large, open payload deck and ability to power through the lunar night, can handle diverse payloads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe especially appreciate NASA\u2019s leadership in doing this in a new way, with public-private partnerships, with a variety of payloads from both commercial and government providers. So, it\u2019s very exciting times,\u201d Sherwood said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Sims, CEO at Ceres Robotics, who identified his company as one of the smaller entries in the nascent commercial space industry, noted that \u201c\u2026small players bring an agility and a creativity that adds to the mix and can contribute in various, substantial ways in places.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Roth, Vice President of Business Development of Space Systems at Sierra Nevada Corporation, said the company is working on multiple options for CLPS payloads, from modified satellite busses for small items, to a larger spacecraft based on the technologies that were developed for the reusable lifting body spaceplane known as Dream Chaser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat an exciting program, to give the opportunity to have multiple missions per year going to the lunar surface\u2026 This is just a great way to kick off the Moon to Mars process that NASA has in place,\u201d Roth said, noting that the company also has science capabilities, including experience in utilizing in situ resources, something that will be crucial to a long-term human presence on the Moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gwynne Shotwell, President and CEO at SpaceX, noted that the company\u2019s Starship with Super Heavy launch capability far exceeds the mass requirements for CLPS, with the ability to bring about 100 metric tons to the Moon.\u00a0 \u201cWe do think this is a really neat program. CLPS \u2026 is an avenue for us to deliver payloads to the surface of the Moon for a customer. And obviously, we\u2019re thrilled that NASA is a potential customer for us in this regard with that vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marco Villa, COO at Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, noted that the company will build upon its history of starting with smaller projects and leveraging experience and expertise. \u201cOur lander initially will be something that will cater to the smaller side of payloads, but we have demonstrated in the past our flexibility and ability to scale up,\u201d Villa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CLPS is an indefinite-delivery\/indefinite-quantity contract running through late 2028, with a combined maximum value of $2.6 billion. Among the task orders the CLPS team will release is the\u00a0VIPER Rover<\/a><\/strong>, a project that will locate and characterize water ice on the Moon\u2019s south pole. The team is also working on new instrument calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe keep the CLPS team very busy and I think we\u2019re going to keep all of the CLPS providers busy on proposing to these task orders,\u201d Clarke said. \u201cI think that\u2019s a good situation to be in, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin Wilcox is a technical writer for APPEL Knowledge Services. <\/p>\n
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