NASA has selected Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, and other contractors to deliver robotic landers, rovers, and drones to the Moon as part of a program to establish a lunar base by the end of the decade. This was reported by Bloomberg, according to UNN.
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The U.S. space agency has awarded contracts to Lunar Outpost and Astrolab worth $220 million each to develop autonomous lunar rovers. These are intended for transporting astronauts across the lunar surface.
Blue Origin will handle the delivery of equipment using the Mark 1 uncrewed lander. Each such mission will cost NASA $234 million.
NASA plans more than 20 lunar landings
NASA also announced that Firefly Aerospace's Elytra spacecraft will deliver the first drones to the Moon under the Moonfall program. They will be used to photograph the surface and scout locations for future bases and landings.
Program manager Carlos Garcia-Galan stated that the first phase involves 25 launches, 21 landings, and the delivery of four metric tons of cargo to the surface of Earth's satellite.
"We are working to align all of the agency's resources at NASA to actually achieve this goal – building a lunar base,"
The program is part of the Artemis mission, through which NASA plans to return humans to the Moon in the coming years. In April, the agency successfully conducted the Artemis II mission with a crewed flight around the Moon, while the astronaut landing is currently planned for 2028.
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