Lockheed Martin

Meet the Colorado Companies Working to Get Us Back to the Moon

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 19:28:22 +0000

Meet the Colorado Companies Working to Get Us Back to the Moon Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/01/2022 - 13:28

Nicholas Hunt

From 5280 Magazine: “If you would’ve told me in 1972 that we wouldn’t be back to the moon for 50 years,” says Jack Burns, a professor of astrophysics at CU Boulder, “I would have said you are full of you-know-what.” Burns has a special interest in moon landings beyond being a child of the Apollo age. He’s director of the Network for Exploration and Space Science, a multiuniversity organization dedicated to developing advanced science on the moon.

Burns also served on former President Donald Trump’s NASA transition team, which laid the groundwork for Artemis, the NASA mission that aims to not only return astronauts to Earth’s only natural satellite but also eventually establish long-term habitation there. “I’ve been working on this for 38 years,” he says. “This is the third iteration of us going back to the moon, but it looks like this one is actually going to stick.” In fact, NASA hopes for boots on the ground—including the first woman and first person of color—starting in 2025.

What took so long? It’s not just delays and red tape, although there’s been plenty of both. We simply didn’t have the means until recently, Burns says. Apollo-era technology barely let us poke our heads around, and it’s only in the past few years, thanks in large part to the NewSpace economy, that we’ve developed the capability to live and work on the moon, which gives us more reason to return than simply taking a few small steps. Read more...

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New moon lander would be a big step up from Apollo-era 'modules'

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 20:47:40 +0000

New moon lander would be a big step up from Apollo-era 'modules' Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/10/2018 - 14:47

Denise Chow

From NBC News: Before humans venture to Mars, NASA wants to send astronauts back to the moon — and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin has developed a new lunar lander concept designed to shuttle space flyers between a moon-orbiting space station and the cratered surface below.

Unveiled Oct. 3 at an international space conference in Bremen, Germany, the reusable lander would launch into space aboard NASA’s next-generation Space Launch System rocket and dock with the agency’s proposed Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway.

This planned outpost is a small moon-orbiting space station that NASA aims to build in the 2020s to serve as a way station for missions to the moon, as well as Mars and other deep-space destinations. Read more...

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Lockheed Martin unveils lunar lander concept

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Oct 2018 19:45:47 +0000

Lockheed Martin unveils lunar lander concept Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/03/2018 - 13:45

Jeff Foust

From Space News: Bremen, Germany — As NASA gears up to support work on lunar lander designs, Lockheed Martin released details Oct. 3 about a proposed reusable human lunar lander that leverages technology used on the Orion spacecraft and concepts that could later be used for missions to Mars.

The lander, presented during a session of the 69th International Astronautical Congress here, is a single-stage vehicle using liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants that could transport a crew of four and a metric ton of cargo for stays of up to two weeks on the lunar surface.

The lander is based on a design the company previously presented last year as part of its Mars Base Camp architecture for landing on the surface of Mars. Tim Cichan, space exploration architect at Lockheed Martin, described the lunar lander as a “precursor vehicle” to that Mars design that could test out many of the technologies needed for later Mars missions. Read more...

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