NASA has started soliciting proposals for a program to build and demonstrate astronaut moon landers for future Artemis lunar missions.
The space agency said Saturday it expects the Human Landing System Sustaining Lunar Development program to create the way for companies to offer recurring lunar landing services beyond the Artemis III mission.
“Work done under this solicitation, in addition to current lander development and studies taking place, will help build the foundation for long-term deep space exploration,” said Lisa Watson-Morgan, Human Landing System program manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
“Partnering with American companies to do that work now allows us to leverage NASA’s knowledge and expertise to encourage technological innovations for a sustained presence at the Moon,” added Watson-Morgan.
NASA will require selected vendors to demonstrate one manned and one uncrewed lunar landing mission and will certify a lander platform that meets its requirements before the manned demonstration mission.
The agency intends to leverage crewed lander development work to purchase and certify the design of a human-class delivery lander that can perform cargo delivery to the moon’s surface.
NASA issued the request for proposals after integrating industry comments on the draft solicitation published in March and holding virtual industry day in April.
Proposals for the HLS SLD program are due Nov. 15.
