Both the United States and China have issued recent markers demonstrating progress in their respective programs to put people on the Moon, affirming an accelerating race to occupy the Moon for strategic and economic gain.
In a Nov. 19 press release, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that its two main Human Landing System (HLS) space ship providers, the SpaceX Corporation led by Elon Musk and the Blue Origin Corporation led by Jeff Bezos, will be tasked with developing heavy cargo transport versions of their spacecraft to service missions of the Artemis Moon exploration program into the 2030s.
The release stated, “NASA plans for at least two delivery missions with large cargo.
The agency intends for SpaceX’s Starship cargo lander to deliver a pressurized rover, currently in development by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), to the lunar surface no earlier than fiscal year 2032 in support of Artemis VII and later missions. The agency expects Blue Origin to deliver a lunar surface habitat no earlier than fiscal year 2033.”
In theory, the SpaceX HLS could transport between 50 and 100 tons of cargo to the Moon while the smaller Blue Moon Mk.2 lander of Blue Origin Corporation could deliver 30 tons in a one-way mission. […]
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