NASA has picked the companies it wants to design landers for its plans to return humans to the moon.
The space agency announced Thursday that it had selected three companies to submit designs: SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Dynetics. SpaceX is owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and Blue Origin by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
The companies have 10 months to develop their designs for the Artemis mission, which aims to send manned spacecraft back to the moon by 2024 — the first time it will have done so since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. NASA will pay the three companies $967 million for this initial design stage.
Complimentary Tech Event
Transform talent with learning that works
Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More
"This is the last piece we need in order to get to the moon and now we're going to have that under development," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a press conference.
"It's important that this agency do this now, because our country and in fact the whole world has been shaken by this coronavirus pandemic... And yet we need to give people hope. We need to give them something that they can look up to, dream about," said Bridenstine.
Advertisement
SpaceX's design is modelled on its 160-foot Starship rocket.
NewsletterSIMPLY PUT - where we join the dots to inform and inspire you. Sign up for a weekly brief collating many news items into one untangled thought delivered straight to your mailbox.