Lockheed Martin Unveils Lunar Lander
Lockheed Martin Unveils Lunar Lander
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Lockheed Martin unveiled their own lunar lander at the international Aeronautical Congress in Bremen Germany. Lockheed Martin Lunar lander development is in response to NASA’s Moon strategy which would see Agency sending astronauts back to the Moon by 2026, with plans for a permanent manned base on the Moon soon after.
Lockheed Martin’s Orion spacecraft is backbone of NASA’s plans for the Moon, Orion spacecraft will carry NASA astronauts into deep space, however the versatility of the program will also allow the company to deploy Orion as part of Moon lander mission as well.
The company's proposal for a "crewed lunar lander" is fairly ambitious. The 14-meter, single-stage spacecraft can carry up to four astronauts to the lunar surface, where they can stay for up to 14 days before the vehicle's engines blast it back into lunar orbit. This vehicle would be twice as tall as the Lunar Module used during the Apollo missions to the Moon nearly half a century ago. That vehicle carried two astronauts for short stays of no more than a few days.
"There is a lift elevator platform which can take the crew down from the cabin to the surface," which in principle is not dissimilar to another concept the company developed for the Mars bound lander or MADV vehicle, also quite similar to concept developed for SpaceX’s own Big Falcon Spaceship.
The lander would have considerable dry mass of 22 metric tons and would require an additional 40 tons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel for its sorties down to the surface of the Moon from the proposed Lunar Gateway. The vehicle's preliminary design uses four modified RL10 engines, but other engines could be employed. The reusable vehicle could be re-fueled on the surface of the Moon or in orbit and should be capable of up to 10 flights.
The company opted for this design for several reasons. Foremost It is reusable, as NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine has stressed that he would like elements of the lunar program to employ reusability. The basic design of the spacecraft is built around the same barrel and cone structures of the Orion spacecraft, for which Lockheed has already built the toolings needed to weld the vehicle together, and also it could re-use some of Orion's avionics. Also, all of this is within NASA's current technological capability, so, with adequate funding, such a vehicle could be built relatively quickly.
And finally, all of the technologies developed for a lander of this scale could be incorporated in a humans-to-Mars exploration program. A similar vehicle, of a similar scale, with similar engines could perform a powered landing on the Red Planet.
The fact that lander is relatively heavy, bares heavily on potential success of the program, using SLS to bring 40 tons of fuel separately would be costly, however, BlueOrigin and SpaceX could also play a part in delivering lander to the Moon, as they’ll be a lot cheaper and fully reusable in case of SpaceX BFR System.
It is not clear if NASA will require such large lander, as mission parameters constantly evolve, this might change, however Agency was looking for smaller lander that would weigh less, something similar to BlueOrigin’s Blue Moon lander is what NASA had in mind. If NASA’s requirement do change, larger lander might be actually ideal, giving Lockheed bit of a head start, and the fact lander is based on similar Mars bound Mars ascent descent vehicle.
NASA is yet to decide on future lunar lander, however priority for the agency right now is Orion, SLS and LOPG program, as funding for these programs is secure and in place, however securing funding for lander and any future Mars bound spacecraft would require further funding. Lockheed Martin by offering its vision hopes to secure interest in their lunar lander when time comes, after all Lockheed would already have required technology and demonstrator in place, reducing the costs for NASA in a long run.