Blue Origin is eager to support NASA in swiftly achieving its goal of landing humans on the Moon, according to a statement by the company's CEO, Dave Limp, during an interview with Ars on Saturday.
“We just want to help the US get to the Moon,” said Limp, who leads the space company founded by Jeff Bezos. “If NASA wants to go quicker, we would move heaven and Earth, pun intended, to try to get to the Moon sooner. And I think we have some good ideas.”
Limp made these comments just a day before Blue Origin’s second launch of its sizable New Glenn rocket, which will carry NASA's ESCAPADE spacecraft. The mission is set to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, with a window starting at 2:45 pm ET (19:45 UTC) and lasting a little over two hours.
NASA Aims for a Quicker Lunar Return
This year, it has become increasingly clear that adhering to NASA’s current schedule for the Artemis III lunar landing could allow China to surpass the United States in returning humans to the Moon. Acknowledging this challenge, NASA's acting administrator Sean Duffy announced three weeks ago that the agency would reopen competition for a human lander.
Although SpaceX and Blue Origin already hold contracts for human landers, NASA has requested each provider for options to speed up their timelines. The agency's current goal is a 2027 landing, but the existing approaches with SpaceX’s Starship or Blue Origin’s Mk. 2 lander are unlikely to meet this deadline.
Ars reported exclusively in early October that Blue Origin had begun developing a faster strategy, incorporating multiple models of its Mk. 1 cargo lander and a modified version dubbed Mk 1.5. After Duffy's request for modified proposals, Limp indicated that Blue Origin responded promptly.
“We’ve sent our initial summary of that over, and we have a full report of that due here shortly,” he said. “I’m not going to disclose the details as that's NASA’s prerogative, but we have ideas that could potentially expedite the Moon mission. And I hope NASA considers them carefully.”