Blue Origin is prepared to assist NASA in hastening the timeline for landing humans on the Moon, announced the company’s CEO, Dave Limp, in a recent interview with Ars Technica.
“We just want to help the US get to the Moon,” stated Limp, head of the space firm established by Jeff Bezos. “If NASA opts for a quicker timeline, we would exert every effort, literally moving heaven and Earth, to reach the Moon sooner. We believe we have some promising ideas.”
Limp delivered these remarks on Saturday, roughly one day prior to the second launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. The mission, tasked with supporting NASA's ESCAPADE spacecraft, had a launch window beginning at 2:45 pm ET (19:45 UTC) at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, spanning over two hours.
NASA Aims for Faster Return
In light of NASA's existing plans for the Artemis III lunar mission, there is rising concern that China might surpass the United States to lunar landing. Addressing this issue, NASA's acting administrator Sean Duffy announced around three weeks ago the agency’s decision to reopen the human lander competition.
While SpaceX and Blue Origin hold contracts for human landers, the government has requested both providers to explore an expedited timeline. Currently, NASA's target landing date is set for 2027, but the present strategies involving SpaceX’s Starship and Blue Origin’s Mk. 2 lander make this date improbable.
As reported by Ars in early October, Blue Origin has embarked on creating a faster architecture, featuring various iterations of the Mk. 1 cargo lander and an adapted version known tentatively as Mk 1.5. Following Duffy’s request for updated proposals, Blue Origin promptly acted.
“We’ve forwarded our initial summary and expect to deliver a comprehensive report shortly,” said Limp. “While I won't delve into specifics, as that’s NASA’s domain, we possess concepts that we believe could expedite lunar travel. We hope NASA considers them closely.”