lunar lander
SpaceIL completes lunar lander for February launch
A privately funded Israeli lunar lander originally built for a prize competition is now complete and ready for launch in early 2019.
NASA lunar orbiter now supporting commercial and international missions
A NASA spacecraft originally built as part of the previous effort to return humans to the moon is now playing a key role in the new effort at human lunar return, including aiding commercial landers.
NASA selects nine companies for commercial lunar lander program
NASA has picked nine companies, ranging from startups to aerospace giants, to be eligible for future contracts to deliver payloads to the surface of the moon, but with no guarantee of business for any of them.
NASA studying three-stage approach to human-class lunar landers
As NASA starts to build up details about its plans to return humans to the moon, the agency is studying concepts for “human-class” lunar landers that would involve three-stage vehicles whose individual components could be flown on a range of launch vehicles.
Former Google Lunar X Prize teams still working on lunar landers
Two former competitors in the Google Lunar X Prize are continuing to pursue commercial lunar landers that could launch as soon as late 2019.
NASA issues call for payloads to go on commercial lunar landers
As NASA evaluates proposals for commercially developed small lunar landers, the agency is now seeking payloads that could fly on those spacecraft despite concerns from some scientists that they don’t know if their experiments are compatible with those landers.
Draper bids on NASA commercial lunar lander competition
The organization that helped NASA’s Apollo spacecraft land on the moon a half-century ago is now working with an industry team that includes a Japanese lunar lander company to propose a commercial return to the lunar surface.
Lockheed Martin unveils lunar lander concept
As NASA gears up to support work on lunar lander designs, Lockheed Martin released details Oct. 3 about a proposed reusable human lunar lander that leverages technology used on the Orion spacecraft and concepts that could later be used for missions to Mars.
NASA roadmap report provides few new details on human exploration plans
A long-overdue exploration roadmap report released by NASA Sept. 24 offers an overview of the agency’s plans to send humans back to the moon and on to Mars, but few new details about how to carry out those plans.
IAI studying follow-on opportunities for SpaceIL lunar lander
As it completes a lunar lander scheduled for launch late this year, an Israeli company says it’s looking for opportunities to do similar future spacecraft to tap into the growing demand for lunar missions.
Astrobotic selects Dynetics for lunar lander propulsion system
As Astrobotic prepares to compete for NASA lunar payload delivery contracts, the company has signed an agreement with Dynetics for the last major component of its lunar lander.
NASA to begin buying rides on commercial lunar landers by year’s end
PASADENA — NASA intends to begin buying rides on small commercial lunar landers by the end of the year and start looking …
