NASA changes Moon landing plans as Orion may reach low lunar orbit
NASA is working to let its Orion spacecraft dock with Blue Origin's lunar lander in low lunar orbit. To make that possible, the agency is developing an extended Centaur V upper stage with United Launch Alliance.
The US space agency NASA announced on Friday changes to the lunar landing plans of its Artemis programme. The agency is working on an option for the crewed Orion spacecraft to dock with Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander in low lunar orbit, rather than only in a high elliptical orbit. The approach could make landing on the Moon and returning from it easier.
What is changing
A chart published by NASA shows Orion docking with Blue Moon in an elliptical lunar orbit about 8,500 km above the surface. NASA also wants the option of docking in an orbit a few hundred kilometres above the Moon. Jeremy Parsons, the Artemis Program manager at NASA, explained that this would significantly cut the propellant Blue Moon needs to take astronauts down to the surface and back up. The saved mass could be used elsewhere on the vehicle. A lower orbit would also give astronauts more and faster opportunities to leave the surface if necessary.
An extended Centaur V
To achieve this, NASA is working with United Launch Alliance to develop an "extended" version of the Centaur V upper stage. Combined with the core stage of the Space Launch System rocket, it would allow Orion to reach low lunar orbit.
The change is significant. Orion's Service Module has low performance, so the spacecraft lacks the delta-V (velocity-change capability) to launch from Earth, reach low lunar orbit and return for a Pacific Ocean splashdown. Until now, no one had appeared ready to fix this. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said on Friday that getting Orion to low lunar orbit means solving propulsion and spacecraft integration problems that were left unaddressed for far too long.
Instead, NASA devised workarounds such as the Lunar Gateway station, placed in an orbit Orion could safely reach. The burden of performance was pushed onto the landers and the companies developing them.
Isaacman said NASA is trying to help lander companies given the urgency. He said their lives get easier if Orion gets substantially closer to the Moon, and that the agency could either continue on its track and hope partners meet timelines, or start helping.
