Blue Origin Shows Off Moon Lander Mock-up

Blue Origin has unveiled a full-sized mock-up of the Blue Moon lander that will be a test platform for the lander it says will be ready to fly to the Moon within the next three years.  

In social media posts Oct. 27, the company showed images of the Blue Moon Mark 1 mockup, located at an engine manufacturing facility in Huntsville, Alabama. The lander is designed to deliver three tons of cargo to the lunar surface.

The first flight of Blue Moon Mark 1 will be what the company calls the “Pathfinder Mission,” designated MK1-SN001. “MK1-SN001 proves out critical systems, including the BE-7 engine, cryogenic fluid power and propulsions systems, avionics, continuous downlink communications, and precision landing,” the company stated on its website.

The first Blue Moon Mark 1 will be an uncrewed cargo designed for a single mission.  It's designed to deliver up to 3 metric tons of cargo anywhere on the lunar surface.  3000 kg is roughly 6600 pounds, here on the heavy end of a trip to the moon.  The company is developing the Mark 1 as a predecessor to the larger Mark 2 lander, which will ferry astronauts to and from the lunar surface under contract to NASA. The agency selected Blue Origin as its second human-rated lunar lander contractor in May, alongside SpaceX.

“We’re building our landers, both our Mark 1 and our Mark 2, to enable global landing capability on the Moon, day or night," said John Couluris, senior vice president of lunar transportation at Blue Origin.

Under their $3.4 billion Human Landing System (HLS) contract with NASA, Blue's lunar lander will transport astronauts between the Gateway in lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon, and then back to the Gateway on the Artemis V mission. Their first mission is officially scheduled for no sooner than 2029, but is likely to slip into the 2030s.  

The first lunar landing mission, Artemis III, no sooner than 2025, and the second lunar landing, no sooner than 2026 are well before the Blue Moon Mark 2.  Those two will be using SpaceX's Human Landing System (HLS) version of the Starship. If HLS is ahead of Blue Origin's lunar lander, it's arguably not by much.  Starship has yet to make orbit, although its one failed Integrated Flight Test is one more than Blue Origin's New Glenn has attempted. Before HLS can fly to the moon, "penciled in" for NEXT YEAR, SpaceX will have to get refueling on orbit working reliably.

Blue Origin's HLS architecture is similar to that of SpaceX in that it also requires refueling in space. But Blue Moon uses liquid hydrogen as a fuel, while SpaceX's Starship burns liquid methane. Blue Origin will also launch its landers aboard the company's New Glenn rocket, which is not expected to launch until late next year at the earliest. For each human-rated lander mission, Blue Origin needs three New Glenn launches—one to send the lander to an orbit around the Moon, then two more launches to carry parts for a Lockheed Martin-built refueling tug to fill the lander's tanks in lunar orbit.

I believe it takes two Starship launches full of fuel, to fill the Starship refueling station that stays on orbit and will be used to fuel HLS.  Two trips to fuel one because some fuel is needed to get the Starship to orbit.

There's much that needs to be done to get to the moon with the indirect system being used.  Blue Origin's use of liquid hydrogen brings with it several problems.  Hydrogen has been known as a good fuel for decades, but no one has solved how to keep it cryogenic for long periods.  Its shelf life in space has historically been measured in hours, not days, weeks, or months. Blue Origin has agreements with NASA to develop cryogenic fluid management and fluid transfer technology.  That strikes me as inventing the wheel as a step to saying you'll be making cars in a few years. 

Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson pose in front of the mock-up of Blue Moon Mark 1.  Image credit: NASA. 

NASA's associate administrator for exploration systems development Jim Free said the focus for Artemis 3 should not be on SpaceX's HLS alone, citing work needed on Orion, which will fly with a docking ring for the first time on that mission, the Artemis/SLS system itself, and the new spacesuits being developed by Axiom Space.