[2][3] NASA had intended to subsequently issue build and test contracts to one or two of the three 2020 awardees in order to advance the human landing element of the Artemis Program.
The appeal was unsuccessful, and on 30 July 2021, GAO upheld NASA's choice of SpaceX as the sole recipient of the HLS contract.
ALPACA is expected to be subsequently proposed to be used to deliver lunar cargo such as ISRU technology, base modules and pressurized rovers to the surface of the Moon.
Dynetics is one of three organizations who developed a NASA-funded lunar lander design for the Artemis program over a year-long[9][10] period in 2020–2021, starting in May 2020.
[1][9][2] At the end of the ten-month program on 28 February 2021,[10] NASA had planned to evaluate which contractors would be offered contracts for initial demonstration missions and select firms for development and maturation of their lunar lander system designs.
[9][1] However, on 27 January 2021, NASA informed each of the HLS contractors that the original ten-month program would be extended two months to end on or before 30 April 2021.
The largest issue identified according to NASA is the advanced experimental thrust structure used in the Dynetics design, and that it could pose a threat to the development time as it relies on immature technology.