Human Landing System
Each of the three modules would have a mass of approximately 12 to 15 metric tons and would be delivered separately by commercial launchers for integration at Gateway.
[8] In December 2018 NASA announced that it was issuing a formal request for proposals as Appendix E of NextSTEP-2 inviting American companies to submit bids for the design and development of new reusable systems allowing astronauts to land on the lunar surface.
[10] In April 2019 NASA announced a formal request for proposals closing on November 15, 2019, for Appendix H of NextSTEP-2 inviting American companies to submit bids for the design and development of the Ascent Element of the Human Landing System (HLS) including the cabin used during landings.
[1][15][17] The companies were bidding on a contract to provide design, development, build, test, and evaluation of an HLS, plus two lunar landings, one uncrewed and one crewed, for a fixed price.
[23] On April 30, 2021, both Blue Origin and Dynetics filed formal protests with the US Government Accountability Office claiming that NASA had improperly evaluated aspects of the proposals.
[25][26] On April 30, 2021, NASA suspended the Starship HLS contract and funding until such time as the GAO could issue a ruling on the protests.
[27][28] In May 2021, Sen. Cantwell, from Blue Origin's state of Washington, introduced an amendment to the "Endless Frontier Act" that directed NASA to reopen the HLS competition and select a second lander proposal and authorized spending of an additional US$10 billion.
[33][34][needs update] On July 30, 2021, the GAO rejected the protests and found that "NASA did not violate procurement law" in awarding the contract to SpaceX, who bid a much lower cost and more capable system.
[18][35][36] Nevertheless, CNBC reported on August 4 that "Jeff Bezos' space company remains on the offensive in criticizing NASA's decision to award Elon Musk's SpaceX with the sole contract to build a vehicle to land astronauts on the moon" and the company had produced an infographic highlighting several Starship deficiencies compared to the Blue Origin proposal, but noted the infographic avoided showing the Blue Origin bid price as roughly double the SpaceX bid price.
[38] On August 13, 2021, Blue Origin filed a lawsuit in the US Court of Federal Claims challenging "NASA's unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals.
"[39][40] Blue Origin asked the court for an injunction to halt further spending by NASA on the existing contract with SpaceX.
Elon Musk stated that Starship HLS would be able to deliver "potentially up to 200 tons" to the lunar surface.
[citation needed] Starship HLS would be launched to Earth orbit using the SpaceX Super Heavy booster, and would use a series of tanker spacecraft to refuel the Starship HLS vehicle in Earth orbit for lunar transit and lunar landing operations.
"[44] The Integrated Lander Vehicle (ILV) or National Human Landing System (NHLS) was a lunar lander design concept proposed by the "National Team" led by Blue Origin, along with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper Laboratory as major partners.
Ultimately, NASA did not select the proposal, citing negative mass margins and an experimental thrust structure, which could pose threat to development time.
The primary solution was a two-stage lander designed to launch on a single SLS Block 1B, with Intuitive Machines working with Boeing to provide engines,[48] and reusing technologies from their Starliner spacecraft.
In addition, NASA announced a target date of April 2025 for Artemis III, likely using the first-generation Starship HLS design.
