Lockheed Martin Unveils Design For Reusable Moon Lander That Could Ferry Astronauts To Lunar Surface

Aerospace company Lockheed Martin on Wednesday presented its crewed lunar lander concept at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Bremen, Germany.

The reusable, single-stage spaceship could ferry astronauts between the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, a small space station that NASA aims to build near the moon in 2022, and the lunar surface.

Lockheed said that that the reusable lander aligns with NASA’s lunar Gateway and future Mars missions.

From the Gateway, which would serve as the home base of the spacecraft, explorers could travel to the moon or onward to other deep-space destinations such as planet Mars. The Gateway will serve as a small habitat where astronauts can live and do research in space.

Lockheed Martin Space space exploration architect Tim Cichan, who presented the lander concept, explained that the Gateway is crucial to the lander’s reusability.

The lander needs to be refueled between missions but the spacecraft and its crews could stay on the lunar surface for up to two weeks before they return to the Gateway without the need to refuel.

“The nice thing about having an on-orbit refuelable system that doesn’t require in situ resource utilization on the surface initially is that you can do sortie missions sustainably,” Lockheed Martin’s Rob Chambers told Space News.

With the Gateway, the reusable moon lander would not have to endure re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. It can also be reflown many times sans the need for significant and costly refurbishment.

Lockheed said that the lander is a single stage, fully reusable system that incorporates the systems and technologies from NASA’s Orion spacecraft designed to carry astronauts at or beyond low Earth orbit.

“This is a concept that takes full advantage of both the Gateway and existing technologies to create a versatile, powerful lander that can be built quickly and affordably,” Lockheed’s vice president and general manager of Commercial Civil Space Lisa Callahan said in a statement.

According to Space, the expendable lunar lander that NASA used in its Apollo program only carried two astronauts and weighed 4.7 tons without propellant. Lockheed’s craft, on the other hand, could ferry four astronauts. It would weigh 24 tons dry and up to 68 tons when it is fully fueled. Additionally, it could also carry up to 1.1 tons of cargo to the moon’s surface.

Callahan said that the lander could be used to deliver scientific or commercial cargo, establish a surface base on the moon, and conduct explorations of the moon.