![]() "I worry about going down to one," he said. There has been chatter in the aerospace community in recent months that one or more of the lander teams are pushing for all of the funding in this February down-select by intimating that the other teams cannot possibly meet the technical challenge.īut Bridenstine seems committed to moving forward with two or more teams. With this information, NASA plans to "down-select" from this initial group of three landing teams in February. Earlier this year, the space agency selected three teams-led by Blue Origin, Dynetics, and SpaceX-to flesh out lander proposals and tell NASA how much government funding they thought would be needed to complete the projects by 2024. Later during a question-and-answer period, Moran asked Bridenstine whether it might be more practical for NASA to quickly pick a single contractor to build the lander so the agency could concentrate its resources.īridenstine pushed back on this, citing the value of competition. Advertisementįurther Reading NASA awards lunar lander contracts to Blue Origin, Dynetics-and Starship "Our world has significantly altered since the initial release of the budget, and I look forward to discussing how NASA is adapting to our new and unprecedented environment while pushing forward with Artemis," Moran said. But he noted that NASA's request for a larger budget came amidst the backdrop of a pandemic and resulting financial crisis. In his opening statement, the Kansas Republican who chairs the Senate subcommittee that oversees NASA's budget, Jerry Moran, had kind words to say about Artemis. Wednesday provided the first opportunity to assess, publicly at least, whether the Senate will be more supportive of the Artemis Program and its aggressive 2024 goal. In deliberations earlier this year, the US House provided only $600 million, or less than one-fifth of the budget NASA said its needs for the coming year. This is a brand-new program that will eventually require many billions of dollars to reach fruition. The real question is whether Congress, if it can agree on a fiscal year 2021 budget in this sharp partisan era, is so inclined to support funding for the lander. "If we can have that done before Christmas, we're still on track for a 2024 Moon landing," he said in a call with reporters. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said this week that funding the Artemis Moon Program before the end of this year would be workable. Further Reading A 2024 Moon landing may sound crazy, but NASA is giving its best shot ![]()
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