Each company will receive up to $1.5 million for 90 days of work. Participants include Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Aerojet Rocketdyne, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Quantum Space and Whittinghill Aerospace. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman will focus on using existing technologies, while Aerojet Rocketdyne will explore new “high-performance options.”
SpaceX, which is currently developing the Starship rocket for flights to Mars, is proposing to use it for sample return. Blue Origin will explore synergies with the Artemis lunar program.
In addition, NASA’s JPL and APL centers will contribute to research aimed at finding “innovative solutions” for sample return by the 2030s. The findings will form the basis of a new mission architecture that will be developed later this year and will likely combine elements developed by industry and NASA.
Source: Ferra
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