Blue Origin shared new details about its Artemis lunar lander development, showcasing a new illustration of a "transporter" vehicle designed to support the Blue Moon Mark 2 lander. John Couluris, senior vice president of lunar permanence at Blue Origin, highlighted the transporter's evolution since their NASA award. The transporter will aggregate liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in Earth orbit, transporting it to a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the moon for transfer to the Blue Moon lander.
The transporter, launched on a New Glenn rocket, will utilize excess propellant from New Glenn upper stages for refueling. It will employ seven-meter-diameter tanks, the same size as the upper stage, for efficiency. Couluris emphasized the importance of their "zero-boiloff" technology, which maintains cryogenic propellants at extremely low temperatures, and confirmed that by June, they will demonstrate consistent storage of hydrogen and oxygen as storable propellants, with flight units commencing in December. A fully fueled transporter can carry approximately 100 metric tons from Earth orbit to lunar orbit, with potential applications beyond the moon, including Martian missions and asteroid belt exploration. “This vehicle with minimal changes, mainly on comms, can bring up to 30 metric tons to Martian orbit,” Couluris said. “It can open up the asteroid belt. This opens up the solar system.”
Jacki Cortese, senior director of civil space at Blue Origin, anticipates both an uncrewed and a crewed test landing of Blue Moon Mark 2 before the end of the decade. Meanwhile, the Blue Moon Mark 1, a robotic lander, will undertake its maiden voyage this year, carrying a camera payload via NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. “This will land this year on the south pole of the moon,” Couluris stated, adding that it is currently being assembled and will ship from their Florida facility in approximately six weeks, with launch a few months later. The Mark 1 will first undergo testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center before returning to Florida for launch.
Blue Origin is also constructing a second Blue Moon Mark 1 lander. Couluris emphasized the company's proactive approach to hardware acquisition, stating, “It was really important for us to procure all hardware for two Mark 1 missions years ago,” citing supply chain challenges. The strategic redundancy ensures mission continuity, regardless of the outcome of the initial launch.