Lockheed Martin unveils lunar lander concept
From Space News: Bremen, Germany — As NASA gears up to support work on lunar lander designs, Lockheed Martin released details Oct. 3 about a proposed reusable human lunar lander that leverages technology used on the Orion spacecraft and concepts that could later be used for missions to Mars.
The lander, presented during a session of the 69th International Astronautical Congress here, is a single-stage vehicle using liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants that could transport a crew of four and a metric ton of cargo for stays of up to two weeks on the lunar surface.
The lander is based on a design the company previously presented last year as part of its Mars Base Camp architecture for landing on the surface of Mars. Tim Cichan, space exploration architect at Lockheed Martin, described the lunar lander as a “precursor vehicle” to that Mars design that could test out many of the technologies needed for later Mars missions.