History
Initial design work for the Integrated Lander Vehicle began in 2019.
ILV was designed by "the National Team", consisting of Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper.[2][1] Blue Origin led the combined integration effort, and designed the descent element. Northrop Grumman designed the transfer element, for the initial engine firing to place the ILV on a trajectory from the Gateway space station in NRHO (near-rectilinear halo orbit) and toward the lunar surface with an initial descent burn. Lockheed-Martin designed the ascent element, that will depart the lunar surface and return the astronauts to the Gateway and Orion capsule in lunar orbit.
The HLS initial design phase was planned to be a ten-month program, ending on 28 February 2021, where NASA planned to evaluate which contractors would be offered contracts for initial demonstration missions and select firms for development and maturation of their lunar lander system designs in February.[3][4] However, on 27 January 2021, NASA informed each of the HLS contractors that the original ten-month program would be extended two months to end on or before 30 April 2021.[5]
On April 16, 2021, NASA rejected Integrated Lander Vehicle and instead selected Starship HLS for crewed lunar lander development[6] plus the two lunar demonstration flights, in a contract valued at US$2.94 billion over several years.[7][8] There were technical weaknesses identified in the Blue Origin proposal which was not selected. "Immature propulsion and communications systems, along with concerns about third party suppliers, 'create serious doubt as to the realism of Blue Origin's proposed development schedule,' according to the source selection statement" from NASA. The significant redesigns necessary of ILV to build "a more sustainable architecture" for the long term were also called into question. Additionally, NASA found that Blue Origin did not provide a comprehensive plan to operate the vehicle commercially, beyond the NASA contracted work.
Although NASA had previously stated it wanted multiple dissimilar Human Landing Systems, "only one design was selected for an initial uncrewed demonstration and the first crewed landing, due to significant budget constraints" based on the HLS funds allocated by Congress. NASA has indicated that Blue Origin would be free to compete for subsequent missions that are not a part of the initial two demonstration flights.[9] It is unclear what plans exist within Blue Origin for continuing on with the work, considering the Moon landing system architecture had become dependent on the existence of major subsystems being designed and built by other vendors, who also did not receive more NASA funding after early 2021.
Blue Origin protested the award to SpaceX at the US Government Accountability Office, but lost the protest. On 30 July 2021, the GAO rejected the protest and found that "NASA did not violate procurement law" in awarding the contract to SpaceX, who bid a much lower cost and more capable human and cargo lunar landing capability for NASA Artemis.[10][11] Soon after the appeal was rejected, a contracted payment of $300 million was made to SpaceX.[12] The protest action delayed NASA from authorizing work on the contract, and thus delayed the start of work by SpaceX for 95 days.
In mid-August, Blue Origin filed a lawsuit in the US Court of Federal Claims challenging "NASA's unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals."[13][14]
