Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Earth orbit to Moon orbit…and beyond. Blue Origin’s Transporter.
Image credit: Blue Origin/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Blue Origin is set to reveal a new piece of space infrastructure to support lunar operations.

Called the “Transporter,” the vehicle can be launched on a single New Glenn booster to low Earth orbit. It would be fueled up by left over propellant from the booster’s 2^nd stage, then haul the hydrogen and oxygen to lunar orbit.

Zero boil off of cryogenic fuel has long been a tough nut to crack.

Opening up the solar system

1960s Apollo lunar lander design (left) contrasted to Blue Origin Mark 1 and Mark 2 vehicles. Image credit: Blue Origin/Inside Outer Space screengrab

John Couluris, Senior Vice President of Lunar Permanence for Blue Origin, discussed the company’s lunar plans today at a Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC) meeting being held at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Transporter can haul roughly 100 metric tons from Earth orbit to lunar orbit, Couluris said. By December of this year flight units are to be fully built.

“This will open up the solar system,” Couluris added, with Transporter able to shove 30 metric tons to Mars orbit.

Making its Mark on the Moon

Couluris also detailed critical work on Blue Origin’s Mark 1 and Mark 2 lunar landers that’s now underway.

Blue Moon MK1 will provide cargo transport, leveraging the 7-meter fairing of the New Glenn launch vehicle, to deliver metric tons anywhere on the lunar surface.

Under NASA’s NextSTEP-2 Appendix P Sustaining Lunar Development (SLD) contract, Blue Origin and its National Team partners will develop and fly the Blue Moon MK2 lunar lander that can make a precision landing anywhere on the Moon’s surface.

Blue Origin Mark 1 Moon lander.
Image credit: Blue Origin

Blue Origin Mark 2 crewed Moon lander.
Image credit: Blue Origin