The Boeing Human Landing System (HLS) was the name of a proposed lunar lander concept by

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

that was submitted by Boeing to

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

on 5 November 2019 as part of the

Artemis program The Artemis program is a Exploration of the Moon, Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. The program's stated long-ter ...

and the NextSTEP H. The proposal was presented as the "quickest and simplest method" for a 2024

Moon landing A Moon landing or lunar landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, including both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was Luna 2 in 1959. In 1969 Apollo 11 was the first cr ...

. The lunar lander concept was not selected for funding by NASA as part of Artemis in the 30 April 2020 announcement.

Overview

Boeing Human Landing System was a proposal for the design of a lunar lander and lunar orbit spacecraft that would use the

Space Launch System The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American Super heavy-lift launch vehicle, super heavy-lift Expendable launch system, expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. As the primary launch vehicle of the Artemis program, Artemis Moon landing progra ...

(SLS rocket) being developed by NASA to launch the lander into Earth orbit and then place it in

lunar orbit In astronomy and spaceflight, a lunar orbit (also known as a selenocentric orbit) is an orbit by an object around Earth's Moon. In general these orbits are not circular. When farthest from the Moon (at apoapsis) a spacecraft is said to be at apo ...

where it would rendezvous with the NASA Lunar Gateway and join up with a crew sent up in an Orion space capsule. This design concept was presented as a response to NASA's solicitation in May 2019, where about a dozen companies proposed lunar lander designs. The Boeing lander consists of a descent and ascent stage with the descent stage being able to deorbit the lander, which eliminates the need for a third transfer stage. The lander was explicitly designed to be launched on the Boeing-built SLS Block 1B rocket rather than assembled in space after multiple launches, reducing the number of mission-critical events from 11 to 5, and reducing mission complexity. The lander was to be designed such that it would not have to dock onto the Lunar Gateway and could dock with Orion directly in order to allow for a simpler mission profile. The lander was intended to reuse several technologies from Boeing's CST-100 Starliner, so that the pressure vessel,

life support Life support comprises the treatments and techniques performed in an emergency in order to support life after the failure of one or more vital organs. Healthcare providers and emergency medical technicians are generally certified to perform bas ...

and

avionics Avionics (a portmanteau of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the ...

systems could be flight-tested and human-rated before being integrated into the lander.

Intuitive Machines Intuitive Machines, Inc. is an American space exploration company headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 2013 by Stephen Altemus, Kam Ghaffarian, and Tim Crain, to provide commercial and government exploration of the Moon. Today the ...

was selected to build and test the lander's engines and fuel tank structure.

Aerojet Rocketdyne Aerojet Rocketdyne is a subsidiary of American Arms industry, defense company L3Harris that manufactures rocket, Hypersonic flight, hypersonic, and electric propulsive systems for space, defense, civil and commercial applications. Aerojet traces ...

was also participating in the project.

Challenges

One problem with the lander is its high launch mass which required it to be launched by a SLS Block 1B. This variant of SLS is not expected to be operational until 2025 at the earliest. It was stated that the lander could be launched in parts with the descent stage launching on SLS Block 1 and the ascent stage launching on a commercial launcher and the two parts be assembled in lunar orbit in case Block 1B is not ready.

Investigation

The NASA inspector general launched an investigation after Boeing attempted to change the details of the submission, potentially indicating that Boeing had received information about other bids.

Fate

It was reported by '' NASASpaceFlight.com'' in August 2021 that Boeing's VR-3500 engines developed for their lander were being cannibalized by

for their future Nova-M lander.

References

{{US human spaceflight programs Boeing spacecraft and space launch systems Artemis program Crewed spacecraft Lunar Gateway Lunar modules Proposed space probes

Overview

Challenges

Investigation

Fate

See also

References