NASA has announced three unmanned missions to the moon this year as the first step toward building a lunar base worth 20 billions of dollars. For the first of them, management chose Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company, not Elon Musk's SpaceX.
The company Blue Origin received a contract for 230,4 million dollars for the first two lunar base missions. The cryogenically powered Endurance cargo lander will deliver scientific instruments from NASA and private partners to the ridge between the Shackleton and De Gerlaches craters near the moon's south pole. The remaining expenses will be covered by the company itself. According to the plan, a full-fledged base should appear on the moon in the period between 2029 and 2032 for years, and after 2032 year - people on it. Partnership with private business, behind the words of NASA, will significantly reduce the costs of taxpayers and give an impetus to the development of the space economy.
Blue Origin and SpaceX are competing to supply manned landing modules for future Artemis missions. Next year, NASA will compare SpaceX's Starship Human Landing System and Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander during its third orbit mission, after which will determine the winner for the mission with the crew of Artemis IV in 2028 year.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com