HLS IAC - Final - NASA (Artemis)

73rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Paris, France, 18-22 September 2022.
Copyright ©2020 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in all jurisdictions outside the United States of America.
Published by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.
IAC-22.B3.1.9x71658
NASA’s Initial Artemis Human Landing System
Dr. Lisa Watson-Morgan a, Mrs. Lakiesha Hawkins b, Mr. John Crisler c, Mr. Larry Gagliano d,
Mr. Rene Ortega e, Dr. Thomas K. Percy f, Ms. Tara Polsgrove g, Mr. Joe Vermette h*
a
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Marshall Space Flight Center, Rideout Road, Huntsville,
Alabama 35812, [email protected]
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
* Corresponding Author
Abstract
In April 2020, NASA announced the selection of three companies to begin the initial phase of development of
human landing systems to take the first woman and the first person of color to the lunar surface through NASA’s
Artemis lunar exploration program. The selected companies were a Blue Origin-led team with Lockheed Martin,
Northrup Grumman, and Draper; Dynetics (a Leidos company); and SpaceX. Contracts were awarded shortly after,
kicking off a ten-month base period during which NASA worked closely with each company to finalize functional and
performance requirements, confirm lander development standards, and establish baseline designs, schedules, and
management plans for contract execution and human spaceflight certification. At the end of the base period, in the
Spring of 2021, NASA awarded a single follow-on Option A contract to SpaceX to continue their work on Human
Landing System (HLS) Starship development. Currently NASA and SpaceX are working collaboratively on Option A
which will ultimately culminate in one uncrewed and one crewed mission to the lunar surface under Artemis III.
This paper will provide a look at the Option A phase of development for the Human Landing System Program,
including publicly available information on SpaceX’s HLS Starship design as well as near-term and future milestones
for HLS and the Artemis program.
Keywords: Artemis, Human Landing System, NASA, Option A, SpaceX, Starship
Acronyms/Abbreviations Safety & Mission Assurance (SMA), subject matter

Chief SMA Officer (CSO), Crew Survivability expert (SME), Space Launch System (SLS), Sustaining
Analysis Report (CSAR), Design, Development, Test Lunar Development (SLD), Technical Interchange
and Evaluation (DDT&E), Eextravehicular activities Meetings (TIM), trans-lunar injection (TLI)
(EVAs), Environmental Control Life Support System
(ECLSS), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), government task 1. Introduction
agreement (GTA), HLS Safety and Engineering Review NASA is getting ready to send astronauts to explore
Panel (HSERP), Human Landing System (HLS), more of the Moon as part of the Artemis program, and
Interface Control Documents (ICDs), Interface the agency selected SpaceX to continue development of
Requirements Document (IRD), Micro Meteoroid the first commercial human lander that will safely carry
Orbital Debris (MMOD), Mishap Preparedness and the next two American astronauts to the lunar surface. At
Contingency Plan (MPCP), National Aeronautics and least one of those astronauts will make history as the first
Space Administration (NASA), Near-Rectilinear Halo woman on the Moon. Another goal of the Artemis
Orbit (NRHO), Probability Risk Assessment (PRA), program includes landing the first person of color on the
Program System Requirements Document (PSRD), lunar surface.
IAC-22.B3.1.9x71658 Page 1 of 7
The agency’s powerful Space Launch System (SLS) surface of the Moon in the Artemis III mission. All three
rocket will launch four astronauts aboard the Orion variants (Figure. 2) will be boosted to orbit by a Super
spacecraft for their multi-day journey to lunar orbit. Heavy Booster first stage, which is 9m in diameter, 70m
There, two crew members will transfer to the SpaceX long, and is powered by 33 SpaceX Raptor engines.
Starship human landing system for the final leg of their
journey to the surface of the Moon. After approximately
a week exploring the surface, they will board the HLS
Starship for their short trip back to orbit where they will
return to Orion and their colleagues before heading back
to Earth.
The firm-fixed price, milestone-based contract total
award value is $2.89 billion.
Fig. 2. The three Starship variants that will be utilized for

Artemis III are Tanker Starships to transport propellent,
a Storage Depot to store the propellent in Earth orbit, and
the HLS Starship that will travel to the Moon.
In May of 2021, SpaceX successfully completed a 10

km suborbital flight and landing of the Starship SN15
spacecraft Figure 3. SpaceX now turns its focus to
Fig. 1. Artist depiction of the HLS Starship (Image: conducting the first orbital flight of the integrated
SpaceX) Starship system (Spacecraft + Booster) which will come
in the next year.
SpaceX worked closely with NASA experts during the
Appendix H base period to inform its lander design and
ensure it meets NASA’s performance requirements and
human spaceflight standards. A key tenet for safe
systems, these agreed-upon standards range from areas of
engineering, safety, health, and medical technical areas.
This paper will provide a look at the following Option
A phase of development for the Human Landing System
program, including publicly available information on
SpaceX’s HLS Starship design as well as near-term and
future milestones for HLS and the Artemis program.
2. Option A Status
The Appendix H base period [1] focused on
establishing agreements between NASA and our three
industry providers regarding Design and Construction
Standards for both Engineering and Safety & Mission
Assurance (S&MA) as well as Health and Medical
Requirements. The base period also supported the
advancement of each provider’s design concepts in
anticipation of the Option A competition and selection.
In late April 2021, the SpaceX Starship concept was
selected [2] as the single award winner for the Human Fig. 3. Starship SN15 test flight landing (Image:
Landing System Appendix H Option A contract. The SpaceX)
SpaceX HLS concept leverages the development of their
commercial Starship system which consists of a Starship 2.1. Artemis III HLS Mission Overview
Spacecraft and a Super Heavy Booster. Under the proposed Artemis III HLS Starship mission
SpaceX intends to utilize three variants of the architecture, the Super Heavy Booster will first deliver a
Starship concept to support returning humans to the
IAC-22.B3.1.9x71658 Page 2 of 7
Depot Starship to Earth orbit. This will be followed by conducted design reviews and/or testing of various
several flights of Tanker Starships, which will deliver systems. The Raptor engine design has undergone
mission-critical methane and oxygen propellants to the numerous tests, including evaluations of performance
Depot. Once a sufficient load of propellant has been under lunar landing throttle profiles. Aft docking
delivered to the Depot, the Super Heavy Booster will mechanism designs—key to the SpaceX propellant
carry the HLS Starship to orbit. The 9m diameter, 50m transfer architecture - have continued to mature. Testing
long HLS Starship will rendezvous with the orbiting and analysis have also been performed for the Starship
Depot and take on the propellants required to execute the Micro Meteoroid Orbital Debris (MMOD)/Thermal
lunar landing mission. Once fully loaded, the HLS Protection Tiles as well as the Environmental Control
Starship, powered by six SpaceX Raptor engines, will Life Support System (ECLSS), Thermal Control System,
perform trans-lunar injection (TLI) and begin its journey Landing Software and Sensor System, and Software
to the pre-defined Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) Architecture.
where it will complete vehicle systems checkouts and Detailed descent and ascent trajectories are also under
loiter waiting for the Orion spacecraft, which will carry development. For descent, the unique lighting
four crewmembers and be launched on the Space Launch environment created by the perpetual low sun angles of
System (SLS). Orion will dock with Starship and two the South Pole region [3] requires that extra effort be put
crewmembers will transfer into the vehicle. With crew into the development of the navigation and sensor
onboard, the HLS Starship will undock from Orion, de- systems that will ensure a safe landing. In the Apollo
orbit, and conduct a landing near the Moon’s South missions, equatorial landing sites ensured that the sun
Pole. The crew may conduct multiple extravehicular traversed the sky-high overhead for the duration of the
activities (EVAs) and, after several days on the surface, astronauts’ stay on the lunar surface. At the South Pole,
the HLS Starship will ascend back to NRHO and the sun remains low on the horizon, casting long shadows
rendezvous with Orion. Once the crew transfers back to and creating extended periods of darkness in the shadow
Orion, HLS Starship will undock and complete its of surface features. The same phenomenon that creates
disposal. At this point the NASA mission with Starship the permanently shadowed regions, which draw the
will be complete. Orion will then carry the crew safely science community to this previously unexplored region
back to Earth. The Artemis III HLS concept of of the Moon, also make site selection and hazard
operations is depicted in Figure 4. avoidance more complicated, and special attention has
been focused on this as the HLS Starship design
2.2. Design and Development matures.
Under the Option A work of the last year, several key Additional focus has also been placed on the
design efforts have continued to mature. As part of the development of the single spacecraft-to-spacecraft
HLS Starship development activities, SpaceX has interface that exists in this architecture: the docking of
Fig. 4. HLS Artemis III Concept of Operations
IAC-22.B3.1.9x71658 Page 3 of 7
HLS Starship with Orion. The unique architecture requirements would be implemented for the initial HLS
proposed by SpaceX for landing on the Moon uses one mission. Final decisions were made at an HLS Control
single-stage landing spacecraft. This means that, while Board with Agency Technical Authority
several rendezvous and docking maneuvers will be participation. HLS SMA also ensured the proper human
required to load propellant into the HLS Starship before rating requirements were captured either contractually or
the crewed mission begins, there are no major docking or in the Program System Requirements Document (PSRD)
undocking events required to execute the lander’s as they relate to SMA. All these activities culminated in
mission, apart from the rendezvous in NRHO with a successful Certification Baseline Review.
Orion. Although this single-stage lander concept Another area of focus for SMA was the development
simplifies the overall crew mission profile by reducing and baseline of planning documents. The primary
the number of crew-critical docking and undocking document is the HLS SMA Plan, which documents all
procedures (compared with the Apollo lunar module SMA government responsible activities and products in
which required successful separation of the Ascent support of mission assurance. SMA is responsible for
Module from the Descent Module prior to lunar ascent), conducting safety reviews of HLS hazard reports
these maneuvers cannot be eliminated altogether. throughout the Design, Development, Test, Evaluation
Notably, the Starship and Orion must execute a (DDT&E) lifecycle for SpaceX. These process details
successful rendezvous and docking sequence when the are captured in the HLS Safety and Engineering Review
crew returns from the lunar surface if they are to return Panel (HSERP) Charter and HSERP Implementation
safely to Earth in the Orion capsule. Therefore, Plan. Compliance with and the approval process for
significant efforts are currently underway to define the planetary protection requirements are captured in the
nominal and off-nominal maneuvers and sequences HLS Planetary Protection Plan, and mishap planning and
required to support a successful docking. This includes communication agreements are documented in the
evaluations of the full capabilities of the existing Orion Mishap Preparedness and Contingency Plan (MPCP).
navigation and remote sensing systems and the Once the HLS program entered the execution phase,
development of the reciprocal HLS Starship systems. SMA actively began developing certification products
Other interface definition work is also underway, and conducting integration activities. The System Safety
including refinement and finalization of the Interface team baselined the HLS Cross-Program Fault Tree
Requirements Document (IRD) that spells out not only Analysis (FTA). This analysis identifies hazards that
the physical connections that ensure mechanical may be inherent between HLS and other interfacing
compatibility between the spacecraft, but also provisions Artemis programs. This product was shared with
for resource sharing critical to the extension of Orion’s SpaceX to help with development of vehicle hazard
in-space service life. Work has also begun on the reports.
development of Interface Control Documents (ICDs) that Another area of SMA accomplishment is regarding
will define the design solutions to meet the requirements HSERPs. Multiple HSERPs have been conducted with
outlined for both sides of this mission-critical interface. other Artemis programs and for government furnished
equipment toward approving hazard
3. Safety and Mission Assurance reports. Additionally, HSERP Technical Interchange
The HLS Safety & Mission Assurance (SMA) office is Meetings (TIM) have been conducted to share lessons
organized to include insight into SpaceX, support for the learned from different programs and with the Industry
HLS program, and representation on behalf of the HLS Partner toward planning for future hazard report review
program in cross-program and agency SMA areas. The and approvals.
HLS SMA office is primarily organized by discipline, NASA also has the responsibility to provide the HLS
which includes System Safety, Reliability & Probability Risk Assessment and Crew Survivability
Maintainability, Probability Risk Assessment (PRA), Analysis Report (CSAR). These products support both
Quality Assurance, Software Assurance, Planetary final design certification and overall Human Rating
Protection, Crew Survivability, and Government certification. They mature along the lifecycle at each
Furnished Equipment Integration. The HLS SMA team HLS major milestone and currently have preliminary
includes members from multiple NASA centers and is led baselines. The Quality Assurance team developed the
by the HLS Chief SMA Officer (CSO). HLS Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan, which defines
During the early formulation phase of the HLS the government surveillance strategy based on areas of
program, SMA was focused on ensuring the correct highest risk during design and development, production,
SMA-related requirements were captured as part of the and operations.
baseline and that the proper planning documents were in
place. The HLS CSO partnered with the HLS Chief
Engineer to conduct a multi-month process to gain
agreements on how the NASA standards and
IAC-22.B3.1.9x71658 Page 4 of 7
4. Collaboration and Insight 4.2 Insight

4.1 Collaboration While the design, development, test, and integration
A novel addition to the HLS procurement approach (DDT&E) of the HLS vehicle is completely the
provides for the ability of the HLS industry provider to responsibility of the industry provider, the HLS program
tap into the NASA workforce through what is called a maintains visibility into the vehicle design through
collaboration task agreement. Through a collaboration technical insight. The HLS program is committed to
task, the provider can take advantage of NASA’s decades implementing risk-based insight where insight resources
of experience in human space flight programs and system are strategically applied to minimize risk to certification
development. Working through the HLS Program Office, and mission execution. As the program progresses and
the provider may reach out to any of the ten NASA field the vehicle matures, insight priorities are expected to
centers to take advantage of their respective areas of evolve, and insight plans may be adjusted as necessary to
expertise, such as propulsion design, cryogenic fluid reflect changing or emerging risks.
management analysis, human in the loop test planning, The HLS program typically limits its insight to review
conducting wind tunnel testing, and any host of other of partner documentation, plans, and processes
technical areas. Collaboration tasks may vary in length; associated with a particular activity. However, in
some may last only weeks while others may go on for instances where the HLS program’s technical team
years. deems necessary, the insight may be increased to include
For the industry provider, collaboration tasks are a independent modeling or analysis.
mechanism by which they can manage their workforce. The HLS program strives to perform insight on a non-
In cases where the provider may need a subject matter interference basis wherever possible. And while insight
expert (SME) for only a brief period of time, they can level approvals include some discussion of estimated
choose to engage a NASA SME to accomplish a short- impact on the provider, provider engagement in insight
term task rather than go through a lengthy hiring process plan development or approval is not required. During
for the same short-term need. On the other hand, the execution, issues with insight or mitigations to minimize
provider may choose to engage the NASA SME for provider impact are addressed via ongoing engagement
longer periods of time to take full advantage of their between the SpaceX Insight Coordinator and the HLS
knowledge and experience through multiple design program’s Lead Systems Engineer.
iterations. Collaboration and insight with the SpaceX team and
Collaboration tasks are also of great value to NASA. completion of both the uncrewed and crewed demo flight
They provide an opportunity for our NASA SMEs to under Option A require a robust exchange of information
further develop their expertise by engaging more deeply and insight from both sides now and into the future. The
in the design and development of the provider vehicle lessons learned from commercial Starship development
and the knowledge gained through the collaboration task are directly applicable to the development of the HLS
will be of great benefit to NASA in future programs. Starship and will help in the progress of NASA’s
While a NASA SME cannot support more than one sustainable missions in the future.
industry provider by nature of the proprietary
architectures proposed for each HLS, NASA also gains a 5. Sustaining Lunar Development
great deal of expertise in the many approaches to lander In the spring of 2022, NASA finalized its acquisition
design and engineering solutions that will benefit future approach for sustaining lunar landers [4] built to an
programs. extended set of requirements, applying a three-pronged
Collaboration may also be achieved by means of a approach: (1) a new procurement to bring on a second
government task agreement (GTA). GTAs are typically industry provider for sustaining lunar lander
reserved for instances where the provider needs access to development culminating in a crewed demonstration
unique government facilities such as test stands, vacuum landing; (2) awarding the Option B scope of work to
chambers, or other high value or unique assets that may SpaceX’s Appendix H contract, thereby asking SpaceX
not be commercially available or would be cost to transform its initial lander capability into one that
prohibitive to build and support a single program. meets NASA’s extended sustaining requirements; and (3)
Through a GTA, a provider can gain access to these conducting a future procurement for regularly recurring
unique facilities as well as the experts that operate them. lunar landing services. The HLS program released a draft
As with collaboration tasks, partnering to make use of solicitation for HLS Sustaining Lunar Development
these unique facilities is of great value to NASA. By shortly after releasing its acquisition approach [5]. The
making use of the facilities and SMEs, NASA can gain HLS procurement path is depicted in Figure 5.
additional insight into the provider design and grow their
experience base. Both of which contribute to making the
Agency technically stronger and contributes to the
success of the program.
IAC-22.B3.1.9x71658 Page 5 of 7
Fig. 5. The HLS Procurement Path
This strategy was implemented to promote competition SpaceX is also the only company eligible for Option
and support the entry of additional commercial providers B. The objective for Option B is to develop and
into the lunar lander services market, ultimately demonstrate a lunar lander that meets NASA’s sustaining
promoting HLS resiliency. NASA’s acquisition plan to requirements for missions beyond Artemis III. This work
achieve two providers is shown in Figure 6. will culminate with another crewed demonstration
In the fall of 2022, NASA plans to award SpaceX the landing.
Option B contract. As the only Option A provider,
Figure 6. NASA’s acquisition plan to achieve two providers
Fig. 6. NASA’s acquisition plan to achieve two providers
IAC-22.B3.1.9x71658 Page 6 of 7
Concurrent with Option B, NASA is asking industry to [3] NASA Identifies Candidate Regions for Landing
compete for a separate procurement under NextSTEP Next Americans on Moon - 16 August 2022
Appendix P, known as Sustaining Lunar Development. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-identifies-
This solicitation will be released in the latter part of 2022 candidate-regions-for-landing-next-americans-on-
and seeks to bring a second entrant to market for the moon
development of a lunar lander in parallel with SpaceX.
This effort is meant to maximize NASA’s support for [4] NASA Provides Update to Astronaut Moon Lander
competition and provide redundancy in services which Plans Under Artemis - 23 March 2022
will help ensure NASA’s ability to transport astronauts https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-provides-
to the lunar surface. This strategy bolsters industry update-to-astronaut-moon-lander-plans-under-
readiness and competition for HLS services and artemis
promotes a resilient plan for establishing a long-term
human presence under Artemis with regular [5] NASA Invites U.S. Industry to Build Additional
transportation to and from the lunar surface. Astronaut Moon Landers - 31 March 2022
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-invites-us-
6. Conclusions industry-to-build-additional-astronaut-moon-landers/
Responsible for the transportation of humans between
lunar orbit and the lunar surface, the Human Landing
System program is at the center of Artemis, designed to
yield groundbreaking science, develop, and utilize lunar
surface resources and leverage what we learn at the Moon
for future Mars missions.
NASA is committed to establishing a sustained lunar
presence, and through Option A and working closely
with SpaceX, the HLS program will facilitate the rapid
development and demonstration of the human landing
system that will deliver the first woman, and in a later
mission, the first person of color, to the Moon. The HLS
capability demonstrated during the Artemis III mission
will evolve into a safe and affordable long-term approach
to accessing the lunar surface and to being one of many
customers purchasing lunar transportation services.
Through Artemis, NASA and its international and
commercial partners will establish a cadence of trips to
the Moon where American astronauts will conduct
science investigations, technology demonstrations, and
establish a long-term presence to prepare for humanity’s
next giant leap – sending astronauts on a roundtrip to
Mars.
The HLS program continues its hard work toward
achieving major agency milestones as NASA embarks on
its mission to explore deep space and beyond this decade
and into the future.
References
[1] NextSTEP Appendix H: Human Landing System -

Sept 30 2019
https://www.nasa.gov/nextstep/humanlander2
[2] As Artemis Moves Forward, NASA Picks SpaceX to

Land Next Americans on Moon - 16 April 2021
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/as-artemis-
moves-forward-nasa-picks-spacex-to-land-next-
americans-on-moon
IAC-22.B3.1.9x71658 Page 7 of 7

HLS IAC - Final - NASA (Artemis)

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

HLS IAC - Final - NASA (Artemis)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

73rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Paris, France, 18-22 September 2022.

NASA’s Initial Artemis Human Landing System

Acronyms/Abbreviations Safety & Mission Assurance (SMA), subject matter

Fig. 2. The three Starship variants that will be utilized for

In May of 2021, SpaceX successfully completed a 10

Fig. 4. HLS Artemis III Concept of Operations

4. Collaboration and Insight 4.2 Insight

Fig. 5. The HLS Procurement Path

Figure 6. NASA’s acquisition plan to achieve two providers

Fig. 6. NASA’s acquisition plan to achieve two providers

[1] NextSTEP Appendix H: Human Landing System -

[2] As Artemis Moves Forward, NASA Picks SpaceX to

You might also like