Leidos subsidiary submits lunar lander proposal to NASA

Dynetics working on Artemis moonshot

Published January 7, 2021 by Sydney Lake

Dynetics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor Leidos Holdings Inc., announced Wednesday it has submitted its proposal for the Human Landing System (HLS) that is planned to take the first woman and next man to the man’s surface for NASA’s Artemis Program by 2024.

In late April, Dynetics was one of three companies tapped (including Amazon.com Inc. and SpaceX) to design the human lunar landing system . The total combined value of the awarded contracts is $967 million. During a 10-month period, each of three companies are developing competing designs for the HLS, and one will be selected to build it.

“Our team is making great progress on our system design and analysis, hardware development, and testing,” Kim Doering, Dynetics vice president of space systems, said in a statement. “The incredible volume of technical data and outstanding products delivered to date speak to the power of the swift, yet rigorous, engineering approach with which the team has executed.”

Dynetics provided NASA with early design efforts, mission plans as well as details about hardware, software and test activities. The company is currently performing tests of the main engines at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

“We believe this body of work lays a solid foundation for our crew-centric, sustainable solution to become NASA’s choice for safe human transportation to and from the lunar surface,” Doering said in a statement.

Leidos acquired Dynetics for $1.65 billion in February 2020 in an all-cash transaction. Dynetics is also working on NASA’s Space Launch System Core Stage, Exploration Upper Stage and Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle as well as the International Space Station.