''McCandless Lunar Lander'' is a concept for a robotic lunar lander proposed as one of the commercial cargo vehicles for NASA's

Commercial Lunar Payload Services Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is a NASA program to contract transportation services able to send small robotic landers and rovers to the Moon's south polar region mostly with the goals of scouting for lunar resources, testing in sit ...

(CLPS). The lander was proposed to NASA for funding by the aerospace company Lockheed Martin, and it is based on the successful Mars landers ''Phoenix'' and ''

InSight Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intui ...

''.

Overview

On 29 November 2018, NASA announced the first nine companies, including Lockheed Martin, that are allowed to bid on contracts by the

(CLPS). These contracts are indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts with a combined maximum contract value of $2.6 billion during the next 10 years. The contracted landers will transport commercial payloads focused on exploration,

in situ resource utilization In space exploration, in situ resource utilization (ISRU) is the practice of collection, processing, storing and use of materials found or manufactured on other astronomical objects (the Moon, Mars, asteroids, etc.) that replace materials that ...

(ISRU), and lunar science. The ''McCandless'' lander is named in honor of the late astronaut and former Lockheed Martin employee Bruce McCandless II, who in 1984 performed the first free-flying spacewalk without a lifeline to the orbiting Space Shuttle, using a jetpack built by the company.Next moon lander could be made in Colorado
Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press; Published by ''The Denver post''. November 30, 2018.

Spacecraft

The ''McCandless'' lander design is based on the successful ''Phoenix'' and ''

'' Mars landers, designed and built by Lockheed Martin for

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

.Lockheed Martin Selected for NASA's Commercial Lunar Lander Payload Services Contract
''Yahoo Finance''. November 29, 2018. The lander is being proposed to the new Commercial Lunar Payload Services program (CLPS) to deliver to the lunar surface up to of usable payload, including stationary scientific instruments, small deployable rovers,

ISRU In space exploration, in situ resource utilization (ISRU) is the practice of collection, processing, storing and use of materials found or manufactured on other astronomical objects (the Moon, Mars, asteroids, etc.) that replace materials that ...

experiments, or even sample-return vehicles. The lander's system incorporates on-board radars and a set of rocket thrusters for deceleration and soft-landing. It will not need the

aeroshell An aeroshell is a rigid heat-shielded shell that helps decelerate and protects a spacecraft vehicle from pressure, heat, and possible debris created by drag during atmospheric entry (see blunt body theory). Its main components consist of a heat ...

and heat shield, as the Moon has no atmosphere. The lander is presently designed to operate for one lunar day (14 Earth days), but upgrades for enduring the lunar nights can be considered depending on mission requirements.

References

Proposed spacecraft Missions to the Moon Commercial Lunar Payload Services Mining in space Lockheed Martin {{US-spacecraft-stub