Lockheed VP Lisa Callahan: Lunar Lander Work With Blue Origin in Progress

Lisa Callahan, vice president and general manager of commercial civil space at Lockheed Martin, has provided an update on the company's partnership with Blue Origin for the development of a new system that would help astronauts land on the lunar surface, TechCrunch reported Friday.

Lockheed is part of a Blue Origin-led team formed in 2019 to work on the lunar landing system that consists of ascent and descent modules, she said at the TC Sessions: Space event. The future system will support NASA's Artemis program that aims to bring manned exploration back to the moon, and eventually to Mars.

Blue Origin, the effort's prime contractor, develops the descent module while Lockheed works on the ascent module. Northrop Grumman and Draper, the other team members, are tasked to deliver the system's other parts. 

Callahan said the partnership is running at a smooth pace with the help of digital technologies that allow for remote collaboration amid the pandemic.

“We’ve been investing for probably the last five years or more in what we’re calling digital transformation — so, digital collaboration tools, building digital twins of our spacecraft, so multiple people can work on the design at the same time,” the Lockheed executive stated.

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, owns Blue Origin.