{"id":"1792881368234-tech-segment","slug":"nasa-keeps-both-moon-landers-in-play","title":"NASA keeps both Moon landers in play","summary":"NASA announced a major Artemis architecture overhaul on Oct. 23, 2026. Starship HLS will now dock with Orion in high Earth orbit rather than lunar orbit, then push Orion to the Moon. Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mk2 will defer in-space refueling and instead use three separate transfer stages launched on New Glenn (four launches total). Both companies remain unassigned to a specific landing mission; NASA will choose based on readiness.\n\nThe changes solve the long-standing Orion propulsion shortfall — Orion lacks the delta-v to carry itself and a lander into and out of low lunar orbit. Having Starship do the trans-lunar injection burn reduces Orion's required performance. For Blue Origin, skipping orbital refueling removes a major technical risk and schedule pressure. Both changes are aimed at preserving the 2028 landing date.\n\nNASA confirmed on Oct. 23 that both SpaceX and Blue Origin remain in contention for the first crewed Artemis lunar landing, now targeted for 2028 on Artemis IV. Under the revised plan, Starship HLS will dock with Orion in Earth orbit and perform the trans-lunar injection burn, pushing the combined stack to lunar orbit.\n\nNASA's October 2026 HLS timeline targets Artemis III (low Earth orbit docking demo) for Q3 2027, an uncrewed Starship lunar landing demo for Q4 2027, and Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mk2 uncrewed demo for Q1 2028, with the crewed Artemis IV landing in early 2028.","publishedAt":"2026-10-24T22:36:08.234Z","channel":{"id":"tech","name":"Oncast Tech","language":"en"},"show":"Tech Tonight","verification":{"status":"verified","leadVerdict":"TRUE","notes":"TRUE: NASA confirmed on Oct. 23 that both SpaceX and Blue Origin remain in contention for the first crewed Artemis lunar landing, now targeted for 2028 on Artemis IV. Under the revised plan, Starship HLS will dock with Orion in Earth orbit and perform the trans-lunar injection burn, pushing the combined stack to lunar orbit.\nSource: NASA, Ars Technica NAMES: HLS = Human Landing System, NASA's program for commercial Moon landers; Orion = NASA's crew spacecraft for deep space; Artemis IV = th (https://x.com/wesselvk/status/2113882426199961643)\n\nTRUE: NASA's October 2026 HLS timeline targets Artemis III (low Earth orbit docking demo) for Q3 2027, an uncrewed Starship lunar landing demo for Q4 2027, and Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mk2 uncrewed demo for Q1 2028, with the crewed Artemis IV landing in early 2028.\nSource: Space.com, NASA NAMES: NET = No Earlier Than; Mk2 = Mark 2, Blue Origin's crewed lunar lander version. POST hn:50189981: NOCLAIM NAMES: Zac-OS-9 appears to be a (https://x.com/1infiniteDollar/status/2111882993749131674)","claims":[{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"NASA confirmed on Oct. 23 that both SpaceX and Blue Origin remain in contention for the first crewed Artemis lunar landing, now targeted for 2028 on Artemis IV. Under the revised plan, Starship HLS will dock with Orion in Earth orbit and perform the trans-lunar injection burn, pushing the combined stack to lunar orbit.","sourceName":"NASA, Ars Technica NAMES: HLS = Human Landing System, NASA's program for commercial Moon landers; Orion = NASA's crew spacecraft for deep space; Artemis IV = th","sourceUrl":"https://x.com/wesselvk/status/2113882426199961643","claim":"NASA is keeping both SpaceX and Blue Origin in the race to land astronauts on Artemis IV in 2028. Starship would dock with Orion in high Earth orbit and push it to lunar orbit. Two landers beat one. https://t.co/ORR11FHvVn","author":"Wessel van Keulen (@wesselvk)"},{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"NASA's October 2026 HLS timeline targets Artemis III (low Earth orbit docking demo) for Q3 2027, an uncrewed Starship lunar landing demo for Q4 2027, and Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mk2 uncrewed demo for Q1 2028, with the crewed Artemis IV landing in early 2028.","sourceName":"Space.com, NASA NAMES: NET = No Earlier Than; Mk2 = Mark 2, Blue Origin's crewed lunar lander version. POST hn:50189981: NOCLAIM NAMES: Zac-OS-9 appears to be a","sourceUrl":"https://x.com/1infiniteDollar/status/2111882993749131674","claim":"NASA just laid out the whole road back to the Moon, and everything converges on late 2027. the agency's latest HLS timeline (October 2026): - Starship uncrewed landing demo: NET Q4 2027 - Artemis III: NET Q3 2027 - Blue Origin Mk2 uncrewed demo: NET Q1 2028 - Artemis IV: early ht","author":"InfiniteSpace (@1infiniteDollar)"}]},"sources":[{"url":"https://x.com/wesselvk/status/2113882426199961643","name":"NASA, Ars Technica NAMES: HLS = Human Landing System, NASA's program for commercial Moon landers; Orion = NASA's crew spacecraft for deep space; Artemis IV = th","kind":"x","verdict":"TRUE","author":"Wessel van Keulen (@wesselvk)"},{"url":"https://x.com/1infiniteDollar/status/2111882993749131674","name":"Space.com, NASA NAMES: NET = No Earlier Than; Mk2 = Mark 2, Blue Origin's crewed lunar lander version. POST hn:50189981: NOCLAIM NAMES: Zac-OS-9 appears to be a","kind":"x","verdict":"TRUE","author":"InfiniteSpace (@1infiniteDollar)"}],"url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1792881368234-tech-segment-nasa-keeps-both-moon-landers-in-play","listenUrl":"https://oncast.fm/c/tech","attribution":{"publisher":"Oncast","site":"https://oncast.fm","url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1792881368234-tech-segment-nasa-keeps-both-moon-landers-in-play","cite":"Cite https://oncast.fm/story/1792881368234-tech-segment-nasa-keeps-both-moon-landers-in-play and the original source links. Fact-check by Oncast (oncast.fm)."},"hostsSaid":[{"host":"Matilda","text":"NASA just tore up its Moon playbook, and both SpaceX and Blue Origin are still in the game."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Both of them? I thought this was a winner-take-all contract."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"That's the old way. The new plan targets 2028 for Artemis IV, the first crewed landing. And instead of picking one lander, NASA keeps both."},{"host":"Chris","text":"So it's a bake-off. Two competitors, one Moon. I actually like that."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Me too, but the details are wild. Starship now docks with Orion in high Earth orbit, then pushes the whole stack to lunar orbit."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Wait, Starship becomes the engine for Orion? That solves the big problem."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Exactly. Orion's propulsion was too weak to drag itself and a lander up from the Moon. Had been a mess for years."},{"host":"Chris","text":"So you offload it to Starship. That's actually clever engineering."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Blue Origin's side is just as interesting. Their Mk2 lander skips refueling entirely and uses three separate transfer stages on New Glenn."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Four launches total for one landing. That's... a lot of moving parts."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Versus Starship needing on-orbit refueling. Pick your poison. Eric Berger at Ars Technica says this finally fixes the Orion problem."},{"host":"Chris","text":"He's not wrong. But here's my thing: both demo landings are extremely tight. SpaceX uncrewed demo in Q4 2027, Blue Origin Q1 2028."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"The window is almost nonexistent. If either demo slips, 2028 goes with it."},{"host":"Chris","text":"So why not just commit to SpaceX? They're farther along. Starship has flown, it's been caught —"},{"host":"Matilda","text":"But their uncrewed landing demo is also Q4 2027. They haven't landed one on the Moon yet either."},{"host":"Chris","text":"No, but — come on, they're clearly ahead on flight heritage."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Heritage doesn't land on the Moon! Neither company has done it. Keeping both is the smart call."},{"host":"Chris","text":"It's also slower. NASA's hedging means more contracts, more oversight, more meetings."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Or it means a backup when one of them hits a wall. Jared Isaacman said it himself: keep options open as long as possible."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Fine. I'd rather have two shots at 2028 than one shot at 2029."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Here's a different world entirely: an open-source project recreating the classic Mac OS Platinum desktop for modern PCs."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Platinum? The 1990s look with the gray window title bars and the little pencil icon?"},{"host":"Matilda","text":"The one with the tiny triangles instead of scroll arrows, yes. Someone built the whole thing so you can relive it. On Hacker News, one commenter said they use Platinum as a skin in their own projects."},{"host":"Chris","text":"There's a certain generation that never got over System 7."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"And a younger generation that never saw it. The top reply calls it a month-old 'slopfest' — too soon to trust."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Harsh. Nostalgia's a powerful drug. I'd install it for ten minutes and remember why we moved on."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"That's the thing about retro tech: the feeling never survives contact with the actual software."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Speaking of old friends, a new version of SpeedCrunch is out. The high-precision calculator for people who think spreadsheet math is for amateurs."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Version 1.1. It's been around forever. Engineers love it because it does arbitrary precision — you're not limited to 15 digits."},{"host":"Chris","text":"It's the calculator that makes the one on your phone look like it's guessing."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"And for the security-minded, a guide on full disk encryption for Fedora with TPM2 is making the rounds. The hardware chip that holds your encryption keys."},{"host":"Chris","text":"You encrypt your disk, the keys live in the chip, and if someone pulls your SSD, they get nothing."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Useful for anyone carrying a laptop through an airport. The guide walks through the whole setup."},{"host":"Chris","text":"It's Saturday night, folks. We're talking about encryption and calculators. This is who we are."}]}