Draper and Dynetics Team Up to Return Humans to the Moon

CAMBRIDGE, MA—NASA has selected Dynetics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leidos, and a Dynetics-led team, of which Draper is a part, to develop and demonstrate a Human Landing System (HLS) to return humans to the lunar surface by 2024.

Draper—with its continuous expertise in human space exploration dating back to the Apollo era—will provide the human-rated avionics, including the precision navigation and guidance systems for a safe and accurate landing of the Dynetics’ HLS. Under the contract, Draper will use advanced human-system integration to develop the HLS flight deck to further enhance reliable and safe operation of the Dynetics’ HLS.

“Draper’s expertise in precision navigation, and guidance systems will be tapped into once more to deliver the first woman and the next man on the lunar surface in 2024,” said Jennifer Jensen, vice president, National Security and Space, Draper. “We are prepared to deliver human exploration avionics and human-system integration for a safe mission.”

In addition to Dynetics’ HLS, Draper continues to support the NASA Artemis effort to provide advanced technical solutions to the most challenging problems of human space exploration. As a key contributor to NASA’s SLS, Draper is applying novel approaches, including its fault-tolerant flight computing expertise and human-rated flight software development expertise to analyze and optimize the performance of the control and guidance system. Using a model-based design environment, Draper is also delivering its advanced guidance, navigation and control technology for Orion.