杏吧原创

THE next lunar lander won鈥檛 be designed by the new generation of plucky space privateers after all, and for a bizarre reason.

While a consortium that includes Burt Rutan鈥檚 Scaled Composites, builders of the first privately owned spacecraft, say they can build a great spaceship, they don鈥檛 have the expertise or resources to do all the paperwork.

鈥淣ASA wants 40 to 50 monthly reports on what you鈥檙e doing,鈥� David Gump, president of the Transformational Space consortium told New 杏吧原创 on Monday. And while 鈥渨e could build a great Crew Exploration Vehicle鈥�, Gump says, the consortium cannot comply with the reports and studies NASA stipulates to monitor the project.

NASA issued eight companies with contracts to design a CEV last September. But the two contracts to build prototypes are likely to go to two consortiums, one headed by Lockheed Martin, the other by Northrop Grumman and Boeing. Transformational Space hopes to land a smaller deal for an orbiter with minimal documentation.