Private Rocket Makers Team Up to manufacture Robot Landers

Two California companies, one a rocket engine builder and the other a mock moon lander winner, have teamed up to expand new private unmanned vehicles that NASA could send to the moon, Mars and asteroids.The companies are XCOR Aerospace, specializing in rocket engines, and Masten Space Systems which won a $1 million NASA contest to build and fly robotic vehicles on fake hops on the moon.

The two companies hope to merge their areas of expertise in anticipation of NASA-sponsored unmanned lander projects, according a joint announcement this week."It seems like NASA may actually be interested in a commercial approach to landers," Michael Mealling, of Masten Space Systems.Under NASA's new space plan proposed by President Barack Obama, commercial spacecraft and services have a bigger role than before.

That new plan, if approved by Congress, would cancel NASA's previous Constellation program in charge of new moon landers and other vehicles. The space agency's shuttle fleet is retiring later this year after two last missions.