Bezos Says He’ll Spend $2 Billion on a Lunar Lander in Exchange for a NASA Contract

Jeff Bezos—the world’s richest “astronaut” and bitter grape—has written an open letter to NASA administrator Bill Nelson, saying Blue Origin will cowl billions in NASA prices in trade for a contract to construct a lunar lander that can ship astronauts to the Moon in 2024.

Fresh from his flight to suborbital area, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos is re-setting his sights on the Moon. In April, NASA awarded Elon Musk’s SpaceX with the lone contract to construct NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS), prompting Blue Origin and Dynetics—the remaining bidders—to file a protest with the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO). Blue Origin’s predominant gripe is that NASA backed down on its promise to award a number of contracts.

Blue Origin hopes its protest with the GAO would be the stick that helps it procure a second HLS contract, however Bezos is now providing NASA a carrot—and a really tasty one at that. The Amazon CEO stated Blue Origin would waive all funds as much as $2 billion in trade for the contract. The supply “is not a deferral,” he wrote within the letter, “but an outright and permanent waiver of those payments.” To which he added: “This offer provides time for government appropriation actions to catch up.”

To make the carrot even sweeter, Bezos stated Blue Origin will contribute to the “development and launch of a pathfinder mission to low-Earth orbit of the lunar descent element,” and at its personal value. This could be along with the uncrewed demonstration of the HLS.

Blue Origin, wrote Bezos, would additionally settle for a fixed-price contract for the work and canopy any value overruns, which lol—that’s not a lot of an incentive given NASA’s expectations for the way HLS contracts are alleged to work.

The SpaceX contract is price $2.89 billion. Blue Origin supplied a price ticket of $5.99 billion, whereas Dynetics stated its resolution would tally someplace between $8.5 to $9.5 billion. NASA went with a sole supplier because of budgetary constraints, because the area company explained in its supply choice assertion. The protests filed with the GAO compelled NASA to halt SpaceX’s work on the lunar lander, and a call on the matter is expected on August 4.

Should NASA comply with award a second contract, it’s not clear if Blue Origin might be requested to requote for the job, or if the $5.99 billion from the unique quote nonetheless stands. Regardless, the Blue Origin resolution remains to be going to value NASA—and the American taxpayer—a substantial sum of money. But, once more, a second lander is a venture that NASA believes is crucial.

As Bezos claims in his letter, NASA let SpaceX revise its quote, nevertheless it didn’t afford Blue Origin the identical alternative.

“That was a mistake, it was unusual, and it was a missed opportunity. But it is not too late to remedy,” wrote Bezos. “We stand ready to help NASA moderate its technical risks and solve its budgetary constraints and put the Artemis Program back on a more competitive, credible, and sustainable path.”

It’s necessary to notice that Blue Origin will not be working alone to construct the HLS, because it’s partnered with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Draper, and a whole lot of small- and medium-sized U.S. firms. NASA awarded the “National Team,” because it’s recognized, $579 million to advance its idea in the course of the bidding stage, “and we performed well,” writes Bezos. The workforce got here up with a “safe, mass-efficient design that could achieve a human landing in 2024,” he claims. In addition to being protected and sustainable, Bezos says the Blue Origin resolution comes with “many benefits,” together with using liquid hydrogen as gas, which, along with being the “highest-performing rocket fuel” may be mined on the Moon. This function, he stated, “will prove essential for sustained future operations on the Moon and beyond.”

At the identical time, SpaceX is planning to make use of its upcoming Starship as a lunar lander—an answer “tempered by its complexity and relatively high-risk nature,” as NASA describes it, and as Bezos is very happy to level out.

Bezos can be claiming that, by going with a single vendor, NASA may paint itself right into a nook. By not fostering its “original strategy of competitions,” the area company will “find itself with limited options as it attempts to negotiate missed deadlines, design changes, and cost overruns,” Bezos writes.

This open letter to the NASA administrator will not be an official a part of NASA’s bidding course of, neither is it an official a part of Blue Origin’s protest with GAO. Bezos, it could appear, is attempting to attract consideration to his firm’s plight, and to reveal what he believes is unfair therapy from NASA. It’s unclear, nonetheless, how this letter may affect the Artemis venture, particularly given the obvious and sudden availability of $2 billion—and with out NASA having to ask Congress for any of it.

It’s price noting that Nelson may be very a lot in favor of a second supplier for a lunar lander. Back in June, the newly minted administrator asked Senate appropriators for the additional funds wanted to make this occur. NASA wants “some more money to enhance and procure that competition so that there are other players that get involved,” stated Nelson in a Washington Post webinar held on July 21, as SpaceNews reports.

Additional funding doesn’t appear probably for the approaching fiscal yr, and ambiguities about when U.S. astronauts may really make it to the Moon aren’t serving to. The present plan is to execute a crewed touchdown in 2024, however the Biden Administration, whereas supportive of the Artemis program, has been noncommittal about this admittedly arbitrary—and looming—timeline.

That Bezos is so dedicated to the venture is hardly a shock, because the billionaire claims to have developed a fascination with the Moon after watching the Apollo landings as a toddler. His ego in all probability took a bruising when his rival, Musk, obtained the NASA contract again in April, so there’s additionally that to think about. A brand new area race has emerged, however who would’ve guessed it could be fought amongst the billionaires.