Bezos presents NASA a $2 billion low cost for Blue Origin Moon lander

Blue Origin proprietor Jeff Bezos wrote an open letter to NASA on Monday providing a $2 billion low cost to permit his firm to construct a Moon lander.

The human touchdown system (HLS) contract, value $2.9 billion, was awarded to rival SpaceX in April, however Blue Origin and a 3rd firm Dynetics filed protests which are presently awaiting adjudication by the US Government Accountability Office.

The United States is in search of to return to the Moon by 2024 underneath the Artemis program, utilizing the teachings discovered to arrange for a crewed Mars mission within the 2030s.

In his letter to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Bezos stated the provide would “bridge the funding shortfall” that led to the space company selecting only one contractor, as a substitute of two which might then compete with one another.

He added “this offer is not a deferral, but is an outright permanent waiver.”

Since shedding the award, Blue Origin has been frantically lobbying to have the choice reversed, main the Senate to cross a invoice agreeing so as to add $10 billion to the human lander system.

But the laws remains to be being debated within the House, and has been branded a “Bezos Bailout” by critics.

Bezos wrote that a bonus of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander was its use of liquid hydrogen for gasoline, which may be mined from lunar ice consistent with NASA’s plans to make use of the Moon to refuel rockets for operations deeper into the solar system.

He added that the corporate would check its lander in orbit across the Earth at its personal price.

“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,” Bezos concluded.

It is unclear whether or not Bezos’ last-minute intervention will sway the end result of the award.

© 2021 AFP