{"id":17513,"date":"2021-07-26T19:04:53","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T11:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/jeff-bezos-offers-to-cover-2b-more-in-costs-as-part-of-nasa-lunar-lander-deal\/"},"modified":"2021-07-26T19:04:53","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T11:04:53","slug":"jeff-bezos-offers-to-cover-2b-more-in-costs-as-part-of-nasa-lunar-lander-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/jeff-bezos-offers-to-cover-2b-more-in-costs-as-part-of-nasa-lunar-lander-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Bezos offers to cover $2B more in costs as part of NASA lunar lander deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_595394\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-595394\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-595394\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/blue-origins-team-turns-in-its-m-630x354.jpg\" alt=\"Blue Origin team's lunar landing system\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/blue-origins-team-turns-in-its-m-630x354.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/blue-origins-team-turns-in-its-m-1260x709.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/blue-origins-team-turns-in-its-m-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/blue-origins-team-turns-in-its-m.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-595394\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist\u2019s conception shows the lunar landing system designed by Blue Origin and its partners. (Blue Origin via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In an open letter to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Jeff Bezos says his Blue Origin space venture will waive up to $2 billion in payments as part of a deal to build a second lunar landing system for NASA\u2019s use.<\/p>\n<p>The offer comes just days after Bezos rode Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard suborbital rocket ship to the edge of space and back. It appears aimed at addressing one of the factors that led NASA in April to issue only one contract for a landing system capable of carrying astronauts to the moon\u2019s surface by as early as 2024. That $2.9 billion contract went to SpaceX, in part because NASA said Congress didn\u2019t award enough money for two providers.<\/p>\n<p>NASA also gave its highest technical rating to SpaceX\u2019s proposal to use a version of its Starship launch system, which is currently under development.<\/p>\n<p>Blue Origin and its industry partners \u2060\u2014 including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper \u2060\u2014 bid $6 billion to design and build a competing landing system. After SpaceX won the award, Blue Origin\u2019s team and Dynetics, the third competitor for a NASA contract, filed protests with the Government Accountability Office. The GAO is due to rule on those protests by Aug. 4.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"SpaceX Starship chosen by NASA to land astronauts on Moon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m16Pe7ZKkVc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In his letter to Nelson, Bezos revisits the issues laid out in Blue Origin\u2019s protest and complains that NASA \u201cchose to confer a multi-year, multibillion-dollar head start to SpaceX\u201d in the Human Landing System competition.<\/p>\n<p>He noted that NASA gave SpaceX a chance to revise its bid to fit NASA\u2019s financial needs, and that Blue Origin wasn\u2019t given a similar opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was a mistake, it was unusual, and it was a missed opportunity,\u201d Bezos wrote. \u201cBut it is not too late to remedy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bezos then offered to waive all payments in the 2021-2023 fiscal years, up to $2 billion, \u201cto get the program back on track right now.\u201d He said that would be in addition to the $1 billion in corporate contributions that was previously pledged.<\/p>\n<p>Blue Origin would also develop and launch a pathfinder version of its lunar descent element into low Earth orbit at its own cost, \u201cto further retire development and schedule risks,\u201d Bezos said. And it would do the work on a fixed-price basis, shielding NASA from cost overruns.<\/p>\n<p>In an indirect reference to his status as the world\u2019s richest individual, Bezos said he was \u201chonored to offer these contributions and am grateful to be in a financial position to do so.\u201d (For what it\u2019s worth, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is currently the world\u2019s second-richest&nbsp;individual.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf NASA has different ideas about what would best facilitate getting back to true competition now, we are ready and willing to discuss them,\u201d Bezos wrote.<\/p>\n<p>He noted there was \u201cstrong, bipartisan congressional support for a second lander and for the Artemis Program in general.\u201d Artemis is NASA\u2019s program aimed at getting astronauts on the moon by 2024, although that deadline\u2019s likely to be extended.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"callout clearfix\"><strong>Previously:<\/strong> Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture approaches period of maximum dynamic pressure<\/h4>\n<p>Some prominent members in Congress \u2014 including Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. \u2014 have said a second commercial system for crewed lunar landings is needed to ensure competition and redundancy.<\/p>\n<p>NASA has benefited from similar redundancies in the International Space Station program: SpaceX and Northrop Grumman provide cargo resupply, while SpaceX and Boeing have contracts for transporting crew.<\/p>\n<p>Congress is considering Cantwell\u2019s proposal to authorize $10 billion for NASA\u2019s Human Landing System program, in order to cover the cost of a second lander.<\/p>\n<p>In part to address congressional concerns, NASA has laid out plans to follow up on SpaceX\u2019s sole-source contract for the first lunar landing with a new competition. That process would start out with a solicitation called Appendix N and continue with a program known as Lunar Exploration Transportation Services, or LETS.<\/p>\n<p>In his letter, Bezos said that approach \u201cwon\u2019t create true competition, it is unfunded, and it provides a multi-year head start to the one funded, single-source supplier.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve reached out to NASA and SpaceX for comment, and will update this report with any response.<\/p>\n<p>In a tweet, former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said she was \u201crarely speechless, but I\u2019m blown away by this offer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know about its legality, but offering $2B+ to develop a competitive lander can\u2019t be ignored,\u201d Garver wrote. \u201cSure, it is unconventional, but hasn\u2019t everyone (including Elon) been saying Jeff needs to take more of a personal interest?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Garver said Blue Origin\u2019s offer should apply to a follow-up competition like LETS \u2014 and advised against reopening the original selection process in which SpaceX won out. \u201cIf Congress tried, it would overturn procurement laws and set a precedent that all \u2018losers\u2019 could derail awards by making a better offer after the fact,\u201d she tweeted. \u201cWhat I like is the long-term potential for another competitor \u2026 like Boeing in [NASA\u2019s commercial crew program].\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows the lunar landing system designed by Blue Origin and its partners. (Blue Origin via YouTube) In an open letter to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Jeff Bezos says his Blue Origin space venture will waive up to $2 billion in payments as part of a deal to build a second lunar landing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[304,1508,509,1046,2043,625],"class_list":["post-17513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-artemis","tag-blue-moon","tag-blue-origin","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-lunar-lander","tag-moon"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17513"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}