Jeff Bezos — the humans ’s copious “ astronaut ” and sour grape — has written an open letter to NASA executive Bill Nelson , tell Blue Origin will cover billion in NASA costs in exchange for a contract to build a lunar lander that will deliver astronauts to the Moon in 2024 .
Fresh from hisflightto subocular space , Blue Origin founding father Jeff Bezos is re - setting his sights on the Moon . In April , NASA awarded Elon Musk ’s SpaceX with the lone contract bridge to construct NASA ’s Human Landing System ( HLS ) , prompting Blue Origin and Dynetics — theremaining bidder — to file away aprotestwith the federal Government Accountability Office ( GAO ) . Blue Origin ’s main gripe is that NASA backed down on its promise to award multiple contracts .
Blue Origin hopes its protest with the GAO will be the stick that helps it procure a 2nd HLS contract , but Bezos is now tender NASA a carrot — and a very tasty one at that . The Amazon CEO said Blue Origin would forgo all payment up to $ 2 billion in exchange for the contract . The offer “ is not a deferral , ” he write in theletter , “ but an outright and permanent waiver of those payment . ” To which he added : “ This fling put up time for administration appropriation actions to get up . ”
Jeff Bezos during a post-launch briefing on 24 February 2025.Image: Tony Gutierrez (AP)
To make the Daucus carota sativa even sweeter , Bezos said Blue Origin will contribute to the “ developing and launch of a pathfinder mission to low - land orbit of the lunar descent element , ” and at its own cost . This would be in addition to the uncrewed demonstration of the HLS .
Blue Origin , wrote Bezos , would also take a fixed - Leontyne Price contract for the work and cover any cost overrun , which lol — that ’s not much of an incentive given NASA ’s anticipation for how HLS contracts are supposed to work .
The SpaceX declaration is deserving $ 2.89 billion . Blue Origin offer a Mary Leontyne Price tag of $ 5.99 billion , while Dynetics read its answer would tally somewhere between $ 8.5 to $ 9.5 billion . NASA depart with a solitary supplier due to budgetary restraint , as the space agencyexplainedin its source natural selection statement . The protests lodge with the GAO compel NASA to halt SpaceX ’s body of work on the lunar lander , and a decision on the topic isexpectedon August 4 .
Artist’s conception of the Blue Origin lunar lander.Image: Blue Origin
Should NASA agree to present a 2d contract , it ’s not clear if Blue Origin will be call for to requote for the job , or if the $ 5.99 billion from the original quote still stands . disregardless , the Blue Origin solution is still going to cost NASA — and the American taxpayer — a considerable amount of money . But , again , a second lander is a project that NASA believes is of the essence .
As Bezos claims in his letter of the alphabet , NASA let SpaceX retool its quotation mark , but it did n’t afford Blue Origin the same chance .
“ That was a mistake , it was unusual , and it was a missed chance . But it is not too late to amend , ” wrote Bezos . “ We stand ready to facilitate NASA moderate its technical risks and solve its budgetary constraints and put the Artemis Program back on a more competitive , believable , and sustainable path . ”
It ’s important to mark that Blue Origin has stopped alone to build the HLS , as it ’s partnered with Lockheed Martin , Northrop Grumman , Draper , and hundred of small- and medium - sized U.S. companies . NASA award the “ National Team , ” as it ’s hump , $ 579 million to advance its concept during the bid degree , “ and we perform well , ” compose Bezos . The team get along up with a “ safe , aggregated - efficient design that could achieve a human landing place in 2024 , ” he claims . In plus to being good and sustainable , Bezos read the Blue Origin resolution derive with “ many benefits , ” including the manipulation of liquid hydrogen as fuel , which , in addition to being the “ highest - performing rocket fuel ” can be mined on the Moon . This lineament , he said , “ will prove essential for free burning future operations on the Moon and beyond . ”
At the same time , SpaceX is planning to use its upcoming Starship as a lunar lander — a solution “ tempered by its complexity and relatively high - danger nature , ” as NASAdescribesit , and as Bezos is more than happy to point out .
Bezos is also claiming that , by going with a single marketer , NASA could paint itself into a corner . By not fostering its “ original strategy of competition , ” the outer space agency will “ find itself with limited options as it attempts to negotiate overlook deadlines , invention changes , and cost overruns , ” Bezos writes .
This clear letter to the NASA decision maker is not an prescribed part of NASA ’s summons operation , nor is it an prescribed part of Blue Origin ’s protest with GAO . Bezos , it would seem , is attempt to draw attention to his company ’s troth , and to reveal what he believes is unjust treatment from NASA . It ’s unclear , however , how this letter might impact the Artemis project , especially give the apparent and sudden handiness of $ 2 billion — and without NASA have to ask Congress for any of it .
It ’s deserving noting that Nelson is very much in favor of a second provider for a lunar lander . Back in June , the newly minted administratoraskedSenate appropriator for the extra stock needed to make this happen . NASA needs “ some more money to heighten and procure that competition so that there are other players that get involved , ” enunciate Nelson in a Washington Post webinar hold on July 21 , as SpaceNewsreports .
Additional backing does n’t seem probable for the coming fiscal year , and ambiguities about when U.S. astronauts might actually make it to the Moon are n’t help . The current plan is to run a crewed landing in 2024 , but the Biden Administration , while supportive of the Artemis political program , has been noncommittal about this admittedly arbitrary — and brood — timeline .
That Bezos is so attached to the projection is hardly a surprise , as the billionaire claims to have developed afascinationwith the Moon after watching the Apollo landing as a shaver . His ego probably took a bruising when his contender , Musk , vex the NASA contract back in April , so there ’s also that to conceive . A new quad wash has egress , but who would ’ve guessed it would be fought amongst the billionaire .
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