Bezos Offers Billions for NASA Lunar Lander Contract | Space News

Jeff Bezos Offers Financial Aid for Lunar Lander Development

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin and a prominent billionaire, has proposed a substantial financial contribution to NASA. He is willing to reduce the development costs of a lunar lander by up to $2 billion and personally fund a preliminary mission. This offer is contingent upon securing a contract from NASA.

The Human Landing System Program

The proposed contract centers around the development of a lunar lander for NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) program. This initiative aims to facilitate the return of astronauts to the moon, marking the first crewed lunar mission since the Apollo program concluded.

In April 2020, NASA initially selected Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Dynetics to participate in the first phase of the HLS contract. It was anticipated that this pool of contenders would be narrowed down to two companies for the final lander construction phase.

As noted by Darrell Etherington of TechCrunch, NASA’s practice of selecting multiple vendors is not unprecedented. A similar approach was employed with Boeing and SpaceX under the Commercial Crew program.

NASA’s Decision and Blue Origin’s Response

However, deviating from established norms, NASA announced in the following year that SpaceX was the sole recipient of the contract. Elon Musk’s company presented a plan valued at $2.89 billion, significantly lower than Blue Origin’s $5.99 billion proposal.

Bezos is now offering to decrease the overall cost by $2 billion, potentially aligning Blue Origin’s bid with NASA’s budgetary constraints.

Budgetary Constraints and SpaceX’s Proposal

A document obtained by The Washington Post reveals that NASA’s “current fiscal year budget did not support even a single [contract] award.” In response, SpaceX adjusted its payment schedule to accommodate “within NASA’s current budget.”

The agency’s financial limitations are well-known; Congress allocated only $850 million to the HLS program in fiscal year 2021, falling short of NASA’s requested $3.4 billion.

Bezos’ Letter to NASA

Bezos addressed these budgetary concerns directly in an open letter to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. He proposed that the offered incentives would alleviate “perceived near-term budgetary issues” impacting the Human Landing System Program, which led to the selection of a single contractor.

“Instead of investing in two competing lunar landers as originally intended, the Agency chose to confer a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar head start to SpaceX,” Bezos stated in his letter. “That decision broke the mold of NASA’s successful commercial space programs by putting an end to meaningful competition for years to come.”

Protests and Senate Action

Blue Origin has previously voiced concerns regarding NASA’s decision to award the contract to a single vendor. Following the announcement, the company, alongside Dynetics, filed protests with the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Blue Origin contended that the contract stipulations hindered companies’ ability to “meaningfully compete.” The GAO is scheduled to issue a ruling on the protest by August 4.

Support for awarding two contracts extends beyond Blue Origin and Dynetics. The Senate recently approved a bill that mandates NASA to select two companies for the HLS lander, along with providing the necessary funding. However, Senator Bernie Sanders opposed the inclusion of additional funding, labeling it a “Bezos bailout,” but his efforts to remove the funding were unsuccessful.

Commitment to the Artemis Program

“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.