Jeff Bezos Offers NASA, $2 Billion, for Lunar Lander Contract.
Jeff Bezos Offers NASA, $2 Billion, for Lunar Lander Contract.
Jeff Bezos Offers NASA, $2 Billion, for Lunar Lander Contract.
On Monday, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos wrote
an open letter to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. .
In the letter, Bezos offered an “outright and permanent
waiver” of payments up to $2 billion from NASA. .
According to Bezos, the offer would be applicable in
the current and next two government fiscal years. .
In exchange, the Amazon founder wants NASA
to provide Blue Origin with a contract to build
a lander to be used for lunar missions.
Bezos also said that Blue Origin would, at its
own cost, develop and launch a pathfinder mission. .
Blue Origin will, at its own cost, contribute
the development and launch of a pathfinder
mission to low-Earth orbit of the lunar
descent element to further retire
development and schedule risks, Jeff Bezos, via Open Letter.
This pathfinder mission is offered in addition to the baseline plan of performing a precursor uncrewed landing mission prior to risking any astronauts to the Moon, Jeff Bezos, via Open Letter.
In April 2021, NASA awarded Elon Musk’s SpaceX a
multimillion dollar contract to build a crewed lunar lander. .
Bezos denounced their decision in his letter,
saying it created “limited options.”.
Only one HLS bidder, SpaceX, was offered the opportunity to revise their price and funding profile, leading to their selection. Blue Origin was not offered the same opportunity. That was a mistake, it was unusual, and it was a missed opportunity, Jeff Bezos, via Open Letter.
But it is not too late to remedy.
We stand ready to help NASA
moderate its technical risks and solve
its budgetary constraints …, Jeff Bezos, via Open Letter
