Desk Report
Publish: 17 Aug 2021, 09:30 pm
Jeff Bezos (Photo: Collected)
Jeff Bezos's
space firm Blue Origin is suing Nasa over a decision to award a $2.9bn (£2.1bn)
lunar lander contract to Elon Musk's SpaceX.
The former
Amazon boss's firm said there were "fundamental issues" with the
deal, calling it unfair.
The row
stems from a decision in April to hand the deal to one company, not two as
expected, because of a funding shortfall.
Nasa is yet
to comment, but it has the backing of a federal watchdog.
In a court
filing on Friday, Blue Origin said it continued to believe that two providers
were needed to build the landing system, which will carry astronauts down to
the Moon's surface as early as 2024.
It also
accused Nasa of "unlawful and improper evaluation" of its proposals
during the tender process.
"We
firmly believe that the issues identified in this procurement and its outcomes
must be addressed to restore fairness, create competition and ensure a safe
return to the Moon for America," Blue Origin said.
At the time
of the award, Nasa's human exploration chief, Kathy Lueders, admitted that the
space agency's current budget precluded it from selecting two companies. That
was after Congress granted it only $850m of the $3.3bn it requested for the
project.
Nasa also
cited the proven record of orbital missions by Elon Musk's SpaceX firm as a
factor in the award. Cost is also thought to have played a role: SpaceX's bid
was the lowest-priced by some distance.
In July, Mr
Bezos offered to cover up to $2bn of Nasa's costs in order to be reconsidered
for the contract, but he was rebuffed.
US watchdog
the Government Accountability Office (GAO), meanwhile, rejected a complaint
from Blue Origin and defence contractor Dynetic, saying that Nasa had not
"acted improperly" in handing the contract to just one firm.
Nasa must
file a response to the legal action by 12 October. SpaceX is yet to comment on
the lawsuit.
Under its
Artemis programme, Nasa hopes to return humans to the moon for the first time
since 1972.
In April, Ms
Lueders said: "This critical step puts humanity on a path to sustainable
lunar exploration and keeps our eyes on missions farther into the solar system,
including Mars."
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