Blue Origin protest against NASA’s SpaceX lunar lander contract denied

“NASA’s announcement provided that the number of awards the agency would grant was subject to the amount of funding available for the program,” according to the announcement. In addition, the ad reserved the right to award multiple awards, a single award, or no award. In making its award decision, NASA concluded that it only had sufficient funding for a single award. The GAO further concluded that there was no requirement for NASA to engage in discussions, modify or cancel the announcement due to the amount of funding available for the program. GAO has denied protest arguments that NASA acted inappropriately in awarding SpaceX a single award. “

Finally, the GAO agreed with the protesters that, in a limited case, NASA waived an announcement requirement for SpaceX. Despite this finding, the ruling also concludes that the protesters could not establish any reasonable possibility of harm. competitive resulting from this limited gap in valuation. ”

Blue Origin and Dynetics argued in their complaints that NASA had not properly evaluated their offers, urging the space agency to reconsider its decision. The government had 100 days to decide on the merits of the protests.

Reluctance against such contractual decisions is common, particularly in the aerospace industry, where NASA and the U.S. military are the major customers of rocket builders and where winning or losing awards can have a huge impact on business results. ‘a company.

“We remain firmly convinced that there were fundamental problems with the NASA decision, but GAO was unable to resolve them due to its limited jurisdiction,” according to a spokesperson for Blue Origin. “We will continue to advocate for two immediate vendors as we believe this is the right solution. We have been encouraged by the actions of Congress to add a second vendor and additional resources appropriate to NASA’s lawsuit to send the Americans back on. the moon.”

The company said it was also greatly encouraged by comments from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, “over the past week, which reaffirmed NASA’s original intention to provide concurrent competition. The program Human Landing System must have competition now rather than later – it is the best solution for NASA and the best solution for our country. “

The space agency sees GAO’s move as a way to push forward the SpaceX contract and send humans back to the moon. The decision allows NASA and SpaceX “to set a schedule for the first crewed moon landing in more than 50 years,” according to NASA.

“Faced with the challenges of the past year, NASA and its partners have made significant progress in advancing Artemis, including a successful hot-fire test for the Space Launch System rocket. An unmanned Artemis I flight is on track for this year and a crewed Artemis II mission is scheduled for 2023.

“NASA is moving urgently, but the safety of astronauts is the priority and the agency will not sacrifice the safety of the crew in the unwavering pursuit of the goal of establishing a long-term presence on the Moon.”

The agency also said its officials will provide an update soon on the future of the Artemis program, the human landing system and the proposed return to the moon and will continue to work with the Biden administration, Congress and the United Nations. business partners to provide a sustainable approach to lunar exploration. .

Blue Origin had offered to work as a “national team” for the HLS program alongside frequent government providers such as Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin to design a lunar lander specifically to service the space station, called the Gateway, which NASA is planning. to orbit the moon. Dynetics came up with a similar proposition.

SpaceX, however, has offered to use its Starship, a gargantuan spacecraft and rocket system that is currently in early stages of development in South Texas. SpaceX’s primary goal for Starship is to bring humans to Mars, but the company has offered to use a modified version to serve NASA’s Artemis lunar program.

Although the vehicle is theoretically capable of taking astronauts from Earth directly to the lunar surface, NASA plans to use the vehicle in tandem with its own rocket and spacecraft: the SLS, or Space Launch System, and Orion.

NASA officials said on a press call earlier this year that, as part of its current plan, SLS will transport astronauts to the orbit of the moon, and then the crew will be transferred to the station. Gateway, and from there, SpaceX’s spacecraft will transport astronauts to the moon’s surface.