Jeff Bezos space exploration company 'Blue Origin' sues NASA over bid for lunar lander

by Francisco Schmidt

Blue Origin, a space development company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, complains that it has been excluded from the consignment candidates for the lunar landing ship used for the lunar landing mission 'Artemis Program', NASA I sued (NASA).

Blue Origin sues NASA over Human Landing System contract --SpaceNews
https://spacenews.com/blue-origin-sues-nasa-over-human-landing-system-contract/

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin sues NASA, escalating its fight for a Moon lander contract --The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/16/22623022/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-sue-nasa-lawsuit-hls-lunar-lander

Here's why Blue Origin thinks it is justified in continuing to protest NASA | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/08/heres-why-blue-origin-thinks-it-is-justified-in-continuing-to-protest-nasa/

The Artemis program is the first manned lunar landing program in the United States in about 50 years since the Apollo program implemented from 1961 to 1972. Regarding this Artemis program, NASA selected a company responsible for the design and development of the Manned Moon Landing System (HLS) in May 2021. As a result, three companies, Blue Origin led by Bezos, SpaceX led by Tesla's Elon Musk, and Dynetics , which entered the space development business with the microsatellite 'FASTSAT', were nominated. Eventually, NASA announced in July 2021 that it would 'invest only in SpaceX due to budgetary concerns,' and the excluded Blue Origin and Dynetics were 'not given a competitive opportunity,' telling the U.S. Board of Audit. I protested.

The story of the protest, Blue Origin's allegations, and the company's offer for a $ 2 billion discount are detailed in the article below.

Jeff Bezos offers a 220 billion yen discount on the manned spacecraft used in NASA's Artemis program-GIGAZINE

On July 30, 2021, the Board of Audit rejected the protests of Blue Origin and Dynetics, which led to Blue Origin filing a complaint against NASA on August 13, 2021 in the Federal Claims Court. ..

According to Blue Origin, the complaint filed in the Federal Claims Court is 'an objection to NASA's illegal and improper assessment of the proposal.' The complaint itself has not been published because the company requested the protection of confidential information, proprietary information, and information regarding the selection of suppliers.

Blue Origin has filed a proceeding to correct the inequity in NASA's selection process at HLS. 'The problems revealed by the selection process and results are the restoration of fairness, the creation of competition, and the United States. I firmly believe that this is an unavoidable challenge to ensure a successful moon re-landing. '

In response, a NASA spokesman said, 'We are in the process of considering the details of the proceedings,' avoiding comments on the proceedings, and discussing how the proceedings will affect the Artemis program. 'We will continue to provide the latest information to ensure the safest and earliest possible re-landing of the moon under the Artemis program,' he said.