Blue Origin says NASA’s collaboration with SpaceX will “prevent the United States from safely landing on the Moon” and Musk responds

Posted:

12 before 2021 19:44 GMT

The space agency has awarded SpaceX an exclusive contract worth $2.9 billion, which Jeff Bezos has criticized.

Blue Origin, an air carrier owned by Jeff Bezos, criticized NASA again on Wednesday for awarding it an exclusive $2.9 billion contract to get humans to the moon. He said in a statement: mentioned above by FOX Business, which will continue to challenge the US space agency’s decision and reiterate its allegations that Elon Musk obtained “preferential treatment“.

According to Bezos, additional information released by the Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) revealed the US space agency’s desire to “take multiple awards,” confirming “issues in the way it carried out the acquisition,” and “highlighted that These problems will prevent the United States from landing on the Moon in a safe and sustainable manner.“.

“We are particularly concerned about the lack of flight readiness reviews in the SpaceX proposal,” the note says. Blue Origin noted that Musk’s “complex approach” requires 16 consecutive launches of the Starship spacecraft With just three flight readiness reviews, “rather than one for each launch.” “Flight readiness reviews are essential for safety and are especially important with reusable vehicles and multiple launches in quick succession,” he explained.

“Even if there are 16 flights at anchor, that’s not a problem”

For his part, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said, came To Twitter to defend the ship capabilities your company is developing. “16 highly improbable journeysHe stressed that the spacecraft’s payload to orbit “is about 150 tons, so it would be enough for a maximum of eight tanks to fill 1,200 tons of the lunar module’s tanks.”

“Without ailerons or heat shield, the spacecraft is much lighter. The legs of the moon landing don’t add much (1/6 of the gravity). It could only take half, that’s 4 tank flights,” he explained.

“Even if there are 16 flights at anchor, that’s not a problem,” he noted. SpaceX made more than 16 orbital flights in the first half of 2021 and anchored the station [Espacial Internacional] Much more difficult than docking with our ship. more than 20 times, he completed.

In addition, he mocked the image of the Blue Moon, the lander created by Blue Origin on Thursday. “In some ways, this wasn’t convincing…” he commented.

Jeff Bezos’ protest rejected

In July, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), I finish NASA’s decision to award a contract to SpaceX to develop the spacecraft that will carry its astronauts to the Moon as part of the Artemis program is not inconsistent with US law.

The value of the agreement amounted to 2,941 million dollars coordinator Only in April with Elon Musk’s company because “Bids from Blue Origin and Dynetics are priced much higherAnd the space agency “lacks the funds to award more than one award,” Indian This body in a statement.

Artemis program that aims to construction Permanent human presence on both the surface and in lunar orbit was launched during Donald Trump’s tenure. Astronauts were expected to return to the lunar surface in 2024, but the Biden administration says the date is under review.

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