Lunar lander: Blue Origin files a complaint against NASA – Generation NT

In the United States, Blue Origin filed a lawsuit in federal court. According to information from CNBC, it targets NASA for the award to SpaceX of Elon Musk of a contract for a lunar lander as part of the return to the moon of American astronauts.

Last month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) dismissed Blue Origin’s lawsuit against the US space agency’s decision to choose SpaceX as the sole supplier with a Starship-based lander.

The legal action therefore follows on from the challenge of the space company founded by Jeff Bezos with a contract awarded in April in the order of $ 2.9 billion. Blue Origin points to a ” illegal and inappropriate evaluation of proposals “do at NASA.

Blue Origin does not digest the choice of SpaceX

Blue Origin believes that NASA should make two allocations and not just one, and would have modified this point after the announcement of a lack of funding by Congress, without giving it the opportunity to review its proposal.

SpaceX competed with Blue Origin and Dynetics for the development of a lunar lander. Before the contract was awarded, NASA had awarded nearly $ 1 billion for the development of concepts. CNBC notes that SpaceX received $ 135 million, $ 253 million for Dynetics and $ 579 million for Blue Origin.

While stressing that Starship has never flown in orbit and remains in the process of being designed, Blue Origin questions the challenges and technologies to be developed for a lunar version of Starship that would be akin to a solution of a ” immense complexity and highly risky. “