Jeff Bezos has offered NASA to pay billions if it lets his company Blue Origin take part in the space agency’s Artemis moon missions. In an open letter to NASA chief Bill Nelson on July 26, Bezos offered budgetary assistance of around $2 billion if the space agency lets Blue Origin build a moon lander for a mission that is slated for 2024.
The offer comes after NASA awarded SpaceX with a $2.9 billion contract to develop the Human Landing System (HLS) in April, beating Blue Origin and other private space firms. The U.S. Government Accountability Office will soon take a decision on the challenge.
An end of meaningful competition?
In his letter, Bezos said the huge monetary contribution from Blue Origin would “bridge the HLS budgetary funding shortfall by waiving all payments in the current and next two government fiscal years.”
Bezos also said his company would be taking care of the costs of testing the lander in missions in low-Earth orbit, saving the space agency hundreds of millions. He said NASA’s decision to partner with SpaceX “broke the mold of NASA’s successful commercial space programs by putting an end to meaningful competition for years to come.”
Keen to be part of history
The billionaire businessman also recently said, “the shortfalls of this single-source selection have been recognized, and NASA has begun to solicit new lunar lander proposals. But, unfortunately, this new approach won’t create true competition because it is rushed, it is unfunded, and it provides a multi-year head-start to the one funded, single-source supplier … The Agency must act now to create the real competition it needs, and it should not repeat work already delivered and investments already made.”
Bezos offer to put in $2 billion of his own money shows how keen he is for his company Blue Origin to become a key player in NASA’s lunar program. “I believe this mission is important,” Bezos said. “I am honored to offer these contributions and am grateful to be in a financial position to be able to do so.”
