Human Landing System Contract Still a Goal for Bezos
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos has upped the ante in an attempt to secure a piece of NASA's Human Landing System contract.
"I believe this mission is important. I am honored to offer these contributions and am grateful to be in a financial position to be able to do so."
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, in an open letter to NASA administrator Bill Nelson.
In an open letter to NASA administrator Bill Nelson, Bezos has offered the agency a waiver of payments up to $2 billion in current and future payments over the next two fiscal years. The offer is not a deferral, according to Bezos' letter, but an outright and permanent waiver of those payments.
Bezos has disputed the exclusive award of the lunar Human Landing System contract to SpaceX since it was announced, citing a change in the way the contract was awarded. Bezos said that the Blue Origin proposal offered a sustainable approach designed to grow into permanent, affordable lunar operations, including the use of liquid hydrogen as fuel that could be mined on the moon. He also says the system is designed to fly on multiple launch vehicles, including Falcon Heavy, SLS, Vulcan and New Glenn. NASA acknowledged during the selection process that the Blue Origin design permitted "a launch approach that provides flexibility and minimizes risk. Blue Origin’s initial HLS mission requires only three commercial launches. This very low number…lowers the risk of mission failure due to launch anomalies. This risk is further reduced by the fact that Blue’s HLS elements are capable of interfacing with multiple commercial launch vehicles (CLVs), leaving Blue Origin with near-term options regarding choice of launch vehicle.”
But Bezos says in the letter that the Source Selection Officer departed from the agency's normal procurement strategy and awarded the Human Landing System contract solely to SpaceX, rather than allowing multiple companies to compete to develop the best solution. Now, with NASA reopening solicitations for lunar landing proposals, Bezos says that only SpaceX is being allowed to revise its price and funding profile, giving the company a "multi-year head start" on the program.
Bezos has offered NASA the following:
Blue Origin will bridge the Hunan Landing System budgetary funding shortfall by waiving all payments in the current and next two government fiscal years up to $2 billion to get the program back on track right now. This offer is not a deferral, but is an outright and permanent waiver of those payments. This offer provides time for government appropriation actions to catch up.
Blue Origin will, at its own cost, contribute the development and launch of a pathfinder mission to low-Earth orbit of the lunar descent element to further retire development and schedule risks. This pathfinder mission is offered in addition to the baseline plan of performing a precursor uncrewed landing mission prior to risking any astronauts to the Moon. This contribution to the program is above and beyond the over $1 billion of corporate contribution cited in our Option A proposal that funds items such as our privately developed BE-7 lunar lander engine and indefinite storage of liquid hydrogen in space. All of these contributions are in addition to the $2 billion waiver of payments referenced above.
Finally, Blue Origin will accept a firm, fixed-priced contract for this work, cover any system development cost overruns, and shield NASA from partner cost escalation concerns.
"I believe this mission is important. I am honored to offer these contributions and am grateful to be in a financial position to be able to do so. NASA veered from its original dual-source acquisition strategy due to perceived near-term budgetary issues, and this offer removes that obstacle," Bezos said in the letter, adding "If NASA has different ideas about what would best facilitate getting back to true competition now, we are ready and willing to discuss them."
(Source: Blue Origin. Image provided)