Relations come along to have soured further between Jeff Bezos ’s Blue Origin and NASA , as Bezos ’s infinite company has officially register to litigate the space agency for not choosing it for its lunar lander contract .
Blue Origin has filed a complaint in federal court against NASA , step up itsoriginal complaintthat NASA below the belt present the lunar lander contract to Elon Musk ’s SpaceXback in April . At the prison term it was expect that NASA would select two of the three competing companionship pitching to provide the lander that will take spaceman to the airfoil of the Moon as part of the Artemis mission . alternatively , NASA only pick out one – SpaceX – at a cheaper ( albeit still $ 2.89 billion ) price .
Bezos ’s company , whose proposal came in at $ 5.99 billion , accused NASA of " moving the goalposts " , giving SpaceX an unfair vantage by allowing it to revise the pricing of its delivery after a alteration to NASA ’s budget . It also accused NASA of unfair criticism in some proficient evaluations of its own proposal . At the metre , the Senate onlyaccepted a fractionof the financial support NASA request for its Human Landing System .
Despitelosing its appealto the US Government Accountability Office take exception NASA on its determination at the start of this month , Blue Origin is taking further action mechanism , this time challenging “ NASA ’s unlawful and improper evaluation of proposal of marriage " in a federal court of justice .
It filed the suit in the Court of Federal Claims on August 13,SpaceNewsreports , seek a protective order to seal its documents , which it received August 16 . The previous weeks it had been in talking with NASA to forestall a cause .
This comes less than a calendar month after Blue Origin volunteer what many call a sizeable bribe , forfeit $ 2 billionin fee should NASA choose to amend its contract to let in Blue Origin , which NASA wane . Now , the suit is likely to press back the alreadytroubled timelineof the Artemis mission , and is not likely to endear the company to NASA .
It ’s ill-defined what Blue Origin ’s strong-growing approach is hoping to accomplish . Its feud with NASA is unlikely to make it an likable option for future contract , and itsattacks on SpaceXare undoing anyfriendly relationswithin the blank space community after recent commercial-grade distance accomplishment , do it harder to arrogate healthy competition . These tactics are also alienating Blue Origin ’s own stave , with accounts onRedditandTwitterof employee expressing their superfluity or disapproval at late consequence . AsArs Technicapointed out , a senior engineer on Blue Origin ’s Human Landing System project in reality left the fellowship last hebdomad to part at SpaceX.
NASA has until October 12 to reply . take how quickly events have intensify from Blue Origin ’s first prescribed ill just over three months ago , anything could pass off in that clock time . The irony is that NASA ’s plans to return to the Moon are being delayed with every footprint .
