Jeff Bezos Offers IDR 285 Billion Credit To NASA To Get A Mission To The Moon
JAKARTA - Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos has offered NASA a $2 billion credit if the space agency reconsiders his company for a moon landing mission contract. Blue Origin lost its contract from NASA after the space agency opted for Elon Musk's SpaceX in April.
"Blue Origin will bridge [NASA's] budget shortfall by waving all payments in the current and next two fiscal years the government up to $2 billion to get the program back on track," Bezos wrote in an open letter to NASA Administrator Bill. Nelson.
In return, Bezos wants Blue Origin to secure a fixed-price contract for the construction of a spacecraft for NASA's lunar missions.
The space agency announced the contract earlier this year. Initially wanted at least two private sector companies to compete for a share in the mission, but later decided to choose one company, citing low funding.
In April, NASA signed a deal with Blue Origin's rival, Elon Musk's SpaceX, and awarded a $2.9 billion contract for SpaceX's cylindrical space shuttle Starship. Blue Origin and defense firm Dynetics lost the bid, while NASA declared SpaceX the "best value for the government."
After losing the SpaceX bid, both Blue Origin and Dynetics filed a complaint with the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) claiming that NASA's choice was unfair. Amid legal challenges NASA had to suspend work on the project in May. In his letter, Bezos further warned that the NASA mission might be delayed and would be more expensive without competition.
Blue Origin referred to its lunar lander as the Blue Moon, designing it to resemble the iconic Apollo module that brought Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the lunar surface in 1969.
“We created a 21st century moon landing system inspired by Apollo's well-characterized architecture – an architecture with many uses. One of the most important benefits is putting safety first,” Bezos wrote.
NASA said it had been notified of Bezos' letter but declined to comment, Reuters reported.