NASA has agreed to suspend its SpaceX lunar landing contract for the second time, as it is a Blue Origin lawsuit. Work on the Artemis lunar landing may not begin again until November, further jeopardizing NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the moon in 2024.
When Blue Origin filed the lawsuit with the U.S. Federal Claims Court late last week, I raised the concern that the move would cause further delays in the development of NASA’s lunar lander. It turns out that the concern was justified.
“NASA has voluntarily stopped work with SpaceX for the Human Landing System (HLS) Option A contract with effect from August 19 to November 1,” according to a NASA statement by mail electronic.
Uch. This is a delay of at least ten weeks, ten precious weeks in which NASA and SpaceX were supposed to throw in the hand terrifying to deliver astronauts to the lunar surface in late 2024.
In exchange for this temporary pause, “all parties agreed on an accelerated litigation schedule that will end Nov. 1,” NASA said, adding that space agency officials will continue to work with the Department of Justice to “review the details of the case and look forward to a timely resolution of this matter.” As Reuters reports, oral arguments for the case will be heard on October 14.
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Speaking to SpaceNews, NASA administrator Bill Nelson dit the matter is “out of our hands,” as the case is being handled by the Justice Department. Nelson worries that the lawsuit will “further delay” the Artemis program and that the judge of the case may demand a “very laborious discovery.”
This latest delay in the project comes three weeks after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied a protest presented by Blue Origin. The Jeff Bezos-led company had argued that the bidding process was unfair and that NASA had to award several contracts for the landing. GAO’s decision allowed NASA and SpaceX to eventually receive the $ 2.988 billion contract, but obviously that didn’t last long.
From NASA decision to award a single contract has not gone well with Bezos. In addition to filing a protest with GAO, Blue Origin has done the same put pressure on Congress, offered a $ 2 billion discount switched off produced its $ 5.999 billion quote to build a lunar lander infographics criticizing the design of the SpaceX lunar lander and, now presented one lawsuit against NASA. He the lawsuit is an “attempt to remedy the flaws in the acquisition process found in NASA’s human landing system.” said a Blue Origin spokesman in an email.
That the lawsuit could delay the Artemis mission could be a deliberate strategy. Bezos is in the register to say that protests during the hiring process “slow things down”.
SpaceX, with Reuters reports, has intervened in the lawsuit. The company led by Elon Musk seeks to ensure the court “has a complete and accurate picture of the facts and circumstances surrounding this protest, including the substantial damage SpaceX will suffer if the court grants the repair sought” by Blue Origin.
In its statement, NASA said it remains “committed to Artemis and to maintaining the nation’s global leadership in space exploration.” The space agency, along with its partners, “will go to the moon and stay to enable scientific research, develop new technologies and create well-paid jobs for the greater good and prepare to send astronauts to Mars,” he said. say NASA.
Everything is fine, but with crew Moon landing in 2024 has never seemed more unlikely than today. In addition to not having a viable lunar lander (at least not in the foreseeable future), NASA will not have its next-generation space suits ready until April 2025 and still needs to land its space launch system ( SLS). .
Month: NASA weakly defends astronaut after allegations of sabotage of the ISS in the Russian state media.