The US Senate has just adopted a bill allowing, among other things, the release of ten billion dollars for the development of private crewed lunar landers for The NASA. Blue Origin, the company of Jeff Bezos, could be the one to benefit from this new budget boost.
In April, NASA surprised everyone by awarding SpaceX – and only SpaceX – a $2.9 billion contract to turn its Starship vehicle into a Artemis lander. The agency had set its sights on this ship, not the structures proposed by Dynetics and Blue Origin, arguing that the money allocated by Congress so far was only enough to support the development of only one lander, among other things. reasons.
The decision had obviously not passed with the two competitors, who quickly filed protests with the US Government Accountability Office, pointing out that NASA should have awarded at least two contracts , as it had planned, to maintain the principle of competition in this program.
That's where that famous amendment comes in, crammed into a science and technology bill aimed primarily at countering competition from China in the sector.
Initially proposed by Jeff Bezos' space company, Blue Origin, and added by Senator Maria Cantwell (State of Washington), this one would indeed allow NASA to spend up to ten billion dollars for its manned lunar lander program.
The amendment also invokes the need for the space agency to have multiple Artemis lander options. Naturally, he doesn't specify that one of them has to be built by the Blue Origin team, but the fact that this amendment was originally proposed by Jeff Bezos and the fact that Cantwell represents the State of origin of the company actually suggest that Blue Origin will indeed benefit from this budget extension.
For now, nothing is set in stone yet. Adopted by the Senate by 68 votes to 32, this law on innovation and competition will still have to be approved by the American House of Representatives. And the stakes are high.
Indeed, if the Chamber supports Blue Origin's arguments, it could reset the whole competition for lunar landers and delay NASA's goal of bringing back humans on the Moon as soon as 2024. For their part, lawyers and lobbyists for Bezos' company argue that NASA could simply exercise its ability to take "corrective action" and choose a second contractor alongside SpaceX.
However, it seems unlikely that NASA will choose to turn to corrective action, stresses The Verge . The agency had indeed fiercely defended its decision to award only one contract following the protest of Blue Origin at the end of last month. The agency personnel involved are particularly concerned that this reversal will set a bad precedent.
Finally, it is also possible that the House of Representatives rejects this bill. In which case, the program would then proceed as planned, finally allowing SpaceX to develop its lunar Starship.
