Blue Origin, the house rocket firm backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is formally difficult the $2.9 billion moon lander contract awarded by NASA to rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The two richest males on the planet have been sparring in a tightly fought international house race, vying for contracts from authorities businesses and companies.
Blue Origin mentioned on Monday it had filed a protest with the federal Government Accountability Office, accusing NASA of transferring the goalposts for contract bidders on the final minute.
Musk fired again with a tweet that mentioned: “Can`t get it up (to orbit) lol.”Â
He didn’t elaborate on the tweet however pasted a screenshot of a 2019 report about Bezos unveiling Blue Origin`s moon lander on the identical Twitter thread.
Blue Origin has fallen far behind SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (ULA) on orbital transportation, dropping out on billions of {dollars} price of US nationwide safety launch contracts that start in 2022. ULA is a three way partnership of Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp.
The firm was dealt one other blow earlier this month, when NASA awarded SpaceX the contract to construct a spaceship to ship astronauts to the moon as early as 2024, selecting Musk`s firm over Blue Origin and protection contractor Dynetics Inc.
The sought-after mission goals to place people again on the moon for the primary time since 1972.
“NASA has executed a flawed acquisition for the Human Landing System program and moved the goalposts at the last minute,” Blue Origin mentioned in an emailed assertion.
“Their decision eliminates opportunities for competition, significantly narrows the supply base, and not only delays but also endangers America`s return to the moon. Because of that, we`ve filed a protest with the GAO.”
Musk’s SpaceX bid alone whereas Amazon.com founder Bezos` Blue Origin partnered with Lockheed Martin Corp, Northrop Grumman Corp, and Draper.
The submitting of the 50-page protest by Blue Origin was reported earlier by the New York Times.
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