NASA HLS contract: Blue Origin is so desperate to beat SpaceX
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| HLS Contract |
We all know NASA is planning to go back to the moon in 2024 in a mission called Artemis.
The launch vehicle used in these Artemis missions is the Space launch system(SLS) but the SLS is only capable of sending the Orion capsule out of the low Earth orbit.
If you want to land on the moon you should need a Lander vehicle and that is why NASA created the HLS contract.
Let us see in brief how the NASA HLS contract works and why Jeff Bezos wants to take NASA to court
HLS Contract
By this contract, NASA will select a company to land humans on the moon. About 5 companies competed for this role and only three got selected.
Among these three companies, one will be finalized. The finalist companies are Dynetics, SpaceX, and Blue Origin.
These companies will be getting funds from NASA to demonstrate their capability at lunar landing
Dynetics -253 million
SpaceX -135 million
National Team -579 million
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| NASA Fundings |
It is clear that the national team is getting more funds because of the participation of huge companies like Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Draper, and Northrop Grumman.
Let's take a look at these finalists in particular.
National Team
The four companies contribute in various ways to the lunar lander.
Blue origin is a developing the decent stage, while the orbital spacecraft or space tug is a typical Cygnus cargo vehicle developed by Northrop Grumman.
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| National Team Lander |
The habitation module for the living quarters is developed by Lockheed Martin. Draper will look into guidance and communication settings.
The orbital spacecraft is only capable of transferring the Lunar Lander vehicle from the Halo Orbit to the low moon Orbit.
NASA trusts this team because Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have been working with NASA for the past few decades.
The only fault in this team's design is that the orbital spacecraft and ascent stage are reusable but the descent stage remains on the Moon every time a lunar Lander goes there.
Dynetics
So let's talk about Dynetics. This design is developed by the Sierra Nevada corporation and 20 others smaller corporations.
They have got a pretty impressive design.
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| Dynetics Lander |
During the landing phase, the empty propellant tanks will be disposed but all eight engines will stay onboard the spacecraft.
NASA likes this design because only propellant tanks are disposed of and not the entire Descent stage as done by the National team.
They also use smaller rockets which are greater reliable to land on the moon.
Starship
The next one is Starship. Starship easily outperforms both the other two designs. Starship has landing jets on top, so as not to create rubble while landing.
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| SpaceX Lunar Lander |
Astronauts should use an elevator to get down to the moon's surface. The most important thing is that Starship is 100% reusable.
Unlike the other two, it doesn't leave anything behind and that is a key role for permanent settlement on the moon.
Why did NASA choose SpaceX?
Most people thought the national team would win the contract but instead, NASA chose SpaceX.
Dynetics and Blue origin were in the stage of developing only designs but starship, on the other hand, is already in the test stage and there and they have been flying Starship for the past 6 months.
Starship provides a lot of room for expansion. The reason Dynetics got rejected is that they use heavier negative mass which should have been used on experiments or payloads.
Blue origin got rejected because of its cost and it leaves a decent stage behind.
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| Performance of HLS Finalists |
From the above table, the technical rating and management of blue origin are acceptable and very good, but for Dynetics it is marginal and very good, In the case of SpaceX the ratings are acceptable and outstanding.
SpaceX clearly overperformed against these other two designs.
Other than this, the most important issue was the cost. Starship is the cheapest way of going back to the moon
Jeff Bezos Protest
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin filed a complaint at the Government Accountability Office(GAO) that NASA made a mistake in handing the lunar lander contract to SpaceX.
Later, the government officials denied his protest and said the same thing that SpaceX outperformed all other competitors.
They said that Jeff Bezos is wrong and NASA made the right call.
Jeff Bezos won't stop until he gets the contract.
He even agreed to give 2 billion dollars to NASA if they gave him the contract.
Elon musk reacts to Jeff's Protest
Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX wrote in a tweet that if lobbying and lawyers could take the amazon Boss to space orbit, he probably would be sitting in Pluto right now.
If lobbying & lawyers could get u to orbit, Bezos would be on Pluto rn
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2021
Blue Origin's Infographics
Jeff Bezos doesn't seem to back off.
He is now posting infographics about how hard it would be for SpaceX to land humans on the moon.
Some of the points he mentioned are that it would take about 12 tanker starships to refuel a single starship that is going to land on the moon.
See the infographics below
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| Blue Origin Infographics |
Conclusion
Jeff Bezos has now taken the matter to the court of Federal claims after he got rejected by the Government Accountability Office(GAO).
This could end the good intentions between NASA and Blue Origin.
Starship is the best vehicle to go back to the moon and built a permanent settlement there.
These kinds of events might surely delay the Artemis Program.
What do you think about Jeff Bezos?
Tell us in the comments.
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