Jeff Bezos is offering NASA $2bn in exchange for Blue Origin moon mission contract

New off his trip to space, Jeff Bezos on Monday offered to cover up to $2bn in Nasa costs if the US space agency awards his organization Blue Origin an agreement to make a spacecraft designed to land astronaut back on the moon.

Nasa in April granted SpaceX, claimed by rival billionaire Elon Musk, a $2.9bn agreement to assemble a spacecraft to bring astronauts to the lunar surface as right on time as 2024, dismissing offers from Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics. Blue Origin had cooperated with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper in the bid.

The space office refered to its own funding shortfalls, SpaceX’s proven record of orbital missions and different variables in an contract decision that senior Nasa official Kathy Lueders called “what’s the best value to the government”.

In a letter to Nasa administrator Bill Nelson, Bezos said Blue Origin would postpone installments in the government’s present financial year and the following ones after that up to $2bn, and pay for an orbital mission to vet its technology. In return, Blue Origin would acknowledge a firm, fixed-valued agreement, and cover any system development cost invades, Bezos said.

“Nasa veered from its original dual-source acquisition strategy due to perceived near-term budgetary issues, and this offer removes that obstacle,” Bezos wrote.

A Nasa representative said the office knew about Bezos’ letter yet declined to remark further, refering to the dissent Blue Origin documented with the US government Accountability Office blaming the office for giving SpaceX an unmerited benefit by permitting it to overhaul its estimating.

The GAO’s decision is normal by early August, however industry sources said Blue Origin sees the chance of an inversion as improbable.

A SpaceX representative didn’t react to a solicitation for input.

Prior to picking SpaceX, Nasa had requested recommendations for a spacecraft that would convey astronauts to the lunar surface under its Artemis program to return people to the moon interestingly since 1972. Blue Origin’s lunar lander is designated “Blue Moon”. Bezos and Musk are the world’s richest and third-richest people respectively, as indicated by they.

Bezos’ offer came six days after he flew close by three crewmates to the edge of room on board Blue Origin’s rocket-and-case New Shepard, an achievement for the organization’s offered to turn into a significant player in an emerging space tourism market.