On 13 August 2021, Blue Origin filed a complaint to the
United States Court of Federal Claims
The United States Court of Federal Claims (in case citations, Fed. Cl. or C.F.C.) is a United States federal courts, United States federal court that hears monetary claims against the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government. It ...
about
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
's award of $2.9 billion to
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...
. The award was used by the company to develop
Starship HLS
Starship HLS (Human Landing System) is a lunar lander variant of the Starship spacecraft that is slated to transfer astronauts from a lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back. It is being designed and built by SpaceX under the Human Lan ...
, a
lunar lander
A lunar lander or Moon lander is a Lander (spacecraft), spacecraft designed to Moon landing, land on the surface of the Moon. As of 2024, the Apollo Lunar Module is the only lunar lander to have ever been used in human spaceflight, completing s ...
that NASA selected for the
Artemis program
The Artemis program is a Exploration of the Moon, Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. The program's stated long-ter ...
. On 4 November 2021, the Court of Federal Claims dismissed the complaint, and the accompanying
memorandum opinion
Under United States legal practice, a memorandum opinion is usually unpublished and cannot be cited as precedent. It is formally defined as: " unanimous appellate opinion that succinctly states the decision of the court; an opinion that briefly re ...
was titled ''Blue Origin v. United States & Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'' Blue Origin's complaint and prior actions have received attention from the
news media
The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public. These include News agency, news agencies, newspapers, news magazines, News broadcasting, news channels etc.
History
Some of the fir ...
and
spaceflight
Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such ...
industries.
Background
In December 2018,
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
announced it was seeking lunar lander proposals under the
Artemis program
The Artemis program is a Exploration of the Moon, Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. The program's stated long-ter ...
, which is released under Appendix E of its
NeXTSTEP-2 program.
Government Accountability Office
On 26 April 2021, both Blue Origin and Dynetics filed formal protests with the
US Government Accountability Office
The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan government agency within the legislative branch that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the s ...
claiming that NASA had improperly evaluated aspects of the proposals.
On 30 April 2021, NASA suspended the Starship HLS contract and funding until such time as the GAO could issue a ruling on the protests. In May 2021,
Sen. Cantwell, from Blue Origin's
state of Washington
Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...
, introduced an amendment to the "
Endless Frontier Act" that directed NASA to reopen the HLS competition and select a second lander proposal, authorized spending of an additional US$10 billion. This funding would require a separate appropriations act.
Sen. Sanders criticized the amendment as a "multibillion dollar Bezos bailout", as the money would likely go to Blue Origin, which was founded by
Jeff Bezos
Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( ;; and Robinson (2010), p. 7. ; born January 12, 1964) is an American businessman best known as the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and clou ...
. The act, including this amendment, was passed by the Senate on 8 June 2021.
On 30 July 2021, the GAO rejected the protests and found that "NASA did not violate procurement law" in awarding the contract to SpaceX, who bid a much lower cost and more capable system.
NASA made the contracted initial payment of US$300M to SpaceX the same day.
CNBC
CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...
reported on 4 August that "Jeff Bezos' space company remains on the offensive in criticizing NASA's decision to award Elon Musk's SpaceX with the sole contract to build a vehicle to land astronauts on the moon" and that the company had produced an infographic promoting Blue Origin's design over SpaceX's design while leaving out the difference in contract bid prices.
Filing
On 13 August 2021, Blue Origin filed a lawsuit in the
US Court of Federal Claims challenging "NASA's unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals."
Blue Origin asked the court for an injunction to halt further spending by NASA on the existing contract with SpaceX.
Reaction to the lawsuit was mostly negative in the space community, at NASA, and among Blue Origin employees according to space journalist
Eric Berger.
The judge dismissed the suit on 4 November 2021 and NASA was allowed to resume working with SpaceX.
Outcome
According to a filing in the Court of Federal Claims dated November 4, 2021, the case was dismissed. The decision was made after the facts of the case were considered by the Court of Federal Claims. The presiding judge was
Richard A. Hertling. The court's finding provided in the document clarified that Blue Origin failed to establish foul play by NASA. Therefore, Blue Origin failed on merits, and its complaint was dismissed.
[Blue Origin v. United States & Space Exploration Technologies Corp (Federal Court of Public Opinion November 4, 2021).]
NASA Office of Inspector General
The NASA Office of Inspector General (NASA OIG or OIG) is the inspector general office in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the space agency of the United States. The OIG's stated mission is to "prevent and detect crime, fraud, ...
stated that Blue Origin and Dynetics's bid protests had caused a 4-month delay in the program.
About two years later in May 2023
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
awarded Blue Origin a $3.4 billion contract to develop
a competing Moon lander, compared to the $2.89 billion of the original bid that lead to the lawsuit.
NASA noted that "adding another human landing system partner to NASA’s Artemis program will increase competition, reduce costs to taxpayers, support a regular cadence of lunar landings, further invest in the lunar economy, and help NASA achieve its goals on and around the Moon in preparation for future astronaut missions to Mars."
Prominence
According to
Eric Berger from ''
Ars Technica
''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...
'' many in the space community, including some of Blue Origin's employees, reacted negatively to the company's complaint and related actions.
See also
*
Artemis HLS development history
*
Billionaire space race § SpaceX vs. Blue Origin
*
Lunar Gateway
The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is a planned space station which is to be assembled in orbit around the Moon. The Gateway is intended to serve as a communication hub, science laboratory, and habitation module for astronauts as part ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Origin v. United States and Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
2021 in United States case law
United States Court of Federal Claims
2021 in spaceflight
Blue Origin
SpaceX Starship
Artemis program
NASA
Space law in the United States