Bezos wishes success to Musk on winning $2.9bn Lunar Lander contract

Hyderabad In an offended note, Jeff Bezos wishes Elon Musk company SpaceX success, as they mount on a new achievement and received a nod from the US government a $2.9 billion lunar lander contract. As the government sidelined Bezos company Blue Origin, his tweet said, "Not the decision we wanted, but we respect the court's judgment, and wish full success for NASA and SpaceX on the contract."

The US Court of Federal Claims in Washington cleared the path for SpaceX to design and build the lunar lander, which will be used under Artemis mission to land humans back on the moon. The court dismissed Blue Origin's plea filed in August this year.

As Nasa has stopped the work on the lunar lander according to their agreement, now both will resume the work with SpaceX under the Option A contract. "Nasa continues working with multiple American companies to bolster competition and commercial readiness for crewed transportation to the lunar surface," the agency said in a statement.

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) in July had sided with Nasa over its decision to pick a single lunar lander provider, rejecting Blue Origin's protest.

What was the lawsuit?

The lawsuit challenged "Nasa's unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals submitted under the HLS Option A BAA," Blue Origin had said in the motion to seal filings. It added that it is "an attempt to remedy the flaws in the acquisition process found in NASA's Human Landing System."

The decision to award the contract entirely to SpaceX was a step away from set norms, where at least two companies are selected. While one designs the module, another is chosen to design a backup to be used in case of an emergency. The two other companies in the fray, apart from SpaceX, were Blue Origin and Dynetics.

The decision to award the contract to just one company was met with a strong protest from Blue Origin and Dynetics, who noted a formal complaint with the GAO.

Bezos had even offered that Blue Origin would waive payments in the government's current fiscal year and the next ones after that up to $2 billion, and pay for an orbital mission to vet its technology. In exchange, Blue Origin would accept a firm, fixed-priced contract, and cover any system development cost overruns.