Elon Musk HUMILIATED Jeff Bezos Plan To BEAT SpaceX!
Remember when Elon Musk said that Jeff Bezos “retired in order to pursue a full-time job filing lawsuits against SpaceX” and later told Bezos he couldn’t “sue [his] way to the moon.”? That was the beginning of a classic tech rivalry! Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin intends to surpass Elon Musk’s SpaceX with its rocket launch, but with his recent move, Elon Musk has humiliated Jeff Bezos’s plan to beat SpaceX. How? Let’s find out together.
In the 2021 contract bidding process, the initial expectation was that two companies would be selected to support NASA’s Artemis program. However, contrary to these expectations, NASA chose to award the contract solely to SpaceX. NASA’s decision was based on SpaceX’s lower-cost proposal, which aligned better with the organization’s constrained budget at that particular time. Notably, SpaceX’s contract was valued at half the amount that Bezos had requested in his bid. Additionally, Dynetics, a defense company headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, also submitted a proposal with even higher financial demands.
In response to NASA’s decision to award only one contract, both Jeff Bezos, representing Blue Origin, and Dynetics raised protests. These protests aimed to challenge the decision and advocate for a different outcome. Unfortunately, their protests were ultimately rejected by the Federal Government Accountability Office.
Subsequently, Blue Origin pursued legal action by filing a lawsuit in federal court in an effort to contest the contract decision. However, their legal efforts did not result in a favorable outcome, and the contract was retained by SpaceX as part of NASA’s Artemis program.
In recent years, several companies have embarked on a mission to expand internet access via satellite, both as commercial ventures and to provide connectivity to remote and underserved areas. The most prominent of these ventures is SpaceX’s Starlink, a mega-constellation comprising over 4,000 satellites, led by Elon Musk. However, Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, who also owns Blue Origin, is determined not to let SpaceX monopolize the skies.
Blue Origin is preparing to resume testing its New Shepard sub-vehicle in the coming weeks after a nine-month hiatus due to an in-flight incident in September 2020. The incident was caused by a structural failure in the vehicle’s BE-3PM engine nozzle, resulting from temperature issues. Blue Origin has been working with the FAA to prepare for a safe return to flight. Smith mentioned that New Shepard should be ready to fly again in the next few weeks.
Despite the incident, demand for space tourism flights on New Shepard has remained strong, with new customers signing up in the last nine months. Smith emphasized the safety of the system, with a successful abort scenario and the readiness of the capsule for the next day’s flight.
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