NASA suspends contract with SpaceX to create a lunar lander
(SpaceX)
NASA demanded SpaceX to temporarily suspend its work on the lunar version of the Starship spacecraft, designed to deliver astronauts to the Moon’s surface.
This came a few days after Blue Origin and Dynetics protested SpaceX's choice as the winner. Both companies also competed and lost for a contract to build a lunar lander.
In 2019, the US authorities announced that in 2024, American astronauts would land on the moon for the first time since the Apollo program.
In a new program called Artemis, the United States, along with ESA and other space agencies, will also create the visited Gateway station in circumlunar orbit.
To accelerate the development, NASA has placed many elements of the program in the hands of private companies.
In particular, in 2020, the agency announced three bidding companies for a contract to create a lander to deliver people and goods from the orbital station to the lunar surface.
Those companies are SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynetics. The last two companies proposed projects of vehicles developed from scratch.
However, SpaceX decided to use for this the lunar version of Starship, the second stage of the super-heavy rocket of the same name, which simultaneously acts as a spacecraft.
NASA noted that it would select up to two winners who will receive the final development contracts and the first missions.
On April 16, 2021, the agency announced that SpaceX had received the contract for the creation of the lunar lander.
NASA explained that the SpaceX project won both in the requested amount of $ 2.9 billion and the results of the technical analysis of the projects.
A week and a half after NASA's decision, both companies that lost the competition (Blue Origin and Dynetics) appealed to the US Audit Office against the agency's decision.
Blue Origin substantiated its appeal on several factors.
The company felt that NASA had incorrectly reviewed the Blue Origin and SpaceX projects, underestimating the former and ignoring the shortcomings of the latter.
In addition, Blue Origin pointed out that NASA, almost at the last moment, changed the weight of the considered parameters of the projects and attached the main importance to the cost of the contract
This change was due to a reduction in funding for the lunar program.
Dynetics justified its appeal against NASA's decision saying the agency had known for several months that it would not receive sufficient funding for this competition, and the head of NASA said in February that the astronaut landing in 2024 no longer looked realistic.
In this situation, notes Dynetics, NASA had to revise the terms of the competition, ask the company to adjust their projects or cancel the competition altogether.
A few days after Blue Origin and Dynetics protested the results of the competition, NASA asked SpaceX to stop all work related to the contract.
This pause will last until the Accounts Chamber considers the situation and makes its decision on the correctness of the results of the competition.
According to the rules, the Chamber of Accounts has 100 days to consider complaints. Thus, the decision will be made no later than 4 August.
It is worth noting that the suspension of development concerns the lunar version of Starship, while work on the regular version may continue.
In addition, the lunar version of Starship does not have many differences from the main one: it will be devoid of flaps and a heat shield.
However, the ship it will be equipped with engines in the upper part of the hull, which will allow landing on the surface of the Moon, almost without affecting the regolith, unlike the main engines located at the very bottom of the ship.
Thus, the suspension of works is unlikely to have a significant impact on the overall development time.
Sources: