autoevolution
 

Jeff Bezos Is Still Seething About SpaceX’s NASA Deal: Starship Is High Risk

We all had a good laugh about the so-called billionaire space race and how the three billionaires engaged in it seemed so determined to win. Despite what you might have thought, the race has just begun.
Jeff Bezos, as he gets ready to become the second billionaire to shoot himself into space, on his own rocket 11 photos
Photo: Blue Origin
Blue Origin's New Shepard launch, the first commercial flight to the edge of spaceBlue Origin's New Shepard launch, the first commercial flight to the edge of spaceBlue Origin's New Shepard launch, the first commercial flight to the edge of spaceBlue Origin's New Shepard launch, the first commercial flight to the edge of spaceBlue Origin's New Shepard launch, the first commercial flight to the edge of spaceBlue Origin's New Shepard launch, the first commercial flight to the edge of spaceBlue Origin's New Shepard launch, the first commercial flight to the edge of spaceBlue Origin's New Shepard launch, the first commercial flight to the edge of spaceBlue Origin's New Shepard launch, the first commercial flight to the edge of spaceBlue Origin's New Shepard launch, the first commercial flight to the edge of space
Last month, Sir Richard Branson won the first stage of the billionaire space race, when he made it into low-Earth orbit on board his spaceplane Unity22. A short while later, Jeff Bezos followed suit on the New Shepard rocket, Blue Origin’s proposition for future commercial space exploration.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is last to launch a commercial rocket, but in one sense, it’s one step ahead in the game. SpaceX is NASA’s choice for a Lunar lander, with the company winning the $2.9 billion contract to develop it in April this year. At the end of last month, Bezos challenged the decision once more in an open-letter to NASA, which ultimately got shut down.

Bezos and Blue Origin’s take is that NASA made a poor choice when it opted for SpaceX’s modified Starship as the next Lunar lander. Bezos is clearly not ready to let this be bygones, even though he’s pretty much exhausted every possibility of appeal. This is the only possible explanation for an infographic posted to the Blue Origin website, which compares the Blue Origin and SpaceX rockets, and determines that the latter favors an approach that is “immensely complex & high risk” and, as such, illogical and dangerous.

You can find the infographic in the PDF file at the bottom of the page.

“There are an unprecedented number of technologies, developments, and operations that have never been done before for Starship to land on the Moon,” the text reads. Among these, the text identifies the number of launches to be performed ahead of the Moon landing, the fact that it needs to refuel in orbit, and the need for an elevator to bring astronauts to the surface once the landing has been completed, due to the height of the hatch on the rocket. Blue Origin claims to have an advantage over SpaceX on all these counts.

But it didn’t have the one that perhaps weighed heaviest with NASA: estimated cost. NASA was initially planning to award two contracts for the lander, but was forced to pick just one due to budget cuts. SpaceX’s bid was of $2.9 billion, while Blue Origin’s was of $5.99 billion.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)

 Download: Blue Origin vs. SpaceX infographic (PDF)

About the author: Elena Gorgan
Elena Gorgan profile photo

Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories