Blue Origin suffers grave setback as judge dismisses lawsuit against NASA

[smp]

From Art Technica:
"This summer, the company filed a lawsuit against NASA, claiming that the agency ignored its own requirements when it awarded the contract for the Human Landing System, intended to take astronauts to the Moon, to SpaceX. Today, the Court of Federal Claims dismissed the case in a one-page ruling, ending a tumultuous chapter in the relationship between the Jeff Bezos-backed space launch startup and the federal government."

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/11 ... inst-nasa/

Boo hoo!

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[helicon]

Very interesting Stephen. I suppose Blue Origin will have to focus more on space tourism rather than lift capability for NASA.

[smp]

Another brief article from CNBC:
"Bezos' Blue Origin loses NASA lawsuit over SpaceX $2.9 billion lunar lander contract"

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/04/bezos-b ... ander.html

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[Ylem]

Another boo hoo...

[WilliamPaolini]

I would not say that Blue Origin will now have to focus more on space tourism rather than building capabilities for NASA. Fact of the matter is that for high cost contracts with the US Government it is quite common for a losing bidder to protest. In the end though, I do not think (based on my experience with very high cost Government contracts) that there will be any prejudice against Blue Origin as they bid on future contracts. There never was with any of the Federal agencies I worked in. Where the chips fall when evaluating bids is where the chips fall and it is very objective based on the stated requirements, and we understand that bidders may protest and that causes no hard feelings relative to future bids from those companies. When a company loses a bid it needs to be a learning experience for them on how to put together a future bid better; and when a company protests an award then it needs to be a learning experience for the government contracting team on how to better communicate in both their RFPs (Requests for Proposal) and also in how they conduct their post award briefings with each vendor. When the latter is done well it often averts most protest actions.

[GCoyote]

Blue Origin actually succeeded in landing its first stage boosters before SpaceX did. They failed to translate their technology into a commercial product/service at the time allowing SpaceX to build a huge lead in operational experience, products, and services. When SpaceX bids on a contract now, it can submit a massive portfolio of operational data to validate its capabilities. Blue Origins has a lot of catching up to do.

[WilliamPaolini]

Yes, but there is more need out there than one company could ever satisfy. So not like a one and done proposition. The commercial launch need is a $2B+ market in the US right now. There is also the military's needs for space launch capability. Given B.O. has a reusable rocket and can hoist a fairly heavy payload, they can easily expand into those markets and probably at a less expensive rate. And of course the burgeoning space tourist market which is just starting and frankly has a lot of breadth yet to explore. So plenty of need out there for many companies to be playing in. Good business opportunity awaits for B.O. and others while SpaceX has its resources mired in the world of very large and fewer single contracts with the NASA.