The judge decides that there were no wrongdoing in choosing Space X as a supplier

United States Court of Federal Claims I ruled against Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos Corporation in his lawsuit against NASA where he claimed the bidding process on Contract for the construction of the new lunar module For the Artemis mission awarded to SpaceX for $2.9 billion.

Judge Richard Hertling, I decided to reject Blue Origin’s argumentWhich filed a lawsuit against the agency in August, where the company stated Irregularities in the acquisition process Dell human landing system.

This is how the Blue Origin case against NASA (and SpaceX) unfolded

In April, NASA awarded SpaceX an exclusive contract to the Human Landing System program, where Elon Musk’s company You will have to bring astronauts to the surface of the moon Using his Starship missile in upcoming Artemis missions.

In this bidding process, Blue Origin and Dynetics were competing At first it was treated as two contracts, before NASA decided to change the terms and appoint only one contract after a Congress cut the fiscal distance Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Blue Origin protested this action with the US Government Accountability Office, Appeal rejected in JulyThis led to the intensification of their legal procedures.

In the The lawsuit brought by Blue OriginIt was revealed that the company focused on proving this NASA wrongly awarded the contract to SpaceX only, ignorance “Main aviation safety requirementsHowever, Hertling’s verdict rejected these allegations.

All is not lost for Blue Origin

Now, SpaceX has worked with NASA to terminate the contract to build the new lunar module, which was suspended during the lawsuit, may Resumption on Monday 8 November.

Illustration of the design of the SpaceX Starship human lander that will carry the first NASA astronauts to the lunar surface under the Artemis program.

Although this ruling eliminates the possibility of Blue Origin requesting a file Correction in the original bidThis does not mean that you do not have a chance to manufacture your own unit.

This is because two weeks ago, the US Senate Budget Committee indicated in the appropriations bill that NASA should choose a company To develop a second landing craft, an option where both Blue Origin and Dynetics can be offered.

In addition to this work as well One of the delays in the development of the Artemis mission has been eliminated, which in addition to legal problems, has been affected by problems with the construction of new spacesuits that will be worn by astronauts Part of this new phase of exploration.