spacetoday.net: Blue Origin offers NASA incentives for second HLS award

Posted: Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 10:07 AM ET (1407 GMT)
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos offered NASA billions of dollars in incentives when the agency provided his company with a second lunar lander award. In an open letter to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Bezos said that Blue Origin would waive up to $2 billion in payments in the first three years of a Human Landing System award, as well as cover the cost of a low Earth orbit demonstration mission of the lander's descent stage. Bezos argued in the letter that such contributions could bridge the financial gap that forced NASA to make only a single HLS award to SpaceX. NASA hasn't commented on the proposal, and both Blue Origin and Dynetics are continuing their protest of the HLS award with the Government Accountability Office.