Blue Origin posted an infographic on its website, seen Wednesday, that calls SpaceX‘s lunar Starship an ‘immensely complex and high risk’ approach for sending the first woman and next man to the moon in 2024.
The criticism comes just days after the Jeff Bezo-owned company’s protest against NASA‘s decision to award SpaceX a contract to build the lunar was denied, and suggests Blue Origin isn’t taking the loss lightly.
The infographic states that the Elon Musk-owned firm would need more than 10 Starship launches to land once on the moon and needs to be refueled in orbit, ‘a process that has also never been done before.’
It also cites the massive size of the Starship, compared to the Blue Origin lander, along with the fact that SpaceX has yet to launch an orbital mission from its Boca Chica, Texas launch site.
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Blue Origin posted an infographic on its website , seen Wednesday, that calls SpaceX’s lunar Starship an ‘immensely complex and high risk’ approach for sending the first woman and next man to the moon in 2024. The criticism comes just days after the Jeff Bezo-owned company’s protest against NASA’s decision to award SpaceX a contract to build the lunar was denied, and suggests Blue Origin isn’t taking the loss lightly
NASA made the initially announcement about the lunar lander contracts in April 2020.
It awarded the Blue Origin team with $579 million, the Dynetics team with $253 million and SpaceX with $135 million.
The firms were given until 2021 to create a lander and then NASA would choose one or more winners to turn the design into a working spacecraft.
On April 16, 2021, NASA announced SpaceX was going to be the only company to construct a lunar lander.
The infographic states that the Elon Musk-owned firm would need more than 10 Starship launches to land once on the moon and needs to be refueled in orbit, ‘a process that has also never been done before’
Blue Origin highlights it would only need three National Team launches with proven systems. Starship’s exit is 126 feet off the ground, which would likely use elevators to ferry astronauts down to the lunar surface, while the Blue Origin lander is 32 feet off the ground and would use a simple down a long ladder
SpaceX received a $2.9 billion contract, which was reportedly much lower than what competitors bid.
Blue Origin, however, refused to accept the decision and filed a protest with US Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The ‘congressional watchdog’ released its conclusion Friday, which found ‘NASA did not violate procurement law or regulation when it decided to make only one award,’ which was Blue Origin’s entire defense on the matter.
But the infographic suggests Blue Origin may still be licking it wombs.
‘There are an unprecedented number of technologies, developments, and operations that have never been done before for Starship to land on the Moon,’ Blue Origin wrote in the infographic.
The infographic is designed as a comparison between the two company’s lunar landers.
While it states SpaceX would need more than 10 Starship launches, Blue Origin highlights it would only need three National Team launches with proven systems.
The criticism continues with Blue Origin calling out SpaceX for not sending any craft into orbit from its own launch site.
However, Musk’s company has sent more than 100 Falcon 9 rockets into orbit and Bezos’ firm has only sent a crewed capsule 351,000 feet into the air and back.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin did have high hopes of winning its protest against NASA’s decision and told DailyMail.com that ‘there were fundamental issues with NASA’s decision.’ Elon Musk also responded to last week’s decision by posting ‘GAO’ with the strong arm emoji on Twitter, which is the typical gesture of someone who won a fight
SpaceX is also reading its first Starship that will soar into orbit, which could happen as early as May.
The infographic also shows a comparison of the lunar landers, with Blue Origin’s mirroring those of the past and Starships massive cylinder-like shape.
Starship’s exit is 126 feet off the ground, which would likely use elevators to ferry astronauts down to the lunar surface, while the Blue Origin lander is 32 feet off the ground and would use a simple down a long ladder.
What the image fails to include is the cost to construct the lunar lander and get it off the ground, which was a major part of NASA’s final decision – SpaceX bid $2.9 billion, while Blue Origin was roughly double at $5.99 billion.
Blue Origin did have high hopes of winning its protest against NASA’s decision and told DailyMail.com that ‘there were fundamental issues with NASA’s decision.’
‘We’ll continue to advocate for two immediate providers as we believe it is the right solution,’ the Blue Origin spokesperson continued.
‘The Human Landing System [HLS] program needs to have competition now instead of later – that’s the best solution for NASA and the best solution for our country.’
Musk also responded to last week’s decision by posting ‘GAO’ with the strong arm emoji on Twitter, which is the typical gesture of someone who won a fight.
NASA will land the first woman and next man on the moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis mission
Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the moon in Greek mythology.
NASA has chosen her to personify its path back to the moon, which will see astronauts return to the lunar surface by 2024 – including the first woman and the next man.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the moon and Mars.
Artemis 1 will be the first integrated flight test of NASA’s deep space exploration system: the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the ground systems at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Artemis 1 will be an uncrewed flight that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration, and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human existence to the moon and beyond.
During this flight, the spacecraft will launch on the most powerful rocket in the world and fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown.
It will travel 280,000 miles (450,600 km) from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the moon over the course of about a three-week mission.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the moon and Mars. This graphic explains the various stages of the mission
Orion will stay in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before.
With this first exploration mission, NASA is leading the next steps of human exploration into deep space where astronauts will build and begin testing the systems near the moon needed for lunar surface missions and exploration to other destinations farther from Earth, including Mars.
The will take crew on a different trajectory and test Orion’s critical systems with humans aboard.
The SLS rocket will from an initial configuration capable of sending more than 26 metric tons to the moon, to a final configuration that can send at least 45 metric tons.
Together, Orion, SLS and the ground systems at Kennedy will be able to meet the most challenging crew and cargo mission needs in deep space.
Eventually NASA seeks to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon by 2028 as a result of the Artemis mission.
The space agency hopes this colony will uncover new scientific discoveries, demonstrate new technological advancements and lay the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy.
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