Previously, NASA selected SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, to award a $2.89 billion contract for the construction of a crewed lunar lander.
According to CNBC, billionaire Jeff Bezos sent a letter to NASA Director Bill Nelson stating that his company, Blue Origin, would waive all payments up to $2 billion to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) over the current and next two fiscal years.
Additionally, Blue Origin will also fund a mission to reach low Earth orbit. In return, the company is requesting a fixed-price contract from the government agency.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos offers to pay $2 billion to NASA in exchange for a lunar lander contract.
It is known that in April, NASA awarded SpaceX of billionaire Elon Musk a sole contract worth $2.89 billion to build the next crewed lunar lander under the Human Landing System (HLS) program.
Previously, NASA had a 10-month research contract with SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Dynetics to initiate the lunar lander development work.
In his letter, Mr. Bezos wrote: “This proposal is not a delay. NASA should adopt its competitive strategy. If NASA cites a short-term budget shortfall in its selection process, my proposal removes that barrier. Without competition, NASA’s ambitions for lunar exploration in both the short and long term will be delayed, become more costly, and not serve national interests.”
NASA has confirmed receipt of the letter from billionaire Jeff Bezos but has not commented on the high-stakes proposal.
Recently, the Amazon founder completed his first flight to the edge of space, lasting 10 minutes and 10 seconds, aboard the New Shepard spacecraft, a project of Blue Origin. The flight is regarded as a significant milestone for the space tourism industry and aligns with Mr. Bezos’s vision of creating “a future where millions of people live and work in space for the benefit of Earth.”
Currently, billionaire Jeff Bezos and Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson are the two main entrepreneurs in the market for sending tourists to the edge of space. This is just a small sector within the space economy, which is valued at over $420 billion.
In a recent announcement, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin stated that it has sold $100 million in tickets for future passenger flights to the edge of space. The company is actively manufacturing more rockets to support upcoming flights with increased frequency.
