Jeff Bezos offers Nasa a $2 billion discount for Blue Origin Moon lander

Amazon founder says the offer would cover the ‘funding shortfall’ that led to Nasa picking SpaceX for the Moon lander contract

Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos wrote an open letter to Nasa on Monday offering a $2 billion discount to allow his company to build a Moon lander.

The human landing system contract, worth $2.9 billion, was awarded to rival private space company SpaceX in April.

But Blue Origin and a third company, Dynetics, filed protests which are awaiting adjudication by the US Government Accountability Office.

The US plans to return to the Moon by 2024 under the Artemis programme and to use the lessons learnt to prepare for a crewed Mars mission in the 2030s.

In his letter to Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson, Mr Bezos said the offer would “bridge the funding shortfall” that led the space agency to choose only one contractor, instead of two that would then compete with each other.

“This offer is not a deferral, but is an outright permanent waiver,” he said.

Since losing the award, Blue Origin has been lobbying to have the decision reversed, leading the Senate to pass a bill agreeing to add $10 billion to the human lander system.

But the legislation is still being debated in the House and has been branded a “Bezos Bailout” by critics.

Mr Bezos wrote that an advantage of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander was its use of liquid hydrogen for fuel, which can be mined from lunar ice in line with Nasa’s plans to use the Moon to refuel rockets for operations deeper into the solar system.

He said the company would test its lander in orbit around the Earth at its own expense.

“We stand ready to help Nasa moderate its technical risks and solve its budgetary constraints and put the Artemis Programme back on a more competitive, credible and sustainable path,” Mr Bezos said.

Billionaire businessman Jeff Bezos embraces veteran aviator Wally Funk after Blue Origin’s reusable New Shepard craft capsule returned from space on Tuesday, July 20, 2021.

Jeff Bezos, Funk and and gap-year student Oliver Daemen, 18, disembark after Blue Origin’s reusable New Shepard capsule returned from space.

Jeff Bezos disembarks after the flight.

New Shepard touches down on Earth.

New Shepard approaches the ground.

The capsule carrying Jeff Bezos and three crew members returns to Texas by parachute.

The booster rocket returns to the launch pad.

The rocket lifts off.

The launch viewed from far.

The rocket is launched on the world’s first unpiloted suborbital flight.

It took off from Blue Origin’s launch site, near Van Horn in western Texas, US.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket is launched from its spaceport.

The rocket lift-off.

The launch pad. Blue Origin’s first crewed mission was an 11-minute flight from Texas and back. Reaching an altitude of 106 kilometres, it coincided with the 52nd anniversary of the first Moon landing.

People watch on a television screen as the rocket sits on the launch pad.

The crew members prepare for the flight.

The crew members prepare for the flight.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, rings a bell before boarding the flight.

This still image taken from video by Blue Origin shows Funk, Daemen and the Bezos brothers before they leave for the flight.

A monitor in a zone reserved for the media shows Wally Funk being interviewed.

This still image taken from video by Blue Origin shows Funk, Jeff and Mark Bezos, and Daemen as they ascend the crew tower for the flight.

This still image taken from video by Blue Origin shows, from left, Mark Bezos, Jeff Bezos, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen as they travel to the launch pad.

Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, a private equity executive, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen pose in an undated photograph.