If they're not fighting it out for who
has the biggest net worth in the world,
now Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos's rivalry
has been cemented
in the space industry. Ever since their
respective companies of SpaceX and blue
origin was formed.
The two have battled it out for
the dominance of the galaxy
and, recently it got even more intense.
Today we're going to take a look at the
two billionaire behemoths on their race
to space,
such as a multi-billion dollar NASA
a contract that further divided the two
firms.
We'll also explore a number of other
instances the two have clashed over the
years.
so let's get started.....
During 2017 NASA got underway with the
Artemis program,
the mission was simple to get Americans
back onto the moon.
The last time NASA got people there was
in 1972 for the Apollo program,
as such it's long overdue. The Artemis
the program also has two additional goals to
get the first woman
and the first person of color onto the
lunar surface.
The aim is to undertake the mission by
the mid-2020s.
In February 2021 the NASA office of
inspector general stated that
up until 2025 the Artemis program will
cost around 86
billion dollars. Due to this NASA was
looking for a company to develop the
first commercial human lander.
This machine would get the
history-making crew to touch down on the
moon's surface.
The reason for looking for outside help
is to reduce the cost of the agency,
as well as encourage private enterprises
to venture into space.
During April 2020 a number of space
companies were selected by NASA to
design
and develop human landing systems or
hls's.
On one side we have Jeff Bezos in blue
origin on the other
Elon musk and SpaceX. Finally there was
Alabama-based firm genetics also in the
running.
The joint cost of this contract came to
967
million dollars for a 10-month period.
However, this was later extended to 12
months.
Blue origin received a bigger slice of
the money with 579 million dollars since
their plan was further along.
While dynamics got 253 million dollars
and SpaceX won 135 million dollars.
By April 2021 NASA chose SpaceX to
develop their design of the starship hls,
which surprised many as it seemed like
the space agency would pick
two companies to develop the hls. The
milestone
contracts value came to 2.89
billion dollars. NASA states that their
the plan is to launch four
astronauts within the Orion spacecraft
via their own space launch system rocket
after reaching the moon's orbit two of
the astronauts will depart and get into
SpaceX's starship
hls. Once they reach the surface they'll
spend a week there to explore the area
eventually, the astronauts will
essentially do the reverse journey to
return to earth
shortly after the announcement blue
origin and genetics teamed up to contest
the contract being awarded to their
rival.
The two believe that NASA's decision was
based on flawed evaluations of the bid
as well as their decision to only select
one company.
The companies filed their protest with
US's government accountability
office.
While in response Elon musk tweeted a
tongue-in-cheek comment about blue
origin's struggle to launch a rocket
into orbit.
In may 2021 it was announced that after
missing out on the lucrative NASA
contract
blue origin was in line to receive some
funding from us government.
The money would be provided through the
endless frontier act which was formed to
help keep US's space program
competitive with other countries.
The cash would be given to NASA which is
expected to be funneled to Bezos firm
if the funding goes through the blue origin
will receive
10 billion. In the first three months of
2021
blue origin spent a reported 625
000 on lobbying officials for this
amount of cash.
However, not everyone is happy with this
so-called bailout.
At the time of writing senator Bernie
sanders is looking to amend the bill in
order to remove this massive funding.
Sanders stated to the intercept quote it
does not make a lot of sense to me that
we would provide
billions of dollars to a company owned
by the wealthiest guy in America
unquote so watch this space.
This isn't the first time that SpaceX
and blue origin's rivalry has been
showcased.
In 2013 NASA announced they were
looking to lease out launch complex 39a
at the Kennedy space center.
The complex was built as part of the
Apollo program
it was believed that by renting it out
the agency could save more than one
million dollars annually in maintenance
fees.
By 2014 NASA awarded a 20-year lease of
lc-39a
to SpaceX over blue origin afterward
Bezos company leased cape Canaveral air
force stations launch complex 36 during
2015.
The deal is expected to bring in 200
million dollars into the local Florida
economy.
While the pad itself is reported to have
cost 1 billion dollars.
Then during 2014 SpaceX petitioned
against blue origin in order to
invalidate their patents for a rocket
able to land on ships at sea.
In the end, the judge mostly ruled in
SpaceX's favor
13 of the 15 patients were withdrawn by
blue origin
and to rub salt into the wound during
2016
SpaceX successfully landed their falcon
9 rocket onto a floating platform at sea.
Whilst in 2018
the US air force funded a number of
companies proposals in developing a
launch system prototype
those selected included Northrop Grumman
United launch alliance and
of course blue origin. Altogether the
contracts totaled
2.3 billion dollars with the blue origin
receiving 500 million dollars for their
new Glenn rocket.
Well SpaceX wasn't happy instead
in 2019 they filed a lawsuit against the
government.
They claimed that the contracts were
wrongly awarded for quote
a portfolio of three unproven rockets
based on
unstated metrics unquote. The case was
rejected by the judge in 2020.
However, also in 2020 the contract
between the air force and blue origin
was canceled.
The space company had only received
255.5 million dollars of their initial
award
for those that don't know the blue origin
was formed by amazon
creator jeff Bezos in 2000 with the
mission to lower the cost of sending
people into space.
During his high school valedictorian
speech he mentioned that he wanted to
build hotels and colonies in space.
According to reports during 2018 Bezos
announced plans to liquidate around
1 billion worth of Amazon stock each
year to fund blue origin.
Recently the company announced they were
going to auction off a seat for a
civilian to get on board the new Shepard
their spacecraft for tourism. The craft
is set to take off in July 2021
at the time of writing the auction is
currently at 2.8
million dollars. During 2002
musk was the majority stockholder of
Paypal
so when eBay came in and purchased the
service for 1.5 billion
musk personally received 180 million
dollars.
With the new financing, musk decided to
form SpaceX in the same year.
In 2001 he had an idea for the mars
oasis
this project would consist of a sealed
the chamber being sent to the red planet via
a spacecraft.
The chamber would contain dry nutrient
gel and seeds.
So once it lands there's a small
greenhouse ready to go.
Very similar to matt Damon situation in
the Martian.
At the time musk pledged 20 million
dollars to this idea.
however, once he realized it would be
much much more
he created SpaceX to help lower fees for
space exploration
final fact finish looking to create
their own version of the united state's
GPS satellite system
the European union developed Galileo
named after the Italian
astronomer Galileo Galilei the original
cost of the program
is stated to be 10 billion euros around
12.2 billion dollars.
However, it has been estimated that over
20 years of its lifetime
it could cost 22.2 billion euros
or 27.1 billion dollars
thanks for reading we'll see you next
time.
