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How did we get humans on the moon in 1969 and are still struggling to get the Starship rocket to launch properly?
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this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2024
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Seeing how SpaceX had neither a design or a mockup, they had no development done on their lander. Their lander STILL does not exist, not even as a mockup. They are STILL behind Blue Origin today when it comes to the lander. Blue Origin entered the HLS bid with a full mockup, that was compatible with existing technology. SpaceX entered with no mockup and entirely undeveloped technology, but was somehow judged equal (By Lueders) to Blue Origin based on
AFTER being told to do so. That's the entire problem. Blue Origin and Dynetics both came forward and said they'd gladly match that bid, but since they didn't get the special information that was only given to SpaceX, they couldn't know this. BO also clearly said they would gladly develop out of pocket, but they weren't given the special info. Because, again, the lady currently enjoying a cushy, well-paid contract at SpaceX, only gave new information to SpaceX.
Let me repeat that one more time: The contract was unawardable to two of the parties, because those parties had NOT been given the unknown information that Lueders gave to SpaceX.
SpaceX didn't need a mockup to present. They had prototypes of the base vehicle and a proposal for necessary modifications to perform the contract duties and an established track record of developing ambitious rocket engines and launch vehicles. BO had bits and pieces of other things they were gonna bolt together and a pretty model of how it'll look like, we swear, scout's honor. But if you're talking about the Blue Moon that eventually won the secondary bid, that's not what they initially proposed.Blue Moon Mk2 is a variant of a lander that's been in development since 2016, so two years longer than SpaceX's Starship prototypes. The one that's planned for a lunar landing this year, Blue Moon Mk1, isn't the one they bid for HLS. It's a robotic lander, smaller than the HLS's Mk2. So fancy that, they won a HLS contract when they bid a variant of something they were already working on, much like SpaceX did. And remember, BO is developing a lander. SpaceX is developing a fully reusable super heavy lift rocket, an interplanetary transport craft and a lunar lander as part of the same package.
Finish reading my post. SpaceX's initial bid was 2.94 billion and the final award was 2.89 billion. Again, they agreed that they can do the job for 50 million less than what they originally bid. BO's and Dynetics' proposals would've suffered a much larger hit. And sure, BO got the secondary contract for 3.4 billion, after rethinking their entire proposal. So why did they not submit that one in the first place? If they had, they might have gotten a similar call.
No they didn't. They had, a mockup of an empty shell into which they might eventually fit the vehicle. And they still have that.
NASA isn't paying SpaceX for the rocket or transport though, they're paying for a lander and getting it on and off the moon. But I fully agree that SpaceX developing a booster and LEO-transport is exactly why the lander doesn't exist yet.
I did read your post, but what you're failing to understand is that this 2.94 billion dollar bid was already AFTER they were informed of the budget changes.
I doubt minimizing corporate loss was Lueder's motivation there. Presumably neither Steve Cook or Jeff Bezos offered Lueders a ~~large enough bribe~~ job matching her qualifications.
Ugh, you had me defending the ethical sense of Jeff Bezos. I need to go rinse my mouth now.
Blue Origin: "Here's renders and a papier-mâchė model of what our lander will look like. It's assembled together in lunar orbit, from an automated cargo ship, our own lander and another Orion." Note that this isn't what they won the option b proposal with.
SpaceX: "Here's renders of what our lander will look like. We have a full scale prototype out in Boca and we're blowing it up to see if our math and simulations are right on how much pressure the tanks can take. It'll require some modifications, such as larger landing legs and dedicated landing engines." And their HLS proposal isn't a vehicle carried in the Starship's cargo bay, it is the Starship.
I can find no source for SpaceX's initial bid being higher, let alone 2x higher (to meet your claim that they bid on the same level as BO, not even gonna consider Dynetics).If you have one, I'd like to see it. And if it is the case that SpaceX was picked because they were willing to slash their bid in half, then I would expect BO's follow-up litigation to be based around that. Instead, BO focused on the claim that NASA didn't give their proposal proper evaluation and consideration.
That wasn't my point. The point was that if their proposal had been closer to the budget set aside for the award, as opposed to being double the budget, they might have been contacted to see if they could complete the contract for the lesser amount.
Tell you what: Here's the mockup BO delivered to NASA: https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/space/nasa-evaluate-blue-origin-human-lunar-lander-hands
Wow, renders! They even have renders of Starship on Mars, it must be true!
No they don't. Not of HLS, and also not of "Starship as needed for HLS". Musk's latest speech at SpaceX said the IFT-3 version of starship, that is now called "Starship 1", can only lift 40 tons to LEO. And that makes it incapable of doing Artemis, and thus incapable of being HLS. He promised "Starship 2" will lift the promised 100 tons to LEO, but that hasn't flown yet. So they don't even have a full-scale prototype, but they have scale-models that kinda-sort-look-like-it, and one of them even flew half a mission without a single gram of cargo.
Look, there's apparently a major gap in your knowledge. Starship+Superheavy is big cargo truck that can haul a load or cargo into orbit and come back. What NASA paid for is a trailer-RV that will let you camp out in death valley for a couple of months. And what you're saying is "Well, SpaceX has got an empty trailer and something to pull it, which is basically the same thing as a full house-on-wheels, because they look the same from the outside."
I don't know how to explain that a lunar lander is very much not the same thing as a rocket with an empty shell on top. SpaceX has the latter.