Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tesla production “makes WWII look trivial” + Bezos protests SpaceX contract with NASA

#1
C C Offline
Elon Musk: Tesla Production “Makes World War II Look Trivial”
https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-tesla-world-war

INTRO: Tesla CEO Elon Musk chose a bold comparison when he discussed the electric automaker’s quarterly results this week, saying that the challenges Tesla faced were tougher than a world war. Managing supply chain and production issues was a “logistical problem that makes World War II look trivial,” Musk told investors during a Monday conference call, according to Insider.

“I’m not kidding. The scale is insane,” Musk added. “We’re talking millions of cars, massive global supply chain, 50 countries, dozens of regulatory regimes.” (MORE)


NASA Moon lander bid losers file protests over $2.9bn SpaceX win (intro): NASA may have awarded SpaceX the Artemis 2024 Moon lander contract, but rival bidders Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Dynetics are already protesting the US space agency’s decision. The two companies filed protests this week after Elon Musk’s SpaceX won a $2.9 billion contract to develop the spacecraft which will return American astronauts to the surface of the Moon... (MORE)
- - - - - -

Jeff Bezos protests after NASA gives lunar lander contract to Elon Musk’s SpaceX (intro): Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin filed a protest against NASA’s decision to award Elon Musk’s SpaceX a $2.9 billion award to develop a human-lander system to return astronauts to the moon.

Blue Origin called on the U.S. Government Accountability Office to stay NASA’s deal with SpaceX and correct “errors” in the procurement process, according to the protest. Absent those problems, Blue Origin claimed that NASA would also have selected its proposal, which was submitted by a team that included Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp. and Draper, an engineering and avionics firm.

“NASA has executed a flawed acquisition for the Human Landing System program and moved the goalposts at the last minute,” Blue Origin said Monday in a statement accompanying the challenge to NASA’s decision. “Their decision eliminates opportunities for competition, significantly narrows the supply base, and not only delays, but also endangers America’s return to the moon.” (MORE)
Reply
#2
C C Offline
Musk-Bezos Feud Intensifies: Blue Origin Protests NASA Choice of SpaceX Lunar Lander
https://gizmodo.com/musk-bezos-feud-inte...1846771934

EXCERPT: . . . Musk’s response to the latest protest is typical of what we’ve come to expect from the billionaire. “Can’t get it up (to orbit) lol,” he tweeted out in response to a query from New York Times reporter Kenneth Chang. Musk was referencing the fact that Blue Origin has yet to place a rocket in Earth orbit, which is technically true (Blue Origin’s New Shepard makes trips to suborbital space, and the New Glenn two-stage rocket isn’t expected to launch until next year). Not content to stop there, Musk rehashed a modified image of a Blue Origin lunar lander mockup, displaying the inscription “BLUE BALLS.”

Musk must feel entitled to gloat like this given his apparently cozy relationship with NASA. The reliable and reusable Falcon 9 rocket is frequently delivering NASA cargo to space, while its CrewDragon is now delivering astronauts to the International Space Station on a regular basis. Blue Origin, by contrast, still has lots to prove—though its three partners in this lunar lander project are super legitimate. At the same time, the SpaceX solution to the lunar lander presents a very risky strategy. Musk’s company must now go about the business of proving unproven technologies, such as refueling a rocket in space (never been done before), performing the vertical landing of a rocket on the lunar surface (also never been done before), and then taking off again (you get the picture).

Regardless, Blue Origin isn’t giving up the fight, and the company still wants a chomp of that Artemis pie. The company is claiming that it has been wronged by NASA and that the space agency needs to make amends. What’s interesting here is that Blue Origin might actually have a case.

During the bidding process, NASA indicated its “intention to make two awards,” but due to “perceived shortfalls in currently available and anticipated future budget appropriations,” the space agency decided to go with a sole provider, according to the Blue Origin protest letter. The company argues that NASA’s decision threatens to eliminate competition and effectively locks down “immediate and future lunar landing system development and launch and lunar landing opportunities.”

Blue Origin is essentially claiming that NASA’s decision will lead to a kind of monopoly as far as the development of lunar landers goes, despite the space agency’s claims that other vendors will be sourced further down the line as the Artemis project evolves.

Blue Origin pegged the price of its lander at $5.99 billion, while the cost of SpaceX’s lander is less than half of that at $2.91 billion. Bob Smith, CEO of Blue Origin, claims that NASA allowed SpaceX to renegotiate the price but did not extend the same courtesy to Blue Origin, the New York Times reports.

The company is also claiming that the selection process was botched, as NASA changed the rules of the game late in the process, which it did “due to its undisclosed, perceived shortfall of funding for the multi-year program lifecycle,” as Blue Origin wrote in its protest letter, adding that NASA’s evaluation of the Blue Origin proposal was “flawed and unreasonable.” (MORE - details)
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Unusual Tesla Features Yazata 4 119 Feb 29, 2024 11:22 AM
Last Post: confused2
  Tesla FSD Beta Drives Itself thru Downtown San Francisco Yazata 12 543 Feb 5, 2024 04:18 AM
Last Post: Yazata
  Tesla FSD; reality vs Elon's perennial promises Kornee 5 74 Jan 15, 2024 11:34 AM
Last Post: Kornee
  Article How long will Jeff Bezos continue to subsidize New Shepard? (mothballed vehicles) C C 0 68 Nov 6, 2023 01:02 AM
Last Post: C C
  Thousands of complaints on Tesla's phantom braking problem Magical Realist 0 103 Oct 12, 2023 01:14 AM
Last Post: Magical Realist
  Article Ukraine finds rusting British WWII fighter planes buried outside Kyiv (air vehicles) C C 1 74 Jul 3, 2023 05:40 AM
Last Post: Yazata
  Article NASA still confident SpaceX's Starship can land astronauts on Moon in 2025 (vehicles) C C 0 68 Apr 30, 2023 02:42 AM
Last Post: C C
  Article What is Tesla’s mystery magnet? C C 2 76 Mar 21, 2023 03:20 AM
Last Post: Kornee
  Apparent Murder-Suicide Drives Family Off Cliff - Only Problem is Car Was a Tesla Yazata 8 331 Jan 6, 2023 12:13 AM
Last Post: Syne
  Tesla is killing it in California Yazata 0 268 Aug 10, 2022 09:17 PM
Last Post: Yazata



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)