The world's second-richest person, Jeff Bezos, was dealt a loss by the U.S. courts this week in his company's suit against NASA. The suit was brought by Blue Origin regarding a $2.9 billion NASA contract awarded to SpaceX earlier in April of this year.
In response to the decision, SpaceX owner, and the world's richest person, Elon Musk, tweeted a still from the movie "Dredd" with the caption "YOU HAVE BEEN JUDGED!"
In its August court filing, Blue Origin stated that its suit's purpose was to challenge "NASA's unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals". Following the court's decision, a spokesperson for the company told CNBC that the suit "highlighted the important safety issues with the Human Landing System procurement process that must still be addressed."
The suit alleged that NASA had failed to complete the required flight readiness review (FRR) for each part of the project's system. According to Blue Origin, SpaceX provided information in its FRR regarding shuttles meant to carry astronauts, but not the 14 other Starships involved in carrying propellant and other contents to the moon's surface.
"Returning astronauts safely to the Moon through NASA's public-private partnership model requires an unprejudiced procurement process alongside sound policy that incorporates redundant systems and promotes competition. Blue Origin remains deeply committed to the success of the Artemis program," the company stated.
During the months-long court battle, the lunar lander project was put on hold. Now that the suit has been settled, NASA said it intends to resume its work with SpaceX "as soon as possible". Currently, the resumption of work is scheduled to begin on November 8.
"There will be forthcoming opportunities for companies to partner with NASA in establishing a long-term human presence at the Moon under the agency's Artemis program," NASA said in a statement.
The current project awarded to SpaceX is the agency's Human Landing System program. The nearly $3 billion lunar lander contract will entail ferrying NASA astronauts to the moon's surface in a SpaceX Starship rocket. Initially, the project was expected to be split into two contracts, but Congress declined to allot sufficient funding.
$3 billion might sound steep, but Musk's SpaceX presented by far the lowest bid and received higher ratings.
Blue Origin and another contract competitor, Dynetics, both filed complaints with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to appeal NASA's contract award, but the office denied them, saying that additional FRRs would not have changed the outcome of NASA's decision.
"NASA did not violate procurement law or regulation when it decided to make only one award," the GAO stated. "NASA's announcement provided that the number of awards the agency would make was subject to the amount of funding available for the program."
At this point, Blue Origin filed its lawsuit against NASA alleging a disregard for safety requirements. According to the company, it would have drastically changed its bid had it known that safety requirements were going to be ignored in favor of lower costs.
Federal Judge Richard Hertling dismissed Blue Origin's suit, but the decision will remain sealed until both companies are allowed to request redactions of proprietary information. These black-outs must be requested by Nov. 18, at which point a redacted version of the statement will be released publicly.
Blue Origin might allege that NASA is skirting safety requirements, but the company itself has faced similar allegations. In September, former Blue Origin employees released an essay detailing the company's habit of ignoring safety warnings and being permissive of sexist behavior.
According to Bezos, the goal of Blue Origin is to establish "millions of people... living and working in space to benefit Earth," particularly by relocating "industries that stress Earth into space." The company has plans to deploy its own private space station into orbit by the end of the decade.
"Not the decision we wanted," Bezos said in a tweet, "but we respect the court's judgment, and wish full success for NASA and SpaceX on the contract."