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posted by chromas on Saturday February 16 2019, @12:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the SpaceX-86'd dept.

SpaceX protests NASA launch contract award

SpaceX has filed a protest over the award of a launch contract to United Launch Alliance for a NASA planetary science mission, claiming it could carry out the mission for significantly less money.

The protest, filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Feb. 11, is regarding a NASA procurement formally known as RLSP-35. That contract is for the launch of the Lucy mission to the Trojan asteroids of Jupiter, awarded by NASA to ULA Jan. 31 at a total cost to the agency of $148.3 million. The GAO documents did not disclose additional information about the protest, other than the office has until May 22 to render a decision. NASA said that, as a result of the protest, it's halted work on the ULA contract.

[...] SpaceX confirmed that the company was protesting the contract. "Since SpaceX has started launching missions for NASA, this is the first time the company has challenged one of the agency's award decisions," a company spokesperson said in a statement to SpaceNews. "SpaceX offered a solution with extraordinarily high confidence of mission success at a price dramatically lower than the award amount, so we believe the decision to pay vastly more to Boeing and Lockheed for the same mission was therefore not in the best interest of the agency or the American taxpayers," the spokesperson added. ULA is a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

[...] A key factor in the decision to award the contract to ULA was schedule certainty. Lucy has a complex mission profile with a series of flybys in order to visit several asteroid either leading or following Jupiter in its orbit around the sun. That results in a launch window that is open for only about 20 days in October 2021. Should the launch miss that window, the mission cannot be flown as currently planned.

Could it be retaliation for recent audits? Still, a matter of ±$70 million or so is almost nothing compared to the billions being spent annually on the Space Launch System.

Lucy (spacecraft) and trojans.

Also at Ars Technica and Teslarati.

Previously: NASA Selects Two Missions to Visit Asteroids


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @01:03AM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @01:03AM (#801871)

    NASA is big on process.
    They must have had a reason if they awarded a more expensive option.
    Perhaps to support a second launch option.

    Cost is not everything. Even if X is cheaper and still reliable, it does not mean that there are not overriding factors.
      If there was such a reason, it should be out in the open for all to see.

    It will be interesting to see if NASA choose a more expensive path on purpose and if so, what drove them to do this.
    Supporting old school space while incubating new school might not necessarily be bad, at least in the short term.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @01:35AM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @01:35AM (#801877)

    The reason is in the linked earlier article:

    In addition to spurring problems for the car company Tesla, Elon Musk's puff of marijuana in September will also have consequences for SpaceX. On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that NASA will conduct a "safety review" of both of its commercial crew companies, SpaceX and Boeing. The review was prompted, sources told the paper, because of recent behavior by Musk, including smoking marijuana on a podcast.

    According to William Gerstenmaier, NASA's chief human spaceflight official, the review will be "pretty invasive" and involve interviews with hundreds of employees at various levels of the companies, across multiple worksites. The review will begin next year, and interviews will examine "everything and anything that could impact safety," Gerstenmaier told the Post.

    [...] One source familiar with NASA's motivations said the agency has grown weary of addressing questions about SpaceX's workplace culture, from the long hours its employees work to Musk's behaviors on social media. "SpaceX is the frat house," this source said. "And NASA is the old white guy across the street yelling at them to 'Get off my lawn.'"

    Musk is still an unknown risk factor. He rules the company singlehandedly, and at the same time behaves irresponsibly. Without him the work contracted to SpaceX may crumble. The promised review will determine how SpaceX is set up and operated. The money difference is nothing, compared to dependability of the supplier.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by RandomFactor on Saturday February 16 2019, @01:54AM (5 children)

      by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Saturday February 16 2019, @01:54AM (#801884) Journal

      "SpaceX is the frat house,"

      450,000 miles is a heck of a road trip.

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @02:44AM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @02:44AM (#801902)

        Double standards- sure it’s ok if YOU smoke a doobie but not Musk

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @03:08AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @03:08AM (#801907)
          YOU are not bidding on a national contract valued in a hundred million dollars. Caesar's wife [writingexplained.org] and all.
        • (Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Saturday February 16 2019, @03:18AM (2 children)

          by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Saturday February 16 2019, @03:18AM (#801911) Journal

          450,000 miles refers to the distance his Tesla has traveled so far. Quite the accomplishment for frat boys (maybe Real Genius [imdb.com] frat boys...)
           
          The cult of personality aspect mentioned is not an entirely unreasonable concern though. He needs to have the appropriate plans and processes in place in the organization for the continuance of the company in the event he gets some bad buds or something.
           
          That's just good business.

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          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @07:55PM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @07:55PM (#802156)

            Bad buds? The fuck are YOU smoking?

            • (Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Saturday February 16 2019, @08:37PM

              by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Saturday February 16 2019, @08:37PM (#802169) Journal

              Ehhh, did I mix up my druggie slang? Buds = marijuana buds. I'm not talking about smoking your headset :-p
               
              Maybe it's just an archaic term?

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