SpaceX drops protest of NASA launch contract
SpaceX withdrew a protest April 4 that it had filed with the U.S. Government Accountability Office Feb. 11 regarding a NASA launch procurement formally known as RLSP-35. That covered a contract NASA awarded Jan. 31 to ULA for the launch of Lucy, a mission slated for launch in October 2021 to visit several Trojan asteroids in the same orbit around the sun as Jupiter.
[...] SpaceX's decision to withdraw the protest comes to[sic] a relief to many familiar with development of Lucy. They were concerned about potential additional costs to the mission and threats to its schedule if GAO upheld the protest and forced NASA to recompete the contract for the launch. That additional work, such as planning to be compatible with two different launch vehicles while the contract was recompeted, threatened to negate any launch vehicle savings.
SpaceX will assist NASA's first-ever mission to redirect an asteroid
NASA has chosen SpaceX to help out on its first-ever attempt to deflect an asteroid. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will blast off on a Falcon 9 rocket in June 2021 from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Its mission: To smash a satellite into the Didymos asteroid's small moon in a bid to knock it off its orbit. What sounds like the plot of a Michael Bay movie could turn out to be NASA's first line of defense against Earth-bound asteroids.
[...] The total cost for the mission is expected at around $69 million including the launch service, which NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida will manage. Fresh off the back of its successful Falcon Heavy launch and triple landing, SpaceX's involvement in DART sees its relationship with NASA evolving beyond its commercial payloads and resupply missions to the ISS. As usual, Elon Musk shared his reaction in a tweet: "Thanks on behalf of the SpaceX team. We ♥️♥️♥️ NASA!"
Coincidence? Maybe.
Double Asteroid Redirection Test contract also at Space News.
Previously: NASA to Redirect an Asteroid's Moon With Kinetic Impact
ESA Plans "Hera" Follow-Up Mission to NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test
SpaceX Protests NASA's Award of "Lucy" Launch Contract to ULA
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @08:35PM (4 children)
They should have let SpaceX also design and build the impactor for this mission, not just the launcher. The company has been showing more creativity than NASA.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @08:39PM (3 children)
It's because NASA doesn't mix whiskey and LSD.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @09:51PM (2 children)
But they hire people who do to transport their astronauts. Meanwhile, this made-for-Hollywood mission gets the oatmeal eaters.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday April 13 2019, @09:53PM (1 child)
SpaceX hasn't killed a single astronaut.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @10:03PM
But in karmic balance, Tesla's autopilot has killed more people than Airbus' has...