Senate Directs NASA to Choose Another Company to Build a Lunar Lander
DannyB writes:
Senate directs NASA to choose another company to build a lunar lander:
The United States Senate's largest committee wants NASA to choose a second company to build its new moon lander.
[...] After much legal back-and-forth following NASA's original decision, the Senate Appropriations Committee is directing NASA to now choose a second company to develop a crewed lunar lander, according to SpaceNews. However, this direction came with only a small funding increase.
NASA's original decision to grant this contract to build and develop a lunar lander, or Human Landing System (HLS), to only SpaceX was met with staunch protest from the other two companies in the running at the time: Blue Origin and Dynetics.
[...] But it seems that Blue Origin may get its wish after all.
The appropriators, in the report, state that NASA's HLS program is not underfunded, despite the agency's previous claims to the contrary. As shown in the report, the bill includes $24.83 billion for NASA, which is just slightly more than the $24.8 billion that NASA requested, and a $100 million increase in funding for HLS.
"NASA's rhetoric of blaming Congress and this Committee for the lack of resources needed to support two HLS teams rings hollow," the report states.
Three companies [at minimum] fighting over, and two companies being awarded contracts for the same sized pot of money should accelerate development. Somehow.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.