[HN Gopher] Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket is delayed for years....
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       Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket is delayed for years. What went
       wrong?
        
       Author : stoicanalyst
       Score  : 15 points
       Date   : 2021-03-01 20:19 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (arstechnica.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (arstechnica.com)
        
       | nickik wrote:
       | Things are really not looking so hot for BlueOrigin if they do
       | not get the Human Landing System for the Moon contract.
       | 
       | They seem to focus on that, but I think most space fans, don't
       | want them to get it. The Dynetics lander and the SpaceX lander
       | are far more popular.
       | 
       | BlueOrigin plan seems very politically focused, the literally put
       | together a group of the most powerful companies in terms of
       | lobbying. But partnering with these old space companies,
       | basically also lead to their bid being almost as expensive as the
       | other two together.
       | 
       | Unfortunately for them, NASA has the authority to do the
       | selection, not congress. So the influence is not that direct.
       | However, congress can of course still try to influence the
       | results with back channels, they could just tell NASA, pick this
       | or you will not get the funding.
       | 
       | Arguably congress influence Crew selection, SerraNevada was both
       | cheaper and arguably better for NASA. Based on performance score
       | SerraNevada should have gotten it. Back then it was still viable
       | to claim that Boeing had higher 'mission assurance'.
       | 
       | I have no problem with BlueOrigin, but I don't think they deserve
       | a human lander contact. Their design is not that amazing, their
       | cost is high and they don't have a history of amazing performance
       | that would recommend them, neither does their main partner (the
       | opposite actually).
       | 
       | Bezos will still have to spend a number of billions on this, even
       | when New Glenn flies, BlueOrigin will continue to bleed money for
       | quite a while.
        
       | Nekhrimah wrote:
       | I do wonder if Blue Origin's funding model of wealthy benefactor
       | has affected delivery as well. I don't doubt that Blue has
       | fantastic, committed, and talented engineers. But there is
       | something to be said about "We need this in X weeks, or the
       | company might fold" motivation.
        
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       (page generated 2021-03-01 23:03 UTC)