[HN Gopher] Blue Origin Engineer: we are not like this
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Blue Origin Engineer: we are not like this
Author : danbr
Score : 28 points
Date : 2021-08-16 19:46 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.reddit.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.reddit.com)
| headShrinker wrote:
| > " Before the April contract award, NASA had handed out nearly
| $1 billion in concept development contracts - with SpaceX
| receiving $135 million, Dynetics $253 million, and Blue Origin
| receiving $579 million."
|
| Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/16/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-
| takes...
|
| BO took a ton of money during the first round. Now the execs are
| pissed they weren't awarded the contract. It seems BO just didn't
| submit a compelling proposal and now they are using scorched
| earth behavior to get their way in court. It's a shame because
| the BO team is being humiliated by the execs with their bullying
| antics. I have a huge amount of respect for the BO team. I KNOW
| they are really good and care a lot about the mission and space
| exploration. Too bad about the execs...
| zamalek wrote:
| Well, you can look at the calibre of the execs. Musk knows
| enough about his passion to actually embed into the teams and
| help innovate. Bezos just bought a ticket to space for a
| billion bucks, so that he could be cool like the other
| billionaires.
| wly_cdgr wrote:
| The contract was supposed to be Bezos' retirement present and he
| can't handle ending on a losing note
| bob229 wrote:
| Fake person
| 908B64B197 wrote:
| The document from BO [0] reads like an add for SpaceX.
|
| "There are an unprecedented number of technologies, developments,
| and operations that have never been done before for Starship to
| land on the Moon. This includes developing Super Heavy, not only
| the largest launch vehicle stage ever produced, but one that has
| to be reusable, and Starship, the first ever reusable second
| stage. Then, the two systems must work together. A launch site in
| Boca Chica, Texas that has never conducted an orbital launch must
| demonstrate the ability to do so 7-11 times within 1-week
| increments. And cryogenic fluid transfer, a process that has also
| never been done, must work to refuel up to 100 MT of propellants
| from Starship to Starship"
|
| It's just like Apollo: So many new tech (launching the largest
| payload ever, precision docking, computer assisted flight).
|
| [0]
| https://drive.google.com/file/d/11PzZvWXOlV09B4wI9jPA_yRp5N9...
| krrishd wrote:
| What's the context of this?
| _Microft wrote:
| Blue Origin competed for a Human Landing System ("HLS") [0]
| contract. SpaceX won a contract and Blue Origin did not. Then
| Blue Origin complained at the GAO and the complaint was
| rejected. Management is acting like sore losers ever since.
| They have released graphics badmouthing SpaceX' Starship [1]
| and are suing NASA now [2]. The prevailing view is that this
| behaviour is not just sanctioned by CEO Bob Smith but by Jeff
| Bezos himself.
|
| Search for _Blue Origin_ , _HLS_ and /or _GAO_ for the rest of
| the story. The coverage by Ars Technica 's Eric Berger is
| usually a good source, you might want to skim the list of his
| articles [3].
|
| [0]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_program#Human_Landing_...
|
| [1] https://www.blueorigin.com/assets/blue-origin-hls-
| national-t...
|
| [2] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/16/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-
| takes...
|
| [3] https://arstechnica.com/author/ericberger/
|
| Edit: thanks verdverm, I added some links and restructured the
| post
| verdverm wrote:
| They have, since the GAO decision, released two jerky info
| graphics and have most recently sued NASA.
|
| Guess they haven't thought about the phrase "don't bite the
| hand that feeds you" recently
| hinkley wrote:
| How many people have come off looking good by suing NASA?
|
| Seems like the Venn Diagram of that includes families of
| astronauts killed on missions, people who had stuff land on
| their house, and <checks notes> no, that's about it.
| nickik wrote:
| SpaceX sued NASA (or at least complained) and won. NASA
| wanted to award a contract to Space plane Kistler and
| this was prevented and the contract competed. This
| however was the GAO and they already rejected Blue
| complaint.
|
| SpaceX also sued Air Force and won that too.
| iso1210 wrote:
| Didn't Austrailia sue NASA for littering with skylab?
| hinkley wrote:
| Is that the 'stuff landing on your house' scenario or are
| you thinking of a different incident?
| resolve-ev wrote:
| They have even drawn the dimensions of Starship wrong in the
| graphic.(The length from the hatch should be almost 4 times
| as long not 3) https://drive.google.com/file/d/11PzZvWXOlV09B
| 4wI9jPA_yRp5N9...
| verdverm wrote:
| I'd add that NASASpaceFlight does a great job of covering
| this in their weekend round tables.
|
| Great place to keep up with all things space related.
|
| In particular, they reflect what most of us are feeling
| w.r.t. recent BO executive moves vs the engineers hard work
| and passion
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(page generated 2021-08-16 23:01 UTC)