Take me to the moon: Jeff Bezos has offered $2 billion dollars to NASA, to build a lander that will return humans to the Moon this decade
Why does Bezos want to cover the costs?
He wants to cover the costs for a key contract to build a Moon landing vehicle.
“Blue Origin will bridge the HLS [Human Landing System] budgetary funding shortfall by waiving all payments in the current and next two government fiscal years up to $2bn to get the programme back on track right now,” Bezos wrote in a letter to NASA.
“This offer is not a deferral, but is an outright and permanent waiver of those payments.”
In his letter, Bezos emphasised Blue Moon’s proven heritage: “We created a 21st Century lunar landing system inspired by the well-characterised Apollo architecture – an architecture with many benefits. One of its important benefits is that it prioritizes safety.”
But didn’t Musk win this contract?
Back in April the space agency awarded the $2.9 billion contract to Elon Musk, rejecting a bid from Bezos’ company Blue Origin.
The lander is based on SpaceX’s Starship craft, which is being tested at a site in southern Texas.
SpaceX was competing against a joint bid from traditional aerospace giants and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, as well as Alabama-based Dynetics. The total value of the contract awarded to Musk’s company is $2.89bn.
Nasa could only award the contract to one company because of funding constraints.
The award is for building the landing system that will carry astronauts down to the lunar surface as early as 2024.
Amazon reported better-than-expected results for the last quarter, surpassing analysts’ estimates.
Amazon reported better-than-expected results for the last quarter, surpassing analysts’ estimates, driven by strong performance in its cloud computing and AI.
Tesla cut the U.S. prices of its Model Y, Model X and Model S vehicles by $2,000 each, days after the first-quarter deliveries of the world’s most valuable automaker missed market expectations.
Elon Musk’s electric-vehicle (EV) maker lowered the prices for its Model Y base variant to $42,990, while the long-range and performance variants are now priced at $47,990 and $51,490, respectively, according to its website.
The basic version of the Model S now costs $72,990 and its plaid variant $87,990. The Model X base variant now costs $77,990 and its plaid variant is priced at $92,900.
Tesla North America also said in a post on X said it would end its referral program benefits in all markets after April 30.
Referral program allows buyers to get extra incentives through referrals from existing customers, a strategy long used by traditional automakers to boost sales.
Musk has postponed a planned trip to India where he was to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and announce plans to enter the South Asian market, Reuters reported on Saturday.
On Monday Reuters reported, citing an internal memo, that the EV maker was laying off more than 10% of its global workforce.
Earlier this month Reuters reported the EV maker had canceled a long-promised inexpensive car, expected to cost $25,000, that investors had been counting on to drive mass-market growth.
The EV maker reported this month that its global vehicle deliveries in the first quarter fell for the first time in nearly four years, as price cuts failed to stir demand.
Tesla is to report first-quarter earnings on Tuesday.