Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Awarded Lucrative Military Contract
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is expanding its purview into missions for the U.S. military.
Blue Origin is one of three recipients of a $2.3 billion Department of Defense (DoD) contract, meant to ensure the military's rocket launch technology is developed and manufactured domestically, Reuters reported Wednesday.
The billionaire's rocket company, which recently announced the development of a "large lunar lander" meant for a 2023 mission, will join Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems and United Launch Services (ULS) in providing the US Air Force better access to space.
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, central to the company's ambitions to reach the moon, will ferry defense payloads into space for the Air Force. Blue Origin will receive $500 million for its services.
Thank you to the @usairforce for your confidence in the @BlueOrigin team and our #NewGlenn rocket. We are proud to serve the national security space community and are committed to providing safe, reliable access to space for the nation. #GradatimFerociter pic.twitter.com/AeO3xXhnUi
- Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) October 10, 2018
Blue Origin is profiting from the retirement of the United Launch Alliance's Delta IV, which first experienced flight in 2002. The company's reusable rocket tech is a hallmark of the modern space race, and its cost-saving measures will likely prove useful in both commercial and government missions.
A move to taper off traditional foreign alliances is central to the Air Force's thinking, Lt. Gen. John Thompson, the Air Force's Program Executive Officer for Space, said in a statement:
"These awards are central to the Air Force goal of two domestic, commercially viable launch providers that meet National Security Space requirements. These innovative public-private partnerships with industry provide a path to develop launch vehicles to assure access to space, address the urgent need to transition away from strategic foreign reliance, and provide responsive launch capabilities to the warfighter."
Blue Origin will also build its own launch site at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, switching coasts from its traditional site at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Earlier this week, Elon Musk's Space X conducted its first launch from the West Coast at Vandenberg, successfully carrying a the Argentine satellite SAOCOM 1A into orbit.
Source: Reuters
('You Might Also Like',)
