Duffy didn\u2019t clarify what he means by opening up SpaceX\u2019s contract, in particular whether he envisions a new bidding process or clawing back funds the company would receive.<\/p>\n
A Nasa representative had no immediate comment beyond Duffy\u2019s remarks. A SpaceX spokesperson didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
SpaceX originally competed for its lunar lander contract and won over two other finalists in 2021. Nasa also awarded Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin a second contract to develop a lunar lander in 2023 worth $3.4 billion.<\/p>\n
SpaceX staged another mostly successful test of its Starship rocket earlier this month. But the company still must demonstrate and master many novel technologies between now and the moon landing \u2013 notably, the ability to refuel Starship while in orbit and launch the vehicle roughly a dozen times or more in a row. It\u2019s a daunting to-do list when SpaceX still has not completed a full orbital mission with Starship.<\/p>\n
Duffy said that opening up the SpaceX contract will ensure the US gets back to the moon before China. He said he anticipates Blue Origin getting involved in the new competition.<\/p>\n
Nasa plans to launch astronauts around the moon as early as next year, part of a mission known as Artemis II. The space agency\u2019s lunar landing with SpaceX\u2019s Starship is slated for 2027, but critics have doubted that the company\u2019s vehicle will be ready in time.<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Duffy didn\u2019t clarify what he means by opening up SpaceX\u2019s contract, in particular whether he envisions a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[24322,68254,8556,39789,1566,16492,17448,8456,22772,11556,8036,17444,3323,111,139,69,1523,68253,9527,147,7806,392,34603,1503,5147,61,14638,102],"class_list":["post-90816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-astronauts","tag-blowback","tag-companies","tag-compete","tag-contract","tag-delays","tag-elon","tag-fresh","tag-holds","tag-losing","tag-moon","tag-musks","tag-nasa","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-patience","tag-programme","tag-science","tag-sign","tag-space","tag-spacecraft","tag-spacex","tag-starship","tag-to","tag-wants","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}