News: NASA ignored viable alternatives in its moon award, latest protest charges

Friday, April 30, 2021

NASA ignored viable alternatives in its moon award, latest protest charges

Apr 30, 2021

Quick Fix

— Pressure grows on NASA to rethink its decision to award SpaceX the only contract for a moon lander.

— A former senator is unanimously confirmed to run the space agency as it reports progress in the administration's first 100 days.

— A new space acquisition agency has a head start, but the bureaucracy threatens to slow it down, says a Pentagon veteran running a new tech institute.

WELCOME TO POLITICO SPACE, our must-read briefing on the policies and personalities shaping the new space age in Washington and beyond. Email us at bbender@politico.com with tips, pitches and feedback, and find us on Twitter at @bryandbender . And don't forget to check out POLITICO's astropolitics page for articles, Q&As, and more.

Space Spotlight

'CHANGES THE MINDSET': Can the Space Development Agency, the Pentagon's new acquisition arm, avoid the quicksand of the military's notoriously slow and cumbersome approach to weapons and technology development? Mark Lewis, who until January was acting deputy undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and now heads the new Emerging Technologies Institute at the National Defense Industrial Association, hopes so. But he sounds far from convinced.

"The Space Development Agency, really when all is said and done, is focused on delivering integrated, low-Earth orbit constellations," he tells us. That means "away from the large, high-altitude systems … to smaller, distributed systems. [That] changes the mindset, from expensive things that last a decade to less expensive things that maybe they last a couple of years, that get replenished, where you can lose elements of a constellation and not suffer the total loss of the capability of the system."

Lewis, who was previously the Air Force's chief scientist and the Pentagon's director of research and engineering, recalled that last year then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper asked him to do an assessment of how well the military was doing in accelerating new technologies.

"Space was doing about the best," he said. "As they mature, as they develop, what happens? I will be curious to see how the Space Development Agency fares. It is slated to become part of the Space Force. Their motto is Semper Citius, which is always faster. And I hope they can preserve that after they become part of the Space Force. It remains to be seen."

ICYMI: The hawkish Heritage Foundation published a Space Force blueprint this week recommending that at least some missions of another space organization with a reputation for agility — the National Reconnaissance Office — also be folded into the newest military branch. "Those that can be accomplished by a uniformed service, along with the on-orbit systems and select personnel that execute those missions, should be transferred to and consolidated under the command and control of the Space Force," it says.

On the Hill

'UNANIMOUS CONSENT': The Senate on Thursday confirmed by unanimous consent former Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida as the new NASA administrator just a week after the bipartisan love fest that was his confirmation hearing.

T+100: The Biden administration also released a scorecard of NASA achievements to mark 100 days in office and gave itself high marks. But as NASA Watch points out, some much-needed context is in order.

"For starters, the Mars Perseverance/Ingenuity mission left Earth for Mars before the election or the Inauguration," it notes. "The [Space Launch System] stuff was more or less a done deal as well. So ... the new Biden folks mostly kept the lights on and did not break anything."

In Orbit

'ABANDONED THE FUNDAMENTAL GROUND RULES': The battle for the chance to return astronauts to the lunar surface got ugly this week after design teams led by Blue Origin and Dynetics separately protested NASA's award to SpaceX for its Starship vehicle under the Human Landing System program. And it's more public than usual given the leading roles of tech titans Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin, and SpaceX's Elon Musk, who of course couldn't help but troll his nemesis after news of the protest.

But the losers are confident they have a strong case. Dynetics is arguing "competition was of the essence in the HLS program and the goal of returning to the lunar surface by 2024," according to its protest filed with the Government Accountability Office and obtained by POLITICO. "But after obtaining buy-in from its private partners on NASA's HLS strategy, and after having solicited and obtained the offerors' … proposals premised on its acquisition strategy of competition, NASA has now apparently abandoned the fundamental ground rules it had previously established for this program."

Blue Origin, which released its protest earlier in the week, and Dynetics have a laundry list of beefs with how NASA handled the selection process, including a series of allegations about how contracting officials misjudged the technical aspects of the competing proposals.

But both keyed in on NASA's justification that it doesn't anticipate having sufficient funding to live up to its end of the public-private partnership for two lander designs, which Dynetics' argues are constraints that "were imposed after the offerors had submitted their proposals." The space agency only got about 25 percent of the funding in fiscal 2021 for HLS than it requested ($850 million versus $3.4 billion).

"Basically it has turned into a sole-source program," a former NASA official intimately familiar with the project told us Thursday. Betting so much on the Starship is not without serious risk, as recent test failures have shown. (Musk even joked about it last week, remarking about upcoming tests: "If you've been watching videos, we've blown up a few of them, so excitement guaranteed, one way or another.")

Dynetics also insists NASA had other alternatives , including amending the solicitation to reflect the new strategy and budget, allowing the bidders to offer revised proposals, or it could have "withdrawn or cancelled the solicitation given its incompatibility with the severe budget constraints imposed on the HLS program," its complaint says.

"NASA's change of strategy cannot be reconciled with notions of order and fairness in this public-private partnership or with NASA's own stated goals for the HLS program," Dynetics concluded.

Congress also clearly has questions. "There has been very little communication from NASA to Congress on this decision," Rep. Robert Aderholt, a Republican from Alabama, where the Blue Origin team has a major presence, said in a statement Thursday, adding that "summaries of the two protests filed by the other teams are just now being shared."

"NASA had planned to announce a decision in February, but their delay of a couple of months meant the other two teams spent additional tens of millions of dollars of their own funds," he added. "I believe there are a lot of aspects of this program which my colleagues and I will want to discuss before there is any consensus on the best way ahead."

The lack of competition by foregoing two designs is clearly a concern within NASA as well. "Officials expressed concern that selecting a single contractor would result in a lack of redundancy and potentially higher, less sustainable future HLS costs due to a lack of competition," the agency's IG reported in an April 21 Artemis Status Update.

New round of competition? And NASA signaled anew on Thursday that it is well aware the political heat is rising around the program. It posted a new request for information "seeking industry feedback in advance of the development of NASA's Human Landing System."

"I think it was their preparation for how to respond to the political, you know, broad criticism they would have about not continuing competition," said another former NASA official.

So what about the moon plan? So far there seems to be wide agreement that the protests won't materially affect the 2024 timeline. That's for two reasons: SpaceX plans to go to the moon whether NASA does or not, so development of the Starship is expected to continue uninterrupted during the protest. Secondly, no one thinks the 2024 timeline is realistic anyway. If NASA has to go back to the drawing board, that's another matter.

Plus: With Starship, NASA is buying the Moon, but investing in Mars, via The Space Review.

'DISAPPOINTED': The Federal Communications Commission ruled this week that SpaceX can go ahead with its plans to operate an additional 2,800 satellites as part of its Starlink constellation at lower orbits, despite hundreds of filings, including from other satellite operators, who contend the move will cause electromagnetic interference, dramatically increase the chances of a collision, and risk environmental damage.

"We are pleased the Commission confirmed that Starlink satellites must be reliable and safe, and also recognized the need to assess the cumulative (aggregate) collision risk presented by the entire Starlink constellation," said John Janka, Viasat's chief government affairs and regulatory officer.

But he said the satellite communications company is "disappointed that the Commission failed to fulfill its statutory obligations" under the National Environmental Policy Act, accusing the agency of not following the Biden administration's "commitment to a science-based approach to protecting the atmosphere, the Earth's climate, space, the well-being of US citizens, and critical research that relies upon radio and optical astronomy."

White House

'THE SURGE IN PSEUDOSCIENCE': Another new nomination of note is Rick Spinrad, who has been picked to run the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has a substantial space portfolio, including the Space Weather Prediction Center.

Our compatriots at E&E News (recently acquired by POLITICO) had a nice run-down this week on Spinrad, who retired as the agency's chief scientist in 2016 and during his three-decade government career also did a stint as director of the ocean, atmosphere and space modeling and prediction division in the Office of Naval Research.

His biggest pet peeve? "The surge in pseudoscience," which he warned in a 2018 presentation has taken root in recent years both inside and outside government — what he called the "erosion of the ethos of science." But he's a big fan of "citizen science."

"The way forward? It starts with citizen scientists," he said. "Years ago, NASA said 'gee, all these desktop computers that are sitting idle all night, we could actually use them for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence by having them process all the data we've got.' That's a citizen science activity."

NOAA, an arm of the Commerce Department, has gone without a Senate-confirmed chief for four years.

In Memoriam

'A HERO JUST OUTSIDE THE SPOTLIGHT': The space world and beyond is mourning the passing this week of Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 astronaut who orbited the moon in the command module while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the surface. Fellow astronaut Pam Melroy, Biden's pick to be deputy NASA administrator, called him "a hero just outside the spotlight. We will continue Carrying the Fire, Mike."

Tom Ellis, a teaching fellow at the London School of Economics who studies space history, called Collins "someone whose post-space career was as impressive as his time as an astronaut," including running the National Air and Space Museum and serving as assistant secretary of state.

We first met Collins when we were 17. Looking back, there's no doubt the experience (along with meeting Scott Carpenter) had a gravitational pull toward where we are today.

Making Moves

Mary Lynne Dittmar, founder of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, is now executive vice president for government affairs of Axiom Space.

TRIVIA

Congrats to Matthew Brunstad-Good, an analyst at global consulting firm Teneo in New York, for being the first to correctly answer that the only one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts to walk on the moon was Alan Shepard. He was also the only one to play golf on the lunar surface.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: What was the first man-made object to travel through the Asteroid Belt and what was the first such object to exit our solar system?

The first person to email bbender@politico.com gets bragging rights and a shoutout in the next newsletter!

Reading Room

— China space station: Successful launch of Tianhe, the first module of planned space station: CNN

— 'It's time': Blue Origin teases ticket sales for its New Shepard rocket: The Verge

— Stratolaunch flies world's largest airplane on 2nd test flight: Space.com

— Northrop impresses investors with earnings, notes space successes: Aviation Week

— Space Symposium adopts hybrid live and virtual format: Space News

— Space is for everyone: Federal Aviation Administration

— WATCH: Building the world's most powerful rocket: Time

— U.S. Space Force scientist says military 'human augmentation' is necessary in next decade: Metro

— SpaceX's spacecraft just had a near collision with an unidentified object: Futurism

— Elon Musk's SNL trap: The Atlantic

Event Horizon

TODAY: The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation holds a nomination hearing for Eric Lander to be director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy at 10 a.m.

TODAY: The Center for Strategic and International Studies holds an event titled "The African Space Race" at 10 a.m.

TODAY: The Space Force Association holds a discussion with Emily Bohner of the Air Force Research Laboratory on space command and control at 2 p.m.

TODAY: The Washington Post convenes a conversation with Chief of Space Operations Gen. Jay Raymond at 3:30 p.m.

TUESDAY: The Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress releases a report on national security space at 10 a.m.

TUESDAY: The American Astronautical Society kicks off its virtual three-day Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium on "planetary stewardship."

WEDNESDAY: The House Armed Services Committee's Strategic Forces Subcommittee holds a hearing on "Creating a Framework for Rules Based Order in Space" at 3 p.m.

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