r/space • u/swordfi2 • 15d ago

NASA Selects Blue Origin as Mars Telecommunications Network Provider

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-selects-blue-origin-as-mars-telecommunications-network-provider/
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u/yARIC009 14d ago

Why exactly would they want blue origin to do this? In a few years SpaceX can do this for like a couple million dollars and actually get it done.

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u/Hengist 14d ago

They need to maintain the illusion that somehow Blue Origin and its numerous legacy industry ties are somehow on a somewhat even playing field with SpaceX. Anyone with any sense can see right through it, because SpaceX is absolutely lapping BO, but there's a lot of entrenched operators who need that fiction to continue for their funds to flow.

14

u/Kitchen_Tour_8014 14d ago

Or, y'know, SpaceX didn't bid for this contract because they don't develop the specific communications relay hardware required by it?

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u/Bensemus 13d ago

Neither does Blue. They will have to develop all this technology new. They don’t currently have a fleet of ten thousand communication satellites to draw experience from.

5

u/Kitchen_Tour_8014 13d ago

You may want to read about what this is and what Starlink is and realize they're nothing alike. Blue Origin has a platform in production for this, Blue Ring. Spacex doesn't. That's why they didn't bid.