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threelonmusketeers Mar 3

[Eric Berger] Former NASA chief turned ULA lobbyist seeks law to limit SpaceX funding

https://sh.itjust.works/post/56199902

[Eric Berger] Former NASA chief turned ULA lobbyist seeks law to limit SpaceX funding - sh.itjust.works

Lemmy

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burble Mar 4

I wish ULA was better than this.

If this succeeds, I think the best outcome would be for Rocket Lab and Relativity to split the rest.

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threelonmusketeers Mar 5

Seems like this might not happen at all, according to Eric Berger: x.com/SciGuySpace/status/2029254167471006033

The proposed language to cap NASA’s launch procurement at 50 percent from any one company has been dropped from the final NASA reauthorization bill.

Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) on X

The proposed language to cap NASA's launch procurement at 50 percent from any one company has been dropped from the final NASA reauthorization bill. I wrote about this issue on Monday: https://t.co/x4jDOwadVr

X (formerly Twitter)

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burble

Nice, I think that’s for the best.

Switching to NSSL style procurement or big picture quotas doesn’t seem like it makes sense for NASA. Planetary science doesn’t exactly use “reference orbits” like the defense missions, and NASA already diversifies their launchers on ISS crew and cargo. If anything, letting lunar landers and smallsats figure out their own rides and rideshares is more in line with a commercial market solution than what Bridenstine was paid to support.