NASA announced in May it had selected three companies to develop and send robotic moon landers for lunar science investigations as part of the agency's commercial lunar payload services program. On Monday, NASA officials said one of those companies, Orbit Beyond, Inc., has asked to withdraw from the agreement due to time constraints.
NASA awarded a combined $253.5 million in contracts to Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and Orbit Beyond to build spacecraft to land on the moon with scientific instruments as part of the commercial program.
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Orbit Beyond, which operates out of Daytona Beach and Edison, New Jersey, planned to fly payloads on its Z-01 lander to the Mare Imbrium, a lava plain in one of the moon’s craters, by September 2020.
On Monday, NASA said in a statement that Orbit Beyond Inc. requested to be released from the task order agreement due to "internal corporate challenges that will prevent the timely completion of its awarded task order."
"NASA made a contract administration decision to comply with OBI’s request and, as a result, terminated the task order effective July 28, 2019 on terms mutually agreeable to both parties," the agency said in a statement. "Orbit Beyond remains a CLPS contract awardee and may be eligible to compete for future CLPS opportunities."
Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines were not affected by the decision, according to NASA.
While the first three companies selected to carry payloads to the Moon were announced in May, one of them, Orbit Beyond, Inc., has informed NASA that they will not be able to timely complete the awarded task order. (2/3) pic.twitter.com/a1JQxNjhcd
— Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ) July 29, 2019
The program is part of NASA's aggressive timeline to return humans to the moon by 2024 under the Artemis program, named for Apollo's sister.
The head of the NASA's Science Mission Directorate Thomas Zurbuchen acknowledged in a statement that this timeline may produce challenges for its commercial partners.
“We know that CLPS missions are going to be challenging for various reasons, and they may not always succeed,” Zurbuchen said. “We’re willing to accept some risk in order to get back to the moon quickly, with commercial partners, and do exciting science and technology development with broad applications.”