NASA
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has opened a criminal investigation into a former top NASA official, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The grand jury’s investigation concerns communications between Doug Loverro, then NASA’s chief of human spaceflight, and Jim Chilton, former vice president of Boeing’s space and space division. These talks took place earlier this year, during a blackout period when NASA took bids to construct a Human Landing System for the Artemis Moon program. It is not allowed to interfere with a competition for government contracts.
“Mr. Loverro, who was not part of NASA’s official contractors, informed Mr.Chilton that the Chicago space giant was about to be eliminated from the competition based on cost and technical evaluations,” it states. report, citing unidentified sources. “Within days, Boeing has submitted a revised proposal.”
Loverro was fired from NASA in mid-May, a few weeks after NASA awarded three Human Landing Systems contracts: $ 579 million to a team led by Blue Origin, $ 253 million to Dynetics, and $ 135 million to SpaceX. Boeing and one other bidder did not receive any awards.
While this news story brings new information about the criminal investigation, it does not provide much extra detail beyond the broad scope of what was already known after Loverro resigned in May 2020. Some important questions remain.
One is whether Loverro acted on his own manpower – or if he at least had the silent approval of NASA Director Jim Bridenstine in reaching Boeing. Several sources have said that Loverro is indeed acting on its own initiative, but this fact will probably not be known until NASA’s Inspector General completes an investigation in the case. That investigation began earlier this year.
Another question is what Loverro’s motivations were. If he found he had kickbacks, Loverro might get jail time. But this does not seem to have been anything. After all, several sources told Ars that Loverro believed that Boeing’s proposal to launch an integrated landing system on a space launch system after the moon represented the most targeted approach to landing humans on the moon by 2024. Therefore, he wanted it to company submitted a competitive bid.
Finally, there is the question of what this means for the Artemis program. For the next fiscal year, the White House asked for $ 3.37 billion to accelerate the lander’s development to meet the 2024 target. However, the proposed budget of the US House provides only $ 628.2 million for the landlord. A final budget could come later this year, following negotiations over House and House of Representatives.
Concerns about the ongoing investigation into Boeing and Loverro may, however, increase Congress’s desire to delay funding for the Artemis program and specifically the lander.
