NASA has announced that it will reopen bidding for its flagship U.S. moon landing contract, citing mounting delays in Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship lunar lander project.
The decision clears the way for competitors such as Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to compete for the high-profile mission to return astronauts to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years.
NASA’s acting chief, Sean Duffy who also serves as U.S. Transportation Secretary told Fox News that the agency would “open the contract up,” saying, “I think we’ll see companies like Blue get involved, and maybe others.”
The decision follows months of internal pressure to accelerate the Artemis lunar programme and push SpaceX to make greater progress, especially as China advances towards its goal of sending humans to the Moon by 2030. The move marks a major shift in NASA’s lunar strategy, launching a new competitive phase for the crewed lander programme just two years before the scheduled mission.
Starship, initially selected in 2021 under a $4.4 billion contract, faces a 2027 landing deadline, one that NASA advisers fear could slip by several years due to competing priorities. While SpaceX’s vehicle is also central to Musk’s wider ambitions, including expanding the Starlink satellite network and future Mars missions, NASA has reportedly grown concerned about the lack of lunar-specific progress.
Duffy acknowledged SpaceX’s achievements but noted that the company is behind schedule, adding that President Donald Trump wants the mission completed before his term ends in January 2029. NASA has now asked both SpaceX and Blue Origin to submit accelerated moon landing plans by 29 October and is inviting proposals from other commercial space firms to increase the pace of lunar missions.
Blue Origin, which was awarded a separate $3 billion contract in 2023 for later Artemis missions, is expected to be a key contender. Lockheed Martin has also confirmed that it is analysing technical and programmatic options for human lunar landers in collaboration with other industry partners.
NASA’s Artemis programme aims to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon, with Artemis 2, a 10-day lunar flyby on track for early 2026 and Artemis 3 targeting a 2027 landing.
A peace agreement between Washington and Tehran is yet to materialise, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying that negotiations are incomplete and a...
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Monday it had authorised 32 vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, as Tehran and Wash...
Azerbaijan Railways (ADY) resumed passenger services between Baku and Tbilisi on 25 May, with the first train departing Baku Railway Station at 23:10...
Doctors working on the front lines of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo say attacks on treatment centres and fleeing patients are...
Russia has warned foreign nationals to leave Kyiv, saying it has launched a new wave of strikes targeting Ukraine’s defence industry and military co...
Doctors working on the front lines of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo say attacks on treatment centres and fleeing patients are hampering efforts to contain the virus.
Russia has warned foreign nationals to leave Kyiv, saying it has launched a new wave of strikes targeting Ukraine’s defence industry and military command infrastructure.
The UK is experiencing potentially record-breaking temperatures after forecasters confirmed some areas reached highs close to 34°C on Monday.
The World Health Organization warned on Monday that the fast-moving Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda was outpacing response efforts, with 220 suspected deaths reported so far.
The inaugural Enhanced Games began in Las Vegas on Sunday (24 May), launching one of the most controversial experiments in modern sport, in which athletes openly compete using performance-enhancing drugs banned under traditional anti-doping rules.
A peace agreement between Washington and Tehran is yet to materialise, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying that negotiations are incomplete and an Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman saying that a deal isn't imminent.
A "largely negotiated" memorandum of understanding on an Iran peace deal would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday, though the Iranian Fars news agency disputed that claim.
The World Health Organization warned on Monday that the fast-moving Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda was outpacing response efforts, with 220 suspected deaths reported so far.
Police fired tear gas and clashed with protesters in central Belgrade on Saturday, as tens of thousands gathered to demand early elections and an end to the more than decade-long rule of Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić.
China will send an astronaut to its space station on Sunday for a one-year mission, the longest duration for the country so far. The mission will help study long-duration human physiology in space as China works toward a crewed Moon landing by 2030.
Anxiety over artificial intelligence is hardening among young workers as executives promote faster adoption and companies point to automation in fresh job cuts.
Hackers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to detect software vulnerabilities, reducing the time organisations have to respond to cyber threats, Verizon said in its annual data breach report.
China has launched the world’s first experiment to study how artificial human embryos develop in space, marking a major step in understanding whether humans could one day reproduce beyond Earth.
Japanese filmmaker Koji Fukada has said that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to “jump straight to the result” risks undermining the purpose of art, which he believes should be rooted in self-expression and a deeper understanding of the world.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment