Hello and welcome back to Max Q. Before we dive into this week's news, a brief note: I'll be experimenting with the newsletter over the coming weeks, trying out new segments and features, and I want to hear from you: What do you enjoy reading? What do you want more of? What bores you to tears? Shoot me an email with your feedback at [email protected]. You also can catch me on Twitter at @breadfrom.

In this issue:

• Elon Musk provides an update on Starship

• OneWeb says goodbye to Soyuz

• Another landing system for the moon

• ...plus a new segment -- read on.

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Companies will have another chance to compete to build a lunar lander for NASA

NASA will be giving another company a chance to send a lander to the moon. Nearly a year after the agency announced that SpaceX beat out competitors (including Blue Origin and Boeing) for the opportunity, the agency said it would be opening competition for a second lunar lander under a new contract called Sustaining Lunar Development.

NASA came under fire from both private industry and Congress when it selected SpaceX as its sole awardee for the Human Landing System (HLS) contract, the first contract for a lunar lander. Blue Origin went so far as to sue NASA in federal court. But this time around, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the agency was all about fostering competition.

“We think, and so does the Congress, that competition leads to better, more reliable outcomes and benefits everybody,” he said. “It benefits NASA, [it] benefits the American people. It is obvious, the benefits of competition.”

The agency will release a draft request for proposals at the end of the month, HLS program manager Lisa Watson-Morgan told reporters. That will be followed by a final request for proposals later in the spring, which will be open to all American companies besides SpaceX.

Artist's rendering of SpaceX's Starship and lunar lander. Image Credits: SpaceX