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NASA wants to reopen competition on its moon lander, a multi-billion-dollar contract for a new space vehicle that will help support one of Americas most ambitious missions yet: going back to the moon — and for good. The space agencys decision to reopen the contract for the Artemis mission moon lander renews competition between SpaceX, which had previously won the award, and Blue Origin, Jeff Bezoss space startup. But it also sets off a competition between Texas and Washington, the two companies respective home states. Politicians long fought over American space spending, as Fast Company explained a while back. But its not clear where they stand, at least for now. Several congressional offices that would be impacted by the space agency opening up the contract did not respond to a request for comment, including the office of Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn (the Texas delegation), as well as the Republican and Democratic sides of the Commerce Committee, whose portfolio includes space issues. A spokesperson for Rep. Vincente Gonzalez, the congressman who represents Starbase, Texas where SpaceX is testing its heavy launch vehicle Starship didnt respond to a request for comment. The office of Sen. Maria Cantwell, who represents Washington and frequently touts Blue Origin, also did not respond. Congressional delegations have previously advocated for Artemis contracts to come to their states. Back when SpaceX first won the lunar lander contract, Cantwell pushed for NASA to give a second company a lunar contract, including through legislation. Even amid doubts with SpaceX, Cruz, who represents SpaceX homestate Texas, has said its too late for the U.S. to leave Starship behind. The size of a small building, Starship is the platform that Elon Musk thinks will bring humanity to Mars. Its also the vehicle that, for several years, NASA has been planning to use for an earlier phase of the Artemis program. (The Artemis 3 mission that SpaceX is supposed to work on, currently scheduled for late 2027, will involve a weekslong stay on the lunar surface, though NASA has ambitions for returning to the moon in later years, including to build a lunar base camp). The challenge is that Starship a key part of this plan has suffered failures during several recent test flights. And now, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is complaining that SpaceX is behind schedule. A NASA panel said as much in September. Blue Origin still has a lot catching up to do. The company has yet to build a similarly large low Earth orbit satellite network, or to send manned space missions into orbit. (The company has accomplished suborbital flights). But Blue Origin has also won lunar lander work from NASA for the Artemis V mission, a later phase of the new moon program. In the past, NASA has expressed interest in maintaining at least two options in order to ensure a regular cadence of Moon landings, a NASA official said when the government announced an award for Blue Origins lunar platform, which the company calls Blue Moon. Theres also Lockheed Martin, which might also put its hat in the ring. Of course, its unclear what might be going on between policymakers privately, or whether the rift between Elon Musk and the Trump administration has settled. Another factor is growing concern that the U.S. is falling behind China on lunar ambitions. Secretary Duffy has also said that Trump wants some kind of lunar accomplishment before he leaves office. In the meantime, much of NASA is closed because of the government shutdown.
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E-Commerce
After Zohran Mamdani’s campaign aired a commercial that used a Knicks-style campaign logo that wrote out “Zohran” over an image of a basketball, the NBA team asked them to take it down. The Mamdani ad, which aired during the New York Knicks’s opening game last week, shows black-and-white footage of a pick-up basketball game in a park as the narrator says “New York, this is our year.” There’s shots of Mamdani campaigning interspersed with the pick-up game, and the narrator says “Things can be different. Hope is back,” before the Knicks-style logo flashes on the screen over the sound of drums. [Images: New York Knicks, Zohran for NYC] The Knicks, whose owner donated last year to Mayor Eric Adams, weren’t happy with the knock-off logo and sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Mamdani campaign asking them to knock it off, according to The New York Post, which first reported the letter. The campaign says it will comply and pulled the ads on Friday. The Mamdani campaign said it was adjusting the ad, and “while the Knicks might not be able to publicly support our campaign, were proud to publicly support our NY Knicks,” campaign spokesperson Dora Pekec said in a statement. But it’s not the first campaign to lean on the visual tropes of beloved brand to attempt to say something about hometown pride or a candidate’s values in a single image. Before Mamdani’s Knicks logo, there’s been a history of branding knock-offs In 2022, Tim Short, a Republican state legislative candidate used a logo designed to look like the Fox News logo, searchlights and all, but the searchlights were later taken off without explanation. That same year, Matt Jenkins, a Democrat and U.S. House candidate in New Jersey, was hit with a cease-and-desist letter from Wawa, after the convenience store chain noticed the similarities between the bird in his campaign’s logo and theirs. Jenkins said in a social media post at the time that the design was intentional. “For a lot of people in our district, Wawa represents them. When we launched this race to replace Chris Smith, I wanted our logo to feel instantly familiar,” he wrote. And that’s what these knock-off logos are meant to signal. By leaning on a familiar logo, they visually convey that a candidate is “one of us,” as if to say, this candidate is a Knicks/Fox News/Wawa/[enter brand name here] fan, just like you. [Images: Cambell’s, Campbell for Congress] Visual parody doesn’t equal a winning brand Brands, though, are quick to distance themselves. After a U.S. House candidate in Michigan with the last name Campbell refused to comply with a cease-and-desist letter from the Campbell’s Company over the candidate’s logo designed like one of its soup cans, the company filed suit this month. Claiming her actions “are not innocent parody but are designed to capitalize on Campbells iconic brand and associate one of the countrys most famous and enduring brands with her political campaign,” the company said her rip-off logo confused customers. While campaigns can’t use knock-off logos without inviting potential legal action, that doesn’t mean some won’t try. By designing logos based on popular brands, campaigns hope some of that brand magic will rub off at the ballot box. But would-be copycats, take note: While Mamdani, with his own distinctive campaign logo may well be an exception, other recent candidates who’ve used major brand logos haven’t fared well. In Georgia, Short’s short-lived Fox News logo didn’t help him win the Republican primary. Jenkins rebranded to a bird-less logo and lost. Sometimes it’s better to come up with your own idea.
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E-Commerce
Most climate reports are bleak. Temperatures are soaring. Sea levels are rising. Companies are missingor abandoningtheir emissions targets. But a new report from the nonprofit Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit looks at the surprising amount of progress thats happened since the Paris climate agreement 10 years ago. Renewable energy has grown faster than every major forecast predicted in 2015. Theres now four times as much solar power as the International Energy Agency expected 10 years ago. Last year alone, the world installed 553 gigawatts of solar powerroughly as much as 100 million U.S. homes usewhich is 1,500% more than the IEA had projected. Investors are now pouring twice as much into renewables as into fossil fuels. One out of every five new cars sold is now an EV; a decade ago, that was one in 100. Even if growth flatlined now, the world is on track to reach 100 million EVs by 2028. Dozens of countries have net zero goals that are legally mandated, and comprehensive climate laws. Out of the worlds largest 2,000 companies, nearly 1,300 now have net zero goals in place. Ten years ago, the world was on track to hit a catastrophic 4 degrees of global warming by the end of the century. Now, projections have dropped to 2.6 degreesnot nearly enough, but a major step in the right direction. Typical climate reports, like the U.N.s Emissions Gap Report, focus on how far off track the world is. They say the same thing every time, basically: that were not doing enough, says John Lang, net zero tracker lead at the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit. Thats one side of the coin. The other side of the coin is that we have made unbelievable progress, and weve laid the foundations for structural, sustained emissions declines over the next few decades. Ten years ago, projections about the growth of renewable energy were wrong in part because modelers underestimated how the scale of manufacturing in China could help drive costs down. Solar is now 66% cheaper than it was just a decade ago. In 2024, the cost of lithium-ion batteries fell by 20% in a single year. Globally, 91% of renewable energy projects are cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives. There are obvious challenges now, particularly the Trump administrations anti-climate push and supply chain bottlenecks from increased protectionism. Still, the markets more powerful than a man, Lang says. Renewable energy will continue to grow. In China, emissions have been dropping since March of last year. China is also exporting clean energy technology to other countries. In the U.S., 19 states representing half of the countrys GDP still have net zero targets in place. The story since 2015 is essentially around innovation, and through constraints, we’re going to see more innovation, he says. So despite the protectionism, I don’t see this unstoppable momentum slowing down. The world still has a very long way to go. The planet has already heated up by 1.3 degrees Celsius, and were seeing the catastrophic impacts, from more severe hurricanes and wildfires to dying coral reefs. Theres little chance that we can avoid heating up more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, one of the goals of the Paris agreement. But every tenth of a degree of warming matters, and theres still time to change the trajectory. This decade was always going to be about laying foundations, says Lang. It’s not as quick as the IPCC would like us to go. But the reality is that this is hard. I always think of Emmanuel Kants quote, From the crooked timber of humanity, nothing straight has ever been made. This is difficult stuff politically and culturally, and it is the biggest energy transition that humans may ever go through.
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E-Commerce
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