Don't they have people for this?

Not to be a bummer, but I think whatever vestige of final frontier-y, American into the beyond-ness spirit that carried the first astronauts to the moon officially died the moment NASA shrugged it's shoulder and said: "We're open to suggestions..."

"Any ideas? We're flailing here, nothing is too off the wall."

-NASA, evidently

We still own it, right?

Yup, NASA is accepting designs for new landers that will take astronauts from a new lunar space station to the moon and-Yeah, I guess we suddenly care about the Moon again because according to the space agency, the first winning design will be schlepping passengers to the surface of the moon as soon as 2024 which-will it though? I'm not usually a cynic, but what I want to-huh? No I'm not...am I? Holy shit, I am. But in my defense, the last moon landing was in 1972.

Now the space race is about which quirky billionaire's space ark will carry rich earthlings to Mars before the Earth is rendered uninhabitable. Ironically by some of the very same rich people who will be slipping its surly bonds.

"Hey, hey, I didn't technically ruin the planet, just America's retail
sector.  But yes, I will be fleeing Earth at the first opportunity."

-Jeff Bezos, whose net worth would solve 

a lot of our problems so, let's get'em!

"Are you an established aerospace company
or a start up engineering firm with funding?
No? Then put the markers away Megan."

-NASA, being kind of mean 

to poor Megan here  

Anyway, NASA's deadline for submissions is November 1st, but don't get out the slide rules and graph paper just yet unless you're, you know, Boeing or Tesla. Yeah, this contest is open to the private sector, but to aerospace and tech companies. And if four years sounds super-quick to put together a lunar lander, that's because it is. Super, unprecedentedly, maybe even recklessly quick. According to NASA, they've listened to private sector feedback and "removed requirements that industry perceived as barriers to speed while preserving all the agency's human safety measures." Which...uh...cool?

So aerospace companies felt that NASA's rules were making it difficult or...what's the industry term? Expensive? For them to develop equipment and vehicles so NASA helpfully cut back on its rules. But you know, preserved all the safety measures? Somehow?

Yeah, but these guys made it back ok, so what's the big deal?

Pictured: two businesspeople laughing,
probably because they just denied a medical
claim or foreclosed on someone's house.

Sort of like how the pork industry recently-huh? Yeah, the pork industry. Trust me, these things are related. So the USDA, the government agency that makes sure we don't all get trichinosis, announced that they're reducing the number of meat inspectors required by law and allowing businesses to self-regulate. Which is weird because it sort of assumes that businesses in America are benevolent enterprises designed to improve the quietly of life for all instead of amoral, profit-driven automatons whose only loyalty is to shareholder interests.

"Mein Gott, you start a couple of world
wars and you never hear the end of it..."

-Angela Merkel, sick of it

And look, I'm not putting on a Guy Fawkes mask and running out to occupy something. I know that that's how businesses work. I don't like it, but I understand it. But unfettered capitalism has a way of concentrating all the wealth in the hands of a few while everyone else is left broke and starving and working at Amazon distribution centers. Then we're left with no choice by to either grab the pitchforks, or wait for Germany to start a world war. And my vote is for pitchforks, but we could avoid the whole thing with some sensible regulations.

I'm not an expert on space exploration or business, but I am familiar with the Project Management Triangle which basically holds that you've got good, fast and cheap but you can only pick two. And when we're talking about a thin metal shell that stands between astronauts and the cold, radiation soaked vacuum of space fast and cheap aren't the two I'd want. But they are what say Tesla or Boeing will pick. Every time.

"So what if we make the entire lander out of the
stuff they make the black boxes out of on airplanes?"

-Elon Musk, the guy that shot 

a Tesla at Mars for reasons