FEMA gave a $156 million contract to a single-employee Georgia company (which had five previously-terminated government contracts) to provide 30 million meals for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, according to a report from The New York Times. The company only delivered 50,000 meals and the contract was canceled last October.
Why it matters: Risky contracts awarded in the earliest days after Maria, like Whitefish Energy, indicate that both the federal government and local entities in Puerto Rico simply weren't equipped for the scale of the disaster.
At least two people are dead and 144 more were injured after a powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake shook the eastern Taiwanese city of Hualien, located about 70 miles south of Taipei, per the AP. Multiple buildings, including a hotel with 30 people trapped inside, collapsed in the quake, per Reuters.
The details: The tremor, which hit at 11:50 p.m. about 12 miles off the island's east coast, is the latest in a string to strike Taiwan in recent days, including a 6.1 earthquake that took place nearby on Sunday.
SpaceX is attempting to launch a new, heavier rocket on Tuesday, with takeoff now scheduled for 3:45 pm ET. You can watch the attempt here.
Why it matters: The Falcon Heavy is designed to carry larger payloads, opening the door to more kinds of missions. "It's either going to be an exciting success or an exciting failure — one big boom," Elon Musk told reporters on Monday. Watch our preview video for more details.
New measurements of several Earth-like planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system — located about 39 light-years away — suggest they are rocky and that some could have atmospheres that would allow life to survive there, ScienceNews reports.
Why it matters: The studies (here and here) will help researchers to set priorities for the James Webb Space Telescope — the Hubble Space Telescope's successor scheduled to launch next year and search for life on planets around other stars.
