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Watch Boeing's Starliner attempt a landing starting at 6:45AM ET
Boeing's Starliner fell short of the main goal for its inaugural test flight, but the company and NASA are hoping to end the mission on a better note. They've committed to a landing attempt for the (currently uncrewed) capsule on December 22nd, with coverage starting on NASA TV (below) at 6:45AM Eastern. The deorbit burn is due to start at 7:23AM, while touchdown will take place at 7:57AM if all goes according to plan.
The Morning After: Motorola delayed the new RAZR
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. Welcome to your weekend! I'm probably the only one with any holiday shopping left to do, so there's no way this gift guide is still useful for anyone else, right? Either way, it's right there if you need it. Sure the plan was to have everything in-hand before today, but things don't always go according to plan -- just ask Motorola, Boeing and SpaceX. The newsletter will be an abbreviated schedule next week, but until then, you can check out some of last week's highlights plus a few new stories from Friday. --Richard
Boeing’s Starliner will not reach the ISS in its first test flight
Early this morning, Boeing launched the Starliner capsule for its first uncrewed test flight. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned and while the Starliner made it into orbit, it did not achieve the correct orbit.
Apple is reportedly working on using satellites to send data to its devices
It's something of a long shot, but the iPhone could one day connect to its own satellite network. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple has a "secret team" working on new satellite and wireless data technologies. This group consists of "about a dozen" software and hardware engineers who specialize in aerospace, satellite and antenna design, as well as a number of executives from those same fields. In particular, the team is led by two former Google executives who worked at a satellite observation startup called Skybox Imaging before it was acquired by the search giant in 2014 for $500 million.
Watch Boeing's Starliner test launch at 6:36AM ET
Last year around this time we talked about all of the delays going into the new space race between SpaceX and Boeing, who are competing to build a new spaceflight system that NASA can use to take astronauts to the ISS. Since then, SpaceX successfully sent its Crew Dragon on an uncrewed test flight in March, and this morning Boeing will attempt to do the same with its CST-100 Starliner vehicle. The two companies were chosen as candidates to build NASA's "space taxi" in the Commercial Crew Program back in 2012, with the chance to secure billions in funding. Despite a number of delays, today appears to be the day we'll see the CST-100 in action on a mission to perform a number of test maneuvers and show its ability to dock with the ISS. Like SpaceX's flight, this mission is uncrewed, however the anthropometric test device "Rosie" will be along for the ride to collect data.
The Morning After: 'The Rise of Skywalker' reviews are in
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. The final chapter of the third Star Wars trilogy is out, and Devindra has thoughts on it. Mat (me) also has feels about avoiding The Rise of Skywalker spoilers across Twitter, work Slack channels and inadvertent WhatsApp messages. Devindra's review is spoiler-free, but I'm steering clear for now. The jury remains out on what entails a decent amount of time between a movie premiere and when one is (digitally) allowed to discuss that iconic part or twist, whether all the Marvel female superheroes charged on Thanos or when Stark family member X died in season X of Game of Thrones. Don't even mention The Good Place surprise that got half-spoiled for me a few years back. I'll probably see The Rise of Skywalker this weekend if I can convince the uninterested SO to endure it. Two weeks after release is fair game for post-match analysis, I think. More enthused film fans, franchise stans and angry internet people seem to whittle it down the opening week. Barring an entire digital lock-down and hiding in your garage till you see the thing, how do you avoid spoilers? All tips will be gratefully received. - Mat
NASA's Mars 2020 rover passes its driving test
The Mars 2020 rover has completed its first drive almost half a year after getting its wheels. Rich Rieber, the project's lead mobility systems engineer, says the rover has "earned its driver's license." According to NASA JPL's announcement, it successfully steered, turned and drove in 3-foot increments over small ramps covered with special static-control mats. The rover's first drive happened during a 10-hour marathon, which demonstrated that all its systems were working well.
Google AI tool helps conservationists (and the public) track wildlife
Google is quickly putting its wildlife-spotting AI to good use. The internet giant has launched a Wildlife Insights tool that helps conservationists track wildlife by not only parsing their photos, but sharing them in a searchable public website. The AI automatically tosses out photos that are highly unlikely to include animals and tries to label the animals it does spot, dramatically speeding up a laborious task. That, in turn, helps researchers track animal populations as they're affected by climate change and direct human intrusion.
SpaceX tried to catch both halves of a Falcon 9 nose cone (updated)
Later today, in what will likely be its last mission of 2019, SpaceX will attempt to recover the entire nose cone section of one of its Falcon 9 rockets. If successful and the rocket itself is able to land on SpaceX's recovery ship, it'll mark the first time the company has caught both pieces following a single launch.
The Morning After: Does the Mac Pro cost too much?
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. Welcome to your weekend! On the Engadget Podcast we're discussing Apple's pricey new Mac Pro, while separately Porsche showed off its idea for a Star Wars ship. Story highlights from last week included Elon Musk's Cybertruck tour of LA, the Xbox Series X and NASA's most powerful rocket yet. Also, our holiday gift guide is ready and waiting whether you're the one who needs some ideas or if you're making sure someone else gets you the right present this year.
The Morning After: Meet Microsoft's PC-like Xbox Series X
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. Last night, The Game Awards was a showcase for industry stars and served as an unveiling for Microsoft's next Xbox... box. Also, Alexa can get answers from Samuel L. Jackson, and AT&T's 5G wireless service is available in a few cities.
NASA finds 'water ice' just below the surface of Mars
To explore the solar system beyond our planet, one important factor is the ability to locate water which can be used for drinking and for creating rocket fuel. To assist in the hunt for water on neighboring Mars, NASA has released a "treasure map" of potential ice locations on the red planet.
The Morning After: Apple's $52,599 Mac Pro
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. This morning, we're still playing around with possible Mac Pro configurations and considering what might be necessary to pay for them. Google's discounted Titan security keys are a cheaper option, but you'll have to move quickly before they sell out completely. In other news, NASA showed off a huge rocket, and Walmart is testing autonomous grocery deliveries.
NASA unveils 'the most powerful rocket ever built'
NASA's Space Launch System, or SLS, aims to carry astronauts to the moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis project. This weekend at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine gave the public its first up-close look at the system, which he described as "the most powerful rocket ever built."
NASA hopes OSIRIS-REx data will explain an asteroid's mini-eruptions
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft made a startling discovery shortly after arriving at its target, a 1614-foot-wide rock called Bennu: the asteroid was ejecting particles from its surface. While that's common behavior on icy comets, it's much rarer on asteroids. The phenomenon has stumped scientists, but NASA has now offered a few explanations based on observations by OSIRIS-REx and hopes that a sample collected next year will offer a more definitive answer.
Study says climate change is starving the oceans of oxygen
The effect of climate change on oceans is likely more extensive than you think. A study from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) indicated that climate change and the ensuing hotter water reduced the amount of oxygen dissolved into oceans by 2 percent between 1960 and 2010. While that may seem like only a modest amount, oxygen levels in some tropical regions dropped by up to 40 percent. Moreover, scientists warned that even a slight dip could be particularly troublesome for big, energy-dependent fish like marlin, sharks and tuna. Lower oxygen levels drive them to shallower water, putting them at greater risk of overfishing.
Recommended Reading: A year later, the CRISPR babies are still a mystery
Why the paper on the CRISPR babies stayed secret for so long Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review A year has passed since Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui presented work on editing the DNA of two girls while they were still embryos. Ethical issues with his actions abound, and even after all this time, there's still missing details on exactly what did/didn't happen. MIT Technology Review has several pieces on the story this week. Those include unpublished portions of the research manuscript and an explanation of why it hasn't been published by either of the two influential scientific journals He sent it to.
NASA's closest-ever Sun flybys reveal how solar wind works
As promised, NASA has presented the first results from the Parker Solar Probe -- and they're already providing a treasure trove of insights regarding the Sun. Most notably, the solar wind doesn't behave entirely like scientists expected. There are flips in the Sun's magnetic field direction (nicknamed "switchbacks") that manifest in the solar wind inside Mercury's orbit, but not further. Moreover, the sideways movement of the solar wind near the Sun was not only "much stronger" than expected, but straightened out sooner than predicted as well.
X-ray lasers can spot elusive electron motion
Scientists can track the movements of an atom's nucleus relatively easily, but electrons have proven elusive -- they move so fast that they tend to be reduced to blurs. Now, however, those movements could be crystal clear. Researchers at the SLAC National Accelerator Lab have developed a technique, X-ray laser-enhanced attosecond pulse generation (XLEAP), that can observe even the fastest motions of electrons. The laser pulses at just 280 attoseconds, or billionths of a billionth of a second, and can create snapshots of electrons to track their progress. The trick was to modify the laser in a way that squeezed electrons into tighter groups, making for shorter X-ray bursts.
NASA set to reveal findings from its Parker Solar Probe tomorrow
NASA is ready to present its first findings from the Parker Solar Probe mission and will reveal what it has discovered to the public on December 4th. The probe flew closer to the sun -- three times -- than any other spacecraft before it over the past year, collecting data as it went along using four science instruments. Shortly after it launched, its team members discovered that the probe is capable of a higher downlink rate than they thought. They used that capability to their advantage and retrieved a lot more data from its first two flybys than they expected to get.