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Apple's latest 'For All Mankind' trailer explains the show's origins
Apple knows the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 is right around the corner, and it's using that as an opportunity to offer a new trailer sharing more about the origins of its alternate history Apple TV+ show For All Mankind. Co-creator Ron Moore, executive producer Maril Davis and advisor Michael Okuda note that they wanted to tap into the "optimistic future" the Apollo program (and the space race at large) promised. It's about tapping into that desire for humanity to "take its place in the universe," and celebrating an era when astronauts held an almost mythic status.
SpaceX blames Crew Dragon explosion on an oxidizer leak
Months after the incident, SpaceX has an explanation for why its Crew Dragon capsule was destroyed during a test. The private spaceflight firm has determined that a "leaking component" allowed liquid oxidizer (specifically nitrogen tetroxide) to enter high-pressure helium tubes during ground processing. When some of this oxidizer was sent through a helium check valve during the launch escape system startup, it reacted with the valve's titanium and triggered an explosion.
Europe's sat-nav network crippled by 'technical incident'
Europe's Galileo satellite network, freshly approved by the FCC for US smartphones, has suffered a serious outage. The system has been down since Friday due to what officials at the European GNSS Agency (GSA) have described as a "technical incident related to its ground infrastructure." That means users with newer smartphones that support Galileo will be relying on GPS, Russia's Glonass or the Chinese Beidou networks for navigation, instead.
Synthetic fiber 'muscles' could lead to brawny robots and prosthetics
Most attempts at giving robots muscles tend to be heavy, slow or both. Scientists might finally have a solution that's both light and nimble, though. They've developed fibers that can serve as artificial muscles for robots while remaining light, responsive and powerful. They bonded two polymers with very different thermal expansion rates (a cyclic copolymer elastomer and a thermoplastic polyethylene) that reacts with a strong pulling force when subjected to even slight changes in heat. They're so strong that just one fiber can lift up to 650 times its weight, and response times can be measured in milliseconds.
France is creating a space command to defend its satellites
The US isn't the only country that wants to create a dedicated space force within its military. French President Emmanuel Macron has greenlit plans to create a space command within his country's air force next September. The division would bolster defense of France's satellites, he said. Officials had yet to determine the scale of the investment.
NASA backs demo that will 3D-print spacecraft parts in orbit
NASA is expanding its efforts to bring 3D printing to space. The agency has given Made In Space a $73.3 million contract to demonstrate the ability to 3D-print spacecraft parts in orbit using Archinaut One (shown above), a robotic manufacturing ship due to launch in 2022 or later. The vessel will fly aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket and 3D-print two 32-foot beams on each side, with each unfurling two solar arrays. The completed arrays could produce up to five times more power than the solar panels you normally find on spacecraft this size, NASA said.
Watch India launch a historic Moon mission starting at 5PM ET (updated)
India is on the cusp of making space exploration history in more ways than one, and you might get to watch it first-hand. ISRO is livestreaming the launch of Chandrayaan-2, its second uncrewed mission to the Moon, starting at 5PM Eastern (liftoff is expected at 5:21PM Eastern). The trip is meant to deliver the VIkram lander and Pragyan rover to the Moon, making this India's first soft landing on the lunar surface using its own technology -- only the US, Russia and China have managed this feat so far. It's also the first soft landing attempt for any country at the Moon's South Pole, where Pragyan will study the chemistry, seismography and topography of the celestial body.
Russia launches X-ray telescope to find 'millions' of black holes
Russia is back in the business of space observation after losing control of a radio telescope a the start of 2019. The country has successfully launched Spektr-RG, an X-ray telescope co-developed with Germany's help. The vessel will take 100 days to reach its final destination of Lagrange Point 2, where it can conduct studies in stable conditions a million miles from Earth. When it gets there, though, it could significantly reshape human understanding of the universe.
Hitting the Books: Gravity's mystery may prove our multiverse exists
Welcome to Hitting the Books. With less than one in five Americans reading just for fun these days, we've done the hard work for you by scouring the internet for the most interesting, thought provoking books on science and technology we can find and delivering an easily digestible nugget of their stories.
The Morning After: That's what quantum entanglement looks like
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. The AMD vs. NVIDIA midrange GPU battle is heating up, Microsoft went back to the '80s and Nintendo introduced a Switch Lite. Oh, and some Amazon workers will strike on Prime Day. Welcome to your weekend.
NASA fights to keep the Voyager probes running after four decades
NASA's Voyager probes are still out there, exploring interstellar space 42 years after they left our planet. To keep them running all these years with generators that are 40 percent less powerful than they were decades ago -- and which are producing less and less energy over time -- the agency had to sacrifice some of their parts and components. In fact, the mission managers have recently switched off the heater for Voyager 2's cosmic ray subsystem instrument (CRS) as part of their new power management plan.
SpaceX’s Starhopper will undergo hover test next week
Next week will see the latest test of SpaceX's Starhopper spacecraft, the test vehicle for the Starship project which aims to create a resuable long-duration spacecraft for carrying passengers and cargo into space. SpaceX hopes to begin commercial launches using the Starship by 2021.
NASA's LEMUR robot escaped Death Valley in its last field test
While rovers like Curiosity are doing a bang-up job exploring extraterrestrial terrain, they don't have the capability to scale cliffs and other hard-to-reach places. That's a job best left to climbing robots like LEMUR, a technology developed by engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. JPL's engineers spent years refining the machine, which was originally conceived as a repair robot for the International Space Station. Now, the LEMUR (short for Limbed Excursion Mechanical Utility Robot) project has concluded, but not before JPL conducted a final field test in Death Valley, California.
The Morning After: Nintendo's Lite Switch
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. Nintendo reveals its next console, and we even have a peek at Samsung's next Galaxy Note. There's also a new update for Google's AI-powered Translate camera, and the last Windows 10 preview is testing a post-password lifestyle. It's Thursday.
Japan's Hayabusa2 probe successfully landed on an asteroid, again (updated)
Back in February, Japan's second asteroid-exploring spacecraft touched down on the asteroid Ryugu to collect samples that it will bring back to Earth. Tonight, Hayabusa2 is making its final sample collection attempt, where it will try to collect material that was exposed by a crater it created with explosives back in April. It will once again try to quickly land, fire a tantalum bullet into the asteroid's surface and grab some of the dust that gets kicked up -- all in about one second. Assuming all goes well, the plan is to eventually deploy the Minerva II2 rover, and then begin its year-long journey back to Earth around November or December.
Virgin Orbit's first rocket drop test was a success
Virgin Orbit's first rocket drop test has gone off without a hitch. The company's Boeing 747 launch aircraft (Cosmic Girl) successfully dropped a dummy LauncherOne rocket from its wing above the Mojave Desert, bringing it one step closer to launching real payloads into space. The focus after this is on launching a real rocket, according to Virgin -- and it might come soon.
Google recreates Apollo 11's command module with AR
The 50th anniversary of our first successful trip to the moon is fast approaching. And Google, which rarely shies away from marking a significant moment in history, has laid out some of the ways in which it'll celebrate the half-century since Apollo 11 reached the lunar surface.
Virgin Orbit preps the LauncherOne rocket for its first drop test
Virgin Orbit has gotten the thumbs up to conduct the LauncherOne system's first drop test, and it can happen "in the very near future." The Virgin Group's launch services company has successfully completed its final captive carry flight test, almost eight months after the first time its carrier aircraft Cosmic Girl flew with a 70-foot-long rocket strapped under its wing. Now that it's done with captive carry tests, the company is moving on to the next phase: air-dropping the LauncherOne rocket from an altitude of over 30,000 feet.
Mars crew could 3D-print skin and bones for injuries
A journey to Mars will take several months, and humans won't be able to turn back if an astronaut suffers a burn or a bone fracture. Which is why scientists at the University Hospital of Dresden Technical University have now produced the first bioprinted skin and bone samples for use in space. Even though treating patients with 3D-printed skin or bones is still in its early stages back on Earth, the technique is particularly vital in space, where the human body doesn't heal as quickly.
Virgin Galactic is going public to fund its expensive tourist spaceflights
Space tourism company Virgin Galactic has announced that it will go public via a merger with an investment firm. Its new partner, Social Capital Hedosophia (SCH), will invest $800 million in exchange for a 49 percent stake and take Virgin Galactic public later in 2019 -- a first for a spaceflight company.