It’s been quite an eventful year for NASA’s Perseverance rover. The car-size robot and its little partner, the Ingenuity helicopter, launched toward the Red Planet one year ago today (July 30) and touched down inside the 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) Jezero Crater on Feb. 18. Six weeks after landing, Ingenuity deployed from Perseverance’s belly and began a monthlong technology-demonstrating flight campaign, …
Russia says ‘software failure’ caused thruster misfire at space station, ,
Yesterday’s unexpected tilting of the International Space Station was caused by a software glitch, according to Russian space agency Roscosmos. A new Russian module dubbed Nauka arrived at the space station Thursday morning (July 29). In development for more than a decade, Nauka is designed to host science experiments, anchor visiting vehicles and serve as a gateway for spacewalks. However, …
Watchdog denies Blue Origin’s challenge to NASA’s lunar lander program, Joey Roulette
Blue Origin’s protest against NASA’s decision to pick just one company to build the country’s first human lunar lander in decades was denied by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the watchdog agency said Friday, also denying a similar protest from Dynetics. The decision keeps Blue Origin’s rival, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the sole winner of NASA’s lucrative Moon lander program and …
Watchdog denies Blue Origin’s challenge to NASA’s lunar lander program, Joey Roulette
Blue Origin’s protest against NASA’s decision to pick just one company to build its first human lunar lander in decades was denied by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the watchdog agency said Friday, also denying a similar protest from Dynetics. The decision keeps Blue Origin’s rival, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the sole winner of NASA’s lucrative Moon lander program and hands …
The truth is still out there: why the current UFO craze may be a problem of intelligence failings, ,
This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. It’s safe to say that UFOs, now branded UAPs, are back. In recent years, concerns have grown that supposed physics-defying craft are penetrating US airspace. This could represent a technological breakthrough by foreign competitors or something else entirely. But many …
The special effects behind Loki’s doomed planet of Lamentis, Andrew Webster
Photo: Marvel Studios When special effects studio Digital Domain was approached by Marvel to work on an episode of Loki, there was one sequence in particular that was exciting: the chance to destroy an entire planet. The third episode of the series is set on the moon of a planet called Lamentis, which is about to collapse on itself, taking …
Watch NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity explore intriguing Raised Ridges in new video, ,
Watch NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity make its most high-flying journey yet. In a brand-new video, you can watch Ingenuity make its highest and most complex flight to date, which took the autonomous craft over an area known as Raised Ridges. During this trip, its 10th flight, Ingenuity covered a distance of 310 feet (95 meters) and soared to a record …
A three-pack of Google Nest Minis is only $64 at eBay right now, Brandon Widder
Like Amazon’s Echo Dot, the Google Nest Mini is a miniature take on the larger smart speakers that came before it. The compact device doesn’t boast the same sound quality as the Nest Audio, but it’s impressive for its size, especially when mounted to a wall or placed in a smaller room. What’s more, it packs backlit volume buttons and …
Tesla agrees to pay $1.5 million to settle battery throttling lawsuit, Andrew J. Hawkins
Tesla agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the company used a software update to reduce the maximum battery voltage for some of its Model S sedans, Reuters reports. The software update, which was released in 2019, resulted in slower charging speed and diminished range for around 1,743 vehicles, the plaintiffs alleged. As a result of the …
Massive Tesla battery on fire at renewable energy plant in Australia – CNET, Ty Pendlebury
ABC/Screenshot by Nick Hide/CNET A Tesla battery has burst into flames during testing at the site of the southern hemisphere’s largest battery project. A 13-metric-ton lithium battery caught fire on Friday at the renewable energy plant, called the Victorian Big Battery, near Geelong, about 50 miles from Melbourne. The blaze then spread to an adjacent battery bank, Australia’s ABC reports, …