commercial

NASA just passed a milestone with the X-59. What comes next aims to change commercial aviation

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Commercial aviation has been pursuing a difficult promise for decades: flying faster than sound without making that progress a problem for those on the ground. The obstacle is not only the speed, but the shock waves that generates a supersonic aircraft and that can be perceived as a sonic boom. He X-59 was born to test an alternative: reaching those speeds with an acoustic signature that NASA hopes will be much more discreet. NASA is not yet talking about commercial routes, but it is about a step designed to address one of the great barriers to this type of flights. The most recent advance came last Friday, when the X-59 exceeded the speed of sound for the first time during a test flight within the Quesst mission. According to NASApilot Jim “Clue” Less took off and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on an 81-minute mission. The plane reached an approximate maximum speed of Mach 1.1, which the agency places in this flight at about 1,150 km/h, at an altitude of about 13,200 meters. It was an important milestone, but still within a testing phase focused on testing its flight qualities. The test of the most discreet supersonic flight enters its decisive phase The important thing, therefore, will not only be what happens inside the plane, but what is heard from below. Quesst is designed to demonstrate a technology capable of softening this phenomenon until it becomes a lighter sound knock. The next part of the plan involves flying over American communities and collecting the reaction of people exposed to that sound. The agency will then share those results with national and international regulators to inform future data-driven noise standards. That is why the first supersonic flight is not an arrival point, but rather the beginning of a more demanding phase. The next step will come in the following days: a first test in “mission conditions”, with a cruising speed of Mach 1.4, which NASA places around 1,490 km/hand an altitude of about 16,800 meters. The data matters because these are the basic conditions that the agency contemplates for future flights over inhabited areas in the United States. Before asking people what they have heard, the aircraft has to demonstrate that it can operate stably in that regime. Behind the X-59 there is not just a striking shape or an isolated commitment to recover supersonic flight. NASA remembers who has been studying this field for more than seven decades, with special attention to the noise associated with these flights and ways to make it more discreet. The Quesst mission combines advanced simulations, wind tunnel testing, schlieren photography and computational fluid dynamics to anticipate how the air around the aircraft behaves. The current phase has to verify something very specific: whether this entire design works in flight with a full-scale supersonic aircraft. The ultimate goal is not for the X-59 to end up transporting passengers, but for its data to help open a door that has been practically closed for decades. The information collected will be shared with national and international regulators to contribute to news noise standards based on data, not just the historical experience of the large noises associated with supersonic flight. The agency also plans to provide design tools and technology for future quieter supersonic aircraft. If the plan works, manufacturers would have more confidence to explore commercial concepts capable of flying fast without disturbing the ground as much. As we can see, the X-59 has crossed an important line, but the Quesst mission still has its most relevant tests ahead. First you will have to get closer to the conditions planned for these test flights over inhabited areas, and then you will come to the verification that really matters for the future of the program: knowing if that sound shock is acceptable. A good part of the value of NASA data will be played there. Images | POT In Xataka | Airbus has just made the most autonomous commercial aircraft in the world fly. Your goal: 22 hours straight without a stopover

Airbus had a single center in the world to convert commercial aircraft into military tankers. Now another one will open in Seville

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Airbus has chosen Seville to install its second global conversion center for the A330 MRTT, the best-selling tanker and military transport aircraft on the market outside the United States. The San Pablo plant will thus become the twin of the Getafe plant, until now the only one in the world capable of transforming A330 commercial aircraft into its multirole military version. We made the announcement during the opening of the ADM Sevilla 2026 fair and the facilities are expected to be operational at the end of 2027. Why it matters. The A330 MRTT is experiencing a sweet moment, as it accumulates some 91 orders from 19 countries and controls 90% of the world market share, excluding the United States. The war in ukrainethe escalation of military spending in Europe and the growing need for tanker aircraft to extend the air forces’ operating margin have triggered demand for a model that until now was assembled at a rate limited by its single-plant capacity. Add Seville will allow you to go from five to seven annual conversions and thus take some work off the Getafe plant. In detail. The conversion process is usually a rather complex task for European aerospace engineering. Civilian A330s leave the Toulouse chain and they are transferred to the conversion center, where for about nine months military systems, in-flight refueling equipment, specific avionics, communications and interior configurations adapted to each client are integrated, until they are ready for aerial refueling missions, troop transport, strategic cargo or medical evacuations. The plant in Seville will also assume maintenance, repair and modernization (MRO) tasks for aircraft already in service. Airbus will take advantage of the current hangars in San Pablo and optimize them to work with two aircraft at a time, imitating Getafe’s way of workingwhere usually one is converted while the other receives maintenance tasks. Figures. The new line will generate around 200 direct jobswhich will be added to the 2,000 professionals already working in São Paulo, and about 600 additional positions in the auxiliary industry. In Andalusia, Airbus is responsible for around 3,500 people between the San Pablo, Tablada (Seville) and Cádiz plants, and more than 14,000 throughout Spain. Why Seville. The president of Airbus in Spain, Francisco Javier Sánchez Segura, pointed ABC that the reasons were based above all on the technical knowledge accumulated in the A400M and C295 programs, the existing infrastructure (San Pablo is the only Airbus factory with two final assembly lines) and the operational proximity with Getafe, which will act as strategic coordinator of the entire program. A technological leap. Until now, Airbus Defense and Space’s activity in Seville revolved around the assembly and maintenance of the A400M and the C295, both military transport aircraft. Sanchez Segura underlined The Seville center will replicate the cutting-edge technologies developed in Getafe, including the intensive use of augmented reality applied to the assembly and inspection of systems. Andalusia, in the focus of aviation. For the Junta de Andalucía, the announcement fits into its strategy to place the community in one of the three most important European points, along with Toulouse and Hamburg. The acting Minister of Industry, Jorge Paradela, recalled that the region already has several important investments, such as the arrival of the Swiss company Pilatus to manufacture private and military training aircraft, and the Ryanair projectvalued at 500 million euros, to internalize the repair of aeronautical engines in Andalusia, with 600 direct jobs planned. The acting Minister of Economy, Carolina España, rated the Airbus announcement is “magnificent news”, also highlighting that exports from the Andalusian aerospace sector have grown by 86% so far in 2026. The other side. The ADM Seville fair, where the advertisement was presented, also attracted protests. The STOP Arms Fair Platform, which brings together social groups, unions, environmentalists and pacifists, gathered at the gates of FIBES to denounce “the institutional support” for the defense industry and the presence of companies that, according to these organizations, have links to human rights violations in armed conflicts such as the one in Gaza. What’s coming now. Airbus has about two years of works, personnel training and technological adaptation ahead before San Pablo delivers its first converted aircraft. If the planned pace is met, Seville and Getafe will end up operating in a coordinated manner to satisfy a larger customer base in a context that does not seem to be going to let up. According to Sánchez SeguraAerópolis depends on around 70% of Airbus’ workload, and this for the Seville plant means consolidating in a field that until now was foreign to it. Cover image | Air and Space Army In Xataka | The war in Iran is doing something that not even Ryanair imagined: making 20 euro flights a relic of the past

They have the first brain implant ready for commercial use

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With the data centersthe astronomical investment in artificial intelligence and plans for robotize factoriesthe most dystopian technological conversation has left out an important player: the cyborgs. If a few years ago the bells began to ring about the brain chipssoon fell into the background. He Neuralink Elon Musk moved on, but the rest of the world seemed to have forgotten. The rest of the world… except China, which already approves commercial implants. It’s the result of making brain chips a national priority. In short. There are several Chinese companies making significant progress in this field. NeuroXess, BrainCo -one of the “six little chinese dragons”- or NeuCyber ​​are two of the best known in this world, at the moment, and one called Neuracle Medical Technology has just achieved a milestone by becoming the first company that can sell an invasive brain-computer interface device in the world. It was a few days ago when the National Medical Products Administration granted marketing approval to the company, and once again puts on the table that China is following a very different strategy from that of the rest of the world. As with AI, while the West insists on increasingly powerful and faster models, China is looking for models that resonate with the general public with the aim of monetizing as soon as possible. The implant. The device is not much different from what we already know. It is a small system about the size of a coin that is placed on the outer surface of the brain. The process is minimally invasive because, although surgery is required, it does not penetrate the brain tissue. Surgeons make a small incision in the skull and electrodes are placed on the membrane surrounding the brain. This is where they can read the neural signals and where the “magic” begins: if the person thinks about grabbing an object with their hand, the SoC decodes the signal and transmits the order to a mechanical glove, which goes towards the object and closes the pneumatic fingers. Requirements. Obviously, it is desirable to never have to use a device of this type, since that would mean that you cannot use your own limbs. The regulatory body has put a limit to people who can use it: be between 18 and 60 years old, have suffered a cervical spinal cord injury, have some mobility in the upper arm, but without the ability to hold objects with their hand and the injury has been diagnosed at least one year before requesting the chip. The Neuralink Advantage. As we say, there are several other companies pursuing these advances and permits, and NeuCyber ​​has come to the fore to detail How is your model going? The Beinao-1 is the one they have been working on in recent years and is very similar to the one detailed: an implant that is placed in the outer membrane of the brain and is already being tested in about seven patients. The company has stated that they are working on a new generation called Beinao-2 (to the surprise of absolutely no one), but they have also said something more interesting: their implant is about three years behind Neuralink’s. And the key is not so much the technological superiority of Elon Musk’s model as the availability of patients for testing. For Beinao-1’s seven patients, Neuralink has more than 20. According to the company’s boss, this availability of clinical trials is what gives Neuralink a clear advantage. And something also interesting is that the new generation of Beinao changes its concept a little. If the first is semi-invasive, the second is completely invasive, using flexible electrodes implanted directly into the brain tissue. Strategic priority. At the moment, Beinao-2 is in animal testing and Beinao-1 is being analyzed in those seven humans, but with the hope of expanding the trials to 50 patients this 2026. We will see if, as the number of patients and real-world data collected increases, the system advances at a better pace, but what is clear is that China is not going to let off the accelerator. To say that these brain-computer interfaces are a priority national is not to magnify the issue. For decades, the Government has had something called the “Five Year Plan” that establishes objectives to be met during the five years following each review of the plan, and this technology, together with quantum computinghe 6G deploymentthe artificial intelligence Physical AI (robots with artificial intelligence, basically) is already within government-funded programs. That is why, from now on, we will begin to see a lot of news about companies that are beginning to promote these implants. And unlike other current technologies, which remains to be seen to what extent they help humanity, recovering mobility is an advance worth pursuing. Image | Mike Cai Chen In Xataka | The large Chinese AI and robotics companies have something in common: their chief scientists are from generation Z

Airbus Beluga retires after failing in commercial aeronautics

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Few commercial airplanes that have flown through the sky have had a shape as particular as the Airbus Beluganamed after that snout so similar to that of the cetacean from which it takes its name. However, despite escaping the perception we have of aerodynamic shapes, its lines made all the sense in the world given its function: carrying large pieces, specifically airplanes. It was an essential aircraft for making airplanes in Airbus logistics. The beluga became small. With a capacity With a load of 47 tons and space to accommodate items up to 30 meters in length, the A300-600ST had the capacity to accommodate one wing per trip. However, in the new BelugaXL two wings fit. The company explained that with an increase in manufacturing and your just in time logisticsthis change represented a before and after in the efficiency of its logistics. For example, for operations such as taking the wings manufactured in Broughton (United Kingdom) to the assembly lines in Toulouse (France) or Hamburg (Germany). By increasing the production rate, with the old Belugas they needed either more ships or more flight hours to meet deadlines. So the half-dozen BelugaXLs became the official ships for Airbus logistics. Airbus infographic to explain the second life of the BelugaST The second life of the Belugas. Designed for last about 40,000 flight hours and with entry into service in 1995, around 2022 Airbus estimated that these units retired for their own logistics still had up to 20 years of life left, so he gave them a new mission: to be delivery planes through the new cargo airline that created for the occasionAirbus Beluga Transport (AiBT). In November 2023 obtained their air operator certificate to operate. In this way, they would cover a specific niche: high-capacity air delivery, aimed at transporting satellites, aircraft engines, helicopters or heavy machinery. The timing was ideal as the enormous Antonov An-124 Soviet containers that were traditionally used for this type of distribution had been recovered for the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The market did not think the same: approximately a year later closed the business due to lack of demand. Only one remains operational. Of the five BelugaSTs that existed, only one remains in service: the one with registration F-GSTC “3”, the rest have been retired or are awaiting destination. The first (registration F-GSTA “1”) was retired in Bordeaux on April 21, 2021, the same city in which the F-GSTB “2” said goodbye on December 18, 2025. The F-GSTD “4” retired in Toulouse on September 17, 2025 and the fifth said goodbye in Broughton on January 29. The F-GSTF “5” is the only one of which we know a clear destination– will become an interactive classroom for STEM studies in the UK. Spain repeats mistake. As happened with his predecessor, Super Guppyit seems that Spain will not keep any Beluga either. At the time he was due for a Super Guppy, but they ended up rejecting it due to lack of space at the Getafe Air Museum. The plane was sold to NASA and still flies. The prototype of the A400M that was in Seville did not have any good luck either: ended up scrapped while its brothers are on display at the French Aeroscopia museum or at the Airbus factory in Bremen. In Xataka | The triangles on the plane window are not for decoration: they are a quick way to check that the flight is going well In Xataka | We believed that everything happened because of the new fighters. The F-16 has been in the air for 50 years and continues to sell like hotcakes Cover | Brian Bukowski CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The director of Sirat criticizes commercial cinema. But meanwhile, four out of ten directors film once a decade

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Oliver Laxe’s statements comparing commercial cinema to “bimbo bread”, especially pointing out the contradiction of making films for Netflix. have generated an unexpected controversy in the Spanish audiovisual sector, relativizing the extraordinary career of ‘Sirat’. The film not only got five statuettes at the European Film Awardsbut it has also received eleven Goya nominations and two Oscar nominations. The debate arises at a significant moment: a study by the European Audiovisual Observatory reveals that four out of every ten European directors and screenwriters who released a feature film in 2015 did not sign another one during the following ten years. A complicated metaphor. Oliver Laxe conceded an interview with The World in which offered his diagnosis on the crisis of youth attendance at the theaters: “It is our fault and our responsibility that young people do not go to the cinemas. They have been given fodder, bimbo bread and their palates are accustomed to sugar and processed foods.” The food metaphor did not stop there. Laxe went on to argue that when these viewers are offered “a rye bread or a pure cereal,” the palate is not prepared, although he insisted that “the sensitivity is there.” The filmmaker, whose film has exceeded three million euros at the Spanish box office and has attracted precisely a young audience, closed his reasoning with a resounding statement: “Having very political proclamations, but then making a movie with Netflix seems like a pure contradiction to me that nullifies your speech.” The accounts don’t work out. The answer did not take long to materialize. Jota Linares, a filmmaker from Cádiz who has often filmed for Netflix, replied in the SER questioning Laxe’s analysis. Linares challenged the simplification of the problem: “I will tell you what allows me to continue maintaining political ideas and express them freely despite having directed series and films for Netflix: my social class.” And he added: “I assure you that, due to my social class, I would be incapable of supporting myself by making only auteur films spaced over time for about two or three years. It doesn’t work out for me, although I see that it does for you.” Finally, he concluded that “you don’t hack the system from within with a six million euro movie with thirty publicists working at your feet. No, dear Oliver. That’s being at the top of the mainstream.” ‘Sirat’s’ money. The contrast between both positions reveals broader tensions in the sector. Laxe speaks from a relatively privileged position, since his film had the financial backing of Movistar Plus+ and is now enjoying an international campaign that has taken him to the Oscars. Linares, for his part, represents a silent majority of filmmakers who fight to get each new opportunity. Precariousness as a backdrop. The debate takes on a more urgent dimension when confronted with the data that published El País based on the study of the European Audiovisual Observatory. The research, which analyzes the careers of 38,762 professionals, covering some 30,000 projects, provides revealing figures: 40% of those who released a feature film in theaters during 2015 did not sign another film again in the entire subsequent decade. At the same time, more than half of the films released each year are debut films. The report’s conclusions leave no room for doubt: there is “an impressive turnover and great precariousness.” Cinema versus television. The document also shows a growing separation between film and television. Only 11% of directors and scriptwriters worked in both formats between 2015 and 2024, dismantling the idea of ​​fluid transfer between screens. On television and platforms, 85% of screenwriters and 91% of directors active in 2015 continued working later, compared to the 60% that disappear from theatrical cinema. “The majority survive poorly. Those who endure have family financial support behind them,” explained director Cristina Andreu in 2021. Little seems to have changed since then. Structural contradiction. Can the industry demand “rye bread”, as Laxe says he does, when the system expels 40% of its creators after a film? Is it fair to hold the public responsible for having a palate “accustomed to processed” in an ecosystem where professional continuity is more the exception than the norm? Laxe himself acknowledges that ‘Sirat’ was considered “a suicide” during the search for financing. If even an ultimately successful project faced that initial diagnosis, what happens to proposals from filmmakers without a safety net? The tension between the discourse of cinematic quality and the precarious reality of European production raises uncomfortable questions about who can afford to cultivate discerning palates. When, furthermore, the system itself does not guarantee anything. In Xataka | Many agree that ‘Stranger Things 5’ lowers the quality of the series. But that doesn’t change Netflix’s ambitious plans.

What the war in Ukraine has not achieved, Greenland has done. Europe has taken out its “commercial bazooka” against the US: Ozempic

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For more than a year, Europe has become accustomed to living trapped in an uncomfortable balance where depends on the United States for its security through NATO, to sustain the Ukrainian effort and, ultimately, for the strategic architecture that has protected it since the Cold War. Now Greenland has done jump into the air part of the rhetoric. Europe and the counterattack. The crisis has erupted when Trump has returned to ignite a trade war using Greenland as an excuse and as an ultimatum: either some type of “agreement” that brings the island closer to the United States is accepted, or tariffs arrive first from 10% and after 25% a group of European countries designated by a minimal but symbolic gesture, to participate in Arctic maneuvers with Denmark. What until recently many in Europe preferred to interpret as bravado or negotiating tactics becomes an explicit message of political pressure that no longer leaves room for the fantasy of appeasement. And there appears the real change: what the Ukrainian war had not completely achieved (a frontal European response to American reprisals) Greenland is doing itbecause the coup is not against a geopolitical adversary but against alliesand because it puts Europe before a brutal choice: accept the blackmail and normalize it, or respond even if it hurts, even knowing that it continues to depend on Washington for its security and to contain Russia. The European bazooka. There is no doubt, the European reaction It is not born from enthusiasm, but from the feeling that there are no longer many other solutions: Greenland cannot be “handed over”, nor can Denmark sell an autonomous territory against the will of its population, and the very idea that an acquisition could be forced due to commercial threats opens a pandora’s box that affects the entire continent. In this context, Brussels dusts off for the first time his toughest tool, the so-called anti-coercion instrumentdesigned precisely to punish political pressures through rapid and forceful economic measures. on the table two paths appear that mark a leap in mentality: reactivate a package of tariffs worth of 93,000 million of euros already prepared and, if the escalation continues, go further of goods and target services, investment and even access to the European market for large American companies. The European message tries to be twofold, seeking a de-escalation that avoids an open clash, but making it clear that, if Trump turns trade into a method of extortion, Europe can also respond strongly. The crash that nobody wanted. The most disturbing thing about this episode is not only the economic impact of a tariff war, but the strategic fracture that it implies: Europe knows that a serious trade conflict with the United States will would infect NATOto Ukraine and the entire deterrence architecture against Russia. That is why the continent moves cautiouslycalling emergency meetings, preparing the ground for talks in Davos and even delaying previously agreed trade detente measures. But the core of the problem is that Trump is not negotiating a percentage or a clause: you are elevating a territorial objective to a national priority, presenting it as a requirement to “improve the security” of the Arctic, and implicitly denying that Europe can guarantee it. In this framework, Europe tries not to break the bridge, but assumes that it can no longer behave as if the bridge were indestructible. The sovereignty of Greenland. We’ve told it before: while Washington talks about “acquisition,” Greenland insists that its future belongs to them, that many they want more independencenot change flag. This point is essential because it explains why Europe doesn’t want to give in: it is not just about Danish pride or formalisms, but about sovereignty and democratic legitimacy, as well as an explosive precedent within the Union itself. The tariff threattherefore, works as an attempt to isolate Denmark and make it the weak link, although it has the opposite effect: it reinforces the idea that if you are attacked over a strategic issue, you will be respond as a block. And therein lies the paradox: instead of dividing, the pressure forces coordination, especially between Paris and Berlin, which push a harder line while others ask for time to see if Trump offers a “way out” before the punishment is activated. The “Ozempic bomb”. Amid the noise of bases, submarines and Arctic routes, the unexpected weapon appears: Denmark is not a commercial giant, but it exports products to the United States that directly affect the pocket and everyday lifeand that turns any tariff into a kind of political boomerang. The half of its sales Recent visits to Washington focus on medicines, vaccines, insulin and related products, because Novo Nordisk is there, the Danish economic engine and the factory of the global phenomenon Ozempic and Wegovy. That dependency converts Denmark in a kind of de facto “pharmaceutical state”: Your private growth and employment largely revolve around that industry, and any trade turbulence impacts both sides. If Trump makes these medicines more expensive, the blow will not stay in Europe: it enters the US market like health inflation and social unrest, just where the political margin is most fragile. And that is why Ozempic, more than a product, works as symbol of interdependence reality that makes a tariff war not just a lever, but rather a grenade. Lego and other reminders. The same effect is seen with Lego and other products Danes beloved in the United States, or with less visible but critical sectors such as hearing aids and certain medical equipment. In the real world, supply chains do not respect emotional boundaries: many parts are manufactured in different countries, assembled in others, and sold in markets that depend on global logistics. This means that tariffs punish not only the “enemy” exporter, but also companies, distributors and consumers. Trump can imagine squeezing Denmark to bend it, but the pressure leaks out in prices and disruptions in the US market itself, and also erodes the relationship with an ally that already offers military access in … Read more

Boston Dynamics starts commercial production while Optimus remains wrapped in promises

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Boston Dynamics has unveiled the product version of Atlas, not a prototype or technical demo. The company describes This humanoid robot as an enterprise-grade system, designed from the ground up to be systematically manufactured, maintained and repaired. In its official communication it insists on concepts such as reliability, field service and prolonged useful life, a clear way of marking distance from more experimental approaches. In this way, Atlas makes the leap into the industrial world, with deployments announced for 2026 and a roadmap that, within the framework of Hyundai’s plans, points to a production capacity of up to 30,000 units per year. Meanwhile, Optimus remains tied to internal testing and automation at Tesla. Elon Musk had projected have “thousands” of humanoid robots working in factories by the end of 2025, but as of today there is no public evidence that the company has reached that goal. A change of stage announced in advance. The move towards a commercial Atlas had been in the works for some time. In 2024 the hydraulic robot stage will be officially closedactive for more than a decade, to give way to a completely electric design aligned with a real deployment. That decision came as recent advances in artificial intelligence accelerated the training and production of complex robots. Hyundai, client and driving force of the deployment. Atlas’ industrial leap is supported by a key corporate relationship. Hyundai Motor Group, the majority shareholder of Boston Dynamics, is also the humanoid robot’s first customer. He assures her that An initial deployment has already been completed in 2025 and an additional fleet is planned to be shipped in 2026 to the Robotics Metaplant Application Center. From there, Hyundai’s industrial investment context points to a possible expansion of scale, although these figures appear as general plans and not as specific commitments directly linked to Atlas. Designed for human environments. Atlas is not conceived as an isolated machine within a closed cell, but as a robot capable of moving through the same spaces in which people already work. Its function is aimed at handling and logistical support tasks in factories and warehouses, sharing an environment with human workers and other automated systems. To make it possible, the design has been optimized for coexistence, with mechanisms that allow detecting the proximity of people and stopping the operation when necessary. For a robot to truly fit into a factory, uptime is as important as the task it performs. Atlas is designed to operate during standard shifts, with an autonomy of approximately four hours in typical use. When the battery runs out, the robot itself can replace it autonomously in less than three minutes and return to work, allowing for continuous operation cycles. The charging system also works with conventional 110 V or 220 V electrical outlets, avoiding costly modifications to the infrastructure. Control, fleets and continuous learning. Atlas is not only intended to act autonomously, but also to integrate into monitoring and control systems at scale. Technically, it can operate autonomously, but also by remote control with virtual reality or tablet, and be managed as part of a fleet. In addition, a collaboration with Google DeepMind comes into play, aimed at integrating Gemini Robotics models to accelerate the learning of new tasks, a capability that the company presents as part of its roadmap and not as a fully deployed function from day one. Images | Boston Dynamics In Xataka | If China manages to lead in humanoid robots it will not be only because of its technology: its companies know how to sell them better than anyone else.

The X-59 has flown and the illusion of the commercial supersonic aircraft returns

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Today, civil supersonic flight is a distant memory, a feat that left more questions than certainties after the end of the concorde. The industry focused on efficiency and autonomy, and the dream of crossing continents faster was shelved, in part because the sonic boom noise made it a limited and controversial privilege. Today that dream appears again, not with grandiose promises, but with a very specific objective: to demonstrate that you can fly faster than sound without shaking those on the ground. That return is no longer an intention expressed in documents or a static prototype. On October 28, 2025, the X-59 left the ground for the first time since PalmdaleCalifornia, and landed shortly after at NASA’s Armstrong Center in Edwards. The output was deliberately contained, intended to validate systems and basic behavior in flight. After landing, Lockheed Martin assured that “the X-59 performed exactly as planned,” a sign that the project is entering the phase in which tests replace mockups and promises. The project that aspires to change half a century of air rules The X-59 is a technological demonstrator developed by NASA together with Lockheed Martin to try to solve the biggest obstacle to civil supersonic flight: noise. Instead of the boom that has limited these aircraft for decades, its design seeks produce a much softer “hit”. Its long and stylized fuselage, the cabin located in the middle of the fuselage and a 4K external vision system instead of a front window They are essential pieces of that objective. It does not aspire to be a commercial aircraft, but rather to generate the data that could allow it one day. The first flight was cautious by design. NASA had anticipated that the initial outing would focus on testing systems integration, stability and communications, without yet entering high speeds or extreme altitudes. According to planning, it was a circuit at low altitude and low speed to validate the essentials: that the aircraft responds, that the telemetry flows and that the controls behave as expected. Supersonic will come later, when the program advances to the next phase of testing. The aircraft was officially presented in January 2024 at the Skunk Works facilities The road to that first flight has been long. NASA launched the project in 2016 and initially set takeoff for 2020, a deadline that was moved after facing technical challenges identified in 2023. The aircraft was officially presented in January 2024 at the Skunk Works facilities and, throughout 2025, completed engine tests, integration checks and running rehearsals. On July 10 of that year, Test pilot Nils Larson performed the first low-speed taxi, a sign that the ground phase was coming to an end. From this point, the program enters progressive mode. First, additional verification flights will be completed and then the speed and altitude will be increased until reaching the planned supersonic regime, with a ceiling of Mach 1.4 according to the official roadmap. NASA and Lockheed Martin will collect aerodynamic and acoustic data during this stage at the Edwards base. Later, the plane will fly over inhabited areas to evaluate the public’s reaction, a key piece to convey results to regulators. Beyond technology, the supersonic challenge involves regulation. In the United States, passenger flights at more than Mach 1 over land They have been banned since 1973when Congress imposed the measure due to the acoustic impact. Other countries apply similar restrictions. The Quesst program attempts to provide scientific evidence that allows these rules to be reconsidered, not based on hypotheses, but on verifiable measurements. If NASA can demonstrate that the noise of the X-59 is tolerable, civil aviation could recover some of the ground lost after Concorde. It is advisable not to confuse the X-59 with a prototype of a future passenger plane. It is, above all, a test bed. It will not transport civilians nor will it go on sale: its function is to generate evidence on the feasibility of silent supersonic flight. NASA intends for acoustic and social data to serve as a reference to adjust regulation. From there, if the industry considers that the scenario is favorable, commercial designs inspired by this experiment could emerge, but that horizon is still far away. From now on, each flight will provide information that will allow us to know if the X-59 bet has a future beyond investigation. The key will not be in the maximum speed, but in the sound footprint and the social response generated by the essays about real communities. Only then will regulators decide whether it is time to review rules that have remained largely unchanged since the 1970s. The project does not promise a new Concorde, but it does promise the possibility of opening a route that until now seemed closed. Images | Lockheed Martin (1, 2) In Xataka | The Comac C919 symbolizes China’s aerial dream: the trade war threatens to clip its wings in mid-takeoff

All commercial relations between the European Union and India depend on one thing: Basmati rice

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For years, Brussels and New Delhi negotiate a free trade agreement. It is a historical, tremendously ambitious and, above all, necessary for all parties: for India because the union is its third commercial partner (and represents 10% of its total trade); for union because it desperately seeks to diversify partners in an increasingly aggressive and polarized context. Well, negotiations They are about to derail and all by grain of rice. Basmati rice, to be concrete. Basmati is a highly appreciated rice. Of long and delicate fragrance, this variety of rice has been growing at the foot of the Himalayas, between India and Pakistan. Even today. In fact, According to 2019 dataIndia produced 65% of the world’s basati. Pakistan, the other 35%. Something perfectly normal in two countries that have 3,323 kilometers of border. The problem is that, in short, They are India and Pakistan. Why not be friends? In 2018, India requested the label of exclusive protected geographical indication for the Basmati in the EU. There the problems began. Pakistan, as was predictable for anyone who knew the rivalry between the two countries, fell flatly and claimed it for himself. Although it seems a minor issue, a decision in favor of one country or another could seriously affect exports of the victim. And India wants to take advantage. No one can recriminate it to New Delhi: the current geopolitical situation has cornered a European Union. And it is not that the previous situation was great strength. It is only enough to remember that before the pandemic (and probably after) it was not manufactured Not a gram of paracetamol throughout the continent. Therefore, what was some common sense, in the middle of the commercial war, has become pressing: Brussels needs to expand the pitch and India is its great trick to do so. We live rare times (or not so much). For years, the international commercial consensus that gave the World Trade Organization and its standards the pivotal nature of world economic dynamics. Today, between Bravuonadas and Wars, we have discovered that this consensus was nothing more than a fiction. The economic fragmentation, the collapse of multilateralism and the growing uncertainty have led to such crisis of the system that even a grain of rice can put it in check. Image | Kanesue | Joshua Olsen In Xataka | India to Pakistan: “I’m not going to give you more water from my rivers.” An unprecedented climbing of the conflict

We are attending at the beginning of an era dangerous in commercial aviation. One in which if you go to a funeral the ticket will cost you more

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In the United States they are already called “surveillance -based prices” (Surveillance Pricing), and they consist in a simple and scary principle: that companies that sell products and services do it in a personalized way with AI algorithms that will analyze all the information they have about you. Delta, what are you doing. In Delta Air Lines they raised to do that, but the idea He ended up knowing each other and being very criticized. So much that several American senators published an open letter demanding the CEO of the airline to explain those plans. In Delta they intended to eliminate static prices to replace them with dynamic prices that were adjusted to what each client theoretically was willing to pay. How are these personalized prices calculated? Companies such as Fetcher – who collaborates with Delta or Virgin Atlantic – have been working on these systems since 2019. They have deep learning experts (Deep Learning) and have one “Large Market Model“, an AI model that is capable of generating those custom prices based on the information of each user. Spying on to meet you better. In fact his CEO, Roy Cohen, explained That this model is trained “with all the data we can collect”, and on the company’s website they affirm that this type of systems could increase the benefits of airlines by 4.4 billion dollars annually. To collect this data, surveillance -based price systems use all types of third -party channels such as the purchasing history of a passenger, its navigation history, its geolocation, its activity in social networks, its biometric data or its financial statement. If you leave funeral, we upload the price. The former member of the FTC Lina Khan Council He already explained that this type of custom pricing systems could raise disturbing cases. A conceivable example would be that of an airline that uses artificial intelligence to collect a higher rate to a passenger “because the company knows that it has just suffered a death in the family and needs to fly to the other side of the country.” The intention was to abandon static prices. In July the president of Delta, Glen Hauenstein, declared which hoped that at the end of the year 20% of the price of its tickets will be determined individually by these AI systems. At that time that percentage was 3%, the triple that in autumn of 2024, but is that the objective was to completely abandon the current price setting systems to make the jump to these personalized and calculated prices based on what is known about each passenger. The pain threshold. The system would also put to the limit the so -called “pain threshold” of each client, establishing that maximum amount that the data suggests that these passengers want to pay. If you are in a hurry – as in the hypothetical situation of having to go to a funeral – the price would increase, while in a routine trip the price would be comparatively lower. Consumer surplus. There is a theoretical principle that explains very well the intentions of companies such as Delta Air Lines. Is called consumer surplusand it is the difference between what a client is willing to pay and what he really pays. Companies seek to capture that surplus, and AI allows you to do it almost perfectly. That, of course, entails a risk: if customers pay the maximum for what they buy, they will have less income for other expenses. Here it will be more difficult for them to do it. In Europe carrying out this type of plans seems difficult: the General Data Protection Regulation (RGPD) prohibits automated decisions based on personal data and that have meaningful effects on the user unless it gives their explicit consent. Like dynamic, but supervitaminated prices. It really is of all known that there are many companies that make use of the so -called dynamic prices that try to adjust supply and demand. Airlines have always used them —The price varies according to the day and time of the week or the number of days before the flight – but they are also well known in VTC companies such as Uber or Cabify. Said systems, of coursethey have unleashed more than one controversyand there were suspicions that Uber even raised the price if you reserved a trip When you had little battery. However, these systems do not have that massive data collection section and user profiles that raise prices based on surveillance. Image | Simon Ray In Xataka | There are people getting free flights and money at the expense of airlines. Your superpower: be very patient

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