giant

If we want to live on the Moon we need oxygen and NASA already knows how to extract it: with a giant mirror

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Goodbye, Mars, the Moon has returned make it a priority. Really, except for an Elon Musk obsessed with terraform the red planetthe rest of the countries and even NASA had something between their minds: returning to the Moon. And come back in a big way, too, laying the foundations to create a settlement. For this we need oxygen, and NASA has just taken a great leap for humanity in the project to harvest oxygen from the lunar regolith. And all thanks to a giant mirror. In short. The Moon is a mine. Not only does it have enormous potential to obtain energy through photovoltaics, but it also has a huge amount of resources in its soil. The satellite is covered in ‘lunar dust’, also known as regolith, and part of its composition is oxygen. With current technology you can’t separate the chaff from the grain, but that’s where NASA’s carbothermal oxygen production reactor, or CaRD, project comes into play. The mirror | Photo: NASA The prototype installed on Earth is a reactor that has a huge precision mirror that concentrates a beam of sunlight on a reactor, heating its interior to temperatures of about 1,800ºC. The enormous amount of energy generated causes a carbothermic reaction which produces, among other elements, oxygen. It is the evolution of the high-power laser that NASA development in 2023, but unlike that tool that needs an enormous amount of energy, and other solutions based on electrolysismirrors are nourished by the sunlight they can concentrate. Regolith. According to According to the US agency, the technology “has the potential to produce several times its own weight in oxygen each year and in an automated manner, which will allow for a sustained human presence and the creation of a lunar economy.” And that lunar dust not only has oxygen. The regolith is composed of O2, but also metals. If the different components can be separated, we can obtain other resources and, in addition, the resulting dust as waste can be used as construction material for make bricks and roads. In fact, there are projects to ‘dope the regolith with bacteria to be able to cultivate directly in the lunar soil. The ESA approach. These advances by NASA occur while the rugged steps of the Artemis program which plans to take humans to lunar orbit this year, with future missions in which we will set foot on the satellite again. But as we said, the ESA also wants its piece of the pieand relies on electrolysis to separate metals from oxygen. Regolith and urine cement: the best cement | Photo: ESA The problem, as we said before, is the enormous amount of energy necessary to carry out the process. This molten salt electrolysis heats the regolith to 950ºC with calcium chloride to achieve the same objective that NASA has: release oxygen and separate it from iron and aluminum. And it is also collaborating with NASA to ensure that human presence in the medium term, experimenting with a mixture between human urine and regolith to create cement. Everyone wants a piece of cheese. But the one who has plans as ambitious as those of the United States with the Moon is… China. The Asian giant is completing phases of the space race dizzying speedwith launches every two by three and some very aggressive plans. Before 2030 it wants to send its first astronauts to orbit the satellite, with a manned moon landing scheduled for 2029/2030. Furthermore, together with Russia, they are building the International Lunar Research Station that they want to have in operation by 2030, complete by 2035 with thousands of scientists on board and with a nuclear reactor as a heart to get stable energy. When the enormous problem posed by the get oxygen stably on the Moona giant step will have been taken in international ambitions to place a long-term base on the satellite. That is, furthermore, SpaceX’s new plan. Elon Musk confirmed a few days ago that Mars was no longer the priority because quick results are needed, and the Moon is a much more favorable scenario. There are many eyes focused on the same objective, one we haven’t stepped on since 1972. Images | NASA, ESA In Xataka | Faced with the need to look for weapons against superbacteria, science has opted to send viruses into space

after buying EA it is the turn of a mobile giant

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The Saudi Sovereign Fund, through Savvy Games Group, continues to expand its gaming empire. After announce the purchase of Electronic Arts for $50 billionis now negotiating to acquire Moonton Technology for a price that could reach 7 billion, consolidating its dominance in the lucrative mobile gaming market. The purchase. Just four months after announcing the purchase of EA, Saudi Arabia returns to the negotiating table. This time the target is Moonton Technology, the developer of ‘Mobile Legends: Bang Bang‘, one of the most successful mobile MOBAs on the planet. Savvy Games Group, subsidiary of the Saudi Sovereign Fund, is finalizing an operation valued between 6,000 and 7,000 million dollars to acquire the studio, currently owned by ByteDancethe parent company of TikTok. The strategy. The figure may seem modest compared to EA’s mega purchase, but it accurately reflects the strategic value of the Asian mobile market. Mobile Legends has accumulated more than a billion global downloads and dominates Southeast Asia, where it has managed to capitalize on a massive player base despite having faced multiple Riot Games legal lawsuits for violation of the intellectual property of ‘League of Legends’. The sentences forced Moonton to pay million-dollar compensation, but did not stop its growth in territories where access to consoles and PCs is limited. Why the mobile? Observers who believe that the mobile market is not what it was in the days of ‘Angry Birds’ are wrong: The sector generated more revenue in 2025 than PC and consoles combinedwith the model free-to-play demonstrating enormous profitability. ‘Monopoly GO‘, developed by Scopely (also Saudi owned since 2023), has generated approximately 6 billion dollars since its launch. A single application whose billing alone covers the price of Moonton. This equation explains why the kingdom looks with such interest towards mobile gaming: the relationship between initial investment and potential return far exceeds that of traditional AAA blockbusters. Controlling cell phones. With Moonton under its control, Saudi Arabia would manage three of the most lucrative mobile developers in the world (along with Scopely and the division gaming of Niantic), positioning itself as a dominant player in a segment where until now the Chinese Tencent exercised almost absolute hegemony. The operation could be closed during this first quarter of 2026, consolidating a movement that began as economic diversification and evolves towards something much more ambitious: the vertical control of entire segments of the video game industry. And more than mobile phones. The Saudi Sovereign Fund’s investment catalog in the video game industry draws a control map that encompasses SNK (‘The King of Fighters’, ‘Metal Slug’), Scopely (‘Monopoly GO’, ‘Star Trek Fleet Command’), Niantic’s gaming division (‘Peridot’, ‘Monster Hunter Now’) and ESL FaceIt Group (the largest organizer of esports competitions in the world). Five companies that alone generate billions annually and, above all, cover completely different markets. The power of actions. But the true dimension of Saudi power is revealed when its shareholding is analyzed. The fund maintains between 5% and 10% of shares at Nintendo, Koei Tecmo, Embracer Group, Nexon, Capcom, Take-Two Interactive, NCSoft, Square Enix and Bandai Namco. They are not testimonial investments: in several cases it is the second or third largest shareholder after the founders or traditional Japanese funds. This gives it influence on boards of directors, veto power over strategic decisions and privileged access to sensitive corporate information. At Ubisoft and Microsoft. The links with Ubisoft and Microsoft are more opaque. There is a 2022 agreement after which Savvy acquired minority stakes in Ubi as the Guillemot family fought hostile takeover attempts by activist investors, but the exact terms of the pact were never made public. With Microsoft, the relationship transcends the purely financial: Saudi Arabia has maintained investments in the technology matrix since 2016 and collaborates with Xbox on server infrastructure for the Middle East. Leaving Tencent behind. At the time, Tencent’s strategy generated regulatory alarms in the West due to concentration of power, but the Saudi approach is more aggressive in a key aspect: while the Chinese company sought majority stakes that would give it operational control but respected brands and structures, the kingdom has absolute ownership of medium-sized studios and also strategic stakes in consolidated giants. This hybridization allows for vertical influence without triggering antitrust alerts. The European Commission investigated for 18 months Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, but authorities have not publicly questioned that a single actor controls significant stakes in nine of the twenty publishers largest in the world while directly owning three mobile developers that bill more than $10 billion annually combined. With the imminent incorporation of EA and Moonton, Saudi Arabia will have spent more than 70 billion dollars on gaming from 2021. To put it in perspective: that figure exceeds the current market value of Ubisoft, Capcom and Square Enix combined. A future of acquisitions. It is an entire recreational empire that could increase in the future: it is less supervised by regulatory authorities than other sectors and, for the moment, it has a very wide margin for growth. Few acquisitions comparable in magnitude remain in the pipeline, but the project Saudi Vision 2030which wants to diversify the country’s economy so as not to depend so much on oil, makes the nation look to the future. And this is a very financially attractive future. In Xataka | How Saudi Arabia and China are dividing up the video game industry with a checkbook

There is so much energy left over that we are using the reservoirs like giant batteries

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Not long ago, the news in Spain was the dust, the dry land and the anguish of starving reservoirs. Today, the story has taken a turn as violent as it was unexpected. The background sound in the Spanish electrical system is no longer the drought alarm, but the roar of the floodgates opening to release excess water. What the meteorology has given in the form of torrential rains during this beginning of 2026 has become a financial paradox: there is so much energy left over that the market, designed to manage scarcity, has begun to show its seams in the face of abundance. The price of electricity has not only dropped; has been broken. A perfect storm. And this time, literally. A succession of Atlantic storms (Goretti, Harry, Ingrid…) and an extraordinarily rainy start to the year They have brought the hydraulic reserve to 77.3%. This scenario has forced hydroelectric plants to work on a piece-rate basis. It is not an option: many are “flow-through” plants, which means they cannot store water and must turbine it to avoid overflows, flooding the electrical grid with cheap energy. This situation has drawn two opposite realities. On the one hand, for households with a regulated (PVPC) or indexed rate, the saying “year of snow, year of goods” is literally fulfilled. The bill plummets thanks to the massive entry of renewables. On the other hand, nuclear energy, designed to operate 24/7 as a base load, has become the collateral victim. The technical data of Red Eléctrica corroborate this trend. In the generation records of February 12, it is observed how nuclear energy remains on a flat line of about 5,770 MW, but operating in an environment where wind energy exceeds 17,000 MW at peak hours, pushing prices down and displacing other technologies. The mechanics of a “broken” market. The excess of water and wind has caused the price of electricity to “break” during the hours of lowest consumption. We’re no longer just talking about the solar “duck curve” at noon; now zero or negative prices also appear at dawn. According to The Spanishin the first ten days of February, 69 hours were accumulated with zero or negative prices. The system is so saturated with energy that it needs “sponges” to absorb it. Here pumping hydroelectricity comes into play (using electricity to raise water from a lower reservoir to a higher one), which acts as the system’s large battery. REE reports They are revealing about it.. During the early hours of February 12, the system recorded massive pumping consumption to prevent the collapse of the network, reaching consumption values ​​(energy withdrawn from the network) greater than 1,800 MW: At 04:05 on February 12, pumping consumption was -1,850 MW. At 04:55 hours, it remained at -1,848 MW. This confirms that Spain is using its reversible reservoirs to “drink” the excess electricity produced by wind and flowing water while demand sleeps. An x-ray of the price. As a result, the wholesale price has plummeted. According to Expansionthe average price for this February 13 is €4.38/MWh in the wholesale market (pool), a ridiculous figure compared to previous years. However, the market presents a time “trap” for the consumer. Although the average is low, the volatility is extreme. OMIE graphs show a flat curve close to zero for almost the entire day, which shoots up vertically at dusk. The valley: On February 12, the price remained practically flat and low for most of the day. The peak (The forbidden hour): When the sun goes down and the photovoltaics stop providing, and coinciding with dinner, the price skyrockets. Between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. the most expensive section is concentratedexceeding €35/MWh in the wholesale market, which translates into more than €170/MWh for the final consumer due to tolls and system charges. For the intelligent consumer, the “bargain hours” are now between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. (with negative prices in the pool of -€0.03/MWh) and during the early hours of the morning. Forecasts. Is this an anecdote or a trend? The experts consulted by The Energy Newspaper, like Javier Revuelta from the consulting firm AFRYthey believe it is structural. Futures markets (forwards) for March and April are already trading lower (€40 and €25 respectively). The forecast is that 2026 will close with an average price of around €55/MWh. This strongly reopens the energy debate: if renewable energy is capable of covering demand at zero prices, the economic viability of maintaining the nuclear park—which cannot stop and start at will—becomes complicated. The “problem” of full reservoirs is, in reality, the sign that the marginalist electricity market creaks when the raw material is free and abundant. For the citizen, the lesson is clear: electricity is almost free, but only if you know how to look at the clock before turning on the switch. Image | freepik and freepik Xataka | The reservoir that would “never be filled” is opening its floodgates: 23 years later, the largest swamp in Western Europe is completely full

Peru gave the keys to a giant door to China that the US now wants to blow up

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For years, Chancay was a secondary port on the central coast of Peru, one linked to regional exports and with a limited weight in international trade. Everything changed when, at the beginning of the 2010s, the project began to transform into a megaconstruction designed to receive the largest ships in the world, a leap that culminated with the entry of Chinese capital and the inauguration of a work called to redefine the country’s role in Pacific trade. A giant door to the Pacific. Peru has now become the central stage of the rivalry between China and the United States for a very specific reason: the Chancay megaport, a deep-water infrastructure north of Lima that acts as a direct gateway between South America and Asia and that has elevated the Andean country from a trading partner to a strategic piece. As we said, with the capacity to receive the largest cargo ships in the world and accelerate the flow of raw materials to China, the port symbolizes how a logistics project can alter regional balances and place a country in the middle of a dispute between powers. The direct notice. From the Washington Department of State, the Donald Trump administration rated case as an example of how “cheap Chinese money” can erode national control over critical infrastructure, an unusually harsh warning in pointing out that Peru could be losing sovereignty over one of its critical infrastructures, after a court ruling which limits the ability of the national regulator to supervise Chancay. For the United States, the message is clear: Chinese money, presented as cheap and fast, has a long-term political cost. A case that has become an example of the US strategy to stop the expansion of Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere and regain ground in a region that it considers vital for its security and global leadership. China and the Silk Road in Latin America. It we count some time ago. For Beijing, Chancay is a key piece of its Belt and Road Initiativethe great project with which it has financed ports, roads and airports around the world through credits and state guarantees. China has been for more than a decade the main partner Peru’s commercial sector and has invested massively in strategic sectors such as mining, electricity and transportation, consolidating a deep economic relationship that goes far beyond a single port and that reinforces its presence in the Latin American Pacific. The court ruling. The spark of the conflict has been court ruling Peruvian law that orders the authorities to refrain from regulating, supervising or sanctioning the activity of the port of Chancay, considering it a private facility. The regulator Ositran, which controls the rest of the country’s large ports, has denounced that this exception leaves users unprotected and creates a dangerous precedent, by making the operating company the only one that provides a public service without direct supervision of the State. The organization has already announced that it will appeal the decision. Cosco, sovereignty and red lines. The Chinese company Cosco Shipping, majority shareholder and operator of the port, has rejected any insinuation of loss of sovereignty and maintains that Chancay remains fully under Peruvian jurisdiction and subject to its laws, with the presence of police, customs and environmental authorities. For China, the US accusations are a political maneuver and a discredit campaign, while for Washington the problem is not only legal, but strategic: who controls, de facto, South America’s great gateway to transpacific trade. Peru trapped between two powers. The country is thus in an uncomfortable positionwith China as its main trading partner and the United States as a strategic ally and military partner, even designated as a main non-NATO ally. While Washington negotiates the construction of a naval base a few kilometers from Chancay, Beijing consolidates its influence economy around the same enclave. The result is a nation located in the middle of a major geopolitical battle, one where a port infrastructure has become the symbol of a difficult choice: take advantage of an economic opportunity without this giant door to the Pacific ending up conditioning its sovereignty and its international room for maneuver. Image | cosco In Xataka | China has been building a megaport in Peru for eight years. It has just been released to revolutionize South America In Xataka | €10 order, €30 tariffs: the EU has just approved the mother of tariffs for Aliexpress, Shein and Temu

They have found the first giant lava tube under their land

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Venus can be considered Earth’s evil twin because it has overwhelming pressure, sulfuric acid clouds and temperatures on its surface capable of melt lead. However, beneath that infernal façade, the planet could hide fascinating geological secrets. The first of these secrets has already been discovered, since we have proof that there is a huge underground lava tube. More than volcanoes. This finding was published at the beginning of February in the magazine Nature confirming what planetary geologists have suspected for decades. And Venus not only has volcanoes, but it has a magmatic ‘plumbing’ system that makes those on Earth look ridiculous. The finding focuses on the Nyx Monsa massive shield volcano 362 kilometers in diameter, where researchers from the University of Trento have identified a structure that changes our understanding of Venusian volcanism. What have they seen? In short, experts have seen a kind of well or skylight that they have designated as ‘A’. But it is not a simple crack in the ground of the planet, but rather it is the entrance to an underground world. This tunnel is not exactly small, since it has a diameter of more or less 1 kilometer and leads to a cave with a minimum height of 375 meters and an extension of at least 300 meters from the entrance. Although in this case estimates suggest that it could be up to 45 km long. It’s not small. To put it in perspective: these dimensions far exceed the lava tubes that we find on the Moon, Mars or Earth. The physical reason behind this gigantism is the unique conditions of Venus: low gravity compared to Earth and its very dense atmosphere allow lava flows to create massive structures without collapsing so easily. How they have done it. To achieve this, it is not that we have recently sent a new probe, but that the Italian team has carried out a reanalysis of the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images captured by the NASA Magellan probe between 1990 and 1992. This already tells us that we should not throw away data no matter how much data we have. For decades, those images were there, waiting for processing technology and human expertise to know where to look. Until finally these researchers detected a unique asymmetric radar reflection. In this way, by analyzing how the waves bounced off the western slope of Nyx Mons, they were able to infer the existence of the underground void. A Spanish similarity. Something curious is that the authors of the study compare this training with the Green Cave in Lanzarotea terrestrial analogy that helps us understand morphology, although the Venusian version operates on a monumentally larger scale. Its importance. Until now, volcanic activity on Venus was intuited by changes in the atmosphere or surface characteristics. This discovery is the first direct evidence of an empty underground conduit, validating theories about recent and intense volcanic activity that has shaped the planet as a geological “twin” of our own. But the most interesting thing is in the future, since there are missions like VERITAS and EnVision that are about to leave our planet and that have much more modern and precise radar systems than that of the old Magellan. That is why they now have a great objective: to map the subsoil that we are beginning to know. Images | SIMON LEE Marc Szeglat In Xataka | We have been deceived by the distances of the Solar System: the closest neighbor to Neptune is Mercury

A cheese giant is slowly taking shape in Spain thanks to a key ally: Mercadona

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The long list of Spanish companies that grow in the heat of Mercadona adds a new name: Entrepinaresa company dedicated to the production of cheeses and dairy products that started 40 years ago in Valladolid and today manages centers spread throughout Galicia, Castilla and Madrid, in addition to generating employment for something more than 1,500 people. Although the signature presume to be “the largest cheese manufacturer”since more than 20 years has a key alliance with Mercadona. And that is helping it expand. Why is it news? Because their 2024 accounts have just been released, a year during which Entrepinares managed to skyrocket both its turnover and its profits. The first section rose to the 665 million euros8% more than in 2023. As for the second, EBIDTA (earnings before taxes) reached 64 million, which represents an increase of 16%. Both indicators are partly explained by an increase in production: in 2024, 100 million kilos of cheese came out of the Entrepinares factories (8.3% more than in 2023) and around 35 million kilos of dairy products. In addition to being the main supplier of Mercadona cheeses, the company saw how it was reinforced its foreign activity, with exports to more than 50 countries. Is there more data? Yes. We know that the company dedicated 41 million to investments in search of greater efficiency, which raises the mobilization of resources for that purpose above the 140 million in the last four years. Thanks to this commitment, it has managed to gain a prominent place in the sector at a national level. In fact it leads the sectoral ranking of cheese manufacturers (at least based on turnover volume) prepared by elEconomista. Regarding staff and internal resources, the firm has more than 1,500 workers, collaborates stably with more than 700 farms and a large score of cooperatives and manages four production centers spread across Valladolid, Fuenlabrada, Villalba and Los Yébenes. Added to these are a logistics and packaging center in Valladolid and two other plants specialized in whey treatment located in Castrogonzalo (Zamora) and Vilalba (Lugo). Why is it important? Because of the data itself and its context. Entrepinares is not the only Mercadona supplier that has grown in recent years coinciding with the expansion of the Valencian chain, which has managed to strengthen its position in the market with a business share that It is already on its way to 30%. One of the clearest examples is that of the group Martinez Familywhich integrates several business lines and operates as a strategic supplier to Mercadona. It was recently revealed that the company will invest around 150 million euros between this and the next year to reinforce its Traditional Dishes facilities and keep up with Mercadona. Months before it had emerged that last year its billing increased by about 8% and its net profit 16%. Are there more cases? Yes. Another Mercadona supplier that has managed to grow is Ozturk Quebapa firm based in Toleado specialized in the production of kebabs and meat products that has been supplying the Juan Roig chain for years. Last year it invoiced around 63.8 million euros and this year it hopes to exceed 75. For now, in the first semester it reached 37.8 million. Its expansion is prior to the agreement with Juan Roig’s company and the firm exports to other nations, but Ozturk recognizes that “with Mercadona everything changes.” Mercadona’s leverage is also serving Sefood Group. Its subsidiary Leroy Processing Spain hoped in the spring to close this year with a turnover of 160 million euros30% more than last year. The company has been dedicated to the production of Japanese food for a few years and has managed to make Mercadona one of its main clients. The Roig chain also has among its suppliers: Profand and Panamar, Tarradellas House and Summer. Images | Entrepinares e iStock In Xataka | Mercadona has found a vein to grow beyond its white label and prepared food: tourism

The opening of Shein in Paris should have been a triumph. It has ended up causing the biggest slowdown for the Chinese giant in Europe

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Days after Shein’s controversial arrival at the historic BHV Marais in Paris —an opening as massive as it is controversial—, the story takes a turn that no one in the Chinese company expected. France has decided to postpone the opening of the rest of the Shein stores scheduled for November and December, a slowdown that reveals the extent to which the physical commitment of the ultra-fast fashion giant is shaking the sector and French politics. In a nutshell. The SGM group, owner of BHV, announced that the planned openings in Dijon, Reims, Grenoble, Angers and Limoges are postponed indefinitely. The inaugurations were to start on November 18 and extend until the beginning of December, but according to BFMTVSGM prefers to postpone them “a few days or a few weeks.” Today, the only operational Shein store in the country is the one in Paris, open November 5. A postponement that accumulates reasons. The delay does not respond to a single factor: it is a cocktail of commercial problems, reputational crisis, political pressure and regulatory turbulence. First, the Paris store disappointed its own customers. As reported days later by Le Mondedespite the more than 50,000 visitors on the first day, the result was frustrating: no men’s clothing, no children’s fashion, no large sizes, nor the ultra-low prices usual on the web. Added to this was insufficient space to manage the influx. But the hardest blow, according to the French media, did not come from the clients, but from the brands that have decided to leave BHV after the arrival of Shein and due to accumulated non-payments. Dior, Chanel, Guerlain and Lancôme – four pillars of French perfumery – leave the department store, along with more than 20 fashion and home brands. The departure comes at the worst possible time: the Christmas campaign, the month in which BHV rebalances its accounts. Furthermore, the image crisis is amplified by the breakup between SGM and Galeries Lafayette. According to Fashion Networkthe French chain has ended its agreement with SGM to avoid any link with Shein, which implies that all these centers will be called BHV, not Galeries Lafayette. Expansion meets politics. Shein’s arrival has unleashed unprecedented municipal rejection. From Liberation have pointed out that several mayors – Dijon, Reims, Grenoble, Angers and Limoges – are explicitly opposed to the implementation. Specifically, in Grenoble, Mayor Éric Piolle even asked to suspend opening until all products were legally verified. And the straw that broke the camel’s back. As different media have describedthe French Government discovered child-like sex dolls, prohibited weapons and other illicit products on the platform. This activated a process of temporary suspension of the marketplace, exhaustive customs controls and a judicial procedure that is still open. “The postponement is temporary.” Frédéric Merlin, president of SGM, insisted: in an interview for BFMTV. In it, he explained that the group needs to adapt the offer, adjust the pricing policy, gain space in regional stores and work on “more personalized orders.” But, as Le Monde recallsits management simultaneously faces non-payments to suppliers and the largest brand flight that BHV has experienced in decades. For its part, Shein maintains a different discourse. According to Reutersthe company says the Paris store has been “a great success.” He accepts that he must adjust prices and improve the experience, but he assures that for now his priority is to optimize that first physical point before opening the following ones. However, it does not offer new dates. Meanwhile, the company will have to face a key event: a mandatory appearance at the National Assembly and a court hearing on November 26, the same day on which the Paris court must examine the request to suspend the platform. In parallel, as the French media highlightsthe European Union has agreed to advance the application of taxes on small imported packages to 2026 – an essential pillar of Shein’s logistics model –, further increasing the pressure. Downshifting. France has become the first European country to put a real brake on Shein’s physical expansion. The openings have been postponed “a few days or weeks,” but the context—investigations, protests, brand leaks and regulatory pressures—suggests that the pause could last longer than SGM and Shein would like to admit. The question now is whether Shein will manage to adapt to a market that demands transparency, legality and social commitments or if the Paris store will be remembered as the beginning of the biggest clash between ultra-fast fashion and a country that, for the first time, has decided to put a stop to its advance. Image | FreePik and DMCGN Xataka | Shein has opened its first store in Europe in Paris. Paris has reacted as always: staging a revolt

Jeff Bezos’ giant rocket is ready and NASA is making eyes at it

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For once, Elon Musk’s Starship is not the protagonist. In the midst of a heated public debate about Who will take astronauts to the Moon first?Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company, is about to launch the first New Glenn rocket mission for NASA, with an unexpected lunar spin. Ready to take off. Now that Starbase platform 1 is undergoing renovationsall eyes are on the LC-36 platform at Cape Canaveral. The giant rocket that attracts attention this time is the imposing New Glenn from Blue Origin, another beast 98 meters high and seven meters in diameter, ready for its first order. After successfully completing a 38-second static burn with its seven BE-4 engines, Jeff Bezos’ megarocket has the green light for its first assignment: NASA’s ESCAPADE mission to Mars. When? In the absence of confirmation from Blue Origin, the United States Federal Aviation Administration aim for a first try on November 7 between 19:51 and 21:50 UTC, with another two-hour backup window on November 8 starting at 19:49. It is not a minor release. ESCAPADE is NASA’s first multi-craft mission to Mars orbit. The New Glenn will launch the twin Blue and Gold probes, built by Rocket Lab to study the magnetosphere of the red planet. Second landing attempt. For Blue Origin, the secondary mission is almost as important as the main one: recovering the rocket propellant for the first time. In your January inaugural flightthe New Glenn managed to reach orbit, but failed in its first propulsive landing attempt, SpaceX’s specialty. Now the first stage of the rocket, 65 meters high, will have a second chance to land in the Atlantic Ocean. To do this, Blue Origin will once again deploy the autonomous barge “Jacklyn”, named in honor of Jeff Bezos’ mother. Getting it is key to the company’s lunar plansin more literal ways than we thought. From Mars to the Moon. According to Ars TechnicaBlue Origin has ambitious plans for this same rocket. If the New Glenn manages to land successfully after launching the ESCAPADE mission, Jeff Bezos’ company hopes to quickly refit it for a third flight. And what does that third flight consist of? Nothing less than the launch of the first Blue Moon Mk-1 lunar cargo module. The same one that Blue Origin is trying to adapt against the clock to replace the SpaceX Starship in the first manned lunar landings of NASA’s Artemis missions. NASA waits for no one. In the midst of a self-imposed race to reach the Moon before China does in 2030, NASA (or more specifically, NASA’s internal administrator, Sean Duffy) has reopened the Human Landing System contract for the private sector to make simpler proposals than Starship HLS to take astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon. Although it is actually simpler, the Blue Origin architecture It would not be without problems, including cryogenic refueling in orbit, an extremely complex choreography of ships that, to this day, neither SpaceX nor Blue Origin have demonstrated on the required scale. Image | Blue Origin In Xataka | We already know why Jeff Bezos invests so much money in space: he believes that in 20 years millions of people will live there

In Oregon there is a forest with a tattoo that appears every fall: a giant emoji

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Imagine that you are walking down a road and, out of nowhere, the mountain begins to smile at you. Stop imagining it because that is precisely what happens on Highway 18 in Oregon. Between two towns, those who drive along that road in the autumn season, find a gigantic emoji made up of hundreds of trees. And more than a nod to drivers, it is a demonstration that, when we want, we can reforest sustainably. A tattoo in the forest. The pattern has been repeating itself for a few years. When the temperatures drop and the days get shorter, a huge smiling emoji appears on the side of Mt. This is neither a curiosity nor a coincidence: it is something premeditated and measured to the millimeter by David Hampton and Dennis Creel. David is co-owner of a logging company called Hampton Lumber and Dennis, its forestry manager. In 2011when the company was preparing to reforest an area of ​​the forestthey wondered if they could have a little fun and create something that would bring joy to anyone passing by on the highway. After a meticulous planningthey started planting conifers, but not just any conifers. The science behind reforestation. The process was complex. The team that was going to carry out the plantation drew a circle of about 90 meters in diameter using a rope and, starting from the center, triangulated the positions of the eyes and mouth. They spent a week taking measurements and, when they finished, they began to plant. The chosen trees They are two species of conifers: the Pseudotsuga menziesii and the Larix occidentaliyes. Conifers are evergreen, which means they do not lose their leaves in autumn, but Larix occidentalis It has a peculiarity: they lose all their needles during the fall. When the weather changes, the chlorophyll responsible for giving that green color breaks down, so the leaves retract and golden pigments are revealed. There is a reason behind this pattern: by losing its needles, this species reduces the weight load on its branches, which allows them to withstand winter snowfall better and, in addition, they are also more aerodynamic. In short, they are more resistant to structural damage and, in spring, when it absorbs nutrients, the leaves turn green and the emoji disappears until the following fall. Message. Reforestation is not planting trees without rhyme or reason. Although in some areas fields are being replanted with suitable trees, in many others non-endemic or non-endemic species are being planted. They will not withstand extreme conditions like those caused by climate change. Beyond the positive message to drivers, Hampton Lumber created this as reminder that forest areas that are “harvested” can grow back strong and regenerate in a healthy and sustainable way. During the growth of conifers, the forest is free access for visitors who engage in outdoor activities, and their intention is for the emoji to be an example of sustainable growth and… artistic expression? Emoji for a while. Currently, the company plant a million trees a year, but no area is as iconic as that segment between Willamina and Grand Ronde on Highway 18. The estimate of the company is that the smiling face will be visible for another 30 or 50 years. It will be the point at which the trees in that area reach maturity and are processed. Now, they also comment that, as time goes by, the emoji will lose “definition.” The leaves of conifers can lose some of their vitality over the years and strange things can happen to that friendly smiling face in the bush. Image | Tedder In Xataaka | China is carrying out the most ambitious reforestation project in the world: a “wall” of 4,500 kilometers of trees

a giant 17 meter nail drill

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After years of comings and goings, on January 15, 2025, they began some works that are both expected and necessary in Madrid: the burial of the A5. It is one of the arteries of the city, an urban highway on which 80,000 vehicles circulate daily and which, after being completed in 1968, separated the residents of the neighborhoods of Aluche, Las Águilas and Lucero from those of Batán and Casa de Campo. The works will not be simple or quick, but there is a trick: the ‘cut and cover’ technique. This technique is nothing revolutionary. It is one of the oldest and most used methods for tunnel construction superficial. When a tunnel has to be excavated to a certain depth or that passes through complex elements, the ‘boring machines’ or tunnel boring machinesbut when it is not necessary, this false tunnel is simply made. In essence, the ‘cut and cover’ technique consists of excavating a trench from the surface, building the new road inside it and, later, covering it with fill material. And there are two variants: From bottom to top: The trench is excavated with the necessary support from the ground and the tunnel is built inside. Once the structure is completed, the trench is backfilled and the surface is restored. From top to bottom: First, the lateral retaining walls and the crowning beams are built at ground level. Subsequently, the roof is excavated and prefabricated beams are installed. Thus, the surface is reinstalled early to restore traffic as soon as possible while the excavation work and construction of the permanent roof are completed. In the video above, a piloting machine in action. Basically, like a giant “drill”. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and are used depending on the terrain and conditions, but for tunnels at depths of about ten meters, these ‘cut and cover’ methods They are more economical and practical than tunnels drilled with deep tunneling methods. The ‘cut and cover’ of the A5 and Castellana in Madrid As we say, the technique was designed to hinder daily traffic as little as possible, and even more so on such essential and busy roads, but the reality is that on the A5, the works have converted one of the entrances to the capital into a ‘Mario Kart’. Through a series of detours, a succession of tight curves have been created at very slow speeds that have provoked that the Madrid City Council collects multiple complaints. Such is the commotion that a guide to avoid getting lost with this burial of the A5but in any case, both the highway and part of Castellana have a few months of noise and excavators ahead of them. In the case of the A5, 3.2 kilometers of the highway are being buried using the construction technique of concrete containment screens to then install the covering slabs. There are 600 people who work daily on the site along with a hundred machines such as the striking ‘pilots’. These machines are specialized in the construction of “piles”, which are nothing more than buried columns that can be built in the ground by injecting concrete into a metal reinforcement or that can be prefabricated. On the route of the “new” A5, there will be more than 6,000 piles of reinforced concrete. But the highway is not the only area of ​​the city in which this technique is being implemented. In the Parque Castellana project, a tunnel of about 675 meters long is also being built that will have 2,041 piles. In the end, and as we mentioned, it is not a new technique (in fact, it was used to build the Paris metro in 1900), but of the possible options for creating tunnels, it is one of the least disruptive to traffic in cities. Although those who are suffering from the works on Parque Castellana and the A5 will surely see it with different eyes. Images | Xofc, Madrid Diary In Xataka | 20 years later, Europe faces one of the greatest engineering milestones in its history: the longest railway tunnel in the world

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