launched

China has just launched its new heavy ion accelerator. He hasn’t built it just to study atoms

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There are machines that are built to observe what we already know and others to push matter to places where we barely know what we are going to find. In Huizhou, China has raised a complex whose beam line runs two kilometers and which is capable of accelerating heavy ions and direct them against atomic nuclei with an intensity that is difficult to achieve in other laboratories. It looks like an infrastructure designed for nuclear physicists. That description, however, falls short. The decisive step came on Tuesday, July 21. The High Intensity Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility, known as HIAF, passed the acceptance reviewn that certifies the fulfillment of its construction objectives and entered into test operation for scientific research. The project, built by Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Scienceshad begun to rise in December 2018 and produced its first beam in October 2025. The work is finished; Now is the time to do science. Now, the HIAF does not function as a single track through which particles enter and exit at full speed. Its architecture distributes the work between three major systems: a superconducting linear accelerator that delivers intense beams in continuous or pulsed mode, a synchrotron that accumulates the ions and takes them to higher energies, and a storage ring that allows them to be preserved while researchers carry out precision measurements. It all starts with ions, atoms from which one or more electrons have been removed and which can be accelerated and guided by electric and magnetic fields. Those in charge of the project claim that it is the first advanced heavy ion research facility that brings together these three technologies. A facility designed to study much more than atoms We still don’t fully understand how many of the heavy elements we find around us formed in the universe. To reconstruct that history, researchers will use the HIAF to produce unstable nuclei, measure how they behave and explore the frontiers at which nuclear matter stops holding together. That work also opens the door to trying to create new superheavy elements. The goal is not only to expand what we know about the periodic table, but to better understand the cosmic processes that ended up forming elements such as uranium. The same beams that are used to investigate nuclei can also be used to subject chips, electronic components and materials to intense radiation. In space, the impact of an energetic particle can corrupt data, crash a circuit, or cause permanent damage to a component; Reproducing part of these effects on land allows them to be studied before incorporating the technology into a satellite or ship. The HIAF was also born with that function: to offer a controlled environment in which to check what resists and what fails when a device must operate under the radiation of space. When these ions reach tissues or materials, the experiment changes scale, but not principle. Its energy can be used in the medical sector and, at the same time, to accelerate the accumulation of radiation damage in materials intended for advanced nuclear systems or to future fusion environments. We are not facing a hospital or a reactor intended to produce electricity. What the HIAF offers is something prior and decisive: a place to verify, under controlled parameters, what works, what degrades and what needs to be redesigned. The start-up phase has already left some figures with which to measure its capacity. According to those responsible for the projectthe team completed beam commissioning along the two-kilometer line in 16 hours, a record among comparable facilities. It also maintains that the pulsed intensities of the oxygen and bismuth beams exceeded previous international references by factors of three and 7.5, respectively. During the tests, work has already been carried out on nuclear masses, production of radioactive beams, nuclear structure and irradiation of materials. These are initial results: the HIAF is still being tested and must now demonstrate to what extent it can transform that capacity into real discoveries and applications. Images | Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences In Xataka | In the 70s, a Nobel Prize winner in physics mathematically solved the tourist’s great dilemma: which restaurant to choose

China has just launched three giant carbon fiber lines: bad news for the US and Japan

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China has taken a new step in its race to dominate the advanced materials sector. And the state giant CNBM (China National Building Material Group) has launched three new high-performance carbon fiber production lines at its Lianyungang plant in Jiangsu province, operated by its subsidiary Zhongfu Shenying Carbon Fiber. The new facilities cover the three main categories of the material (general use, high resistance and high modulus) and add to the advances that the country has been announcing in recent months in this field. Why is it important. High-performance carbon fiber has been around for decades being a strategic material controlled by very few actors. Japan and the United States have historically dominated its production, and for years China has had restricted access to the most advanced variants through international export control agreements. With these three lines, Beijing reinforces its capacity to produce at home a material that is key for sectors such as aeronautics, energy, robotics or consumer electronics. In detail. The three lines put into operation are, according to has reported the Chinese state agency Xinhua, the largest in the world in their respective categories. The first is a high-capacity line for 5,000 tons per year, which uses the subsidiary’s own spinning technology and whose material is mainly used for wind energy and electric vehicles. The second, with a capacity for 1,000 tons per year, produces T1100 grade fiber, designed for aerospace applications that require very light structures with high load capacity. And the third, of 600 tons per year, manufactures SYM40 grade high modulus fiber, aimed at precision applications in the seabed, deep mining, space or competitive sports equipment, according to they collect from Global Times. A relevant fact about this announcement is that, depending on the mediumthe new lines have achieved a localization rate of more than 95% in their main equipment. That is, almost all of the machinery used to manufacture the fiber is domestically manufactured, which confirms that China not only produces the material, but also much of the technology necessary to do so on a large scale. The context. This announcement comes in the midst of a technological pulse with the United States and Japan. According to South China Morning PostWashington and Tokyo have recently tightened controls on the export of equipment and technology to manufacture high-strength carbon fiber, precisely to make it difficult for Chinese companies to produce it. Ma Jie, an analyst at Guoyuan Securities, explained in a report that these restrictions have pushed the Chinese industry to pursue technological self-sufficiency and control its entire supply chain, and recalled that the sector has gone from basic T300 fiber to today reaching standards that are among the most advanced in the world. Furthermore, just as we counted A few months ago, CNBM had presented at the JEC World fair in Paris the world’s first mass production of T1200 fiber, the strongest variant of the scale, with more than 8 gigapascals of tensile strength. Added to this news, at the beginning of June, was the announcement by Shanghai Petrochemical, a subsidiary of Sinopec, about the large-scale production of T1000 fiber using its own process. Supply. Zhou Yuxian, president of CNBM, pointed out Xinhua that these new lines help solve two structural problems in the sector: the shortage of high-end carbon fiber products and the lack of a complete offer that covers all categories of the material. The manager added that the production “will reinforce the security and resilience of the Chinese supply of strategic materials.” It is worth remembering that, until now, the world market has been dominated by a handful of manufacturers. Three Japanese companies (Toray Industries, Teijin and Mitsubishi Chemical) together controlled just over half of the global market in 2025, according to a report from Nikkei Asia. The American Hexcel is another of the major players in the sector, especially in the aerospace and military fields. morenda. China’s push for carbon fiber responds to a demand that continues to grow. And according tothe report According to Guoyuan Securities, global demand for carbon fiber exceeded 220,000 tons in 2025, with a growth of 43.8% compared to the previous year, while in China this growth was even higher, 57%, driven by the manufacturing of the C919 commercial aircraft, humanoid robots and low-altitude vehicles. Cover image | CGTN In Xataka | “It’s not cheating, it’s engineering”: this is how China avoids 2,000 ASML patents with a laser trick

how a probe launched in 2006 woke up and warned Madrid from 9.5 billion km

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About 9.5 billion kilometers from Earth, a ship built by humans more than two decades ago continued to advance through a region of the Solar System that we barely know. He had left in January 2006had left Pluto behind and had been in hibernation for 321 days, almost silently, while its trajectory took it further and further away from us. So after almost a year, New Horizons sent the signal confirming his awakening. It did not bring spectacular images nor did it announce a great discovery: it simply told us that it had come out of its dream and was still in good condition. That signal did not respond to an order sent from Earth that same morning. Before going into hibernation, the team had uploaded a sequence of instructions to the main computer that told the probe when to wake up its systems. New Horizons executed that programming on June 23 and came out of hibernation without needing a new order from our planet. Only then did he send his message to us. When the Deep Space Network station near Madrid received itabout eight hours and 52 minutes had passed since waking up. From this station near Madrid confirmation was received that New Horizons had woken up and was still in good condition. Hibernating didn’t mean turning off the ship and hoping it would come back on months later. During that period, a good part of its systems remained disconnected to reduce consumption and wear, but the flight computer continued to monitor the general condition while the vehicle rotated stably on itself. Once a week, in addition, it sent a simple beacon to indicate if everything was still in order. This way, the team could know that New Horizons was still healthy without maintaining constant communication or unnecessarily occupying the ground antennas. The system that remained in control was not like the computers we carry in our pockets. The command and data management system is supported by a 12MHz Mongoose V processorprotected against radiation and designed to resist rather than run. This component distributes orders among the subsystems and executes routines that allow the probe to react without immediate intervention. Upon certain failures, the ship can initiate a recovery, switch to backup components, or send a request for help. At that distance, autonomy is not an added function, but a condition for survival. The probe also could not send each measurement at the time it was obtained. His observations were stored in two 8 GB solid state drivesa main one and a backup one, while the computer organized and compressed them for later transmission. Seen from our current devices, that memory is almost insignificant; in deep space, forces you to manage each data carefully. The team had to prioritize and wait until the vehicle could point correctly toward our planet. Discovering something was only the first part: we still had to get it to us. A space probe designed to last The next problem was keeping alive a machine that was traveling further and further away from the source of energy that illuminates our planet. New Horizons does not rely on solar panels, but rather a radioisotope thermoelectric generator that uses the heat released by the decay of plutonium-238 to produce electricity. The power it delivers slowly decreases over the years, so each instrument turned on implies a decision. On the other hand, the insulating layers retain the heat generated by the electronics themselves, while automatic heaters intervene when this protection is not enough. After visiting Pluto and Arrokoth, New Horizons continues to move outwards from the Solar System Finding us from the far reaches of the Solar System requires much more than turning on a transmitter. The spacecraft observes the stars and compares what it sees with a catalog stored on board to determine where it is facing. Its small thrusters then make the necessary adjustments to align the main antenna with the Earth. That antenna cannot move independentlyso the entire vehicle must be placed in the correct direction before starting unloading. Only then can the stored data begin a nearly nine-hour journey to us. The paradox of that hibernation was that New Horizons was still doing science. Although the controllers were not sending commands or downloading information, three instruments remained active to study the particles, plasma and dust surrounding the probe. SWAP, PEPSSI and accountant Venetia Burney continued to take measurements and retain them for when regular communication could resume. The mission had reduced much of its activity, but not its ability to observe: even during the longest sleep in its history, outer space continued to pass through its sensors. A ship launched two decades ago does not age like one of our devices: no one can bring it back, change a part, or connect it to a more powerful energy source. What the team can do is teach you how to better manage what you still have. Before its final sleep, New Horizons received a crash protection update to address the gradual drop in power and increased communication delays. Her awakening was not, therefore, an isolated trick, but the result of twenty years of learning to keep her alive from a distance. Images | NASA | In Xataka | NASA is looking for four people who want to live a year on Mars without leaving Earth

No one had ever launched a commercial nuclear satellite. SpaceX and City Labs just did it with Transporter-17

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SpaceX has launched the first commercial nuclear satellite in history. This is BOHR, a CubeSat developed by the City Labs company, and has been completely successfully placed into orbit as part of the Transporter-17 mission, from Elon Musk’s space company. This is intended to demonstrate that the use of nuclear energy to power vehicles, satellites and space probes is not just a matter for large public agencies. Tritium to make history in space. Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability (BOHR) is a CubeSat in which a nuclear reaction similar to the one that has been used for decades takes place. to propel the Voyager probes through space. Although there is a difference. While these obtain energy from the heat generated by the disintegration of plutonium, in this case the beta particles released by the disintegration of tritium are used. Afterwards, these They are transformed into electricity through a semiconductor. The use of tritium is an advantage, as it emits much less radiation, making its pre-launch handling safer. Speaking of the launch. This nuclear satellite was one of the 81 payloads that were part of the Transporter-17 mission on July 7. A Falcon 9 rocket of SpaceX propelled all of them into space after launching from said company’s platform, located at the Vandenberg base. Just 50 minutes after launch, each of the payloads, including BOHR, were placed into their respective orbits. Two possible uses. The use of nuclear energy in space is something that has been studied a lot for two reasons. Firstly, because it can be useful for ships that are going to travel very far, so that they cannot carry enough fuel on board. It is precisely the reason why this energy source was used with Voyager probes. On the other hand, nuclear energy is useful when solar energy is not an option. The Voyager probes traveled a long way from the Sun, but you don’t have to go that far either. The lunar south pole It is constantly in shadow, so in the future, when the Artemis bases are built there, nuclear power could be very necessary. A project with many supports. The development of BOHR was funded under a contract from the United States Department of Defense. In addition, it is the first nuclear mission that has received nuclear launch approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, specifically under the Presidential National Security Memorandum 20 of Donald Trump. Therefore, despite being a private project, it has received all the public support necessary for its implementation. That, along with its inclusion within a SpaceX mission, shows that there are many powerful eyes on this project. It’s just a test. In fact, BOHR has been used to prove that this way of obtaining nuclear energy is viable in space and that it can be used commercially. Currently, the satellite is in orbit, ready to launch the test reaction. However, the CubeSat uses solar panels to obtain energy for its own operation. The next step could be a satellite that exclusively uses tritium decay. For now, this first proof of concept has marked what may be the future of many commercial space missions. Image | SpaceX In Xataka | NASA’s lunar base begins here and now: an investment of hundreds of millions and a date on the horizon

After having avoided the worst of the great European heat wave, Spain has just launched the “Iberian oven”

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The countdown has begun. If we pay attention to the European weather forecast model, in Spain all the mechanisms have just been activated to find temperatures between 42 and 44 degrees in a good part of the center, west and south of the country. In recent years, rivers of ink have flowed about the idea of ​​the ‘Iberian oven’. Well, now we have it back. What exactly is the “Iberian oven”? Although we associate extreme heat with the eruptions of Saharan air masses, that is not usually the case. Not only because, no matter how hot the air arrives from Africa, it usually comes with suspended particles that block the maximums. But because we don’t need it: Spain has more than enough capacity to turn its own air into hell. And it happens a lot: usually when a mass of warm air (often combined with Saharan air) is blocked over the Peninsula. High pressures, clear skies, almost absolute stability… all of this causes the air to descend, compress and increase temperatures greatly. It is not uncommon for them to exceed 45 degrees in these situations. And is that going to affect us now? The forecast is quite clear: more than 40 degrees in the interior and west with anomalies of more than eight degrees above normal for this time of year. Between Sunday the 5th and Tuesday the 7th there will be peaks of up to 35 in the north. And none of that is going to be the most exasperating: the worst is going to be the nights that, in many places, are not going to drop below 25 degrees. Is it a “heat dome”? Well, the term ‘heat dome’ is a copy of the English “heat dome” and became fashionable after the 2021 pacific northwest episode. In addition to its ‘spectacularity’, it is usually used because it has no technical criteria behind it. Unlike heat waves, anything with a configuration slightly resembling a “heat dome” is a heat dome. Yes, yes, it will be; although it doesn’t help much that it is. Why should we care? Above all, because it is not an isolated event. Europe has not yet left the most severe heat wave on record. The dead are counted in the hundreds (orpossibly in the thousands). Continuing to chain extremely high temperatures is not good news. Image | Tropical Tidbits In Xataka | In 2014, French television imagined August 2050 as hell. This week’s heat wave has already overcome it

SpaceX has already launched more satellites than all of humanity combined. And it will remain that way for a long time

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SpaceX went public just a few days ago, so that is the main topic of conversation around Elon Musk’s space company. However, in the meantime, he has broken a record that has gone much more unnoticed. As explained In his Twitter account, former space industry executive Christian Keil, SpaceX has already launched more satellites into space than all of humanity combined. Colossal figures. As of June 12, when the publication was made, SpaceX had launched a total of 15,262 satellites. The sum of satellites launched by all agencies, public or private, since the space race began in 1957, is 15,138. The most curious thing is that SpaceX has existed since 2002, so it has done in just over 2 decades the same thing as all humans dedicated to space in 70 years. Advances in rockets. Much of SpaceX’s success is due to the advances made in rocket manufacturing and reuse. Its first successful launch took place in 2008, with Falcon 1. It was coming off 3 failed launches and the company was on the line. A fourth failure could have bankrupted him. However, everything went well and just two years later the company’s first great colossus arrived: Falcon 9. As reported from spaceIn 2025 alone, this rocket has been launched 165 times. Most of the launches have been loaded with satellites for the Starlink constellation, in which Elon Musk hopes to have 40,000 satellites. Unless another company suddenly gets its act together, it doesn’t seem like SpaceX is going to lose the record. More releases. In addition to the Starlink satellites, SpaceX is now very focused on its space race to the Moon and Mars. They are already one of the two main private partners of the Artemis Program, but they do not leave aside their individual dream of traveling to the two most coveted space objectives for human beings. That will mean a lot of launches, but also data centers will do it that Elon Musk wants to launch in his quest to diversify the company and turn it into an artificial intelligence giant. It hopes to eventually place a million data centers in space. The launches would be made with its Starship rocket, which is still in the testing phase, although it must move quickly to comply with the steps agreed with NASA. for Artemis III. Most launches are loaded with satellites Satellites only. We should not confuse the launch of satellites with that of rockets in general. For now, the record broken by SpaceX has been around the launch of satellites. If we consider ships for any purpose, the sum of all humanity has launched more. Sticking to the releases, The Soviet Union alone carried out more than 2,000while SpaceX is behind 682 launches. It is true that SpaceX launches are more concentrated in time, but its record is based on the fact that each rocket is usually loaded with many satellites. Even so, the pace does not stop and Elon Musk has already expressed on occasion his interest in launching more than a thousand Starship ships per year. If that is true, it would soon surpass the Soviet Union and, perhaps, eventually, all of humanity. This satellite thing is just the beginning. Image | SpaceX | US Space Force In Xataka | Elon Musk knows that TSMC is overwhelmed: Terafab is his idea to completely change the global chip industry

Commodore has launched a retro smartphone that blocks browsers, Instagram or TikTok. It is garish, original and expensive

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My first computer was a Commodore C64, so you will understand that this news hits a nerve with me. The brand, purchased last year by YouTuber Christian “Peri Fractic” Simpson, has now risen from the ashes with the surprising release of Commodore Callback 8020. We are looking at a smartphone with a retro aesthetic that also draws attention for its focus: the idea here is not to compete with the iPhone or the best Android phones, but rather help us not be glued to the cell phone so much since the telephone is above all that: a telephone. Commodore Callback 8020. This launch wants to take advantage of this growing trend of some manufacturers of resurrect “dumb phones”: cell phones that are capped as standard so that we can detoxify a little of that addiction that we usually have to screens. And to do this, this peculiar device does something mercilessly: block access to all types of applications and platforms Neither TikTok nor Instagram. The Callback 8020 has internet access, but by default it blocks both access to web browsers and social networks. It does so according to the company’s announcement “at the system level using a technology that is pending patent.” The device is therefore not a friend of Instagram or TikTok, but it does allow access to other internet services, such as maps or reading QR codes. Banned browsers. The brand also has its own app store, called Commostore, and to limit access to unwanted applications they have a white list, and as Simpson said at Ars Technica“social networks and browsers will never enter that white list.” Nothing about doomscrolling. Not only that: they cannot be installed using common installation methods either. sideloading. Although the current owner of the brand states that other applications can be installed through this process, this will be blocked in the case of social media apps or browsers. According to Simpson, “we’ve drawn a clear line in the sand around any app that is aimed at doomscrolling“. To avoid this at all costs, the firm indicates that they have blocked access to certain services at the DNS level “so even if you manage to install TikTok, you will not be able to access its servers.” Sailfish OS as heart. We are facing a device that uses Sailfish OS as its operational system. This development, created in 2012 by the company Jolla, allows you to install and run Android applications (99%, says Simpson), although its focus is privacy. Thus, it is perfectly possible to use tools such as Spotify, Signal or WhatsApp. The bet is completed with a very nice detail: Commodore includes some games from the C64 era to be able to enjoy them on this mobile. Limited but functional. The mobile’s specifications sheet is modest: it has a MediaTek Helio G81 SoC, 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB capacity (with microSD slot), 3.25″ internal IPS screen (480×640), 1.77″ external VFD screen, as well as a “Dome-LED” notification system. Connectivity is resolved with LTE, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, and we have a 48 MP rear camera and an unspecified front camera that does have autofocus. The battery is 1,550 mAh and recharges via USB-C. Retro notifications. The mobile allows you to receive notifications, but instead of traditional messages in popup format, the Callback 8020 makes use of a small LED screen on the front cover that displays characters with a very retro design reminiscent of the old calculators from the 70s and 80s. Eighties sounds. Audio includes a music player for the 8-bit SID chip, which was used in the original C64. It also has, of course, an integrated DAC, an F radio and a 3.5 mm jack. There are even in-ear headphones included in the box. Shell format, interchangeable shells. The design of the mobile phone itself is most peculiar: it adopts a clamshell format, which makes the interior screen relatively small in size, and it has a physical keyboard and a small directional pad on top of that keyboard. The outer shell can be exchanged. Commodore Callback 8020, in its Founders Edition variant, at $640. Source: Commodore. lor retro is not at all cheap. The price ranges between $500 and $640 depending on the variant chosen — the most expensive is the Founders Edition, with gold tints. It is a high price if one only looks at the specifications and design, but that is not what you pay with this mobile. What you pay is more for the nod to nostalgia and for the system that tries to prevent us from being glued to the screen. We are faced with a different concept, which may be shocking and strange, but which tries to solve a problem and also do so with an original approach. I don’t know if the original Commodore would have made a mobile like that, but one thing is certain: the launch is, to say the least, original, loud and brave. That’s something. In Xataka | While the Spectrum and Commodore 64 were triumphing around the world, there was a terrible problem in Japan: kanji

Jeff Bezos says AI won’t destroy jobs. He then launched a company to create artificial engineers

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Jeff Bezos is one of the representative figures of current technological optimism regarding artificial intelligence. While in the United States we are seeing the university students who boo to those who claim that AI is the new industrial revolution due to pessimism when it comes to finding a job, Bezos point that this pessimism around AI is “the opposite of reality.” Come on, young people are wrong because what AI is going to do is create jobs. At the same time, Bezos has returned to talk of Prometheusa startup that will open the door to fewer workers being needed… while increasing productivity. It’s a bit of a mess, but it makes sense to Bezos. Prometheus. It is not a model or a technology, but a startup. Founded by Bezos in 2024, it has about 150 employees spread across headquarters in San Francisco, London and Zurich and already has a valuation of $41 billion. The central purpose of Prometheus is to develop AI systems capable of assisting in the entire engineering process from start to finish (end to end, as they call it). This means that the system will cover from the initial design of physical products to their manufacturing and launch, passing through all the simulation and testing phases. It is like a kind of artificial general engineer and does not seek to be just something that supports the engineers, who will then create the physical products. His goal is… that, to be a physical engineer. Accelerate inventions. Beszos’ goal is to empower engineers to be able to invent things more quickly and easily. An example is that this AI product is capable of carrying out all the aforementioned steps to build, for example, a jet engine. And here is the twist, since a jet engine is something extremely complex, but what Bezos is looking for is that what the startup develops allows smaller teams to do much bigger things in much shorter cycle times. Landing it: if before 100 people made you a new generation jet engine, now 10 can make it for you. I don’t know, Rick.… We suppose that in his head it is a good way to reassure those young people worried about the future of work, but in case it is not clear, Bezos commented that the fear of AI and the future of work is “the opposite of reality”, pointing out that what Prometheus does will be a catalyst for work. The curious thing is that he has presented it in a slightly strange way. If AI makes work cheaper, faster and easier, employment will increase because, “even though the number of people needed is being reduced by 10, technology will create opportunities to multiply those jobs by 10.” They are a bit strange accounts, but the boss of Amazon gives as an example a two-person household in which only one will have to work because productivity thanks to AI will be much greater. It does not say what that other person will do or if, thanks to AI, that member of the household who continues to work will earn more to replace one who stays at home. What it suggests is that there will be such a massive increase in productivity that not everyone will have to work, a somewhat questionable message because bills are not paid with productivity, but with money. colossal background. But well, beyond Bezos’ curious message, Prometheus is valued at $41 billion and has raised $12 billion from investors such as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and BlackRock, apart from Bezos himself. And, currently, it is in deals to raise a fund of 100,000 million. But Bezos isn’t the only one moving to build AI startups. We have the founders of Uber, Coinbase or Robinhood (curious name) building new companies around this technology boom due to something that these profiles are very clear about: It is a new golden era and the best way to start a company. Young Americans are not so clear. In Xataka | Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, on the possibility that we are facing a work apocalypse: “It’s nonsense”

AI has meant that so many apps have never been launched in such a short time. The problem is that almost no one is using them.

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A new research from MIT monitored the activity of thousands of developers before and after adopting the use of AI agents such as Claude Code or Codex. In their conclusions they have detected a singular “funnel effect”: many begin to use AI to “tinker” with the codebut few projects end in final software releases. Not only that: many more apps arrive in the application stores, but the interest they generate is practically zero. Hotfix blocks everything. When you start programming with Claude Codeeven without knowing how to do it, usually experience that feeling of “being able to do anything”, but although there are projects that manage to evolve and reach a successful conclusion, many remain in an attempt: the manual processes of quality control, code review or deployment They become bottlenecks for these projects, often carried out by people without a technical profile and without knowledge of software engineering. Producing more is not selling more. The MIT study, led by one of its economics professors, Mert Demirer, reveals another striking conclusion: producing more does not mean selling more. Although the volume of mobile applications that comes to the App Store or Google Play Store has grown spectacularly due to the ease of programming with AI, real consumption has not moved. There are many more apps, but the same consumers (and buyers), who are not downloading, trying or certainly buying more than they did. App failure. The vast majority of these new software products created with these tools fail spectacularly when it comes to capturing a minimum audience. The efficiency when creating them is not directly linked to the real usefulness of these tools or with the value that the market demands of them. The code surpasses us. Linus Torvalds already said it when speaking of how he saw the world of AI: “AI will be a tool, and it will make people more productive. I think vibe coding is great for getting people to start programming. I think (the code it generates) is going to be horrible to maintain… so I don’t think programmers will go away. You’ll still want to have people who know how to maintain the output.” His comment was a good prediction of what we are seeing now: too much code being distributed everywhere makes a review of that code necessary to validate it, but doing something like that at the rate that AI is adding code to these projects is unaffordable for human programmers, who are being overwhelmed. And costs are skyrocketing. The new AI agents that program consume a large number of tokens, which has made set off the alarms in companies like Uber or Microsoft. To mitigate the problem, a hybrid usage model is now being imposed: AI agents in the cloud, such as Claude Opus 4.8, are used to plan development, but then the code is written by cheaper cloud models, which are remarkably compliant, or even local models if the user/company has sufficient local computing capacity. Remembering the industrial revolution. Demirer remembers that something similar happened during the industrial revolution. The first factories that replaced steam engines with giant electric motors did not lead to a large increase in productivity. The real boost to efficiency came decades later, when engineers redesigned those factories from scratch by installing individual motors at each workstation. In Xataka | We believed that the AI ​​talent war is about engineers and developers. Actually, it’s about plumbers and electricians.

China just launched a rocket without telling anyone. It turns out that it is the most ambitious in its history

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China has taken seriously that “first come, first served” thing. Although the 1967 Outer Space Treaty states that No State can claim sovereignty over the Moon, Mars or any other celestial body, what does apply is that the geostationary orbital positions and frequency bands work as “first come, first served”. What does this mean? Well, the country or company that first registers and coordinates a constellation or a position with certain frequencies gets priority of use. This context is necessary to understand why SpaceX or Amazon are so interested in mass launching satellites into low orbit, and also why China has been accelerating the pace for months with their rockets in an aggressive expansion maneuver. So aggressive that finish of surprise and secret launch of a Long March 12B rocket with a double objective: to continue feeding its satellite constellation and to demonstrate that its reusable rocket can compete against the Falcon 9 from SpaceX. China and the space sprint This past Monday, the operators of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, in the Gobi Desert, had work. In the American early morning, a rocket Long March 12B It left for low orbit with a cargo of satellites that will feed the Qianfan megaconstellation. This is China’s response to SpaceX Starlink and it seems that the mission went well because the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation declared the flight a success. There is a double reading here. On the one hand, the Long March 12B is one of the responses to SpaceX’s Falcon 9. It is a reusable rocket that has a first stage intended to land by propulsion on a recovery platform on Earth. It can transport 20 tons to low Earth orbit and this was its first flight… although was not done no recovery attempt. The other reading is that China is in aggressive mode launching things into space. It has been a very busy few months with different missions both in low orbit and in its Tiangong space stationbut the interesting thing about this launch of the Long March 12B is that people found out through social networks. When a mission is going to be carried out, whether it is more or less media-related, a series of prior notices are made to both the international authorities that control the air and maritime space in case something goes wrong. However, This mission has been carried out in absolute secrecybeing an unusual practice in both government and private programs. In the end, it is one more demonstration of what we were talking about: China has stepped on the accelerator to claim a space that can only be claimed by getting there and occupying it, and that is vital within the framework of user service (satellite Internet, wow) and, above all, for strategic reasons and technological sovereignty. Because it may seem that companies and countries want to bring the Internet everywhere, but the strategy is different: Controlling constellations and their orbital resources means controlling critical infrastructure such as satellite Internet, Earth observation, and military communications. Geopolitical advantage by arriving first in a space that the rival might want to occupy with other types of satellites. Arriving first forces the others to play on their board. And most importantly: the space you are interested in occupying is finite and everyone wants their land as soon as possible. In the end, this “secret” flight marks number 647 of the Long March series and is one more example that China is deeply involved in a new space race in which it competes directly against the United States, but in which Europe is also working to have something to say. In Xataka | Europe has almost ready something that, until recently, seemed practically a dream: its first reusable spacecraft

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