ready

Xiaomi has a full-time humanoid robot in its car factory. You’re ready to stop being an intern

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Xiaomi has made its car factory cause a sensation. With the SU7 and YU7 in the market, the company has managed to make people stand in line and pay a fortune to see how these cars are manufactured, something they have achieved thanks to a good marketing strategy and, above all, a futuristic factory with a hook that is difficult to ignore: humanoid robots riding the cars. It was this past March when we learned from Lei Jun, founder and CEO of the company, that they had put a series of humanoid robots to work. “do internships” inside the factories. The tasks of these robots were not at all exciting, as they were dedicated to one thing: putting self-tapping nuts on the floor parts of cars. However, the period of being robo-interns is coming to an end and it has been the CEO himself who has commented that robots have climbed several steps. Specifically, they are almost on the same level of success as their human “companions.” From robo-interns to robo-experts The task they had to do is the most alienating and example of chain work that you can imagine. The system collects the nuts from an automatic supply equipment and deposits them in the indicated place, where the automatic screwing is subsequently carried out. Indeed: the robots were putting nuts… and that’s it. In March, Lei Jun said the robots had achieved a 90.2% success rate in placing nuts during three hours of continuous autonomous operation. This figure indicates the number of correct operations compared to the total attempts made and, in addition, they detailed that they adjusted to a production cycle of 76 seconds. Timing in these factories is crucial, especially when all steps are so automated if the car output goals are to be achieved. Now, although putting on nuts seems simple, they are not like those on an Ikea piece of furniture and there are some things to consider. A key challenge in this process is getting the self-tapping nut to precisely align, center and seat on the locating pin before screwing. Otherwise, the system crashes and the join is incomplete. And this process is complicated by three main factors: Grip variability: The orientation of the nut on the robot gripper changes with each cycle. Design and physical forces– The internal knurling of the nut and the magnetic attraction of the pin make exact adjustment difficult. Operating environment: There are limitations on the working angle and external interference in the assembly area. For the robot it is more complicated than it seems, but now it has been Lei Jun himself who has turned to come to the fore to point out that robots have gone from that success rate of 90.2% to 98%. They are, according to the executive, just one percentage point behind human workers. And most importantly, they are ready to take on more complex tasks. Because thanks to that success, it has been decided that Robots can begin to tackle more complex tasks. Because from tightening nuts, they have moved on to new stations that included tasks such as installing the side panels of the center console, as well as folding and recycling parts. The side panel task is complex because it is a large, flexible, irregularly shaped component that requires multiple pick-and-place cycles in different positions. Xiaomi says this is the first time a humanoid robot has completed prolonged manipulation of such a part on a real automotive production line and estimates the success rate to be over 90%. In four months we will see where that percentage is, but although it is clear that the evolution of the company’s humanoid tobots It is being remarkable, we are talking about robots that are still in the testing phase and in a single workstation. They are taking data and running every possible metric to determine if they are up to par for a productive, full-scale deployment. Human workers can rest easy, at least for a few more months. What I don’t understand is why they have to look like robots taken from the reboot from ‘Robocop’. In Xataka | In the war of humanoid robots, those from the United States dance and those from China work by the piece. It is not a technological issue

Europe has a robot ready to clean the seabed. Spain has 8,000 kilometers of coast waiting

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Neither the proliferation of jellyfish neither lack of sand On the beaches, the great environmental problem of the oceans is marine litter. So within the European project SEACLEAR 2.0, a research team from the Technical University of Munich has developed an autonomous diving robot capable of detecting and recovering debris from the bottom. A kind of pool cleaning robot that plays in another league: the open sea. But is there really so much shit in the sea? An example: In Dubrovnik they counted more than a thousand pieces of garbage in an area of ​​only 100 square meters. In the Mediterranean, where there is tourism and ports, it is a real problem. The pool cleaning robot. The system is made up of the robot and a series of auxiliary elements necessary to fulfill the mission: an unmanned mother ship, an auxiliary boat, a drone, an explorer robot of about 50 centimeters and the robot in question. How does it work? The boat is what provides energy and data to the robots and is also responsible for mapping the bottom with camera and sonar, which allows objects to be identified even in murky waters. Afterwards, the small, agile scout robot quickly runs through it. With all this information, the pool cleaning robot descends with its eight miniturbines until it reaches that area where there is garbage. There, he picks up the objects and lifts them onto the auxiliary boat, which works as a container, using a winch. Why is it important. Because it reaches where divers cannot or does not allow them to reach: as explains dr. Stefan Sosnowskifrom the Information Technology Control Chair of the TUM, a cost-benefit analysis proves that this autonomous waste collection is profitable from 16 meters deep. That’s where human diving becomes more expensive, time-consuming and dangerous. That is to say, this robot does not replace diving, but rather complements it to offer a global cleaning solution. On the other hand, the system is not limited to extraction: it also constitutes a valuable tool for obtaining data since, thanks to the integrated sensors, it can generate maps of the bottom, identify types of waste and record its location, which can be useful in different fields, such as designing better environmental or port management policies. Context. He SEACLEAR project It is funded by the European Union through the Horizon 2020 program. The consortium is made up of eight European partners: the universities of Munich, Delft, Cluj-Napoca and Dubrovnik on the academic level, plus the Port Authority of Hamburg, the Dubrovnik-Neretva Regional Development Agency and the company Subsea Tech. That the port of Hamburg and a company are part of the group is important: it is not an academic laboratory project, but the idea is to put it into practice, to real use at sea. In detail. The intelligence of the system resides in four components: the identification of objects with camera and sonar, the manual labeling of more than 7,000 images of objects outside the seabed, the generation of 3D models through AI. From here, the system already knows where and how to grab those objects to extract them safely. The key to this extraction is a four-finger clamp capable of applying up to 4,000 N of force, enough to lift objects weighing up to 250 kilograms. However, how much with pressure sensors to regulate that force so as not to break fragile materials such as plastics or glass. If you broke a plastic object into smaller pieces, the cure would be worse than the disease. Yes, but. The first public demonstration of the system occurred in the port of Marseille, where the robot recovered, among other things, a wheel and a car seat. While it is true that it is a test in a real environment, it is a controlled demo under known conditions. The project has not yet made public data essential for its profitability and scalability, such as how many objects were recovered per hour, what is the error rate of the recognition system or the cost of operating the system in a real port for a year. On the other hand, extracting objects from the bottom has its drawback: if they are large and have been deposited there for years, they can suspend contaminated sediments and disturb fauna that has colonized them. That is, paradoxically, cleaning can also have environmental impact. In Xataka | It turns out that China’s new giant buoys are actually miniature data centers. Korea won’t like it In Xataka | Germany is installing giant concrete spheres under the sea. It has a good reason: to store renewable energy Cover | TUM

the industry is not ready for TikTok

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In April 2024, several technicians from the statistical service of the US Department of Agriculture raised their eyebrows at the same time: sales of cottage cheese had skyrocketed so enormously that, evidently, it could only be a mistake. So, as protocol dictates in these cases, they picked up the phone and They started calling, one by one, all the producers. It wasn’t a mistake. Two years later, that same “wave” reaches a factory in Vilalba, in Lugo. There, Entrepinares (the largest cheese manufacturer in Spain) is about to spend more than 20 million euros to also become the Spanish king of cottage cheese. What is happening? How is it possible that in the land of Cabrales, Manchego and Maó that flat, dull and amorphous thing called a cottage is triumphing? But let’s start with the Mercadona line… because there we find many of the answers. As I say, Entrepinares will allocate more than 20 million to produce, in its Vilalba plant, about seven million kilos of this product. The change for the company is greater than it seems because, despite being the largest cheese factory in Spain, it does not produce fresh cheese. Spain has never been a place very fond of fresh cheese. It’s not that there isn’t any (from cottage cheese to mata or ‘Burgos cheese’), but the storage conditions complicated its popularity. Such is the situation that, during all these years, Mercadona has not been able to find a national supplier for its cheese. This has meant that there have been several changes of supplier and that the product is sold out with quite a striking frequency. It wasn’t a big problem as long as the demand was small and controllable; but now the situation has changed. What happened to cottage cheese? For the confused: we are talking about a grainy, unpressed curd that contains about 12 grams of protein per 100 and just 4% fat. In reality, if we want to fully understand what happened, we have to think of it more than as a cheese… as a “protein supplement” that is made with milk. That’s why it didn’t have any success: the “cultural gap” didn’t exist until the protein rush created it. And what if he made it: cottage consumption in Spain grew by 61% in 2025seven times more than fresh cheese, according to NIQ. 61%? It sounds like a lot (a lot) and it is, but there is something of a trick to it. After all, the cottage cheese started almost from scratch. Cottage cheese remains almost anecdotal in the Spanish cheese market as a whole. However, the growth pattern is global and even in much more mature markets (such as the US or the United Kingdom) growth is around 20% and the +41.9%. The question that everyone has is the same: fashion or fixed category? And there the opinions are varied. While analysts such as John Crawford maintain that It’s not something temporary (two years of double-digit growth in value and volume is not a fad) others like Mike McCully are more cautious (and “believe that the boom comes after two decades of decline because of TikTok”, which suggests that it may go away as quickly as it came). Be that as it may, what is clear is that this story goes beyond cheese. It is about how our food systems are suffering (and will suffer) pressures from extremely volatile ‘states of opinion’. It is, above all, that we are not prepared for it (and being prepared will cost us a lot of money). Image | Caroline Roose In Xataka | There is a brand devouring the cheese industry in Spain thanks to Mercadona: Entrepinares

The US has more than 800 F-35 fighters in service. Only one in four is ready to do everything he should

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We have talked many times about F-35 as one of the great symbols of American air power, but its most pressing problem is not in the capabilities that have made it a centerpiece of US military aviation, nor even in the number of units planned for the coming decades. It’s on land. The latest GAO report once again puts numbers on the tension: the US has many F-35s, but the fleet spends much less time fully prepared than it should. Deterioration. According to the GAOthe rate mission capable It measures the percentage of time in which an aircraft can fly and perform at least one of its assigned missions. The rate full mission capableon the other hand, measures when you can fulfill all of them. In fiscal year 2025, the US F-35 fleet recorded 44% in the first category and just 25% in the second. Simply put: America’s F-35s can do something a limited portion of the time, but are only fully ready a quarter of the time. Background. The report shows that the problem has been accumulating for several years. Between fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2025, the rate mission capable of the fleet fell from 67% to 44%, while the rate full mission capable fell from 38% to 25%. The difference matters because we are not facing a minor maintenance oscillation, but rather a sustained loss of availability. What we have seen is a fleet that remains central to the United States, but that spends less and less time in a position to fulfill its missions. New planes, old problems. One of the most striking parts of the document is that the 2025 drop is not explained only by aging devices or accumulated wear. Air Force officials attributed part of the decline to the acceptance of new aircraft that could not fulfill missions due to software delays. Added to this were the shortage of parts and inspection and repair work due to corrosion. The report also points to maintenance not optimized to reduce workload or time on the ground, and to high technical complexity due to the continuous development of the program. Global Support Solution Reset. The F-35 Joint Program Office launched this update to its sustainment strategy in June 2025, with an ambitious goal for 2030: to bring the rate mission capable at 80% and the full mission capable 65% in the fleet as a whole. On paper, it is the attempt to correct years of accumulated problems in maintenance, parts and industrial support. More money, not necessarily more margin. The solution is not only to reorganize processes or order more parts from the industry. It also requires a considerable budget injection. The document estimates that an additional $13.7 billion will be needed through fiscal year 2031, although not all of that money officially belongs to the GSS Reset. The Joint Program Office itself places that part at about 2.2 billion. The other 11.5 billion covers a wider gap: what the military branches had planned to spend versus what sustaining the fleet actually demands. The most expensive plane also becomes more expensive on the ground: The problem does not end with availability or missing parts. Since 2021, according to the report, F-35 sustainment costs have continued to rise while the program has not met its performance goals and its performance has continued on a downward trend. The scale helps understand why it matters: the F-35 is the Department of Defense’s most expensive weapons system, with sustainment costs for the United States estimated at $1.6 trillion over its lifetime, according to 2024 figures. By the mid-2030s, military branches would face an annual gap of more than $1 billion between what it will cost to sustain their F-35s and what they consider affordable. The exit. Auditors propose risk mitigation plans for initiatives such as the GSS Reset, a review of contractual incentives and a reliable system to record what is paid, why it is paid and with what results. The Department of Defense said it agreed with the recommendations, according to the report, but the challenge remains intact. The F-35 will remain a centerpiece of American military aviation for decades. The question is whether the US will achieve that this centrality is measured less by the number of aircraft purchased and more by how many are ready when needed. Images | Aawyer Andrews In Xataka | The European fighter may have died, but there is a plan B to avoid the F-35. One with Spain, Germany and an unexpected guest

Experts agree that “the quality of rest depends on whether you go to bed at the time when your body is ready to sleep”

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When you read the question “what time should you go to bed?” He usually waits for a number, a specific time, a recurring pattern to do as the day ends. Bad news. What research has discovered is that the ‘perfect time’ for going to bed is with parents. That is, genetics (chronotype) and a handful of other things. That’s why it’s time to see what the experts say. The time to go to sleep. These days, there are some statements from dr. Celia García Maloneurologist specializing in Sleep Medicine and co-director of the Madrid Clinic CISNe in which she explains that the quality of rest does not depend only on the number of hours. On the contrary, it often depends on sleeping at a time when the body is biologically ready for it. This is interesting because it shows a paradigm shift in global sleep science. That moment matters, yes (but not that much). In 2021, Nikbakhtian and his team reviewed sleep routines of more than 100,000 adults. The interesting thing about this study is that they did not use self-reported responses, but rather what a week of wrist accelerometer data said. Their conclusions were clear: going to bed between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. was associated with a lower cardiovascular incidence. It was bad news for Spain, the European country that takes the longest to go to bed. However, the details are important: it was not a question of ‘the earlier you go to bed the better’ (because going to bed before 10pm was also a problem); It was about finding the appropriate moment for each society, country or culture. And that’s where the surprises begin. Because what we are discovering is that regularity is the key. In this case, the Windred team reviewed data from six years of life of about 60,000 people. Their conclusions were that the most regular quartiles showed between 20% and 48% less mortality from all causes compared to the most irregular ones. This is because, we now believe, genetic variants are associated more with schedule than with duration and quality of the dream. The researchers’ thesis is that when we find a stable time to go to bed, the rest of the pieces begin to organize themselves. What does all this mean? For us mortals who just want to sleep, there are a handful of consequences: There is no magic hour. What we have to do is look for a stable window: if we find a time to go to bed, the rest of the system tends to adapt. However, chronotypes exist. It’s a good idea to find out which one is ours and “negotiate with it.” Take care of your dream. Although we sometimes insist on sleeping at a certain time, we often forget that sleep hygiene (and, above all, light) is one of the most important things to sleep well. Image | Annie Spratt In Xataka | You take some melatonin and fall asleep. It seems like a harmless practice for your health but it is not so.

The US had a ship with 2,000 marines ready to invade Iran. Now he has sent it right to the place where China worries the most

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An image that is still studied in military academies occurred in 1942, when during the call Battle of Midway The Americans managed to sink four Japanese aircraft carriers in just a few hours. That battle showed that, in the Pacific, moving a handful of ships to the right place could upset the strategic balance of an entire region, a lesson that continues to influence American naval planning more than eight decades later. A movement and what it reveals. For weeks there was speculation that the United States would expand its confrontation with Iran through more aggressive operations on the ground in the Persian Gulf. However, one of the most significant military moves has occurred far from the Middle East. He USS Boxeran amphibious assault ship capable of landing troops, vehicles and combat aircraft has abandoned any potential role in a ground operation against Iran and has set course to the South China Sea. On board is the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, some 2,000 troops specialized in rapid interventions and amphibious assaults. The decision suggests that Washington considers that the main strategic challenge today is not in Tehran, but in the growing rivalry with China. From the Gulf to the China Sea. When the Boxer left San Diego In March, in the midst of the crisis with Iran, many interpreted its deployment as a way to keep open the option of carrying out limited landings or capturing strategic objectives if the conflict escalated. However, after a logistics stopover in Singapore and a transit through the Andaman Sea, the ship has reappeared in the South China Sea integrated into the Indo-Pacific Command structure. It is a platform comparable in concept to the Juan Carlos I Spanish, capable of operating landing craft, amphibious vehicles, helicopters and F-35 fighters, allowing it to act as both a light aircraft carrier and a ground intervention force. What changes for Iran. The boxer exit It further reduces the chances of a US amphibious operation against Iranian targets. While the USS Tripoli continues in the region performing functions focused on air strikes and naval support, Washington seems to be betting on a strategy based on blockades, precision bombings and economic pressure, avoiding committing troops on the ground. The decision can be interpreted as a partial military de-escalation, although it also reflects a simpler reality: the United States believes it can contain Iran without deploying significant amphibious forces, while competition with China requires a constant presence and visible in Asia. The concern of Asian allies. Reuters counted that the issue was very present in the Singapore Shangri-La Dialoguewhere numerous Asian defense officials expressed doubts about whether the United States will be able to simultaneously maintain its focus on the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific. Although Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth insisted in which Washington can manage both scenarios at the same time, countries such as the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Canada and New Zealand they are reinforcing their military capabilities and deepening their mutual ties to complement the American security umbrella. The goal is to build a stronger regional network in the face of growing pressure from Beijing. Japan and the new security architecture. Japan is becoming one of the pillars of that strategy. Tokyo has made more flexible historically its arms export rules and aspires to act as a connection point between the different partners in the region. The idea is that deterrence against China do not depend exclusively of the United States, but of an increasingly integrated network of countries capable of sharing equipment, training and military cooperation. This shift reflects the extent to which the perception of China’s military rise is transforming Asian security policy. The center of gravity of global competition. The arrival of the Boxer coincides with intense military activity in the Indo-Pacific. The USS George Washington aircraft carrier has started new patrols from Japan, while the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning operates in the Western Pacific under surveillance of neighboring countries. In this context, the deployment of a US amphibious force in the South China Sea has a strong symbolic and operational value. Because beyond the crisis with Iran, the Boxer’s journey summarizes an increasingly evident trend: although the Middle East continues to generate immediate conflicts, the great strategic competition that defines Washington’s priorities is being fought in Asia and, especially, in the face of the rise of China. Image | US Navy In Xataka | China has resurrected the strangest concept of the Cold War: a plane, a ship and a missile launcher in one machine In Xataka | Something is happening over the skies of Chile: the US and China are fighting their particular “cold war” in silence

“People are not ready for this”

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There is a term that we have normalized in the world of technology and video games: “hype”. I don’t like this anglicism at all and prefer “engorile”. That enrogile is an essential part of today’s marketing because so many things are thrown It’s been so many years since we have to create expectations as soon as possible and it’s going to be amazing. There are games like ‘The Witcher 4’ that don’t need it, but even so it just received a portion of gorillaism from someone who knows something about RPGs. A veteran of Larian Studios, the geniuses behind the fantastic ‘Baldur’s Gate 3‘, which ensures that we are not prepared for what they are cooking with ‘The Witcher 4‘. The CD Projekt of the Galacticos. Video game studios have a high staff turnover. It doesn’t just have to do with layoffs, but something much more practical: some of them want the best to be on their ship. An example is Valvewhose employees can, from the first day in their new job, recommend developers from other studios. For developers, a project like ‘The Witcher 4’ is striking both because of the history of the saga (especially after the fantastic ‘The Witcher 3‘) as if it were a game of the minds after ‘Cyberpunk 2077‘. that game it came out how it came outbut the Polish studio has redeemed itself based on patches and content updates. For the new Witcher game, CD Projekt is reinforcing with developers from related studios like Warhorse (creators of ‘Kingdom Come: Deliverance‘) or Larian Studios (the ones from ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ who are now with the new ‘Divinity‘). Things are coming. Working at Larian implies stability because the games they make are more or less the same. If in a Ubisoft you are either in an ‘Assassin’s Creed’ game or in a ‘Far Cry’ game, in Larian they do one thing, and they do it very well: CRPGs. And one of the Larian veterans who has unpacked his bags at CD Projekt RED is Felix Pedulla. Pedulla was the cinematics designer for ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’, this being an impressive section in the game and seems which will have the same role in the Polish study. After the first six months at CD Projekt RED, Pedulla has seen things and this week he made a decision: light the fuse of the engorile with a typical “things are coming” statement. After a long message on LinkedIn in which he looks back, the vertigo of change and reviews those first six months in his new home, Pedulla concludes with a “Do you know what we’re doing for ‘The Witcher 4’? People aren’t ready for this.” There is a lot left. Basically, Pedulla has not said anything at all (nor can he, since the confidentiality clauses in these works are extremely strict), but while these types of statements are not foreign to the world (we have seen them with many other games, with examples like the highly anticipated ‘GTA VI‘), they do not usually come from sources directly involved in development. At least, not in such a public way. But, although I don’t particularly like these practices, I understand that from time to time these messages are launched because we have to keep the enthusiasm and attention alive for a project that arrives at a time when everything competes for that attention. Because there is still a long time left to have ‘The Witcher 4’ in our hands and we have to warm up the atmosphere. This week the non-E3 is celebrated, a week full of video game conferences and who knows if in any of them we will see a real video of a ‘The Witcher 4’ of which we have only seen a cinematic (the Pedulla field, curiously) and a technical demo in Unreal Engine 5. Or maybe we won’t see anything because before the fourth installment of the Witcher there will arrive a new expansion of the veteran ‘The Witcher 3’. In Xataka | There are already video games so hyperrealistic that it is difficult to differentiate them from a video. ‘Unrecord’ is the best example

Amazon had everything ready to attack the Starlink monopoly. Until Blue Origin exploded into pieces

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On April 20, 2023, the inaugural flight of SpaceX’s Starship took place. Less than four minutes later, the space vehicle explodedbut that was not what was amazing. The amazing thing was that all the company staff celebrated that explosion applauding wildlyas if it had been an extraordinary success. And the truth is that it was, because this launch was part of the company’s incremental philosophy: it doesn’t matter if the rockets explode, because (for the moment) that is what they have to do. When the Blue Origin rocket exploded last weekthere was very little to celebrate. And that is a big difference between both companies. This was not an explosion “by design”. There is a critical difference between the Starship prototype explosions and that of the New Glenn: intent. While SpaceX uses its tests to push its rockets to the limit and learn from those often controlled destructions, the New Glenn that exploded a few days ago was theoretically a production vehicle intended to complete operational missions. It’s one thing to lose a rocket with no payload that is designed to learn from mistakes, but quite another to lose one with a payload that real customers depend on. Blue Origin runs out of ramp. The economic impact of this accident goes beyond the cost of the lost vehicle. The fundamental problem is that Blue Origin currently has only one operational launch pad for the New Glenn, the LC-36, and damage to the tower and support systems could paralyze the company’s activity for months. In a recent update the company indicates who is already working on that ramp “And we have a good reconstruction plan in place.” Bad news for Kuiper. This explosion has also left in the air the deployment of the first 49 satellites of Amazon’s Juiper network, which depended on this launch. The company needs to put thousands of satellites into orbit to compete with Starlink, and every month of delay in the New Glenn is a month of advantage for Elon Musk. NASA and the lunar calendar. But the New Glenn is also a key piece for the logistics of NASA’s Artemis missions. The explosion may force the space agency to rethink its priorities and even delay missions to the Moon planned for the coming years. NASA is running out of plans B, and is increasingly dependent on a single supplier (SpaceX) when that is precisely what Blue Origin could have mitigated. Reliability pays off over time. We have a good example of SpaceX’s trial and error strategy with the Falcon 9. Today it is one of the most reliable rockets in the world with a success rate of over 99%: to date it has carried out 644 missions, of which 641 have been successful. Failures like that of September 2016 They served to learn and mature, and a decade later the Falcon 9 have become almost “boring” due to their reliability. Blue Origin seems to have wanted to skip stages by coming to market with a product that wanted to be perfect, but reality has shown that it is very difficult to achieve that reliability without stumbling. And this setback has been big. The opportunity cost. It is estimated that the economic losses of the destroyed vehicle they hover 150 million dollars, but the true cost is in the penalties for delays and the loss of confidence of future customers. The technical and reputational debt that Blue Origin faces is notable, and it remains to be seen how a company that needed success more than ever will react. Monopoly by accident. The clearest consequence of this setback is also striking: the winner is SpaceX, which is even more dominant than it was in the space launch market. The explosion of the New Gless is terrible news because it eliminates competition, and without a rival that can guarantee launches, access to space will continue to be a bottleneck controlled by a single company and, of course, by its founder, Elon Musk. The tycoon, yes, published a message in X upon hearing about the explosion saying “I’m sorry to see this, I hope you recover quickly.” Image | Blue Origin In Xataka | In 2018, Elon Musk put his own car into orbit. Eight years later it is still circling the Earth

Get ready to pay 30% more on your bill this summer

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Spain has come to pay for consuming energy, marking a historic milestone of -10 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) on any given Sunday. Red Eléctrica data shows days where photovoltaic solar energy reaches more than 63% of the generation at times of maximum radiation, which is an undeniable success for our electrical system. And yet, this summer the electricity bill It will be almost 30% more expensive than last year. To understand how both things can be true at the same time, you have to understand what happens between the solar panel and your bill. The 41% you see and the 59% you don’t see. You look at the market price and think you understand your bill. You don’t understand her. That price—the one making the headlines, the one that hit negative numbers on Sunday—represents 41% of what you pay. The rest is a whole edifice of tolls, system charges and taxes that doesn’t appear on any headline but does appear on your bill each month. And here comes the most ironic trap of this entire story. The massive deployment of wind and solar achieved something that seemed impossible five years ago: moderating national inflation to 3.2%. An indisputable macroeconomic victory. However, that victory had a side effect that no one celebrated since by not exceeding the legal limit for price increases, the “deactivation clause” of the Government’s anti-crisis decree was automatically activated. The renewable shield worked so well that it disabled its own aids. From June 1, VAT on electricity and gas returns to 21%. During the day, renewable. At night, gas. And always, the invoice. During the day, Spain operates with almost free energy: an average at noon of just 1.65 euros per megawatt hour. The sun covers 67% of the demand for six hours in a row. The electrical system, in those hours, is an extraordinary machine. But as night falls, the story suddenly changes. Water covers only 21% of the demand. The wind, barely 13%. As Antonio Aceituno points outenergy market analyst at Tempos Energía, electricity at night costs 57% more than at midday. This is when the gas and coal plants have to be turned on again. And that nighttime lighting is what sets the tone for your receipt. With the arrival of summer, the equation worsens on all fronts. High temperatures reduce the efficiency of solar panels. Air conditioning triggers demand. The hydraulic shield gives way. And the geopolitical panorama is tightening from the outside: despite the pre-peace agreement between the United States and Iran to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, gas travels by ship and those LNG tankers They will not arrive in Europe before August. With European storage stagnant at 37%, Tempos Energía predicts that electricity in the third quarter moves between 82 and 86 euros per megawatt hour. If the pact fails, above 90. 35% more expensive than the previous summer. The market that moves 7% in one afternoon without anything happening. Behind the price of electricity there is another layer that almost no one explains: the European gas market – reference TTF – works, in practice, like a casino. As energy expert Joaquín Coronado describesis a machine designed to transfer volatility to the end consumer. In a single recent session, the index moved more than 7% intraday without any real event to justify it. Only speculation of financial funds. And here comes the paradox that Coronado points out precisely: more than 75% of the energy negotiated in Spain already goes through bilateral contracts, at an agreed price, outside the speculative market. Three out of every four megawatts, shielded. But that remaining 25%—the one that is played every day in the marginalist market—is what sets the price of your entire bill. The minority rules over the majority. Added to this is a dysfunction that comes from the factory in the system design: Spanish demand is inelastic. When electricity shows ridiculous prices at midday, consumers do not react by consuming more to take advantage of the bargain—because they have no real incentives to do so, no smart meters that facilitate it, nor rates that reward it in real time. By not absorbing this excess of cheap energy, agents from France and Portugal end up buying it to export it. And that export, due to the dynamics of European coupling, drags our prices up. We give away the energy and they return the European price to us. Incomplete success. Spain has achieved an indisputable structural feat. We have become a European pioneer by decoupling, for much of the day, our electrical system from the worst international whims of gas, gaining valuable energy independence. However, the transition does not end with installing solar panels. As long as the sector continues to be immersed in internal wars blaming each other, as long as the grid lacks a massive battery system to store megawatts at zero cost and as long as the tax structure continues to suffocate the family bill, cheap electricity will continue to be a mirage on the screens of the financial markets. We generate almost free light at midday, yes, but the labyrinth that that energy runs through until you turn on the plug in your house we will continue to pay at the European luxury price. Image | Unsplash 1 and 2 Xataka | Resolving Spain’s strange paradox: if we generate cheaper energy than ever, why doesn’t the bill go down as much?

The Earth has had a traveling companion for millions of years and we don’t know where it came from, but there is a ship ready to give us answers

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The Earth does not travel alone around the sun. And not only because of the Moon, which logically always accompanies it, orbiting around it. It also has several traveling companions: objects, called co-orbitals, that take exactly the same time as our planet to make a complete revolution around the star. These objects are well known, but their origin is quite mysterious. There are astronomers who bet that they escaped from the asteroid belt. However, their silicate content suggests that they could be fragments of the Moon that jumped from its surface after the impact of a meteorite. Now, a team of scientists has assigned probabilities to each option, although for definitive proof of its origin we will have to wait a little longer. (469219) Kamo’oalewa. This is the name of one of the best-known coorbitals on Earth. It measures between 24 and 107 meters in diameter and the spectral analyzes that have been able to be carried out Telescopes such as the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) and the Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT) indicate that it is very rich in silicates, so it is likely that it comes from the Moon. In fact, the most accepted hypothesis so far indicates that it could have been formed during the impact that gave rise to the Giordano Bruno crater on our satellite. However, this new study, published in the journal Icarus, suggests that it is more likely that it is an asteroid escaped of the belt between Mars and Jupiter. Very unlikely. For an asteroid or a piece of the Moon to become co-orbital, they must not only escape from their place. Also They must have enough energy to be located in what is known as a quasi-satellite orbit. This, for a body the size of Kamo’oalewa, is highly unlikely. Quasi-what? A quasi-satellite has certain similarities with a satellite, but it is not the same. When we look at one of them from the planet it accompanies, in the direction of the Sun, it appears that it is in orbit around the planet, but in reality it rotates around the Sun itself. This, among other reasons, is due to the fact that is outside the Hill sphere of the planet. That is, the environment dominated by its gravity. Being outside of said orbit, it is influenced by the planet’s gravity, but above all, in this case, it is influenced by that of the Sun. Be that as it may, falling and staying in that orbit is complicated, as we have already seen and, above all, as these scientists have demonstrated. Win the asteroid option. These scientists have created models that simulate the trajectory of 12,000 synthetic particles launched from the lunar surface at different speeds and angles, following their orbits for millions of years. The goal was to see how many stabilized at co-orbital points with the Earth. In total they found 70 objects with a diameter greater than 10 meters capable of doing so. 70 out of 12,000! Now, when they repeated the procedure by swapping lunar particles for objects from the asteroid belt, they found more candidates. 1,600 in total. Tianwen-2 will return samples to answer the mystery in 2027 Tianwen-2 will have the key. The origin of coorbitals is so intriguing that China already has sent a ship to analyze the surface of one of them. Specifically from Kamo’oalewa himself. The Tianwen-2 mission left in May 2025 towards this object, with the aim of collecting at least 100 grams of samples and return them to Earth for analysis. It is already known that there are silicates, or at least it is suspected, but a deeper idea of ​​the composition is needed to understand the origin of this object. Orbit insertion is expected to occur next June if all goes well. Then he will spend a few months collecting samples to put them in a capsule, which will land back on Earth. already in 2027. Two options. If the analyzes of Tianwen-2 conclude that Kamo’oalewa came from the Moon, the lunar impact mechanics would have to be rethought, since it would be very rare for one of these fragments to have been able to reach its final location with what we know so far. On the other hand, if it is proven that it comes from an asteroid, it would be necessary to study where these silicates come from, since they are very unconventional for an object of these characteristics. Whatever is concluded, there will be a lot of fabric to cut, that is clear. ç Image | NASA |China News Service In Xataka | The Earth has moons that we don’t know about: exploring them is key to revealing the secrets of our solar system

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