ship

Cities are becoming theme parks. The “ship” that has landed in Madrid is the latest example

by

A spaceship has parked in the center of Madrid. No, you don’t have to you start running like you were Naruto because it will be there for a few days. This is not a real ship, but the Sol station. And the reason why the design of the subway entrance has been changed to that of this ship is because it is a PlayStation advertising action. And more than something special, it is part of a phenomenon. That of converting part of large cities into theme parks. what has happened. Last Tuesday, November 4, one of the entrances to the Sol station in Madrid appeared “tuned.” Representing a “crashed” ship, PlayStation itself gave some details about the action on your blog. Streamer The Grefg is involved in a campaign that will be resolved on November 19 and in which four PlayStation 5 Pro. It is not a celebration of the launch of any game, but rather a big raffle for which PlayStation has decorated an emblematic point in the city. Experiential Marketing. These types of interventions are not new, although in Spain it is one of the largest marketing movements seen in recent years. It is a strategy designed to create links with users beyond those that can be traced with traditional advertising. A giant LED screen or a billboard is something that we have so internalized that we even ignore it in many cases, but when the station you pass by every day becomes something else, it inevitably draws attention. It is something that reconfigures the perception of the urban environment and can manifest itself in multiple ways. Transportation stations are some of the favorite centers of companies because they are points where many, many people pass through. Sol, without going any further, was “Vodafone Sol” for many years and, although it is a different example, it serves to identify a place and a brand. Advertising outside the advertising space. It has come to be called “visual pollution of a commercial nature” by generating advertising exposure that the citizen cannot avoid. You are going to see it, whether you want to or not, but beyond the subway users themselves, it is an advertisement that generates a conversation on social networks. Public landscape = advertising canvas. As we said, Madrid is becoming an example of how public settings are converted to support a commercial narrative. Next to the PlayStation ship, and literally at kilometer zero of Madrid, the watch brand TAG Heuer placed a few weeks ago a giant clock with a countdown indicating the 365 days left until the Formula 1 returns to Madrid (something with which the neighbors also have their pluses and minuses). It is not very different from what happens with the Olympic Games, but there are other bloodier examples. Without leaving the metro, in 2016 the Chueca station was transformed with the colors of the rainbow. It was not something promoted by political movements in favor of the LGTBI+ collective, but rather an advertising action by Netflix under the slogan “Rainbow is the new black“The campaign was temporary, but the collective managed to keep the colors after Netflix withdrew its brand. And Puerta de España has also been personalized in the past. Pragmatism. This, obviously, does not come for free. Madrid, under Mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardón, approved an ordinance that regulates outdoor advertising in Madrid by which advertising banners in Puerta del Sol and other central environments would be placed exclusively in buildings with certain characteristics. That is why Puerta del Sol is wallpapered with advertisements from big brands, series or movies, for which companies they have to pay a large fee to the city. In the end, looking at it from the most pragmatic point of view, these public-private activities finance infrastructure and furniture that municipal administrations could not afford. That is to say: cities obtain income through these advertising permits and companies gain a scenario that hundreds of thousands of people see every day. In a context in which many cities are attracting tourism and investment, it is a win-win if we think with a cooler head. The mentioned contract of Vodafone Sol was three million euros for changing the name of the station between 2013 and 2016, as well as the name change in the red line public address system. And, when the contract was not renewed, it was Vodafone that bore the management costs. Reactions. Now, while cities like Madrid, Barcelona or New York allow these activities, others restrict them. An example is Lyon, which has decided reduce outdoor advertising in public spaces by up to 75%, eliminating above all digital screens. Outside of the previous pragmatism, it is something that exerts a tension between municipal revenue, commercial freedom and the protection of the urban landscape. In the case of the PlayStation ship, varied reactions have been seen, from enthusiastic voices to those who criticize this conversion of the city into an amusement park. The truth is that PlayStation is a company that carries out very imaginative advertising campaigns in several cities and in Spain nothing this big has ever been seen. Another recent action also had much angrier reactions in the subway, when the company Uber Eats changed the name of the emblematic Goya station to… yes, you’re guessing: Gyoza. Or the former name change of the Blue Line to Stonewashed Blue. and the future Santiago Bernabéu station customized by Real Madrid. Images | PlayStation Spain In Xataka | Japan has an amusement park dedicated to Spain. And it’s as wonderful as it looks

a new Indian ship every 40 days

by

India has undertaken a naval transformation which can no longer be understood as a simple modernization, but as the deliberate construction of a maritime power capable of influencing the balance of everything the Indo-Pacific. The rhythm (we are talking about a new ship or submarine every forty days) reveals a country that has decided to break its historical dependence on foreign suppliers, create its own industrial base and provide itself with a projection capacity that until a few years ago was out of reach. Indian naval acceleration. They remembered in Forbes that the current push does not respond only to geographical pressure from China and Pakistan, but to the conviction that the country’s prosperity depends on controlling vital sea routes, protecting trade and showing presence in an environment where naval powers exert political, economic and military influence. The initiatives Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat have woven an industrial ecosystem that produces steel, sensors, combat systems, missile platforms and software within the country, making Indian shipyards the center of a strategy that aims for a fleet of more than two hundred units before 2035. This ambition not only upsets the regional balance, but redefines the way India views its security and its place in the world. End to a coastal logic. The magnitude of the Indian naval plan implies a doctrinal leap: move from a mentality focused on the defense of the coast to operate as a force capable of maintaining a constant presence from the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Malacca. The new stealth destroyers, equipped with BrahMos missiles locally manufactured, the projects for a nuclear aircraft carrier that complements to Vikrant and the simultaneous expansion of the submarine fleet (including future SSNs and the recently incorporated SSBN) allow India to project power, secure maritime lines of communication and respond quickly in a theater characterized because of the competition between great powers. This transition makes the Indian navy a relevant actor not only for the defense of the country, but for the stability of a space where energy from the Middle East, goods from East Asia and a good part of global trade transit. INS Ranjit, INS Jyoti and INS Mysore Geopolitical pressure. Plus: the growing Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean (supported by ports and logistics platforms in Pakistan and East Africa) has changed India’s strategic environment. Added to this is the expansion of the Pakistani Navy, which incorporates advanced frigates and submarines financed and designed with Chinese assistance. This double pressure vector turns the ocean into a space of direct competition, where the ability to monitor, deter and respond is critical. In this context, depending on external suppliers becomes a risk, both due to the vulnerability of logistics chains in times of crisis and due to the possibility of political restrictions imposed from outside. From that perspective, India’s commitment to an industrial base self defense It not only guarantees operational continuity, but also allows technologies, construction rates and capacities to be adapted to national needs without external mediation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inspects the guard of honor at the naval dockyard this 2025 National shipyards as an engine. The transition towards naval self-sufficiency has resulted in 52 ships under construction simultaneously, from next-generation destroyers to corvettes, stealth frigates and conventional and nuclear submarines. This volume turns the Indian shipyards into one of the naval facilities most active in the world and at the core of an industrial policy that seeks to dominate the production of naval steel, engines, sensors, radars, electronic systems and weapons platforms. The objective is not only to produce hulls, but to generate a complete design, integration and maintenance cycle that ensures that the fleet can be sustained in the long term without external bottlenecks. Plus: this approach creates skilled employment, encourages local innovation and allows technological advances to be transferred to other branches of defense and civil industry. New regional balance. He construction pacejoined to the technological diversificationprojects a scenario where India aspires to position itself as a structural counterweight against China in the Indo-Pacific. Its ability to operate aircraft carrier groups, escorted by stealth destroyers and attack submarines, will provide the country with tools to influence regional crises, participate in multilateral operations and guarantee the security of essential supply routes. The expansion of the Indian presence not only seeks to counteract its immediate rivals, but also to consolidate an image of power responsible capable of providing stability in a marked region due to increasing tensionsfrom the Arabian Sea to the Strait of Malacca. Long-term ambitions. The process of indian naval modernization It synthesizes several simultaneous aspirations: strategic autonomy, the reduction of external dependencies, industrial consolidation and the ability to act as a pillar of the regional order. It is not just about launching more ships, but about building a force capable of operate with continuitymaintain a deterrent presence and evolve in accordance with constantly changing technological threats. To the current paceIndia is approaching a fleet capable of shaping the Indo-Pacific according to its own interests, with tools to guarantee its security and project influence in an environment where maritime competition will be one of the defining axes of the coming decades. Image | Ministry of DefenseIndian Navy, Government of India In Xataka | China’s dominance is extending far beyond rare earths. Even where the US had no rival: the sea In Xataka | Satellite images leave no doubt: the US has restored the Pacific base that launched the atomic bombing of Japan

Someone at Harvard suggested that 3I/ATLAS was an alien ship. A new test has revealed to us what it really is

by

Without a doubt one of the space objects that has been causing the most sensation in recent months is 3I/ATLAS. Practically everything has been said in recent months, from the fact that it is a simple asteroid that was going to destroy our planet to the fact that it was an alien shipas noted a professor from the prestigious Harvard. But all these ideas have been left in nothing thanks to the last signal that has been interpreted from this object. What he imagined. Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, the third such visitor ever detected, has kept the scientific community (and science fiction fans) in suspense since its discovery in July. The most “far-fetched” speculations, as experts have described them, went so far as to suggest that it could be an extraterrestrial spacecraft, especially when it temporarily disappeared behind the Sun. The sign that explains everything. On October 24, the radio telescope MeerKAT In South Africa, a powerful network of 64 antennas captured the key evidence. This was neither an encrypted message nor a technological transmission from another species, but rather an absorption radio signal caused by hydroxyl molecules. What does it mean. Hydroxyl molecules are the direct result of the ‘breaking’ of a water molecule. This is something that happens when the ice in the nucleus of a comet approaches the Sun and sublimates due to the large amount of energy it absorbs. That is, it automatically goes from solid to gas and this is what we have detected from Earth, as has explained Michael Küppers, scientist at the European Space Agency (ESA). In summary, we are talking about 3I/ATLAS containing ice inside, as happens in comets (and not in extraterrestrial spacecraft). And we are completely sure of this, since these absorption signals are like the molecular DNI, it is unique for each compound. Goodbye speculation. As we have mentioned before, the alien ship theory gained traction when the object hid behind the Sun. Some speculated that it was maneuvering or hiding from our radars. However, on November 4, 3I/ATLAS reappeared exactly where orbital calculations predicted it would be. There were no maneuvers, just physics. Furthermore, it is not the first time it has been detected. Javier Peralta, an expert in planetary atmospheres, recalls that NASA’s Swift space telescope had already observed hydroxyl in the ultraviolet spectrum. MeerKAT’s new detection is crucial because it confirms the same composition in a completely different band of the electromagnetic spectrum: radio. What does the future hold for us? 3I/ATLAS is the third known interstellar visitor, after 1I/’Oumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019. Although its trajectory is too long and it has traveled too long to know which star it comes from. But the important thing is that we are already preparing for what is coming. ESA’s JUICE mission, currently en route to Jupiter, will take new radio measurements from 3I/ATLAS in February 2026. But the big bet is the mission ESA Comet Interceptorwhich will be launched around 2029 and will wait for the next large comet to approach our planet. Cover | POT In Xataka | NASA ignores the Harvard study on an alleged extraterrestrial spacecraft: “it is an interstellar comet”

If the ship is damaged, they have three options

by

Here we go again. Three Chinese astronauts are functionally stranded at the Tiangong space station after the apparent space debris impact with the Shenzhou-20 ship. The China Manned Mission Space Agency (CMSA) has not yet commented on its return. What we know. Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie were due to return to Earth on November 5. Its return flight was postponed to further examine the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft for the possible impact of small fragments of space debris while it was docked with the Chinese station. The three crew members they are safe. The damage to the capsule was discovered “during final checks prior to re-entry.” But the relief crew had already arrived, meaning there are two ships (Shenzhou-20 and Shenzhou-21) and six astronauts aboard a station designed for three. The CMSA focuses its investigations on the integrity of the ship’s heat shield and parachute systems. A failure in any of these elements during the ship’s atmospheric reentry could be catastrophic. What we don’t know. The CMSA is not a space agency counterpart to NASA and ESA, but a unit of the Chinese army that reports to the military command. Your communications are, consequently, limited. We do not know the extent of the damage to the ship or if it was really due to the impact of space debris. There is still no scheduled date for his return. It will depend on whether the ship is considered safe or the level of risks that the CMSA is willing to take. Assuming the ship is damaged, there are three possible options. The three options. The riskiest plan would be to attempt an in-orbit repair with a spacewalk. Commander Chen Dong is the Chinese astronaut with the most hours of extravehicular activity, but certifying a heat shield as “safe” after an impact is something totally new. If the CMSA decides to sacrifice the ship, then two other alternatives are open: the fast one and the slow one. The quick one would be to use the relief ship (Shenzhou-21) as a lifeboat for the three crew members of the Shenzhou-20. The problem is that the seats are molded to the body of each astronaut, so this option would require disassembling the seats of both spacecraft and exchanging them, a complex operation that has never been done in orbit. The slow option would be to prepare the next ship (Shenzhou-22) on the ground for an “emergency service”, launching it empty to the Chinese space station as happened with the Russian Soyuz MS-23 in 2023. It is the safest option, but also the slowest and most expensive to bring back the astronauts. Three times in three years. This is the first time that China has gone through a situation like this, but the third time in three years in which a crew is left in orbit without a clear return ticket. Soyuz MS-22 lost in spurts coolant liquid after the impact of a micrometeorite while it was docked with the International Space Station, which forced Russia to send the empty Soyuz MS-23 capsule to bring back the cosmonauts. In 2024, the two crew members of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft They became part of the permanent crew of the International Space Station waiting for a SpaceX Crew Dragon ship to arrive with two empty seats for their return. On this occasion, space junk had no nothing to see. Image | CMSA In Xataka | China has built a space empire in 30 years after being kicked out of the ISS. His revenge is about to be completed

Three Chinese astronauts have delayed their return to Earth due to an impact on the ship. The suspect: space junk

by

The crew of the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft, which was scheduled to land this Wednesday in Inner Mongolia, has been forced to postpone its return to Earth. The cause is not bad weather, as is usual in manned flights, but the most feared enemy of modern space exploration: a probable impact of space debris. Evaluating risks. China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) broke the news this morning: The return of the three astronauts aboard Shenzhou-20 has been delayed indefinitely following suspicions that the ship may have been hit by a small piece of space debris. The ship is still docked at the Chinese Tiangong space station, where the crew are safe. The crew and engineers on the ground are analyzing the impact on the ship to try to determine the extent of the damage and assess the risks of the return journey. The problem is reentry. Three people traveled to the Chinese space station in April aboard the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft: Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie. The problem is not his immediate survival, but the viability of his ship surviving the atmospheric re-entry maneuver after the impact. In low orbit, objects travel at hypersonic speeds of up to 28,000 km/h. At that speed, even a tiny fragment of metal or paint can release devastating kinetic energy, especially if it hits critical components like the ship’s heat shield or its parachutes. What do we know for now? The CMSA has not specified where it believes the impact occurred or what data alerted them to the event. Now, engineers on the ground and the crew in orbit will perform telemetry checks, check for possible leaks, and analyze the guidance and propulsion systems. They will most likely use the Tiangong station’s 10-meter robotic arm to conduct a detailed visual inspection of Shenzhou-20. If necessary, an extravehicular activity (EVA) or spacewalk is not ruled out to assess the damage closely. A problem that China was trying to avoid. The irony of this incident is that the Shenzhou-20 crew itself is fully aware of the danger. In fact, part of its six-month mission in orbit focused on mitigating this risk. Two of the astronauts six hours passed in September by installing additional protective shields against orbital fragments outside the Tiangong station. Although they reinforced the station, the impact seems to have occurred in the way that would bring them back. Image | CMSA In Xataka | Three large pieces of space debris reenter every day: “one day our luck will run out and they will fall on someone”

It is not an alien ship, but remains of a distant planet

by

When astronomers detected a third interstellar object visiting our solar system, they probably did not imagine that it would have an even greater impact than the previous two. The fault was with the first estimates of its size, which had a colossal upper limit of 20 kilometers, which led to several articles by Harvard professor Avi Loeb arguing that it could be “a possibly hostile extraterrestrial probe“. Although the latest observations disprove that it is an alien ship, they open new possibilities. Goodbye to the alien hypothesis. The idea that 3I/ATLAS was a spacecraft was based on a number of apparent anomalies. Avi Loeb argued that its trajectory, unusually aligned with the ecliptic plane of our solar system, its enormous size and its supposed stealth approach were suspicious. It suggested that the object could be performing a maneuver to remain unnoticed while exploring our planets. However, later observations dismantled these arguments one by one. The sharpest image of the comet, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, was devastating for Loeb’s theory. It turned out that we were totally wrong about its size. The real core did not measure 20 km, but between 320 meters and 5.6 kilometers. The initial estimate had been misled by the bright, extensive “coma” of gas and dust surrounding the true core. On the other hand, the behavior of the object, with an asymmetric material ejection and the formation of a dust tail, confirmed that it behaved like a classic comet, and not like a ship with artificial propulsion. But perhaps it is not just any comet, but a very, very interesting one. A piece of exoplanet? According to a new hypothesis, presented in a study pending review3I/ATLAS could be a piece of an extrasolar planet: a “lithified clastic fragment” torn from a sedimentary basin on a distant world that has traveled through the cosmos to reach us. In other words, a rock made up of layers of hardened sediment, similar to those we find on Earth in ancient river or lake beds, but from outside the solar system. Geoscientist Eahsanul Haque’s hypothesis is supported by several previous analyses. On the one hand, the trajectory of 3I/ATLAS suggests that it comes from the thick disk of the Milky Way, a region populated by stars much older than our Sun, up to 7 billion years old. This implies that the object formed in a planetary system with more than enough time to develop complex geological processes, including the liquid water activity necessary to create sedimentary basins. And its size is consistent with the size of large fragments that could be ejected from a planet after a high-speed impact. But wasn’t it a comet? The presence of a comma and a tail does not contradict this idea. Water and other volatiles could have been trapped in the pores of the sedimentary rock. As it approached the Sun, the heat would have caused the sublimation of these ices, generating the observed cometary activity without the main object being a “dirty snowball.” Its spectrum resembles that of D-type asteroids, rich in carbon and silicates2 This composition is compatible with that of terrestrial sedimentary rocks, such as shales or sandstones, which often contain clay and carbonaceous material formed in aqueous processes. All eyes on 3I/ATLAS. The interest in this interstellar traveler has been such that space agencies have mobilized their instruments to study it. The European Space Agency (ESA) targeted its Martian orbiters, ExoMars TGO and Mars Expresstowards the comet during its closest approach to Mars. Although the enormous distance (30 million km) made observation a technical challenge, the images captured the diffuse coma that surrounds it. It is expected that future observations, such as from the Juice probe, which will see it in a more active state after its close pass to the Sun, will reveal more data about its composition. But if 3I/ATLAS has already taught us something, it is the importance that missions such as the Comet Interceptor probe planned by ESA. Without a fixed target, it is designed precisely to wait in space for a long-term target or, with great luck, another interstellar visitor, to then turn on its engines and head towards it. Image | THAT In Xataka | NASA ignores the Harvard study on an alleged extraterrestrial spacecraft: “it is an interstellar comet”

call the only ship that has been repairing them for more than a decade

by

That an underwater cable breaks (or someone cut it) can happen anywhere. There is amazing ships dedicated to deployment and repair of this critical infrastructure in our hyperconnected world. However, when it happens in Africa there is only one ship that can answer the call at any time. Is called Leon Thevenin and has been in operation for more than forty years. The ship. As they say in Rest of WorldIn the world there are 62 cable repair ships that are always available, but in Africa there is only one. The Léon Thévenin is part of the fleet of Orange Marinea subsidiary of the French operator Orange, and for thirteen years has been in charge of all repairs from Ghana to Madagascar. It is 107 meters long and the crew that operates it is 60 people. It also features a remote submarine and a small work boat. According to the official ship record, It is capable of making repairs in extreme weather conditions, in both deep and shallow water. African cables. In this map We can see that the continent is surrounded by countless cables that provide connections to both its inhabitants and data centers and ground stations. Among the most notable is the ‘Peace Cable’ connecting Singapore to Kenyathe West African cable system and the Alphabet Equiano that go from Portugal to South Africa. The cable also stands out 2Africa which with its 45,000 kilometers is the longest in the world; It connects from the United Kingdom, goes all the way around the African continent and ends in India. And there are many more. Accidents. Cables deteriorate, they can also be damaged after storms or if a ship drops anchor and drags it. Many times the cuts are intentional, but they usually occur in other places in increased geopolitical tension like Taiwan either the baltic sea. In March 2024, much of the west and center of the continent was left without connection due to simultaneous failures in several cables. The Léon Thévenin was in charge of returning connectivity to millions of people. It has not been the only case. In recent years the ship has been having a lot of work because the Congo Canyona huge underwater canyon that extends 280 kilometers into the Atlantic, is suffering many landslides that have affected several cables. A great responsibility. It is estimated that 99% of the world’s internet traffic travels over submarine cables. If a cable breaks, it can leave millions of people without connectivity. Furthermore, in the age of AI, connectivity is even more important because it connects the infrastructure that makes it work. The price to pay for the Léon Thévenin crew is spending very little time with his family. Sometimes they rest for a month, the problem is that if a breakage occurs they are the only ones who answer the call. Image | Wikipedia In Xataka | The submarine cables belonged to the teleoperators, and now the big technology companies are controlling them

Change Elon Musk’s ship for Jeff Bezos

by

The narrative in Washington is that the race to return to the moon is being lost. While China advances with a firm step to put two astronauts on the lunar surface before 2030, the NASA Artemis program hangs from a thread. That thread is called Starship, and less and less involved trust that it is ready to take Americans to the surface of the moon. There is a plan B. A investigation The veteran space reporter Eric Berger reveals that NASA officials could have a plan B to comply with the White House slogan: return to the moon before China arrives for the first time. Given the distrust of Elon Musk, who said publicly that the moon seemed like a distraction and that his priority was Mars, despite the multimillionaire NASA contract that finances the development of Starship HLS, the solution seems to be the ship of its great rival: Jeff Bezos. All to a letter. To understand where this pressing American need to win the lunar race comes from, you have to go back in time. After the disaster of the Columbia space ferry in 2003, NASA focused on the Constellation program, which ended up deriving in the SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft, whose development leads Boeing and Lockheed Martin. In addition to huge cost overruns and delays, these two vehicles have ended up costing NASA the headaches of an inefficient architecture to return to the moon. The Artemis III mission, scheduled with optimism by 2027, plans to launch four astronauts in a SLS rocket, take them to the lunar orbit in the Orion ship and then, to two of them, to the lunar surface in a starship HLS of Spacex. That NASA chose the Spacex Starship as the only option for Artemis III (and then Artemis IV) has ended up being its second big mistake. Even if it was the cheapest candidate and Spacex, he was already testing prototypes in flight, it is not the simplest ship to reach the moon: since he uses cryogenic fuel, which has to evaporate, he needs to refuel in orbit several times before embarking on his lunar trip. The revenge of Jeff Bezos. Blue Origin, the Jeff Bezos aerospace company, denounced NASA at that time for having put all the eggs in the Starship basket. NASA also ended up hiring its Blue Moon ship, but for future Artemis V and VI missions. Now, after years seeing how Musk dominated the sector, Bezos has the opportunity to take revenge. Blue Origin could advance Spacex With a simpler lunar architecture: a modified version of its Aunaging module Blue Moon Mark 1, originally designed for load flights. The company would be adapting it to carry crew, taking advantage of everything learned in the development of its next -generation manned ship, the Blue Mooon Mark 2. It is 1969 again. The MK1 key is its simplicity: it would not require refueling in orbit, only send several MK1 to lower astronauts to the surface and then ascend again to meet with the Orion ship. It is an approach that, according to Blue Origin engineers, is feasible and could be executed before the decade ends. That is, before China reaches the moon. What the United States wins. It is actually the United States that has put this idea of ​​a lunar career against China in the collective imaginary. China has been playing long -term since it started throwing robots into the moon. But now that its date of sending astronauts is approaching, the US urgency is not accidental. The White House She is obsessed with winning Chinato the point of having vetoed Chinese citizens even at meetings for NASA zoom. He has also advanced the Artemis II mission to show that he is still in the game. He is NASA’s acting administrator, Sean Duffy, close to the government, who promotes the narrative: “We are going to win the Chinese on the moon.” At the same time, it’s not just a matter of pride. Settle permanently on the moon It is not just for glory, it is for the control of its resources. The first country to establish a functional base will have the pan by the handle. With Spacex Plan A accumulating doubts, Blue Origin’s proposal is presented as the alternative that NASA needs.

Now you know how to solve the biggest ship problem

by

On August 26, Starship completed his tenth test flight Ameriting at a precise point of the Indian Ocean. The images emitted live Spacex were impressive: the largest ship in the world was successfully stopped over water after an aggressive re -entry maneuver. However, something else caught attention: A worrying orange strip that walked most of the fuselage. Three small rusty tiles. Shortly after the flight, Elon Musk clarified in his X profile that the orange tone was oxide from test metal tiles on the side of the ship. But it has been Bill Gerstenmaier, a NASA ex -director veteran who works as head of construction and flight reliability of Spacex, who has given all the details. The thermal shield It is still the greenest part of Starship. The current design consists of thousands of ceramic tiles, most in hexagonal form, glued one next to the other without leaving holes. On flight 10 (and on the three previous failed flights, Actually) Spacex placed three metal tiles on the ship to check If they contributed adequate thermal controlsince they would be easier to manufacture and more durable than the ceramics. It turns out that they are not. All that oxide It was created by those three small metal tiles. A failed, but very useful experiment. As you collect Ars TechnicaGerstenmaier told a conference that metal tiles did not work very well. They oxidized extremely fast with atmospheric oxygen. Although metal tiles failed in their target, the experiment was very useful for data collection. He showed that ceramic tiles are still the option to follow for the thermal shield, and helped Spacex rule out an alternative development route without putting the ship at risk, which had enough protection underneath. The interesting thing was the white spots. Although the orange color was the most striking, the most valuable fact for Spacex engineers was in other areas of the thermal shield: white spots that appeared near the nose and other parts of the ship. Musk had already advanced that these spots were due to Isolation of the areas where Spacex had removed tiles deliberately To test Starship’s limits. Gerstenmaier confirmed that they were the remains of an ablative material, derived from that used in Dragon capsules, which in Starship is found everywhere under the tiles. “What this shows us is that the heat is entering between the tiles, it sneaks below, and this ablative structure is consumed. So we learned that we need to seal the tiles.” The solution: seal every tile. Now the main challenge of Starship’s thermal shield is not that tiles detach (a problem that seems solved, since almost all remained in place), but to prevent the incandescent plasma of the reentry from filtering through the tiny together between them. For Spacex, that has been the great learning of flight 10. True to its style of breaking things and iterates fast, the company already has a solution that will test on the next flight. And, how could it be otherwise, they have put a peculiar name: “Crunch Wrap”. It is not a filling like the one used by the space ferry; It is a sealing wrapping around each tile. “It’s like a gift paper that wraps every tile,” Gerstenmaier described. “These tiles are subject mechanically, a robot fits them. When we push the tile, this small gift paper is based around the sides of each one, and then we cut it on the surface.” Back to the ring. After three failed flights, flight 10 has shown that the Starship is again on track. Spacex put the ship to the limit and it responded as planned, threatening just 3 meters from its target. The oxide was the visual test of a discarded path, but what has been learned about the heat leaks paid the way for the next great improvement, bringing a little more closer to make a totally reusable rocket. The plan for flight 11, which could take place in October judging by recent tests in Starbase, is to apply this technique throughout the thermal shield. “We are going to put ‘Crunch Wrap’ everywhere and see if we can get a better seal and performance of the tiles,” Gerstenmaier said. Image | Spacex In Xataka | It was hired by Spacex at age 14. Now, with 16, the young genius has turned his back on Elon Musk to go to Wall Street

Stellantis awaits a ship with open arms. One loaded with Chinese cars to assault the SUV of 30,000 euros

by

China has an objective with its automotive industry: flooding Europe and other main markets with its cars. Its main bet is the electricbut Chinese brands are consolidating in the West with All types of motorizations. Saic, Geely, Byd and, of course, Xiaomithey are increasingly recognizable brands in the market, but at the end of 2024, Another joined the party: Leapmotor. Its objective is to compete in the most tight price segment, and for this they joined Stellantis. Now, the first ship loaded with the new LEAPMOTOR B10 China has left Rumbo to Europe. And it is a serious bet to assault the urban electric SUV segment of 30,000 euros. Stellantis 🤝 China. Stellantis is one of the largest automotive groups, but in recent years he has had to face a Image crisis due to its Puretech engines. Millions of cars with potentially defective engines translate into A guarantee extension (with the cost that this implies for the brand), Millions of euros have burned in unsuccessful developments and have even managed to anger the Italian police. To try to bite in the electricity share of the electric, at the end of 2023 He invested 1,500 million euros in Leapmotor for have 21% of the company. With that movement it became a Strategic shareholder of the Chinese companybut they also created a joint venture called Leapmotor International led by Stellantis (51%) and Leapmotor (49%) that gives Stellantis exclusive rights to export, sell and manufacture Leapmotor products outside China. In a nutshell: Stellantis assembles and sells Chinese models in Europe and other markets and Leapmotor takes advantage of the Stellantis distribution network to consolidate its position in the global market. And a very important model is the B10. LEAPMOTOR B10. Leapmotor has designed the B10 with the international market in mind. It has a 218 hp motorization and something common with the rest of Chinese cars (and following the trend that It has swallowed until the identity of Mazda), a 14.6 -inch screen dominates the interior. After the steering wheel there is an instrument frame that is also a panel of 8.8 inches. It has a length of 4.52 meters by 1.89 meters wide and will arrive with two battery options. On the one hand, 56.2 kWh that allows up to 361 kilometers WLTP. On the other, 67.1 kWh for up to 434 kilometers. The load is up to 168 kW, allowing 80% of the battery to recover in half an hour. Leven Anclas. The commercial debut of the SUV will occur in the IAA Munich Mobility. It is one of the most important windows for electric vehicles and, both Stellantis and Leapmotor, they want to ensure a good inventory for possible buyers. China wants to dominate the electric cars sector in Europe (And not just electric), And companies do not conform to rent huge ro-ro ships To transport your product. We have already seen cases like byd either SAIC opening a flotTo transport their cars, and Leapmotor has also secured his, but without having his own fleet. An alliance with the Italian Grimaldi Group is the one that will allow the Chinese company to use its ships, including the latest generation, for its operations. The fact that It has already started from China With 2,500 units of B10 is the great Tianjin, which holds imposing figures: 200 meters of length. 38 meters manga. Capacity for up to 9,241 units. Electrical system to avoid emissions during scales. Low emissions man engines prepared for future conversion to fuels without carbon. Rivals. The idea is that the great Tianjin arrives on time for both the presentation at the German event and for the start of sales in concessionaires. In addition, its arrival will allow Stellantis to have a car to compete, directly, with the most settled electronic SUVs in our market such as the Renault Scénic E-Techhe Volkkswagen ID.4he Byd Atto 3 And the most ‘dangerous’, the MG ZS EV. The version with less autonomy is expected to be positioned for less than 30,000 euros, a figure lower than those of those direct rivals, but we must wait for the official presentation to confirm it. Climbing. Although the IAA Mobiliy is the event that marks the start of Stellantis and Leapmotor operations with the B10, companies will not limit this model to the European market. Apart from 20 countries on the continent, the intention It is selling it in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and South America at the end of this year. Images | Stellantis In Xataka | Family and friends keep asking me if “it is worth buying a Chinese car.” This is my answer

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.