space

We believed that data centers in space were a thing of the future. Kepler has already activated the largest orbital cluster

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For years, talk of data centers in space sounded like the kind of idea that always seemed a few years away. The conversation existed, of course, but almost always supported by long-term plans, ambitious announcements and an industry that had not yet shown much real muscle in orbit. That is why what has just emerged deserves attention. TechCrunch explains that Kepler Communications has already launched the largest computing cluster currently operating in space, a sign that this race is beginning to leave the field of promise to enter, little by little, the field of infrastructure. What has Kepler put into orbit. It is not a large facility suspended above our heads, but rather a distributed cluster made up of 10 operational satellites. Together they add up to around 40 Nvidia Orin processors aimed at Edge Computingconnected to each other by laser links. That set, launched in January of this year, as we say, is today the largest active computing cluster in orbit. The company itself also frames this network as a constellation designed to move data in space almost in real time. What it really is. So we are not facing a massive orbital data center that replicates the Earth model, but rather a distributed architecture that combines connectivity and processing in the full space environment. This difference matters because it allows us to separate two plans that are often mixed: one thing is the large-scale vision defended by actors like SpaceX or Blue Origin, and quite another is this first step, much more attached to immediate uses and specific needs of missions in orbit. The immediate business. If this orbital computing is starting to be interesting, it is because it addresses a fairly clear problem: it does not always make sense to send all the data to Earth to process it later. The initial value of these systems is in working with the information right where it is generated, something especially useful for more advanced sensors and for applications that require a faster response. Kepler also maintains that its network can serve as a basis for future processing and connectivity services between different space assets, and the media adds that the company already transports and processes data uploaded from the ground, as well as information collected by payloads hosted on its own satellites. Sophia Space. Here a startup comes into the picture that wants to upload its proprietary operating system to one of the satellites in the constellation and try to deploy and configure it on six GPUs spread over two ships. In a terrestrial data center that would be almost routine, but it would be the first time we would see something like this in orbit. For Sophia, in addition, the test has a clear risk reduction value before its first launch scheduled for the end of 2027. And we are not talking about a minor detail: the company is developing space computers with passive cooling, a way with which it seeks to attack one of the big problems in this sector: avoiding overheating. Kepler doesn’t want to be that. In the midst of so much noise around orbital data centers, the company itself is trying to position itself in a somewhat different place on the map. Your corporate presentation insists in a mission much more linked to communications, with a hybrid optical constellation designed to modernize the flow of data in low orbit and beyond. In this sense, it does not define itself as a data center company, but as infrastructure for space applications. The journey has begun. If this step by Kepler makes anything clear, it is that orbital computing no longer belongs only to the realm of great presentations. SpaceX wants to deploy a massive network of satellites for AI, Google prepares in-orbit tests with solar-powered chips and Blue Origin has announced a constellation of more than 5,000 satellites. In parallel, starcloud already launched a satellite in 2025 with an Nvidia H100 GPU and Aetherflux targets 2027 for its first node. Images | Kepler Communications | Sophia Space In Xataka | The mystery of the misinflated balloon: the more we calculate the size of the Universe, the less sense it all makes

There are two Madrid startups that want to solve the logistical labyrinth of space

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If receiving an order from Madrid to Castilleja de la Cuesta (Seville) can cause you some headaches in the form of a delivery person who never arrives, imagine sending a package from Madrid to the moon. Space logistics is one of the last major bottlenecks in the commercial aerospace industry. For decades, sending cargo to space has been reserved almost exclusively to government agencieswith astronomical budgets and opaque processes. Today the industry is more open than ever, the demand for space shipments is growing, but the logistics infrastructure that supports them remains artisanal and fragmented. Two Madrid startups, Usyncro and Eye4Skythey are trying to change it. A packet destined for space. Send a kilogram of cargo into space costs approximately 20,000 euros and that is just the beginning. That package in question has to go through customs in several countries, go through the hands of multiple carriers and comply with export regulations for sensitive material. ESA and NASA satellite components are subject to dual-use regulations that vary between jurisdictions and require specific licenses for each international transfer (e.g. export control regulations and laws such as NASA’s ITAR). And when you arrive at your destination there is no one to sign a receipt. There is also no warehouse or workers. Just a satellite in orbit waiting for a critical component on which a scientific mission depends. The presentations. Usyncro is a SaaS platform founded in Madrid in 2018 that digitizes international trade logistics through blockchain and artificial intelligence, connecting all the actors of a shipment in a single panel: carriers, customs and operators. Eye4Sky is a spin-off of the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA). It was founded in 2022 by researchers with more than twenty years of experience in space optics. Manufactures polarization modulators based on liquid crystalsoptical devices the size of a spectacle lens and barely 200 grams that analyze light to obtain information about the solar magnetic field or the composition of the atmosphere of other planets, something that a conventional camera cannot do, at a lower cost than traditional instruments and equivalent performance. It operates from the Madrid Science Park, within the ESA BIC incubation program. Why is it important. What Usyncro and Eye4Sky are building goes beyond their own businesses because it points to a structural problem: managing the supply chain of a space mission has always been the territory of large contractors and government agencies. A traceable and standardized digital corridor could lower that barrier to entry. On the other hand, INTA is not a university, it is an organization attached to the Ministry of Defense with a long research tradition but little history of serving as a seed for commercial companies. That Eye4Sky is its first spin-off after decades of applied research represents a paradigm shift: institutions that have historically operated in public and military logic are beginning to open up to civilian commercialization. As for projects on the table, Eye4Sky modulators are already present on the solar observation satellite jointly developed by the European Space Agency and NASA Solar Orbiter, are confirmed in VigilESA’s first space weather mission and in the quest Talisman of Satlantis to detect methane in the Earth’s atmosphere. Usyncro, for its part, already certified via blockchain the launch of Hydra Space satellites and executed the first digital air cargo corridor between Europe and Latin America. The joint project would be the definitive leap: applying that same logic to the most complex logistics chain that exists. Context. Usyncro was a conventional logistics company specialized in coordinating land, air and sea transportation chains. Its value proposition was clear: digitize and centralize the management of complex logistics operations with multiple actors, eliminating the dispersion of information and manual processes. It worked well on land, but the sky is the limit. The turning point came when joining the Retech Digital Entrepreneurship Network of the Community of Madrid, whose aerospace node is located in Tres Cantos. There they met Eye4Skya company that manufactured components for ESA and NASA missions, but had no way to reliably and traceably manage its logistics chain to the satellite. Just what Usyncro knew how to do: manage complex logistics chains with multiple actors. Of course, this time the final destination is in orbit. How they do it. Usyncro is developing a digital logistics corridor, a system that centralizes the entire journey of merchandise in a single control panel, from when it leaves the factory until it reaches its orbital destination. Each party involved in the chain is recorded, each transaction generates a documentary record and at each node along the route images are captured that certify the status and position of the shipment. Blockchain technology guarantees the integrity of the data and reduces time in each phase of the process. The final delivery is certified automatically, without the need for a physical recipient. In essence, it is applying to space logistics the same logic that has transformed land logistics in the last decade: total visibility, real-time data and end-to-end traceability. Yes, but. The project is still in the testing phase. Usyncro and Eye4Sky are shipping material to different countries via multiple routes to validate that the system works under real conditions before scaling up to space missions. Digitizing terrestrial logistics is already a complex problem, but doing it for space cargo adds extra difficulty in issues such as legislation or handling conditions. The margins of error are practically zero. It remains to be seen whether the platform can withstand the operational, regulatory and technical pressure of a real mission before the first big test next year. As Delia Rodríguez, CEO of Eye4Sky, tells: “Our devices are the eye of missions that protect the Earth and that starting in 2027 will monitor from space the invisible shield that protects our planet.” In Xataka | Spanish technology in the return to the Moon: the system designed in Madrid that NASA will use in Artemis II In Xataka | We have been deceived by the distances of the Solar System: the … Read more

China has closed a huge chunk of sky for 40 days. And all we know is that space is bigger than Taiwan

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In aviation, advisories restricting the use of airspace usually last just a few days and are linked to very specific operations, while areas without altitude limits are reserved on rare occasions due to its impact on air traffic. In strategic regions of the planet, any prolonged alteration in these patterns is often interpreted as more than a simple technical measure. It just happened in China. An unprecedented air closure. China has closed for 40 days (from March 27 to May 6) a huge maritime airspace without offering any clear explanation, delimiting areas through aeronautical warnings which are normally used for short exercises but in this case they are unusually prolonged. To give us an idea, the extension of that space exceeds the size of Taiwan, which makes the measure difficult to fit within operational normality. The official silence and the scale of the movement suggest a deliberate decision that goes beyond simple air traffic management. What these notices really mean. The NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) are designed to warn of risks or temporary restrictions, but their usual use is far from the current scenario, since they usually last a few days and are linked to specific, clearly identified maneuvers. Therefore, the combination of an extraordinary duration and the absence of explanations points more to a position of sustained activity more than a specific exercise. A priori, this implies that airspace control is being used as an active tool within a broader strategy. A key space on the regional board. counted the wall street journal A few hours ago, the affected areas extended from the Yellow Sea to the East China Sea, covering areas in front of South Korea and Japan and being located in strategic corridors for any military operation in the region. Although they are far from Taiwan (several hundred km), their location does not seem coincidental and fits with scenarios where the air route control would be decisive. The scale of the reserved area reinforces the idea that this is not a limited trial, but something with deeper operational implications. Signs in the midst of a tense context. The closure also coincides with a moment of high tension in the Indo-Pacific, with military movements in Japan, pressure about Taiwan and diplomatic activity relevant in parallel. Not only that. It also occurs after a striking pause on Chinese military flights near Taiwan, followed of its resumptionsuggesting a recalibration of activity. In this context, the measure can be interpreted as a way to send strategic messages without the need for explicit statements. Ambiguity as a strategy. In short, and although there are precedents for similar airspace reservations, they had never been so long nor so widewhich marks a clear difference compared to previous practices. If you like, this ambiguity also allows China to maintain operational flexibility, test scenarios and, ultimately, generate uncertainty among its rivals without publicly committing. The result is a signal that is difficult to interpret, one that, possibly or precisely because of this, multiply your impact strategic. Image | LG Images In Xataka | In silence, China is making giant strides in a race that until now it was not leading: space. In Xataka | The US opted for the quality of the F-35 rather than quantity. China opted for the opposite and it is already a problem

A company wants to sell sunlight on demand using gigantic mirrors in space. We have questions

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A Californian startup wants to sell solar light at night and, although it has not yet started, many scientists are already putting their hands together. They find it difficult to do it correctly for technical reasons, but they consider that it would be even more serious if these difficulties are resolved. The consequences for people’s health, the environment and the work of astronomers can be devastating. The longest day. The goal of Reflect Orbital is to launch into space a swarm of 4,000 satellites loaded with giant mirrors. These would capture sunlight from the illuminated side of the Earth and reflect it in dark areas. Thus, the solar panels could work 24 hours a day, not only when sunlight naturally falls on them. First steps. For now, the objectives of this startup have been developed only on paper. They already have their first satellite ready, which they have named Eärendil-1, in honor of a JRR Tolkien character. However, They are still waiting for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to of the United States gives the green light for its launch. In principle It is scheduled to take place throughout this month of Aprilbut there is no definitive date. Once in low Earth orbit, this satellite will deploy an 18-meter-wide mirror, which would be capable of illuminating a 5-kilometer patch on Earth. If all goes well, a swarm of 4,000 mirrors could be launched by 2030. The background is not good. There was already a project similar to this developed in Russia in the 1990s. The goal of the project, named Znamya, was to illuminate Siberia in the dark winter months. And they got it. However, the resulting light was so dim and the satellite so difficult to control that the mission was never completed. More than technical difficulties. Fionagh Thomson, researcher in spatial ethics at Durham University, explained in statements to Live Science who does not believe that the project is viable today, since the engineering involved is very complex. They already verified it in Russia. But that’s not all. Both this and other experts warn that a large amount of light pollution would be generated, which could affect the circadian rhythms of living beings in the illuminated environment. It could also dazzle aircraft pilots and make the work of astronomers difficult. Even astronomy enthusiasts trying to look at the sky with binoculars or a telescope could suffer vision damage if they encounter the light reflected from these satellites. After all, the population would not be notified before changing the direction of the mirrors. Worse than Starlink. starlink, Elon Musk’s telecommunications companyhas been receiving criticism for many years for the artificial way in which they illuminate the night sky. However, this company’s satellites accidentally illuminate the Earth. In this case it would be something deliberate and, therefore, even more intense and serious. It’s not worth it. All these risks are not worth it when you consider the results. And many other experts assure that the light that would be obtained would be too dim. The solar radiation that would reach the solar panels, for example, would be a minimum fraction of that which arrives during the day. In order to obtain a sufficient amount of light, an exorbitant number of satellites would have to be launched into space and that would be expensive and even more dangerous. Beware of space debris. If the mirror of Eärendil-1 will measure about 18 meters in diameter, the goal of Reflect Orbital is to launch satellites into space with even larger mirrors, up to 54 meters. In general, they would be giant objects; who would therefore be at greater risk of impacting with meteorites or space junk fragments. The more exposed surface, the more risk. This would not only mean the uncontrolled release of fragments resulting from the impact, it would also cause damage to the structure of the mirrors themselves. A leaky mirror would be even more difficult to control and its harmful effects could worsen. Therefore, although the goal of selling sunlight at night seems feasible on paper, in reality it is complicated and dangerous. We’ll see where all this goes. Image | Reflect Orbital In Xataka | Solar thermal plants are in the doldrums, so now they have two jobs: generating energy by day and hunting asteroids by night

Artemis II has a toilet that evacuates the astronauts’ urine into space. The problem is that it has frozen

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The Orion capsule toilet It is being one of the most commented topics of Artemis II. It is no wonder, since it greatly facilitates the life of the astronauts who are on their way to the Moon. However, if it continues to generate conversation after the launch, it is no longer because of the novelty, but rather because of the incidents it is causing. The last of them has been so important that it has even forced some special maneuvers to be carried out with Orion. Background. Until now, no spacecraft had anything resembling a bathroom for astronauts. Yes, there are options in long-stay facilities, such as the International Space Station. However, there was no way to evacuate during space travel. The astronauts of the Apollo missions, for example, had to use something similar to a condom for urine and a kind of diaper with a hole for toilet paper in case they wanted to do major water. Luckily, the Artemis II astronauts They have a more advanced system. There is no room for so much urine. The Orion toilet uses a type of hose attached to a funnel that, through suction, draws urine into a tank. Thus, the problems of microgravity are solved. On the other hand, this tank has direct contact with the exterior of the ship, in such a way that the urine, once it is full, is released directly into space. urine slushie. Since the journey of the Artemis II astronauts began There have been some problems with the capsule bathbut almost all of them have been solved. Unfortunately, there is another one that is being more difficult to solve. And the low temperatures outside are freezing the urine, so it cannot leave the tank. Maneuver changes. Faced with this problem, it was decided to maneuver the capsule in such a way that the tank and pipes were exposed to the Sun for as long as possible. Thus, the urine should thaw and be released without problems. It wasn’t enough. Unfortunately, although this measure seemed to be useful at first, sun exposure is not enough to have liquid urine at all times. It spends a lot of time frozen, so for now, astronauts are having to put their urine in bags and store them, exactly the same as with feces. With the latter it was already established that they would be stored and taken back to Earth, but with urine the simplest thing would have been to let it flow through space. But for now it’s not an option, so these bags will have to take up some extra space on the ship. Ultimately it is good news. According to statements by the deputy director of the Orion program for NASA, Debbie Korth, collected by Ars Technicathe performance of the capsule in general is being remarkably good. The good development of all the ship’s systems has pleasantly surprised the engineers. Therefore, the fact that the biggest headache for the ship’s crew is that their urine freezes is still good news. It would be much worse if some vital system failed. In that case, no one would notice the capsule bathroom. That everyone is paying attention to him is also a triumph. Image | NASA | freepik In Xataka | The Artemis II astronauts will carry out experiments in what will be their own study models

60 years ago, NASA took a look at the Sahara from space and found a very strange “perfect eye”

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Although we tend to think that the unknown is in space and we focus our exploration on what is outside the Earth, our planet continues to surprise us: from the 50,000 volcanoes hidden in the seabed to shapes and constructions that seem too curious to have appeared out of nowhere… especially when we see them from space. It is the case of Great Dam of Zimbabwe (which by the way, is not a dam). We are not leaving the African continent because there is another scar of land with a shape so precise that it is disconcerting. It can’t be seen from the ground, but as you gain height it can be seen better. However, it is from space where it is best appreciated, as NASA has already photographed. There it is simply shocking: it is the inexplicable eye of the Sahara. It is a kind of giant eye that looks at the sky engraved in the rock of the Sahara, it is actually called Richat structure. As says French astronaut Thomas Pesquetalmost all astronauts have taken a photo of it from space simply because it can’t be missed. The Britannica Encyclopedia assures that World War II pilots used it as a reference point. Tap to go to the post After all, they are almost 50 kilometers in diameter. To get an idea, if we moved it to Madrid, it would cover the entire city and reach surrounding municipalities. However, it is in Mauritania, at the western end of the Sahara. More specifically, it sits on the Adrar plateau, on the northwestern edge of the Taoudenni basin, about 500 meters above sea level and in an inhospitable area. As a curiosity, the closest town is Ouadane, it is about 17 kilometers from the edge of the structure and it is not just any city: it was founded in 1147 by the Idalwa el Hadj Berber tribe and its old part has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. The first time we “discovered” it (that is to say, because it was already there) was in the 1930s and 1940s and the person who studied it in depth at that time was the French geographer Jacques Richard-Molard. Later, astronauts James McDivitt and Ed White, aboard the Gemini IV mission, were the first to photograph it from space in 1965. However, the image that illustrates the cover was taken on July 10, 2020 by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, during the Expedition 63 mission, with a Nikon D5 camera with a 50 millimeter lens. Richat’s structure from the inside. Clemens Schmillen What is the Richard Structure and how was it formed? From that orbital height the image shows something that would be impossible to capture from the ground: a series of perfect concentric rings, like the waves left by a stone when it falls into water, but petrified in the desert. The tones of that figure range from ocher to bluish gray, from almost pristine white to rusty red. Each color is a different rock and belongs to a different era. Surrounding the structure, a sea of ​​dunes: on the right, longitudinal dunes that stretch in long parallel tongues and on the left, transverse dunes, wider and more arched. The set is truly strange to have formed naturally. POT Because it is not a lake that has dried up over time. It is neither a volcano nor the crater of a meteorite (the hypothesis which was most popular initially). It’s something much slower but just as violent: is the result of millions of years of geological forces working silently beneath the planet’s surface. And although the group as such was formed about 100 million years ago, those rocks are up to 2.5 billion years old. Or in other words, the Eye of the Sahara was forged in the Cretaceous, but the rocks belong to the time when there were no animals, only bacteria and algae. The Richat Structure is a deeply eroded geological anticline dome that was formed by a subsurface igneous intrusion, which deformed the overlying sedimentary rock layers, exposing concentric rings with the oldest rocks in the center. In a simplified way, a bubble of rock that never burst: the magma from inside the Earth pushed up the layers of rock above it and cooled without reaching the surface. The passage of time eroded that bubble as if it were an onion, exposing the rings of each layer. The hardest rocks resisted and formed the relief, the soft ones disappeared. Hence the circles. The most recent studies They confirm that there was also hot water circulating inside the structure, which accelerated and modeled the final shape. In Xataka | A 2.5 billion-year-old geological wonder: Zimbabwe’s Great Dam seen by NASA from space In Xataka | This is the impressive interactive map to see the Earth in 4K live from space and monitor satellites Cover | POT

You can live without paying Google for more storage. The problem is not space, but Gmail

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I know firsthand that the offers that Google launches for your One plan cheaper are attractive. Paying a couple of euros a month so that the company does not bother you with warnings that you have little storage left is perfectly valid and you immediately get 100 GB so you can use it however you want. However, although it may not seem like a big deal, it ends up being a small “phantom expense” that we can easily avoid if we change our spending habits a little. cloud storage. In the vast majority of cases, the main culprit that causes us to have consumed almost all of the 15 GB that Google makes available to us for free is email. And the good thing is that they exist ways to almost immediately empty our inbox and have that free storage back. Below these lines we indicate some recommendations that will help you. 10 GOOGLE APPS THAT COULD HAVE SUCCESSFUL The problem is in your inbox If you check what takes up the most space in your Google account, it is quite likely that you will be surprised: Gmail is usually the biggest storage hog. Other times, it is also Google Photos that gives the most trouble with this, but in the case of Gmail, emails with attachments accumulate for years, and most of them are perfectly expendable: automatic notifications, old invoices, newsletters that you never read, etc. If your work depends to a certain extent on being very aware of the email, as happens to me, you find thousands of emails of press releases, presentations and, in short, material that arrives, takes up space and you don’t open it again. The good thing is that Google gives you very specific tools to locate those emails that we do not need and delete them in bulk. Between that and some tips to filter your inbox, you will be able to empty a very important part of the free storage that Google gives you in a simple way. The starting point: Google’s storage manager Before you get to work with Gmail, there’s one place worth going first: Google’s storage manager, accessible directly from this website. You can also get to it by clicking on the storage tab in Drive and clicking on “Free up space”, an option included in the Drive, Photos or Gmail app. This page shows how much space you have occupied and offers two key sections: one with personalized suggestions to free up space (such as deleting spam emails, large files or heavy attachments, indicating how much can be gained in each case) and another with shortcuts to the specific management of Drive, Gmail and Google Photos. It’s a good way to get a general idea of ​​the picture before acting: at a glance you can see which service is consuming the most and where to start cleaning. How to find and delete what matters most in Gmail If you’ve noticed that Gmail is taking up quite a bit of your cloud storage, the next step is to take action. After having deleted the emails that the Google One system itself suggested in the previous step, you can continue on your own using advanced filters that Gmail offers you, going for the heaviest emails first. To do this you can start by writing in the Gmail search engine ‘larger:15MB‘ (without the quotes) and so you will see all the emails that exceed that size. You can adjust the number depending on what you want to find: larger:5MB, larger:10MBor whatever value you prefer. It is a quick way to identify the messages that take up the most space with minimal effort. It is one thing to identify them, and quite another to know if they are really important to you or not. Going one by one is a bit of a hassle, but for example it helps me a lot to know if the email is from a long time ago or not. That’s why I also use date filters. This way, if what you want is to go also old, the command before:YYYY/MM/DD shows messages sent or received before a certain date. You can even combine both commands to locate old and heavy emails at the same time. Another very practical option is to search directly by attachments. Wearing has:attachment larger:10M All emails with attachments larger than 10 MB appear in the search bar. If you want to tune more, filename:.pdf larger:5M specifically locates emails with PDF attachments that weigh more than that amount, and older_than:2y has:attachment Filter out those that have attachments and have been in your tray for more than two years. Attached files (photos, PDFs, videos, documents) are usually responsible for the storage filling up much faster than expected. Search your keywords Beyond the commands that Gmail offers you, you can also use searches that serve you personally. In my case, for example, when I have a long list of press releases that I have already read, I simply type ‘ndp’ or ‘press release’ in the search engine and I will easily have a whole long list of press releases waiting to be deleted. Then you just need to pull the trigger. Once you have identified all the emails you want to delete, click on the selection square in the upper left corner to mark them all, click on ‘Select all conversations that match this search‘ so you can mark them all and not just the first 50, and then pull the trigger. If you know exactly what you DON’T want to delete, you can move it to its own label or mark it as featured before mass deleting the rest. That way you don’t risk losing anything important. Don’t forget to empty the trash When you have identified and deleted all the emails, you will have to pay a visit to the trash. And the emails that you have deleted do not disappear immediately: they are sent to the trash, where stay for 30 … Read more

SpaceX is about to go public promising to bring AI to space. What really sells is satellite Internet

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SpaceX has confidentially registered with the SECthe US regulator, its application to go public, in what could become the largest public offering in history. Why is it important. The valuation of Musk’s company exceeds one and a half billion dollars, and the objective is to raise between 50,000 and 75,000 million euros before the end of June. To put it in perspective: the IPO of the Arab oil company Saudi Aramco in 2019until now the largest in history, raised just over 25,000 million. Furthermore, this news has been presented as a milestone in space exploration, but if you read between the lines, the real story is different. Between the lines. The story that SpaceX is going to sell to Wall Street mixes rockets, Mars and AI. It is the perfect cocktail to attract capital in 2026, but analysts who have looked at the numbers and quote Reuters are a little cruder: the $1.5 trillion valuation is only supported by starlinkthe satellite Internet service that already has nine million subscribers and generated $8 billion in revenue in 2024 alone. SpaceX billed between 15,000 and 16,000 million dollars in 2025, with about 8,000 million in profit. Starlink accounts for the clear majority of that revenue and almost all of the margins. The orbital data centersthe great promise of the IPO, are still an unproven concept. As said market strategist Shay Boloor: “Starlink is the only reason this assessment is defensible.” The contrast. SpaceX was born in 2002 with a mission: to make humanity multiplanetary. Mars as a destination and reusable rockets as a means. That narrative has had to give some ground. And Wall Street, which has been buying anything with the word AI for years, hears that and opens its wallet. The money trail. This year, SpaceX absorbed xAI, Musk’s AI startup and now also the parent company of X. Musk paid $44 billion for Twitter in 2022 and since then, X and xAI are projects that consume a lot of cash, especially the latter. SpaceX’s IPO, according to The New York Timesis proposed among other things to pay the debt that Twitter incurred when Musk bought it and to finance xAI’s data centers. In other words: the jewel in the crown finances loss-making companies. The big question. Can SpaceX trade at $1.5 trillion with markets shaken by war? The Nasdaq just suffered its worst week in almost a yearwith the war between the United States and Iran in the background and oil skyrocketing. Some bankers have pushed SpaceX to keep between 15,000 and 20,000 million in cash before exiting. For what may happen. The moment of debut can be decisive for the worse even if the fundamentals are great. What is certain is that if the operation goes ahead, Musk, who owns about 42-44% of SpaceX, will almost certainly cross the threshold of a trillion dollars of personal wealth. He would be the first billionaire in history. In Xataka | Seven of the ten largest fortunes in the world in 2026 are due to AI: this illustrative graph makes it very clear Featured image | SpaceX

A crew member of the International Space Station lost his speech and NASA does not know why

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Last January, four astronauts had to leave the International Space Station early due to a medical emergency. At the time it was pointed out that it was due to the health problems of one of the astronauts. However, at no time was it clarified which of them it was, in order to preserve their privacy. Over time, NASA has dropped some new data in dribs and drabs. Now, we know who it was and why, but the cause of his illness remains a mystery. The facts: At the beginning of January, NASA announced the cancellation of a space walk that astronauts Michael Fincke and Zena Cardman should have done. Just a few hours later, the imminent return to Earth of the entire Crew 11 was announced. That included both Fincke and Cardman as well as Kimiya Yui, from the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) and Oleg Platanov, from the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos). The return trip was planned to take place in February, but it finally took place on January 15. At that time, NASA had not yet announced which of the crew members was sick. It was only noted that he was stable and that he would have to undergo more tests. Without words in space. Shortly after that mysterious medical emergency, NASA announced that the sick astronaut was Mike Fincke. However, at that time he still did not provide information about the illness that led him and his companions to return home early. Now, finally, we know what happened. As stated by Fincke himself in statements to the mediaon January 7, while eating with his companions, he realized that he could not speak. Thanks to the quick intervention of his colleagues and the remote support of NASA doctors, he was immediately stabilized. However, it was urgent to return to Earth to perform the relevant tests. The episode has not been repeated and it has been ruled out that it was a heart attack or stroke. More tests. Fincke will possibly have to undergo more tests so we can find out why he temporarily lost his speech. However, he himself has reported that NASA suspects that it could be an effect of his stay in space. For this reason, the medical records of other astronauts are being reviewed, looking for an episode similar to theirs. space brain. Living in space can affect your health in many different ways. All organs are susceptible to the effects of microgravity. In the case of the brain, It has been proven that it can even move inside the skull. It is not known for sure what could have happened to this NASA astronaut. However, it seems quite likely that his medical emergency was for this reason. And now what? If all goes well with Artemis II, NASA hopes to travel to the Moon more and more regularly and even build a space base there at some point. Other companies, like SpaceX, have the same dream. Therefore, it is vital to study how microgravity or cosmic radiation can affect the health of future colonizers. All astronauts of Crew 11 Astronauts on the International Space Station have been testing these types of events for a long time. What has happened to Fincke at the moment is a mystery, but logically it is something that must be taken into account. What happened to him will have to be investigated to prevent it from happening again, whether on the International Space Station, on the Moon or at any other point in outer space that humans reach. Image | NASA | Unsplash In Xataka | Spanish technology in the return to the Moon: the system designed in Madrid that NASA will use in Artemis II

Artemis II will make the Apollo that took us to the Moon look like a space slum: it will even have a private toilet

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If all goes well, Artemis II It could be launched on April 1 towards the Moon. It will be the first time that a manned spacecraft travels to our satellite in more than 50 years and, although this time there will be no moon landing, the capsule with 4 astronauts on board will make a lunar flyby, which will be the highlight of a 10-day space trip. A week and a half during which, logically, the crew will have to clean up and relieve themselves. But how do you go to the bathroom in space? Luckily, the capsule will have a comfort that they didn’t have in the Apollo program. A toilet. The complicated mission of going to the bathroom. From Apollo 10, in 1969, until Apollo 17, in 1972there were a total of 12 astronauts who traveled to the Moon. At that time, her only toiletries were a few wet wipes. to urinate They used devices similar to condoms that were changed daily. When it was time to evacuate, they were connected to a bag, with a kind of hose. It was not a very efficient system and there were often leaks. There was also no system adapted to the female anatomy, since all the astronauts were men. The greater waters. As for feces, a bag was used that stuck to the buttocks. Something quite similar to a diaper, but with a compartment to put your hands in and use toilet paper. Again, there could be leaks. In fact, there is a transcript of an astronaut from Apollo 10 in which he asked for a napkin to pick up a fragment of feces that was floating in the air. Once caught (sometimes literally), the bags were saved and stored for analysis on land. Added to all this is that the astronauts did not have the slightest privacy to go to the bathroom in space. The experience, and especially the smell, could not have been pleasant at all. The urine collection system of the Apollo missions was very rudimentary. Opportunity cost. Whether it is for personal hygiene or for urinating or defecating, going to the bathroom in space involves two major complications. On the one hand, microgravity prevents what should fall under its own weight from doing so. We return to the problem of floating feces from Apollo 10. On the other hand, water is needed. Transporting sufficient quantities of water into space would place excess load on spacecraft. Furthermore, precisely because of microgravity, it would move freely, so that some of the many devices that exist in the small space of a capsule like the Orion of Artemis II could get wet and damaged. For this reason, the use of water is reduced to a minimum and methods are sought to overcome microgravity as much as possible. Artemis II’s toilet. In Artemis II the astronauts They will use liquid soap and leave-in shampooas well as very small amounts of water that can be dried immediately with towels. As for the most difficult part, the Orion capsule has a system similar to that used in the International Space Station. It is a container with a hose connected to a funnel through which urine descends thanks to an air suction system. Each astronaut will have their own hose and, since the crew has three men and one woman, it will adapt to both male and female anatomy, as necessary. Where does all that go?. Once the urine is collected, it is released into space. Regarding feces, they are also collected by suction and stored in sealed bags that will travel to Earth on the return trip. Best of all, this system is isolated, so astronauts can relieve themselves alone. There is a curtain that can be removed if they need more space and a door in the floor of the capsule that allows them the privacy they craved on the Apollo missions. Image | POT In Xataka | Artemis II will take NASA to the Moon half a century later. He will do it with the help of the University of Seville

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