space

PLD Space already has a complete Miura 5 rocket ready. to destroy it

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The renders are over. PLD Space has once again demonstrated that it is advancing at a devilish pace by publishing the first photos of the entire Miura 5 rocket. These images are history of the Spanish space industry. With you, the Miura 5. The first complete unit of the Miura 5 is not made to fly, but to suffer. Named QM1 (Qualification Model 1), has been almost completely assembled for integration testing of all subsystems before the final flight model takes off into Earth orbit next year. This is the first orbital launcher from a Spanish company, the same one that successfully launched the Miura 1 suborbital rocket from Huelva in October 2023. It was that milestone that has allowed PLD Space to complete the development of a rocket in record time. No other European company has done it so quickly. Why it is important. At a time when preserving sovereign access to space It has become a geopolitical issueEurope needs to have a strong aerospace industry and cheaper and more versatile rockets than the Ariane 6 and Vega C developed by ESA. The Miura 5 leads the European New Space thanks to its TEPREL-C biokerosene and liquid oxygen engines, more powerful than its competitors and developed internally by PLD Space in its Elche factory. The rocket measures 35.7 meters high, has two stages (the first with five engines, and the second with an engine adapted to the vacuum of space). The next steps. The first stage of the QM1 will perform a full propellant loading test known as “wet dress rehearsal.” They will fill the tanks, pressurize the vehicle as they would before a flight, and replicate all the structural and thermal loads prior to launch, without actually turning on the engines for takeoff. The second stage will be sent to the United States to test the Flight Termination System (FTS). Basically, it will be destroyed to validate that the explosive charges are capable of safely disintegrating the rocket in the event of an in-flight anomaly. PLD Space expects to have the second qualification unit ready in December. The first Miura 5 designed to fly will arrive shortly after. He is scheduled to travel to French Guiana in the first quarter of 2026. Images | PLD Space In Xataka | PLD Space has a detailed plan to become Europe’s rocket factory. And the pieces have started to fit

will arrive in space with a prototype spacesuit for ESA

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Until now, when we thought about Decathlon, a breathable t-shirt, a hiking backpack or that idea of ​​making sport accessible to everyone came to mind. That same company, founded in 1976 in Francehas taken an unexpected step: has collaborated in the development of EuroSuit, a spacesuit prototype that will be tested on the International Space Station. It is not about opening a new market, but about participating for the first time in a European space exploration project together with specialized players in the sector. The mission in which this prototype will be tested has its own name: εpsilon. This is how he baptized the European Space Agency the first expedition of Sophie Adenotscheduled for 2026 and destined for the International Space Station. The name refers to the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet and represents the idea that, in space exploration, each individual contribution can be small, but significant. The accompanying emblem, featuring a hummingbird and surrounded by tiny dots, reinforces that message: great achievements require many discrete contributions. A usability evaluation, not a presentation. EuroSuit is a prototype of an in-vehicular suit that will be tested on board the ISS through a series of planned test sequences: checking whether it promotes mobility, whether it adapts correctly to the body, whether it can be manipulated without assistance and whether it maintains reasonable performance in real conditions. What is sought is not to launch a definitive product, but to obtain data that allows us to know if this type of European design can advance towards an operational suit. The prototype does not arrive at the International Space Station as an individual project, but as part of the program coordinated by the CNES for the εpsilon mission. From Toulouse, the Cadmos center supervises both EuroSuit and other experiments focused on physiology, medical technology, radiation or control of microorganisms. This structure allows us to observe how the devices behave in real conditions of use and collect valuable data for future missions. EuroSuit will be evaluated in that context, with the same rigor as the rest of the tests. When textile knowledge enters orbit. Spartan Space leads the development of EuroSuit and Decathlon brings its expertise in textiles, mobility and functional design. The project is presented as a collaboration that allows adding capabilities without the need for all actors to come from the aerospace sector. The objective is to check if the practical approach to sports equipment can be useful in operations within the International Space Station and if it makes sense to continue with this development model for future European missions. As it is an intravehicular suit, EuroSuit is not intended to replace the pressurized suits used in extravehicular activities or to accompany the astronaut throughout their stay in orbit. It is located in another layer: that of operations within the ship that require protection, comfort and ease of use. It is designed so that the astronaut can put it on and take it off in less than two minutes, without assistance, something unusual in this type of clothing and which could be relevant in case of emergency. Images | THAT | Decathlon In Xataka | This woman has been accused for years of committing the only crime that has taken place in space. It was all a lie

This woman has been accused for years of committing the only crime that has taken place in space. It was all a lie

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Six years ago, his face went around the world. Astronaut Anne McClain appeared in all the media as the alleged perpetrator of the first crime committed outside of Earth. Now we know it never happened. A little context. In August 2019, NASA opened a file to investigate what It seemed like the first crime committed in space.. Astronaut Anne McClain had been accused of identity theft and irregular access to her ex-wife’s financial records while she was on the International Space Station. Specifically, her ex-partner had accused her of “guessing” his credentials to spy on his bank account from space. He had made it up. Six years later, Summer Worden, McClain’s ex-wife and former US Air Force intelligence officer, has pleaded guilty to lying to federal authorities in a twist that definitively closes this unfortunate chapter for the astronaut. According to the official statement From the prosecution, an investigation revealed that Worden had voluntarily shared his credentials with McClain since 2015. The bank account in question had been open since 2018. Worden allowed McClain access until January 2019, at which time he changed the passwords, something he hid to incriminate his ex-partner. Custody of a child as a motive. The accusation came amid a messy divorce and a dispute over custody of a common child. McClain always maintained his innocence, arguing that he had simply reviewed the family finances to ensure there were sufficient funds for the child’s care, something he routinely did with Worden’s consent. The damage to his reputation was immediate and had ramifications and rumors beyond the legal. It coincided with NASA postponing the first all-female spacewalk in its history, starring McClain and Christina Koch. The reason was the lack of suitable suits, but the shadow of the accusation and public scrutiny always loomed over that decision. Redeemed. The resolution of the case comes at a sweet time for Anne McClain. The astronaut has continued working for NASA and, last March, she had the opportunity to return to the ISS as commander of the SpaceX Crew-10 mission. The sentence against his ex-wife will be handed down in February 2026. The maximum penalty is five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Image | POT In Xataka | How many times have we gone to the Moon and why have only 11 military aviators and one geologist set foot on it in all of history?

SpaceX changed the space economy. Now he wants to do the same with the cost of satellites

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The cost of launching cargo into space was, for years, one of the great limits of the aerospace industry. LaNASA documents in several works, including the analyzes of Harry W. Jonesthat during the last decades of the 20th century many pitchers moved in a typical range of between 10,000 and more than 20,000 dollars per kilowith an average cost of around $18,500/kg in low orbit, with the space shuttle far above due to its complexity and operating expense. It was not just the price of the launch systems, but of a model based on disposable components, manual processes and highly specialized operations. The situation remained stable for decades, until SpaceX decided to rethink how the economics of orbital launch should work. Instead of assuming these costs as inevitable, the company opted to reuse stages, optimize processes and manufacture its own engines and systems from scratch. This combination allowed the price per kilo to be reduced to unprecedented levels, although the change did not occur immediately. What is relevant is that, for the first time, a private actor demonstrated that launches could be much cheaper and that price did not have to be a structural barrier for the industry. When launch is no longer the limit, attention shifts to satellites The resulting prices began to change behavior in the sector. With Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, the cost per kilo became in the range of 3,000 to 1,500 dollars, according to NASA calculations based on catalog prices. These figures not only mark a reduction, but a turning point: for the first time, companies, institutions and even governments could rethink the design of missions knowing that launch was no longer the main economic barrier. From there a question arose that until then had no answer: if the trip had been made cheaper, what would happen to what was sent into space? The traditional satellite model was built on the idea of ​​optimizing each unit. It was not important to produce many, but to produce one that could operate for years, with high capacity and low probability of failure. Manufacturers and operators were investing in complex systems, with long development cycles, exhaustive testing and specialized structures to fulfill specific and prolonged missions. This strategy responded to an environment in which launch was so costly and infrequent that it was more profitable to prioritize reliability and durability than to think about scalability or rapid replenishment. One of the first companies to help change this approach was OneWeb, that introduced a manufacturing model designed for scale. Instead of ordering each satellite as an individual piece, the company designed a common architecture and partnered with Airbus to produce repeatable unitswith standardized processes and shorter manufacturing times. The plant installed in Florida in 2019 was presented as the first factory of satellite serial production on a large scale, with two lines capable of removing up to two units a day. It was not about building a better satellite, but about building many. SpaceX took the satellite constellation idea and turned it into its own industrial system. With Starlink, it not only replicated the use of mass-produced satellites, but also linked that production to its launch capacity with Falcon 9, operated by the company itself. This integration allowed the deployment to be accelerated without depending on external release windows or commercial suppliers. The constellation began to grow at an unprecedented rate and, in a few years, it vastly surpassed any other similar project in number and pace. The difference was not only in manufacturing satellites, but in being able to launch them at will. Although OneWeb was one of the first players to apply industrial logic to satellite manufacturing, its constellation has grown at a very different pace than Starlink. At the end of 2025, OneWeb has around 648 satellites in orbit, while SpaceX exceeds 8,000 operational satellitesaccording to the most recent data published by orbital monitoring firms. The difference is not only due to the number of launches, but also to the mode of production. According to an economic analysis published in 2025the estimated manufacturing cost of OneWeb satellites is around $14,000 per kilo, compared to approximately $2,500 per kilo for Starlink satellites. These figures reflect a gap that has more to do with the integration model than with the technology itself. The estimated manufacturing cost of OneWeb satellites is around $14,000 per kilo, compared to approximately $2,500 per kilo for Starlink satellites. The reaction of the sector did not take long to arrive. With the advancement of Starlink, both companies and public institutions Similar projects began to be considered based on constellations with a high number of satellites and sustained deployments. Amazon launched KuiperEutelsat and OneWeb reinforced their alliance to maintain presence in the market and the European Union approved the IRIS2 program with institutional support.China is also working on its own large systems. It is not just about competing in numbers, but about accepting that scale and replacement capacity are part of the new spatial model. When the satellite becomes a replicable product, the way of planning its presence in orbit also changes. It is no longer about launching a mission and hoping it works for as long as possible, but rather about building a structure that can grow, modernize and replace units regularly. The satellite becomes a component of a network, not the center of the mission. This logic favors models based on scalability and continuous replacement, similar to those of other technological infrastructures. Space stops being a destination and becomes a platform. SpaceX demonstrated that the cost of the launch was not a technical limit, but rather a model one. Now it is trying to apply that same logic to satellites, with an approach based on scale, continuous manufacturing and integration with its own launch systems. The result is not only a larger constellation, but a different way of understanding what it means. operate in orbit. The question is no longer how much it costs to get to space, but who can … Read more

Insects have been traveling to space for decades. Now the ESA is studying putting them on the astronauts’ plates

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For years, many of us have thought of insects as something foreign to our table, but they have been part of space history for much longer than we imagine. Even before the first astronauts reached orbit, these small species they had already shown that could withstand the conditions of flight. Today, with long-duration missions on the horizon, the conversation has changed. Europe wonders if these animals, so nutritious and easy to maintain, could become a real option to feed those who live far from Earth. Why insects. Although they are still a culinary rarity in Spain, insects are part of the regular diet of billions of people. The FAO estimates more than 2,000 species consumed on different continents, valued for their contribution of protein, iron, zinc and beneficial fats. Their ability to develop with few resources and transform waste into useful biomass makes them an attractive candidate for controlled food systems. That is why several European teams are analyzing its nutritional potential and its viability in environments where every gram counts. What we know about microgravity. Research with insects in space has accumulated decades of datafrom early suborbital flights to tests at orbital stations. During this journey, different species have been tested, with very different results: some managed to complete essential phases of the life cycle in microgravity and others showed sensitivity to factors such as movement or radiation. This contrast has been useful to understand what biological mechanisms remain stable outside of Earth and what processes are altered even in very resistant organisms. What the ESA is looking for. The European team work with a specific idea: to know in detail how these organisms behave in key phases of their development when they spend prolonged time in orbit. The agency has brought together diverse profiles to study their ability to recycle nutrients and produce protein under controlled conditions, a line that already has candidate species such as the common cricket and the mealworm. This research aims to clarify what biological requirements should be met before considering its production in long-duration missions. Fruit fly habitat used for scientific research in space Although there is an extensive history of testing with insects, much of the results are scattered and come from short missions. The majority of experiments did not reach times that allow the complete life cycle of a species to be followed, an essential requirement to evaluate its use in long missions. Furthermore, many of these investigations are old and used different methodologies, making it difficult to compare them. That is why ESA is preparing new studies specifically aimed at measuring changes in reproduction, development and behavior in orbit. Drosophila model. NASA’s experience with Drosophila melanogaster has demonstrated its usefulness as a model organism to understand physiological changes in space. The agency highlights that it shares a good part of the genes related to human diseases and that its accelerated reproduction facilitates the analysis of several generations. He Fruit Fly Lab, installed on the International Space Station, it allows us to follow their behavior and freeze samples for study on the ground. It also incorporates a centrifuge that helps distinguish which effects depend on gravity and which are linked to space radiation. Astronaut James D. “Ox” Van Hoften examines a bee experiment From the laboratory to the menu. For now, the food use of insects in space missions continues to be a line of study and not an immediate application. Researchers need to check how they behave in prolonged phases and what it would mean to stably grow them in inhabited modules. Added to this is the challenge of transforming this biomass into safe, manageable and acceptable products from a nutritional and sensory point of view. Everything is moving in the direction of exploring options, not automatically incorporating them into the astronauts’ menu. Images | ESA | POT In Xataka | Astronauts’ food is not appetizing at first, especially in China

Sateliot is the great Spanish hope to have its own voice in the new satellite space race

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There is a new space race and no one wants to miss it. Rivaling with Starlink seems like a utopia, but a Spanish company has managed to get ahead to the American giant on a specific point: 5G. While Elon Musk’s satellite company remains anchored in 4G, Sateliot boasts of being a pioneer in offering 5G connectivity from space, not only to IoT devices, but also to conventional mobile phones. This milestone has not gone unnoticed by the governments of Spain and Europe. Sateliot brings together all the ingredients to become an option for technological sovereignty in the satellite race. A race where Starlink dominates with more than 90% of global launches, but where any advance of its own is seen as a great victory. Now Sateliot inaugurates the Europe’s first 5G satellite development center. A pioneering center located in Barcelona that has more than 100 employees, two laboratories, a control room and a clean room of more than 100 square meters. From Xataka we have visited the center of the Catalan satellite company and learned about its ambitious plans. Triton, the new generation of satellites moves to full 5G Since 2018, Sateliot has launched six satellites, the last four in orbit since August 2024. They plan to launch five more next year. However, beyond getting ahead with 5Git will be with their second generation of satellites when they will begin to have a more competitive service. Triton, in homage to the Montseny amphibian, is the name chosen for its new satellites, about four meters long and 150 kilograms in weight. These new satellites represent a radical advance compared to those already sent by Sateliot, because in addition to having a capacity up to 16 times greater, they also change their concept. Tritón not only offers connectivity to IoT devices, but will offer 5G connectivity for data, voice and video to conventional 5G mobiles. Without the need to add any antenna or modifications to these phones and compatible with all operators (3GPP). The satellite, with a cost 10 times higher than the first generation, will allow Sateliot to offer a service that will range from critical security applications to civil protection and defense. The company explains that its satellite connection service will not focus on providing specific coverage to specific consumersbut serve for industrial, maritime, energy or location applications. Jaume Sanpera, CEO of Sateliot, together with the monitoring of its four satellites in orbit The first Triton satellite is scheduled to launch during the first quarter of 2027from Vandenberg (California), one of SpaceX’s two launch bases. The future goal is to be able to use European launchers, such as the Vega and Ariane of the European Space Agency. In this space race, the dates given are no coincidence. 2027 is the date on which it is also planned that Starlink begins upgrading its satellites to 5G. Barcelona bets on aerospace technology Jaume SanperaCEO of Sateliot, is proud that his satellites are “100% manufactured in Barcelona.” Now they have inaugurated the development center, but in the future they plan for the industrial phase to also have a factory in Barcelona. A phase that is still far away. “Next year we will exceed 200 employees. Being more than 80% engineers and having doubled the staff in the last year,” Sanpera explains to Xataka. “We have agreed to expand to the ground floor,” he points out in reference to the recently inaugurated offices. An inauguration that was also attended by multiple public authorities, including the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Salvador Illa. “You have to lose your shyness. Everything outside is better and seems to come from the US or China. Well no: Here we also do very powerful things that no one else has“Illa defended. Salvador Illa, president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, visits the clean room of the new 5G satellite development center | Satellite Sateliot is a startup that currently brings together much of what Europe is looking for: cutting-edge technology companies and local development. The new development center wants to become the base of a cluster of aerospace companies in Barcelona. And investors are taking note. Sanpera assures that at this time Sateliot is not looking for a new round, although defines it as a company “that requires a lot of capital”. Last March, the The Spanish government announced an investment of around 14 million euros in Sateliotfor a total of a round of about 70 million euros. In addition to the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT), Global Portfolio Investments, Indra, Cellnex and SEPIDES have also invested and 30 million euros have been loaned from the European Investment Bank (EIB). For the moment, since his birth They have invested about 50 million euros in R&D. According to Sateliot, they already have signed contracts worth 285 million euros annually and offer coverage in 58 different countries. In total 734 different contracts to connect a total of 10 million devices that cannot have good coverage and where the satellite service opens a whole field of possibilities. The new development center in Barcelona employs 110 employees (80% engineers), with plans to exceed 200 in 2026. “We have 30 different patent applications“, they explain to us. During the explanation of how satellite monitoring works, the CEO of Sateliot hints that not all of its advances have been patented, in order to “not give clues to the competition”, pointing out that there is a high level of industrial espionage in the sector. “The difficulty is in the radio, in the antenna,” says Sanpera. Sateliot cannot compete against Starlink in quantity, but unlike the American company, they are betting on satellites whose connectivity is more modern and, above all, widely compatible. The Triton satellites have a 7 year shelf lifecompared to four or five years for the first generation. The main limiting factor is the radio and software. The company points out that this information is important, because “space debris is a problem for everyone and can prevent us from launching more … Read more

If you don’t want to delete photos, videos or files, these cloud storage services can give you extra space

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Horror: you go to take a photo and discover that your mobile phone already has the storage full. There is always the option of deleting applications or files from it, but we don’t always want to get rid of information from our phone. The best solution is to opt for a cloud storage service: They are safe and there are some with very interesting extras. For this reason, we are going to talk to you about some options that may fit you if you are looking for one of these storages. pCloud The first option we bring you is pCloudone that may not be as popular as others on this list, but that works very well. It is a service that we can use on both MacOS, Windows and Linux as well as on mobile phones. In fact, its app allows you to automatically synchronize images or videos to upload them without doing anything else. It also allows you to make backup copies with pCloud and it even has a new photo editor included in all its plans. Another very interesting point about pCloud is the enormous variety of plans and modalities that we have available. The most economical way to get this service is its Premium subscription, which gives 500 GB storage for alone 4.99 euros per month. We can opt, if we prefer, for annual modalities or even for ones that are for life, more economical in the long run. pCloud monthly subscription The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Drive Almost all of us, for one reason or another, have a Google account. That is already an argument in favor of us using Google Drivethis company’s cloud storage service. It is a service that is characterized by being secure and very convenient to use, regardless of whether we want to store photos or videos. In addition, it is also perfect if we are looking to have collaborative documents. For free, we have 15 GB that we can use however we want. It is a small figure if we are photography lovers or we usually record video in 4K resolution, so we can get one of their payment plans. In that case, we can have 100 GB storage by 0.49 euros per month (for three months, then it costs 1.99 euros per month). The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Dropbox When looking for cloud storage, it’s impossible not to consider Dropbox. Depending on the plan we choose from all the ones it has, it allows you to restore deleted files (up to 1 year for its Advanced plan). Furthermore, its interface is very fast and easy to use, also allowing you to transfer files up to 100 GB. This service also allows you to choose whether you want annual or monthly billing. Focusing on its prices, the cheapest thing we can hire Dropbox is for 11.99 euros per month. In exchange, we will have 2 TB of storagea figure that is not bad at all. There are also modalities that allow you to share the subscription with other users. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links OneDrive If, in addition to sending photos or videos with your mobile phone, you plan to use the cloud with a Windows PC, OneDrive may interest you. One of its best features is being able to access your files from the same Explorer of this operating system. Besides, integrates with Microsoft 365 to be able to collaboratively edit Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents in real time. This service has a free option, one that only offers 5 GB of cloud storage. If we want more, we have your Microsoft 365 Basic plan available for 20 euros a year, thanks to which we will have 100 GB storage. It is a good option that is also available for iOS and Android. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links iCloud If we have one or more Apple devices at home, then we may be interested in having iCloud with us (although we can also use it with other operating systems). It is a very interesting platform that stands out for offering a simple, minimalist and very intuitive user experience. In addition, it allows you to store backup copies of Apple devices. For free, we only have 5 GB of storage. If we want more, then we should upgrade to one of the iCloud+ plans. The cheapest version that this platform has comes out for 0.99 euros per month and offers in exchange 50GB storage. If we want more, we have two others that offer 200 GB and 2 TB, respectively. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Etienne Girardet on UnsplashpCloud, Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive In Xataka | How I organize my life in the “cloud”: the platforms and organization methods used by Xataka editors In Xataka | Google One, Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud and all the options, face to face

If the question is whether you have to pay garbage tax for a parking space in Madrid, the answer is: good luck with the Cadastre

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April 8, 2022. The Government publishes in the BOE Law 7/2022, on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy. Behind this name hides a small bomb that has been exploding, little by little, in each municipality. In Madrid, that detonation has come this year. Beyond the calculation, there are thousands of car parks that are now wondering: do I have to pay the new garbage fee? Where do we come from? My colleague Carlos Prego explained it a few days ago in Xataka. Madrid has recalculated its garbage rate, making reference to the famous Law mentioned above with a calculation that the OCU has come to define as “original and unfair”. The point is that controversy has arisen because Madrid City Council said “eliminate” this rate in 2015, alleging that they removed the tax burden from the citizen. The 2022 Law obliges municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants to begin collecting it, following European guidelines. To calculate that rate, The City Council has taken into account the cadastral value of the apartments or the tonnage of garbage that is collected in each neighborhood. That is, those who live in a neighborhood where more garbage is generated will pay more… and that directly affects neighborhoods with great tourist activity (hotels, tourist apartments…), commercial or very densely populated. a truce. The criticism has been so virulent on the part of the oppositionof the neighbors and of the associations of consumers who the City Council has partially rectified. They assure that now it will be taken into account the number of registered in each household looking ahead to next year. But what happens where no one lives? Yes, where, for example, there is a parked car because we are talking about a garage. And the garbage rate also affects the owners of a parking space… At least, apart from them. and a battle. Because although the neighbors seem to have received a truce with the new calculation in the garbage rate, which, yes, the City Council continues to defend that it will have little impact on obvious changes for neighborsthe new open front is what happens to the parking lots. And the door had been opened for a neighbor to have to pay a garbage fee for his home and another garbage fee for his parking lot. Despite the fact that, obviously, the garbage generated by a parking space is minimal or non-existent. Little more than general cleaning if we talk about a community parking lot. However, the rate taxes the provision of the service of collection, transportation and treatment of urban waste, in the words of the College of Administrators. That is, the same person (house and garage) could be charged for a single garbage collection. Who pays then? Those who will pay. Those owners of parking spaces whose parking lot is registered in the Cadastre as a “parking-industrial-use warehouse”, in the words of a circular sent by the Madrid College of Administrators to the Property Administrators of the Capital. What does this mean? They clarify it from the Cadastre which, upon consultation with one of these administrators, have confirmed that they are those independent garages that cannot be accessed from a home or from the common areas of a building. That is, those in which garbage is collected individually. Those who will not pay. Those owners of a parking space whose parking is registered in the Cadastre as “residential use”. Or, in a simplified way by this last entity, which are accessed from a home or from common areas with another building. In that case, they may be communities of different owners (garage and building) but if access is from the same common areas, the former will not pay the garbage fee. What does the City Council say? That they adhere to the type of land use specified in the Cadastre and, therefore, that it is the latter that specifies who should or should not pay the garbage rate. The only solution given in this case by the College of Property Administrators of Madrid is for the community to present a declaration of cadastral alteration to specify that the land use is residential and does not correspond to industrial use. The other alternative is to present a written due to discrepancies with the description of cadastral use. Photo | Kertis Stick and Madrid City Council In Xataka | The best horror movie of this winter has been released. And the protagonists are the owners of a home in Spain

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

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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”

AI data centers consume too much energy. Google’s ‘moonshot’ plan is to take them to space

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Training models like ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude requires more and more electricity and water, to the point that the energy consumption of AI threatens to exceed that of entire countries. Data centers have become real resource sinks. According to estimates by the International Energy Agencythe electrical expenditure of data centers could double before 2030, driven by the explosion of generative AI. Faced with this perspective, technology giants are desperately looking for alternatives. And Google believes it has found something that seems straight out of science fiction: sending its artificial intelligence chips into space. Conquering space. The company Project Suncatcher has been revealedan ambitious experiment that sounds like science fiction: placing its TPUs—the chips that power its artificial intelligence—on satellites powered by solar energy. The chosen orbit, sun-synchronous, guarantees almost constant light. In theory, these panels could work 24 hours a day and be up to eight times more efficient than the ones we have on Earth. Google plans to test its technology with two prototype satellites before 2027, in a joint mission with the Planet company. The objective will be to check if its chips and communication systems can survive the space environment and, above all, if it is feasible to perform AI calculations in orbit. The engineering behind the idea. Although it sounds like science fiction, the project has solid scientific bases. Google proposes to build constellations of small satellites—dozens or even hundreds—that orbit in compact formation at an altitude of about 650 kilometers. Each one would have chips on board Trillium TPU connected to each other by laser optical links. Such light beams would allow satellites to “talk” to each other at speeds of up to tens of terabits per second. It is an essential capability to process AI tasks in a distributed manner, as a terrestrial data center would do. The technical challenge is enormous: at these distances, the optical signal weakens quickly. To compensate, the satellites would have to fly just a few hundred meters apart. According to Google’s own studyKeeping them so close will require precise maneuvering, but calculations suggest that small orbit adjustments would be enough to keep the formation stable. In addition, engineers have already tested the radiation resistance of their chips. In an experiment with a 67 MeV proton beam, Trillium TPUs safely withstood a dose three times higher than they would receive during a five-year mission in low orbit. “They are surprisingly robust for space applications,” the company concludes in its preliminary report. The great challenge: making it profitable. Beyond the technical problems, the economic challenge is what is in focus. According to calculations cited by Guardian and Ars Technicaif the launch price falls below $200 per kilogram by the mid-2030s, an orbital data center could be economically comparable to a terrestrial one. The calculation is made in energy cost per kilowatt per year. “Our analysis shows that space data centers are not limited by physics or insurmountable economic barriers,” says the Google team. In space, solar energy is practically unlimited. A panel can perform up to eight times more than on the Earth’s surface and generate almost continuous electricity. That would eliminate the need for huge batteries or water-based cooling systems, one of the biggest environmental problems in today’s data centers. However, not everything shines in a vacuum. As The Guardian recallseach launch emits hundreds of tons of CO₂, and astronomers warn that the growing number of satellites “is like looking at the universe through a windshield full of insects.” Furthermore, flying such compact constellations increases the risk of collisions and space debris, an already worrying threat in low orbit. A race to conquer the sky. Google’s announcement comes in the midst of a fever for space data centers. It is not the only company looking up. Elon Musk recently assured that SpaceX plans to scale its Starlink satellite network—already with more than 10,000 units—to create its own data centers in orbit. “It will be enough to scale the Starlink V3 satellites, which have high-speed laser links. SpaceX is going to do it,” wrote Musk in X. For his part, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, predicted during the Italian Tech Week that we will see “giant AI training clusters” in space in the next 10 to 20 years. In his vision, these centers would be more efficient and sustainable than terrestrial ones: “We will take advantage of solar energy 24 hours a day, without clouds or night cycles.” Another unexpected actor is Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, who bought the rocket company Relativity Space precisely to move in that direction. “Data centers will require tens of additional gigawatts in a few years. Taking them off the Earth may be a necessity, not an option,” Schmidt warned in a hearing before the US Congress. And Nvidia, the AI ​​chip giant, also wants to try his luck: The startup Starcloud, backed by its Inception program, will launch the first H100 GPU into space this month to test a small orbital cluster. Their ultimate goal: a 5-gigawatt data center orbiting the Earth. The new battlefield. The Google project is still in the research phase. There are no prototypes in orbit and no guarantees that there will be any soon. But the mere fact that a company of such caliber has published orbital models, radiation calculations and optical communication tests shows that the concept has already moved from the realm of speculation to that of applied engineering. The project inherits the philosophy of others moonshots of the company —like Waymo’s self-driving cars either quantum computers—: explore impossible ideas until they stop being impossible. The future of computing may not be underground or in huge industrial warehouses, but in swarms of satellites shining in the permanent sun of space. Image | Google Xataka | While Silicon Valley seeks electricity, China subsidizes it: this is how it wants to win the AI ​​war

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