Putting the International Space Station at risk

The sudden open war Between Elon Musk and Donald Trump He has just jump to space with threats in both directions that could suppose the anticipated end of the International Space Station. Trump gave the first blow. After investing 277 million dollars in the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, Elon Musk He left his role in front of Doge With a seemingly friendly farewell broadcast live from the White House. The next day, the president of the United States withdrew the nomination of Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator. Isaacman, an old Spacex partner, had been recommended by Musk to lead NASA. The nomination was made public six months ago. Everything was ready for the businessman to assume the highest position in the space agency, but Trump has commented that he withdrew his nomination to discover that Isaacman was a Democrat. Isaacman, meanwhile, clarified that the government I had always known of his donations passed to the opposite party. Battle of Gallos. If something has in common Elon Musk and Donald Trump is his immeasurable thirst for attention. Although his relationship was already broken, he climbed after Musk described the megaproject of the law ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ of the Trump administration as a “disgusting abomination”. According to the tycoon, the law increases public debt instead of reducing it. This triggered several stabs that happened on Thursday in a matter of hours. Some as aggressive as an elon tweet suggesting that Trump has not published Epstein’s papers because he comes out in them. But the main cross of accusations and threats has been the following: Trump: “Elon was becoming a heavy one, I asked him to leave, I removed the EV mandate (the Biden order that forces more than half of the vehicles sold in 2032 to be electric) and even if I knew from the beginning that he was going to remove it, he went crazy!” Elon: “Without me, Trump would have lost the elections, the Democrats would control the House of Representatives and the Republicans would have 51-49 in the Senate. What ingratitude.” Trump: “The easiest way to save money from our budget, billions of dollars, is to end Elon’s subsidies and government contracts. I was always surprised that Biden did not do it!” Elon: “Before the president’s statement about the cancellation of my government contracts, Spacex will begin to dismantle the Dragon spacecraft immediately.” The end of the ISS? Although SpaceX’s main business Be the Starlink Satellite Internet servicethe cancellation of all its public contracts would affect multiple government, military and NASA programs, including the resupply and transport flights of astronauts to the International Space Station. With the Boeing Starliner capsule In an indeterminate limbothe Crew Dragon of Spacex is the only ship available in the United States for crew rotations in the ISS. To top it off, NASA committed to its international partners to keep the space station operational until 2030. For all this, Trump’s threat seems impossible to materialize. Nevertheless. If by Musk it were. Elon Musk answered the threat of running out of public contracts with an even worse threat: the immediate dismantling of the Dragon program. It would look like a heated without much route, if it weren’t because it coincides with The wishes that the businessman had expressed Previously: advance the end of the ISS and focus on the conquest of Mars. It is not completely impossible to happen (Musk has been very clear in the past on Starship and Mars as company priorities), But dismantling the Dragon would be a headache, in addition to NASA, for all types of Spacex partners: ESA, the Japanese space agency, the Canadian space agency, Axiom, the companies that had them for their commercial stations, and a long etc. To top it off, NASA had commissioned Spacex the development of the spacecraft that will be in charge of exorbiting the ISS After 2030. If there is a public contract that should not be canceled now is that. Leave a 455 tons space station to your fate and the size of a football field does not suit anyone. In Xataka | Open war between Musk and Trump: the fight between “giants” makes Tesla collapse in the stock market and lose 100,000 million in a few hours

We have found bacteria at the Chinese space station. The most surprising thing is that it is a new species

Space exploration has an obsession with cleanliness. It is not for less: if we want to look for life on other planets of our solar system we have to make sure that our ships do not lead with them terrestrial life that can lead us to confusion. This is the main reason why space agencies pay enormous attention to microorganisms that may appear in their ships, even in those who do not travel to other planets. Sometimes life gives us surprises. Bacteria on board. Sample analysis taken in the Chinese Space Station Tiangong It has allowed to detect traces of the presence of an unknown bacterium in this aseptic space environment. The newly discovered bacteria would have mechanisms that would have allowed her to stay alive in the extreme conditions of life aboard an orbital station. Niallia tiagongensis. The new species has been baptized as Niallia tiagongensisin reference to the name of the space station placed in orbit by China. Name in turn can translate as “Celestial Palace” N. tiagongensis Share taxonomic gender with the species Niallia Circumsa pathogenic bacterium capable of causing sepsis in immunocompromised patients. The New bacterium It has a cane shape, but it would be able to form spores, oval structures that protect the genetic information of the species in extreme conditions such as high temperatures, radiation or lack of water. N. tiagongensis It could have arrived in this way to the station that has given it. A space bacterium? The evolutionary origin of this bacterium is on earth, but We do not know for now If this new species can be found on the surface or if on the contrary it is the result of the evolution of another bacterium. An evolution that could have occurred aboard the station, allowing the survival of the bacterial colonies. It is also possible that the species has an almost fully terrestrial origin but that its “space colonies” have evolved to better adapt to the new extraterrestrial environment. Two years of study. The samples that have given rise to the finding were collected inside the station In May 2023 by astronauts of the Shenzhou-15 mission. The study of the remains found has allowed to know details on the survival strategy of this microorganism. Genes have been found that encode some responses of these bacteria to some extreme conditions, such as their response to oxidative stress or their ability to repair the damage caused by radiation. For example, we know that this bacterium is capable of generating protective particles obtaining nitrogen and carbon from the decomposition of gelatins. The details of the finding were published In an article In the magazine International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. From ISS A Tiangong. It is not the first time that we find bacteria aboard a space station. We have detected bacteria years In the International Space Station, so much so that their astronauts began recently began the Life search abroad of the ship. What we can intuit from the fact that we would not have detected the new bacteria in other ships such as the ISS is that there is diversity in the populations of microorganisms that populate the different vehicles and stations that we send to space. A lost race? The news of the new finding has been produced almost at the same time that The announcement by NASA of the detection of numerous species of microorganisms inside one of its “clean rooms”, allegedly aseptic environments designed precisely to maintain devices and vehicles safe from pollution. Bad news, not only before we send (or we have already sent) microorganisms aboard the probes that explore planets and satellites where we suspect can exist or have existed extraterrestrial life. The fact that we know that this life is able to survive in the low terrestrial orbits It does not necessarily imply That these microbes can resist an interplanetary trip, but it is a bad indication. In Xataka | The International Space Station is a farm of new species of candidate bacteria Image | Shujianyang / Bob Blaylock

China is developing an underwater space station more than 2,000 meters deep

In 1971, the former Russian Soviet Union launched its first space station, Slayut 1which was 175 days in orbit. From then on, the career in the space sector has grown tirelessly. In contrast we have the oceanic fund that around 80% is without mapping or exploring, According to the Oceanic and Atmospheric National Administration (NOA). In addition, in different studies with monitors, key minerals have been found for current technology and China He has got to work. Short. China has started the construction of an underwater laboratory at 2,000 meters deep in the Meriodional China Sea. The project developed in the deep waters of Guangzhou has been described as an “underwater space station”, where six scientists will be for more than a month to study the marine ecosystem, According to Chinadily. The underwater base. As have explained in the same mediumResearchers will aim to study cold leak ecosystems, a natural phenomenon that contains high amounts of methane hydrate. This gas is considered a less polluting alternative to traditional fossil fuels, but its extraction to great depths is a complex risk. On the other hand, the laboratory will also seek to explore minerals such as cobalt, nickel and rare earths, important elements for the technological and energy industry. Dangerous extraction. The deposits in the seabed, especially those at extreme depths, can cause irreparable damage to marine ecosystems. In fact, the international authority of the seabed has not established a regulation that determines how to carry out the activity, although studies are still being carried out. Currently, ISA He is holding meetings For the regulation of seabed extraction, while environmental organizations They are claiming a protection of oceans above commercial interests. Is there a place for everyone? The research center will be open to international collaborations and is aligned with the United Nations decade for the restoration of ecosystems, According to Global Times. However, this initiative will intensify disputes in the South China Sea. All this is because the Asian giant has claimed sovereignty over a large part of the area, which has led to tensions with neighboring countries that also wish to exploit their resources. Besides, According to El Confidencialcritics of the Chinese government have alerted the risk of this underwater base that could serve as justification for an increase in Chinese military presence. The submarine laboratory. According to El Confidencialthe station will be connected to a fiber optic network in the seabed and will support pressures 200 times higher than the sea level. Scientists will spend between a month and 45 days underwater, without natural light. In addition, the base will feature advanced submersibles, surface ships and equipment to perform four -dimensional monitoring of the region. In addition, the initial phase will focus on the construction of pressure resistant structures and simulation systems. Surpassing AI and autonomous vehicles. The station, as have detailed in SCMPIt will allow scientists to perform real -time experiments under extreme conditions, which is currently not possible to arrive with artificial intelligence or autonomous vehicles. As has explained for Global Times The project director, Chaolun Li, the initiative will contribute to the ecological and experimental monitoring in situ, advancing human knowledge in these extreme environments. Image | Proteus Ocean Group Xataka | Chinese submarines are authentic crickets: a new generation promises to change the rules of the game

A Pakistani astronaut at the Chinese space station is not only unusual. It is China occupying US power vacuum

In the coming years, the Chinese Space Station Tiangong You will receive your first crew of another nation, Pakistan. Although it will be a short -term mission, it represents a cycle change: China opening to other countries, while the United States closes. The agreement. China and Pakistan They signed a cooperation agreement on Friday To train Pakistani astronauts and perform the first international missions to the Chinese Space Station Tiangong. China and Pakistan will dedicate a year from May to select Pakistani astronauts, who will be trained in China before joining their counterparts in the neighboring country in the Orbital Laboratory for short -term missions. Chinese-Pakistan ties. Pakistan was one of the first countries to recognize the People’s Republic of China in 1950. The two nations have continued to strengthen ties since then, both economically as in the military and technological: according to the CIA, China even helped develop Pakistan’s nuclear program in the 80s. In recent years, Pakistan has sought to improve his spatial capabilities by resorting to the help of his neighbors. In May, it was one of the countries that placed experiments aboard the Chang’e-6 lunar probe, which ended up turning China into The first country to recover successfully Soil samples of the hidden face of the moon. Which symbolizes tiangong. China decided to develop its own space station after the United States prohibited Any direct collaboration between NASA and the Chinese Space Agency (CNSA), preventing its participation in the International Space Station. After trying two prototypes (Tiangong-1 between 2011 and 2018 and Tiangong-2 between 2016 and 2019), China launched the first module of its permanent space station in 2021. The Tiangong Space Station has three modules and is uninterruptedly inhabited Since 2022, with astronaut rotation missions, first, every three months, and then, every six. The twilight of the ISS. With 16 pressurized modules (the oldest, 26 years old), the International Space Station has long been the maximum exponent of cooperation between countries. But Structural fatigue begins to be a problem and maintenance investments have been increasing. The official plan (Elon Musk has his own) is to keep the ISS operational until 2030 and then tow it to a safe place where to let it disintegrate by entering the atmosphere. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, wants to have its own space station, and NASA trusts that the ISS is replaced by a commercial stations plethora. The future of the low orbit. There are few companies that are developing commercial space stations to offer space tourism services, experiments in microgravity and, ultimately, cover the hole that the ISS will leave from 2030: Axiom Space, Blue Origin, Voyager Space and Airbus… But neither does it lack ambition to China in the extensions planned for its space station, Tiangong, which in the coming years will double the number of modules to six And it will begin to accommodate, as we have seen, astronauts from other countries. Another next milestone will be the launch Xuntian Space Telescopescheduled for 2026. It will share the same orbit as the station (400 km altitude) and may be coupled to it for maintenance and improvement tasks. China occupies power vacuum. When NASA definitely abandons the low terrestrial orbit (or delegate it to its commercial partners), China will be there to occupy the void, opening to other countries to accommodate its astronauts, taking advantage of a abandonment of functions in international cooperation. It will not be the first time that China occupies a space that the United States leaves free. It has occurred on the Moon, ignored by NASA for a long time from the Apollo missions, occasion that the Chinese space agency took the opportunity to achieve symbolic milestones such as alunizar on the hidden satellite face and bring the first soil samples. Cycle change. With NASA receiving instructions to conquer Mars after Elon Musk convinced Donald Trump that the moon is a distraction, the NASA Artemis missions They are questioned. Now China has an opportunity. Not only to establish the “De facto International Space Station” in the low terrestrial orbit, but also a series of milestones that NASA had marked in its calendar of symbolic victories. The First woman who steps on the moon It could be China, if Artemis ends up falling apart. And then the first lunar orbital station? And then the First manned lunar base? If there is a cycle change, China will take advantage of it. Images | Shujianyang, China Ministry of Foreign Affairs In Xataka | 400,000 meters above the earth, China is undertaking a crucial mission in its space station: fortify it In Xataka | It is not that Elon Musk has managed to introduce its influence on NASA. Is that he has entered sweeping

Exorbiting the International Space Station in two years

The International Space Station is, as the name implies, an international project. One of the most important and monumental international projects in history, the result of the collaboration of multiple countries. Now an entrepreneur wants to accelerate his end. In an ideal world, entrepreneurs could not undo what several countries have built. Much less if the reason is accelerate the conquest of Marsfor which the new rocket of said entrepreneur will be needed. But this is not any businessman. He is the richest in the world and has enough political power and influence to take us seriously. Elon Musk’s last idea. “It’s time to start preparations for exorbiting the international space station,” Elon Musk wrote in his X profile during Thursday afternoon. “It has fulfilled its purpose. Its incremental utility is very small. Let’s go to Mars.” When exactly? “The decision depends on the president, but my recommendation is to be done as soon as possible,” The businessman said. “I recommend doing it in two years.” That is, in 2027, two years before the date agreed by the ISS partners. An accelerated ending. At 25, the International Space Station shows signs of aging. Investments in maintenance have been increasing. Structural fatigue begins to be a concern. The risk of impact with space garbage does not stop growing. The plan agreed by the ISS partners was to keep the operating station until 2030 and then tow it with a special ship to a safe place (presumably the Pacific Ocean) for its atmospheric reentry. NASA asked Spacex to develop this vehicle by 2030. By then, hopefully, there will be Commercial Space Stations In the low terrestrial orbit. But by 2027, the year proposed by Musk, the continuous presence of Americans in space would probably be interrupted. The space would continue inhabited, yes, By Chinese astronauts. Can Trump retire the ISS a long time? That is the big question. The International Space Station involves five space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), the European Space Agency (Europe), Jaxa (Japan) and CSA (Canada). Canada operates the Canadarm robotic arm, Europe the robotic arm was and the Columbus laboratory … but in broad strokes, the ISS consists of two main segments that are from the United States and Russia. In the same way that Russia was threatening to decoup down her and leave before 2030, Donald Trump could propose the same. It is hard to imagine a scenario in which the European, Japanese and Canadian partners of NASA agreed with this abrupt ending. What would happen, for example, with European astronauts who were going to fly to ISS before 2030, Like the Spanish Pablo Álvarez? But it is not impossible to occur. “You are delayed.” Musk’s statements, yes, could have been hot written. He published them just a few hours after exploding against the former commander of the International Space Station Andreas Mogensenwho had called him a liar for statements in Fox News. Musk and Trump have been circulating the narrative that Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were abandoned by former president Biden in space after the Fiasco of the Boeing Starliner ship. Actually, NASA ordered a return plan for both during the Biden administration: to reserve two empty seats on the CREW-9 mission, which will return to Earth at the end of March (an exclusive ship for them would have cost dozens of millions). When Mogensen pointed out this in his X profile, Musk replied: “You are a complete mental retardation. Spacex could have brought them back several months ago. I offered this directly to the Biden administration and refused. His return was delayed for political reasons. Stupid.” Image | Elon Musk, Nasa In Xataka | It is not that Elon Musk has managed to introduce its influence on NASA. Is that he has entered sweeping

China has placed the largest engineering work projected at 36,000 km from the Earth: its space solar station

We are still far from build a dyson spherebut China seems willing to materialize The first great Solar Energy Station in orbit With the Earth, a simpler version of the concept that, even so, NASA scientists discarded in the 70-80 for being economically unfeasible. Times have changed and the world is in full energy transition to renewable sources. China, who has no shame when copying advances from other nations, provided they serve their purposes, work at the same time in Your own Starship: A totally reusable giant rocket called CZ-9. Uniting points, the Chinese Engineering Academy (CAE) wants to take advantage of the future rocket To install a huge solar plant in space, 36,000 km on the earth. 10 years ago, when China announced that it would investigate the space solar energy stations, everyone seemed to be a theoretical study or one more concept proof, such as those that continue to develop Today in NASAthe Jaxa Japanese agency and The European Space Agency (THAT). However, Chinese officials have put An ambitious roadmap on the table that has caught the rest of the countries totally off guard. The first prototype of the Chinese space center, 500 kW of power, is expected by 2030. A fully operational version of 20 MW would be ready in 2035 (while the station in its final form, of 2 GW, is scheduled for 2050. It is not a small thing for a technology that has never been implemented, much less on a large scale. It will presumably require hundreds of launches and the assembly of thousands of solar panels in geostation orbit, 36,000 km altitude, where the profitability of launching tons and tons of load will depend on the fact that the CZ-9 rocket be fully reusable, as the Chinese promise. Long Lehao, a rocket scientist in the fall, did not lack symiles to justify this huge media deployment. “It is a project as important as transferring the prey of the three throats to a geostationary orbit He said during a conference in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Of course, they will have to put small demonstrators in orbit of what will end up being the Space Solar Station. China has already tested From hot air balloonsand is building a receiving station in Chongqing. By 2026, the Chinese Space Technology Academy (CASC) plans to display its first 10 kW solar panels in space with the aim of demonstrating wireless energy transmission. He hopes to transmit up to 1 kW by laser and up to 4 kW by microwave, both to the receptor station on Earth and a nearby satellite, which suggests a future in which satellite constellations could be combined with the solar station. How will the solar station that China plans to install in space Little is known at the technical level of what the first farm of solar panels will be deploy in geostationary orbitsince no project has been officially selected. But Eureka List three concepts, out of different Chinese laboratories, which have enough ballots: In 2014, the Chinese Space Technology Academy (CASC) proposed a 11.8 km long station with a circular transmission antenna of 1 km in diameter; In 2021, the concept was updated with a modular design, easier to assemble, but with the disadvantage of a rectangular beam That same year, the Xidian University published a study on a spherical station with a diameter of 8 to 10 km and a system that would take advantage of semi -reflective panels to concentrate light on internal photovoltaic cells In 2016, the Shenyang Aerospace University proposed a similar concept that, instead of a spherical design, has a cylindrical design that refracts sunlight towards internal photovoltaic panels, a design that simplifies the monitoring of the sun What these concepts have in common is that they rotate like sunflowers to always point towards the sun, so their huge solar panels capture an inexhaustible flow of solar energy that then transmit to the earth. How do they transmit it? Concentrating a laser or microwave beam towards large antennas in receiving stations on Earth, where it becomes electricity to store in batteries or pour into the electricity grid. The wireless transfer takes advantage of a physical phenomenon known as interference or overlap of waves. It is usually explained by visualizing a pond in which you submerge both hands to form waves that spread at the same time. There are areas where waves are stronger because they advance together (they add up to the phase) and others in which they are canceled (they are out of phase). When waves work together, energy is not lost, but is concentrated in a specific direction. If there are several sources operating in a coordinated manner (all issuing at the same time, in the same phase) the energy can be directed in one direction. But if each source works a little earlier or a little after the others, the direction of the beam can be controlled. As a magnifying glass that concentrates the light at one point, it is possible to adjust the synchronization of these sources to focus energy in an area smaller than the original (such as the antenna on the surface of the earth). This correction can be carried out on the Nanoseconds of Electronics scale, which allows the energy direction to be handled very quickly or assigned to different locations (different antennas). In geostationary orbit, solar panels can be operated all the time and with conversion efficiencies superior to those that the panels achieve on this side of the atmosphere, hence the advantage of a photovoltaic station in space. However, the complexity of its deployment and doubts about the safety and efficiency of wireless transmission make all this technology still without being tested since studying in the 70s and 80s. China aspires to lead the new space solar energy career, as leading the earth’s photovoltaic energy, but will not be alone. Japan became 2015 In the first country that managed to transmit 1,8 kW in microwave wirelessly. … Read more

American Marine died in an accident at a skiing station in Colorado

Authorities reported that A 24 -year -old sergeant died after being injured in a ski accident in a popular tourist center of Coloradowhile visiting his family during the holidays. Jessie Mello, 24, was skiing in Powderhorn Mountain on December 24 when he suffered a serious head injury and bone fractures, confirmed the forensic table county and the complex to Fox News Digital. The authorities said The young woman was on an intermediate level path when the accident occurred on Christmas Eve. His father, Eric Mello, told The Colorado Sun that the eye witnesses reported that the woman crashed into an ice plate and a tree. He wore a helmet at the time of the accident. After the accident, the skiing patrol responded and transferred it by plane to the St. Mary’s hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado, about 40 miles from the complex, where they placed it in intensive care. The table of table county said that Mello remained hospitalized for several days, but died on January 5 for head injuries. “My girl fell in peace in Jesus’ arms tonight,” his father, Eric, wrote in a Facebook publication. Mello’s funeral was held at the Lutheran Church Messiah on January 10. He remembered as a “woman of incredible talent, character and love.” Continue reading: –18 -year -old dies in a ski accident in popular Tahoe area, Nevada–An skier died and another was injured in a large avalanche west of Wyoming–12 -year -old boy dies in a ski accident in a New Hampshire mountain (Tagstotranslate) Colorado

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