Watch Netflix’s 1st trailer for the Inspiration4 documentary on SpaceX’s private spaceflight – Space.com

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Netflix's trailer for its upcoming documentary on SpaceX's private Inspiration4 spaceflight has landed to introduce the first all-civilian crew set to launch into orbit next month.

The near real-time Netflix series "Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space" which breaks new territory for the long-time streaming provider will air across several episodes launching on Sept. 2.SpaceX will launch the four civilian astronauts into orbit on a Crew Dragon spacecraft on Sept. 15.

The trailer, released Thursday (Aug. 19) on YouTube, shows the crew in training and promises that Inspiration4 will be the "next epic leap forward for civilians." The one-minute teaser focuses on aspects such as overcoming disability, fundraising money for charity, and dealing with worries from families about the inherent risk of climbing on a rocket.

The privately chartered Inspiration4 plans to fly four people to space Sept. 15 aboard a SpaceX Dragon, orbiting Earth for three days. The crew includes billionaire and mission financier Jared Isaacman, childhood cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux (whom Isaacman invited), data engineer Chris Sembroski and Sian Proctor, a geoscientist, science communicator and artist. None of them are professional astronauts.

In the trailer, Netflix paid tribute to the two contests from which Sembroski and Proctor received their seats. One of Isaacman's major goals of the mission is to support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital also Arcenaux's workplace and the spot where she received her cancer treatments years ago.

Photos: See the Inspiration4 astronauts learn how to fly a SpaceX Dragon

Netflix plans five episodes, along with livestreaming the launch on Sept. 15 on its YouTube channel. Assuming the launch lifts off on schedule, Sept. 6 will see two episodes drop, focused on meeting the crew. The launch preparation will come into focus in two episodes airing Sept. 13. The last episode, sometime in late September, will feature the journey home.

The documentary series will be co-produced by Time Studios, and is directed by Jason Hehir creator of the Michael Jordan series "The Last Dance."

While not hinted at in the trailer, Netflix also plans to release a "hybrid live-action animation special for kids and families" about the mission to air Sept. 14. It will discuss matters such as how rockets work, how astronauts sleep and eat in space and other mission basics, according to The Verge.

Netflix's decision to focus on diversity in the Inspiration4 trailer comes in the wake of criticism about two other billionaire-funded space missions that ran in July. The crewed spaceflights were Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity (including founder Richard Branson) and Blue Origin's New Shepard (including founder Jeff Bezos).

Online commentators questioned aspects of the Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin missions including whether the billionaires were in competition (both denied it), the worth of spaceflights for rich people and their invitees, and what the missions mean for the space tourism market, which so far has been open to a select few.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Watch Netflix's 1st trailer for the Inspiration4 documentary on SpaceX's private spaceflight - Space.com

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin targeting Aug. 26 for next spaceflight – Space.com

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Update for 4 p.m. ET on Aug. 23: Blue Origin announced today (Aug. 23) that it has pushed the target date for its uncrewed NS-17 mission back 24 hours, to Aug. 26 at 9:35 a.m. EDT (1335 GMT).

Blue Origin is targeting Aug. 25 for the next flight of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle, company representatives announced today (Aug. 18).

The uncrewed mission is scheduled to lift off from Blue Origin's West Texas launch site at 9:35 a.m. EDT (1335 GMT; 8:35 a.m. local time) on Aug. 25. You can watch it live here at Space.com at that time, courtesy of Blue Origin, or directly via the company.

Next week's spaceflight will be the 17th overall for Blue Origin and the first since the company's debut crewed mission, which took place on July 20. On that day, a New Shepard vehicle carried company founder Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk and 18-year-old Dutch student Oliver Daemen to suborbital space and back.

In photos: Blue Origin's 1st New Shepard passenger launch with Jeff Bezos

The Aug. 25 mission, known as NS-17, won't carry any people, but New Shepard a reusable rocket-capsule combo won't be empty. The capsule will contain 18 commercial payloads, 11 of which are NASA-sponsored, as well as thousands of postcards submitted by kids via Blue Origin's nonprofit Club for the Future, company representatives said today.

In addition, the capsule's exterior will host NASA's Deorbit, Descent and Landing Sensor Demonstration experiment, a suite of technologies designed to help spacecraft land more accurately on the moon and other cosmic bodies. This will be the second Blue Origin flight for the sensor suite, which first reached suborbital space aboard New Shepard in October 2020.

And, in a first for a New Shepard mission, NS-17 will feature an art installation Amoako Boafo's "Suborbital Tryptych." The work consists of three portraits "painted on the top of the crew capsule on the main [para]chute covers," Blue Origin representatives wrote in an NS-17 mission description. "The portraits capture the artist, his mother and a friends mother. The artwork is part of Uplift Aerospaces Uplift Art Program, whose purpose is to inspire new ideas and generate dialog by making space accessible and connected to the human experience."

Blue Origin currently operates two New Shepard vehicles. One of them the one that will lift off next week is dedicated to flying research payloads on uncrewed missions. NS-17 will be the eighth space mission for that particular vehicle.

Blue Origin has one main competitor in the suborbital space tourism business Virgin Galactic, which conducted its first fully crewed suborbital mission last month. Virgin Galactic flies a six-passenger, two-pilot space plane that lifts off from a runway beneath the wings of a carrier aircraft and glides back down for a runway landing at the end of each mission. New Shepard, by contrast, is fully automated, and both of its elements come back down to Earth under parachutes.

Virgin Galactic is selling seats for $450,000 apiece. Blue Origin has not yet announced how much a ride on New Shepard costs.

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

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Taiwan Innovative Space will conduct a test launch of its Hapith I rocket in Australia later this year – TechCrunch

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Australian regulators have given Taiwan Innovative Space, a five-year-old launch company that goes by Tispace, the green light to conduct a commercial launch at a newly licensed facility in southern Australia later this year.

Tispace will conduct a test flight of its two-stage, suborbital rocket Hapith I from the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex in Southern Australia. The flight will be used to validate the vehicles propulsion, guidance, telemetry and structure systems, Tispace said in a news release. The launch facility, operated by space infrastructure company Southern Launch, received its license from the countrys industry ministry in March.

The news is potentially significant for both Australia and Taiwans burgeoning space industries, which have lagged behind other nations. Australia only established a domestic space agency in 2018, and interest in how the country can get in on the new space economy has only grown since. The newly licensed launch facility will initially support a test launch campaign for up to three suborbital rockets, in order to collect data on the possible environmental impacts of the site.

This [launch permit approval] is an important outcome in establishing Australias commercial launch capability and demonstrating what our country can offer to the international space sector, Australias Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Christian Porter, said in a statement. Space is a significant global growth market that will support Australias economic future through big investment, new technologies and job growth across multiple industries.

Taiwan has also been slow to develop a home-grown space industry, though the country took a major step forward when Taiwanese legislators passed the Space Development Law in May to spur the development of a domestic space program. But while the country has a handful of satellites in orbit most recently the YUSAT and IDEASSat CubeSats, which were transported into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in January it has yet to launch a rocket or spacecraft from its soil.

Hapith I is Taiwans first domestically manufactured rocket, and Tispace its first commercial space launch company. The company had planned to test the Hapith vehicle from a launch site in Taiwan, but the site was scrapped over legal issues concerning the location. In addition to launch, Tispace may start conducting even more of its operations abroad: According to an Australian press release, its also considering bringing manufacturing of complete rocket systems to the land down under.

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Taiwan Innovative Space will conduct a test launch of its Hapith I rocket in Australia later this year - TechCrunch

Mars helicopter Ingenuity soars through challenging 12th flight on Red Planet – Space.com

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NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity made its 12th Red Planet flight on Monday (Aug. 16), during which the little chopper served as eyes in the sky for its larger companion, the Perseverance rover.

The flight was designed to serve as reconnaissance for the rover's continuing explorations of a region dubbed South Stah, according to a flight plan NASA posted before the attempt that called the sortie "ambitious."

"Flying over Stah South carries substantial risk because of the varied terrain," Ingenuity scientists wrote in the plan. "When we choose to accept the risks associated with such a flight, it is because of the correspondingly high rewards. Knowing that we have the opportunity to help the Perseverance team with science planning by providing unique aerial footage is all the motivation needed."

Related:Watch NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity explore intriguing Raised Ridges

Unlike most of its recent flights, this sortie saw Ingenuity make a round trip. That choice matched the flight's purpose. While the helicopter had been focused on keeping ahead of Perseverance, this time Ingenuity was gathering detailed scouting information for the rover.

That's because while flying over South Stah is risky for the little chopper, driving through the region is also dangerous for the Perseverance rover. But the region is also full of intriguing rocks that Perseverance's science team would love to study up close.

So the 10 or so color photographs and the stereo scene that Ingenuity was directed to capture during its flight will guide Perseverance scientists as they decide where to point the rover. After Perseverance's first sampling attempt failed to capture any rock, the team is looking for a new target to try packing away for a future mission to ferry to Earth.

During its first 11 flights, Ingenuity had flown a total of about 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers) and spent nearly 19 minutes in the Martian skies, according to tallies provided by NASA. The 12th flight added nearly 1,500 feet (450 meters) and 169 seconds to that total.

Ingenuity has vastly exceeded its original directive, to make five flights around its initial deployment site over the course of a month to prove that flying a rotorcraft on Mars is possible.

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her on Twitter @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Every SpaceX Starship explosion and what Elon Musk and team learned from them (video) – Space.com

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Spacecraft development is a risky and sometimes explosive business. SpaceX's Starship prototype spacecraft is an example of that. The fully reusable launch system for eventual moon-and-Mars trips is no stranger to explosions, ruptures and failed landings.

The supercut video above shows the main SpaceX failures (some intentional, others not so much) from Starship's early development. At 395 feet (120 meters) the stacked Starship and Super Heavy rocket is the world's tallest rocket, and Starship is designed to do complex flips and maneuvers upon landing.

Many of these failures happened, therefore, simply because Starship is a new system trying to do unusual things. All the same, the footage is clear (and entertaining) example of some of the challenges of spacecraft development. Learn more about each Starship failure and the "lessons learned" below.

Related: See the evolution of SpaceX's rockets in pictures

SpaceX's SN1 prototype burst apart during a pressure test on Feb. 28, 2020 at its launchpad near Boca Chica, Texas. At the time, the prototype was undergoing a liquid nitrogen pressure test. The midsection of the prototype buckled, then shot upward before smashing into the ground.

Video: Watch Starship SN1 burst apart in test

Company founder Elon Musk appeared to take the failure in stride and to be thinking ahead about strengthening SN2, according to a series of tweets posted shortly after the explosion. "So how was your night?" readone tweet, which accompanied a video of the prototype's death. This was followed by "It's fine, well just buff it out," and thenanother tweetthat said, "Where's Flextape when you need it!?"

Another cryogenic pressure test for prototype Starship SN3 (the SN2 test article was fine) did not go to plan, either. Starship SN3's prototype tank collapsed on April 2, 2020. SN3 was trying to show that it could withstand the high pressure of very cold fuel that is loaded in ahead of launch.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN3 collapse in test

In a tweet, Musk said that SN3 had passed an ambient temperature test the night before. "We will see what data review says in the morning, but this may have been a test configuration mistake," Musksaid in a follow-up post, adding in another tweet, "Some valves leaked at cryo temp. Fixing & will retest soon."

SpaceX's next prototype, Starship SN4, had a fiery explosion on May 29, 2020 very soon after a rocket engine test. The dramatic failure happened only a minute after a short test of its Raptor rocket engine, but immediately after the explosion it was unclear what caused the conflagration.Just like with past explosions, Musk kept saying the company keeps learning from each test and forging ahead.

Video: Watch Starship SN4 explode in a massive fireball

That said, the Starship SN4 was by far the longest-lived and most-tested Starship prototype at that time. SN4 survived five static-fire engine tests before exploding.

After the loss of Starship SN4, SpaceX developed the SN5 and SN6 prototypes before moving on to SN7, which the company intentionally pushed to failure.

The Starship SN7 prototype tank rupturedduring a pressure test on June 23, 2020 but this one was a planned failure. SN7 had finished another pressure test just a week before, resulting in a leak; the second test was far more showy given the planned explosion.

Video: Watch SpaceX pop the Starship SN7 tank on purpose

The first test of the SN7 Starship tank, which leaked but did not explode, was a promising sign for the program's development, Musk said in comments on June 15, 2020.The company is shifting from 301 stainless steel to 304L, he added.

The SN8 prototype made a dramatic flight on Dec. 9, 2020, successfully hitting several milestones before failing to stick the landing and erupting in a fireball. The prototype launched to an altitude of about 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) using itsthree Raptor engines.

At peak altitude, the rocketshut down its engines and performed a "belly flop"for a glide to the launch pad.After firing its engines once more before touchdown to attempt an upright landing, though, the rocket landed too fast due to lower than expected fuel tank header pressure.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN8 launch and explode on landing

Musk was pleased with the progress. "SN8 did great!" Muskwrote on Twitter on Dec. 9. "Even reaching apogee would've been great, so controlling all the way to putting the crater in the right spot was epic."

SpaceX's Starship SN9 managed to climb even higher than SN8 on Feb. 2, 2021 before experiencing its own fiery explosion upon landing. It reached its target altitude of about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) and did a complex horizontal flip to simulate re-entry to Earth's atmosphere. But it hit the landing site too hard after 6.5 minutes of flight, resulting in a catastrophic end.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN9 crash hard in landing

"Again, we've just got to work on that landing a little bit,"SpaceXprincipal integration engineer John Insprucker saidduring SpaceX's launch webcast."We got a lot of good data, and the primary objective to demonstrate control of the vehicle in the subsonic re-entry looked to be very good, and we will take a lot out of that," he added.

Doing one better over its predecessor SN9, the prototype Starship SN10 soared to its planned altitude of 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) on March 7, 2021, did the horizontal re-entry flip practice, and came back to the ground for a smooth touchdown. Unfortunately, some flames were visible near SN10's base shortly after landing and the vehicle soon exploded on the launch pad.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN10 ace its landing, then explode

Musk later said on Twitter that the spacecraft came in a little too fast for the landing, due to low thrust likely caused by an issue in the fuel header tank. The hard landing crushed the legs of the landing system, along with part of the engine skirt. The resulting damage led to the explosion a few minutes later.

On March 30, 2021, SpaceX's Starship SN11 lifted off in thick fog only to meet a similar fate of its SN10 predecessor.

Like SN10, Starship SN11 flew to an altitude of 6.2 miles (10 km) and then returned to Earth for a landing attempt. Six minutes into the flight, its onboard cameras cut out. Apparently, it exploded above the landing pad before making it back to Earth.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN11 launch in fog

"Looks like we've had another exciting test of Starship Number 11," John Insprucker, launch commentator for SpaceX, said during the broadcast. "Starship 11 is not coming back, do not wait for the landing."

Elon Musk later wrote that engine 2 of the three Raptor engines on Starship SN11 experienced problems during ascent that only got worse when it reignited for the landing burn. "Something significant happened shortly after landing burn start. Should know what it was once we can examine the bits later today," Musk wrote at the time on Twitter.

After the failure of Starship SN11, SpaceX stood down from launches for a time as it worked through several more iterations. Then, a breakthrough.

On May 5, 2021, SpaceX made a Starship triumph when its Starship SN15 prototype launched and landed safely, and didn't explode afterwards.

The test flight, which occurred on the 60th anniversary of the launch of Alan Shepard, the first American in space, showed off all the lessons SpaceX had learned to that point while developing Starship.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN15 launch and land safely

"SN15 has vehicle improvements across structures, avionics and software, and the engines that will allow more speed and efficiency throughout production and flight: specifically, a new enhanced avionics suite, updated propellant architecture in the aft skirt, and a new Raptor engine design and configuration," SpaceX representatives wrote in a description of the flight.

SpaceX has since moved on to more Starship prototypes and its booster, the Super Heavy, as it aims for a potential orbital flight. In August 2021, SpaceX stacked its Starship SN20 atop a Super Heavy for the first time, making the world's tallest rocket.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Exposure to radiation can affect DNA: Astronauts on long-duration missions in space at risk – India Today

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As countries rush to the Moon, with plans afoot for future manned exploration of Mars and beyond, one of the biggest threats to astronauts is being exposed to radiation in space. Researchers at the International Space Station (ISS) have now detected and measured the radiation exposure damage to astronauts during spaceflight.

Astronauts on board the flying outpost have continuously been studying ways to reduce the risks of the hazards of spaceflight and develop capabilities to predict space radiation exposure for future exploration missions.

In a study published in the journal Nature-Scientific Reports, scientists demonstrate how the sensitivity of an individual astronauts DNA to radiation exposure on Earth can predict their DNAs response during spaceflight as measured by changes to their chromosomes.

As part of the research, scientists studied blood samples of 43 crew missions taken pre-flight and post-flight. While pre-flight blood samples were exposed to varying doses of gamma rays, post-flight blood samples were collected shortly and several months after landing.

Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide poses for a photo after undergoing a generic blood draw in the European Laboratory/Columbus Orbital Facility (COF). (Photo: Nasa)

We wanted to know if it is possible to detect and measure radiation exposure damage in the bodies of astronauts, and if there were differences based on age, sex, and other factors that could be measured before they go into space, said senior scientist Honglu Wu from Nasas Johnson Space Center. Researchers studied the impact of these radiations on the chromosomes of astronauts. Chromosomes contain our bodies' DNA building blocks, and altering them can increase the risk of developing cancer and other diseases.

During the experiment, scientists measured the levels of chromosome alterations from radiation and other factors before and after a mission. These alterations to chromosomes are observed in a very small percentage of individual cells within a persons blood.

As part of the study, scientists conducted three measurements, first, they analysed blood samples of astronauts before they flew to the ISS, to assess their baseline chromosomal status, then these blood samples were intentionally exposed to gamma-ray radiation on Earth to measure how easily the cells accumulate changes, and third, after the astronauts returned from their missions, the study team again took blood samples from the individuals to assess their level of chromosomal alterations.

Blood samples taken by former NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy before aboard the International Space Station. (Photo: Nasa)

Following the deep analysis of samples scientists found:

The ISS is permanently exposed to several radiations emerging from the vastness of the cosmos including continuous bombardment of particles from the Sun. Space radiation originates from Earths magnetic field, particles shot into space during solar flares, and galactic cosmic rays, which originate outside our solar system.

Older crew members had higher levels of baseline chromosomal irregularities. (Photo: Nasa)

Continuous exposure to these radiations can lead to cancer alterations to the central nervous system, cardiovascular disease, and other adverse health effects. While astronauts are protected from major radiation in low-earth orbit, due to Earths magnetic field, spacecraft shielding and a limited time in space, these factors would dramatically change for long-duration missions.

Therefore, studying these changes is critical so that new ways and medical treatments can be devised.

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Exposure to radiation can affect DNA: Astronauts on long-duration missions in space at risk - India Today

Robot, plants to blast off on upcoming SpaceX mission to ISS – Al Jazeera English

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When the commercial space firms Dragon spacecraft launches Saturday, it will be loaded with experiments dedicated to probing everything from bone and eye health to the dexterity of robots.

SpaceX is targeting Saturday for the launch of its next resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS), and it plans to have some fascinating scientific experiments in tow.

When the commercial space firms Dragon spacecraft launches along with its Falcon rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the United States, it will be loaded with research projects dedicated to exploring everything from astronauts bone and eye health to the dexterity of robots and how plants handle stress, NASA announced ahead of the launch.

It will also include an experiment dedicated plant growth, ant colonization, and the brine shrimp lifecycle designed by a group of Girl Scouts from central Florida, the US space agency confirmed.

It is the 23rd resupply mission to the ISS carried out by Elon Musks SpaceX, and its launch is targeted for 3:37am local time (07:37 GMT) on Saturday.

One experiment will use metabolites created as byproducts during winemaking to see whether substances such as antioxidants formed when food is broken down might protect bones during spaceflight, according to NASA.

Another experiment sponsored by the European Space Agency, the European Astronaut Centre and the German Aerospace Centers Institute of Space Medicine will use a small device to take images of the retinas of astronauts eyes to check them for spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS).

The condition is thought to be associated with long-duration exposure to microgravity and affects more than two-thirds of astronauts, principal investigator Juergen Drescher said in the press release.

Currently, visual problems that may manifest from SANS are mitigated by providing glasses or contact lenses to crew members, Drescher explained. Multi-year missions to Mars may worsen these symptoms, and there is a need for a mobile device for retinal image diagnostics.

That technology could eventually be used both in space and here on Earth, he added.

An experiment from space robotics startup Gitai Japan Inc will test out the dexterity and manoeuvrability of a robotic arm inside the Bishop Airlock, a pressurised environment.

Gitais Chief Technology Officer Toyotaka Kozuki said in the press release that the robot could provide an inexpensive and safer source of labor in space, opening the door to the true commercialization of space. On Earth, it could be used to help in disaster relief efforts or nuclear emergencies where sending in humans to help could be dangerous.

Additional experiments on Saturdays mission include an investigation aimed at testing the strength of materials such as concrete, 3D printed polymers, fibreglass composites and more in space and a study on how to help plants handle microgravity stress in space.

NASA said the Dragon spacecraft will also carry supplies and hardware for the crew currently based at the ISS.

In addition to serving as a taxi service to the ISS, SpaceX has scored a number of major NASA contracts recently, including one to help explore Jupiters fourth-largest moon, Europa.

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Robot, plants to blast off on upcoming SpaceX mission to ISS - Al Jazeera English

Virgin Orbit is going public to fund its space satellite program – Engadget

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Virgin Orbit has announced plans to go public on the Nasdaq stock exchange through a special purpose acquisitions company (SPAC) merger. The deal with NextGen Acquisition Corp. II values Virgin Orbit at $3.2 billion.

The combined company is expected to pull in up to $483 million in cash when the deal closes, which Virgin Orbit believes will happen by the end of this year. Around $383 million of that is expected to come from funds NextGen holds in trust, and the other $100 million from a common stock PIPE (private investment in public equity) offering at $10 per share. Virgin Orbit's existing stakeholders will own around 85 percent of the combined company, with NextGen shareholders owning about 10 percent, PIPE investors (which will include Boeing) holding roughly three percent and the SPAC sponsor owning the remaining two percent or so.

Virgin Orbit will use the funds to scale up its rocket manufacturing endeavors and bolster the company's space solutions business and Virgin Orbits ongoing product development initiatives. An SPAC merger with a company (usually a shell corporation) that's already listed on a stock exchange allows a business to go public without going through the usual initial public offering process.

The first spaceflight company to go public through an SPAC, and the company that really kicked off the SPAC trend, was Virgin Galactic back in 2019, which sought to fund its tourist trips to space. Virgin Galactic spun out Virgin Orbit as a separate company in 2017 so they could respectively focus on space tourism and small satellite launches. Virgin Galactic held its first fully crewed flight in July (with founder Richard Branson on board), while Virgin Orbit had its first successful satellite deployment in January.

Virgin Orbit launches its satellites from a custom Boeing 747, with the LauncherOne rocket taking payloads into space. The company says this approach offers a "significant performance advantage" over traditional ground launches (an approach adopted by the likes of SpaceX) while lowering "local carbon emissions and acoustic impacts" at launch sites.

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Virgin Orbit is going public to fund its space satellite program - Engadget

Laurence Young, professor emeritus of astronautics and renowned expert in bioastronautics, dies at 85 – MIT News

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Laurence R. Young '57, SM '59, ScD '62, the Apollo Program Professor Emeritus of Astronautics and professor of health sciences and technology at MIT, died peacefully at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Aug. 4 after a long illness. He was 85.

A longtime member of the MIT community, Young was widely regarded for his pioneering role in the field of bioastronautics, the study of the impact of the space environment on living organisms, focusing in particular on the human factors of spaceflight. Many biological systems processes that comprise and govern the human body from bones and muscles to cardiovascular regulation and sensory-motor control depend on Earth's gravity to function properly. To protect astronauts from potentially negative effects of weightlessness, radiation, and psychological stress encountered in space, developing artificial life support systems for human protection is vital for future missions.

Young joined the faculty in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) at MIT in 1962. There, he co-founded the Man-Vehicle Laboratory (now the Human-Systems Laboratory) with Y.T. Li to conduct his research on the visual and vestibular systems, visual-vestibular interaction, flight simulation, space motion sickness, and manual control and displays.

"Larry was one of the first engineers to introduce math modeling techniques to aerospace-relevant areas of physiology and human factors. He knew that the quantitative approach would lead to new insights, so he started with eye movements and then moved on to perception," says Charles Oman, senior research engineer of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT and longtime colleague of Young. "I still remember in those days, some skeptics said perceptions were too complicated to model, but he proved them all wrong, and in the process, revolutionized the fields of vestibular physiology and flight simulation. His success and enthusiasm for his work were infectious."

Young was born in New York City on December 19, 1935 to Benjamin and Bess Young. After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science in 1952, Young received a BA from Amherst College in 1957; a certificate in applied mathematics from the Sorbonne, Paris as a French Government Fellow in 1958; BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering and an ScD in instrumentation from MIT in 1962.

Young's career extended beyond MIT to the national and international stage; he consulted with NASAs Marshall Spaceflight Center on the Apollo project and later became a qualified payload specialist for the U.S. space shuttle's Spacelab biological laboratory in 1993. While he never flew a space mission, he served as backup crew (alternate payload specialist) on Spacelab Life Sciences-2 (STS-58) and was principal or co-investigator on seven shuttle missions conducting human orientation experiments.

Throughout various points during his career, Young held visiting professor positions at ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology); the Zurich Kantonsspital; the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers in Paris; the College de France, Paris; the Universite de Provence, Marseille; and Stanford University. Notably, Young also founded National Space Biomedical Research Institute, serving as director from 1997 to 2001.

Closer to home, Young served as director of the Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium; launched the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST) doctoral program in bioastronautics; and after retiring in 2013, remained active in AeroAstro, serving as a senior advisor lending his expertise on the departments 2020 strategic plan committee. The MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) is HSTs home at MIT.

Larry was amazing at everything he did he loved MIT in practice and in concept, always promoting his students above himself and forever asking what would make our school better able to change the world. As founding member of HST and bedrock of IMES, his ideas have forever changed how we teach and how we bridge engineering and medicine, says Elazer Edelman, the Edward J. Poitras Professor in Medical Engineering and Science, director of IMES, and a practicing cardiologist at Brigham and Womens Hospital. His scientific and educational reforms made the universe more accessible and our world safer and healthier, creating new communities of scholars, new fields of studies like biomedical engineering and new leaders. His life affected every living person and at the same time touched each of those he met personally on an individual level.

In tandem with his extensive contributions to research, Young is remembered for the widespread dissemination of his knowledge through his impact as a teacher. Young mentored many colleagues when they were students, including (but not limited to) Oman, Edelman, and Professor David Mindell with whom he would later develop the highly popular course STS.471J / 16.895J / ESD.30J (Engineering Apollo). Many of Young's mentees would become influential members of aerospace academia and industry in their own right; these include NASA astronaut and moonwalker Charlie Duke.

"I literally can't count the thousands of students and alumni that Larry touched, myself among them. Recently, Larry led the charge to compose a handbook of bioastronautics, leaving us with the encyclopedic knowledge so future generations will continue with this work," says Dava Newman, the Apollo Professor of Astronautics, director of the MIT Media Lab, HST affiliate, and former Young mentee. "With all of the science we've learned and through all his years of mentoring, the moonshot Larry leaves with us is to never think about any constraints and boundaries, to literally always shoot for the moon, to Mars and beyond that's the big dream that he inspired in me and all of his colleagues."

Throughout his career, Young received extensive recognition for his contributions, service, and leadership to the aerospace field. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and a full member of the International Academy of Astronautics. He served on numerous academy committees and chaired NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts External Council. He held fellowships with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and the Explorers Club. In 1992, he was among the recipients recognized with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Jeffries Award "for outstanding contributions to space biology and medicine as a principal investigator on the Spacelab Life Sciences 1 mission." In 1995, NASA recognized his achievements with a Space Act Award for his development of an expert system for astronauts. In 1998, he received the prestigious Koetser Foundation Prize in Zurich for his contributions to neuroscience. In 2013, he received the Pioneer Award from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute. In 2018, he received the AIAA de Florez Award for Flight Simulation, and the Aerospace Medical Association's Professional Excellence Award for Lifetime Contributions.

Outside of his career as an engineer, Young was an avid skier, which led him to become active in ski injury research. He was a director of the International Society for Skiing Safety and chaired the Ski Injury Statistics Subcommittee of the American Society for Testing and Materials Committee on Snow Skiing before being elected committee chair in 1987. He received the United States Ski Association Award of Merit and the Best Research Paper Award from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.

In addition to countless alumni, colleagues, and friends, Young is survived by his beloved wife Vicki Goldberg; his sister Ellen Rosenberg; children Eliot Young SM 87, SM 90, ScD 93; Leslie Young PhD 94; and Robert Young; his first wife and the mother of his children Jody Williams; and grandchildren Joshua Young, Evan Young, David Young, Alexander Young, and Rachel Young.

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Laurence Young, professor emeritus of astronautics and renowned expert in bioastronautics, dies at 85 - MIT News

Slingshot Aerospace Adds 4 Space Experts to Advisory Board Including Former Virgin Group Executive; Former CEO of Skybox; Former Director of Space…

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AUSTIN, Texas & EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Slingshot Aerospace, Inc., a company building world-class space simulation and analytics solutions, announced today that Dan Berkenstock, Founder and former CEO, Skybox; Dr. Kathleen Howell, Hsu Lo Distinguished Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University; Kevin OConnell, Former Director, Office of Space Commerce; and Mandy Vaughn, Former President of VOX Space (a Virgin Orbit subsidiary), have joined Slingshot Aerospaces advisory board, effective immediately. Additionally, the company has hired Dr. Belinda Marchand, formerly a member of the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin and founder of Progalaxia, LLC, to serve as Director of Astrodynamics and Space Systems R&D, and former U.S. Space Force Deputy Chief of the Space and Missile Systems Centers Rapid Development Division, Alonso Segura, to serve as Senior Director, Space Systems Accounts, effective immediately.

All these individuals bring a wealth of experience and knowledge that will accelerate our vision to create space sustainability for a safer, more connected world, said Melanie Stricklan, Co-founder and CEO, Slingshot Aerospace. Space is the most complex environment and organizations are making high-risk decisions without access to complete, accurate, real-time, interoperable information. Each person will be invaluable to our team as we build technologies that provide a full, dynamic picture of the space domain, allowing our customers to make decisions at the speed of relevance.

Slingshot Aerospace Advisors

Dan Berkenstock, Former Product Manager at Google; Founder and former CEO of Skybox; Former Research Associate at NASA

Berkenstock is an entrepreneur and engineer with more than 20 years of industry experience. He co-founded Skybox Imaging, which was acquired by Google, where he led the vision, implementation, and delivery of revolutionary information, products, and services derived from timely satellite imagery as CEO. After the companys acquisition, he served as Head of Product and Partner Development at Google. Previously, he served as a Research Associate at NASA where he developed advanced methods for aerodynamic shape optimization on surfaces.

Today, Berkenstock is working to complete a PhD at Stanford University focused on using convex optimization techniques in multidisciplinary shape optimization, and serves on the boards of several early stage aerospace startups. He was named Satellite Executive of the Year by Via Satellite magazine in 2014. In 2011, Dan was named to the MIT Technology Review list of 35 Innovators under 35.

Dr. Kathleen Howell, Hsu Lo Distinguished Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University

Dr. Howell is a scientist and aerospace engineer with nearly four decades of experience. Her distinguished career is highlighted by her contributions to dynamical systems theory applied to spacecraft trajectory design, which led to the use of halo orbits in multiple NASA space missions. Today, she is a Hsu Lo Distinguished Professor at Purdue University in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

In 2017, Dr. Howell was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for contributions in dynamical systems theory and invariant manifolds culminating in optimal interplanetary trajectories and the Interplanetary Superhighway." She was elected as a Member of the International Academy of Astronautics in 2020. Dr. Howell was awarded the 1984 Presidential Young Investigator Award, which was presented to her from the White House by Ronald Reagan. In 2002, she was named one of the 50 most important women in science by Discover Magazine, and in 2004, she was the recipient of the Dirk Brouwer Award from the American Astronautical Society.

Dr. Howell earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State University. She went on to receive her MS and PhD degrees from Stanford University in 1977 and 1983, respectively. Dr. Howell started as an assistant professor at Purdue University School of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1982 and is the school's first female tenured professor.

Kevin OConnell, Former Director, Officer of Space Commerce

OConnell has over 35 years of experience in the U.S. government, research organizations, and as an entrepreneur and business leader. Most notably, he was Director of the Office of Space Commerce, the principal organization for space commerce policy activities within the U.S. Department of Commerce. Its mission is to foster the conditions for the economic growth and technological advancement of the U.S. commercial space industry. OConnell has also researched and written extensively on the policy, security, and global market issues related to commercialization of remote sensing, or the science of obtaining information about objects or areas from a distance, typically from aircraft or satellites. He served as the Executive Secretary and Staff Director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency Commission, and was a member, and later Chair, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations federal advisory committee on remote sensing. Previously, OConnell served as a senior consultant to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and as an independent advisor to the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.

OConnells background also includes extensive experience in national security and intelligence matters, including assignments in the Department of Defense, Department of State, National Security Council, and the Office of the Vice President. He spent a decade conducting and managing research in these areas at the RAND Corporation, including as the first director of RANDs Intelligence Policy Center, and was a long-standing Adjunct Professor of comparative intelligence at Georgetown Universitys School of Foreign Service, Security Studies Program. Most recently, he founded Space Economy Rising, LLC, where he works with clients and partners worldwide on all aspects of the growing space economy.

Mandy Vaughn, Former President & CEO, VOX Space

Vaughn is a space industry expert with more than 20 years of experience. She is the former President and CEO of VOX Space, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Virgin Orbit, LLC that provides satellite launch services. She originally joined Virgin Group by way of Virgin Galactic, the worlds first commercial spaceline and vertically integrated aerospace company, and eventually transitioned to Virgin Orbit, a revolutionary service that provides launch solutions for small satellites. There, she was the Senior Director of Business Development and Mission Management where she supported customer missions including NASA. She worked her way up within Virgin Group and eventually spearheaded the creation and registration of VOX Space.

Prior to joining Virgin Galactic, Vaughn was a developmental engineer and program manager in the Air Force and a Director with Kinsey Technical Services. She primarily supported programs in the Space Superiority Systems Directorate. In the space superiority mission area, she was the ground segment lead and chief engineer on the space-based surveillance program, and then supported a variety of space and ground-based programs for the directorate. In that role, she supported multiple space situational awareness and command-and-control programs between the U.S. Department of Defense and the intelligence community. Today, she is the Founder and CEO of GXO Inc., where she provides strategic, management, and technical leadership to help deep tech and new space companies excel.

Vaughn is a member of NASAs National Space Councils User Advisory Group and advises on topics like international laws and regulations, national security space, and scientific and human space exploration priorities. She is also the Chair of Workforce Development for the National Security Space Association (NSSA) where she identifies, fosters, and mentors the next generation workforce to build a strong national security space community. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics, both from MIT.

Slingshot Aerospace New Hires

Belinda Marchand, Director of Astrodynamics and R&D, Slingshot Aerospace

Dr. Marchand brings nearly 30 years of experience in both industry and academia to the Slingshot Aerospace team. She began her career as an engineer for McDonnel Douglas Aerospace, later acquired by The Boeing Company. In this initial role, she led technical assessments, simulations, and software development in support of various defense projects. After completing her doctoral degree, Dr. Marchand transitioned from industry to academia, first as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Purdue University and later as an Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). During this time she taught and led a research program rooted in astrodynamics and space vehicle guidance, navigation and control, supporting both space exploration and defense applications.

While on the faculty at UT Austin, Dr. Marchand also served as a senior member of the technical staff at The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and later The Aerospace Corporation, supporting research areas ranging from missile defense applications to lunar space flight. In 2011, she stepped away from academia to join Decisive Analytics Corporation as a Senior Engineer and later went on to start her own consulting company, Progalaxia, LLC, where she continued to apply her technical expertise to various problems in space vehicle trajectory design, guidance, navigation and control.

Over the course of her career, Dr. Marchands research activities have supported numerous NASA space mission concepts, including the areas of formation flight and libration point mission design. She was the recipient of the Air Force Young Investigator award and has been involved in many research subjects in the space domain, from mission design to space situational awareness.

Dr. Marchand holds a PhD from the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University, where she also completed a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering.

Alonso Segura, Sr. Director, Space Systems Accounts, Slingshot Aerospace

Segura is a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with a twenty year record of innovative performance in government acquisitions across all levels of the Department of Defense (DoD). He has led multiple diverse inter-agency teams and managed large investment budgets across all classifications in order to deliver new capabilities in space control, cross-domain command and control, wargaming, foreign military sales, security cooperation, and intelligence surveillance and recognizance.

Most recently, Segura served as Deputy Chief, Rapid Development Division for the U.S. Space Force, where he built and led a diverse rapid prototyping team to plan and deliver multiple satellites to orbit including ride-share platforms, threat emulation platforms, and proliferated constellation proof-of-concept platforms. He also championed the growth of the U.S. space industrial base as a strong advocate for lowering the barriers of entry for non-traditional businesses into DoD acquisitions by advancing the use of innovative contracting methods.

Segura has also been assigned to the former U.S. Air Force Space Commands Space Superiority Directorate, where he led a team of space control experts in the pursuit of national space superiority. And hes also been assigned to U.S. Air Force Headquarters at the Pentagon, where he served as the Chief of Airborne Networks, leading a DoD-wide effort to advance sensor-to-user intelligence systems.

Over his career, Segura delivered innovative solutions to DoDs toughest technology challenges, with a passion for expanding the national industrial base. He holds a BS in Physics and Computer Science from the University of Southern California, and a Masters degree in Public Policy from New England College.

About Slingshot Aerospace

Slingshot Aerospace, Inc. is creating world-class space simulation and analytics solutions. The company brings the space domain into the digital environment and fuses data from different sources to provide a full, dynamic orbital picture. In doing so, Slingshot Aerospace customers can make decisions at the speed of relevance and achieve clarity in complex environments. Launched in 2017 and based in Austin, TX, and Los Angeles, CA, Slingshot Aerospace seeks to help government and commercial customers accelerate space sustainability to create a safer, more connected world. Visit slingshotaerospace.com and follow Slingshot Aerospace on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

The Slingshot Aerospace media kit, including photos, can be found HERE.

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Tic Tac launched its own ‘UFO’ full of breath mints into space – SlashGear

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Tic Tac, the brand that sells small capsule-shaped breath fresheners, has capitalized on this summers UFO trend by sending a big mint-shaped vessel into space. The event took place earlier this month amid more pressing matters but caught the publics eye today when Tic Tac shared a video of its minty UFO with Earth as a backdrop.

It was only a matter of time before Tic Tac took advantage of the popular tictac nickname the public has used to describe a UFO witnessed by the US military. The UFO was given that name due to its alleged Tic Tac-shaped design, which paved the way for the Tic Tac brand to, you know, put its own mint-shaped UFO in space.

The launch took place between Ferrero, the company behind the Tic Tac brand, and UK-based aerospace firm Sent Into Space. The confectionery company first announced its plan to launch a custom space vessel packed full of mints in late July, later pulling off the stunt on August 4.

Customer-submitted messages about the breath fresheners were displayed on the vessels built-in screen, giving any aliens who may have been nearby the opportunity to find out what the small candies inside of the vessel were about. The UFO was filled with limited-edition Tic Tac packs, according to Ferrero.

Sent Into Space used high-altitude balloons to send the small capsule into space, resulting in the very amusing video Tic Tac shared on its Twitter account today. The space flight lasted just under three hours. Tic Tac says that 100 people have the chance to get one of the space Tic Tac packs by following instructions thatll be posted on the brands social media accounts.

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Tic Tac launched its own 'UFO' full of breath mints into space - SlashGear

Intuitive Machines selects MDA Lunar landing sensors to support first US mission to the Moon in 50 years – Canada NewsWire

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Contract represents the fourth Lunar sensor award for MDA as the number of planned Moon missions grows

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Aug. 23, 2021 /CNW/ - MDA Ltd. (TSX: MDA), a leading provider of advanced technology and services to the rapidly-expanding global space industry, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Intuitive Machines, LLC to provide Lunar landing sensors to support its upcoming IM-1 and IM-2 missions. As a result, MDA landing sensors will support the first soft landing US mission to the Moon since 1972, scheduled for early 2022. MDA landing sensors will also support the first ever mining mission to the South pole of the Moon in late 2022.

Intuitive Machines was selected as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. These CLPS missions will help lay the foundation for future missions and a sustainable human presence on the Lunar surface. MDA is currently under contract to provide its Lunar landing sensors to three different commercial customers supporting four individual missions scheduled between 2022 and 2024.

With the space economy increasingly driven by commercial demand, MDA has developed a full suite of affordable sensor products that have been designed for use in Lunar landing, orbital debris removal, rendezvous and docking as well as Earth observation. The product line includes:

This standardized technology ideally positions MDA for further expansion into the rapidly emerging global marketfor space situational awareness sensors that are affordable and available.

QUOTE

"Every week there are major global developments in the commercialization of space that bring us closer and closer to making the vision of an active Lunar village with routine flights from Earth to the Moon a reality. Landing technology has been a critical component of successful flight since the dawn of aviation and now, working with partners like Intuitive Machines, we are commercializing that technology for space flight."

Mike Greenley, Chief Executive Officer, MDA

LINKS

http://www.mda.space

SOCIAL MEDIA

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MDA_spaceFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/MDAspaceLinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/mdaspaceYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/mdaspaceInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/MDA_space

ABOUT MDA

Serving the world from its Canadian home and global offices, MDA (TSX:MDA) is an international space mission partner and a robotics, satellite systems and geointelligence pioneer with a 50-year story of firsts on and above the Earth. With over 2,000 employees across Canada, the US and the UK, MDA is leading the charge towards viable Moon colonies, enhanced Earth observation, communication in a hyper-connected world, and more. With a track record of making space ambitions come true, MDA enables highly skilled people to continually push boundaries, tackle big challenges, and imagine solutions that inspire and endure to change the world for the better, on the ground and in the stars.

SOURCE MDA Ltd.

For further information: MEDIA CONTACT, Amy MacLeod, [emailprotected], 613-796-6937

http://www.mda.space

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Intuitive Machines selects MDA Lunar landing sensors to support first US mission to the Moon in 50 years - Canada NewsWire

A microwave-powered rocket? Drone project suggests it may be possible – Space.com

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Researchers in Japan are using microwaves to power free-flying drones, a project that could possibly pave the way for a new type of rocket.

Currently, most rockets generate thrust by using controlled explosions of a solid or liquid fuel source, which can make up 90% of their total weight. However, new research published in the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets demonstrates the potential of using an alternative source of fuel: microwaves.

Related: Future astronauts could make methane rocket fuel on Mars

Microwaves are a type of electromagnetic radiation. As such, they're jam-packed with energy that can be converted into electricity, much as sunlight can be converted to power by solar panels. In the new study, researchers generated electricity to fuel free-flying drones by beaming microwaves directly at them.

"In drone experiments, microwave power is sent from the antenna on the ground to the antenna on the drone. A rectifier is used to convert RF [radio frequency] to DC [direct current], and the DC power is used to drive the drone's motors. We call it "rectenna" (rectifier + antenna)," one of the new study's authors, Kohei Shimamura of the University of Tsukuba, told Space.com in an email.

Previous studies exploring microwave-powered propulsion used low-frequency waves but found that when the frequency is raised, the power transmission efficiency also increases. Taking this fact into account, the research team used high frequencies (28 gigahertz) to lift a 0.9-pound (0.4 kilograms) drone off the ground.

Sitting directly above the source of the microwave beam, the transmitted power enabled the drone to reach a height of around 2.6 feet (0.8 meters) for 30 seconds. "We used a sophisticated beam-tracking system to ensure that the drone received as much of the microwave power as possible," Shimamura said in a statement.

In the experiment, 30% of the emitted microwaves were captured by the drone, and 40% of those microwaves were converted to electricity for propulsion.

Related: Why a microwave-beam experiment will launch aboard the Air Forces secretive X-37B space plane

"These results show that more work is needed to improve the transmission efficiency and thoroughly evaluate the feasibility of this propulsion approach for aircraft, spacecraft and rockets, Shimamura said. "Future studies should also aim to refine the beam-tracking system and increase the transmission distance beyond that demonstrated in our experiment."

Although the new research showcases the potential of microwave-powered propulsion, the technology largely remains in its infancy, especially when considering its potential use for rocket flight.

"The big challenge is to track the microwave to the rocket until it reaches an altitude of 100 km [approximately 62 miles]. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to control the phase of the thruster and microwave with high accuracy. Also, aligning the phase of multiple microwave sources with high power is a future challenge," Shimamura told Space.com via email. "Cost is a major issue as well as a technical challenge. Building a high-power source of several MW [megawatts] is equivalent to building a nuclear fusion power plant, and the cost of launching a rocket is currently very high."

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A microwave-powered rocket? Drone project suggests it may be possible - Space.com

Intuitive Machines Partners With SpaceFlight To Provide Secondary Rideshare Services On Their Upcoming IM-2 South Pole Mission SatNews – SatNews…

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Intuitive Machines has partnered with Spaceflight Inc. to provide secondary rideshare services on the companys upcoming IM-2 South Pole Mission, scheduled to launch no earlier than December of 2022.

Using the excess capacity on Intuitive Machines Nova-C lunar lander, Spaceflight Inc. will offer rideshare opportunities onboard their next-gen Sherpa Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) for deployment into trans-lunar and low-lunar orbits and beyond to Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit (GEO).

IM-2 South Pole Mission includes a Nova-C class lander to land 130 kg of payloads on the lunar surface. It also has excess capacity on the launch vehicle that delivers 1,000 kg of payloads on an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) ring into a direct throw high energy orbit. This high-energy ESPA rideshare option allows customers to proceed to lunar capture quickly, redirect to points elsewhere in high Earth orbit, or depart for destinations in the solar system with less demand on their propulsion.

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Intuitive Machines Partners With SpaceFlight To Provide Secondary Rideshare Services On Their Upcoming IM-2 South Pole Mission SatNews - SatNews...

Japan Tests Explosion-Powered Rocket for the First Time in Space, Is a Success – autoevolution

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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced that it has successfully demonstrated the operation of a rocket engine technology for the first time in space. This experiment proved the efficiency of a rotating detonation engine (RDE) which converted the shock waves generated when a mixture of fuel and oxygen reacts explosively into thrust.

Now, JAXA has successfully demonstrated that it can also have potential in deep space exploration. By creating detonation and compression waves at extremely high frequencies (1 to 100 kHz), the detonation engine greatly enhances reaction speed, reducing the weight of the rocket engine and allowing it to generate thrust more efficiently, further boosting its performance.

This new engine system was installed on the No. 31 vehicle of the S-520 sounding rocket series operated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. The rocket took off from JAXA Uchinoura Space Center on July 27th at 5:30 JST. The rotary detonation engine produced about 500 N (112 lbf) of thrust once the first stage was separated, which is only a fraction of what conventional rocket engines can achieve in space.

The success of this space flight demonstration experiment has substantially enhanced the chances of the RDE being used in practical applications, including in rocket motors for deep space exploration, first-stage, and two-stage engines, and more.

In the future, JAXA plans to apply detonation engine technology not only for deep space exploration missions but for other scientific operations as well. Reducing the size and weight of spacecraft systems could thus significantly aid interplanetary journeys.

But JAXA is not the only agency working to develop detonation engine tech. Several U.S. organizations are also working on RDEs. The U.S. Navy is particularly interested in RDEs capability to reduce the fuel consumption in their heavy vehicles.

In May 2020, a group of U.S. Air Force engineers claimed to have created a highly experimental functioning model of RDE capable of delivering 200 lbf (about890 N) of thrust by using a hydrogen/oxygen fuel mix.

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Japan Tests Explosion-Powered Rocket for the First Time in Space, Is a Success - autoevolution

North America is surrounded by 4 storms and wildfire smoke in this satellite view – Space.com

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A stunning new satellite image captures four different storms churning in the skies above North America as the continent nears the peak of hurricane season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 16 (GOES-16) captured aerial views of hurricanes Grace and Linda, along with tropical storms Fred and Henri, on Wednesday (Aug. 18). The satellite image also shows swirling billows of smoke streaming across the western U.S. from several major fires in California.

"The pace of hurricane activity around North America often accelerates in mid-to-late summer as seas warm, making it easier for tropical cyclones to develop and intensify," NASA officials wrote in a statement. "August 2021 was no exception. In fact, more storm activity has happened earlier in the year than usual."

Related: GOES-R/GOES-16: A powerful weather satellite in pictures

Using its Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), GOES-16 captured this simulated natural-color image at 1:20 p.m. EDT (1720 GMT), revealing four different storms at various stages of development. Hurricane Grace, which appears in the lower right of the satellite image, on Tuesday (Aug. 17) brought heavy rainfall and flooding to Haiti still reeling from a magnitude 7.2 earthquake on Aug. 14 and the Dominican Republic. Then, it continued toward Mexico's Yucatan peninsula on Wednesday, moving west at 15 mph (24 kph), according to the statement.

Tropical Storm Fred, which made landfall in Florida's Panhandle region on Aug. 16, appears in the satellite image moving north along the East Coast of the U.S. The storm brought intense rainfall and strong winds, leaving flooding and tornadoes in its wake. When the storm touched down in Florida, winds were recorded at 65 mph (105 kph), followed by several inches of rain across parts of the state, as well as Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina as the storm moved inland, according to the NASA statement.

Henri, which is expected to reach hurricane status on Friday (Aug. 20), appears near Bermuda in the satellite image. Forecasters say that Henri is headed toward the Northeast U.S. and could impact the coast this weekend.

"Starting early last week, the large-scale conditions became especially favorable for tropical cyclone development in the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic basins," Patrick Duran, a hurricane expert based at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, said in the statement. "The Madden-Julian Oscillation, a global-scale phenomenon that plays a role in tropical convection, became favorable for thunderstorm formation. At the same time, a large atmospheric wave called an equatorial Kelvin wave moved across the Atlantic, making conditions even more favorable for storm development."

Linda, which has been identified as an intense variety of storm called an annular hurricane, is located in the Eastern Pacific, on the left side of the satellite image. The storm reached hurricane status on Aug. 12 and remained strong for several days. While the storm remained at sea, nowhere near land, its winds reached as high as 130 mph (209 kph), making it a Category 4 hurricane, according to the statement.

Annular hurricanes are generally characterized by large and symmetrical eyes and few rain bands spiraling outward, according to the statement. These types of hurricanes tend to be significantly stronger and maintain their peak intensities longer than other tropical cyclones because their "annular structure makes these storms more resistant to the negative impacts of unfavorable conditions, like low ocean temperatures or high wind shear," Charles Helms, a scientist based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said in the statement.

In addition to the active storms, the GOES-16 image also shows the effects of several California wildfires, with streams of smoke visible across the western U.S. In the satellite image, the smoke characterized by darker clouds can be seen across the top of the northwest U.S. Due to gusty winds and low humidity, the state of California has issued a warning of fire-prone conditions across much of Northern California, as well as areas of the North Bay Mountains and East Bay Hills, according to an Aug. 18 state announcement.

Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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North America is surrounded by 4 storms and wildfire smoke in this satellite view - Space.com

Gov. Ivey Announces KBR to Expand Alabama Footprint with New Headquarters and 160 Additional Jobs – Office of the Governor of Alabama – Governor Kay…

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MONTGOMERY Governor Kay Ivey announced today that defense contractor KBR plans to expand its operations in Huntsville with a new headquarters facility and more than 160 additional jobs as it taps the talent pool in Alabamas Rocket City.

KBR will consolidate its presence in Huntsville at two buildings being developed at Redstone Gateway by Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) in partnership with Jim Wilson & Associates as part of a $65 million project. The growth plans will allow KBR to retain its workforce of over 1,100 people in the city.

KBR delivers a range of high-end services and expertise in systems engineering, data analytics and mission operations around the globe. Its in-depth portfolio spans defense modernization; military, civil and commercial space; intelligence; cyber; advanced logistics; and base operations.

Its always great to see a company like KBR that has a major presence in Alabama decide to expand its operation in the state, especially when the jobs being added are highly technical and well paying, Governor Ivey said. KBR is a world-class company, and I look forward to seeing it grow and thrive in Huntsvilles dynamic economy.

Houston-based KBR will provide engineering, scientific and technical services to the defense and aerospace industries at its new location just outside Redstone Arsenal, a sprawling government installation.

Recently named one of the Best Places to Live in the U.S., KBR is excited to enhance its presence in Huntsville, specifically at Redstone Gateway, said Byron Bright, KBR Government Solutions president. Whether were defending our nation or supporting the latest missions in space, we equip those on the frontline and those exploring a new frontier. As our capabilities in aerospace engineering, asset management and spaceflight operations continue to evolve and grow, maintaining offices in close proximity to both existing and future customers is the right thing to do.

KBR has executed two leases with the real estate partners to occupy 90% of a 172,500-square-foot office building and roughly half of a 45,000-square-foot R&D facility at Redstone Gateway. The facility is anticipated to be operational during the first quarter of 2023.

With capabilities that truly span the globe and a culture of innovation and problem-solving, KBR stands out as one of the most impressive companies in its field, said Greg Canfield, Secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce. These qualities mean KBR shares the same kind of DNA as Huntsville, and I can think of no more perfect place for the company to execute growth plans.

Huntsville officials welcomed KBRs expansion plans.

Were glad to see KBR expanding in Huntsville where the companys best and the brightest engineers and innovators contribute to aerospace and defense industries, said Mayor Tommy Battle. Congratulations to KBR and to COPT on this exciting venture.

The new KBR headquarters represents a positive development for Redstone Gateway, a 486-acre mixed use development that is home to leading defense, aerospace and research companies.

We are thrilled to have this opportunity to support a world-class firm such as KBR at Redstone Gateway and are proud to develop their Huntsville home, said COPT Huntsville Asset Manager James Lomax said. This decision reaffirms Redstone Gateways unrivaled combination of efficiency, convenience, walkable amenities, and access to important commands at Redstone Arsenal as Huntsvilles modern office park.

This deal represents a consolidation and commitment for KBR in the Huntsville market that will allow KBR to take advantage of new workplace strategies and standards, maximize efficiency, while at the same time upgrade their facilities significantly for their workforce, added Thomas Birnbach, president and vice chairman of real estate firm Cresa, which represented KBR.

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Gov. Ivey Announces KBR to Expand Alabama Footprint with New Headquarters and 160 Additional Jobs - Office of the Governor of Alabama - Governor Kay...

In New Zealand it has been easy to forget Covid. Now we are too complacent – The Guardian

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My Kiwi friends ask, somewhat jokingly, how Im finding my first New Zealand level 4. I answer, also somewhat jokingly, that Im a veteran at this, having lived in London and Dublin for most of the pandemic, and had gone through several hard lockdowns.

Thats why it was unfortunate, the day before New Zealand went into one, it felt like Groundhog Day to me.

Supermarket carparks filled and queues snaked out of their entrances. By the end of the night, the same products that ran out at the beginning of the first lockdown were emptied out once again: bread, toilet paper, flour. The government had moved quickly, carrying out a plan developed for a Delta outbreak, but the population did not appear to have the same sense of danger: the shoppers and staff were, for the most part, unmasked.

I had witnessed the same in London, where I was living at the beginning of the pandemic. Back then, we still regarded it as being something that would pass soon enough. We laughed at people stocking up on masks; I turned down a family friends offer to siphon off some supply the Chinese embassy had given her. As we waited for the UK government to announce a lockdown, we continued going out, calling it a last hurrah.

In those days, we were lucky the coronavirus was still in its initial, far less infectious state. We didnt hear much about people we knew getting the virus; these days, everyone in London knows at least one person whos gotten Delta. Over in Australia, weve seen the quagmires New South Wales and Victoria have found themselves in.

We know more now. There is something to be said for Kiwi chillness, but this behaviour seemed downright foolish.

The first day of the lockdown, my mum went out for a grocery shop at a Countdown and she saw no staff wearing masks; in pictures she took for me, one worker had a mask over their chin, another didnt have one on at all. On a local community Facebook group, members announced other supermarkets where staff werent wearing them either. It should be said that this was all legal, as the mask mandate for indoor spaces didnt go into effect until the next day, but the number of maskless people says something.

Perhaps this is a result of how successful the country has been at sealing itself from the ravages of Covid-19: it had gone almost six months without an active community case; there had not been any nationwide lockdowns for almost a year and a half.

When I was overseas, I felt like Kiwis were living in an alternative reality, though really, life continued unabated.

When I returned and came out of managed isolation in May, I went to a cafe for lunch and sat outside. I only had to step a few paces inside to pay, but I felt like my face was unduly exposed. That feeling was easily shaken off; it was easy to forget the virus existed if I didnt look at anything that spoke about the rest of the world. I can see how New Zealands residents have been lulled into this false sense of security.

This complacency has manifested in many ways: only 10% of the population were constantly checking in with the Covid tracing app; masks, which were mandated only on public transport until this lockdown, were not being worn. At least vaccination bookings have skyrocketed these past few days. Those, like some of my parents friends, who were putting them off for whatever reason have realised this is no safe haven.

Though the risk of catching the coronavirus in this country has been small, it was inevitable that Delta or another variant further down the Greek alphabet would eventually breach the bubble. I felt we lacked the constant vigilance required for an elimination strategy. Kiwis, like our namesake bird, have been living without the threats of predators that roam beyond our shores. On Friday, more cases were identified elsewhere in the country. The only way well get through this, and future outbreaks, is if we are ready from the outset.

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In New Zealand it has been easy to forget Covid. Now we are too complacent - The Guardian

Australia-New Zealand rugby relations have sunk to a new low. It will take time to regain trust – The Guardian

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Power plays and player power seem to be at the heart of the dispute threatening to tear Australian and New Zealand rugby apart after trans-Tasman relations sunk to an all-time low when a decision was made for the All Blacks not to play the Wallabies in Perth as scheduled on Saturday night.

Australian anger is palpable. The game was a Bledisloe Cup dead rubber, but it was also a Rugby Championship fixture. The reason NZ Rugby gave for the All Blacks not boarding their flight to Perth was uncertainty about the Rugby Championship schedule and the length of time the players would be away from home.

It may have been a legitimate concern, but it was the manner in which it was communicated or not that has Australia-New Zealand relations at breaking point. It was no way to treat a partner, let alone a friend. In recent years New Zealand has been successful at alienating its rugby partners. Last year the Kiwis got both Australia and South Africa offside with their hardline negotiating on the make-up of Super Rugby.

It was as if New Zealand was attempting to show that it was more powerful than its partners and that it would do what was in New Zealands interests without consideration for anyone else. This attitude comes from being the best in the world a you need us more than we need you mentality.

It is not just New Zealand rugbys administration that seems to think this way. In professional sport players deserve a voice, but the All Blacks have a very loud voice indeed. The decision not to send a team to Perth should not have been too surprising given a similar situation almost occurred last year when the All Blacks managed to have the Rugby Championship draw re-adjusted in 2020 to ensure they returned home to spend Christmas with their families.

Now the All Blacks have placed the third Bledisloe Test and the Rugby Championship in jeopardy because players did not want to spend too long away from home. It is understandable given the uncertainty with Covid-19 lockdowns and quarantining, but the Wallabies have already made sacrifices to ensure the Bledisloe Cup and the Rugby Championship went ahead.

The Wallabies have effectively been away from home since late June and changed their own travel plans to make sure back-to-back Tests at Eden Park in Auckland were played. New Zealands NRL side, the Warriors, have virtually camped in Australia for two years. But it appears the All Blacks are not willing to put themselves out for anybody.

It would be a brave soul to suggest the All Blacks jersey does not mean everything to New Zealands players, but in this modern, commercialised game, does it mean just as much as it did in the past?

The Original All Blacks toured Britain, France and North America in 1905-06. They departed for England aboard the Rimutaka on 30 July and returned from San Francisco the following January, six months away from home. The Originals set the benchmark for all future All Blacks sides. It is a legacy that has been handed down from one generation of New Zealanders to the next.

After winning back-to-back World Cups in 2011 and 2015 the All Blacks placed themselves head and shoulders above every rugby nation on earth. But they are no longer the No 1 team in the world, even if they do have the most marketable brand. They wallop the Wallabies every year, but the current generation did not beat the British and Irish Lions in 2017 and did not win the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

After defeating the Wallabies for the 19th year in a row in the Bledisloe Cup series, the All Blacks were meant to challenge South Africa in the Rugby Championship. The Springboks are the reigning world champions and recently defeated the Lions 2-1. They are the No 1 side in the world and their match-up with the All Blacks is the game the rugby world has been waiting for. But now it may not happen, at least not this year.

New Zealand is a great rugby nation, arguably the greatest, but it is a small country, which has saturated its own market. In troubling times old friends are good friends. Australia and New Zealand will no doubt patch up their fractured relationship, if only because the two countries are mutually dependent on each other, but it will take time to regain trust.

Australians have complained about a lack of respect from New Zealand in this current imbroglio, but ultimately, there is only one way for Australia to command respect from the Kiwis on and off the field and that is for the Wallabies to start beating the All Blacks again.

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Australia-New Zealand rugby relations have sunk to a new low. It will take time to regain trust - The Guardian

Who is New Zealand?: the moment Tampa refugees were told some had a new home – The Guardian

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We had been aboard the Tampa for a whole week. With no possessions, we had been wearing the same clothes all this time. On top of the foul stench and the unbearable heat, we were bored to death, sitting cross-legged on the deck for much of the day with absolutely nothing to do, under the constant gaze of the soldiers.

After our breakfast of biscuits and juice, the major who had led the Australian SAS unit that boarded the ship came down for his usual update. Expecting the same old story, few of us were ready when he delivered some actual news.

In a few days you will all be transferred to another ship. It is better, with beds and toilets. New Zealand has agreed to take some of you.

An immediate barrage of questions broke out after these sentences were translated.

Who is New Zealand? one man asked.

Where is he? Let me speak to him! said another.

What about everyone else? Where will the other ship take us?

Why will Australia not accept us?

The major patiently explained that New Zealand was a separate island nation close to Australia.

People were not convinced. No one had heard of New Zealand. Perhaps they were being tricked into getting off on some godforsaken island in the middle of nowhere. By now the level of trust was very low and the interrogation of the major continued. He had come down to give us answers, but none of them had given any comfort.

At the next days update, the major announced that HMAS Manoora would be arriving tomorrow and taking us all onboard. We were also told for the first time that our case was going to court in Australia.

What the major did not tell us was that the lawyers acting for us had petitioned the court to request that we remain on the Tampa until the case was heard.

Had we known there was even the slimmest chance of getting to Australia if we stayed aboard the Tampa, we would have refused to board the Manoora. As intolerable as conditions were on the Tampa, we had suffered for 11 days what was a few more? But we knew nothing about the court petition. The major also failed to mention that the Manoora would be headed to Nauru to offload those not going on to New Zealand. He simply told us the Manoora would be a much more comfortable ship for us while our case was being litigated.

We should have been thrilled at the thought of finally getting off the Tampa, but we were not. This was the devil we knew. Questions swirled throughout the square; no one trusted the Australian government by this point. We suspected their every move. What if they were taking us to prison? What if they were sending us back?

We had been a remarkably united group to this point, but divisions started to show now. We had been told New Zealand would only accept families and children. While that provided some relief and certainty for my family and others like us, it was excruciating for everyone else all those who, in leaving their families behind, had arguably sacrificed more than us.

The Manoora was a very different beast to the Tampa. On the Tampa we burned and blistered under the hot sun. Now we missed the light, as we were kept in the enclosed hangar the whole time. The gentle ocean breeze was replaced by the deafening noise of the engine. The smell of sewage was replaced by diesel fumes. We had no way of telling if it was day or night.

The crew brought a large bin full of donated clothes destined for the Solomon Islands. We were also given a toothbrush and a towel each. I will never forget my first shower. We had two minutes before the water was cut off, but in that time I scrubbed myself clean of the filth that had caked my skin. When I finally wore socks over my blistered feet, it felt like I was walking on clouds.

Food was rationed more tightly than on the Tampa, with meals usually no more than one piece of fruit or a slice of bread.

The major was onboard and he and the crew, dressed in their smart navy uniforms, conducted the daily briefs. The next day the major welcomed aboard officials from the intergovernmental International Organisation for Migration and Immigration New Zealand, as well as some Farsi-speaking translators.

These officials had been sent to determine who among us would go to New Zealand and who would stay on Nauru. They set up a table on one side of the hangar and asked us to sit as family units. Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, we sat in different parts of the hangar, our lanyards around our necks.

The officials were patient as they took down all our names and connected the dots in our stories. Through a translator, Dad retold our story while the officials took notes and filled out an endless stack of forms. This process continued for much of the day.

People cried as they talked about being widowed, orphaned or separated from their families. For a group of solo teenagers this questioning proved especially harrowing as they had to describe how their fathers had been killed or disappeared at the hands of the Taliban.

Being of military age, many of these boys had left their families when the Taliban overran Bamiyan and Mazar-i-Sharif. Some had spent years in refugee camps in Pakistan before finally deciding on the Australia route. Others had been homeless or in detention centres across Indonesia for almost a year before the Palapa.

These Tampa boys had not been in touch with their families for years. They provided names of family members in the slim hope that they might still be alive.

While we adjusted to our new existence, the world outside changed forever. It was 11 September 2001 9/11. Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing that day. Unlike many, we did not see the horrifying images of New Yorks Twin Towers coming down, nor did we understand its true impact on the world. The news was delivered to us in one of the usual morning briefings. We wondered mostly what it would mean for Afghanistan and our asylum claims.

Were we still the asylum seekers we had been yesterday, or were we now a threat to national security? Would the rest of the world equate us with the very people we were fleeing from?

As a child, I had even less sense of the gravity of the situation. It is only in hindsight that I wonder how the asylum seeker situation would have played out had 9/11 not happened.

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Who is New Zealand?: the moment Tampa refugees were told some had a new home - The Guardian