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Tag: Aerospace and defense industry

  • NASA moves its Artemis II moon rocket off launch pad for more repairs

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA moved its grounded Artemis moon rocket from the launch pad back to its hangar Wednesday for more repairs.

    The slow-motion trek at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center was expected to take all day. The 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System rocket had spent a month at the pad ready for potential liftoff, but encountered a series of problems serious enough to require a return to the Vehicle Assembly Building, about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) away.

    Managers ordered the rollback over the weekend after the rocket’s helium pressurization system malfunctioned. Already delayed a month by hydrogen fuel leaks, the launch team had been targeting March for astronauts’ first trip to the moon in decades. But now the Artemis II lunar fly-around by a U.S.-Canadian crew is off until at least April.

    All four astronauts were at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday night for President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address as invited guests, since the flight delay means they no longer need to quarantine.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • NASA will return its moon rocket to the hangar for more repairs before astronauts strap in

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Grounded until at least April, NASA’s giant moon rocket is headed back to the hangar this week for more repairs before astronauts climb aboard.

    The space agency said Sunday it’s targeting Tuesday for the slow, four-mile (6.4-kilometer) trek across Kennedy Space Center, weather permitting.

    NASA had barely finished a repeat fueling test Thursday, to ensure dangerous hydrogen fuel leaks were plugged, when another problem cropped up.

    This time, the rocket’s helium system malfunctioned, further delaying astronauts’ first trip to the moon in more than half a century.

    Engineers had just tamed the hydrogen leaks and settled on a March 6 launch date — already a month late — when the helium issue arose. The helium flow to the rocket’s upper stage was disrupted; helium is needed to purge the engines and pressurize the fuel tanks.

    “Returning to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy is required to determine the cause of the issue and fix it,” NASA said in a statement.

    NASA said the quick rollback preps preserve an April launch attempt, but stressed that will depend on how the repairs go. The space agency has only a handful of days any given month to launch the crew of four around the moon and back.

    The three Americans and one Canadian assigned to the Artemis II mission remain on standby in Houston. They will become the first people to fly to the moon since NASA’s Apollo program that sent 24 astronauts there from 1968 through 1972.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • NASA moon rocket hit by new problem expected to bump astronauts’ lunar trip into April

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s new moon rocket suffered another setback Saturday, almost certain to bump astronauts’ first lunar trip in decades into spring.

    The space agency revealed the latest problem just one day after targeting March 6 for the Artemis II mission, humanity’s first flight to the moon in more than half a century. Overnight, the flow of helium to the rocket’s upper stage was interrupted, officials said. Solid helium flow is essential for purging the engines and pressurizing the fuel tanks.

    This helium issue has nothing to do with the hydrogen fuel leaks that marred a countdown dress rehearsal of the Space Launch System rocket earlier this month and forced a repeat test.

    NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said a bad filter, valve or connection plate could be to blame for the stalled helium flow. Regardless of the cause, he noted, the only way to access the area and fix the problem is in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.

    “We will begin preparations for rollback, and this will take the March launch window out of consideration,” Isaacman said via X. NASA’s next opportunities would be at the beginning or end of April.

    Earlier in the morning, NASA said it was preparing to return the 322-foot (98-meter) rocket to its hangar for repairs, while raising the possibility of the work being done at the pad.

    “I understand people are disappointed by this development,” Isaacman said. “That disappointment is felt most by the team at NASA, who have been working tirelessly to prepare for this great endeavor.”

    Hydrogen fuel leaks had already delayed the Artemis II lunar fly-around by a month. A second fueling test on Thursday revealed hardly any leaks, giving managers the confidence to aim for a March liftoff. The four astronauts went into their two-week quarantine Friday night, mandatory for avoiding germs.

    The interrupted helium flow is confined to the SLS rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage. This upper stage is essential for placing the Orion crew capsule into the proper high-altitude orbit around Earth for checkout, following liftoff. After that, it’s supposed to separate from Orion and serve as a target for the astronauts inside the capsule, allowing them to practice docking techniques for future moon missions.

    During NASA’s Apollo program, 24 astronauts flew to the moon from 1968 through 1972. The new Artemis program has completed only one flight so far, a lunar-orbiting mission without a crew in 2022. That first test flight was also plagued by hydrogen fuel leaks before blasting off, as well as a helium issue similar to the one that arose Saturday. The first moon landing with a crew under Artemis is still at least a few years away.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • US audit finds gaps in the FAA’s oversight of United Airlines maintenance

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    The ability of federal safety regulators to oversee airplane maintenance at United Airlines has been hindered by inadequate staffing, high employee turnover and the improper use of virtual inspections instead of on-site reviews in some cases, according to a government watchdog audit released Friday.

    The U.S. Transportation Department’s inspector general said the Federal Aviation Administration lacks sufficient staffing and workforce planning to effectively monitor United’s large fleet. Past audits by the government watchdog also highlighted FAA challenges overseeing other airline maintenance programs, including at American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Allegiant Air.

    The FAA declined to comment on the findings but referred The Associated Press to a letter it sent the inspector general’s office that was included in the audit report. In it, the FAA said it agreed with most of the recommendations and was taking steps to address them by the end of the year.

    “FAA will implement a more systemic approach to strengthen inspector capacity and will take other measures to ensure that staffing levels remain sufficient to meet surveillance requirements,” the letter said.

    The recommendations included a reevaluation of staffing rules, an independent workplace survey of inspector workloads and office culture, and improved training on accessing and using United’s safety data — a current gap that the report said currently keeps inspectors from fully evaluating maintenance issues and safety risk trends.

    In a statement to AP, United said it works closely with the FAA on a daily basis in addition to employing its own internal safety management system.

    “United has long advocated in favor of providing the FAA with the resources it needs for its important work,” the carrier said.

    The inspector general’s office said the audit was conducted between May 2024 and December 2025, amid a series of maintenance-linked incidents at United.

    It found that the FAA sometimes had its personnel conduct inspections “virtually” when it lacked staffing or funding for travel even though agency policy requires postponing reviews that can’t be done on site. Doing the work remotely can create safety risks because inspectors may miss or misidentify maintenance problems, the reported stated.

    “Inspectors we spoke with stated that their front-line managers instructed them to perform inspections virtually rather than postponing inspections,” the report said.

    The audit also found that ongoing staffing shortages at the FAA inspection offices tasked with United’s oversight have resulted in fewer inspections being conducted, limited surveillance of the carrier’s maintenance operations and an “overall loss of institutional knowledge.”

    In March 2024, passengers had to be evacuated from a United plane that rolled off a runway after landing in Houston. The next day, a United jetliner bound for Japan lost a tire while taking off from San Francisco but later landed safely in Los Angeles.

    In December 2025, a United flight experienced an engine failure during takeoff from Dulles International Airport before safely returning to the airport.

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    Associated Press writer Josh Funk contributed.

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  • NASA targets March for Artemis moon mission after fueling test success

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA aims to send astronauts to the moon in March after acing the latest rocket fueling test.

    Administrator Jared Isaacman said Friday that launch teams made “major progress” between the first countdown rehearsal, which was disrupted by hydrogen leaks earlier this month, and the second test, which was completed without significant seepage Thursday night.

    The test was “a big step toward America’s return to the lunar environment,” Isaacman said on the social media platform X.

    NASA could launch four astronauts on the Artemis II lunar fly-around as soon as March 6 from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. To keep their options open, the three Americans and one Canadian plan to go into the mandatory two-week health quarantine Friday night.

    The space agency has only five days in March to launch the crew aboard the Space Launch System rocket, before standing down until April. February’s opportunities evaporated after dangerous amounts of liquid hydrogen leaked during the first fueling demonstration.

    Technicians replaced two seals, leading to Thursday’s successful rerun. The countdown clocks went all the way down to the desired 29-second mark.

    The fixes worked, but there’s still pending work including conducting a flight readiness review, said NASA’s Lori Glaze.

    Commander Reid Wiseman and two of his crew monitored Thursday’s operation alongside launch controllers. The astronauts will be the first to fly to the moon since Apollo 17 closed out NASA’s first chapter in moon exploration in 1972.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • NASA conducts 2nd rocket fueling test that decides when astronauts head to moon

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA took another crack at fueling its giant moon rocket Thursday after leaks halted the initial dress rehearsal and delayed the first lunar trip by astronauts in more than half a century.

    For the second time this month, launch teams began pumping more than 700,000 gallons (2.6 million liters) of supercold fuel into the rocket atop its launch pad.

    It’s the most critical and challenging part of the two-day practice countdown. The outcome will determine whether a March launch is possible for the Artemis II moon mission with four astronauts.

    During the rehearsal two weeks ago, dangerous amounts of supercold liquid hydrogen escaped from the connections between the pad and the 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System rocket. Engineers replaced a pair of seals and a clogged filter in hopes of getting through the repeat test at Kennedy Space Center.

    NASA won’t set a launch date for the Artemis II mission until it passes the fueling demonstration. Like last time, the crew — three Americans and one Canadian — watched the test from afar.

    The soonest astronauts could soar is March 6. They will become the first people to fly to the moon — making a 10-day out-and-back trip with no stops — since Apollo 17 in 1972. They won’t orbit or land.

    NASA has been battling hydrogen fuel leaks ever since the space shuttle era, which provided many of the SLS engines. The first Artemis test flight without anyone on board was grounded for months by leaking hydrogen before finally blasting off in November 2022.

    Going years between flights exacerbates the problem, according to NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman, a tech entrepreneur who financed his own trips to orbit through SpaceX.

    Just two months into the job, Isaacman already is promising to redesign the fuel connections between the rocket and pad before the next Artemis III launch. Still a few years away, that mission will attempt to land two astronauts near the moon’s south pole.

    “We will not launch unless we are ready and the safety of our astronauts will remain the highest priority,” he said last week on X.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • NASA hopes fuel leaks are fixed as it launches another countdown test

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    This photo provided by NASA shows a full moon shining over NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft, atop the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Feb. 1, 2026. (Sam Lott/NASA via AP)

    The Associated Press

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  • Four new astronauts arrive at the ISS to replace NASA’s evacuated crew

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The International Space Station returned to full strength with Saturday’s arrival of four new astronauts to replace colleagues who bailed early because of health concerns.

    SpaceX delivered the U.S., French and Russian astronauts a day after launching them from Cape Canaveral.

    Last month’s medical evacuation was NASA’s first in 65 years of human spaceflight. One of four astronauts launched by SpaceX last summer suffered what officials described as a serious health issue, prompting their hasty return. That left only three crew members to keep the place running — one American and two Russians — prompting NASA to pause spacewalks and trim research.

    Moving in for eight to nine months are NASA’s Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, France’s Sophie Adenot and Russia’s Andrei Fedyaev. Meir, a marine biologist, and Fedyaev, a former military pilot, have lived up there before. During her first station visit in 2019, Meir took part in the first all-female spacewalk.

    Adenot, a military helicopter pilot, is only the second French woman to fly in space. Hathaway is a captain in the U.S. Navy.

    NASA has refused to divulge the identity of the astronaut who fell ill in orbit on Jan. 7 or explain what happened, citing medical privacy. The ailing astronaut and three others returned to Earth more than a month sooner than planned. They spent their first night back on Earth at the hospital before returning to Houston.

    The space agency said it did not alter its preflight medical checks for their replacements.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • New astronauts launch to the International Space Station after medical evacuation

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A new crew rocketed toward the International Space Station on Friday to replace the astronauts who returned to Earth early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.

    SpaceX launched the replacements as soon as possible at NASA’s request, sending the U.S., French and Russian astronauts on an expected eight- to nine-month mission stretching until fall. The four should arrive at the orbiting lab Saturday, filling the vacancies left by their evacuated colleagues last month and bringing the space station back to full staff.

    “It turns out Friday the 13th is a very lucky day,” SpaceX Launch Control radioed once the astronauts reached orbit. “That was quite a ride,” replied the crew’s commander, Jessica Meir.

    NASA had to put spacewalks on hold and deferred other duties while awaiting the arrival of Americans Meir and Jack Hathaway, France’s Sophie Adenot and Russia’s Andrei Fedyaev. They’ll join three other astronauts — one American and two Russians — who kept the space station running the past month.

    Satisfied with medical procedures already in place, NASA ordered no extra checkups for the crew ahead of liftoff and no new diagnostic equipment was packed. An ultrasound machine already up there for research went into overdrive Jan. 7 when used on the ailing crew member. NASA has not revealed the ill astronaut’s identity or health issue. All four returning astronauts went straight to the hospital after splashing down in the Pacific near San Diego.

    It was the first time in 65 years of human spaceflight that NASA cut short a mission for medical reasons.

    With missions becoming longer, NASA is constantly looking at upgrades to the space station’s medical gear, said deputy program manager Dina Contella. “But there are a lot of things that are just not practical and so that’s when you need to bring astronauts home from space,” she said earlier this week.

    In preparation for moon and Mars trips where health care will be even more challenging, the new arrivals will test a filter designed to turn drinking water into emergency IV fluid, try out an ultrasound system that relies on artificial intelligence and augmented reality instead of experts on the ground, and perform ultrasound scans on their jugular veins in a blood clot study.

    They also will demonstrate their moon-landing skills in a simulated test drawing extra attention because of the impending launch of four astronauts to the moon on Artemis II, humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century.

    Adenot is only the second French woman to launch to space. She was 14 when Claudie Haignere flew to Russia’s space station Mir in 1996, inspiring her to become an astronaut. Haignere cheered her on from the Florida launch site, wishing her “Bon vol,” French for “Have a good flight,” and “Ad astra,” Latin for “To the stars.”

    Hathaway, like Adenot, is new to space, while Meir and Fedyaev are making their second station trip. On her first mission in 2019, Meir took part in the first all-female spacewalk. The other half of that spacewalk, Christina Koch, is among the four Artemis II astronauts waiting to fly around the moon as early as March. A ship-to-ship radio linkup is planned between the two crews.

    Meir wasn’t sure astronauts would return to the moon during her career. “Now we’re right here on the precipice of the Artemis II mission,” she said ahead of liftoff. “The fact that they will be in space at the same time as us … it’s so cool to be an astronaut now, it’s so exciting.”

    SpaceX launched the latest crew from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Elon Musk’s company is preparing its neighboring Kennedy Space Center launch pad for the supersized Starships, which NASA needs to land astronauts on the moon.

    NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman said following Friday’s liftoff that testing continues at the Artemis pad, where the Space Launch System moon rocket awaits liftoff. A practice fueling last week unleashed hydrogen fuel leaks. Two seals have since been replaced and a mini fueling conducted.

    Isaacman stressed that no launch date will be set until additional fueling tests — potentially a series of them — are completed. The earliest that Artemis II could launch is March 3, he noted.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Grieving families press Congress on aviation safety reforms after midair collision near DC

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    Key senators and the families of the 67 dead in an airliner collision with an Army helicopter near the nation’s capital are convinced that advanced aircraft locator systems recommended by experts for nearly two decades would have prevented last year’s tragedy. But it remains unclear if a bill will pass Congress requiring the systems around busy airports.

    The Senate Commerce Committee is planning a hearing Thursday to highlight why the National Transportation Safety Board has been recommending since 2008 that all aircraft be equipped with one system that can broadcast their locations and another one to receive data about the location of other aircraft. Only the system that broadcasts location is currently required. The hearing will review all 50 of the NTSB’s recommendations to prevent another midair collision like that of Jan. 29, 2025.

    All aboard the helicopter and the American Airlines jet flying from Wichita, Kansas, including 28 members of the figure skating community, died died when the aircraft collided and plummeted into the icy Potomac River.

    The entire Senate already unanimously approved the bill that would require all aircraft flying around busy airports to have both kinds of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast systems installed. However, leaders of the key House committees seem to want to craft their own comprehensive bill addressing all the NTSB recommendations instead of immediately passing what’s known as the ROTOR act. The ADS-B out systems continually broadcast an aircraft’s location and speed and have been required since 2020. But ADS-B in systems that can receive those signals and create a display showing pilots were all air traffic is located around them are not standard.

    If the American Airlines jet had been equipped with one of the ADS-B in systems that can receive location data, the NTSB and the victims’ families and key lawmakers say, the pilots may have been able to pull up in time to avoid the Black Hawk that inexplicably climbed into the plane’s path.

    The receiving systems should have provided nearly a minute’s warning along with an indication of the helicopter’s position instead of the 19-second warning the pilots received with the existing collision-avoidance system on the plane. But for that to work the helicopter’s ADS-B out system that’s supposed to broadcast its location would have to be turned on and working correctly, which wasn’t the case on the night of the crash.

    But these locator systems are one of the measures that might have been able to overcome all the systemic problems and mistakes the NTSB identified in the disaster. That’s why NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy — who will be the only witness at the hearing — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and all of the Senate endorsed it.

    “This seems like a no-brainer, right? Especially when this is not a new thing that they’re proposing,” said Amy Hunter, whose cousin Peter Livingston died on the flight with his wife and two young daughters.

    Afterward, the FAA made several changes including prohibiting helicopters from flying along the route where the crash occurred anytime a plane is landing on the secondary runway at Reagan National Airport.

    The crash anniversary and NTSB hearing on the causes of the crash made recent weeks challenging for victims’ families. And now the Olympics are reminding Hunter and others that their loved ones — like young Everly and Alydia Livingston — will never have a chance to realize their dreams of competing for a gold medal.

    The biggest stumbling block is cost concerns. Upgrading some airline jets might cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, placing an expensive burden on some — especially regional airlines with tighter margins like the one that flew the jet that collided with the Army helicopter. Some worry whether general aviation pilots could afford the upgrades, too.

    Any plane that’s more than a decade old likely doesn’t have either of these systems installed while most planes newer than that would at least have an ADS-B out system that broadcasts their location.

    But roughly three quarters of the pilots of business jets and smaller single-engine Cessnas and Bonanzas use portable devices that only cost several hundred dollars made by companies like ForeFlight that can tap into this location data and display the information about nearby aircraft on an iPad. So it doesn’t appear the legislation would create a significant expense for them.

    Tim Lilley, a pilot himself, said having both these locator systems would have saved the life of his son Sam, who was copilot of the airliner, and everyone else who died. He said small plane owners have an affordable option, but even the expensive upgrades to large planes would be worth it.

    “If those recommendations had been fully realized, this accident wouldn’t have happened,” Lilley said. “I don’t know what value we put on the human life, but 67 lives would still be here today.”

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  • Musk vows to put data centers in space, run them on solar power

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    NEW YORK — Elon Musk vowed this week to upend another industry just as he did with cars and rockets — and once again he’s taking on long odds.

    The world’s richest man said he wants to put as many as a million satellites into orbit to form vast, solar-powered data centers in space — a move to allow expanded use of artificial intelligence and chatbots without triggering blackouts and sending utility bills soaring.

    To finance that effort, Musk combined SpaceX with his AI business on Monday and plans a big initial public offering of the combined company.

    “Space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale,” Musk wrote on SpaceX’s website Monday, adding about his solar ambitions, “It’s always sunny in space!”

    But scientists and industry experts say even Musk — who outsmarted Detroit to turn Tesla into the world’s most valuable automaker — faces formidable technical, financial and environmental obstacles.

    Here’s a look:

    Capturing the sun’s energy from space to run chatbots and other AI tools would ease pressure on power grids and cut demand for sprawling computing warehouses that are consuming farms and forests and vast amounts of water to cool.

    But space presents its own set of problems.

    Data centers generate enormous heat. Space seems to offer a solution because it is cold. But it is also a vacuum, trapping heat inside objects in the same way that a Thermos keeps coffee hot using double walls with no air between them.

    “An uncooled computer chip in space would overheat and melt much faster than one on Earth,” said Josep Jornet, a computer and electrical engineering professor at Northeastern University.

    One fix is to build giant radiator panels that glow in infrared light to push the heat “out into the dark void,” says Jornet, noting that the technology has worked on a small scale, including on the International Space Station. But for Musk’s data centers, he says, it would require an array of “massive, fragile structures that have never been built before.”

    Then there is space junk.

    A single malfunctioning satellite breaking down or losing orbit could trigger a cascade of collisions, potentially disrupting emergency communications, weather forecasting and other services.

    Musk noted in a recent regulatory filing that he has had only one “low-velocity debris generating event” in seven years running Starlink, his satellite communications network. Starlink has operated about 10,000 satellites — but that’s a fraction of the million or so he now plans to put in space.

    “We could reach a tipping point where the chance of collision is going to be too great,” said University at Buffalo’s John Crassidis, a former NASA engineer. “And these objects are going fast — 17,500 miles per hour. There could be very violent collisions.”

    Even without collisions, satellites fail, chips degrade, parts break.

    Special GPU graphics chips used by AI companies, for instance, can become damaged and need to be replaced.

    “On Earth, what you would do is send someone down to the data center,” said Baiju Bhatt, CEO of Aetherflux, a space-based solar energy company. “You replace the server, you replace the GPU, you’d do some surgery on that thing and you’d slide it back in.”

    But no such repair crew exists in orbit, and those GPUs in space could get damaged due to their exposure to high-energy particles from the sun.

    Bhatt says one workaround is to overprovision the satellite with extra chips to replace the ones that fail. But that’s an expensive proposition given they are likely to cost tens of thousands of dollars each, and current Starlink satellites only have a lifespan of about five years.

    Musk is not alone trying to solve these problems.

    A company in Redmond, Washington, called Starcloud, launched a satellite in November carrying a single Nvidia-made AI computer chip to test out how it would fare in space. Google is exploring orbital data centers in a venture it calls Project Suncatcher. And Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin announced plans in January for a constellation of more than 5,000 satellites to start launching late next year, though its focus has been more on communications than AI.

    Still, Musk has an edge: He’s got rockets.

    Starcloud had to use one of his Falcon rockets to put its chip in space last year. Aetherflux plans to send a set of chips it calls a Galactic Brain to space on a SpaceX rocket later this year. And Google may also need to turn to Musk to get its first two planned prototype satellites off the ground by early next year.

    Pierre Lionnet, a research director at the trade association Eurospace, says Musk routinely charges rivals far more than he charges himself —- as much as $20,000 per kilo of payload versus $2,000 internally.

    He said Musk’s announcements this week signal that he plans to use that advantage to win this new space race.

    “When he says we are going to put these data centers in space, it’s a way of telling the others we will keep these low launch costs for myself,” said Lionnet. “It’s a kind of powerplay.”

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  • Elon Musk combines his rocket and AI businesses before an expected IPO this year

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    NEW YORK — Elon Musk is joining his space exploration and artificial intelligence ventures into a single company before what’s expected to be a massive initial public offering for the business later this year.

    His rocket venture, SpaceX, announced on Monday that it had bought xAI in an effort to help the world’s richest man dominate the rocket and artificial intelligence businesses. The deal will combine several of his offerings, including his AI chatbot Grok, his satellite communications company Starlink, and his social media company X.

    Musk has talked repeatedly about the need to speed development of technology that will allow data centers to operate in space. He believes that will help overcome the problem of huge costs in electricity and other resources in building and running AI systems on Earth.

    It’s a goal that Musk suggested in his announcement of the deal could become easier to reach with a combined company.

    “In the long term, space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale,” Musk wrote on SpaceX’s website Monday, then added in reference to solar power, “It’s always sunny in space!”

    Musk said in his announcement he estimates “that within 2 to 3 years, the lowest cost way to generate AI compute will be in space.”

    SpaceX will be competing in that realm with Google, which is working on a research project called Project Suncatcher that would equip solar-powered satellites with AI computer chips, with a prototype that could launch as soon as next year.

    But Musk’s prediction of a near future of space-based AI supercomputers is not shared by many other companies building data centers, including Microsoft.

    “I’ll be surprised if people move from land to low-Earth orbit,” Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, told The Associated Press last month, when asked about the alternatives to building data centers in the U.S. amid rising community opposition.

    Musk is already facing stiff competition in artificial intelligence, where he’s been scrambling to compete against rivals such as OpenAI, which is also working toward an IPO. Musk’s dislike of OpenAI, which he helped to found more than a decade ago, is part of what drove him to start xAI in 2023 and build the ChatGPT alternative he named Grok.

    Musk has equally ambitious plans for Tesla as he tries to pivot a company with shrinking car sales to focus more on self-driving taxis and humanoid robots, driven by artificial intelligence.

    Tesla recently announced a $2 billion investment in xAI.

    Musk has used his control over multiple companies to combine operations before. Tesla bought SolarCity, a decade ago. And he recently had xAI buy his social media platform X, formerly called Twitter.

    Chatter on Wall Street about the billionaire continuing to meld his many ventures together in a massive Musk Inc. has taken off in recent months, with some investors speculating that Tesla could combine with SpaceX, too.

    Forbes magazine puts Musk’s net worth at $768 billion. He also owns a brain implant company called Neuralink and a tunnel digging business named the Boring Company.

    Terms of the SpaceX purchase of xAI were not disclosed. Among outside investors in the companies is a fund in which President Donald Trump’s son, Don Jr., is a partner. That firm, 1789 Capital, has made more than $1 billion worth of investments in various Musk companies in the past year, including SpaceX, xAI, and X, according to data provider Pitchbook, though it cashed out of some already.

    While pursuing space data centers, xAI is also moving rapidly to expand on Earth. Mississippi officials last month announced that the company is set to spend $20 billion to build a data center near the state’s border with Tennessee.

    The data center, called MACROHARDRR, a likely pun on Microsoft’s name, will be its third one in the greater Memphis area.

    Musk is also hoping the combined company can eventually help reach another goal he has long talked about — the need to colonize other planets in case there is a natural disaster or human-made disaster on Earth.

    When speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Musk mused about humanity being a “tiny candle in a vast darkness, a tiny candle of consciousness that could easily go out.”

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  • Even small EU nations go big on arms production

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    NICOSIA, Cyprus — There’s a chance the dreaded buzz of propellers heard on Ukrainian battlefields is coming from drones built in a country with a population of just over a million on Europe’s southeastern fringe: Cyprus.

    Manufacturer Swarmly says there are more than 200 of its H-10 Poseidon drones helping Ukrainian artillery batteries pinpoint enemy targets on the ground in all kinds of weather, racking up more than 100,000 hours in the air over the last three years.

    Its 5,000-square-meter (54,000-square-foot) factory, where the whir of grinders shaping composite plastics reverberates off the walls, has become a major source of uncrewed vehicles shipped to countries such as Indonesia, Benin, Nigeria, India and Saudi Arabia, according to company officials. Most of the factory floor is reserved for uncrewed aerial vehicle manufacture. But tucked in a secure storage area is a selection of Swarmly’s super-fast marine drones replete with high-definition cameras and .50-caliber machine guns.

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has driven even the smallest European Union member countries to develop their home-grown, high-tech defense industries, just as necessity has made Kyiv a world leader in cutting-edge UAV technology. Many EU countries have partnered with Kyiv to develop that technology, and Ukraine’s front lines are usually their testing grounds.

    Like Cyprus, the Baltic countries and Denmark have revved up their domestic drone and counter-drone technology. In Greece, drones are part of a 25-billion euro ($29-billion) overhaul of its armed forces.

    “The example of Swarmy, as well as other important companies based in small EU countries, is a testament to the serious effort made by the private sector in Europe to innovate and build mass production capacity of defense items, including uncrewed systems,” said Federico Borsari, an expert with the Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis.

    UAVs are reshaping warfare by offering less militarily capable countries some leverage over superior adversaries. Drones aren’t going to completely replace big-ticket weaponry like tanks, artillery and warplanes, said Borsari. But they offer flexibility and bang for the buck, making them a formidable force multiplier.

    Take Swarmly’s explosives-packed, satellite-guided Hydra marine drone. Each one costs 80,000 euros ($94,500), which means deploying a group of them to neutralize a billion-euro warship can be a bargain, said company director Gary Rafalovsky.

    This sort of naval weapon taking out a much larger warship is already evidenced by Houthi attacks from Yemen, according to Fabian Hinz, a research fellow for missile technologies and UAVs at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Europe.

    Barriers to entry for undercapitalized companies are low, he added, because UAVs are often designed and assembled from components cheaply and readily available on the global market.

    “And that, of course, means that basically you don’t have to have a great industrial investment at first that you need with other military capabilities. You don’t need decades of experience in certain material sciences or these kinds of things,” Hinz said.

    In Denmark, a pair of companies focusing on anti-drone devices have reported a surge in new clients, and some of the devices were to be shipped to Ukraine to assist in jamming Russian technology on the battlefield. Ukraine in September said it was partnering with Danish companies to build missile and drone components at a factory in Denmark.

    In the Baltic country of Lithuania, scientists and business partners have joined forces under the name VILNIUS TECH to develop UAVs, automated mine detection and other military technologies. The state-run ammunition factory Giraite says it has increased production capacity by 50% since 2022.

    Greece for the first time showcased its homemade drones and counter-drone technology during a full tactical exercise in November as NATO urged Europe’s defense sector to pick up the pace.

    “We need capabilities, equipment, real firepower and the most advanced technology,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned during a visit to Romania earlier that month. “Bring your ideas, test your ingenuity and use NATO as your test bed.”

    Even as drone development accelerates, Borsari cautioned that the advantages of UAVs are often tempered by numerous variables like the harsh conditions in which they sometimes fly, operators’ training and skill levels, as well as the depth of logistical support to keep them functional.

    Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Trump administration’s mixed messages that have strained relations with NATO allies have forced European leaders to reckon with the need to become more self-reliant on defense. So the EU has made billions of euros available to encourage investment and bolster its collective deterrent capability.

    That’s been a boost to nations like Cyprus, which assumed the six-month EU presidency on Jan. 1. Last week, the EU’s executive arm approved financial assistance for eight members including Spain, Croatia, Portugal, Bulgaria, Belgium, Romania and Cyprus.

    Cyprus is set to receive final approval from EU leaders for some 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in low-cost, long-term loans under the EU’s 150-billion-euro joint ($177-billion) procurement program called Security Action for Europe (SAFE).

    Its nascent defense industry is already made up of around 30 companies and research centers that produce technology for both civilian and military sectors, including robotics, communications networks, anti-drone systems and even satellite communications and surveillance, said Panayiotis Hadjipavlis, chief of the armaments and defense capabilities development directorate within Cyprus’ Defense Ministry.

    “We have niche capabilities on very high-tech products and this has to be taken seriously into account,” Hadjipavlis told The Associated Press in his office, where the helmet from his fighter pilot days hung on a nearby coat rack.

    Major defense industry players, he added, are among those who should take note.

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    Associated Press writer Liudas Dapkus in Vilnius, Lithuania contributed.

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  • Elon Musk says he is merging SpaceX with artificial-intelligence company xAI

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    Elon Musk says he is merging SpaceX with his artificial-intelligence company xAI

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  • NASA fuels moon rocket in crucial test to decide when Artemis astronauts will launch

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA fueled its new moon rocket in one final make-or-break test Monday, with hopes of sending astronauts on a lunar fly-around as soon as this coming weekend.

    The launch team began loading the 322-foot (98-meter) rocket with super-cold hydrogen and oxygen at Kennedy Space Center late at midday. More than 700,000 gallons (2.6 million liters) had to flow into the tanks and remain on board for several hours, mimicking the final stages of an actual countdown.

    The only thing missing from the critical dress rehearsal was the crew. The three Americans and one Canadian monitored the action from nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away in Houston, home to Johnson Space Center. They have been in quarantine for the past 1½ weeks, awaiting the practice countdown’s outcome.

    The all-day operation will determine when they can blast off on the first lunar voyage by a crew in more than half a century.

    Running two days behind because of a bitter cold snap, NASA set its countdown clocks to stop a half-minute before reaching zero, just before engine ignition. The clocks began ticking Saturday night, giving launch controllers the chance to go through all the motions and deal with any lingering problems with the Space Launch System rocket. Hydrogen leaks kept the first SLS rocket on the pad for months in 2022. Launch managers said they’re confident the issues are behind them.

    If the fueling demo goes well, NASA could launch commander Reid Wiseman and his crew to the moon as soon as Sunday. The rocket must be flying by Feb. 11 or the mission will be called off until March. The space agency only has a few days in any given month to launch the rocket, and the extreme cold already has shortened February’s launch window by two days.

    The nearly 10-day mission will send the astronauts past the moon, around the mysterious far side and then straight back to Earth, with the goal of testing the capsule’s life support and other vital systems. The crew will not go into lunar orbit or attempt to land.

    NASA last sent astronauts to the moon during the 1960s and 1970s Apollo program. The new Artemis program aims for a more sustained lunar presence, with Wiseman’s crew setting the stage for future moon landings by other astronauts.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • NASA begins practice countdown for first moonshot with astronauts in over 50 years

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA began a two-day practice countdown Saturday leading up to the fueling of its new moon rocket, a crucial test that will determine when four astronauts blast off on a lunar flyby.

    Already in quarantine to avoid germs, Commander Reid Wiseman and his crew will be the first people to launch to the moon since 1972. They will monitor the dress rehearsal from their Houston base before flying to Kennedy Space Center once the rocket is cleared for flight.

    The 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System rocket moved out to the pad two weeks ago. If Monday’s fueling test goes well, NASA could try to launch within a week. Teams will fill the rocket’s tank with more than 700,000 gallons of super-cold fuel, stopping a half-minute short of when the engines would light.

    A bitter cold spell delayed the fueling demo, and the launch, by two days. Feb. 8 is now the earliest the rocket could blast off.

    Riding in the Orion capsule on top of the rocket, the U.S. and Canadian astronauts will hurtle around the moon and then straight back without stopping until splashdown in the Pacific. The mission will last nearly 10 days.

    NASA sent 24 astronauts to the moon during the Apollo program, from 1968 to 1972. Twelve of them walked on the surface.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • NASA delays first Artemis moonshot with astronauts due to extreme cold at launch site

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has delayed astronauts’ upcoming trip to the moon because of near-freezing temperatures expected at the launch site.

    The first Artemis moonshot with a crew is now targeted for no earlier than Feb. 8, two days later than planned.

    NASA was all set to conduct a fueling test of the 322-foot (98-meter) moon rocket on Saturday, but called everything off late Thursday because of the expected cold.

    The critical dress rehearsal is now set for Monday, weather permitting. The change leaves NASA with only three days in February to send four astronauts around the moon and back, before slipping into March.

    “Any additional delays would result in a day for day change,” NASA said in a statement Friday.

    Heaters are keeping the Orion capsule warm atop the rocket, officials said, and rocket-purging systems are also being adapted to the cold.

    Commander Reid Wiseman and his crew remain in quarantine in Houston and their arrival at Kennedy Space Center in Florida is uncertain.

    NASA has only a handful of days any given month to launch its first lunar crew in more than half a century. Apollo 17 closed out that storied moon exploration program in 1972.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • US airlines and airports brace for a brutal travel day amid massive winter storm

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    LAS VEGAS — A massive winter storm set the stage for a brutal travel day Sunday, with airlines warning of widespread cancellations and delays at some of the nation’s busiest airports.

    Widespread snow, sleet and freezing rain threatened nearly 180 million people — more than half the U.S. population — in a path stretching from the southern Rocky Mountains to New England, the National Weather Service said Saturday night. After sweeping through the South, forecasters said the storm was expected to move into the Northeast, dumping about 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 centimeters) of snow from Washington through New York and Boston.

    More than 13,500 flights have been canceled across the U.S. since Saturday, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. About 9,600 of those were scheduled for Sunday. Aviation analytics company Cirium says its data shows that Sunday will be the highest cancellation event since the pandemic, with over 29% of all U.S. departing flights axed.

    Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport warned travelers on its website of widespread flight cancellations. Nearly all of its departing flights scheduled for the day — 414 flights, or 97% — have been canceled.

    Significant disruptions were also expected at major airport hubs in Dallas-Fort Worth, Charlotte, Philadelphia and Atlanta, home to the nation’s busiest airport, as well as New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport.

    American Airlines had canceled over 1,400 flights for Sunday, according to FlightAware. Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines each reported about 1,000 cancellations for the day, while United Airlines had more than 800. JetBlue had more than 560 canceled flights, accounting for roughly 70% of its schedule for the day.

    If you’re already at the airport, get in line to speak to a customer service representative. If you’re still at home or at your hotel, call or go online to connect to your airline’s reservations staff. Either way, it helps to also research alternate flights while you wait to talk to an agent.

    Most airlines will rebook you on a later flight for no additional charge, but it depends on the availability of open seats.

    You can, but airlines aren’t required to put you on another carrier’s flight. Some airlines, including most of the biggest carriers, say they can put you on a partner airline, but even then, it can be a hit or miss.

    If your flight was canceled and you no longer want to take the trip, or you’ve found another way to get to your destination, the airline is legally required to refund your money — even if you bought a non-refundable ticket. It doesn’t matter why the flight was canceled.

    The airline might offer you a travel credit, but you are entitled to a full refund. You are also entitled to a refund of any bag fees, seat upgrades or other extras that you didn’t get to use.

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  • Stranded by winter weather? Here’s what airlines owe you

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    Winter weather can upend even the best-laid travel plans, but one less thing to worry about is losing money if your flight is canceled: U.S. airlines are required to provide refunds.

    A major, dayslong winter storm is threatening to bring snow, sleet, ice and extensive power outages to about half the U.S. population. Thousands of weekend flights already have been canceled, and forecasters warn that catastrophic damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival that of a hurricane.

    Here’s a guide for travelers as flight disruptions start stacking up:

    When airlines expect bad weather to create problems for flights, they often give travelers a chance to postpone their trips by a few days without having to pay a fee. Search online for your airline’s name and “travel alerts” or similar phrases to look for possible rescheduling offers.

    American Airlines, for example, said it is waiving change fees for passengers impacted by the storm, which brought freezing rain to parts of Texas on Friday. The Texas-based airline has canceled more than 1,200 flights scheduled to depart Saturday, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

    American also added extra flights to and from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport through at least Sunday — totaling more than 3,200 additional seats.

    Use the airline’s app to make sure your flight is still on before heading to the airport. Cancellations can happen hours or even days before departure time.

    If you’re already at the airport, get in line to speak to a customer service representative. If you’re still at home or at your hotel, call or go online to connect to your airline’s reservations staff. Either way, it helps to also research alternate flights while you wait to talk to an agent.

    Most airlines will rebook you on a later flight for no additional charge, but it depends on the availability of open seats.

    You can, but airlines aren’t required to put you on another carrier’s flight. Some airlines, including most of the biggest carriers, say they can put you on a partner airline, but even then it can be a hit or miss.

    If your flight was canceled and you no longer want to take the trip, or you’ve found another way to get to your destination, the airline is legally required to refund your money — even if you bought a non-refundable ticket. It doesn’t matter why the flight was canceled.

    The airline might offer you a travel credit, but you are entitled to a full refund. You are also entitled to a refund of any bag fees, seat upgrades or other extras that you didn’t get to use.

    If you paid with a credit card, a refund is due within seven business days after you decline an offer from the airline for another flight or a voucher, and within 20 calendar days if you paid for the ticket with a check or cash, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

    U.S. airlines aren’t required by the Transportation Department to compensate passengers for meals or lodging when an airline cancels or significantly delays a flight during an “uncontrollable” event like bad weather.

    Each airline, however, does have its own policies for assisting passengers who are stranded by a so-called “controllable” flight cancellation or long delay. These include disruptions caused by maintenance issues, crew shortages or computer outages that halt operations. The Transportation Department can hold airlines accountable for these commitments and maintains a website that lets travelers see what each airline promises if a major disruption is their fault.

    If the weather forecast is troubling, Kyle Potter, executive editor of Thrifty Traveler, suggests looking into booking a backup flight. Some airlines stand out as potential backups, Potter says, because they let customers get a full refund as long as they cancel within 24 hours of booking.

    The customer service phone lines will be slammed if flight cancellations and delays start stacking up during a bad storm. If you’re traveling with someone who has a higher frequent-flyer status, call the airline using their priority number. Another trick: Look up the airline’s international support number. Those agents can often rebook you just the same.

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  • Study shows how earthquake monitors can track space junk through sonic booms

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — As more and more space junk comes crashing down, a new study shows how earthquake monitors can better track incoming objects by tuning into their sonic booms.

    Scientists reported Thursday that seismic readings from sonic booms that were generated when a discarded module from a Chinese crew capsule reentered over Southern California in 2024 allowed them to place the object’s path nearly 20 miles (30 kilometers) farther south than radar had predicted from orbit.

    Using this method to track uncontrolled objects plummeting at supersonic speeds, they said, could help recovery teams reach any surviving pieces more quickly — crucial if the debris is dangerous.

    “The problem at the moment is we can track stuff very well in space,” said Johns Hopkins University’s Benjamin Fernando, the lead researcher. “But once it gets to the point that it’s actually breaking up in the atmosphere, it becomes very difficult to track.”

    His team’s findings, published in the journal Science, focus on just one debris event. But the researchers already have used publicly available data from seismic networks to track a few dozen other reentries, including debris from three failed SpaceX Starship test flights in Texas.

    A growing concern among scientists and others is that falling space debris could strike a plane in flight.

    “There are thousands, tens of thousands, more satellites in orbit than there were 10 years ago,” including SpaceX’s Starlinks and other companies’ internet satellites, said Fernando. “Unfortunately, we don’t really have anything other than the word of the company to say that when they break up, they completely burn up in the atmosphere.”

    Fernando, who normally studies quakes on the moon and Mars, teamed up with Imperial College London’s Constantinos Charalambous the day after the Chinese debris streaked across the California sky in 2024. Over time, they gathered data from more than 120 seismometers that captured the sonic booms from the reentry, using that data to plot the object’s suspected path.

    China’s out-of-control module had been abandoned in a decaying orbit ever since it was cut loose from the Shenzhou-15 capsule returning three Chinese astronauts from their country’s space station in 2023. The 1.5-ton (1.36-metric tonne) module — more than 3 feet (1 meter) in size — broke into countless smaller pieces as it plummeted through the atmosphere, resulting in multiple sonic booms. Besides attempting to trace the object’s fall, the seismic readings provided a sense of the cascading breakup, Fernando said.

    Fernando acknowledged it’s impossible to know how close his team’s predictions are to the actual path since no debris was reported on the ground.

    The goal is to ascertain, within minutes or even seconds, the speed and direction of the incoming space junk as well as its fragmentation. In remote areas like the South Pacific, nuclear blast monitoring stations could potentially track the sonic booms to fine-tune the paths of descent. That’s where NASA plans to ditch the International Space Station in five years. SpaceX is working on the deorbiting vehicle to ensure a controlled entry.

    Fernando is looking to eventually publish a catalog of seismically tracked, entering space objects, while improving future calculations by factoring in the wind’s effect on falling debris.

    In a companion article in Science, Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Chris Carr, who was not involved in the study, said further research is needed to reduce the time between an object’s final plunge and the determination of its course.

    For now, Carr said this new method “unlocks the rapid identification of debris fall-out zones, which is key information as Earth’s orbit is anticipated to become increasingly crowded with satellites, leading to a greater influx of space debris.”

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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