SpaceX launches 24 satellites to polar areas to boost internet access
July 27 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Saturday night from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Lompoc, Calif.
The mission put 24 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. It will deploy the satellites into a polar orbit to boost internet service in polar regions.
The Starlink 17-2 mission launched from Space Launch Complex 4 East at 9:31 p.m. PDT.
The Falcon 9 ship with tail number B1075 took its 19th trip to space, including 16 Starlink missions.
About 8 1/2 minutes after liftoff, the ship landed on the droneship "Of Course I Still Love You," in the Pacific Ocean.
It was the 142nd landing for this vessel and the 481st booster landing for SpaceX.
There are more than 8,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, according to astronomer Jonathan McDowell.
On Thursday, Starlink users reported a rare full network outage of internet service. It began at 4 p.m. About 2 1/2 hours later, SpaceX announced most service had been restored. Then, 1 1/2 hours later, full service was back, Starlink reported.
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USA Today
6 minutes ago
- USA Today
Flu, COVID may 'wake up' dormant cancer cells, new study finds
Respiratory viruses, such as the flu and COVID-19, may be able to 'wake up' dormant cancer cells in patients who have a history of cancer, according to a new study. Researchers tested this hypothesis in mice that contained disseminated cancer cells, which are cells that have broken away from the primary tumor and spread to other organs, where they remain dormant. They exposed the mice to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, or the influenza viruses. In both cases, the infections triggered inflammation that awakened the dormant cells located in the lungs, according to the study published July 30 in Nature. 'Dormant cancer cells are like the embers left in an abandoned campfire, and respiratory viruses are like a strong wind that reignites the flames,' said James DeGregori, study senior author and deputy director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center. The study builds on previous studies from 2020 that found COVID-19 doubled patients' risk of dying from cancer. Patients were unvaccinated, so it's unclear if or how this would impact their risk of cancer, said Julio Aguirre-Ghiso, director of the Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center's dormancy institute who co-led the mice study. It's also unclear if there are other factors at play, as the study showed the awakened cancer cells in the mice went back to sleep once the respiratory infection was resolved, he said. 'That indicates that more than one event, caused by viruses or other sources, might be needed for these metastatic cells to grow and become life-threatening,' Aguirre-Ghiso said. More research is needed and the study is 'step one of future efforts.' Adrianna Rodriguez can be reached at adrodriguez@
CNET
6 minutes ago
- CNET
Starlink Is Set to Receive Billions in Federal Subsidies but Analysis Says It Can't Handle the Traffic
Key takeaways A new X-Lab analysis indicates Starlink can only support 6.66 households per square mile before speeds drop below FCC broadband minimums (100/20 Mbps). Currently, only 17% of Starlink users currently meet FCC broadband speeds, yet altered BEAD program rules could direct significant federal funds to Starlink as the lowest-cost option. While Starlink greatly improves internet access and quality for rural Americans, experts worry about its long-term viability for widespread broadband expansion. Starlink has hit a lot of milestones in the past month: It debuted satellite texting on the big three cellphone carriers, passed 2 million subscribers in the US and launched its 500th Falcon 9 rocket. But a new analysis from Penn State University's X-Lab is pouring some cold water on all that good news. Researchers found that Starlink's satellites can handle just 6.66 households per square mile before service starts to dip below minimum broadband speeds set by the Federal Communication Commission. Last year, the FCC raised this standard to 100 megabits per second download, 20Mbps upload and below 100 milliseconds latency. Starlink has been an absolute game changer in rural areas -- the first truly modern internet connection many Americans have ever had -- but it's also never been fast enough to meet the FCC's definition of broadband. With the company set to receive billions of dollars in federal subsidies to add millions of new subscribers, this new analysis suggests we're at risk of stranding rural America with subpar internet for decades to come. 'What our math is showing is that there's a problem,' Sascha Meinrath, the X-Lab researcher who led the analysis, told CNET. 'We're raising some substantial concerns that go to the heart of the largest public expenditure in broadband infrastructure in the nation's history.' Locating local internet providers According to a report from the speed test site Ookla in June, only 17% of Starlink customers are currently getting 100/20Mbps speeds. (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.) That 100/20Mbps line might not matter very much for Starlink customers who are just happy to finally have an internet connection that can stream Netflix, but it means a lot for the $42.5 billion in federal funds going out to states through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, which was created to expand broadband infrastructure in rural areas. We're betting big that this will work, and yet it's very clear that whoever is betting on Starlink is doing so blindly. Sascha Meinrath, director of X-Lab at Penn State University President Donald Trump's Commerce Secretary tweaked BEAD's rules in June to make them more 'technology neutral,' an update that was viewed by many as a handout to Elon Musk's Starlink. One industry expert I spoke to at the time predicted that more than half of BEAD money would go to Starlink after the changes, up from an expected $4.1 billion under the old rules. The original law favored fiber-optic networks -- long considered the gold standard for broadband connections -- while the new guidance generally requires states to choose the lowest-cost option. However, any internet provider that wants to take BEAD money still has to prove it can supply future customers with 100/20Mbps speeds. One state broadband director who spoke with me on the condition of anonymity said it's largely a guessing game with low-Earth orbit satellite providers like Starlink and Amazon's Project Kuiper. While fiber companies bidding on BEAD projects go through a detailed physical inspection process, states generally have to take Starlink and Amazon's word that they can provide the speeds they say they will. 'We're betting big that this will work, and yet it's very clear that whoever is betting on Starlink is doing so blindly. And that is quite disconcerting,' Meinrath said. A representative for Starlink did not respond to a request for comment. Can Starlink's speeds keep up with millions of new customers? Starlink has increased speeds and added millions of customers since it launched service in 2020. In Ookla's most recent speed test report, median download speeds nearly doubled from 53.95Mbps in 2022 to 104.71Mbps today. Ookla Starlink accomplished that by drastically increasing its number of satellites in orbit. At the beginning of 2022, it had 1,761 satellites in the sky; today, that number stands at 7,943, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer who maintains a catalog of space objects. SpaceX, the company that owns Starlink, has said it eventually hopes to have as many as 42,000 satellites in space. While Starlink's latest speed test results (barely) clear the FCC's bar for download speeds, most Starlink subscribers aren't getting the minimum in upload speed. Ookla's data shows median upload speeds of 14.84Mbps, which is well below the 20Mbps required for BEAD money. But many customers may not even notice those slower upload speeds, says Ellis Scherer, a broadband policy analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a nonpartisan science and technology policy research institute. 'The reality is, everybody's broadband needs and internet usage needs are going to be different,' Scherer told CNET. 'When you have these arbitrary definitions like 100 over 20, it does lead to a situation where certain technologies are considered not feasible, when, in reality, for the needs of actual broadband consumers, they probably provide more than enough capacity.' It's true that most of us download a lot more than we upload. Monthly upstream data consumption is about 48GB for the average US household, compared to 616GB for downstream, according to the latest report from OpenVault. That said, upstream data consumption is growing much faster than downstream, as things like video calls, cloud backups and IoT devices become a more significant part of our home internet mix. Zoom only requires about 3Mbps upload speeds for an HD video call, so you could theoretically hold five different video meetings on one Starlink connection. But researchers have also documented 'latency spikes' caused by handoffs to different satellites as they orbit the Earth. 'There is a major increase in latency at the point when the user is assigned to a different spacecraft. The worst case in this data set is a shift from 30ms to 80ms,' writes Geoff Huston, a scientist who studies internet infrastructure at the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre. 80ms latency isn't ideal -- it'd make for a pretty miserable online gaming experience, for example -- but it still has a good amount of wiggle room under the FCC's 100ms benchmark. It could still be high enough that it keeps Starlink customers from fully participating in a virtual world many of us take for granted. 'If I'm online and scrolling through websites, I might not notice that. If I'm trying to do a live telemedicine appointment, it might be really problematic,' Meinrath said. But most Starlink customers don't seem to mind too much. In a customer satisfaction survey taken a year ago, Starlink customers reported more outages than customers with fiber internet but were much more satisfied with their service overall. That's because Starlink is so much better than the internet most rural Americans had before -- if they had it at all -- that they're more forgiving of the occasional outage or latency spike. Will Starlink improve in the future? That's the $42.5 billion question. SpaceX owner Elon Musk has a long history of saying Starlink improvements are right around the corner. Its initial application to the FCC in 2016 promised gigabit speeds for every user. Last November, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell even predicted that speeds of 2 gigabits per second aren't out of the question. But Meinrath says these rely on misleading metrics. 'I see it again and again in various Starlink documents of how much throughput capacity if you just aggregated all the transceivers on all of the satellites. It's just ludicrous,' Meinrath says. 'Each of my tires can each go 100 miles per hour. It doesn't mean my car can go 400.' We're not talking about capacity for LEOs today. We're talking about capacity for LEOs in four years. Ellis Scherer, broadband policy analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Starlink defenders would argue the company has pulled off an impressive one-two feat: doubling speeds in the US over two years while adding more than 5 million customers globally. If it gets to its stated goal of 42,000 satellites, is it unreasonable to think it could connect a good chunk of the 7 million homes that BEAD dollars are designated for? 'We're not talking about capacity for LEOs today. We're talking about capacity for LEOs in four years, which, if the current pace of progress for LEO broadband is any indicator, will be quite a lot more than it is today,' Scherer told me. Scherer pointed to a couple of reasons for optimism about Starlink taking on new BEAD users: friendlier FCC rules on the wireless spectrum used by Starlink and newer satellites with 10 times the downstream capacity of the previous generation. Not everyone is so convinced. ' 'When the next iteration comes out, it'll all be fixed.' Yeah, I've been hearing this now for five years. It's still not fixed. And in fact, it's consistently not fixed,' Meinrath says. What to consider before you sign up for Starlink Starlink is an excellent internet option in rural areas -- especially if you're in one of the locations that can get the $349 satellite dish free -- but there are some limitations to keep in mind. The areas in white are currently offering the Standard Kit ($349) free when you commit to one year of service. Starlink For one, you'll need a clear view of the sky. Objects like a tree branch, pole or roof can disrupt your connection. Before you order anything, you can use Starlink's app to check for obstructions that may impact your service. The other thing to note is how many other Starlink customers are in your area. At my address in Seattle, for example, there's currently a $1,000 'Demand Surcharge' because of high use in the area. That's up from $500 previously, indicating that Starlink's capacity issues aren't going away anytime soon. 'What we see again and again is that there's a first mover advantage to joining Starlink. If you're the first individual in your region that joins, you get wonderful service,' Meinrath says. 'The problem is when you end up with congestion, i.e. other users. Starlink seems to not be able to deliver the claimed or advertised speeds that it says it can deliver. That has been just overwhelmingly documented.' If you can get a cable, fiber or 5G home internet provider at your home, I'd go with one of those over Starlink every time. (You can check what's available by entering your address on the FCC's broadband map.) Starlink is your best bet if none of those options are available. Just know that if there are more than six other houses that use it within a square mile, you probably won't technically be getting standard FCC broadband speeds.
Newsweek
8 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Respiratory Viruses Risk Waking Dormant Cancer
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Respiratory infections like COVID-19 and the flu may increase the risk of dormant breast cancer cells reactivating and spreading in those with a history of the disease. This is the conclusion of a study based on experiments with mice and observational human health data by researchers at the University of Colorado, the Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center (MECCC) in New York and Utrecht University. Such an awakening, the team warn, could trigger new metastatic tumors. "Dormant cancer cells are like the embers left in an abandoned campfire—and respiratory viruses are like a strong wind that reignites the flames," said paper author James DeGregori of the University of Colorado Cancer Center in a statement. The findings highlight the need for patients to be aware of the risk between infection and cancer spread. For affected patients, "The simplest strategy would be to avoid infection (vaccination, avoiding crowded places during flu season, etc)," DeGregori told Newsweek. An illustration of cancer cells marked with green, and the proliferation of cells marked in magenta. An illustration of cancer cells marked with green, and the proliferation of cells marked in magenta. Michael DeGregori Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Around 316,950 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in the U.S. this year, with more than 42,000 women expected to die from the disease this year alone, according to the American Cancer Society. After remission, cancer cells may remain dormant for years before spreading— notably in the lungs or other organs—and causing a relapse. As viral respiratory infections like SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) are associated with inflammation, this may trigger processes that could cause cancer cells to spread. A rise in cancer death rates in the first two years of the pandemic led DeGregori and his colleagues to study the effects of the influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 infections on breast cancer outcomes in mouse models. They determined that these infections reduced the dormancy of breast cancer cells in the lungs. The cancer cells multiplied within days of infection, leading to the expansion of metastatic cancer lesions within two weeks. Inflammatory pathways are implicated in this effect, the researchers found. "The study proves that the general phenomenon can also be observed in humans. Of course, the authors cannot prove that it is the same mechanism, as these are epidemiological data," said professor Carsten Watzl, Scientific Director of the Immunology Research Unit of the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors Dortmund. An image showing the awakening of dormant cancer cells. An image showing the awakening of dormant cancer cells. Bryan Johnson Analysis of molecules revealed that the awakening of dormant cancer cells is driven by a protein called interleukin-6 (IL-6), which immune cells release in response to infections or injuries. "The identification of IL-6 as a key mediator in arousing DCCs from dormancy suggests that using IL-6 inhibitors or other targeted immunotherapies might prevent or lessen the resurgence of metastasis following viral infection," said paper author and MECCC cell biologist Julio Aguirre-Ghiso said in a statement. The researchers also examined whether patients with cancer that tested positive for COVID-19 might have an increased risk of cancer-related death, analyzing data from the UK Biobank (4,837 participants, all cancer types) and Flatiron Health (36,845 patients with breast cancer) databases. They discovered an association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and risk of death in the Biobank group. Patients that tested positive SARS-CoV-2 showed a twofold increase in cancer-related death compared to those who were negative. In the Flatiron group, the infection was associated with an increase of more than 40 percent in the risk of metastatic disease in the lungs. It should be noted the new study focused on the period before COVID-19 vaccines were available. Although the studies were limited to those previously diagnosed with cancer, or mice that had dormant cells already when infected, DeGregori cautioned that the team, "couldn't rule out an effect on those with active cancer." Cell and molecular biologist John Alcorn of the University of Pittsburg told Newsweek, "This study does not address how bad of a COVID or flu infection is needed to trigger this type of response. Another prevention would be to have imaging done if you are a cancer patient in remission who gets a viral pneumonia. This could lead to early detection or resurgence and increased treatment options." DeGregori added: "Additional research and clinical studies will be needed for the development of interventions that could be applied during the infection, and we are actively working to develop such interventions." The researchers plan to extend their analyses, both in animal models and of clinical data, to other cancer types and areas of metastatic disease. Do you have a tip on a health story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about breast cancer? Let us know via health@ Reference Chia, S. B., Johnson, B. J., Hu, J., Valença-Pereira, F., Chadeau-Hyam, M., Guntoro, F., Montgomery, H., Boorgula, M. P., Sreekanth, V., Goodspeed, A., Davenport, B., De Dominici, M., Zaberezhnyy, V., Schleicher, W. E., Gao, D., Cadar, A. N., Petriz-Otaño, L., Papanicolaou, M., Beheshti, A., Baylin, S. B., ... DeGregori, J. (2025). Respiratory viral infections awaken metastatic breast cancer cells in lungs. Nature.
