Latest news with #ArsTechnica
The Hill
2 hours ago
- Science
- The Hill
Starship's ninth test creates problems for Elon Musk
When the Federal Aviation Administration finally gave SpaceX permission to test its giant rocket, the Starship, space observers breathed sighs of relief. As video blogger Ellie Sherrif pointed out that although the failures of the seventh and eighth flights seemed to be similar in that the Starship exploded soon after it separated from the Super Heavy first stage, they had completely different root causes, which SpaceX attempted to address for the ninth flight. Then the question arose: Had SpaceX fixed the problems that had caused failures for both the eighth and seventh tests? The good news is that SpaceX fixed those problems. Starship did not explode soon after separation from the Super Heavy. But, as so often happens during test flights of cutting-edge rockets, other problems arose. The ninth test flight of the Starship was a good news/bad news event. The good news: The Starship did not explode over the Gulf soon after separating from the Super Heavy. And the Super Heavy first stage was a reused rocket from the seventh flight. Proving reusability was a big deal toward making SpaceX's monster rocket a viable launch vehicle. Unlike in previous tests, all of the engines in the Super Heavy remained lit during the ascent phase. But, as Ars Technica reported, plenty of bad news occurred during the most recent flight as well. The Super Heavy, tested during descent to the limits, did not touch down in the Gulf but instead exploded. The bad news continued as the Starship cruised through space toward its planned controlled landing in the Indian Ocean. First, a test involving the deployment of Starlink simulators failed when the bay doors did not open. Then, Starship began tumbling when the rocket lost attitude control due to a fuel leak. It broke apart over the Indian Ocean. SpaceX was unable to relight one of the Starship's Raptor engines in space. Reentry data from the reusable heat tiles on the rocket was lost. SpaceX founder CEO Elon Musk, noting how the ninth flight fell short of its objectives, noted that the test had garnered a lot of data to review. He also suggested that the flight cadence for Starship will increase to a launch every three to four weeks. If true, that is good news. Rapid turnaround is vital if Starship is to become a viable vehicle to take humanity to the moon, Mars and beyond. We will see what the FAA has to say about that. Musk has two very big problems on his hands, one technical and the other political. The technical problem consists of getting Starship operational so that it can both support the Artemis return to the moon program and Musk's dream of founding a settlement on Mars. He has hopes of an uncrewed landing on the moon in 2026 to test Starship's use as a Human Landing System for the Artemis III mission, currently planned for 2027. He also would like to send an uncrewed Starship to Mars in 2026. The trick will be flying again and again, ironing out every problem from the Starship so that at the end of the process, SpaceX has a viable launch vehicle, on par with the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy in reliability. The other problem Musk faces is political. He has spent the past year delving into politics, first by supporting Donald Trump's campaign to be reelected as president, then by running the DOGE project to ferret out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. His political adventures, no matter what one thinks of them, have rubbed some powerful people the wrong way. One can already write the talking points, accusing the Trump administration of spending money so that Musk can blow up rockets. It is only a matter of time before Musk's opponents in Washington, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), run to the cameras to denounce the billionaire space race. He has done so before. Jared Isaacman, who was Trump's nominee for NASA administrator until this weekend, sprang to Musk's defense on X, 'Some may focus on the lows, but behind the efforts of Starship–and other programs like New Glenn, Neutron, Vulcan, Terran, Stoke, etc.–is a massive space economy taking shape: tens of thousands of jobs, billions in private investment, all aimed at truly opening the last great frontier.' Musk told Ars Technica's Eric Berger that he plans to step away from his government work and concentrate more on his companies, including SpaceX. 'It was just relative time allocation that probably was a little too high on the government side, and I've reduced that significantly in recent weeks.' All in all, a sound decision. Mark R. Whittington, who writes frequently about space policy, has published a political study of space exploration entitled 'Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?' as well as 'The Moon, Mars and Beyond' and, most recently, 'Why is America Going Back to the Moon?' He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner.
Tom's Guide
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
The Nintendo Switch 2 will not support streaming apps — here's what we know
The Nintendo Switch 2 is one of the most anticipated gadgets of 2025, but a recent report has revealed that it will be lacking in options outside of gaming. A change to Nintendo's approach to streaming apps, originally noticed by Ars Technica, appeared as part of the Switch 2's updated support page. In the update, Nintendo states that the Hulu, Crunchyroll, InkyPen, Abema and niconico apps from the original Nintendo Switch cannot be used on the Nintendo Switch 2. While the concept of a games console launching without the ability to stream shows and movies might be shocking, it's not all that surprising. While Sony and Microsoft might have sold the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X as multimedia devices, Nintendo's current Switch has always been focused more on gaming. For one prominent example, there was never a dedicated Netflix app on the original Switch. Removing the few remaining options, therefore, seems in character for Nintendo. With that said, I am still amazed that Nintendo is releasing a modern console in 2025 with no set options to stream movies and shows, especially when it is releasing at an increased cost. If you want to watch any of the new shows on these streaming apps from the comfort of your living room, you'll need one of the best smart TVs on the market rather than your new Switch 2 console. When it comes to other products from the original Nintendo Switch, you'll be happy to know that nearly all of the original 122 first-party games will run fine. The only stated issues are with the Nintendo Labo cardboard kits, which were designed to fit the original console's dimensions. On top of that, some games that use features designed for the original Joy-Con, such as Nintendo Switch Sports' leg strap accessory or WarioWare: Move It!'s IR motion camera-based microgames, will only work if you pair an external Joy-Con with the Switch 2. When it comes to third-party games, Nintendo has stated that over two-thirds of the roughly 15,000 titles will work with either no issues or minor problems that will be quickly solved. Nintendo goes on to state that of the around 5,000 remaining games, most will likely launch with no issue, but further tests are in progress. Nintendo has also updated its PDF documents that list individual games that either won't launch, feature compatibility faults and other games that have issues that should be addressed by launch, or shortly after. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Overall, while it is sad to see the few remaining streaming apps disappearing from the Nintendo Switch 2, the backward compatibility seems to be on point. Not only that, Nintendo is also adding several free Switch game updates that look to add Switch 2-specific features, while also improving performance on the new console.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
SpaceX Starship Spins Out After Successful Launch, But It Didn't Explode This Time
SpaceX's latest launch of its Starship rockets was more successful than the past couple, but it still ended its launch out of control, eventually crashing down in the Indian Ocean. It did make it into orbit, though, and the claimed issues from previously explosive launches appear to have been fixed. This was also the first time Starship has used a refurbished first-stage booster. Starship is SpaceX's next-generation rocket and the largest one ever designed. If it ever reaches the same reliability for regular use as the long-running Falcon 9, it will have the ability to transport between 100 and 200 tonnes into low Earth orbit. Unfortunately, 2025 has seen Starship stumble, with two out of three launches ending in catastrophic explosions of the new Block 2 booster design, for various reasons. SpaceX will be largely happy with this latest launch, then, despite the problems it faced. The first stage booster completed its burn successfully and separated without issue. While the first-stage booster turned and began its burn back toward the launchpad for an intended splashdown landing, the Starship upper stage continued on, burning for a few more minutes to achieve "nominal orbital insertion." Unfortunately, that's when some issues cropped up. Initially, the cargo bay doors failed to open, so the dummy Starlink satellites couldn't be deployed. And then SpaceX lost control of the spacecraft. "Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and reentry phase," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk explained on Twitter/X. This loss of tank pressure meant that the Starship team lost the ability to control the ship's attitude, which led to the upper stage entering an uncontrolled spin. This meant that the Starship wasn't going to be able to hold its orbit, and a decision was made to bring it down as carefully as possible. All remaining fuel was vented and at around 46 minutes into its flight, Starship went dark and broke up into pieces over the Indian Ocean, as per Ars Technica. This was at least in its intended flight path, however, so there should be no danger of damage to human life or property due to falling debris. That wasn't the end to the launch woes, though. The first-stage booster also suffered an unknown issue, exploding soon after igniting its engines again for re-entry. That brought an explosive end to the first re-used Starship booster. SpaceX has announced plans to continue with launches of one Starship every three to four weeks for the rest of the year, with plans to introduce a new Block 3 design before the end of 2025 with greater lift capacity, and a new Raptor engine with greater reliability.
Toronto Star
3 days ago
- Business
- Toronto Star
Elon Musk is gone and tariffs are illegal, but it's no time to declare Trump defeated
Elon Musk is leaving the White House and a court has ruled a tranche of American trade tariffs to be illegal. They are two welcome developments, but it's too soon to celebrate that the most offensive elements of Donald Trump's presidency are going … going … gone. The U.S. Commander-in-Chief has shown no signs that he is prepared to fall back into a slow-and-steady pace of government that benefits all and favours none. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW No sign either that he is willing to follow any judge's orders. Opening the White House doors to Musk, the SpaceX and Tesla chief, was only one of the first instances of Trump's enthusiasm for blurring the lines between the spheres of public service and private enterprise. And though the social-media titan has admitted in an interview with tech publication Ars Technica that 'I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics' the giant wrecking ball he set in motion with the President's blessing will not be soon or easily stopped. Likewise, Trump's tariffs. They have roiled markets, cut the legs out from long-standing trade relationships and transformed Washington into a near-permanent episode of Let's Make a Deal. Politics Mark Carney 'welcomes' U.S. court decision that rules Trump's tariffs are 'unjustified' Tonda MacCharles They have resulted in a frightening and sometimes farcical state-of-affairs that carries the risk of recession or economic ruin for U.S.-dependent countries. That's why Wednesday's court ruling that two groups of the trade duties were illegal has received a global welcome, though not yet a sense of complete relief. The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that Trump's fentanyl-and-migrant tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China violated the law because 'they do not deal with the threats' outlined in the president's executive orders. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The court also ruled that separate 'retaliatory' tariffs against a swath of nations, from Australia to India to Madagascar to Vietnam, 'exceed(ed) any authority granted to the president … to regulate importation by means of tariffs.' The court ruled that this authority, under the law, falls to the U.S. Congress, not the president. Other tariffs on foreign steel, aluminum and cars imports remain in place. The White House response was unflinching: 'It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency,' a Trump spokesperson said, adding that the President would use 'every lever of executive power' at his disposal. That puts another wrecking ball in motion — this one on a collision course with the courts. It will probably only be decided by the Republican-majority justices of the Supreme Court, who have shown some signs of willingness to put up roadblocks for an administration keen on pushing the bounds of presidential powers. But there are even doubts about Trump's willingness to follow orders from the country's highest court. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Last month, the administration was ordered to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen mistakenly deported back to his home country despite an order that he should be protected from threats made by gang members against his family. Abrego Garcia remains in custody, with Trump maintaining that he is a dangerous member of a gang himself, the MS-13, which has been designated as a terrorist organization. So, it is no time for Trump's exhausted and exasperated opposition to take a breather or a victory lap, though there will be temptations. The ambitions of Musk, the intergalactic entrepreneur, were sky high. His accomplishments at the head of the Department of Government Efficiency after 130 days, however, were distinctly terrestrial. A promised US$2 trillion in spending cuts was quickly halved and then halved again. The most recent estimates, posted to the department's website, claim savings of US$175 billion. In that short time, he effectively dismantled USAID, the government's main foreign assistance program, ended programs, and positions and contracts that promoted Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies. His office has also broken faith with public-sector workers. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The most glaring example of Musk's tactless approach was a now-famous February email demanding that bureaucrats outline 'what they got done last week.' 'Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation,' he wrote in an explanatory note on X. His approach to the public service may have side-swiped the reputation and stock price of his beloved car company, but it also opened a breach in the wall between the realms of public and private interests. Is it appropriate that a public servant — even if he is the richest man in the world — wear Tesla merchandise to government meetings, as he did the other day when meeting with Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's Director of National Intelligence? Or for Trump and Musk to host a March photo op that turned the White House driveway into a temporary Tesla dealership? Whether it's labelled a conflict of interest or corruption, it's a break with something sacred. And it continues. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Trump drafts cryptocurrency-friendly government policies while, at the same time, pumping the value of his official meme coin. Introduced just a few days before Trump was sworn in for his second term, he promoted it earlier this month by offering crypto investors a meet-the-president dinner that was billed as 'the most exclusive invitation in the world.' It's now the subject of congressional inquiry, described by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal as 'unprecedented, pay-to-play scheme to provide access to the Presidency to the highest bidder.' The shiny crypto coin reflects the ego of a man for whom the professional and the political has always been personal. It started with his family name on branded buildings and golf courses. It continues with his fat-marker signature scrawled at the bottom of presidential executive orders. But those edicts are at risk of turning a presidential administration into an all-powerful imperial court. One that takes inspiration from the phrase attributed to Louis XIV, the Sun King, who believed that the laws in 17th century France were whatever he wanted them and declared them to be. 'l'État c'est moi,' he reputedly told French parliamentarians who dared challenge his will. 'I am the state.'
WIRED
3 days ago
- Business
- WIRED
Starship's Latest Test Reveals New Problems for SpaceX to Solve
Stephen Clark, Ars Technica May 29, 2025 5:30 AM Unlike in recent tests, SpaceX's ninth Starship survived launch, but a fuel tank leak meant it lost control before it could complete its objectives. SpaceX's Starship rocket, flying with a reused first-stage booster for the first time, climbs away from Starbase, Texas. Photograph: SpaceX SpaceX made some progress on another test flight of the world's most powerful rocket Tuesday, finally overcoming technical problems that plagued the program's two previous launches. But minutes into the mission, SpaceX's Starship lost control as it cruised through space, then tumbled back into the atmosphere somewhere over the Indian Ocean nearly an hour after taking off from Starbase, Texas, the company's privately owned spaceport near the US-Mexico border. SpaceX's next-generation rocket is designed to eventually ferry cargo and private and government crews between the Earth, the moon, and Mars. The rocket is complex and gargantuan, wider and longer than a Boeing 747 jumbo jet, and after nearly two years of steady progress since its first test flight in 2023, this has been a year of setbacks for Starship. During the rocket's two previous test flights—each using an upgraded 'Block 2' Starship design—problems in the ship's propulsion system led to leaks during launch, eventually triggering an early shutdown of the rocket's main engines. On both flights, the vehicle spun out of control and broke apart, spreading debris over an area near the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The good news is that that didn't happen Tuesday. The ship's main engines fired for their full duration, putting the vehicle on its expected trajectory toward a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. For a short time, it appeared the ship was on track for a successful flight. 'Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent,' wrote Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, on X. The bad news is that Tuesday's test flight revealed more problems, preventing SpaceX from achieving the most important goals Musk outlined going into the launch. 'Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and reentry phase,' Musk posted on X. 'Lot of good data to review.' With the loss of tank pressure, the rocket started slowly spinning as it coasted through the blackness of space more than 100 miles above the Earth. This loss of control spelled another premature end to a Starship test flight. Most notable among the flight's unmet objectives was SpaceX's desire to study the performance of the ship's heat shield, which includes improved heat-absorbing tiles to better withstand the scorching temperatures of reentry back into the atmosphere. 'The most important thing is data on how to improve the tile design, so it's basically data during the high heating, reentry phase in order to improve the tiles for the next iteration,' Musk told Ars Technica before Tuesday's flight. 'So we've got like a dozen or more tile experiments. We're trying different coatings on tiles. We're trying different fabrication techniques, different attachment techniques. We're varying the gap filler for the tiles.' Engineers are hungry for data on the changes to the heat shield, which can't be fully tested on the ground. SpaceX officials hope the new tiles will be more robust than the ones flown on the first-generation, or Block 1, version of Starship, allowing future ships to land and quickly launch again, without the need for time-consuming inspections, refurbishment, and in some cases, tile replacements. This is a core tenet of SpaceX's plans for Starship, which include delivering astronauts to the surface of the moon, proliferating low Earth orbit with refueling tankers, and eventually helping establish a settlement on Mars, all of which are predicated on rapid reusability of Starship and its Super Heavy booster. Last year, SpaceX successfully landed three Starships in the Indian Ocean after they survived hellish reentries, but they came down with damaged heat shields. After an early end to Tuesday's test flight, SpaceX's heat shield engineers will have to wait a while longer to satiate their appetites. And the longer they have to wait, the longer the wait for other important Starship developmental tests, such as a full orbital flight, in-space refueling, and recovery and reuse of the ship itself, replicating what SpaceX has now accomplished with the Super Heavy booster. Failing Forward or Falling Short? The ninth flight of Starship began with a booming departure from SpaceX's Starbase launch site at 6:35 pm CDT (7:35 pm EDT; 23:35 UTC) Tuesday. After a brief hold to resolve last-minute technical glitches, SpaceX resumed the countdown clock to tick away the final seconds before liftoff. A gush of water poured over the deck of the launch pad just before 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines ignited on the rocket's massive Super Heavy first stage booster. Once all 33 engines lit, the enormous stainless steel rocket—towering more than 400 feet (123 meters)—began to climb away from Starbase. An onboard camera shows the six Raptor engines on SpaceX's Starship upper stage, roughly three minutes after launching from South Texas on Tuesday. Photograph: SpaceX Heading east, the Super Heavy booster produced more than twice the power of NASA's Saturn V rocket, an icon of the Apollo moon program, as it soared over the Gulf of Mexico. After two and a half minutes, the Raptor engines switched off and the Super Heavy booster separated from Starship's upper stage. Six Raptor engines fired on the ship to continue pushing it into space. As the booster started maneuvering for an attempt to target an intact splashdown in the sea, the ship burned its engines more than six minutes, reaching a top speed of 16,462 mph (26,493 kilometers per hour), right in line with preflight predictions. A member of SpaceX's launch team declared 'nominal orbit insertion' a little more than nine minutes into the flight, indicating the rocket reached its planned trajectory, just shy of the velocity required to enter a stable orbit around the Earth. The flight profile was supposed to take Starship halfway around the world, with the mission culminating in a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean northwest of Australia. But a few minutes after engine shutdown, the ship started to diverge from SpaceX's flight plan. First, SpaceX aborted an attempt to release eight simulated Starlink Internet satellites in the first test of the Starship's payload deployer. The cargo bay door would not fully open, and engineers called off the demonstration, according to Dan Huot, a member of SpaceX's communications team who hosted the company's live launch broadcast Tuesday. That, alone, would not have been a big deal. However, a few minutes later, Huot made a more troubling announcement. 'We are in a little bit of a spin,' he said. 'We did spring a leak in some of the fuel tank systems inside of Starship, which a lot of those are used for attitude control. So, at this point, we've essentially lost our attitude control with Starship.' This eliminated any chance for a controlled reentry and an opportunity to thoroughly scrutinize the performance of Starship's heat shield. The spin also prevented a brief restart of one of the ship's Raptor engines in space. 'Not looking great for a lot of our on-orbit objectives for today,' Huot said. SpaceX continued streaming live video from Starship as it soared over the Atlantic Ocean and Africa. Then, a blanket of super-heated plasma enveloped the vehicle as it plunged into the atmosphere. Still in a slow tumble, the ship started shedding scorched chunks of its skin before the screen went black. SpaceX lost contact with the vehicle around 46 minutes into the flight. The ship likely broke apart over the Indian Ocean, dropping debris into a remote swath of sea within its expected flight corridor. Victories Where You Find Them Although the flight did not end as well as SpaceX officials hoped, the company made some tangible progress Tuesday. Most importantly, it broke the streak of back-to-back launch failures on Starship's two most recent test flights in January and March. SpaceX's investigation earlier this year into a January 16 launch failure concluded that vibrations likely triggered fuel leaks and fires in the ship's engine compartment, causing an early shutdown of the rocket's engines. Engineers said the vibrations were likely in resonance with the vehicle's natural frequency, intensifying the shaking beyond the levels SpaceX predicted. Engineers made fixes and launched the next Starship test flight March 6, but it again encountered trouble midway through the ship's main engine burn. SpaceX said earlier this month that the inquiry into the March 6 failure found its most probable root cause was a hardware failure in one of the upper stage's center engines, resulting in 'inadvertent propellant mixing and ignition.' In its official statement, the company was silent on the nature of the hardware failure but said engines for future test flights will receive additional preload on key joints, a new nitrogen purge system, and improvements to the propellant drain system. A new generation of Raptor engines, known as Raptor 3, should begin flying around the end of this year with additional improvements to address the failure mechanism, SpaceX said. Another bright spot in Tuesday's test flight was that it marked the first time SpaceX reused a Super Heavy booster from a prior launch. The booster used Tuesday previously launched on Starship's seventh test flight in January before it was caught back at the launch pad and refurbished for another space shot. Booster 14 comes in for the catch after flying to the edge of space on January 16. SpaceX flew this booster again Tuesday but did not attempt a catch. Photograph: SpaceX After releasing the Starship upper stage to continue its journey into space, the Super Heavy booster flipped around to fly tail-first and reignited 13 of its engines to begin boosting itself back toward the South Texas coast. On this test flight, SpaceX aimed the booster for a hard splashdown in the ocean just offshore from Starbase, rather than a mid-air catch back at the launch pad, which SpaceX accomplished on three of its four most recent test flights. SpaceX made the change for a few reasons. First, engineers programmed the booster to fly at a higher angle of attack during its descent, increasing the amount of atmospheric drag on the vehicle compared to past flights. This change should reduce propellant usage on the booster's landing burn, which occurs just before the rocket is caught by the launch pad's mechanical arms, or 'chopsticks,' on a recovery flight. During the landing burn itself, engineers wanted to demonstrate the booster's ability to respond to an engine failure on descent by using just two of the rocket's 33 engines for the end of the burn, rather than the usual three. Instead, the rocket appeared to explode around the beginning of the landing burn before it could complete the final landing maneuver. Before the explosion at the end of its flight, the booster appeared to fly as designed. Data displayed on SpaceX 's live broadcast of the launch showed all 33 of the rocket's engines fired normally during its initial ascent from Texas, a reassuring sign for the reliability of the Super Heavy booster. SpaceX kicked off the year with the ambition to launch as many as 25 Starship test flights in 2025, a goal that now seems to be unattainable. However, an X post by Musk on Tuesday night suggested a faster cadence of launches in the coming months. He said the next three Starships could launch at intervals of about once every three to four weeks. After that, SpaceX is expected to transition to a third-generation, or Block 3, Starship design with more changes. It wasn't immediately clear how long it might take SpaceX to correct whatever problems caused Tuesday's test flight woes. The Starship vehicle for the next flight is already built and completed cryogenic proof-testing April 27. For the last few ships, SpaceX has completed this cryogenic testing milestone around one and a half to three months prior to launch. A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration said the agency is 'actively working' with SpaceX in the aftermath of Tuesday's test flight but did not say if the FAA will require SpaceX to conduct a formal mishap investigation. Shana Diez, director of Starship engineering at SpaceX, chimed in with her own post on X. Based on preliminary data from Tuesday's flight, she is optimistic the next test flight will fly soon. She said engineers still need to examine data to confirm that none of the problems from Starship's previous flight recurred on this launch, but added that 'all evidence points to a new failure mode' on Tuesday's test flight. SpaceX will also study what caused the Super Heavy booster to explode on descent before moving forward with another booster catch attempt at Starbase, she said. 'Feeling both relieved and a bit disappointed,' Diez wrote. 'Could have gone better today but also could have gone much worse.' This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.
