In a major achievement for Elon Musk's company, SpaceX successfully caught the first stage booster of its Starship rocket system using giant robotic arms. Starship, which is designed to revolutionize space travel, is the tallest rocket ever built at 120m. During Sunday's test launch, the booster was caught by the robotic arms named "Mechazilla" on its descent, while the Starship spacecraft continued its journey to orbit before landing in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX Achieves Landmark Milestone: Starship Booster Caught by Robotic Arms
Elon Musk's SpaceX has taken a major step towards revolutionizing space travel with the successful retrieval of the first stage booster of its Starship rocket system. This achievement marks a significant milestone in the development of the highly ambitious Starship, the tallest rocket ever built at 120 meters.
Background
SpaceX has been working on the Starship system for several years, with the goal of creating a fully reusable spacecraft capable of carrying both cargo and humans to destinations beyond Earth's atmosphere. The first stage booster, weighing over 300 tons, is responsible for lifting the Starship spacecraft to an altitude of about 65 kilometers before returning to Earth for a soft landing.
Test Launch and Catch
On Sunday, February 5, SpaceX conducted a test launch of the Starship system from its facility in Texas. The booster successfully separated from the Starship spacecraft and began its descent back to Earth. As the booster fell through the atmosphere, it was caught by giant robotic arms known as "Mechazilla" mounted on SpaceX's purpose-built landing platform.
The Starship spacecraft, meanwhile, continued its journey to orbit before performing a controlled landing in the Indian Ocean. This marked the first time a reusable booster rocket had been successfully caught after a flight to orbit.
Significance
The successful catch of the Starship booster has major implications for the cost and feasibility of future space missions. By being able to reuse the first stage booster, SpaceX can significantly reduce the cost of launching payloads into orbit, making space exploration more accessible.
Furthermore, the Starship system is designed to be fully reusable, including the spacecraft itself. This means that SpaceX could potentially launch and land multiple Starships on a single mission, further reducing costs and enabling more ambitious space missions.
FAQs
1. What is the purpose of the Starship system?
The Starship system is designed to be a fully reusable spacecraft capable of carrying both cargo and humans to destinations beyond Earth's atmosphere. It is intended to be used for missions to the Moon, Mars, and other planets.
2. How does the Starship booster work?
The Starship booster is responsible for lifting the Starship spacecraft to an altitude of about 65 kilometers. It is powered by 33 Raptor engines and burns liquid methane and liquid oxygen propellants.
3. What are the capabilities of the Starship spacecraft?
The Starship spacecraft is designed to carry up to 100 tons of payload to orbit. It is also equipped with a large living space for astronauts on long-duration missions.
4. When will the Starship be operational?
SpaceX plans to conduct further test flights of the Starship system in the coming months and aims to make the spacecraft operational by 2024.
5. What are the potential applications of the Starship system?
The Starship system has a wide range of potential applications, including carrying cargo and humans to the Moon and Mars, deploying satellites into orbit, and even interplanetary travel.
The influencial figure and cryptocurrency enthusiast, Elon Musk, has once again caused a stir on social media by changing his Twitter profile name to 'Kekius Maximus' and replacing his profile picture with the popular Pepe the Frog meme. This comes after he had previously changed his display name to 'Mr. Tweet' back in 2023. The meme-inspired cryptocurrency token, which operates on multiple blockchain platforms, has recently experienced a surge in value, reaching a high of $0.005667. In a post on X, Musk hinted at his love for video games, stating that 'Kekius Maximus' will soon reach level 80 in a game called 'hardcore PoE'.
India's space agency, ISRO, successfully launched the PSLV C60 mission, placing two spacecraft into the desired orbit. This accomplishment brings India closer to joining an elite group of nations capable of space docking and reinforces its position as a global leader in space exploration technology. The Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, lauded the ISRO team for their incredible achievement, stating that this success marks a new era for India in the field of space docking.
Vietnam has successfully enrolled 70 million citizens into its digital biometric identity system using a combination of adaptable software and portable fingerprint scanners. The South Asian country faced geographical challenges, with many citizens living in rural and hard-to-reach areas. However, collaboration with a spinoff of the Hanoi University of Science and Technology and a US-based fingerprint sensor company allowed for the successful implementation of the system. Vietnam is now exporting its model for ID enrollment to other countries, such as neighboring Laos. This development highlights the increasing importance and use of biometrics in digital identity systems.
Indian-American Aravind Srinivas, co-founder and CEO of Perplexity AI, met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the potential for Artificial Intelligence in India. Srinivas praised Modi's dedication to staying updated on the topic and his remarkable vision for the future. PM Modi also commented on the post, expressing his appreciation for the discussion and lauding Srinivas for his work with Perplexity AI. As a leading figure in the AI industry, Srinivas brings valuable expertise to his role at Perplexity AI, which uses advanced LLMs to provide precise answers to user queries.
Follow these simple and efficient methods to rotate your images in Windows 11/10 without needing to use any third-party tools. With options like the Context Menu, Picture Tools, Photos app, Paint, and Paint 3D, you can easily rotate multiple images at once and save them to the desired orientation. Plus, it even works for various image formats, making it a versatile solution for any user.
As Elon Musk's political affiliations and changing policies continue to drive users away, the social media platform X is seeing a decline in its userbase. Many are turning to Bluesky, a newly-emerging platform that has gained traction among publishers and journalists who no longer see X as a valuable space for objective reporting. Despite X's large worldwide userbase, its popularity may be dwindling as the competition heats up.
In order to stay competitive with AI-focused rivals like OpenAI, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announces a reduction in Google's managerial workforce during an internal meeting. The decision is part of the company's overall restructuring efforts, with some roles being transitioned to individual contributors and others being eliminated. Pichai also addresses the need to update Google's culture and values to align with modern challenges. The use of AI in consumer products from companies like Google and OpenAI is on the rise, despite concerns about the lack of guardrails in developing this technology.
A security researcher discovered a vulnerability in an auto-rickshaw service feedback collection form used by the Indian ride-hailing platform, exposing sensitive personal information of its users and drivers. The data leak, verified by submitting a generic message through the form, included full names, email addresses, and phone numbers. After receiving reports, the company's CEO confirmed the issue and made the portal private, potentially preventing scams or data selling on the dark web.
Cyber Monday weekend continues to bring amazing deals, including the lowest price ever for the Apple Airpods Pro 2 at just $154 only at Walmart. Echelon's original Peloton competitor, the connected bike, is also on sale at a stunningly low price of just $497, making it a great alternative for those on a budget. And for fitness enthusiasts, the best adjustable dumbbells are also available for a heavily discounted price at AliExpress, beating other retailers by over $100. Don't miss out on these incredible tech deals for Cyber Monday!
Are you tired of running the lengthy tex auto-discovery process every time you use Lyx for document processing? Look no further! This innovative Docker image description consisting of Texlive and Lyx will save you time and resources by allowing you to run Lyx in batch mode and re-tag the image after building, thus preventing the auto-discovery process. With improved efficiency and convenience, this solution is perfect for all your document processing needs.