Category Archives: Ars Technica Features

The rocket was there. And then it decidedly was not. Shortly after sunrise on a late summer morning nearly nine years ago at SpaceX’s sole operational launch pad, engineers neared the end of a static fire test. These were still early days for their operation of a Falcon 9 rocket that used super-chilled liquid propellants, and engineers pressed to see how quickly they could complete fueling. This was because the liquid oxygen and kerosene fuel Continue ReadingSpaceX pushed “sniper” theory with the feds far more than is publicly known→

At this point, the Framework Laptop 13 is a familiar face, an old friend. We have reviewed this laptop five other times, and in that time, the idea of a repairable and upgradeable laptop has gone from a “sounds great if they can pull it off” idea to one that’s become pretty reliable and predictable. And nearly four years out from the original version—which shipped with an 11th-generation Intel Core processor—we’re at the point where Continue ReadingReview: Ryzen AI CPU makes this the fastest the Framework Laptop 13 has ever been→

The wholesale American cannibalism of one of its own crucial appendages—the world-famous university system—has begun in earnest. The campaign is predictably Trumpian, built on a flagrantly pretextual basis and executed with the sort of vicious but chaotic idiocy that has always been a hallmark of the authoritarian mind. At a moment when the administration is systematically waging war on diversity initiatives of every kind, it has simultaneously discovered that it is really concerned about both Continue ReadingResist, eggheads! Universities are not as weak as they have chosen to be.→

There is a signal, born in the earliest days of the cosmos. It’s weak. It’s faint. It can barely register on even the most sensitive of instruments. But it contains a wealth of information about the formation of the first stars, the first galaxies, and the mysteries of the origins of the largest structures in the Universe. Despite decades of searching for this signal, astronomers have yet to find it. The problem is that our Continue ReadingLooking at the Universe’s dark ages from the far side of the Moon→

I recently wrote a story about the wild ride of the Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station last summer. It was based largely on an interview with the commander of the mission, NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore. His account of Starliner’s thruster failures—and his desperate efforts to keep the vehicle flying on course—was riveting. In the aftermath of the story, many readers, people on social media, and real-life friends congratulated me on conducting a great Continue Reading“What the hell are you doing?” How I learned to interview astronauts, scientists, and billionaires→

As it flew up toward the International Space Station last summer, the Starliner spacecraft lost four thrusters. A NASA astronaut, Butch Wilmore, had to take manual control of the vehicle. But as Starliner’s thrusters failed, Wilmore lost the ability to move the spacecraft in the direction he wanted to go. He and his fellow astronaut, Suni Williams, knew where they wanted to go. Starliner had flown to within a stone’s throw of the space station, a safe harbor, if only they could reach it. But already, the failure of so many thrusters violated the mission’s flight rules. In such an Continue ReadingStarliner’s flight to the space station was far wilder than most of us thought→

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost science station accomplished a lot on the Moon in the last two weeks. Among other things, its instruments drilled into the Moon’s surface, tested an extraterrestrial vacuum cleaner, and showed that future missions could use GPS navigation signals to navigate on the lunar surface. These are all important achievements, gathering data that could shed light on the Moon’s formation and evolution, demonstrating new ways of collecting samples on other planets, and revealing the remarkable reach of the US military’s GPS satellite network. But the pièce de résistance for Firefly’s first Moon mission might be the daily Continue ReadingHere’s the secret to how Firefly was able to nail its first lunar landing→

CEDAR PARK, Texas—Early Sunday morning, while most of America is sleeping, a couple dozen engineers in Central Texas will have their eyes glued to monitors watching data stream in from a quarter-million miles away. These ground controllers at Firefly Aerospace hope that their robotic spacecraft, named Blue Ghost, will become the second commercial mission to complete a soft landing on the Moon, following the landing of a spacecraft by Intuitive Machines last year. This is the first lunar mission for Firefly Aerospace, a company established in 2014 to develop a small satellite launcher. Since then, Firefly has undergone changes in Continue ReadingThe Moon’s next robotic visitor is lining up for landing this weekend→

In a remarkable statement Thursday, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said the International Space Station should be deorbited “as soon as possible.” This comment from Musk will surely set off a landmine in the global space community, with broad implications. And it appears to be no idle comment from Musk who, at times, indulges in deliberately provocative posts on the social media network X that he owns. However, that does not seem to be the case here.Read full article Comments Continue ReadingElon Musk recommends that the International Space Station be deorbited ASAP→

At its heart, Avowed is a game about colonization. Your protagonist in this action-RPG from the Pillars of Eternity universe is the envoy for the Aedyran Empire, which has for years sent its occupying force to tame and control the wild and unruly islands of the Living Lands. What the Aedyrans try to spin as a civilizing effort in a naturally lawless place, the native residents of the Living Lands, by and large, see as a pillaging army stealing resources at the behest of their far-off masters. As the Aedyran envoy, you’ve been sent to investigate and quell the Dreamscourge, Continue ReadingAvowed review: Wait, are we the baddies?→

If one were to observe that I have written critically about Blue Origin over the last half-decade, they would not be wrong. The reality is that the space company founded by Jeff Bezos has underperformed. Its chief executive for most of this time, Bob Smith, was poorly regarded by his employees. He brought the worst of “old space” tendencies to Blue Origin from Honeywell. And under Smith’s leadership, Blue was litigious, slow, and unproductive. Frankly, it was a bad look for Bezos. He was pumping something on the order of $2 billion a year into Blue Origin for what, exactly? Continue ReadingWith successful New Glenn flight, Blue Origin may finally be turning the corner→