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Microsoft today has released a new Beta Channel build for Windows Insiders. The new build, 22635.3500 under KB5036985, has a couple of new features related to the Microsoft Account (MSA), and there are other additions and improvements too. The full changelog is given below: You can view the official blog post here on Microsoft's website. Source

Microsoft has released the latest Windows 11 version for members of the Windows Insider Program in the Canary Channel. The new build number is 26200. It includes some Widgets improvements along with some bug fixes and a few known issues. This is the first Canary Channel release we have seen in the last several weeks that was not joined by a preview build release for Dev Channel users with the same release notes. Microsoft stated: Here is the change log: You can check out the full blog post here. Source

Vivaldi and its focus on privacy will soon be optimized for Windows 11 on Arm. What you need to know A preview version of Vivaldi optimized for Windows 11 on Arm is now available. The build is in early testing and may still have some serious issues, but its existence indicates that Vivaldi is working on a version of its browser optimized for Arm processors. Several other browsers have been optimized for Windows 11 on Arm recently, including Google Chrome and Brave. Windows 11 on Arm is expected to see a surge in interest in 2024, thanks in large part to the upcoming launch of Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processor later this year. Those with a PC powered by an Arm processor will soon have another browser to use. Vivaldi announced a preview version of its browser optimized for ARM64 architecture earlier this week. Once stable and generally available, the optimized version of Vivaldi will deliver better performance and efficiency on devices like upcoming Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6. Vivaldi shared a few details about the Arm version of its browser: "As an extra bonus we also include Windows arm64 “architecture preview” packages for those of you with suitable hardware. These builds are not yet part of our automated test system and have only been lightly tested on one piece of hardware. Serious issues may exist and should be expected. Nonetheless, any testing and feedback would be greatly appreciated! 😉" As the Arm version of Vivaldi is in its early days, you can expect bugs and other issues. But by the time Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processors start shipping in PCs, you may have a stable version of Vivaldi as an optimized option. Browsing on Windows 11 on Arm Microsoft Edge is one of many browsers that have been optimized for Windows 11 on Arm recently. (Image credit: Future) The number of options for web browsing on Windows on Arm continues to grow. While not an exhaustive list, a website called ArmRepo lists programs that have been optimized for ARM architecture. Within the web browsers section of that site you see big names, including Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Brave, and Chromium. Now, there's a preview version of Vivaldi to go along with those other browsers. Windows 11 on Arm PCs can run non-native apps, but performance and efficiency are lower than running native apps. That may not be as much of an issue for systems running Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processors. Qualcomm claimed that emulated games will run "just fine" on Snapdragon X Elite-powered PCs. Presumably, non-native browsers would also work well. But native performance is best, so Vivaldi hopping on board is a welcome addition. Snapdragon X Elite processors have been the talk of the computing world for months. If you go back to before we knew the official name of the processors, it's actually been years since the hype began for Qualcomm's new chips. Benchmarks shared by Qualcomm show the Snapdragon X Elite competing with Apple silicon. Qualcomm also appears confident that its new processors will compete with Intel Core Ultra CPUs. We won't have to wait long to see the Snapdragon X Elite in action. Several PC manufacturers will release computers powered by the chips in 2024, including Microsoft's Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 reportedly set to run processors based on the Snapdragon X Elite. Source

There are only a few days in the history of computing where one can safely say everything changed for a certain kind of product. On April 19, 1999, that indeed happened with PC mice. That's the date, 25 years ago today, that Microsoft first revealed its latest mouse, the IntelliMouse Explorer. Just in case you might be unfamiliar with why the IntelliMouse Explorer is so important in the development of PC accessories, the IntelliMouse Explorer was the first one made for the home PC market with an optical sensor. While it was not the first mouse product with that kind of technology, the IntelliMouse Explorer was certainly the first that had an optical sensor instead of the normal embedded mouse ball that was made for a mass-market audience. Microsoft, of course, had been designing and making PC mouse products for a long time beforehand. The first Microsoft Mouse was sold in May 1983. It also announced the first product in its Intellimouse lineup in July 1996, That mouse was one of the first to include a scroll wheel, and that quickly became a standard feature in future mice from other accessory makers. However, the scroll wheel addition was just a prelude to what Microsoft wanted to put into the IntelliMouse Explorer. The optical sensor technology that was used was first developed by Agilent Technologies, which at the time was a subsidiary of HP, before it was spun off into its own company in 1999. Microsoft called its version of the optical sensor technology IntelliEye. Here is how it described the hardware that was put in the first IntelliMouse Explorer from its press release: Of course, putting in an optical sensor instead of using the older technology of a physical mouse ball inside most PC mice products was a massive change. People didn't have to worry about the ball getting dirty or breaking down. The Intellieye optical sensor in the IntelliMouse Explorer solved a lot of problems for most PC mouse owners. In addition, the IntelliMouse Explorer included a small light in the back of the mouse to emphasize that this was a very different product. In addition to the optical sensor, the IntelliMouse Explorer also had two extra buttons, besides its two main buttons and the scroll wheel. These two extra buttons on the left side were specifically designed for being used with web browsers, defaulting with forward and back functions, They could also be remapped to be used for other PC features like printing, copying text, and more. Microsoft sold the IntelliMouse Explorer later in 1999 for the price of $74.95 (about $150 in today's dollars). It also sold the original Intellmouse design with the IntelliEye sensor for $54.95. It didn't take long for the older trackball mice products sold by other companies to quietly become obsolete and no longer sold. Microsoft continued to release new IntelliMouse and Intellimouse Explorer mouse products over the next few years. That included the release of IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 in 2006. It used the original IntelliMouse Explorer design but included a much faster 9,000 fps sensor, along with other features made specifically for PC games. After a break of over a decade, the company brought back the IntellMouse brand with the Microsoft Classic IntelliMouse in 2017, followed by the Microsoft Pro IntelliMouse in 2019. Those would be the last products in the IntelliMouse lineup. As you may be aware, Microsoft decided to no longer make or sell its mice and keyboard accessories in 2023. However, earlier this year Incase announced it had gotten the rights to make and sell a number of Microsoft-designed PC accessories. including mice products. Perhaps Incase will include the Intellimouse as one of those revived products one day. Source

More than a decade ago, Movie2K was one of the largest pirate sites on the Internet. Serving a German audience, the streaming portal shut down in 2013, but that wasn't the end of the story. This week, a suspected operator of the site and an accomplice were charged by German authorities. The long delay is noteworthy but also lucrative; a Bitcoin haul with a current value of €3 billion was seized recently. At the start of the 2010s, Movie2K was one of the most visited sites on the web. The site was an early adopter of pirate streaming and at its peak, secured a spot among the twenty most-visited websites in Germany, beating Twitter and Amazon. Movie2K’s success generated a healthy revenue stream which its operators converted to a new and exciting ‘currency’ called Bitcoin. It’s assumed that the goal was to keep the haul hidden from prying eyes, but more on that later. The site’s reign ended with a surprise shut down in the spring of 2013. Many believed that legal troubles had plagued the site, a suspicion that was eventually confirmed years later when Dresden police announced several arrests. Early Arrests and Prison Sentences These initial arrests targeted one of the main operators, who received a one-year prison sentence for copyright infringement in 2023, as well as an eight-month sentence for money laundering, fraud, and tax evasion. In the same criminal prosecution, the site’s financial agent received a ten-month suspended prison sentence. All sentences were suspended and both men issued a full confession. In addition, at least one of the defendants helped the investigation into other suspects. Movie2K.to The authorities had also seized 2,700 bitcoins. These are currently valued at €160 million but were previously exchanged by the authorities in an “emergency sale” for 38.6 million euros. The money remains in custody pending a final decision on the fate of these criminal proceeds. While 2,700 bitcoins was already the largest seizure in a piracy-related prosecution, this figure was topped by the nearly 50,000 bitcoins the German authorities voluntarily seized earlier this year. Fresh Charges This second Bitcoin heist is connected to an ongoing prosecution where the Dresden General Prosecutor’s Office announced its charges this week, more than a decade after the site shut down. The main suspect is one of Movie2K’s main admins, who remained on the run for a long time. The 40-year-old German man has been listed as wanted internationally since 2019. He was eventually arrested in Spain last year and extradited to Germany to face prosecution. The defendant now faces charges including unauthorized commercial exploitation of copyrighted works and commercial money laundering. The second defendant, a 37-year-old Polish man, is charged with commercial money laundering and tax evasion. The Polish defendant was a friend of the main suspect and reportedly received a salary in Bitcoin for his work at the pirate streaming portal. As mentioned by Tarnkappe, the crackdown and investigation into Movie2K also led to a real estate agent from Berlin who allegedly received millions of euros from the site’s operators through a Dutch mailbox company. The Prosecutor’s Office notes that the Leipzig district court has yet to admit further charges against the real estate agent, who reportedly invested the money in physical properties. Billions in Bitcoin While the charges announced this week are significant, the earlier seizure of 50,000 bitcoins stands out most. These are valued at roughly 3 billion euros today and, as far as we know, they’re yet to be sold. “The investigation into the handling of the seized Bitcoins is ongoing,” the Dresden Prosecutor’s Office notes. It’s remarkable to see the recent developments in this case, considering that the site itself has been offline for eleven years. That said, with billions in Bitcoin at stake, perseverance seems to have paid off. Source

Accounts with stored payment information went for as little as $0.50 each. Everyone with a Roku TV or streaming device will eventually be forced to enable two-factor authentication after the company disclosed two separate incidents in which roughly 600,000 customers had their accounts accessed through credential stuffing. Credential stuffing is an attack in which usernames and passwords exposed in one leak are tried out against other accounts, typically using automated scripts. When people reuse usernames and passwords across services or make small, easily intuited changes between them, actors can gain access to accounts with even more identifying information and access. In the case of the Roku attacks, that meant access to stored payment methods, which could then be used to buy streaming subscriptions and Roku hardware. Roku wrote on its blog, and in a mandated data breach report, that purchases occurred in "less than 400 cases" and that full credit card numbers and other "sensitive information" was not revealed. The first incident, "earlier this year," involved roughly 15,000 user accounts, Roku stated. By monitoring these accounts, Roku identified a second incident, one that touched 576,000 accounts. These were collectively "a small fraction of Roku's more than 80M active accounts," the post states, but the streaming giant will work to prevent future such stuffing attacks. The affected accounts will have their passwords reset and will be notified, along with having charges reversed. Every Roku account, when next requiring a login, will now need to verify their account through a link sent to their email address. Alternatively, one can use the device ID of any linked Roku device, according to Roku's support page. (Forcing this upgrade yourself is probably a good idea for past or present Roku owners.) Security blog BleepingComputer reported around the time of the incident that breached Roku accounts were sold for as little as 50 cents each and likely obtained using commonly available stuffing tools that bypass brute-force protections through proxies and other means. BleepingComputer reported that "a source" tied Roku's recent updates to its Dispute Resolution Terms, which all but locked Roku devices until a customer agreed, to the fraudulent activity. Roku told BleepingComputer that the two were not related. Source

After flying against simulated opponents, the AI agent has taken on humans. The X-62A VISTA Aircraft flying above Edwards Air Force Base, California. Kyle Brasier, U.S. Air Force An AI test pilot has successfully flown a jet fighter in dogfights against human opponents. It's the latest development for DARPA's Air Combat Evaluation program, which is trying to develop aerospace AI agents that can be trusted to perform safely. Human test pilots have a bit of a reputation thanks to popular culture—from The Right Stuff to Top Gun: Maverick, the profession has been portrayed as a place for loose cannons with a desire to go fast and break the rules. The reality is pretty far from that these days, especially where DARPA is concerned. The agency instead wants a machine-learning agent that can safely fly a real aircraft autonomously, with no violations of training rules. After all, neural networks have their own reputation—at this point well-earned—for finding ways to exploit situations that hadn't occurred to humans. And the consequences when controlling a real jet fighter can be a lot more severe than just testing in silico. In this case, the jet fighter is called the X-62A Variable Stability In-Flight Simulator Test Aircraft, or VISTA. It began life as an F-16D (Block 30) two-seater, which spent most of its 32-year career working at the US Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB. Over the years, the plane, previously designated the NF-16D, has been modified to simulate the flight characteristics of other aircraft while in flight. "It has given almost a thousand students and staff members the opportunity to practice testing aircraft with dangerously poor flying qualities and to execute risk-reduction flight test programs for advanced technologies," said William Gray, chief test pilot of VISTA and the USAF Test Pilot School. That made it a natural candidate for DARPA's ACE program, and in 2021, the process of modifying the aircraft began once again as it became the X-62A. The USAF and DARPA started conducting X-62A test flights under AI control in December 2022, logging 17 hours by the time we first learned of the program in early 2023. Although DARPA's AI agent flew the X-62A, there was always a pair of human pilots onboard to monitor the test flight and, if necessary, take control. But in those early tests, the X-62A flew against simulated adversaries. By September 2023, the program had completed 21 test flights, including the first-ever AI versus human aerial engagement within visual range, flying against a human-piloted F-16. During that time, DARPA says the team made over 100,000 lines of flight-critical software changes, which it called "an unprecedented rate of development." That's certainly an achievement, but just focusing on the dogfight is a mistake, according to Gray. "That misses the point. Dogfighting was the problem to solve so we could start testing autonomous artificial intelligence systems in the air, but every lesson we're learning applies to every task we can give to an autonomous system," he said. Source

The Bitcoin halving is imminent. Crypto mining companies are reaching for every trick in the book to survive it. By the end of Friday, the size of the reward for mining bitcoin will have been cut in half. The event—known as the halving—takes place roughly once every four years, and it can be fatal for the mining companies that compete for the newly minted cryptocurrency. “You don’t see that in any other industry,” says Charles Chong, director of strategy at Foundry, a company that mines bitcoin and provides services to other miners. “You’re on a treadmill. If you don’t keep running, you are going to get left behind.” The only mercy, he says, is that “you get a lot of time to prepare.” In every halving, mining companies no longer able to cover their expenses have shut off their machines. Smaller, backyard operations have closed down entirely. As unprofitable mining equipment drops from the network, the Bitcoin system recalibrates, reducing the amount of computing power (and therefore the cost) it takes to win new coins. In time, an equilibrium is restored, whereby mining becomes profitable again for those able to absorb the initial blow. But this time it’s different. In March, the price of bitcoin rose to a record high of more than $70,000 per coin, so the danger for mining companies is reduced. In this case, although mining revenue will be cut in half, the associated earnings will still outweigh the cost to run the hardware, multiple mining companies claim. “If [the price of] bitcoin had not run recently, we would have had a very different post-halving environment,” says Asher Genoot, CEO of mining company Hut 8. “Right now, price is bailing a lot of folks out.” After every previous halving, the price of bitcoin has increased, leading to speculation about the prospect of another upswing. But the economic design of the system does not itself guarantee this pattern will be repeated. The problems for miners will arise if the bitcoin price moves in the opposite direction. Because bitcoin defies conventional valuation methods, its price is prone to sudden and violent swings. Mining companies must ensure they are not caught off-guard. In 2021, when the price of bitcoin last rose to a record high, many mining companies got it horribly wrong. They took on large amounts of debt to fund expansion and posted their mining equipment as collateral. The following year, when the price of bitcoin slumped and energy costs rose, they struggled to meet debt repayments and were forced to auction off their facilities at cut-price rates and turn over hardware to their lenders. Some went bankrupt. Mining companies are following different strategies to protect against this eventuality. Genoot says Hut 8 has built a large treasury of bitcoin, and instead of exchanging the coins for dollars after they are mined, it is betting on a further increase in price. The money is not a “crutch” to help offset a fall into unprofitability, says Genoot, but a reserve fund to be used perhaps to scoop up discounted hardware or facilities from ailing competitors. Previously a pure-play bitcoin mining business, Hut 8 merged last year with US Bitcoin Corp, which rented space in its facilities to other mining firms. It also invested in cloud computing and AI training hardware. The effect, says Genoot, has been to diversify lines of revenue in a way that guards against a dip in the profitability of bitcoin mining. “We’ve gone for a little bit of a contrarian approach,” he says. “We see ourselves as an infrastructure platform that converts energy into new and emerging use cases.” Meanwhile Bitfarms, another large mining company, has invested heavily in both upgrading to newer mining equipment and tripling the total computing power of its fleet to 21 exahash per second, which equates at present to roughly 3 percent of the network that powers bitcoin transactions. The effect, claims Ben Gagnon, chief mining officer at Bitfarms, will be to improve energy efficiency by approximately 40 percent—to 21 watts per terrahash—while increasing the proportion of the available coins it wins. “The number one thing you can do is try to improve your energy price. But it’s the hardest thing to do,” says Gagnon. “The second thing you can do is work on your energy efficiency.” There are ways that miners can use the large quantities of energy flowing through their facilities as a shield against the volatility of the bitcoin market too. Like some of its peers, Bitfarms is supplementing its mining revenue by making use of government grid stabilization programs, which pay large-scale consumers of energy to switch off in periods of high demand. Miners’ participation in these programs has drawn complaints from activist groups, who claim they are profiting from the strain they place on the grid, but it has become an invaluable hedge against a drop in the price of bitcoin. In August 2023, when a heat wave in Texas led to a surge in energy demand, mining company Riot said it earned $31.7 million through its participation in grid stabilization and only around $10 million from mining. In the four years since the previous halving, developments in software have also given miners new ways to squeeze additional micro-efficiencies from their machines. They can now ratchet up the amount of compute power produced by their equipment to earn more coins when the price of bitcoin is high or down when it is low, or switch individual machines on and off when the price of bitcoin shifts. “Before the last halving, there were no tools. You had a miner and either unplugged it or plugged it in,” says Adam Swick, chief growth officer at Marathon Digital Holdings, a public mining company. “People that invested in technology now have a whole toolbench.” Whatever the effects of the halving, says Christopher Bendiksen, a researcher at asset management company CoinShares, a number of weeks will pass before they fully crystallize. Although mining companies say they expect to remain profitable, irrespective of the hit to their revenue, Bendiksen is skeptical. “It’s going to be hard for a lot of companies,” he says. “The proof will be in the pudding.” Source

Australia's first homemade orbital-class rocket makes an appearance on its launch pad. Welcome to Edition 6.40 of the Rocket Report! There was a lot of exciting news this week. For the first time, SpaceX launched a reusable Falcon 9 booster for a 20th flight. A few miles away at Cape Canaveral, Boeing and United Launch Alliance completed one of the final steps before the first crew launch of the Starliner spacecraft. But I think one of the most interesting things that happened was NASA's decision to ask the space industry for more innovative ideas on how to do Mars Sample Return. I have no doubt that space companies will come up with some fascinating concepts, and I can't wait to hear about them. As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets, as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar. Going vertical Down Under. Gilmour Space has raised its privately developed Eris rocket vertical on a launch pad in North Queensland for the first time, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports. This milestone marks the start of the next phase of launch preparations for Eris, a three-stage rocket powered by hybrid engines. If successful, Eris would become the first Australian-built rocket to reach orbit. Gilmour says the maiden flight of Eris is scheduled for no earlier than May 4, pending launch permit approvals. This presumably refers to a commercial launch license from the Australian government. A milestone for Australia... Rockets from the United States and the United Kingdom have launched satellites from Australian soil before, but Gilmour aims to become the first to do this with an entirely homemade rocket. The Eris rocket is capable of hauling about 670 pounds (305 kilograms) into a Sun-synchronous polar orbit. This puts Eris in the same class as other commercial small satellite launchers, such as Rocket Lab's Electron. While the commercial outlook for the Eris rocket might seem somewhat dubious, it could make history in Australia and provide that nation with its first indigenous orbital launch capability. (submitted by Onychomys) Astrobotic seeks military business. Astrobotic is making a strategic move into the defense sector with its Xogdor reusable rocket, designed to test payloads at the edge of space, Space News reports. Perhaps most famous for its commercially developed lunar landers, Astrobotic also builds and tests small reusable rockets with vertical takeoff and vertical landing capability. These rockets were developed by Masten Space Systems, which filed for bankruptcy in 2022. Astrobotic acquired Masten a couple of months later. The next rocket developed by Astrobotic and Masten, named Xogdor, is scheduled to debut in 2025. "We think the opportunities to leverage a platform like this are extensive, and they haven’t fully been explored," said Sean Bedford, Astrobotic's director of business development for propulsion systems. New opportunities ... Masten, and now Astrobotic, has historically flown small reusable rockets at low altitudes in the atmosphere to test propulsion technology and navigation sensors for precision landings on Earth or other planets. The liquid-fueled Xogdor will be a different animal, standing 27 feet tall and 3 feet in diameter. An upgraded version of Xodgor will have the ability to fly to altitudes higher than 62 miles (100 kilometers), according to Astrobotic. The Xogdor is funded by a NASA contract, but Bedford said Astrobotic is looking for ways the rocket can support the US military, the Missile Defense Agency, and other defense organizations for hypersonic research testing and point-to-point transportation. (submitted by Ken the Bin) The Rocket Report: An Ars newsletter The easiest way to keep up with Eric Berger's space reporting is to sign up for his newsletter, we'll collect his stories in your inbox. Sign Me Up! Orbex gets another tranche of funding. UK-based small launch developer Orbex got another boost from Scotland’s national bank and other investors as it gears up for its first orbital launch, though that mission still does not have a set date, TechCrunch reports. Orbex said it received £16.7 million ($20.8 million) from six financial backers in an update to its Series C funding round, which closed in October 2022 at £40.4 million ($50 million). Founded in 2015, Orbex is a privately held company, so we don't have any insight into its financial situation, but this latest funding round should be enough to keep Orbex going while it prepares for the inaugural test flight of its Prime rocket, a two-stage, 62-foot-tall (19-meter) rocket designed to loft small satellites into low-Earth orbit. Testing and launch now in sight? ... Orbex's Prime rocket has faced chronic delays, and it's been a while since the company revealed any real schedule for the first test flight from Scotland. In mid-2022, Orbex aimed to launch Prime in late 2022 or early 2023. When Orbex announced its fresh funding Thursday, the company stated that "testing and launch (are) now in its sights." The new funding will help Orbex ramp up development of Prime and "ensure full readiness and scalability for its launch period." Whenever that is. (submitted by EllPeaTea) 20-for-20 for SpaceX's fleet leader. For the first time, SpaceX launched one of its reusable Falcon 9 boosters on its 20th mission with a flight to deliver 23 more Starlink Internet satellites to orbit, Ars reports. The successful launch and landing April 12 broke a three-way tie in SpaceX's fleet for the most-flown Falcon 9 rocket. Another launch later this month will also use a Falcon 9 booster making its 20th flight. Pretty much every day, SpaceX is either launching a rocket or rolling one out of the hangar to the launch pad. At this pace, SpaceX is redefining what is routine in the space industry, but the rapid-fire launch rate also means the company is continually breaking records, mostly its own. Six launches in eight days ... This was also the sixth launch of a Falcon 9 rocket in a period of eight days, more flights than SpaceX's main US rival, United Launch Alliance, has launched in 17 months. The booster used on April 12, tail number B1062, has now launched more than 550 spacecraft, mostly Starlinks, plus eight commercial astronauts on two crew missions. When SpaceX debuted the latest version of its Falcon 9 rocket, the Falcon 9 Block 5, officials said the reusable first stage could fly 10 times with minimal refurbishment and perhaps additional flights with a more extensive overhaul. Now, SpaceX is certifying Falcon 9 boosters for 40 flights. Russia's space chief is dreaming big. Yuri Borisov, head of Roscosmos, recently spoke at a Russian space museum about the country's future launch plans. Among the topics was Russia's next-generation Amur-CNG rocket, a reusable vehicle conceived as a competitor to SpaceX's Falcon 9. Borisov said the Falcon 9 could be reused about 10 times, and then claimed the Amur-CNG would be capable of much more, perhaps up to 100 flights per booster, Ars reports. The problem is the Amur-CNG is nothing more than a paper rocket at this stage. When Russian officials first discussed the Amur rocket in 2020, its first flight was scheduled for 2026. Now, that has slipped to 2028 or 2029. This is probably still an optimistic timeline, and if Amur ever flies, it will surely take even longer to recover and reuse the booster, not to mention getting to 100 flights. Russian bluster ... This clearly was a message intended to placate an audience that must be wondering why SpaceX has launched more than three dozen rockets so far in 2024, whereas Russia has mustered just half a dozen. However, Borisov's claims fall well short of reality. Russia's once-vaunted launch industry has been much in decline due to a combination of factors, including an aging fleet of rockets, a reduction in government investment, and the country's war in Ukraine driving away Western customers. So officials turn to bluster, and this is what we're seeing here. Everything is coming together for Starliner. Ground teams on Florida's Space Coast hoisted Boeing's Starliner spacecraft atop its United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket this week, putting all the pieces in place for liftoff May 6 with two veteran NASA astronauts on a test flight to the International Space Station, Ars reports. This will be the first time astronauts fly on Boeing's Starliner crew capsule, following two test flights without crew members in 2019 and 2022. The Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT) will wrap up a decade and a half of development and, if all goes well, will pave the way for operational Starliner missions to ferry crews to and from the space station. Safety scrutiny ... In parallel with final preparations of the rocket and spacecraft, NASA and Boeing managers are participating in several reviews this month to formally clear Starliner for its first flight with astronauts. Members of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) are sitting in on these reviews. Congress set up the independent panel in 1968, shortly after the deadly Apollo 1 fire, to advise NASA on safety matters. For years, ASAP members have tracked the technical problems that plagued the Starliner program, including software woes, valve corrosion, and most recently, flammable material inside the spacecraft and parachutes that didn't measure up to design specifications. “Now that the launch date is nearly here ... we have stepped up our fact finding in line with NASA’s prelaunch activity," said Susan Helms, a retired Air Force general, former astronaut, and current chair of the safety panel. Looking back at SpaceX's first sooty rocket. Ten years ago this week, when a Falcon 9 rocket took off from Florida, something strange happened. Dramatically, as the rocket lifted off, a geyser of dirty water splashed upward alongside the vehicle, coating the rocket in grime. Eric Berger's reporting on the story of why this occurred is fascinating, particularly for reporters like me who covered the launch when it happened. Essentially, SpaceX creatively solved a problem with a leaky liquid oxygen connection by trickling water from the launch pad's fire suppression system over the oxidizer pipe. The fluid inside was flowing at cryogenic temperatures, so the water quickly froze to seal the leak. The water continued trickling over the liquid oxygen pipe through the countdown, so by the time the Falcon 9 took off, tens of thousands of gallons of water had flowed into the launch pad's flame trench. When the rocket fired its engines, dirty water and steam erupted up the side of the booster like a Bellagio fountain. No harm, no foul … This didn't cause any problem for the rocket, but Berger's story jogged my memory from covering this launch. This story is a wonderful illustration of how quick-thinking aerospace engineers can solve problems on the fly. In this instance, thanks to this problem-solving, the small liquid oxygen leak on the launch pad didn't delay the mission to resupply the International Space Station. In many ways, this was an entirely different era for SpaceX, which was still basically a startup in 2014. This was just the ninth flight of a Falcon 9 rocket. Now, SpaceX has launched more than 330 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets and dominates the global launch industry. Final hotfire for Ariane 6's upper stage. ArianeGroup, builder of Europe's Ariane rocket family, conducted the final hotfire test of the new Ariane 6 rocket's upper stage in Germany. This hotfire test of the upper stage's Vinci engine was delayed from late last year, and its purpose was to gather data for future Ariane 6 missions beyond the rocket's inaugural flight planned for the middle of this year. While previous test-firings focused on demonstrating the upper stage's ability to operate under normal conditions with its cryogenic Vinci engine, this hotfire test focused on operating the upper stage during "off-nominal" conditions. APU … A major objective of this recent upper stage hotfire test involved the Ariane 6's Auxiliary Propulsion Unit (APU). The APU is a nifty little device on the upper stage responsible for pressurizing the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant tanks, settling propellants before each ignition of the restartable Vinci engine and generating small amounts of additional thrust on demand. This thrust can allow the Ariane 6 rocket to more precisely inject satellites into orbit, deploy clusters of payloads into slightly different orbits, and deorbit the stage at the end of its mission. This final hotfire test included three long APU boosts for a total duration of 66 minutes. (submitted by Ken the Bin and EllPeaTea) SpaceX could play a role in Mars Sample Return. NASA's $11 billion plan to robotically bring rock samples from Mars back to Earth is too expensive and will take too long, so officials are tasking government and private sector engineers to come up with a better plan, Ars reports. SpaceX's giant Starship, designed with Mars missions in mind, could be part of the solution for NASA to bring back samples from the red planet cheaper and sooner than the 2040 schedule the agency laid out this week, according to Scientific American. NASA is encouraging companies to submit ideas using capabilities that are part of the Artemis lunar program. Starship is under contract to be the human-rated lander for the first two Artemis crew missions to the Moon's surface. Somehow the solution … “The only conclusion you can really draw from that is they’re hoping Starship somehow is the solution here," said Casey Dreier, senior space policy adviser for the Planetary Society, in an article published by Scientific American. That could provide MSR (Mars Sample Return) with a whopper of a solution. NASA is already funding Starship, the largest rocket in history, to the tune of billions of dollars to ferry astronauts to the lunar surface—but Starship also has the potential to launch immense payloads off other worlds and back to Earth. “Starship has the potential to return serious tonnage from Mars within [about] 5 years,” noted SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on X, formerly Twitter, on April 15 in response to NASA’s MSR solicitation. ULA has received two more BE-4 engines. Blue Origin has delivered both BE-4 main engines United Launch Alliance needs for the second flight of its Vulcan rocket later this year. The first engine was delivered in February, and ULA's CEO, Tory Bruno, posted an image on X this week showing the second BE-4 engine being installed on the Vulcan first stage at the company's factory in Alabama. Bruno previously said the first two flightworthy BE-4 engines performed flawlessly on the first Vulcan mission in January but that the supply chain for BE-4s remained in the critical path for ramping up Vulcan's flight rate to a goal of two launches per month by the end of next year. Fall launch … ULA plans to launch the second test flight of Vulcan this fall, a few months later than hoped. The main driver to this schedule appears to be the readiness of Sierra Space's Dream Chaser spaceplane, which is undergoing environmental testing in Ohio before its delivery to Cape Canaveral for launch preparations. Dream Chaser is designed to ferry cargo and experiments to and from the International Space Station. If Dream Chaser isn't ready this year, ULA will face a choice about what to do with the second Vulcan launch. The Space Force is eager for ULA to launch the second Vulcan flight as soon as possible to get the rocket certified for national security missions. Next three launches April 20: Long March 2D | Unknown Payload | Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China | 23:45 UTC April 22: Falcon 9 | Starlink 6-53 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 22:40 UTC April 23: Electron | NeonSat-1 and ACS3 | Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand | 21:30 UTC Source