Last year marked the end of an era in spaceflightheres what were watching next

Published

2 years ago

January 10, 2023

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Boldly going — Last year marked the end of an era in spaceflightheres what were watching next Will Artemis happen? Can Starship actually work? Will humans destroy low-Earth orbit?

Eric Berger – Jan 10, 2023 12:45 pm UTC Enlarge / Getting the Artemis I mission off the ground marked the end of an important development era for NASA.Trevor Mahlmann reader comments 77 with 0 posters participating Share this story Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit

This past year was a momentous one in spaceflight, bringing to a close many of the most significant storylines that have dominated this industry in the last 10 to 15 years.

Consider the state of play in 2010: A handful of large government space agencies controlled spaceflight activities. NASA was still flying the venerable space shuttle with no clear plan for deep space exploration. The James Webb Space Telescope remained in development hell. Russia was the world’s dominant launch provider, putting as many rockets into space that year as the United States and China combined. At the time, China’s longest human spaceflight was four days. Much has changed in the last decade or so.

2022 was a watershed moment because so many of the major stories since 2010 reached their denouement. In this sense, it feels like the end of an era and the opening of a new one in spaceflight. This story, therefore, will look back at five of these major space storylines and then attempt to forecast what some of the dominant storylines for the remainder of the 2020s will be.

An exciting but uncertain road lies ahead. Looking back

James Webb Space Telescope. NASA spent about two decades and $10 billion developing this massive, complex space telescope. It was subject to countless articles describing all of its potential breakthroughs but also its endless cost overruns and delays.

The telescope finally launched on Christmas Day 2021 and then spent the first half of 2022 undergoing an extensive deployment process and commissioning of its scientific instruments. But when astronomers finally turned it toward the heavens, Webb delivered wonders. Advertisement

The process of designing, building, and testing this telescope on the ground took so long and required so much money that we may never see such a telescope again. The next one may be assembled in space rather than on the ground. Regardless, the era of Webb’s development is over. The era of its discovery has begun.

May it live long and prosper. Enlarge / The James Webb Space Telescope captured a stunning new view of the iconic Pillars of Creation.

Space Launch System. This was another massive development program by NASA in the 2010s, during which the space agency sought to build a super heavy-lift rocket. The program consumed about $20 billion. But whereas the Webb space telescope incorporated many new elements and represented cutting-edge technology, the SLS rocket did not.

The rocket was controversial from the beginning because the SLS reconstituted parts of the space shuttleits main engines, its solid rocket boosters, and even the diameter of its core stage was an exact match for the external fuel tank of the shuttle. This rocket was justifiably seen as a congressionally mandated program to keep workers at NASA and its large contractors, such as Boeing and Northrop, gainfully employed. The justification for this decision was increasingly insupportable as the 2010s progressed and private launch companies such as SpaceX proved far more efficient than the government.

An added pain point is that although the rocket was originally supposed to launch at the end of 2016, it did not take flight until November 2022.

However, once the SLS rocket launched, it performed its mission flawlessly. The Artemis I mission got off to an excellent start with the SLS rocket inserted Orion into its target orbit, a notable feat for a debut launch. So ends the saga of “Block 1” development of the SLS rocket. It’s nice when space stories have a happy ending. Page: 1 2 3 4 5 Next → reader comments 77 with 0 posters participating Share this story Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Eric Berger Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to NASA, and author of the book Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX. A certified meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston. Email eric.berger@arstechnica.com // Twitter @SciGuySpace Advertisement Channel Ars Technica ← Previous story Next story → Related Stories Today on Ars

Entertainment

French woman faces online mockery after being conned out of £700,000 by fake Brad Pitt

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3 hours ago

January 16, 2025

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French woman faces online mockery after being conned out of £700,000 by fake Brad Pitt

A French woman has been mocked on social media after losing more than €830,000 (£700,000) to scammers posing as the Hollywood actor Brad Pitt.

The 53-year-old interior designer, known only as Anne, thought she was in a year-long romantic relationship with the Fight Club and Ocean’s Eleven star.

But after opening up about her ordeal to reporters, she suffered so much trolling that the French television channel TF1 had to pull her interview.

“The story broadcast this Sunday has resulted in a wave of harassment against the witness,” TF1 presenter Harry Roselmack wrote on X.

“For the protection of victims, we have decided to withdraw it from our platforms,” he added.

At the time of the broadcast, Anne was reported to have been suffering from severe depression.

Anne told TF1’s Seven to Eight show that, after starting to use Instagram for the first time, she was contacted by someone posing as Pitt’s mother.

“She told me that her son needed someone like me,” Anne explained. The scammers messaged her again several days afterwards, this time posing as Brad Pitt.

Anne said she began talking to the fake version of the actor sometime in February 2023 on different social media and messaging platforms, including WhatsApp.

Images from the TF1 programme have been widely shared online, showing a number of AI-generated images of Brad Pitt in hospital, designed to trick Anne in believing she was interacting with the 61-year-old actor.

‘I really didn’t understand’

“At first I said to myself that it was fake, that it’s ridiculous,” Anne explained to TF1. “But I’m not used to social media and I didn’t really understand what was happening to me.”

Scammers began requesting money, telling Anne that Brad was in hospital with kidney cancer and needed money for treatment. He claimed his bank accounts were frozen during divorce proceedings with ex-wife Angelina Jolie.

She eventually agreed to transfer a large sum of money to a Turkish bank account after receiving an email from the fake star’s “doctor”.

Scammers ‘deserve hell’

Anne said she finally realised she had been scammed after she saw pictures of the real Brad Pitt with his current partner, Ines de Ramon.

“I ask myself why they chose me to do such harm like this?” she told TF1. “I’ve never harmed anyone. These people deserve hell.”

Police are investigating the scam, but the interview has triggered some social media posts making jokes at Anne’s expense.

French newspaper Sud Ouest reported that Anne was going through divorce proceedings with a millionaire entrepreneur at the time and needed hospital treatment for severe depression following the scam.

A spokesperson for Brad Pitt told Sky News: “It’s awful that scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connection with celebrities.”

They added it was “an important reminder to not respond to unsolicited online outreach, especially from actors who have no social media presence”.

Environment

Biden’s $635M good-bye, Trump’s DOT pick will investigate Tesla, and a look ahead

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3 hours ago

January 15, 2025

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Biden's 5M good-bye, Trump's DOT pick will investigate Tesla, and a look ahead

On today’s episode of Quick Charge we explore the uncertainty around the future of EV incentives, the roles different stakeholders will play in shaping that future, and our friend Stacy Noblet from energy consulting firm ICF stops by to share her take on what lies ahead.

We’ve got a couple of different articles and studies referenced in this forward-looking interview, and I’ve done my best to link to all of them below. If I missed one, let me know in the comments.

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New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.

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Environment

In December, EV sales were still up and incentives were still sweet – Kelley Blue Book

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4 hours ago

January 15, 2025

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In December, EV sales were still up and incentives were still sweet – Kelley Blue Book

December-EV-salesKelley — Chevy Equinox EV (Source: GM)

EV sales kept up their momentum in December 2024, with incentives playing a big role, according to the latest Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book report.

December’s strong EV sales saw an average transaction price (ATP) of $55,544, which helped push the industry-wide ATP higher, according to Kelley Blue Book. The December ATP for an EV was higher year-over-year by 0.8%, slightly below the industry average, and higher month-over-month by 1.1%. Tesla ATPs were higher year-over-year by 10.5%.

Incentives for EVs remained elevated in December, although they were slightly lower month-over-month at 14.3% of ATP, down from 14.7% in November.

EV incentives were higher by an impressive 41% year-over-year and have been above 12% of ATP for six consecutive months. Strong sales incentives, which averaged more than $6,700 per sale in 2024, were one reason EV sales surpassed 1.3 million units last year, according to Cox Automotive, a new record for volume and share.

(My colleague Jameson Dow reported yesterday, “In 2024, the world sold 3.5 million more EVs than it did in the previous year … This increase is larger than the 3.2 million increase in EV sales from the previous year – meaning that EV sales aren’t just up, but that the rate of growth is itself increasing.”)

Kelley Blue Book estimated that in December, approximately 84,000 vehicles – or 5.6% of total sales – transacted at prices higher than $80,000 – the highest volume ever. KBB lumps gas cars and EVs together into this luxury vehicle category, so this is where Tesla Cybertruck is slotted.

However, Tesla bundles sales figures of Cybertruck with Model S, Model X, and Tesla Semi(!) into a category it calls “other models,” so we don’t know for sure exactly how many Cybertrucks Tesla sold in Q4, much less in December. However, Electrek‘s Fred Lambert estimates between 9,000 and 12,000 Cybertrucks were sold in Q4, and that’s not a stellar sales figure.

What will January bring when it comes to EV ATPs? What about tax credits? Check back in a month and I’ll fill you in.

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