Aeronautics & Aerospace

Alphabet’s Loon Failed to Bring Internet to the World. What Went Wrong?

IEEE Spectrum: Loon’s soaring promise to bring Internet access to the world via high-altitude balloons deflated last week, when the company announced that it will be shutting down. With the…

The NASA Engineer Who’s a Mathematician at Heart

Quanta Magazine: Just before World War II, the American civil rights activist A. Philip Randolph persuaded President Roosevelt to end discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin in defense-industry employment. Not long after, in 1941, Roosevelt issued executive…

Highlights From NASA’s SLS Rocket Hot-Fire Test

New York Times: The space agency ignited the engines of its Space Launch System in a “hot fire” test, but it didn’t last as long as had been expected. In a fiery demonstration of power, the four engines of NASA’s next mighty…

Missions to Mars, the Moon and Beyond Await Earth in 2021

New York Times: About a month after the new year has started on Earth, three spacecraft will pull into the vicinity of Mars. These explorers, which launched in July last year, will be heralds of a busy year of space exploration, launches…