Bezos' company is back in space: Blue Origin successfully launches its New Shepard rocket after 15-month ban due to a craft malfunction

• Blue Origin launched a New Shepard rocket at 11:43am ET from West Texas
• The mission follows a 15-month suspension due to a previous rocket malfunction
• READ MORE:  Blue Origin's New Shepard had its FIRST failed launch in 2022

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 19 December 2023 |

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin successfully launched its space tourism rocket Tuesday following a 15-month suspension due to a previous craft malfunction.

New Shepard took off at 11:43am ET from the firm's West Texas facility and carried science experiments - no humans were on board.

The reusable rocket, named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space, ignited its liquid hydrogen-fueled engine and released 110,000 pounds of thrust.

New Shepard soared toward space, reaching microgravity and separating to let the capsule test payloads in microgravity.

Jeff Bezos company Blue Origin successfully launches rocket

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Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin successfully launched its space tourism rocket Tuesday following a 15-month suspension due to a previous craft malfunction

The mission – dubbed NS-24 – carried 33 science and research payloads for clients, including NASA and various US universities. 

Also on board were 38,000 postcards sent in by students as part of a program led by Club for the Future, Blue Origin's educational non-profit. 

Once the postcards come back to Earth, they'll be stamped 'Flown to Space' and returned to each student as a unique souvenir. 

Mission control confirmed separation of the capsule from the booster about 15 minutes into the mission, allowing payloads to experience several minutes of microgravity.

The booster made a soft landing in the desert at 11:53am ET, and the capsule touched down three minutes later with its parachutes gliding it back to Earth.

New Shepard took off at 11:43am ET from the firm's West Texas facility carrying science experiments - no humans were on board

The rocket soared toward space, providing Blue Origin with epic shots of the mission

'This is New Shepard's 24th flight and 13th payload mission,' the company said on its website.

'This mission will bring the number of payloads flown to space on New Shepard to more than 150.'

NS-24 has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to proceed.

The mission's predecessor, NS-23, back in September 2022, made the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

The booster made a soft landing in the desert at 11:53am ET

The capsule touched down three minutes later with its parachutes gliding it back to Earth

The company's rocket experienced its first failed launch on September 12 due to an 'anomaly' just about one minute after liftoff. 

It forced the capsule to activate its escape system to pull away from the booster when its engine went out.

The capsule quickly ignited its escape motor, generated at least 70,000 pounds of thrust in just a few seconds, and then burned out to allow the craft to deploy its parachutes and coast back to Earth. 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted a year-long probe into the incident and ordered the company to take 21 corrective actions before it could resume launches.

Blue Origin's New Shepard is made up of a rocket and nose cone with room for up to six passengers to travel up to 65 miles above the Earth

Tuesday's successful mission means Blue Origin can continue its space tourism program that takes paying customers past the Karman line (the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space)

A report blamed the failure of an engine nozzle caused by higher-than-expected engine operating temperatures.

'During the mishap, the onboard launch vehicle systems detected the anomaly, triggered an abort and separation of the capsule from the propulsion module as intended and shut down the engine,' said the FAA. 

However, Tuesday's successful mission means Blue Origin can continue its space tourism program that takes paying customers past the Karman line (the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space).

They float weightless for several minutes and 'witness life-changing views' of Earth before descending gently under parachutes. 

It's unclear who will be on the next crewed Blue Origin flight into orbit, which is expected to happen next year.

But Lauren Sanchez, Bezos' girlfriend, has already stated her intention to lead a crew comprised solely of women in early 2024.

In all, Blue Origin has flown six crewed flights – some passengers were paying customers, and others flew as guests – since July 2021, when Bezos himself took part in the first flight.

These crewed flights have included celebrity guests who have flown for free, including Star Trek legend William Shatner.

Iceland volcano: Watch the Fagradalsfjall eruption live

By Chen Ly

NEW SCIENTIST

12/20/2023

Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano, located on the Reykjanes peninsula in the south-west of the country, has erupted after weeks of earthquake activity.

The eruption started on 18 December at 22:17 local time, after a sequence of small earthquakes in the hour before. Enormous plumes of smoke and spews of lava have since been flowing from a nearly 4 kilometre (2.5 miles) long volcanic fissure.

Residents in the region have been bracing themselves for the eruption for the past couple of months, with heightened seismic activity since late October. In November, the 4000 residents of Grindavík – a town 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the volcano – were evacuated after experiencing a swarm of more than 1000 earthquakes.

The eruption is ongoing, though the latest update from the Icelandic met office states that the size of the volcanic eruption has decreased since yesterday evening. “The lava flow is estimated to be about one-quarter of what it was at the beginning of the eruption on 18 December,” according to their observations.

Volcano erupts in Iceland near an airport, a power plant, and an evacuated town

The town of Grindavik was preemptively evacuated back in November.

BY LAURA BAISAS | 

PUBLISHED DEC 19, 2023 

A volcano spews lava and smoke as it erupts near the town of Grindavik, Iceland on December 18, 2023. 

Snorri Thor/NurPhoto via Getty 

Following weeks of increased seismic activity, a volcano erupted in southwestern Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula on December 18. According to Iceland’s meteorological office, the eruption began at about 10:17 p.m. local time, following a series of small earthquakes that began at 9:00 p.m. Between 3,530 and 7,060 cubic feet of lava was emerging per second at the time of the initial eruption, several times more than previous eruptions in this area. The eruption itself could stop at any time or continue for several months.

[Related: Geologists: We’re not ready for volcanoes.]

The roughly 2.5 mile-long fissure spewed semi-molten rock and red-tinted smoke into the air near Iceland’s main airport, the Svartsengi Power Plant, and the town of Grindavík. A community of about 4,000 people was evacuated in November following increased seismic activity that raised fears of an eruption and damaged several buildings. According to Grindavík Mayor Fannar Jónasson, no locals were present in the vicinity at the time of the eruption on December 18.

A view of lava after a volcanic eruption on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula, taken on December 19, 2023. The eruption began following an earthquake that started about an hour earlier.

 CREDIT: Iceland Police Department/Anadolu via Getty Images.

In a press conference, Iceland’s Prime Minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir said “now we see the earth opening up. Our thoughts are with the local people as before, we hope for the best, but it can be clear that this is quite an eruption. It is important to give emergency responders space to do their work and follow traffic instructions.”

Volcanologists initially stated that the eruption had occurred in one of the worst possible locations due to its proximity to a power plant and Grindavík. However, the immediate situation did not appear as dire after a flyover. “If everything is normal, this will subside in the afternoon tomorrow, the crack will begin to retreat into craters. The eruption could last a week to 10 days,” volcanologist Ármann Höskuldsson told RUV on Monday. The eruption’s size was anticipated, but the direction of the lava flow remains unpredictable.

“This is larger than previous eruptions on Reykjanes,” volcanologists Magnus Gudmundsson, a volcanologist among the first people to observe the eruption from the air, told The New York Times.

Iceland sits just above a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic. The island nation of only 387,758 people averages an eruption roughly every four to five years. The Reykjanes Peninsula about 31 miles southwest of the capital city of Reykjavik. In November, the peninsula was hit by a swarm of over 1,000 small earthquakes in only 24 hours. It put the entire island on alert of an imminent eruption. One of Iceland’s largest tourist attractions, the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa was also closed temporarily due to its proximity to the seismic activity.

Volcanologists urged tourists and locals to strictly follow advice, as major hazards can quickly put people in danger.

[Related: How the Tonga eruption rang Earth ‘like a bell.’]

“As is common with this eruptive style, it began with a sustained eruption of ballistics that, over time, has lengthened to form a fire curtain—a long fissure out of which lava is being violently ejected,” University of Bristol volcanologist Matthew Watson told the Associated Press. “This style of eruption is amongst the most spectacular ever seen, and there will be a strong pull for tourists, even though the Blue Lagoon complex has again shut.”


The most disruptive eruption in recent memory was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano that spewed enormous clouds of ash and led to major airspace closures over Europe. This 2023 Reykjanes Peninsula eruption was not expected to release large amounts of ash into the air. According to Iceland’s foreign minister Bjarne Benediktsson, there are currently no flight disruptions and international flight corridors remain open.

Laura Baisas is a science news writer, covering a wide variety of subjects, but she is particularly fascinated by all things aquatic, paleontology, nanotechnology, and exploring how science influences daily life. Laura is a proud former resident of the New Jersey shore, a competitive swimmer, and a fierce defender of the Oxford comma.

England goalkeeper Mary Earps crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year

Jamie Gardner, PA Chief Sports Reporter
Tue, 19 December 2023 

England and Manchester United goalkeeper Mary Earps has been voted the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year for 2023.

The 30-year-old was a key part of the Lionesses side which reached the Women’s World Cup final in the summer, and won FIFA’s Golden Glove award for the best goalkeeper at the tournament.

Earps saved a penalty from Spain’s Jenni Hermoso in the final, but the Lionesses were unable to add to their 2022 European crown as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat in Sydney.

Retired England cricketer Stuart Broad, who like Earps hails from Nottingham, finished second in the vote, while world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson was third.

In 2021 Earps’ international career was at a crossroads, having not played for her country since November 2019. However, she was included in the first England squad Sarina Wiegman named in September 2021 and has gone from strength to strength since.

Earps was one of Wiegman’s vital lieutenants as the Lionesses won the Euros in 2022, and she secured her place in the public’s affection as she danced on the table in celebration during a press conference after the final victory over Germany at Wembley.

Mary Earps celebrates saving Jenni Hermoso’s penalty in the World Cup final (Zac Goodwin/PA)

Last season Earps kept 14 clean sheets as Manchester United finished second in the Women’s Super League. She also drew praise after she spoke out about sportswear manufacturer Nike’s failure to offer an England goalkeeper’s replica jersey for sale before the World Cup.

Earps’ success on Tuesday night made her the third successive female winner of the award, after US Open champion Emma Raducanu in 2021 and Earps’ England team-mate Beth Mead last year.

Wheelchair tennis player Alfie Hewett, jockey Frankie Dettori and golf star Rory McIlroy were the three other sports luminaries who made it on to the shortlist for the prestigious prize.

Earps was voted best goalkeeper in the world in FIFA’s 2022 awards and has been shortlisted again for the 2023 prize.

Broad announced he was retiring from cricket during the fifth Ashes Test in the summer and bowed out in spectacular fashion. The 37-year-old hit a six off his final ball and took the final wicket as England won the match to level the series, although Australia retained the urn.

BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners (PA Graphics)

Johnson-Thompson claimed the world heptathlon title for the second time in Budapest in the summer after a calf injury wrecked her hopes of Olympic glory in Tokyo in 2021.

Manchester City’s treble-winning campaign was recognised as they won the Team of the Year prize. Star striker Erling Haaland, who scored 52 goals as the Blues dominated at home and in Europe, won the World Sport Star of the Year award and City manager Pep Guardiola was named coach of the year.

Sir Kenny Dalglish, who played and managed with great distinction at Liverpool, was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at Tuesday night’s ceremony in Salford.

Dalglish, who won nine titles with Celtic before moving to Merseyside in 1977, scored 172 goals in 515 appearances for the Reds. He enjoyed great success as a player, including scoring the winner in the 1978 European Cup final. In 1985 he took over from Joe Fagan as manager of the club, initially while continuing to play, winning three further league titles. He then went on to win the Premier League title with Blackburn in 1995.

Fatima Whitbread, the 1987 world javelin champion, won the Helen Rollason Award. Whitbread was abandoned as a baby and spent the first 14 years of her life in children’s homes before being adopted by javelin coach Margaret Whitbread. Since retiring, Whitbread has worked with various charities assisting and guiding children who had a similar experience to her.

Sixteen-year-old snowboarder Mia Brookes won the Young Sports Personality prize, while Desmond Smith, a grassroots sports coach from Sheffield, won the Unsung Hero award.

Cat named Taters steals the show in first video sent by laser from deep space

The 15-second video was beamed to Earth from Nasa’s Psyche spacecraft, 19 million miles (30 million kilometres) away

A frame from a 15-second ultra-high-definition video featuring a cat named Taters which was streamed via laser from deep space by Nasa (NASA via AP)

TUE, 19 DEC, 2023 - 21:05

MARCIA DUNN, ASSOCIATED PRESS

A ginger cat named Taters stars in the first video transmitted by laser from deep space, stealing the show as he chases a red laser light.

The 15-second video was beamed to Earth from Nasa’s Psyche spacecraft, 19 million miles (30 million kilometres) away.

It took less than two minutes for the ultra high-definition video to reach Caltech’s Palomar Observatory, sent at the test system’s maximum rate of 267 megabits per second.

The video was loaded into Psyche’s laser communication experiment before the spacecraft blasted off to a rare metal asteroid in October. The mission team at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, decided to feature an employee’s three-year-old pet.

The video was streamed to Earth on December 11 and released by Nasa this week.

Despite the vast distance, the test relayed the video faster than most broadband internet connections on Earth, said the project’s Ryan Rogalin.

Nasa wants to improve communications from deep space, especially as astronauts gear up to return to the moon with an eye towards Mars. The laser demo is meant to transmit data at rates up to 100 times greater than the radio systems currently used by spacecraft far from Earth.

More test transmissions are planned as Psyche heads toward the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

NASA uses laser to send a cat video from deep space back to Earth

The video traveled from 19 million miles away back to Earth, which is about 80 times farther away than the moon is from our planet.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

By Bridget Sharkey
 Dec 19, 2023

One small step for man, one giant pounce for feline-kind.

A cat named Taters just made history. NASA recently streamed a high-definition video of Taters from outer space back to Earth. But here is the most amazing part: They were able to do so from 19 million miles away. That is about 80 times farther away than the moon is from the Earth!

NASA shared the news on their social media, including on X:

The video was sent via a cutting-edge innovation called a flight laser transceiver. The transceiver, which launched with NASA’s Psyche spacecraft in October, has revolutionized our ability to communicate with deep space. The high-def video illustrates how far outside of Earth’s orbit we can communicate from, and how clear and reliable that communication can be. This is essential for deeper space travel, specifically as NASA looks to expand its reach to Mars.

“Increasing our bandwidth is essential to achieving our future exploration and science goals, and we look forward to the continued advancement of this technology and the transformation of how we communicate during future interplanetary missions,” explained NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy in a press release.

You can watch the video that NASA launched into outer space on YouTube. Fittingly, Taters is playing with a laser pointer as laser technology transports his furry perfection across millions of miles.

The 15-second video of Taters was launched from outer space to Caltech’s Palomar Observatory. It only took 101 seconds for the video signal to reach Earth and the Hale Telescope. Then, the video was downloaded and then sent to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for its live demo. Talk about a quick connection!

“Despite transmitting from millions of miles away, it was able to send the video faster than most broadband internet connections,” said NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory electronics lead Ryan Rogalin.

NASA’s Psyche mission is far from over. The spacecraft is headed to Psyche, a metal-rich asteroid that orbits the sun in between Mars and Jupiter. NASA expects Psyche to arrive at its namesake in May 2026.

This story was originally published by Bridget Sharkey at Simplemost.com.

London's British Museum agrees to new £50m BP deal to fund major renovation plans

Renovations include a new research centre and shifting the site to low-carbon technology

People view examples of the Parthenon sculptures known in the UK as the

 Elgin Marbles at the British Museum in London. Reuters


Soraya Ebrahimi

Dec 19, 2023

The British Museum has extended its partnership with oil company BP by another decade after striking a £50 million ($64 million) deal to help fund its renovations plans.

The museum said the money from the 10-year deal will be used to redevelop the Bloomsbury site in central London and ensure its collection will be available to the public for “generations to come”.

Environmental campaigners have urged the museum to end its sponsorship deal with BP over the years, with further backlash mounting after the details of the museum’s “master plan” were revealed on Tuesday.

The first phase of the plan will see the opening of a new archaeological research facility in June next year.

It will house items from rare Peruvian fabrics to ancient fingerprints preserved on 5,000-year-old antler picks in a bid to offer a “radically different approach to museum storage” by also enabling research and study by academics and members of the public.

Proposals for a new energy centre have been also submitted with the intention of “phasing out” the use of fossil fuels within the museum’s estate and replacing them with low-carbon technologies.

Applications are also set to open in spring 2024 for an international architectural competition to redevelop more than 7,000 square metres of gallery space.

The competition will focus on the Western Range, which currently houses collections including Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome.

“The British Museum is one of the largest and most visited cultural institutions in the world but some of its buildings are over 200 years old and in urgent need of refurbishment,” Charlie Mayfield, chairman of the British Museum’s master plan committee, said.

“That’s why the master plan is so essential – and it’s exciting to be moving forward with our plans.

“Next year we will begin the process of completely overhauling our outdated energy infrastructure and replacing it with state-of-the-art facilities that will dramatically reduce our carbon footprint, and we will begin a global search amongst leading architects to find a partner to help us reimagine the famous Western Range.

“There’s so much to look forward to in 2024 and we are grateful to all our partners for their support.”

Louise Kingham, senior vice president of Europe and UK country chairwoman for BP, said: “The British Museum offers a window to the world for the millions of people that pass through its doors every year.

“As a business that has made Britain its home for over a century, we are proud to be a long-term partner to this important British institution and play our part in its future transformation – whilst helping to ensure that this iconic cultural venue remains freely accessible to all.”

A Flourish map

Co-director of campaign group Culture Unstained Chris Garrard said the decision to renew the contract with BP was “astonishingly out of touch and completely indefensible”.

“We believe this decision is illegitimate and in breach of the museum’s own climate commitments and sector-wide codes and will be seeking legal advice in order to mount a formal challenge to it,” he added.

The master plan announcement comes after the museum’s director Hartwig Fischer resigned earlier this year following the stolen artefacts scandal which prompted a police investigation.

Mr Fischer admitted that it was “evident that the British Museum did not respond as comprehensively as it should have in response to the warnings in 2021” about the missing items.

Last week, it was announced that deputy director Jonathan Williams would also be leaving the institution.

A diplomatic row over the contested Elgin Marbles within the museum was also fuelled further last month by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refusing to meet his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis after he compared the artefacts’ removal with cutting the Mona Lisa in half.

Part of friezes that adorned the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple on the Acropolis, the Elgin Marbles have been displayed at the British Museum in London for more than 200 years.