Chandrayaan-3: Indian Mission racing against Russian spacecraft for historic Moon landing

Vishwam Sankaran
Thu, 17 August 2023 

Chandrayaan-3: Indian Mission racing against Russian spacecraft for historic Moon landing

India’s Chandrayaan-3 Moon mission is in a tight race with Russia’s Luna-25 in setting down a lander and a rover on the lunar south pole.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission, launched from India’s main spaceport on 14 July, completed its orbiting maneuvres around the Moon on Wednesday, setting the stage for spacecraft’s Propulsion and Lander modules to start their separate journeys.

“Separation of the Lander Module from the Propulsion Module is planned for August 17, 2023,” the Indian space agency ISRO posted on Twitter, which has been rebranded as X.

The mission’s rover and lander are expected to make history when they reach the lunar surface on 23 August, making India the first country to soft land a probe on the lunar South pole – a coveted region believed to hold pockets of water ice.

But a Russian mission Luna-25, launched a week earlier, entered the circular polar orbit around the Moon on Wednesday, and may land close to the lunar south pole a day or two earlier.

Luna-25, which is Russia’s first moon mission in five decades, blasted off on Friday from the Vostochny cosmodrome 5,550km (3,450 miles) east of Moscow.

The lander is expected to touch down near the lunar South Pole on 21 August, according to Russia’s space chief Yuri Borisov.

“Now we will wait for the 21st. I hope that a highly precise soft landing on the moon will take place. We hope to be first,” Mr Borisov said after the launch.

If the Russian mission goes successfully, it may make history as the first to soft land a probe on the lunar south pole, with India’s Chandrayaan-3 having to settle for being a close second.

However, a successful landing would still make India only the fourth to delicately land a probe overall on the Moon after the US, former Soviet Union, and China.

Observers say the specific landing dates for the two missions are however more of a coincidence, and the two nations are not in a cold war-era race to the Moon.

The lunar south pole has become a region of interest among scientists at many space agencies in recent years as it has been found to contain traces of water ice in its shadowed craters.

Until now, no country has made a soft landing on the Moon’s south pole.

India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission is a follow-up mission four years after is first attempt to do so failed in 2019.

Discovering water ice in this part of the Moon could be historic for both missions, and may propel nations to extract fuel and oxygen from the lunar surface.

Maxim Litvak, head of Luna-25’s scientific equipment planning group, said the Russian mission’s most important task was to land where no one else had landed and to find water.

Chandrayaan-3: Indian lunar mission inches closer to Moon

Geeta Pandey - BBC News, Delhi
Thu, August 17, 2023 

A series of images sent by Chandrayaan-3 show the craters on the lunar surface getting larger and larger as the spacecraft gets closer

India's third lunar mission is inching closer to the Moon's little-explored south pole where it aims to set down a lander and rover on 23 August.

On Thursday, the lander detached from the propulsion module, which carried it close to the Moon, beginning its last phase of the mission.

Chandrayaan-3, however, may not be the first to land on the south pole if it's beaten by a new Russian mission.

Luna-25, launched last week, is expected to land a day or two earlier.

If the Russian spacecraft - its first Moon mission after nearly half a century, when Russia was part of the Soviet Union - is successful in making a soft landing on 21st or 22nd August as planned, Chandrayaan-3 will have to settle for being a close second.

India, however, will still be only the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon after the US, the former Soviet Union and China.

On Thursday, the Indian Space Research Agency (Isro) said the landing module was set to descend to a slightly lower orbit upon "a deboosting" planned for 4pm IST (11.30 am BST) on Friday. It is expected to begin its final descent for touchdown on the Moon on 23 August.

Russia launched Luna-25 on 10 August, but propelled by the much more powerful Soyuz rocket, it escaped the Earth's gravity in no time and reached lunar orbit on Wednesday, the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced.

Chandrayaan-3 was launched on 14 July, but it went around the Earth a few times before entering the lunar orbit on 5 August. The spacecraft has been orbiting the Moon since then, while preparing for the landing.

India's latest Moon mission sends first photos


Historic India Moon mission lifts off successfully

The two missions aiming for the Moon are being described by many as a "mini space race".

Isro, however, told the BBC it's not a race and the two nations will have a new 'meeting point' on the Moon.

"Isro has never been in any race right from the day one of its inception in 1960s," an Isro spokesman told me.

"We planned the mission based on the readiness of the spacecraft and the available technical window to reach the far side of the Moon. Luna-25 is also a mission planned long time ago. They also must have some technical considerations, which we don't know precisely," he said.

Graphic showing how the Chandrayaan-3 will get to the Moon, from take off, to orbiting the Earth in phases until it reaches the Moon's orbit, when the lander will separate from the propulsion module before landing near the Moon's south pole

Chandrayaan-3, the third in India's programme of lunar exploration, is expected to build on the success of its earlier Moon missions.

It comes 13 years after the country's first Moon mission in 2008, which discovered the presence of water molecules on the parched lunar surface and established that the Moon has an atmosphere during daytime.

Chandrayaan-2 - which also comprised an orbiter, a lander and a rover - was launched in July 2019 but it was only partially successful. Its orbiter continues to circle and study the Moon even today, but the lander-rover failed to make a soft landing and crashed during touchdown.

The women scientists who took India into space


Was India's Moon mission actually a success?

Isro chief Sreedhara Panicker Somanath has said India's space agency had carefully studied the data from its crash and carried out simulation exercises to fix the glitches in Chandrayaan-3, which weighs 3,900kg and cost 6.1bn rupees ($75m; £58m).

The lander module (called Vikram, after the founder of Isro) weighs about 1,500kg and carries within its belly the 26kg rover which is named Pragyaan, the Sanskrit word for wisdom.

Once the craft entered the Moon's orbit, scientists gradually reduced the rocket's speed to bring it to a point which will allow a soft landing for Vikram.

Chief of India's first Moon mission Mylswamy Annadurai told the BBC that after Thursday's separation from the propulsion module, the lander module will do two manoeuvres over the next few days, getting closer to the Moon with each one, and will reach an orbit of 30km by 100km a day before it lands.

Once it lands, he says, it will take a few hours for the dust to settle after which the six-wheeled rover will crawl out and roam around the rocks and craters on the Moon's surface, gathering crucial data and images to be sent back to Earth for analysis.

The rover is carrying instruments which will focus on finding out about the physical characteristics of the surface of the Moon, the atmosphere close to the surface and the tectonic activity to study what goes on below the surface.

The south pole of the Moon is still largely unexplored - the surface area that remains in shadow there is much larger than that of the Moon's north pole, and scientists say it means there is a possibility of water in areas that are permanently shadowed.

One of the major goals of both Chandrayaan-3 and Luna-25 is to hunt for water ice which, scientists say, could support human habitation on the Moon in future. It could also be used for supplying propellant for spacecraft headed to Mars and other distant destinations.

Graphic showing the LVM3 launch rocket, with three engine phases, and where the Chandrayaan-3 will be while it it carried into orbit

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UK windfarm red tape to cost billpayers £1.5bn a year, say analysts

Energy experts have criticised the government for giving tax breaks to oil companies and not allowing windfarms to thrive.

Helena Horton Environment reporter
Thu, 17 August 2023 

Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

New offshore windfarms will be strangled by government red tape, costing UK billpayers £1.5bn a year, an analysis has found.

The latest government auction for new offshore windfarms, due to be completed in September, could result in few projects making it through Treasury rules, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), a non-profit organisation.

Rules set by the Treasury do not take account of predictions that the gas price will stay high and put an arbitrary limit on the number of farms that can be contracted. They mean that the budget set in the government’s contracts for difference auction is unlikely to be spent, because many windfarms will not get through the auction, so bills will be kept higher.

Despite the fact that the government recently increased the budget for the auction from £170m to £190m, analysts at the ECIU said this was likely to make little difference to the outcome of the auction and ignored the fact that renewables were predicted to save customers money.

The previous auction round did not meet the budget and previous analysis found that 1GW of wind power was missed out on, along with savings of £225m a year. The ECIU found that the current auction could secure as little as about 2GW of offshore wind, leading to missed savings of more than £1.5bn a year from cheaper renewable energy, compared with about 7GW that could have been secured.

Energy experts have criticised the government for giving tax breaks to oil companies and not allowing windfarms to thrive.

Jess Ralston, an energy analyst at the ECIU, said: “The government seems to be focused on North Sea gas licences and tax breaks for oil companies that won’t bring down bills, while tying up offshore wind farms that generate electricity cheaper than gas in red tape. What is going on?

“Even with inflation pushing costs up for offshore wind, it will still generate electricity much cheaper than gas power stations. Stifling windfarms pushes up bills. The Treasury’s rules seem to be actively working against bringing them down.”

If the rules around these auctions were not loosened, the ECIU said, it could put the goal of 50GW of offshore wind by 2030 at risk.

A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “We do not recognise these figures – last year’s Contracts for Difference scheme auction was the largest ever, issuing contracts to nearly 100 clean tech projects, and we increased this year’s budget to reflect the large volume of eligible applications received.

“The UK is a world leader in renewable technologies, with the four largest operational offshore wind farms in the world providing enough capacity to power the equivalent of at least 10 million homes per year.

“Contracts for Difference is designed to protect generators against price fluctuations, and compares favourably to other international schemes. We understand there are supply chain pressures for the sector globally, and we are listening to their concerns.”

IT'S WINTER DOWN UNDER
Warm July breaks dozens of longstanding Australian temperature records

Josh Nicholas
Thu, 17 August 2023 at 1



Dozens of longstanding temperature records tumbled across Australia during a warm July.

Across the country maximum temperatures were overall about 1.2C above the long-term averages in July and all capital cities except Canberra were warmer than average, Bureau of Meteorology data shows.

Many weather stations in Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart clocked their highest July temperatures on record, including some dating back more than 140 years. Across the country it was the ninth warmest July for average temperatures, measured across day and night.


Related: Dry run: Australia’s ski season kicks off without snow and El Niño may be to blame

Experts say Australia’s warmer winter is not being directly caused by the heatwaves and weather systems in the northern hemisphere over the same period. But Australian winters – and temperatures across the globe – have been getting hotter because of global heating.

Dr Andrew King, a climate science lecturer at the University of Melbourne, said there had been “really high pressure” over most of Australia for most of the past month or two, which had warmed up the interior of the continent.

“When winds come from the interior of the continent we get quite warm days in places like Adelaide and Melbourne and Sydney.”

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Related: Climate crisis: Australia must ready for ‘devastating’ regional disruption, MPs told

This has played out in the data: Adelaide and Sydney had temperatures that hit the mid-20s on some days, which King said was “unusual but not unprecedented”.

Individual weather stations show the extent of the warmer conditions historically.

Across greater Sydney, mean high temperatures for July were between 2C and 3C above long-term averages, while 10 stations in the region set record-high average daily temperatures for the month.

Sydney’s Observatory Hill, which has records stretching back to 1859, had its equal-warmest July on record, alongside 2018.

Interactive

Hobart’s Ellerslie Road weather station has experienced temperatures consistently higher than average for much of the year. But in July the average high and low temperatures were about 3C above average, smashing records that have stood for 142 years.

Melbourne also had daily and monthly average temperature records broken at weather stations in the city centre, Moorabbin airport and Laverton airport, all of which had stood since the 1970s.

Interactive

Differences in local geography and weather systems can influence some of these records. Tasmania is a smaller land mass and surrounded by water, so bigger temperature swings were expected, King said, as with cities situated near mountains or oceans.

But all of this is exacerbated by climate change. The BoM’s temperature anomaly data – which compares temperatures for a given month with the long-term average – shows the winter months of June, July and August have been increasingly warm.

“We’ve warmed Australia by almost one-and-a-half degrees Celsius due to our greenhouse gas emissions,” King said. “And so our winters are warmer, and we’ll continue to see it getting warmer.

“Our greenhouse gas emissions are still at record-high levels. We’re warming the planet at record speed and we’re warming Australia really quickly as well.

“The longer we continue and the faster we continue emitting greenhouse gases, the more warming we’ll see.”

The Guardian view on inflation: stop hitting homebuyers and squeeze the super-rich

Interest rates are too blunt an instrument for an economy so finely balanced. It’s time to use taxes

CANADIAN NDP & BERNIE SANDERS SAY THIS TOO

Editorial
Wed 16 Aug 2023

“The plan is working,” is how Rishi Sunak greeted Wednesday’s news of a fall in the rate of inflation. “If we stick to the plan I’ve set out, we’ll get it done.”

Up to a point, prime minister. Mr Sunak’s “plan” is really nothing of the sort. It is an aspiration to halve the rate by which prices are rising rather than, as is commonly assumed, for prices to fall. And he wants to do this without a hand raised by any of his ministers. It is not the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, who controls oil and gas prices, but traders in commodity markets – and rather than watching Whitehall, they have their eyes peeled for moves by Vladimir Putin or Opec. It is not Jeremy Hunt at the Treasury who sets interest rates, but Andrew Bailey and his colleagues at the Bank of England. And the people of Threadneedle Street may be alarmed by core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as food and fuel, remaining stubbornly high. With only four months before his self-imposed deadline, this looks like one life goal the man in No 10 will miss.

Before then, expect more economic pain. The Bank looks likely to raise rates again next month, and beyond that financial markets expect even more increases. Given the data showing the jobs market cooling down and production starting to drop, the economy seems to be slowing. Good luck to any minister fighting an election against that backdrop.

Famously, Mr Sunak has a background in economics and finance, and possesses a keen sense of logic. In which case he should be able to spot the economic silliness of what he is trying to do. Relying on one tool – the key interest rate – which is in the hands of an institution celebrating 25 years of operational independence is no way to bring down inflation in a hurry. Monetary policy works with “long and variable lags” on the economy, as Milton Friedman observed. And in the UK, most of the pain from rates will be concentrated on that minority of the population paying down mortgages. Meanwhile, the evidence grows that the greatest inflationary pressure comes from those at the top of society. Last month, the Institute for Fiscal Studies revealed that it was City workers and those in the energy sector who were taking the outsize pay rises, while those outside London in manufacturing, hospitality and education are seeing their incomes shrink.

While “greedflation” is a word that attracts controversy, there is clear evidence that some corporations are using this burst of inflation to boost their profit margins. Again, that will feed into rising prices much more quickly than a pay demand by refuse collectors of some local authority. So why should ordinary households be made poorer when a few groups operating at the top of the economy are driving so much of the price pressure?

The obvious solution to this would be for the Bank to ease off on interest rate rises and for the government to tax high earners. It is usually said of taxes on the rich that they don’t raise much money, but the objective here would be to dampen inflationary demand. The cash it would yield could go towards investing in green energy, so as to make the UK less reliant on rollercoaster fossil fuel prices. Higher taxes are unpopular – when they are on you. When they’re on someone else, on the other hand, they can be quite acceptable. If Mr Sunak is appalled by the idea of taxing his former workmates in the City, perhaps one of his opponents might take it up. Did someone mention the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves?

Meet the Ukrainian woman solving the ‘five fear factors’ of wave energy

Wave energy can produce much more energy than wind power, with much less space, why aren’t we using it more?

'How to win graciously': Sportsmanship melts hearts at World Cup

Peter STEBBINGS
Thu, 17 August 2023

England defender Alex Greenwood (R) comforts Colombia's midfielder 

Jorelyn Carabali

 (DAVID GRAY)

Unless there is an uncharacteristic outbreak of hostility and flurry of red cards in Sunday's final, opposing players consoling each other after games will be among the enduring images of the Women's World Cup.

England, who face Spain in the final in Sydney, have been notably quick to approach their emotional opponents after the final whistle to offer a heartwarming hug and words of sympathy.

The European champions dealt out some rough treatment to Australia's skipper Sam Kerr in defeating the co-hosts 3-1 in their semi-final on Wednesday in front of 75,000 in Sydney.


But after the final whistle the Lionesses players and staff consoled an emotional Kerr, who plays in England for Chelsea and is one of the most respected forwards around.

Images of England players rushing over to commiserate with Nigerian goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie after defeating the African side on penalties in the last 16 were shared widely online.

England midfielder Keira Walsh said it was not something the players had made a conscious decision to do.

It was the result of an ethos established by coach Sarina Wiegman about remaining humble and respectful in victory.

"We all know the feeling of being knocked out of a World Cup and it's one of the worst feelings in the world," Barcelona's Walsh said.

"When you can see fellow players who are really upset, I think the natural human thing is just to go over and see if they are OK.

"I'd like to think that most people would do the same in that situation."

- 'Really touching' -

Pictures of Sweden defender Jonna Andersson hugging a distraught Maika Hamano of Japan after their quarter-final were also widely shared online.

"I got sad because I saw she was sad," Andersson told reporters in Auckland after Sweden's victory.

"I hope it was important for her to feel that support, I know she has that support from the national team and the club team.

"I wanted to show her that I care about her, she's a fantastic person."

The two players know each other well from club football, where both played this season for Hammarby in Stockholm.

There were similar scenes on Tuesday, when the tables were turned and the Swedes left in tears after Spain won 2-1 in their semi-final.

Spain's players comforted a tearful Fridolina Rolfo, the Swedish forward who plays for Barcelona and was up against several club colleagues.

Julie Dolan, the first captain of Australia's Matildas, in 1979, noted that similar happens in the men's game, but not to the same extent.

"It's how to win graciously, I guess," she told AFP.

"It's a wonderful thing to see."

Pundits say it has been one of the endearing features of a World Cup that will already go down as the best-attended and be remembered for a series of shock results.

"That has been one of the most heartwarming things about this tournament," former Australia international turned broadcaster Grace Gill said.

"Because as much joy and elation as there is for the winners of the game, they're so quick to turn their attention to make sure their friends, ultimately, are OK.

"To offer them a little bit of support in that moment is really touching to see."

pst/dh

Maui wildfires expose rift over island’s tourism: ‘We’re more vulnerable than anyone admits’

Maanvi Singh
Thu, 17 August 2023 

Photograph: Yuki Iwamura/AFP/Getty Images

The fire that leveled the Hawaii town of Lahaina didn’t discriminate. It seared through vacation rentals and historic landmarks alike, scorched a 150-year-old banyan tree and touristic Tiki bars, reducing nearly everything to gray rubble.

And the destruction has laid bare seething tensions about the dominance of tourism on the island.

The industry brings in about $5.7bn in revenue each year to Maui – where on any given day, about one-third of the people there are tourists – and provides about 75% of all private sector jobs there. But in recent years, Native Hawaiians and other local residents have pushed back against the industry, which has strained the island’s natural resources. The industry’s hold on the local economy has also placed Maui in a precarious position, struggling to protect paradise against the tides of climate chaos.


“This is an island with finite resources, and those resources are being depleted,” said Trisha Kehaulani Watson, vice-president of the Native Hawaiian advocacy group ʻĀina Momona. “What we’ve seen from this disaster is that we are perhaps far more vulnerable than anybody wants to admit.”

***

In the immediate aftermath of the fires, tourism officials strongly discouraged non-essential travel to the region, where crews are still searching for missing people and thousands remain displaced from their scorched homes. Hotel rooms in west Maui, where Lahaina is located, were being used to house survivors and first responders, and vacation rental operators were being urged to offer space for evacuees.

Lahaina and west Maui more broadly remain closed for business. But in recent days, officials have changed their messaging.

The fires, environmental advocates and locals say, are the latest sign that Maui, and Hawaii more broadly, needs to diversify its economy. Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

“Don’t go to west Maui, obviously,” the Maui county mayor, Richard Bissen, said at a weekend press conference alongside the governor. “But the rest of Maui is still open.” Even as residents express irritation and anger at visitors snorkelling in the same waters where crews are searching for fire victims and survivors, many west Maui residents – including those who had lost their homes – returned to work as servers, housekeepers and concierge staff in other parts of the island.

“Many of our residents make their living off of tourism,” Bissen said.

In the coming weeks and months, officials are bracing for huge economic disruptions. About 80% of Maui county’s economic activity is generated by tourism – and the industry had just begun to recover after the pandemic. The Maui Economic Development Board estimates that the island’s “visitor industry” accounts for roughly four out of every five dollars generated here.

“For so many people to face economic uncertainty or challenges, on top of those who have lost everything in the fire – it compounds the issues and prolongs the recovery,” said T Ilihia Gionson, a public affairs officer for the Hawaii Tourism Authority. “That’s the risk of discouraging travel to Hawaii generally. It’s a fine balance.”

Many local residents see the fires as a warning that the balance should be reconfigured. The fires, environmental advocates and locals say, are the latest sign that Maui, and Hawaii more broadly, needs to diversify its economy, especially as the climate crisis threatens to bring more extreme weather and degrade the very natural resources that attract visitors.

“We need to set up our industry and our broader economy to better withstand disasters,” said Kaniela Ing, national director of the Green New Deal Network and a seventh-generation Native Hawaiian who was born and raised in Maui. “Because there will be more disasters.”

***

Even before the fires erupted, climate chaos was wreaking havoc on the island – and complicating its behemoth tourism industry. This year, the travel guide book publisher Fodor’s placed Maui on its “no list” of places to abstain from visiting, citing increasingly common droughts. Last summer, residents of west Maui and the Upcountry region faced stringent water restrictions, and fines of $500 for non-essential water use, such as irrigation and washing cars. But the island’s hotels and resorts were allowed to maintain golf courses, pools and lush landscaping, while welcoming in up to 8,000 travelers a day during peak season.

Meanwhile, sea level rise due to global heating has caused devastating beach erosion that threatens some of the island’s most popular beachfront resorts. Residents have been pressuring officials to forgo expensive beach restoration projects, and face the reality that many of Hawaii’s oceanfront resorts and rentals will have to move. Rising sea levels, massive king tides and storm surges have also threatened the island’s scenic Honoapiilani Highway, the main road in and out of west Maui.

Now, as Lahaina looks to rebuild, Ing and residents worry that the historic town and surrounding areas will be resurrected as a kitschy tourist trap, devoid of the region’s deep cultural history and ecological wonder. “There are predatory real estate agents, private equity land grabbers, circling around the wreckage like vultures,” said Ing. “And families aren’t being given the room to grieve.”

A resident takes shelter on Wednesday under a canopy on the beach near a neighborhood that was destroyed by fire. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Many residents and Native Hawaiians have long resented that Lahaina, once the burial place of the Hawaiian royal family, the first capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, a global trading hub and center for whaling, was being marketed to the rest of the world as an oceanside resort town. “I think the fire was an acute trauma, but it’s really just a punctuation point on the injustice that local people, especially Kānaka Maoli [Native Hawaiians], and immigrants have faced for generations,” Ing said.

Tourism was initially developed as a way to diversify the economy away from an extractive sugarcane and pineapple industry, which drained the islands’ wetlands to irrigate crops. Now wetlands are being paved to build luxury vacation rentals. Across the islands – as in the continental United States – growing concerns about low pay and exploitative labor practices have also activated unions representing hotel and service industry workers in recent years.

Movements to create more sustainable tourism practices and levy a climate surcharge for visitors or a pass system have gained traction among the grassroots and within state and local governments.

Waning hospitality among Maui residents and people across the Hawaiian Islands in recent years has raised alarms among state and local leaders. “When residents reach a breaking point where attitudes about tourism become negative, that’s a sign that something needs to be done,” said Dan Spencer, a professor of travel industry management who has undertaken a series of research projects to assess attitudes toward tourism and determine the islands’ “social capacity” for visitors.

But Spencer said the state should also study its ecological capacity – looking at how many tourists each year it can welcome without degrading freshwater resources and irreversibly damaging landscapes that are doubly threatened by development and global heating.

“Going forward, I don’t know if it’s less tourism, but I think more mindful tourism,” said Kehaulani Watson of ʻĀina Momona. “We have to think about enhancing and evolving the visitor experience to be one that invites people who can contribute to Hawaii, as opposed to just taking from us.”

The iconic flying boat that helped hunt down Axis warships during World War II is getting a new lease on life


Michael Peck
Wed, August 16, 2023 

A Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina patrol bomber in an undated photo.

Museum of Flight/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

The PBY Catalina flying boat was one of the most iconic Allied aircraft of World War II.


PBY Catalinas were used to patrol coastlines, hunt enemy warships, and rescue sailors and aircrews.


Now a company plans to build an updated version of the Catalina for civilian and military customers.

To a downed Allied pilot floating on a raft, they were lifesavers. To German and Japanese submarines, they were a menace.

The PBY Catalina flying boat was one of the most iconic Allied aircraft of World War II. And 80 years later, it is coming back. A Florida-based company plans to build a new version of the Catalina that it wants to start delivering in 2029. The announcement comes amid growing interest in the US and other nations in the military potential of amphibious aircraft.

A modernized Catalina has the advantage of tapping into both practicality and nostalgia. The Next Generation Amphibious Aircraft Catalina II "is a modern amphibian with advanced engines and avionics and will offer capabilities no other amphibian can provide today." Lawrence Reece, president of Catalina Aircraft, said in a press release.

A PBY-5A Catalina on patrol over the Aleutian islands in Alaska.Bettmann via Getty Images

The civilian version, aimed at civilian and commercial operators, will be a 16-ton aircraft capable of hauling 34 passengers or 6 tons of cargo. It can land and take off in waters up to sea state 2, which means fairly smooth seas with waves up to 20 inches.

The Special Use version is aimed at government users such the military, coast guard, and disaster-relief agencies. It will be a 20-ton aircraft capable of operating in sea state 3, meaning waves of 49 inches. However, the Catalina Aircraft announcement provided few details on the aircraft's performance, other than to say that both models will be powered by twin turboprops.

Neither version will be pressurized, which precludes high-altitude flight. Nor is it clear what aspects of the design are being modernized. The announcement did say that the Catalina II will exploit "today's advances in digitization, systems, materials, corrosion control, avionics, and engine/propulsion technologies."

A US Navy PBY Catalina used for training at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in August 1942.US Office of War Information

While aviation buffs frequently talk of bringing classic aircraft back to life, the return of the Catalina is more than a trip down memory lane. Catalina Aircraft announcement listed almost 60 civilian and government missions the Catalina II will be able to perform.

Civilian uses include passenger and cargo transport, air ambulance, and "adventure sports transport." Non-military governmental uses include maritime search and rescue, border and coastal patrol, firefighting, and "Riot Control (Water/Foam Drop)."

But more than half of the potential missions are for the military, which is bound to draw the most attention to the Catalina II. Missions include amphibious troop transport, anti-submarine and anti-surface ship warfare, reconnaissance missions, aerial tanking, airborne command and control, and flying artillery for ground troops.
A versatile plane

A PBY-5A Catalina at the US Coast Guard station in the French Frigate Shoals in 1953.US Coast Guard Reserve/Cmdr. John Redfield

Catalina Aircraft's list of potential missions is ambitious, but the original Consolidated Aircraft PBY Catalina was a versatile plane.

Designed in the mid-1930s as a US Navy patrol bomber, the "Cat" or "Dumbo" served as a search plane, anti-submarine aircraft, torpedo bomber, rescue plane, and troop and cargo carrier.

The US Navy ordered 200 PBY-5s, the latest version of the aircraft, in December 1939 but would acquire hundreds of them during the war. With more powerful engines, the PBY-5 had a maximum speed of about 175 mph and could fly 2,545 miles without refueling. It was armed with several machine guns and could carry bombs, depth charges, or torpedoes.

In all, some 4,000 Catalinas were built between 1936 and 1945, including 600 in Canada and 27 in the Soviet Union.

A crane aboard seaplane tender USS Salisbury Sound lifts a Martin P5M-1 Marlin in San Diego Bay in 1957.US Navy

Among the Catalina's World War II feats was locating the German battleship Bismarck, enabling the Royal Navy to close in and sink it, as well as spotting approaching Japanese ships at the Battle of Midway.

However, its greatest contribution was as an anti-submarine aircraft that sank German and Japanese submarines, pinpointed them for Allied surface ships to attack, or kept the subs at bay just by being present.

After serving in several Allied militaries during World War II, many Catalinas remained in operation with militaries and civilian users around the world. The US military pursued other seaplanes early in the Cold War, but amphibious aircraft had lost their utility by 1960.

More recently, some Catalinas were used as firefighting aircraft, though none remain in military or commercial service.

While impressive, the original Catalina had its flaws. It was slow and ponderous in the air, which made using it near enemy fighters and air defenses a risky proposition. Stormy waves could ground seaplanes unless they also had access to a paved runway. (The PBY-5 and earlier models couldn't land on anything but water.)

An AG600 amphibious aircraft in the sea off of Qingdao in China in July 2020.Xinhua/Li Ziheng/Getty

These issues were outweighed by the Catalina's other qualities. Its long range and ability to land on water were important features in the vast Pacific theater, where many islands had only rudimentary ground facilities. Seaplane tender ships also allowed Catalinas to operate away from established infrastructure.

With the Pentagon increasingly worried that a war with China in the Pacific would see Guam and other US airbases pounded by ballistic and cruise missiles, an aircraft that just needs some moderately calm water could be invaluable. Indeed, the Catalina redux is part of the growing interest in seaplanes.

US Air Force Special Operations Command wants an amphibious version of the C-130 Hercules, and DARPA has started developing the Liberty Lifter, a giant seaplane similar in size and capacity to the C-17 cargo plane.

If the US military were to get its hands on another seaplane, it would be small but notable company. Russia's military has long operated seaplanes and currently uses the jet-powered Be-200. Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force has the well-regarded US-2. Meanwhile, China has the AG600, a 60-ton aircraft that may be the world's largest seaplane.

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds a master's in political science. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Review: 'Blue Beetle' is a little more than a bug in the superhero system

Wed, August 16, 2023



Franz Kafka never realized how close he came to kickstarting a superhero franchise.

Ever since Gregor Samsa awoke in his bed to find himself transformed into a monstrous dung beetle in “The Metamorphosis," we've had spider-men, wasps, ant-men, crime-fighting ticks and mighty mantises — such a super swarm of insectoids that you might be tempted to reach for a fly swatter.

We're now back to the beetle with the new DC Comics film “Blue Beetle," which opens in theaters Thursday. But what distinguishes "Blue Beetle” isn't its place in the bug brigade but the person doing the metamorphosizing.

Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) is the first Latino superhero in a leading role in a DC film. It's not just token casting, either. “Blue Beetle," directed by Ángel Manuel Soto and written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, is firmly rooted in the experience of the Reyes clan, a close-knit Mexican-American family scraping by in the shadow of the gleaming Miami-like fictional metropolis of Palmera City.

Jaime is their first college graduate — "And last!" cheerfully chimes his sister, Milagro (the very funny, scene-stealing Belissa Escobedo). The parents, Alberto (Damián Alcázar) and Rocio (Elpidia Carrillo) are broke and on the cusp of losing their home to the encroaching, all-powerful Kord Industries. Also living with them are Jaime's grandmother (Adriana Barraza) and his truck-driving uncle (George Lopez, having a ball).

“We used to have the other side of the tracks,” says Milagro. “Now they want that, too.”

Despite big post-college ambitions, Jaime is stuck cleaning hotel rooms with his sister. Given what his family has sacrificed for him, he's saddled with guilt. So after a chance encounter with Jenny Kord (the Brazilian actress Bruna Marquezine), niece of the company's imperial chief executive Victoria (Susan Sarandon), Jaime jumps at the chance of a job opportunity.

He happens to turn up at Kord headquarters just as Jenny is fleeing with Victoria's prized discovery: a blue metallic scarab from outer space called the Khaji da that she's using to create an privatized robotic army. It's admittedly quite a jump from the real estate business, but, well, interest rates are sky high.

Before you know it, Jaime, tasked with hiding the beetle by Jenny, is looking down at the thing when it sinks itself onto his face and quickly seeps into his body. Gregor's initial response to changing into a beetle was simply to turn over ("How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense"), but Jaime is afforded no such chance. He's immediately rocketed through the roof and into space.

In the broadly sketched but spirited “Blue Beetle,” much of what follows is as you'd expect. There's getting used to the new outfit (and the sentient being that communicates Venom-style within Jaime). A recent past to uncover. The inevitable climactic battle between two hunks of CGI.

But “Blue Beetle,” the final entry in a now defunct wave of DC films, distinguishes itself in other ways. Jaime's family is continually along for the ride, making up his supporting cast when the big fight comes. (The grandmother's younger days as a revolutionary emerge, comically.) Superheroes are ultimately empowerment fantasies, though they've often got away from that. “Blue Beetle" manages to come closer than most in evoking the thrill of the powerless suddenly handed cosmic strength.

Soto plays it fast and loose, mixing in a little lewdness ("Activate bug fart" is a new addition to the often solemn DC universe) and shades of neon blue and purple along the way. “Blue Beetle” doesn't have much originality going for itself and Maridueña doesn't make a significant impression. But the film crucially gets that superhero movies don't need to be self-serious to make a serious point.

“Blue Beetle," light, lively and sincere, is a tribute to the tenacity and indomitability of Mexican-American families that have clawed their way into an often inhospitable society. Family members, usually plot points of some animating trauma in superhero movies, are here a central part of the action. (Lopez gets countless cracks in, and most of them land.)

It's a time of self-inquiry for the superhero movie after hints of a new downward trend (despite some notable exceptions like the blistering “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” with its Afro-Latino protagonist ). “Blue Beetle,” which had at one point been destined to go straight to streaming, falls in the middle of this new uncertain terrain. After a string of disappointments, future DC installments will take the comic book franchise in new directions. So it remains to be seen if “Blue Beetle” can be much more than a bug in the system amid larger industry shifts.

But I'd wager there will be plenty of moviegoers — especially young Hispanic ones not accustomed to seeing reflections of themselves in Hollywood comic book spectacles — who'll grin all the way through the breezy “Blue Beetle." If even a low-stakes, fairly derivative superhero movie like this can charm thanks to its warm Hispanic perspective and winning supporting cast, there's plenty of hope yet for the genre — bugs and all.

“Blue Beetle,” a Warner Bros. release is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for sequences of action and violence, language, and some suggestive references. Running time: 127 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

___

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

Jake Coyle, The Associated Press

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Canada's social housing stock lags peer countries. Liberals called on to bridge gap

The Canadian Press
Thu, August 17, 2023


OTTAWA — If a single mother with a newborn baby starts looking for city-subsidized housing in Canada's largest urban centre today, she might see her child enter high school before they find a new home.

Average wait times for subsidized housing in Toronto span from eight to 15 years depending on the unit, according to 2022 data from the city.

The shortage of homes is so severe that the city has been encouraging people to consider subsidized housing "as a long-term housing plan, not an immediate solution to housing needs."

Toronto is far from the only city facing such a shortage. The long wait times are a symptom of the disconnect between supply and demand right across the country.

Non-profit and social housing is usually administered by charities and municipalities that aim to offer affordable rent for low-income earners struggling to pay market prices.

Housing expert Carolyn Whitzman said the shortage of non-profit housing can be traced back to the 1990s, when the federal government stopped investing in housing.

"There was this vague notion that the private sector would somehow provide low-income housing, but that's never been true. And it certainly hasn't been true in Canada," Whitzman said.

Many experts qualify the 1990s as a period of fiscal austerity, when subsequent federal governments tried to rein in deficits through program spending controls, freezes and cuts.

Earlier this week, Housing Minister Sean Fraser told reporters housing should not have been among the cuts.

"For the better part of the last half-century, federal governments — of different partisan stripes, by the way, Liberal and Conservatives — have stepped away from forwarding affordable housing in this country," he said in Burnaby, B.C.

"That should never have happened, but it did."

Today's Liberal government is trying to make up for past choices. But experts and advocates say the dollars currently earmarked for affordable housing pale in comparison to the need.

Earlier this year, Scotiabank economist Rebekah Young published a report calling for a doubling of the social-housing stock.

While that may sound ambitious, Young noted that doubling the stock would only bring Canada to the OECD peer average.

More than 10 per cent of the population — or 1.5 million people — were in "core housing need," according to 2021 census data. Meanwhile, social housing represents just 3.5 per cent of the country's total housing stock, or 655,000 homes.

A person is considered to be in core housing need when they have to spend more than 30 per cent of their before-tax income on housing that meets a minimum standard.

"The moral case to urgently build out Canada's anemic stock of social housing has never been stronger. The economic case is equally compelling," Young's report said.

It added that while governments are trying to address the needs of low-income households with various transfers, the cost of those benefits and programs will continue to climb if the underlying housing issue isn't addressed.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is trying to address that through its national housing strategy, which has been lauded as the federal government's return to the housing space.

Launched in 2017, the strategy pledged more than $80 billion over 10 years toward programs administered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, many of which focus on increasing the supply of affordable housing.

By 2028, the strategy promises to cut homelessness in half, lift more than half a million families from housing need and build up to 160,000 homes.

But its success has been mixed.

Some of the strategy's failures were brought to light in a report from the federal auditor general last fall. It found that despite the pledge to reduce homelessness by 50 per cent, Ottawa doesn't actually know how many homeless people there are in the country.

The effort to get more affordable housing built quickly has also not gone as planned.

A document put together by the CMHC last fall in response to a written question from a member of Parliament shows the majority of approved units had not yet been constructed, despite the program's initial aim of getting most homes built within 12 months.

The CEO of the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, a non-profit group working to advance social housing, said the national housing strategy was an important step.

"That said, a lot has changed in the past five years," Ray Sullivan said.

"Construction costs are much higher, interest rates are much higher, the need is much higher. So it really isn't an urgency to go back to the table and update it for 2023."

Sullivan said one issue is that the rapid housing initiative has been rolled out on a year-by-year basis, offering little stability for affordable housing providers.

And given that interest rates and costs have risen, the money initially invested is simply not enough, he said.

For non-profit organizations in the affordable housing space, government funding can make or break a project.

Jeff Neven, the CEO of a Christian affordable housing charity, said that's definitely the case for his organization. The charity, Indwell,offers what's considered to be deeply affordable rent to people recovering from mental health and addiction issues in southwestern Ontario.

To be able to offer rent of about $550, Neven said Indwell can't take on much financing debt to build more homes. That's why government funding has historically helped with most of the construction costs.

But Neven said the national housing strategy has gotten less generous, making it impossible to keep building.

"We probably have 25 projects right now that can't go forward without federal funding, and there's no pathway currently with the current programs to go forward," Neven said.

The Conservatives have not articulated a policy position specific to non-profit housing.

The NDP, on the other hand, has been particularly vocal about the lack of affordable housing, calling on the federal government to spend more money.

Housing measures were also included in the confidence-and-supply agreement between the Liberals and NDP, in which New Democrats agreed to support the minority government on key votes through 2025 in exchange for movement on shared priorities.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has been touring the country to talk about housing and has proposed creating a housing acquisition fund that would help non-profits acquire affordable homes.

It's a proposal housing advocates and policy thinkers have endorsed.

This week, the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, the Smart Prosperity Institute and REALPAC, a national real estate industry group, collaborated to release a report with recommendations on how to end the national rental crisis.

Itcalls for the creation of an acquisition fund that would facilitate office-to-residential conversions and help non-profit housing providers purchase existing rental housing projects and hotels.

Ultimately, many of the policy proposals require much larger investments from the federal government.

Although the Liberals have been hinting that they'll have more to say on housing over the next year, Sullivan said he's concerned there won't be enough money to bridge the gap.

"My worry that the government is not prepared to put up significant funds to actually make it happen," Sullivan said.

Over the last year, the federal government has signalled that it's trying to limit its expenditures so as not to fuel inflation.

Its 2023 federal budget was narrowly focused on investments in the green economy and health care, with very few new policies on housing.

Mike Moffatt, a housing expert and economist who serves as senior director of policy and innovation at the Smart Prosperity Institute, said the government has to decide what kind of spending is worth the criticism.

"At some point, they have to make a decision," he said.

"What would we rather be criticized for: spending too much money or allowing the housing crisis to continue?"

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 17, 2023.

Nojoud Al Mallees, The Canadian Press