Polaris makes space history

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Aakriti Anand & Raghav Bikhchandani

Polaris makes space history

Four astronauts—led by a billionaire (of course)—took a walk in space—becoming the first private citizens to do so.

The mission: is called Polaris Dawn. It is a collab between Elon Musk’s SpaceX and billionaire Jared Isaacman. The aim was to send four private astronauts 755 miles (1215 km) above the surface of Earth—to perform the first ever commercial space walk. For perspective: That’s further above the Earth than anyone has gone in over 50 years, and three times higher than the International Space Station.

The crew: Isaacman was accompanied by Air Force veteran and pilot Scott Poteet and two SpaceX employees: Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis. They have now “gone farther from the planet than any other women ever.” Also a landmark: the number of people in space right now—19—including the folks over at the space station.

The space walk: Two of the four astronauts ventured out of the Crew Dragon capsule at 6:12 am. Eastern time. Oxygen flowed into the astronauts’ spacesuits—even as all the air was let out of the capsule:

The entire SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle propelling and protecting the crew was depressurized and exposed to the vacuum of space — a dangerous and historic milestone in the Polaris Dawn crew’s five-day journey through Earth’s orbit.

You can see a walk from the POV of Jared Isaacman here—or a close-up external view below:

Why this matters: The mission is the first of three that will help develop technology required to colonise Mars. This spacewalk tested advanced space suits required for a Mars landing—slated for 2028—“with the goal of building a self-sustaining city in about 20 years.” You can see they fit more like normal clothes—rather than the bulky kind used by astronauts today:

Also this:

Closer to Earth, commercial spacewalks could open up other possibilities once impossible to imagine, like technicians repairing private satellites in orbit. Mr. Isaacman has even suggested that the second Polaris mission could attempt a trip to NASA’s ageing Hubble Space Telescope to perform repairs and extend its life in orbit.

CNN has more on the space walk—TechCrunch has the more nerdy details.

RIP Sitaram Yechury

The leader of the Communist Party of India (M) passed away yesterday—after being hospitalised with “pneumonia-like” symptoms since August 19. He had been on respiratory support for the past few days. The 72-year-old Rajya Sabha MP was greatly liked and respected by his rivals and allies alike—especially Rahul Gandhi, with whom he shared a close friendship.

Beginning his career as student leader who fought against the Emergency in the 1970s, Yechury was known as the “pragmatic Communist” and a great advocate of coalition politics—calling on his peers to “march separately but strike together”—to bring down the BJP. His loss will be a significant blow to the INDIA coalition. The Hindu, The Telegraph, and Indian Express offer glowing tributes to the man for all political seasons.

Australia’s war on social media dysfunction

The government has introduced a bill that will penalise social media platforms if they do not take steps to remove misinformation. They will have to set a code of conduct that “targets false content that hurts election integrity or public health, calls for denouncing a group or injuring a person, or risks disrupting key infrastructure or emergency services.” The code of conduct will have to be vetted and approved by a government body, as well. Failure to institute such a code will attract a fine as high as 5% of the company’s global revenue. Reminder: The government is contemplating a ban on the use of social media for children younger than 16. (Reuters)

Speaking of Meta: The Australian government’s investigation into Meta’s practices has turned into a proverbial can of worms. In a Senate enquiry, Meta representatives admitted that they scraped photos and data from every adult user of Facebook in the country, in order to train their AI large language models. There was no way for users to opt out—and Meta was not required to tell them what it planned to do with their data. FYI: This is true pretty much anywhere outside the EU. The only fix for this is to set your Insta or FB account on ‘private’. Reminder: Nearly 90% of all Aussies are on FB. (ABC News)

VMA 2024: The high/lowlights

It was a record-breaking MTV ceremony for the ‘childless cat lady’—who took home seven awards including the biggest—video of the year. She is now the most decorated solo artist in the awards’ history with 30 wins. See Taylor posing with her awards—and note that she clearly colour-coordinated her outfit in advance:

Moving on to Eminem: He won two awards including best hip-hop album to bring his total up to 15—vindicating his middle-aged Gen X fans. His performance included 100 lookalikes—a visual reference to the famous line: ‘Won’t the real Slim Shady please stand up’.

Also making waves: Sabrina Carpenter—whose ‘spacey’ performance blew everyone away.

On the red carpet: We appreciated Tata McRae’s tribute to Britney, baby:

Megan Thee Stallion’s insane gown—where up is down…

K-pop group Blackpink's Lisa’s ‘Dune’-ish look:

And in the so-bad-it's-good territory, here’s the unapologetically gaudy Insane Clown Posse:

ABC News has a nice roundup of the best moments while Harper’s Bazaar has the red carpet repository.

An elephant-sized tragedy in Africa

A number of nations are facing the worst drought in decades due to the effects of El Niño. Governments are being forced to turn to wild animals to feed their citizens. Last week, the Namibian government announced the culling of 723 animals—including 83 elephants. The country has exhausted 85% of its food reserves. Now Zimbabwe is planning to follow suit.

The nation is home to about 100,000 elephants—the world’s second largest African elephant population after Botswana. But they’re seen as a burden:

“Zimbabwe has more elephants than we need” and more than its forests can support, Environment Minister Sithembiso Nyoni told lawmakers… Adult elephants consume about 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of vegetation a day and usually strip trees of their bark, which kills them. Zimbabwe’s large elephant herd was destroying large tracts of the southern African nation’s natural habitat, to the detriment of humans and other animals, according to Nyoni.

The plan is to dry and package the meat—to provide more protein to citizens.

But, but, but: Conservationists are furious—and say culling elephants is illegal:

Elephants are protected by international conventions, such as CITES [the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species]. They are in a world heritage. So, one does not just decide to say, 'I want to slaughter them.' They are not like goats, which a person can just say, 'I want to slaughter a goat and feed my family.' There are rules and procedures.

VOA News has more on this tragic dilemma. A related read: This Al Jazeera piece explaining the elephant boom in South Africa and why Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola, and Zambia want to get rid of them.

Google + Holocene ki jodi

The tech giant has signed a deal with a startup called Holocene to capture carbon from the air—for the low, low price of $100 per ton of CO2. That’s the ‘market moving’ bit about this deal. Right now, Holocene’s rivals charge around $600 a ton for the same service. This deal may be the first step toward making carbon capture more affordable—which has been the greatest challenge thus far.

But, but, but: Holocene only has one tiny plant right now—capable of taking just 10 tons of CO2 out of the air each year. It has promised to capture 100,000 tons of CO2 by 2032. FYI: Google’s emissions for 2023 was 14.3 million metric tons—48% higher than 2019, thanks to AI. It will only climb higher in the years to come. (The Verge)

Worrying news for Wordle warriors

Your streaks on Wordle, Connections, and other NYT Games may be under threat thanks to a threatened union strike. Tech workers at the New York Times are frustrated with stalled contract negotiations—and are ready to put down tools: “Of the union's 622 workers, 89% participated in the strike authorization vote Tuesday and an overwhelming majority supported the vote to strike.” Why this is notable: The Times is one of the few media companies that is booming thanks to the Games. Its subscription revenue increased nearly 10% to $418.6 million in the third quarter of 2023. (Axios)

A scary-looking alternative to Viagra

The context: According to a 2018 study, ED affects one-third of all men globally, and it is projected to affect 322 million men by 2025. The risk of developing ED increases as men age. Doctors generally prescribe viagra or little blue pills—which increases blood flow to the penis to get an erection. However, it has many side effects ranging from headaches and diarrhoea to chest pain, sudden loss of vision, and worst of all—painful erections.

Say hello to Vertica, a new drug-free device that treats Erectile Dysfunction— with an 80% success rate. Unlike the blue pill, it doesn’t send more blood to the penis. Instead it strengthens the collagen and tissues that help maintain an erection—“Think of it as one of those red light face collagen masks but for your nether regions.” How it works:

To use the Vertica, you’ll need to place your penis through the hole while resting the device on your crotch… Once you’re comfortably in the device, hit the button, and gentle waves of heat via RF energy will be generated, which the company says will help firm up that collagen. The Vertica treats both the visible portion of the penis as well as the interior portion.

The company also claims that the device helps widen the blood vessels in the penis. You are supposed to use it three times a week for 15 minutes during the first month—and twice a week after that. But sexual functionality comes at a steep price: The pre-order starts at $1,333 for the regular device and $1,667 for Vertica Plus, which is paired with an app. As you can see, Vertica looks both mysterious—and scary. (Gizmodo)

what caught our eye

business & tech

Hello, automation—McDonald’s is trying out digital cashier kiosks at some of its outlets in the US.
Google’s AI summaries are an antitrust violation, according to a group of US senators.
Named after a ‘Lord of the Rings’ sword, defence startup Anduril has unveiled a new line of missiles that are 30% cheaper than anything else on the market.
When it rains, it pours for Adam Neumann—the WeWork founder is refunding investors after his crypto climate tech startup Flowcarbon flopped.
JP Morgan Chase will limit weekly working hours to 80. The reason: junior bankers are burning out. So how do you like them apples, NRN?
Hindenburg is back again—the short seller is now alleging that over $310 million in six Swiss bank accounts have been frozen as part of the country’s investigation into money laundering by the Adani Group. Check out our Big Story on its recent claims against SEBI chief Madhabi Puri-Buch in relation to Adani.

sports & entertainment

The US men’s national football team’s new head coach is…former Chelsea gaffer Mauricio Pochettino, who will earn $6 million per year. ESPN India has the inside story on the long and expensive hiring process.
“This is going to ruin the tour…the world tour”, or maybe not. After accepting a plea deal and a tiny fine, Justin Timberlake will not face drunk driving charges from an incident in June.
Balle balle—hamara Vir Das has become the first Indian ever to host the International Emmy Awards.
Indian Express has a must-read on how the Hema Committee report exposed the lack of onset intimacy coordinators in Kerala’s film industry. Our Big Story has more on Mollywood’s MeToo moment.

as for the rest

New York Times (splainer gift link) has a good read questioning whether we should be receiving mystical truths on our phones—using Sadhguru as a key example.
Tuesday’s Trump-Harris slugfest has led to two great pieces—from The Guardian on Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, and from Vox on how Harris won the debate.
New sale: 50% off challans—on the condition that dues are cleared within 90 days—says the Delhi government.
Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk’s new experimental anti-obesity pill showed significant results in its first trial, which means it could lead to weight loss at a faster rate than existing drugs.
The US has backed African countries’ bid for permanent seats on the UN Security Council, but there’s a catch—no veto powers.
Malaysian police have rescued 400 children from care homes—all run by the same business group—following claims of sexual abuse.
Sad news for high school kids: A new study found that ChatGPT doesn’t do much to help you score on those maths tests. It gets the answer wrong 42% of the time.
Say hello to ‘hobbidays’—a portmanteau of hobby and holiday, and the latest global travel trend.

Four things to see

One: Talk about livin’ on a prayer. Bon Jovi frontman Jon Bon Jovi talked a woman out of jumping off a bridge in Nashville. He was filming a music video for the band’s new album—when he noticed her. You can see what happened next—thanks to CCTV cameras. (Hollywood Reporter)

Two: The Antrim Castle Gardens in Northern Ireland is being mercilessly trolled for the newest addition to their premises—this awful statue of Queen Elizabeth—along with her husband and her two corgis. The reason: she looks like Mrs Doubtfire. The corgis, however, are magnificent. The Guardian has more on the brickbats.

Three: Hanoi has been hit hard by flooding due to Typhoon Yagi. Thousands have evacuated their homes, 226 have died, 800 were injured, and 100 people are still missing. (Reuters)

Four: All devotees are equal, but some are more equal than others—as proved by this scene at the iconic Lalbaugcha Raja pandal in Mumbai. (Times Now)

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