Inverse - 🚀 Failure to launch

Tuesday

August 30 2022

Artemis I's launch was scrubbed on Monday, putting NASA's lunar program one step further away from our nearest neighbor. But don't worry — it could happen on Friday, assuming the fueling issues seen prior to the Monday launch are corrected. If it launches, the uncrewed vehicle will take a month-and-change long expedition to the Moon and back as a dress rehearsal toward a human flyby in 2024. That will be the Apollo 8 to Artemis III's Apollo 11 in 2025, when, with all hope, human boots will return to the Moon. NASA wants the lunar astronauts to include the first woman and the first person of color on that flight, which will make history compared to the all-white, all-male Apollo program. But before we can even get there we have to prove the Space Launch System and Orion capsule work, which makes Artemis I getting off the ground the first step before anything else can happen.

And hey, if we make it to the Moon, maybe Mars is next.

What's New

Rockets

Space

NASA’s Artemis I fails to launch

On Monday, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida was the center of public attention. The day marked the first launch attempt for its Artemis I mission, whose rocket stands taller than the Statue of Liberty and promised more thrust power than the Saturn V of the Apollo era. But the highly anticipated debut flight for NASA’s Artemis Program, which promises subsequent crewed flights to the lunar environment, was thwarted.

The dismaying problem appeared during fuel loading. Engine number three’s conditioning procedure did not work. Since it would not drop to an appropriate temperature, teams ran the risk of shocking the engine should they pump the ultra-frigid propellant through it.

Friday is the earliest that Artemis I could launch, although it might be a stretch considering yesterday's results.

Goodbye, IKEA

Innovation

A futuristic technology could create self-assembling furniture

Picture this scenario: You ordered an ornate oak desk online, and when it arrives a few days later you breathlessly rip open your package. The box is lighter than expected, and only contains a flat piece of wood with wet ink that kind of resembles maple fudge. But after the ink dries, the wood miraculously morphs into the item you ordered online, avoiding the need for frustrating, hours-long assembly sessions.

Such a product isn’t possible. Yet. But it’s the goal for Doron Kam, a materials science PhD student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel who recently presented his work with colleagues at the fall American Chemical Society meeting. Kam’s proposed printing technique creates wooden objects that don’t require us to saw, carve, or bend them, and can transform on their own thanks to what seems like magic — but in reality, took meticulous planning and a high-tech 3D printer.

The futuristic concept takes advantage of warping, a natural occurrence in wood that’s usually dreaded by designers and homeowners alike. Wood gets wet and dries unevenly, creating some funky shapes, and nobody wants a creaky, sagging floor or oddly curved dresser. But Kam and his colleagues use this phenomenon to their advantage.

Learn more

Inverse Interview

Television

Rick and Morty Season 6 will “begin the second half of a larger story”

Showrunner Scott Marder and producer James Siciliano tell Inverse that we’re about to enter an exciting new era.

“510 was a huge finale,” Marder tells Inverse. “It left us with a ton of homework and a lot to live up to. I feel like it closes that book, but at the same time, opens up a new one. There was a clear and present danger that was always there that so naturally emerged coinciding with Evil Morty to begin the second half of a larger story.”

“We’ll have a season of the show every year from this point forward,” Marder promises.

For more on the team’s approach to parodying Die Hard, working with series co-creator Dan Harmon, and their vision for Rick and Morty Season 6 and beyond, keep reading.

Feature

Gaming

The messy lore of Elder Scrolls is its greatest strength

Is the Dragonborn in Skyrim the last Dragonborn? What is the true nature of Godhood and reality?

Within the high fantasy universe of The Elder Scrolls (TES), narrative breadcrumbs tucked within hefty in-game books and tomes hint at the series’ expansive world. These are topics that could easily be missed by most but the most ardent of players — but longtime fan James Troughton says that seemingly bottomless lore is a major reason that TES holds a special place in the hearts of so many players.

“I fell in love with TES lore mostly thanks to Morrowind, reading all the scribbled notes and books I found, engaging in every conversation to uncover every branching path. I wanted to know as much about this incredibly unique world as I could. But reading wasn’t enough for me,” Troughton tells Inverse.

Learn more

DNA	Innovation

Scientists just bypassed millions of years’ worth of evolution in mice

The buzzy field of synthetic biology aims to create complex life from customized DNA, a goal that has been decades in the making.

Now, researchers have taken a major step toward that sci-fi ambition: For the first time ever, a team has successfully mixed and matched mammal chromosomes, large-scale changes that would ordinarily take millions of years to achieve naturally via evolution.

Such research might shed light on diseases stemming from chromosomal abnormalities in people, according to a new study published in Science.

Meanwhile...

Here's how to watch the most mythical meteor shower of the year this week

'House of the Dragon's opening credits sequence means more than you think

'House of the Dragon' Episode 2's maggot scene is scientifically accurate

'House of the Dragon' Episode 3 trailer teases a major twist

Today in history: U.S. astronaut Guion S. Bluford, Jr. became the first African American to travel into space, serving as a mission specialist aboard the shuttle orbiter Challenger on August 30, 1983.

Song of the day: "Skyrim - Music & Ambience"

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Inverse - 🚀 Failure to launch

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🍄 Psilocybin's medical potential

🍿 All hail 'Three Thousand Years of Longing'

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