Short Takes – 6-16-25

NASA sets new potential launch date for Ax-4 mission to ISS. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “NASA has not provided other details about the pressure signature in PrK that triggered the delay, including when it was detected. It came after Russian cosmonauts on the station made another effort to resolve the air leak by sealing cracks seen in the vestibule. The leaks have persisted in PrK for several years without a resolution, something that has concerned NASA and its safety advisers.”

Army recruits officers from Meta, OpenAI and Palantir to serve in new detachment. DefenseScoop.com article. Pull quote: ““Det. 201 is an effort to recruit senior tech executives to serve part-time in the Army Reserve as senior advisors. In this role they will work on targeted projects to help guide rapid and scalable tech solutions to complex problems. By bringing private-sector know-how into uniform, Det. 201 is supercharging efforts like the Army Transformation Initiative, which aims to make the force leaner, smarter, and more lethal,” the service stated in Friday’s press release [link added].”

The administration’s anti-consensus Mars plan will fail. SpaceNews.com commentary. Pull quote: “The act of sending humans to Mars should reflect the best of ourselves, a projection of our ideals of cooperation, commitment, and tenacity. It should embrace scientific goals and build stronger alliances. It should serve a clear national interest. The 2026 budget plan does none of this. It is an act of sabotage and, ironically, of self-sabotage. Its legacy will not be boots on Mars, merely a lingering societal regret at throwing away so much, so quickly, to achieve so little.”

China’s Cangyu plans mixed-orbit commercial data relay satellite system. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “The [commercial data relay] constellation will consist of 13 satellites in different orbits. Six will operate in medium Earth orbits (MEO), four will be placed along the geostationary belt (GEO) at 35,786 kilometers above the equator, and three more in inclined geosynchronous orbits (IGSO).”

Can microbes replace synthetic fertilizer? CEN.ACS.org article. Pull quote: “While venture capitalists and software developers are comfortable with this lean start-up model, which favors rapidly testing many prototypes over concentrating design efforts on a single product, she says farmers and agricultural researchers have been slower to accept it. Still, she expects the performance of nitrogen-fixing microbes to continue improving and win over the doubters. “It’s going to be a standard product,” she says.”

The ideal recyclable solar cell. Nature.com article. Pull quote: Chem & Engineering geeky – Pull quote: “The perfect recyclable solar cell does not emerge by maximizing a single parameter, but from harmonizing conflicting goals across performance, cost and end-of-life recovery. Circular photovoltaic cells must balance absorption, mobility and lifetime against clean separability, low entropy and safe, scalable materials. Many of the features that drive efficiency — tight integration, advanced contacts and robust encapsulation — inevitably complicate disassembly and purification. Similarly, design choices that improve recyclability, such as weaker bonding or reduced material diversity, can undermine long-term stability or performance. Perhaps the most fundamental tension lies between stability and recyclability. The very characteristics that protect a solar cell in the field — strong interfacial bonding, crystal reconstruction, high cohesive energies — also resist separation at the end of service life.”

Trump wanted a military spectacle. Instead, he got a history lesson. WashingtonPost.com article. Pull quote: “But the soldiers who paraded past the presidential reviewing stand on Constitution Avenue walked with a loose-limbed gait, disciplined but not robotic, with individual soldiers integrated into the collective without losing their identity. Those riding by on tanks, trucks and other combat vehicles waved and smiled, engaging with an enthusiastic crowd. The announcer often sounded as if he were narrating a fashion show for machines rather than a military parade. The Bradley Fighting Vehicle: “It is fast, it is tough, and it is lethal.”” Apparently it ended up being a birthday celebration not a presidential celebration.