If there is a leader in the aerospace industry, SpaceX is it. The company’s Crew Dragon and Cargo Dragon spacecrafts are the current go-to vehicles to deliver astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station.

NASA contracts awarded to SpaceX through 2030 alone are worth nearly US$5 billion and include research and development for the Artemis mission to return astronauts to the Moon.

Over the past decade, SpaceX has also emerged as a key vendor to the U.S. Department of Defense, seen most recently with a $733.5 million contract for projects such as launching defense satellite networks and contributing to other national security space objectives.

As a human geographer, I’m interested in how commercial space and defense companies affect the local communities where they conduct launches and tests.

For instance, I spent over two years in Kazakhstan researching the privatization of the Soviet space program and the beginning of a global commercial space industry.

Elon Musk and SpaceX’s influence

Politically, SpaceX is an enormous boon to the United States.

As a U.S.-based defense supplier and contractor, the company’s technology has helped to nearly end an almost two-decade dependency on the Russian Federation for access to the International Space Station. Its billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, has even expressed plans to colonize Mars.

Musk’s decision to spend $250 million helping Donald Trump win the 2024 presidential election is expected to lead to more support for SpaceX.

In the new administration, Musk is poised to lead a newly created advisory agency called the Department of Government Efficiency, which could lead to benefits for his business and widen his space ambitions.

Boca Chica, Texas, is home to SpaceX’s flagship assembly and test installation, Starbase. Since 2021, I have been conducting research with environmental groups and multigenerational community members of Latino and Indigenous descent in south Texas who see space exploration as a landscape-altering industry that affects their well-being.

After watching Starbase’s development proceed since 2014, locals there told me that there is much unseen and unsaid about what happens on the ground while an aerospace giant shoots for the stars.

Breaking eggs to make an omelet

Starbase is an industrial installation built by SpaceX to fabricate and test a number of the company’s rocket types.

The area around it is a unique and delicate ecosystem that includes estuaries and coastal grasslands, mud flats and more, where falcons, hawks, ravens, gulls and songbirds live.

Since construction began, SpaceX engineers have had to drain water-logged soils, level them and pour concrete to support ground tracking stations, assembly buildings, engine test stands, a nearly 500-foot (152-meter) launch tower and onsite fuel mixing and storage.

In a lengthy response to local environmental groups’ claims of environmental abuses, the company maintains that it is dedicated to environmental stewardship.

But developing rockets is a dangerous and messy business. Sites chosen for this kind of work are often, though not always, remote and highly secured installations.

Fiery explosions on the ground or in the air aren’t unheard of over the past several years. Rocket tests in Scotland, China and Japan have all ended in accidents.

In April 2023, one of SpaceX’s prototype Starship rockets exploded over the Gulf of Mexico shortly after liftoff.

This is not the only time that a rocket has exploded at places where SpaceX operates.

SpaceX runs a compact though growing operation at Boca Chica that has transformed the area. The hamlet was previously known as Kopernik Shores, and SpaceX purchased nearly all of the approximately 35 ranch homes in the area. Some residents have reported pressure to sell their property for suboptimal prices following rumors that the county would use eminent domain to seize their residences.

I spoke to Rebekah Hinojosa, a local activist and member of the Carrizo-Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, while researching in the area. To many locals, including Hinojosa, it seems like Musk is so well connected that SpaceX is insulated from public criticism.

In a 2018 press conference, Musk said, “We’ve got a lot of land with no one around, and so if it blows up, it’s cool,” referring to a rocket he planned to test at Starbase.

Changes to the landscape

An installation the size of Starbase cannot avoid disturbing the wildlife in the four distinct state and federal wildlife protection areas that surround it.

If you walk through the protected areas you may see shrapnel, segments of rocket chassis and other random debris from any number of explosions – that is, if someone else hasn’t picked them up first.

In December 2022, I visited a luxury campground near Starbase. It displayed various fragments of rocket debris, which they called memorabilia to the new space age, throughout the site.

Within SpaceX, as well as NASA, the explosion of 2023 was celebrated as a crucial step in developing the Starship rocket. The event did produce valuable data on the rocket’s performance – it has done little to tarnish the company’s reputation.

There is tremendous support for SpaceX in Texas. The company has promised to drive high-tech industry jobs into a region ranked among the country’s poorest.

SpaceX has created about 2,100 jobs. However, reporting shows that local and state politicians have seen more personal gains in their real estate holdings and campaign budgets than the region’s economy has overall.

A laboratory near the community

At the end of the day, to develop a rocket, you need a place to test your design.

“Our local beach is the laboratory,” local activist Hinojosa told me.

Resident coalitions of Indigenous, Latino and Chicano people as well as conservation groups are suing the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Federal Aviation Administration and others to combat SpaceX.

These groups argue that SpaceX misled state and federal regulators about Starbase’s operations. They claim SpaceX changed how frequently it planned to launch tests and built new facilities for several rocket types, which rendered the company’s original environmental impact statement for the area inaccurate.

Some key issues these groups are fighting against include a bid to expand Starbase into more protected areas. Another point of contention is the deluge system, which creates thousands of gallons of toxic wastewater to cool launch pads and rocket engines after testing.

While the EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality have notified SpaceX about violations of the Clean Water Act, claimants in a recent lawsuit contend that these agencies have not held the company accountable for breaking the law. The company has denied any wrongdoing and refutes claims of environmental harms.

“As we have built up capacity to launch and developed new sites across the country, we have always been committed to public safety and mitigating impacts to the environment,” a SpaceX statement reads. “The list of measures we take just for operations in Texas is over two hundred items long, including constant monitoring and sampling of the short and long-term health of local flora and fauna. The narrative that we operate free of, or in defiance of, environmental regulation is demonstrably false.”

So, what does the future hold? Many people from conservation agencies, activist groups and Indigenous communities in Texas want the company out. Given the high public support for space exploration in the U.S. and the burgeoning friendship between Musk and Trump, a SpaceX evacuation from the area seems unlikely.

While it may take difficult negotiations that require concessions from each party, I hope that somewhere there is a middle ground on which space exploration and environmental protections can coexist.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here.

Amanda Gallagher, a 37-year-old professional US photographer, died in a freak accident at the Air Capital Drop Zone in suburban Wichita, Kansas. On Saturday, Ms Gallagher was capturing photos of individuals boarding and exiting planes when she inadvertently backed into an active aeroplane propeller. In a statement shared on social media, Lt. Eric Slay said Gallagher “made contact with a grounded and stationary, but still running plane, and received critical injuries Saturday afternoon around 2:40. She was transported to a local hospital where she later died, local NBC affiliate KSNW reported.

“For unknown reasons … she moved in front of the wing, a violation of basic safety procedures. With her camera up to shoot photos as she did so, she stepped back slightly moving toward and into the spinning propeller,” Air Capital Drop Zone, a Kansas-based skydiving company, said in a statement.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement Monday that it would investigate the incident along with the National Transportation Safety Board.

Friends and loved ones of Amanda Gallagher are mourning the loss of the talented photographer, but are trying to find solace in knowing she died pursuing her passion, preserving memories for others through her lens.

A GoFundMe campaign set up to help Ms Gallagher’s loved ones with funeral expenses has raised over  $14000 so far. ”Amanda Gallagher was kind, adventurous, creative and beautiful inside and out. She was a loving daughter, sister, aunt and friend and will be greatly missed. On October 26th, Amanda passed away in a very sad accident, doing what she loved, skydiving and taking pictures! As her family processes through this tragic accident, they could use your help covering the funeral expenses. Please consider helping them out and also keeping them all in your prayers,” the campaign reads. 

An obituary for a 74-year-old US man who died after falling and hitting his head has gone viral, with his son letting the public know that he is “God’s problem now”. Robert Boehm died on October 6 and his son, Charles Boehm, recalled the life of his father in the most unconventional and hilarious ways. He candidly told the public who his father really was. But he clarified that it was not out of disrespect. Instead, it was a more honest tribute to the man who raised him, and a chance for his small town of Clarendon, Texas, to laugh once more with the beloved fellow resident. 

“Robert Adolph Boehm, in accordance with his lifelong dedication to his own personal brand of decorum, muttered his last unintelligible and likely unnecessary curse on October 6, 2024, shortly before tripping backward over ‘some stupid mother****ing thing’ and hitting his head on the floor,” the obituary read, per Robertson Funeral Directors’ Facebook post. 

In the obituary, Mr Charles recapped his father’s life from start to finish. He wrote that his father’s 1950 birth “God immediately and thankfully broke the mold and attempted to cover up the evidence”. He also joked that his Catholic father managed to get his mother pregnant three times in five years, allowing him to avoid getting drafted to fight in the Vietnam War.  

“Raised Catholic, Robert managed to get his wife Dianne pregnant (three times) fast enough to just barely miss getting drafted into the Vietnam War by fathering Michelle, John, and Charlotte between 1967 and 1972. Much later, with Robert possibly concerned about the brewing conflict in Grenada, Charles was born in 1983,” the obituary read.

“This lack of military service was probably for the best, as when taking up shooting as a hobby in his later years, he managed to blow not one, but two holes in the dash of his own car on two separate occasions, which unfortunately did not even startle, let alone surprise, his dear wife Dianne, who was much accustomed to such happenings in his presence and may have actually been safer in the jungles of Vietnam the entire time,” it continued. 

Mr Charles also recalled that his father who worked as a “semi-professional truck driver” had a penchant for collecting antique weaponry, as well as harmonicas. The latter caused “his beloved dogs to howl continuously at odd hours of the night to entertain his many neighbours, and occasionally to give to his many, many, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren to play loudly during long road trips with their parents,” the son lamented.

Mr Charles also noted that his mother and Robert’s wife, Dianne, had passed away in February. The loss was jokingly framed as “God finally showed mercy upon” her so that she could get “the heck out of there for some well-earned peace and quiet,” their son wrote.

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“Without Dianne to gleefully entertain, Robert shifted his creative focus to the entertainment of you, the fine townspeople of Clarendon, Texas. Over the last eight months, if you have not met Robert or seen his road show yet, you probably would have soon. We have all done our best to enjoy/weather Robert’s antics up to this point, but he is God’s problem now,” the obituary concluded. 

This humour-filled obituary has gone viral on social media. Reacting to this, one user wrote, “Best obituary I’ve ever read! Thanks for your *almost* service Sir!” “His legacy is his children that understood him enough to write the best obituary EVER!” expressed another. 

“I truly wish more obituaries were written like this, telling the story of someone’s life with making it truly a reflection of them,” commented a third user. “I can only hope that mine is half as good. I felt like I both missed out on knowing him, and yet also knew him personally by how amazing this was written. What an honor! My condolences to the family,” said one user. 

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Texas:

It looks like any other 3D printer – except it’s the size of a crane and is, layer by layer, building a hotel in the Texan desert. El Cosmico, an existing hotel and campground on the outskirts of the city of Marfa, is expanding. It is building 43 new hotel units and 18 residential homes over 40 acres (16 hectares) – all with a 3D printer.

It is the world’s first 3D-printed hotel, says El Cosmico owner Liz Lambert and the partners behind the project – Austin, Texas-based 3D printing company ICON and architects Bjarke Ingels Group.

Photo Credit: REUTERS

Lambert said the technology allows for unprecedented creativity.

“Most hotels are contained within four walls and a lot of times you are building the same unit over and over and over again,” Lambert said. “I’ve never been able to build with such little constraint and such fluidity … just the curves, and the domes, and the parabolas. It’s a crazy way to build.”

The units can include architectural features that would normally be too expensive to replicate on a large scale with traditional construction, according to Lambert.

Photo Credit: REUTERS

The single-story, 12-foot (3.7-meter) high walls of the first two units under construction are a three-bedroom residential space and a single-room hotel unit.

The curvy, beige-colored walls are being piped out by ICON’s Vulcan, a 46.5-foot (14.2 m) wide 3D printer standing 15.5 feet (4.7 m) and weighing 4.75 tons.

Photo Credit: REUTERS

A print technician monitors Vulcan as its robotic arm and nozzle glide through the work site on a gantry.

The “ink” of this 3D printer is a special cement-based material called Lavacrete, a proprietary mixture designed for strength, affordable scale, and printability. ICON CEO and founder Jason Ballard said workers adjust and blend the ingredients based on weather conditions.

“The magic happens in the admixtures that allow us to continue printing,” Ballard said, adding that humidity, temperature, and irradiance affect the material’s behavior and even the final color.

ICON is also working on a 3D-printed neighborhood of homes near Austin.

In the long term, 3D-printed construction could displace some skilled laboring jobs, said Milad Bazli, a science and technology lecturer at Charles Darwin University in Australia.

“I think from the social point of view and the effect on the economy in terms of the local jobs, especially in remote areas, that will be one of the challenges that we need to consider when we’re going to the 3D printing method,” Bazli said.

The expansion of El Cosmico is set to be completed by 2026. The hotel units will range between $200 and $450 per night.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Amid increasing gun violence in the United States, some grocery stores around the country now have vending machines that are stocked with ammunition. A company has installed automated kiosks in grocery stores, allowing gun owners in three US states to purchase rounds from these devices, as per a report in The Telegraph.

In certain stores in Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama, people can now obtain ammunition for their firearms by just scanning their ID on a machine that resembles a drinks vending machine. The machines’ manufacturer, American Rounds, claims that operating them is just like using an ATM. “Our automated ammo dispensers are accessible 24/7, ensuring that you can buy ammunition on your own schedule, free from the constraints of store hours and long lines,” the company said on its website.

These vending machines, according to the firm, contain “built-in AI technology, card scanning capability, and facial recognition software.” According to American Rounds, the software can confirm the buyer’s identity and ascertain if the machine matches the identity scanned. Customers use a touchscreen to pick the ammunition they want to purchase, then the machine scans their ID to retrieve it through a hole in the bottom.

According to Newsweek, “there are eight machines installed or in the process of being installed across four states.” The first machine was installed at a Pell City, Alabama, Fresh Value grocery shop. Since then, four have been placed at Super C Marts in Oklahoma and one in Canyon Lake, Texas, at Lowe’s Market. Another is being placed at LaGrees Food Stores in Buena Vista, Colorado, and another is scheduled to be installed shortly in a Lowes Market in Canyon Lake, said CEO of American Rounds, Grants Magers.

He told the outlet, “We have over 200 store requests for AARM (Automated Ammo Retail Machine) units covering approximately nine states currently and that number is growing daily,” he told Newsweek. Mr Magers stated that the company supported “law-abiding, responsible gun ownership.”

“Currently ammunition is sold off the shelf or online. These environments lead to inadvertent sales to underaged purchasers and or, in the case of retail stores, a high theft rate. What we loved about this concept is the AARM units use state-of-the-art ID scanners combined with facial recognition before a transaction can be made,” he added.

Further, as per Oklahoma TV station KOCO-TV, there is no limitation on the quantity of ammunition customers can purchase and the vending machines would be restocked every two to four weeks.

However, a machine in Alabama was recently removed after its legality was debated.

Tuscaloosa City Council President Kip Tyner said that he initially thought the machines were a joke after he received calls about them. President of the Tuscaloosa City Council Kip Tyner stated that when he first started receiving calls regarding the machines, he assumed they were a prank. “I got some calls about ammunition being sold in grocery stores, vending machines. “I thought it was a lie. I thought it was a joke-but it’s not,” he said.

Notably, the machines are authorised by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and are lawful, according to Tuscaloosa Police Chief Brent Blankley.

Discussing the same, Mr Magers told Newsweek: “American Rounds made the business decision to relocate the Fresh Value Automated Ammo Retail Machine located in Tuscaloosa to another store location. This was strictly a business decision based on sales at that specific store.”

A woman in Texas, United States, was arrested after she allegedly dragged a child to a bathroom and forced him to drink water from a toilet, as per a report in the New York Post. According to a news release from the Woodway Public Safety Department, Claudia Velediaz-Bonifazi was placed in custody on April 3 after the child arrived at school in tears and notified teachers and counsellors about the event.

As per the police statement, the boy told his teachers and counsellor that he was “dragged to the bathroom by his hair and his head was forced into the toilet where he was forced to drink toilet water.” He also informed that he “was missing pieces of his hair” as a result of the incident.

His claims prompted further investigation into the matter by Woodway Police and Child Protective Services, who found that the boy had reportedly been the victim of multiple past “violent incidents.” According to the police officers, the abuse included “being punched, hit with miscellaneous objects, and not being fed for long periods of time.”

Further, the woman was arrested for intentionally hurting the kid. The Woodway Public Safety Department released a statement that said the boy was “in her care,” but it did not specify if the child was related to Claudia Velediaz-Bonifazi. Meanwhile, the boy was moved to a relative’s place for safety.

In February, a woman in Alabama allegedly drove over her seven-year-old child after forcing him to walk home from school as a punishment. According to the New York Post, the incident happened when Sarai Rachel James, 27, picked up her son from school and got to know of his misbehaviour by the school’s principal. As a punishment, she made the boy get out of her car and asked him to walk or run the rest of the way home, which was about eight blocks away. 

When she slowed down, the boy tried to grab the door handle of the car before his mother accelerated. Her action resulted in the boy being pulled under the car and run over by the rear tyre. Police Chief Michael Abercrombie told People that the boy survived the accident and sustained minor injuries. The woman was arrested on February 8 and charged with aggravated child abuse, according to Marshall County Sheriff’s Office online booking records.

An 8-year-old girl in the United States died after being “violently sucked” into a large pipe while swimming at a hotel in Houston, Texas, on Saturday, as per a lawsuit filed by the victim’s family. Aliyah Jaico was swimming with her family in a lazy river at the Doubletree by Hilton Houston Brookhollow Hotel when she suddenly disappeared, Fox News reported. Hours later, her body was found “inside a large pipe in the pool area,” Houston police said in a statement. 

“Her poor little body was contorted when she was sucked into this hole and pipe 20 feet back,” Richard Nava, a lawyer representing the family, told reporters at a news conference. “They had to break up concrete and cut pipe in order to extract her… it was absolutely horrific,” Mr Nava said, per Fox News. 

The lawsuit states that the young girl was suddenly pulled into a 12 to 16-inch unsecured open gap in the swimming pool flow system. When she initially disappeared, her family did not know where she had gone, triggering a frantic search. According to the police, she was reported missing at about 5:45 pm Saturday. She was found around 11:30 pm and was pronounced dead by paramedics, cops said, adding that they were “continuing to investigate the incident”. 

The family filed the lawsuit earlier this week, seeking wrongful death damages of $1 million. According to the suit, the 8-year-old “loved to swim,” and her mother, Jose Daniela Jaico Ahumada, had rented a room at the hotel that day “to enjoy a day of swimming with her family”. 

“It took the fire department 13 hours to actually get her physical body removed from the pipe,” Justin Martinez, a communications representative for the Nava Law Group and the Jaico family, told The Washington Post. 

Separately, Mr Nava said that there was “an issue with the flow of the water” inside the pool that caused Aliyah to be sucked into what the lawsuit describes as an “unsecured open gap”. The hole was about 12 to 16 inches wide and the fire department had to “break up” the concrete pipe to retrieve the 8-year-old’s body, he added. 

“We are seeking justice for Aliyah, because this could have been avoidable,” Mr Nava said, adding that Aliyah’s loved ones were “devastated” by her death. 

The hotel is operated by Unique Crowne Hospitality LLC, according to the lawsuit. 

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In a statement to the Post, a Hilton spokesperson said the company was “deeply saddened by the tragic loss of a young girl”. But it also added that the property is “independently owned and operated by a third party”. Hilton said it “does not own, manage, or control the day-to-day operations of the property and does not employ any of the property’s staff or its third-party operators”. 

A spokesman for Unique Crowne Hospitality said that the company is “deeply saddened” by Aliyah’s death. “We offer our sincere and deepest condolences to her family and loved ones at this difficult time,” the statement said. “Our commitment to providing a safe and secure environment for our guests is paramount and we will continue to cooperate fully with all authorities investigating this incident,” it added. 

Hundreds of schools across the United States are set to close on April 8th due to a total solar eclipse. The eclipse will plunge several states into darkness as the moon covers the sun completely, according to Newsweek.

The path of totality will start in Mexico and move across parts of the United States, casting a complete shadow. This comes just a few months after the “ring of fire” eclipse in October 2023. Millions are expected to witness this astronomical event, with astronomy enthusiasts traveling to states in the path of totality, as per the news report.

However, safety concerns are emerging amid the excitement. Authorities warn that looking directly at the sun can cause permanent eye damage. There are also concerns about traffic disruptions and strain on local resources due to the large crowds expected.

The eclipse will be visible in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Small parts of Tennessee and Michigan will also experience totality. The eclipse will then move to Canada before exiting North America on the Atlantic coast.

Many schools in affected states have already announced closures. Parents are advised to check with their schools and stay updated with local news reports.

Texas has been proactive, with several counties issuing disaster declarations and advising residents to stock up on supplies. Some school districts, which initially planned eclipse-related activities, have reversed course due to safety concerns. Students will be given special eclipse glasses to take home and use for independent activities.

Schools in Indiana are also closing or switching to e-learning on the day of the eclipse.

Houston:

A US power company admitted Thursday that its equipment may have sparked the largest wildfire in Texas’ history.

Xcel — the parent of Southwest Public Service Company, which provides electricity to part of the state — said it was working with officials investigating the cause of the blaze that charred more than a million acres (over 400,000 hectares).

“Based on currently available information, Xcel Energy acknowledges that its facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire,” the company said.

Hundreds of homes are thought to have been destroyed in the fire, which is known to have killed at least two people and over 3,000 farm animals.

Xcel, which is facing at least one lawsuit, denied its equipment was improperly maintained.

“However, we encourage people who had property destroyed by, or livestock lost in, the Smokehouse Creek fire to submit a claim to Xcel Energy through our claims process,” the statement said.

The Washington Post reported the admission came after it saw evidence the grid in Texas was under stress in the hours before the blaze broke out in strong winds on February 26.

The paper said Whisker Labs, a firm that monitors electricity supply grids recorded 50 faults in the system.

These are typically logged when a power line has been toppled, or has touched trees — events that typically result in the kind of sparks that can start fires in dry countryside.

It is not uncommon for US power companies to be blamed for destructive wildfires.

Hawaii’s Maui county last year began legal action against the island’s electricity provider over the deadly fires that leveled the historic town of Lahaina.

Videos taken before the blaze ripped through the town, killing 100 people, apparently showed downed cables setting light to vegetation.

In California, the almost 1-million-acre Dixie fire of 2021 began after power lines owned by Pacific Gas and Electric touched a tree.

A year earlier, the company pleaded guilty to more than 80 counts of involuntary manslaughter over the horrific Camp fire.

US infrastructure is frequently old and increasingly not fit for the growing demands placed on it.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)