Successful lift-off for SpaceX

The ‘Resilience’ launch is the first of what the US hopes will be many missions for Elon Musk’s company.

Crew-1 mission astronauts (L to R) Victor Glover, Michael Hopkins, Shannon Walker and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi, walk out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building en route to launch complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 15, 2020. - NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission is the first crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, and astronaut Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are scheduled to launch at 7:27 p.m. EST on November 15, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. (Photo by Gregg Newton / Gregg Newton / AFP)

Hello and welcome to The Download, The Australian’s technology blog for the latest tech news.

12.10pm: Successsful lift-off for SpaceX

Four astronauts were successfully launched on the SpaceX Crew Dragon “Resilience” to the International Space Station on Sunday, the first of what the US hopes will be many routine missions following a successful test flight in late spring.

Three Americans -- Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker -- and Japan’s Soichi Noguchi blasted off at 7:27 pm from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, thus ending almost a decade of international reliance on Russia for rides on its Soyuz rockets.

US President-elect Joe Biden hailed the launch on Twitter as a “testament to the power of science and what we can accomplish by harnessing our innovation, ingenuity, and determination,” while President Donald Trump called it “great.” Vice President Mike Pence, who attended the launch with his wife Karen, called it a “new era in human space exploration in America.” The Pences joined NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine and his wife Michelle to watch the launch, clapping as the rocket lifted off.

The capsule successfully separated from the second stage of the rocket and, according to a SpaceX team member speaking over radio, had achieved “nominal orbit insertion.” That means the capsule is currently on the right trajectory to reach the ISS. The crew will dock at their destination at around 11:00 pm Monday night (0400 GMT Tuesday), joining two Russians and one American onboard the station, and stay for six months.

In May, SpaceX completed a demonstration mission showing it could take astronauts to the ISS and bring them back safely, a landmark development allowing the US to begin travelling to the space station under its own power once more.

The Crew Dragon earlier this week became the first spacecraft to be certified by NASA since the Space Shuttle nearly 40 years ago.

It is a capsule, similar in shape to the spacecraft that preceded Space Shuttle, and its launch vehicle is a reusable SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

At the end of its missions, the Crew Dragon deploys parachutes and then splashes down in water, just as in the Apollo era.

NASA turned to SpaceX and Boeing after shuttering the checkered Space Shuttle program in 2011, which failed in its main objectives of making space travel affordable and safe.

The agency will have spent more than $US 8billion on the Commercial Crew program by 2024, with the hope that the private sector can take care of NASA’s needs in “low Earth orbit” so it is freed up to focus on return missions to the Moon and then on to Mars.

SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk in 2002, has leapfrogged its much older rival Boeing, whose program has floundered after a failed test of its uncrewed Starliner last year.

AFP

Chris Griffith 7.20am: macOS Big Sur bricks some older MacBook Pro models: report

Apple users with very old MacBooks Pro laptops have been reporting issues with updating their devices to the company’s latest Big Sur macOS operating system.

This happened to me when upgrading my late-2013 MBP Retina. I got out of it by doing something I never recommend...force powering off the device mid install!...
macOS Big Sur Update Bricking Some Older MacBook Pro Models https://t.co/QVr1bGEXu4 #readlater #feedly

— Tom Northenscold (@tomnorthenscold) November 15, 2020

The Apple-focus news website macrumours.com reports that a large number of late 2013 and mid 2014 13-inch MacBook Pro owners say new the operating system has been “bricking” their machines.

“A MacRumors forum thread contains a significant number of users reporting the issue, and similar problems are being reported across Reddit and the Apple Support Communities, suggesting the problem is widespread,” MacRumours reports.

“Key reset combinations, including NVRAM, SMC, safe mode, and internet recovery, are all reportedly inaccessible after attempting to install the update, leaving no way to bypass the static black screen.”

More details

7.00am: Elon Musk tests positive to COVID-19

Tesla founder Elon Musk says he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus while also testing negative, offering a sceptical view of the validity of the procedures.

In a series of tweets early Friday, Musk said he had conflicting results from rapid “antigen” tests for COVID-19 after he had “mild sniffles & cough & slight fever” in recent days.

“Something extremely bogus is going on. Was tested for covid four times today,” he wrote. “Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse.” Musk, who earlier this year dismissed concerns about the pandemic and fought lockdown orders in California, said he planned to take the more accurate PCR test which must be sent to a lab for analysis.

The rapid antigen tests have gained ground in recent weeks in view of backlogs at laboratories, but they are less sensitive to small amounts of virus and more likely to deliver a false negative.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during the Tesla China-made Model 3 delivery ceremony in Shanghai in July. Picture: AFP

In March, Musk appeared to dismiss concerns about the pandemic, saying that “my guess is that the panic will cause more harm than the virus.” Two months later he defied lockdown orders in California to reopen the Tesla assembly plant, daring authorities to arrest him.

Musk’s space company SpaceX was set to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station Saturday, for the first time since a successful crewed test flight in May.

Musk was in the control room for that mission, but NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said Friday that protocol ruled out the presence of anyone who tested positive at the Kennedy Space Center.

“When somebody tests positive for Covid here at the Kennedy Space Center, and across NASA, it is our policy for that person to quarantine and self-isolate,” he said at a press conference.

“So we anticipate that will be taking place. And, you know, we’re looking to SpaceX to do any contact tracing that is appropriate.” The astronauts have been in quarantine since October 31, and Bridenstine did not want to predict whether there was a risk of postponing the launch if possible contact cases were identified.

AFP