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Watch private space capsule's blistering return to Earth in amazing onboard video
Mar 2, 2024
A pioneering private space capsule captured spectacular footage of its fiery homecoming last month.
Varda Space's first-ever mission, called W-1, wrapped up on Feb. 21 with the successful recovery of the California's startup's off-Earth manufacturing capsule.
That conical, 3-foot-wide (0.9 meters) capsule touched down softly under parachute at the Utah Test and Training Range west of Salt Lake City, carrying space-grown crystals of the antiviral drug Ritonavir.
Varda aims to become a major player in the nascent in-space manufacturing industry, which takes advantage of the unique microgravity environment of low Earth orbit to make high-value products like pharmaceuticals.
Such work has been done on the International Space Station already with the help of astronauts. But Varda offers customers an all-in-one autonomous option — a capsule that serves as both a minifactory and a return vehicle, taking pricey humans out of the orbital loop.
W-1 was Varda's first in-space test. The mission launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket in June 2023, one of more than 70 payloads on SpaceX's Transporter-8 rideshare mission. Varda's capsule was integrated into a Rocket Lab Photon spacecraft, which provided power, propulsion and other vital services.
About a week after liftoff, Varda announced that crystals of Ritonavir — a drug used to treat HIV and hepatitis C — had grown successfully aboard the capsule as planned.
The company wanted to bring those crystals down shortly thereafter but ran into difficulties securing the required reentry and landing approvals. That permission came last month, paving the way for W-1's historic touchdown.
Varda transported the capsule from Utah to its Los Angeles facilities for inspection and analysis.
"The Ritonavir vials onboard the spacecraft will be shipped to our collaborators Improved Pharma for post-flight characterization," Varda wrote in an update shortly after landing on Feb. 21. "Additionally, data collected throughout the entirety of the capsule's flight — including a portion where we reached hypersonic speeds — will be shared with the Air Force and NASA under a contract Varda has with those agencies."
https://www.space.com/varda-in-space-manufacturing-capsule-earth-return-video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWxl921rMgM
Mysterious Black Ring Filmed In Sky Over Argentina Leads To UFO Speculation
MARCH 1, 2024 11:36 AM
A mysterious black ring filmed in the sky moving slowly from side to side over Argentina had some locals wondering if a UFO was visiting their town.
The footage, taken from a farm in Argentina’s Tucuman province, had many area residents stumped as they tried to guess what it was that they were seeing.
Some believed it was some sort of smoke ring. Others thought it may have had something to do with the weather. Another hypothesis was that it was some sort of swarm of insects. A few even thought perhaps it was a signal from aliens.
The strange black ring was estimated by some to measure over 1,600 feet in size.
Then it vanished without a trace.
There was good reason for concern because Argentina has been a bit of a hotspot for UFO and alien rumors over the past few years.
In 2022, an alien abduction was reported in same Argentinian province twice in four months
This also isn’t the first time that a mysterious black ring has appeared in the sky over Argentina.
In 2019, a construction worker was working in Buenos Aires when he and his crew spotted a similar black, circular UFO in the sky.
It also happened in 2015 when a giant black, circular ring appeared in the sky above Puertos del Fruto.
That particular black ring was eventually blamed on a fireworks display that was set off during a performance at the Parque de la Costa amusement park for a performance called “Zombie Invasion.”
While some plausible explanations have been given for all of these sightings, one man in Argentina named Werner Jaisli constructed a “landing strip” for UFOs called the “Star of Hope.”
He built the UFO monument in the middle of the Argentinian desert between 2008 and 2012, but shortly after it was built he disappeared. It was eventually learned that he had passed away in December 2021 without ever seeing the aliens who he says telepathically ordered him to create the ovniport.
https://brobible.com/culture/article/black-ring-filmed-argentina-ufo/