Hasta La Gadget!

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter is still pushing boundaries long after its first Mars liftoff. As CNETnotes, the space agency has shared video of Ingenuity’s milestone 25th flight on April 8th, when it broke duration and speed records. The robotic helicopter flew at 12MPH for just over two minutes and 41 seconds, providing footage of the Red Planet’s rippling sands and rock fields as part of the 2,310-foot journey. The footage you see below was sped up to cut the viewing time to 35 seconds.

The video doesn’t include the very start and end of the trip, but for good reason. The navigation camera switches off whenever Ingenuity is within three feet of the Martian surface to prevent dust from interfering with the navigation system. The autonomous flier receives flight plans from JPL, but it uses a combination of the camera, a laser rangefinder and an inertial measurement unit to adapt to real-life conditions.

Ingenuity has flown three times since. It’s currently preparing for a 29th flight following a brief scare in early May, when the mission team lost communication after the helicopter switched to a low-power state. NASA isn’t easily deterred, then — expect the aircraft to keep flying for a while to come.

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English jargon has invaded every corner of France, causing consternation among language purists — a trade fair popular with politicians during election season is called “Made in France,” for example. Despite widespread usage in business and elsewhere, the government has decided to pick on gaming, officially banning terms like “streamer” and “cloud gaming,” according to AFP. Going forward, the far more convoluted terms joueur-animateur en direct and jeu video en nuage must be used for any government communications.

The changes were made in consultation with France’s Ministry of Culture, which has in the past touted the gaming industry as a French economic success story. However, it told the AFP it’s concerned that English terms could become a “barrier to understanding” for non-gamers. (That’s a solid point, as I can attest that many French non-gamers wouldn’t have a clue what a term like “streaming” means.) France’s language keepers, l’Académie française, has also expressed concern about English jargon in gaming, having published a lexicon of alternate French terms back in 2017. 

The changes were issued in the government’s official journal, meaning they’re binding on all government workers. However, it’s hard to see them catching on in daily use or even on French websites or newspapers. Previous efforts by l’Académie française to replace anglicisms have not gone well — its attempt to get people to use l’access sans fil à internet instead of le wifi failed completely, as The Local France points out.