Hasta La Gadget!

NASA has set an aggressive launch target for its Artemis 1 Moon mission following the successful June 20th “wet dress rehearsal” fueling test of the SLS rocket that will carry the flight to space. In an interview with Ars Technica, Jim Free, associate administrator with the agency’s Explorations Systems Development program, said this week NASA is working toward an August 23rd to September 6th launch window for Aretmis 1. “That’s the one we’re targeting,” Free told the outlet. “We’d be foolish not to target that right now. We made incredible progress last week.”

For those keeping track, NASA recently announced the earliest it could get Artemis 1 in space following a successful fueling test of the SLS was between July 26th and August 10th. Instead, NASA selected the second earliest launch window it had open to it.

Before the flight can get underway, technicians must complete final preparations on the SLS rocket, including replacing a seal that led to a hydrogen leak during its June 20th test. NASA began rolling the SLS back to the Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building, where staff will work on the launch vehicle, on July 1st. “I don’t think we’re stretching ourselves to get there,” Free said. “We’re probably pushing ourselves a little bit, but we’re not going to do something stupid.”

Once Artemis 1 is finally underway, it will carry an unmanned Orion module on a trip around the Moon to study how the flight might affect the human body. Artemis II will later take four astronauts to the satellite ahead of a planned lunar landing sometime in the second half of the decade.

As summer travel chaos grows, agreeing to give up your seat could be more lucrative.

Google’s worst hardware flop was introduced 10 years ago today

Chris Welch, The Verge

Ah, the Nexus Q. The $300 media player Google never release to consumers fetched poor reviews from nearly every outlet that tested it. The Verge recounts all that went wrong with the device, which was nearly everything aside from an eye-catching design. 

A brief history of (unintentionally) unbeatable games

Kyle Orland, Ars Technica

The Switch version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II has a glitch that makes it impossible to complete the game. There’s a plan to fix it with a patch, but that’s not always possible when games carry unintentional flaws. Ars Technica provides a brief history of other titles that fall into this unfortunate category.

The rise of the 0.5 selfie

Kalley Huang, The New York Times

Taken with the ultra-wide lens on the back of a phone at 0.5x on the camera, a new selfie trend is a far cry from the meticulously curated self-portraits we typically see splattered across social networks. 

There are enough votes on the Supreme Court to uphold new restrictions on Plan B and birth control, experts say.

There’ve been no shortage of IP crossovers in recent years, particularly from Warner Bros. Space Jam 2 was basically WB’s crossover Comic-Con, and it doesn’t appear that they’ll be stopping anytime soon. On the game side, they’ve got Multiversus, where DC superheroes will get to fight alongside Cartoon Network and HBO…

Read more…