During most of the Artemis II mission, the crew of four astronauts beamed back low-definition video, both from inside the spacecraft and from exterior views of the Moon. It was exhilarating stuff, but in a world in which we're all watching HDTVs, it also felt a little flat.

This is because Orion largely communicated with Earth via radio waves, picked up by large dishes sprinkled around the world. This is pretty much the same way the Apollo spacecraft talked to Earth more than half a century ago.

However, unlike Apollo, the astronauts on Orion would periodically send batches of much higher-resolution data, including the stunning photographs of the far side of the Moon and the Solar eclipse observed from there. This was made possible by optical laser communications, and not just those built by NASA. The mission included a commercial component that could pave the way for vastly more data returning to Earth from space than ever before.

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It took just a few months of President Donald Trump’s second term for Palantir employees to question their company’s commitments to civil liberties. Last fall, Palantir seemed to become the technological backbone of Trump’s immigration enforcement machinery, providing software identifying, tracking, and helping deport immigrants on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security, when current and former employees started ringing the alarm.

Around that time, two former employees reconnected by phone. Right as they picked up the call, one of them asked, “Are you tracking Palantir’s descent into fascism?”

“That was their greeting,” the other former employee says. “There’s this feeling not of ‘Oh, this is unpopular and hard,’ but ‘This feels wrong.’”

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NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told lawmakers on Monday that SpaceX and Blue Origin, the agency's two lunar lander contractors, say they could have their spacecraft ready for the next Artemis mission in Earth orbit in late 2027, somewhat later than NASA's previous schedule.

This mission, Artemis III, will not fly to the Moon. Instead, NASA will launch an Orion capsule with a team of astronauts to rendezvous and potentially dock with one or both landers in Earth orbit. The details of the Artemis III flight plan remain under review, with key questions about the orbit's altitude and the configuration of the Space Launch System rocket still unanswered.

A mission to low-Earth orbit, just a few hundred miles in altitude, may not require NASA to use up an SLS upper stage that is already built and in storage, saving the unit for the following Artemis mission to attempt a landing on the Moon. A launch into a higher orbit would require the upper stage, but it would allow NASA to perform tests in an environment more similar to the Moon. NASA is buying a new commercial upper stage, the Centaur V from United Launch Alliance, to pair with the SLS rocket after flying the last of the rocket's existing upper stages.

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Andrea Lattanzio knows a thing or two about building cozy scenes for minifigs to live their best lives – after all, his A-Frame Cabin remains one of the most charming sets to come from the Ideas program. For his latest creation, Andrea draws on another master of coziness – Miyazaki – specifically, the film Porco Rosso. Andrea recreates Porco’s beach hideout in LEGO with a painterly eye for detail. Of course, the Savoia S.21 seaplane is here, as well as a campsite filled with details from the film. Most impressive is the limestone cove and crystal clear water, inspired by the Croatian coastline.

We’ve seen many stunning takes on the Savoia S.21 in LEGO over the years, most recently this version from Eero Okkonen, and it’s always great to see another expert builder take it on. Andrea digs deep into the parts archive for elements to incorporate, such as a Fabuland engine block.

A custom Porco minifigure looks quite comfortable surrounded by everything an aerial ace needs. The cloth tent from Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull matches Porco’s tent perfectly.

If you’re a fan of Andrea’s work, like the now-retired A-Frame Cabin, his latest Ideas project – the Stilt House – is up on the platform now and could become a set with enough support.

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