Why Google’s Internet Balloon Project Loon Failed

Alphabet announced last month that it was winding down Loon, a nine-year-old project and a two-and-a-half-year-old spin off firm, after failing to find a sustainable business model and partners for one of its most prominent moonshot projects. Business Insider shares more details on why the project failed. From the report, which may be paywalled: CEO Alastair Wingarth told The New York…

Every challenge astronauts will face on a flight to Mars

In 1972, the space race officially ended as NASA sent one last crew of astronauts to the surface of the moon (Apollo 17). This was the brass ring that both the US and the Soviets were reaching for, the “moonshot” that would determine who had supremacy in space. In the current age of renewed space exploration, the next great leap will…