China wants to reduce, reuse, and recycle — rockets
Chinese aerospace company LandSpace successfully recovered the first stage of a rocket on land for the first time on Wednesday, marking a major step toward reusable rockets. Reusability is crucial in the growing space race because it can dramatically reduce the cost of putting satellites into orbit. Until now, only two private companies — Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin — had successfully recovered and landed rocket boosters. SpaceX, in fact, now launches and lands reused boosters from its Falcon 9 rocket almost every day. China still trails the US in launch capacity and in the number of payloads – equipment or personnel for missions – it can send into orbit. But reusable rockets could help China narrow that gap. LandSpace plans to fly its recovered booster within the next six months.
Strikes on “Europe’s breadbasket” send wheat costs skyrocketing
At least five grain ships were struck near two Russian ports in the Black Sea earlier this week as Ukraine and Russia intensified attacks on each other’s exports. In July, Moscow began targeting key Ukrainian grain terminals, cutting its export capacity by roughly a third, and driving up the price of grain. Together, the two countries supply around 30% of the world’s wheat. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine triggered the sharpest surge in worldwide food prices on record. But today;s comes at an already difficult moment for the global food supply: the cost of fertilizer, transported via the Strait of Hormuz, has risen since the start of the Iran war; heat waves in Europe are decimating crop yields; and a developing El Niño weather pattern threatens both extreme heat and excessive rainfall. Countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia will bear the brunt of the reduced capacity because they cannot afford to import more expensive grains.
Denmark puts data centers last under new grid access law
Denmark this week introduced an emergency law to reallocate power grid resources amid surging demand from data centers. Under the previous first-come, first-serve system, data centers competed for grid access alongside other projects and infrastructure. The new law allows the energy ministry to set priorities for grid access, and places data centers at the bottom of the list. Denmark and its Nordic neighbors have attracted data center development because of their cool climates and abundant energy resources, but the boom is threatening to strain the grid. Earlier in March, Denmark’s state-owned grid operator halted new data center connections, with roughly 14 GW of projects waiting to come online — enough to nearly triple the country’s current electricity consumption. Denmark’s move could offer a blueprint for other European countries grappling with an explosion in data center power demand.
