Month: May 2022

Enlarge / After being caught by a helicopter, and then dropped into the sea, an Electron booster is brought back to New Zealand by boat on Tuesday. (credit: Rocket Lab)

On Monday evening Rocket Lab launched its 26th Electron mission, successfully deploying a record 34 small satellites into orbit. But attention for this mission was far more focused on what happened after the launch, not during it.

That’s because, for the first time, Rocket Lab attempted to catch the falling first stage of its Electron booster with a helicopter. And briefly, they succeeded with this mid-air recovery.

As the rocket descended beneath its main parachute at about 10 meters per second, a drogue chute trailed behind with a 50-meter line. A Sikorsky S-92 helicopter tracked this descending rocket, and it, too, had a 50-meter line with a hook on the end of it.

Enlarge (credit: Fitbit)

Google and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalled 1.7 million Fitbit Ionic smartwatches earlier this year, citing “78 reports of burn injuries in the United States, including two reports of third-degree burns and four reports of second-degree burns.” A new lawsuit claims the recall was not enough, and that “the same defect exists throughout all” Fitbit products.

The Fitbit Iconic’s recall was due to faulty batteries that would overheat and burn a user’s skin. It’s hard to believe “all” Fitbit products are affected by this defect, but given that companies tend to share designs and components across products, it would not be surprising to hear that multiple smartwatch-style models contain defective batteries.

Two women named in the lawsuit claim they were burned by their Fitbits; one had a Fitbit Versa Light and the other a Fitbit Versa 2. The lawsuit also points out several online reports of burns from Fitbit products, like the Fitbit Versa and Fitbit Sense lines. Fitbit’s replies usually claim these reports are due to “skin irritation” or “friction,” but the lawsuit contends that this is not the case, saying that these products can “overheat and pose a significant hazard for burns and fires” due to a defect in “the battery and charging system.”

Enlarge / FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington testifies during a House committee hearing on March 31, 2022 in Washington, DC.

Federal Communications Commission member Nathan Simington says the FCC should “applaud” Elon Musk for buying Twitter, arguing that Musk’s “stated intention to ease Twitter’s restrictions on speech… would almost certainly enhance competition and better serve those Americans, the majority, who value free speech.”

“The FCC cannot, and should not, block this sale,” Simington, one of two Republican commissioners on the FCC, said in a statement issued Monday. “We should instead applaud Mr. Musk for doing something about a serious problem that government has so far failed to address.” Simington was nominated to the FCC by then-President Donald Trump in 2020 to replace a Republican commissioner who objected to Trump’s demand that the FCC crack down on social media “censorship.”

There’s not much reason to think the FCC would try to block Musk’s pending $44 billion purchase of Twitter, as the commission’s authority over mergers and acquisitions is centered on transactions that involve FCC licenses. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, hasn’t issued any statements on the Twitter sale. However, a group called the Open Markets Institute last week claimed that the FCC, Department of Justice, and Federal Trade Commission all have “ample authority” to block the sale.