Kris Guyer – Page 5

FDA reverses surprise rejection of Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine

anti-vaccine, fda, health, moderna, robert f kennedy jr, vinay prasad / Kris Guyer / February 18, 2026

Anti-vaccine agenda

Agency insiders told reporters that a team of career scientists was ready to review the vaccine and held an hourlong meeting with Prasad to present the reasons for moving forward with the review. David Kaslow, a top career official responsible for reviewing vaccines, also wrote a memo detailing why the review should proceed. Prasad rejected the vaccine application anyway.

According to today’s announcement, the FDA reversed that rejection when Moderna proposed splitting the application, seeking full approval for the vaccine’s use in people aged 50 to 64 and an accelerated approval for use in people 65 and up. That latter regulatory pathway means Moderna will have to conduct an additional trial in that age group to confirm its effectiveness after it’s on the market.

Andrew Nixon, spokesperson for the US Department of Health and Human Services, confirmed the reversal to Ars Technica. “Discussions with the company led to a revised regulatory approach and an amended application, which FDA accepted,” Nixon said in a statement. “FDA will maintain its high standards during review and potential licensure stages as it does with all products.”

The FDA typically takes a levelheaded approach to working with companies, rarely making surprising decisions or rejecting applications outright. While Prasad claimed the rejection was due to the control vaccine, the move aligns with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s broader anti-vaccine agenda.

Kennedy and the allies he has installed in federal positions are particularly hostile to mRNA technology. Moderna has already lost more than $700 million in federal contracts to develop pandemic vaccines. Next month, Kennedy’s MAHA Institute is hosting an anti-vaccine event that alleges there’s a “massive epidemic of vaccine injury.” The event description claims without evidence that use of mRNA vaccines is linked to “rising rates of acute and chronic illness.”

Vaccine makers and industry investors, meanwhile, are reporting that Kennedy’s relentless anti-vaccine efforts are chilling the entire industry, with companies abandoning research and cutting jobs. In comments to The New York Times, Moderna’s president, Stephen Hoge, said, “There will be less invention, investment, and innovation in vaccines generally, across all the companies.”

FDA reverses surprise rejection of Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine Read More »

Record scratch—Google’s Lyria 3 AI music model is coming to Gemini today

AI, Artificial Intelligence, generative ai, Google / Kris Guyer / February 18, 2026

Sour notes

AI-generated music is not a new phenomenon. Several companies offer models that ingest and homogenize human-created music, and the resulting tracks can sound remarkably “real,” if a bit overproduced. Streaming services have already been inundated with phony AI artists, some of which have gathered thousands of listeners who may not even realize they’re grooving to the musical equivalent of a blender set to purée.

Still, you have to seek out tools like that, and Google is bringing similar capabilities to the Gemini app. As one of the most popular AI platforms, we’re probably about to see a lot more AI music on the Internet. Google says tracks generated with Lyria 3 will have an audio version of Google’s SynthID embedded within. That means you’ll always be able to check if a piece of audio was created with Google’s AI by uploading it to Gemini, similar to the way you can check images and videos for SynthID tags.

Google also says it has sought to create a music AI that respects copyright and partner agreements. If you name a specific artist in your prompt, Gemini won’t attempt to copy that artist’s sound. Instead, it’s trained to take that as “broad creative inspiration.” Although it also notes this process is not foolproof, and some of that original expression might imitate an artist too much. In those cases, Google invites users to report such shared content.

Lyria 3 is going live in the Gemini web interface today and should be available in the mobile app within a few days. It works in English, German, Spanish, French, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese, but Google plans to add more languages soon. While all users will have some access to music generation, those with AI Pro and AI Ultra subscriptions will have higher usage limits, but the specifics are unclear.

Record scratch—Google’s Lyria 3 AI music model is coming to Gemini today Read More »

Stephen Colbert says CBS forbid interview of Democrat because of FCC threat

brendan carr, Equal Time Rule, FCC, Policy, Stephen Colbert / Kris Guyer / February 17, 2026

We contacted CBS and its owner Paramount today and have not received a response. CBS denied prohibiting an interview with Talarico in a statement reported by Variety. The CBS statement acknowledged giving “legal guidance” about potential consequences under the equal-time rule, though.

“The Late Show was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico,” the statement said. “The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled. The Late Show decided to present the interview through its YouTube channel with on-air promotion on the broadcast rather than potentially providing the equal-time options.”

Colbert put interview on YouTube

Colbert played audio of a recent Carr interview in which the FCC chairman said, “If [Jimmy] Kimmel and Colbert want to continue to do their programming, they don’t want to have to comply with this requirement, then they can go to a cable channel or a podcast or a streaming service and that’s fine.”

Colbert said he “decided to take Brendan Carr’s advice” and interviewed Talarico for a segment posted on his show’s YouTube channel. “The network says I can’t give you a URL or a QR code but I promise you if you go to our YouTube page, you’ll find it,” Colbert said. That interview is available here.

Colbert described the unequal treatment of late-night talk shows and talk radio. “Carr here claims he’s just getting partisanship off the airwaves but the FCC is also in charge of regulating radio broadcasts. And what would you know, Brendan Carr says right-wing talk radio isn’t a target of the FCC’s equal time notice,” Colbert said.

Colbert said that a mere threat, and not an actual rule change, caused CBS to forbid him from interviewing a candidate. “At this point, he’s just released a letter that says he’s thinking about doing away with the exception for late night, he hasn’t done away with it yet,” Colbert said. “But my network is unilaterally enforcing it as if he had. But I want to assure you this decision is for purely financial reasons.”

Colbert pushed out after “big fat bribe” comment

Colbert’s tenure as host is scheduled to end in May. CBS announced it would end the show last year after Colbert called CBS owner Paramount’s $16 million settlement with Trump “a big fat bribe.” Paramount subsequently won FCC approval of an $8 billion merger with Skydance, while agreeing to Carr’s demand to install a “bias monitor.”

FCC Democrat Anna Gomez said today that CBS forbidding the interview with Talarico “is yet another troubling example of corporate capitulation in the face of this administration’s broader campaign to censor and control speech. The FCC has no lawful authority to pressure broadcasters for political purposes or to create a climate that chills free expression. CBS is fully protected under the First Amendment to determine what interviews it airs, which makes its decision to yield to political pressure all the more disappointing.”

Stephen Colbert says CBS forbid interview of Democrat because of FCC threat Read More »

Most VMware users still “actively reducing their VMware footprint,” survey finds

Biz & IT, Broadcom, vmware / Kris Guyer / February 17, 2026

Migrations are ongoing

Broadcom introduced changes to VMware that are especially unfriendly to small- and-medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and Gartner previously predicted that 35 percent of VMware workloads would migrate else by 2028.

CloudBolt’s survey also examined how respondents are migrating workloads off of VMware. Currently, 36 percent of participants said they migrated 1–24 percent of their environment off of VMware. Another 32 percent said that they have migrated 25–49 percent; 10 percent said that they’ve migrated 50–74 percent of workloads; and 2 percent have migrated 75 percent or more of workloads. Five percent of respondents said that they have not migrated from VMware at all.

Among migrated workloads, 72 percent moved to public cloud infrastructure as a service, followed by Microsoft’s Hyper-V/Azure stack (43 percent of respondents).

Overall, 86 percent of respondents “are actively reducing their VMware footprint,” CloudBolt’s report said.

“The fear has cooled, but the pressure hasn’t—and most teams are now making practical moves to build leverage and optionality—even if for some that includes the realization that a portion of their estate never moves off VMware,” Mark Zembal, CloudBolt’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement.

While bundled products, fewer options, resellers, and higher prices make VMware harder to justify for many, especially SMB customers, migration is a long process with its own costs, including time spent researching alternatives and building relevant skills. CloudBolt’s reported multi-platform complexity (52 percent) and skills gaps (33 percent) topped the list of migration challenges.

“As organizations diversify away from VMware, they inherit the operational burden of managing multiple platforms with different operational and governance models,” the report reads.

While companies determine the best ways to limit their dependence on VMware, Broadcom can still make money from smaller customers it doesn’t deem necessary for the long term.

“Their strategy was never to keep every customer,” CloudBolt’s report says. “It was to maximize value from those still on the platform while the market slowly diversifies. The model assumes churn and it’s built to make the economics work anyway. Broadcom has done the math—and they’re fine with it.”

Most VMware users still “actively reducing their VMware footprint,” survey finds Read More »

What happens to a car when the company behind its software goes under?

Cars, connected cars / Kris Guyer / February 17, 2026

Connected car servers won’t be online indefinitely, and startups often go bust.

Fisker managed to deliver some Oceans before it sank. But are those owners beached now? Credit: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Imagine turning the key or pressing the start button of your car—and nothing happens. Not because the battery is dead or the engine is broken but because a server no longer answers. For a growing number of cars, that scenario isn’t hypothetical.

As vehicles become platforms for software and subscriptions, their longevity is increasingly tied to the survival of the companies behind their code. When those companies fail, the consequences ripple far beyond a bad app update and into the basic question of whether a car still functions as a car.

Over the years, automotive software has expanded from performing rudimentary engine management and onboard diagnostics to powering today’s interconnected, software-defined vehicles. Smartphone apps can now handle tasks like unlocking doors, flashing headlights, and preconditioning cabins—and some models won’t unlock at all unless a phone running the manufacturer’s app is within range.

However, for all the promised convenience of modern vehicle software, there’s a growing nostalgia for an era when a phone call to a mechanic could resolve most problems. Mechanical failures were often diagnosable and fixable, and cars typically returned to the road quickly. Software-defined vehicles complicate that model: When something goes wrong, a car can be rendered inoperable in a driveway—or stranded at the side of the road—waiting not for parts but a software technician.

It’s already happening

Take the example of Fisker. In May 2023, the California auto brand arrived in Britain with its Ocean Sport before filing for bankruptcy just one year later. Priced from £35,000 ($44,000)—although top-spec trims pushed the price to £60,000 ($75,000)—the all-electric Tesla Model Y rival featured tech including a partially retracting roof and a rotating BYD-like touchscreen. All cars also carried a six-year/62,000-mile (99,779 km) warranty, with the battery and powertrain covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles (160,934 km).

Before Fisker’s 2024 bankruptcy, just 419 Fisker Oceans made it into British driveways. One unfortunate buyer, a marketing manager from Southampton, experienced the worst of the brand’s teething troubles. After taking delivery, her Ocean was plagued by persistent software glitches. Following a call to Fisker, engineers were dispatched to collect the vehicle for repairs, but when the car was due to be collected, it refused to start. Mere days later, Fisker declared insolvency, leaving the Ocean stranded as a 5,500 lb (2,500 kg) driveway ornament for the next ten months with no solution in sight.

Preceding Fisker, there was Better Place. Founded in 2007, Better Place wasn’t a car manufacturer but an EV infrastructure and software company that promised to solve range anxiety through battery-swap stations. Its entire model relied on centralized servers, subscriptions, and proprietary software to authenticate vehicles and manage battery exchanges. The flagship car for this system was the Renault Fluence Z.E., an electric sedan sold primarily in Israel and Denmark.

Better Place filed for bankruptcy in May 2013 after burning through $850 million, leading to Renault closing the Fluence Z.E’s Turkish assembly line. Servers were shut down, battery-swap stations stopped operating, and backend software used for authentication, charging, and fleet management disappeared, leaving many cars bricked.

A man stands next to a compact electric car, inside a white-painted facility — Better Place founder and CEO Shai Agassi showing off a battery-swap station for electric taxis in Tokyo on April 26, 2010. Three years later, the company was done. Credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images

These cases highlight a broader shift in the auto industry, where long-term ownership is increasingly dependent not just on mechanical durability but on continued access to proprietary software and manufacturer support.

“When a modern car’s software misbehaves, you don’t fix it yourself—you call the manufacturer,” said Stuart Masson, founder and editor of The Car Expert. “They control the code. At that point, you’re not dealing with a traditional service department so much as an IT help desk.”

That dependence, Masson warned, becomes a critical failure mode when the manufacturer disappears. “Sooner or later, every owner risks a Fisker-style scenario, where the company is gone and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

While informal owner communities have begun attempting to reverse-engineer and distribute unofficial software updates, Masson is blunt about the risks. “You’re trusting that someone on the Internet actually knows what they’re doing,” he said. “If they don’t, the consequences might not be that Android Auto simply stops working but instead an airbag deploying at 70 mph.”

While buying a second-hand Fisker in the UK is a high-risk move, more established manufacturers generally have contingency plans if a critical software partner goes under. In practice, that usually means issuing recalls or pushing over-the-air fixes to affected vehicles. Warranty coverage should handle most issues for newer cars, but the story gets murkier on the used market.

Out of warranty

Take a decade-old Tesla Model S, for example: You might snag one at a bargain price, but there’s no guarantee Tesla will continue supporting it indefinitely. When a manufacturer drops software support, the car isn’t just at risk of breaking down—it becomes a potential cybersecurity liability. In a world where vehicles are increasingly defined by their code, running unsupported software is akin to leaving your router exposed to the Internet. You may have a functioning car today, but there’s no telling when—or how—it could stop running.

“Many teams, such as McLaren, who have F1 cars from the 1990s, require a 1990s-era laptop running an old Windows operating system, along with specialized interface hardware, for maintenance and to start the car,” Masson said. “We are up against time here, but it could be that brands like Tesla release its code, allowing people to use it. Who knows?”

The problem isn’t solely on the consumer; manufacturers shoulder a significant portion of the risk as well. One potential mitigation is standardization. Enter Catena-X, a collaborative data network connecting OEMs, suppliers, and IT vendors. By creating traceable digital records for parts and software—and standardizing data models and APIs for interoperability—Catena-X aims to make supply chains more resilient and software dependencies less catastrophic when a critical partner disappears.

When asked how OEMs can map software dependencies and mitigate vendor insolvency, Catena-X Managing Director Hanno Focken told Ars that “Catena-X supports software bills of materials and standardizes certain components to make software replaceable, plus a marketplace and open-source reference implementation helps OEMs find alternative vendors.”

The industry also shares responsibility in defining minimum operational lifespans for vehicle software. “As an association, Catena-X can facilitate shared industry commitments and consensus (e.g., data retention policies like a 10-year battery passport requirement), but it does not act as a regulator setting mandatory lifespans,” added Focken.

The lesson is clear: In today’s cars, the engine or electric motor isn’t always what keeps you moving—the software does. When that software vanishes with a bankrupt company, your car can go from daily driver to expensive paperweight overnight. And in the age of software-defined vehicles, owning a car increasingly means betting on the survival of its code. When that code dies, the driveway or highway—not the repair shop—becomes the final stop.

What happens to a car when the company behind its software goes under? Read More »

There’s a lot of big talk about sovereign launch—who is doing something about it?

Commercial space, launch, rockets, Science, Space, space policy / Kris Guyer / February 17, 2026

As alliances fray, these are the nations investing in sovereign access to space.

PLD Space shows off a model of its Miura 1 suborbital rocket during a 2021 presentation on the esplanade of the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid. Credit: Oscar Gonzalez/NurPhoto via Getty Images

No one will supplant American and Chinese dominance in the space launch arena anytime soon, but several longtime US allies now see sovereign access to space as a national security imperative.

Taking advantage of private launch initiatives already underway within their own borders, several middle and regional powers have approved substantial government funding for commercial startups to help them reach the launch pad. Australia, Canada, Germany, and Spain are among the nations that currently lack the ability to independently put their own satellites into orbit but which are now spending money to establish a domestic launch industry. Others talk a big game but haven’t committed the cash to back up their ambitions.

The moves are part of a wider trend among US allies to increase defense spending amid strained relations with the Trump administration. Tariffs, trade wars, and threats to invade the territory of a NATO ally have changed the tune of many foreign leaders. In Europe, there’s even talk of fielding a nuclear deterrent independent of the nuclear umbrella provided by the US military.

Trump’s relationship with Elon Musk, the head of the world’s leading space launch company, has further soured foreign appetite for using the United States for launch services. Today, that usually means choosing to pay Musk’s SpaceX.

Commercial satellite companies will still choose the cheapest, most reliable path to space, of course. This means SpaceX will win the overwhelming majority of commercial launch contracts put up for global competition. But there’s a captive market for many satellite projects, especially those with government backing. US government satellites typically launch on US rockets, just as Chinese satellites fly on Chinese rockets.

The picture is more opaque in Europe. The European Space Agency and the European Union prefer to launch their satellites on European rockets, but that’s not always possible. ESA and the EU launched several key satellite missions on SpaceX rockets while waiting on the debut of Europe’s long-delayed Ariane 6 rocket. The Ariane 6 is now launching reliably, ending Europe’s reliance on SpaceX.

Many European nations have their own satellite projects. Historically, their preference for launching on European rockets has not been as strong as it is for pan-European programs managed by ESA and the EU. So it has never been unusual to see a British, German, Spanish, or Italian satellite launching on a foreign rocket.

This posture is starting to change. All four of these nations have invested in homegrown rockets in recent years. Germany made the biggest splash last year when the government announced $41 billion (35 billion euros) in space spending over the next five years. “Satellite networks today are an Achilles’ heel of modern societies. Whoever attacks them paralyzes entire nations,” said Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defense minister, during the announcement.

Every satellite network needs a launch pad and a rocket. In late 2024, the German federal government made more than $110 million (95 million euros) available to three German launch startups: Isar Aerospace, Rocket Factory Augsburg, and HyImpulse. All three are also backed by private funding, with Isar leading the pack with approximately $650 million (550 million euros) from investors. None have reached orbit yet. For comparison, Rocket Lab, the world’s most successful launch startup not founded by a billionaire, raised $148 million (approximately $200 million adjusted for inflation) before reaching orbit in 2018. Nearly all of it came from private sources.

Rocket Lab, which operates the Electron small satellite launcher seen in this image, is the most successful modern commercial launch startup not founded by a billionaire. Rocket Lab went public in 2021, three years after its first successful orbital launch. Credit: Rocket Lab

In 2023, the Italian government committed more than $300 million in support of Avio, the company that already builds and operates the Vega satellite launcher. Avio is based in Italy and is using the funds to develop methane propulsion, among other things.

With help from other ESA member states, Italy is one of the countries that already has a rocket made largely of domestic or European components. The United States, Russia, China, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, India, Israel, Iran, North Korea, South Korea, and New Zealand have also successfully launched satellites using their own rockets.

The UK no longer possesses such a capability, and France’s access to space is currently tied to the Ariane rocket, a pan-European program. France, like Italy, is pouring money into domestic launch startups to buttress the Ariane program.

Let’s look at the countries not among the list of active launching states that have committed substantial public funds to join (or rejoin) the club. To the best of our ability, we list these nations in the order of how much they are currently investing in sovereign launch programs.

Germany

Germany is probably closest to bringing a new commercial rocket into service. Isar Aerospace, Europe’s most well-funded launch startup, made its first orbital launch attempt last year from a spaceport in Norway. The company’s Spectrum rocket failed moments after liftoff, but Isar is readying a second rocket for another test flight as soon as next month. Rocket Factory Augsburg and HyImpulse, Germany’s other two launch startups with significant funding, currently trail Isar in the race to orbit.

In a space safety and security strategy released last year, Germany’s defense ministry included access to space among its lines of effort. The ministry said it aims to develop “sufficient responsive launch transport capacity to ensure national and European strategic independence in all payload classes and transport scenarios.”

In addition to the German government’s $110 million commitment to Isar, RFA, and HyImpulse, Germany is the leading contributor to ESA’s European Launcher Challenge program, which is designed to funnel money into multiple European rocket startups. Germany is the only European country with two companies—Isar and RFA—participating in the challenge. ESA member states approved nearly $1.1 billion (902 million euros) for the challenge last year. Germany is providing about 40 percent of the money and directing most of it to Isar and RFA.

Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket lifts off from Andøya Spaceport, Norway, on March 30, 2025. Credit: Isar Aerospace/Brady Kenniston/NASASpaceflight.com

Spain

The government of Spain is the second-largest contributor to ESA’s European Launcher Challenge, with $200 million (169 million euros) unlocked to support PLD Space, the country’s leading launch startup. PLD Space is developing a small satellite launcher named Miura 5, which the company says will begin demonstration flights later this year. PLD Space’s most recent private fundraising round was in 2024, when the company reported raising more than $140 million (120 million euros) in total investment. ESA’s European Launcher Challenge will more than double this figure. Apart from the ESA challenge, Spain’s government provided more than $47 million (40.5 million euros) to PLD Space in 2024 through the PERTE Aerospace initiative, established to support independent Spanish access to space.

The Spanish government called access to space “one of Spain’s key areas of focus.” In a statement from November, Spain’s science ministry wrote, “PLD Space has been supported by the Spanish government from the beginning with Miura 1, the first suborbital rocket.”

“We have supported PLD Space at the national level until now,” said Diana Morant, Spain’s science minister. “We will now also do so through ESA so that our launcher, a European and Spanish brand, is part of that family of launchers planned for the future.”

United Kingdom

The UK’s position on this list should carry an asterisk following the collapse of the Scottish launch company Orbex. More than a decade into its run, Orbex entered insolvency proceedings last week after “fundraising, merger and acquisition opportunities had all concluded unsuccessfully.” Orbex never made it far on the road to space, despite raising $175 million (£129 million) from private and public investors. Despite its failure, Orbex was by far the most well-capitalized UK launch company. Skyrora, another Scottish launch startup, has expressed interest in buying Orbex’s assets, including land for a privately developed spaceport.

Early last year, the UK government announced a direct investment of more than $27 million (£20 million) to support the development of Orbex’s small satellite launcher. That was followed in November with the UK government’s $170 million (144 million euro) contribution to ESA’s European Launcher Challenge program. UK officials likely saw Orbex’s pending collapse and left nearly 80 percent of the challenge funding unallocated. It remains to be seen how the UK will divide its remaining budget for the launcher challenge.

Orbex released images showing structural elements of its Prime small satellite launcher in “near-flight configuration” after entering insolvency proceedings earlier this month. Credit: Orbex

Canada

In November, Canada’s government announced an investment of approximately $130 million (182.6 million Canadian dollars) for sovereign launch capability. The initiative “seeks to accelerate the advancement of Canadian-designed space launch vehicles and supporting technologies,” the government said in the announcement. The goal is to develop the capability to launch Canadian payloads from Canadian soil with “light lift” rockets by 2028. More than half the funding will support a launch challenge in which the government will offer grants over three years to selected participants who must meet predetermined milestones to win prizes.

Several Canadian startups, such as Maritime Launch Services, Reaction Dynamics, and NordSpace, are working on commercial satellite launchers, but none appear close to making an orbital launch attempt. The Canadian government’s announcement last year came days after MDA Space, the largest established space company in Canada, announced its own multimillion-dollar investment in Maritime Launch Services. Eventually, Canada plans to launch a second challenge to foster the development of a larger medium-lift rocket.

Australia

There’s just one launch startup in Australia with any chance of putting a satellite into orbit anytime soon. This company, named Gilmour Space, launched its first test flight last July, but the rocket stalled moments after clearing the launch pad. Gilmour raised approximately $90 million, primarily from venture capital firms, before the first flight of its Eris rocket. The firm more than tripled this figure with a bountiful fundraising round amounting to more than $300 million last month, led by the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation, a public financing firm established by the Australian government.

The NRFC said it is investing more than $50 million (75 million Australian dollars) into Gilmour to further develop the company’s Eris rocket, scale its satellite and rocket manufacturing, and expand its spaceport in Queensland. “By building sovereign space capability that underpins our everyday life—from Earth observation and communications to national security—Gilmour’s efforts will secure Australia’s access to essential space services, strengthen the country’s advanced manufacturing base, and create highly-skilled jobs and opportunities in the region,” said David Gall, NRFC’s CEO.

Brazil

The most populous nation in Latin America has tried longer than any other to cultivate an independent space launch capability. The efforts date back to the 1980s, but they have repeatedly misfired, and in one case, the results were fatal. The country’s VLS-1 rocket exploded on the ground in 2003, killing 21 Brazilian technicians working at a launch pad on the country’s northern Atlantic coast. The tragedy led the Brazilian government to eventually cancel the VLS satellite launcher and set a new course with a less powerful rocket sized for launching microsatellites.

The new rocket, named VLM, is under development by the Brazilian Space Agency and the Brazilian Air Force in partnership with Germany, but there have been few signs of tangible progress since a test-firing of a solid-fueled rocket motor in 2021. The Brazilian aerospace company working with the government on the VLM rocket filed for bankruptcy in 2022, and its future remains uncertain amid court-ordered restructuring. At that time, Brazil’s government had reportedly committed between $30 million and $40 million to the VLM rocket project.

Given that situation, Brazil’s best bet to field a new orbital-class rocket appears to be through a public-private partnership. Through a public financing agency, the Brazilian government also agreed to provide $30 million to $40 million to a domestic industrial consortium for an indigenous microlauncher known as MLBR, according to the Brazilian financial newspaper Valor Econômico. The team leading the MLBR project has released regular updates on LinkedIn, unlike the VLM project, but progress on early-stage ground tests remains slow.

Brazil’s long-running effort to develop a domestic launch capability has been colored by tragedy. Here, a member of the Brazilian Air Force overlooks the rubble from the deadly explosion of the VLS-1 rocket on its launch pad in August 2003. Credit: Evaristo Sa/AFP via Getty Images

Taiwan

Taiwan’s government is increasing funding for the country’s space program, but the Taiwan Space Agency’s annual budget remains modest at approximately $200 million per year. The nation’s efforts in the space sector have primarily focused on building satellites and instruments for Earth observation, weather monitoring, and scientific research. Last year, the Taiwan Space Agency announced a goal of launching a homegrown rocket into orbit by 2034, with more than $25 million in the agency’s 2026 budget to kick-start the program. The space agency says flight testing of the new rocket, designed to haul up to 440 pounds (200 kilograms) to low-Earth orbit, could begin by 2029.

Argentina

Argentina also has a long-running project aiming to onshore access to space. The centerpiece of this project is the Tronador II rocket, a two-stage, liquid-fueled vehicle designed to deliver small payloads to low-Earth orbit. Argentina’s economic woes have blocked any serious progress on the Tronador II. In a pair of announcements in late 2021 and late 2022, the government of Argentina pledged more than 14 billion pesos to develop a new orbital-class launch vehicle. At the time, this was equivalent to more than $100 million, but the subsequent devaluation of Argentine currency means the investment would be worth just $10 million today. The government of Argentine President Javier Milei has cut spending on research and technology programs, so Tronador is going nowhere fast.

Others

The United Arab Emirates is another up-and-coming space power with the resources to support the development of a commercial launch provider, though the government hasn’t yet revealed a budget to support such an effort. Several other countries, such as Indonesia, South Africa, and Turkey, have said they aspire to develop an indigenous orbital launch capability, but with little in the way of firm, significant financial commitments or substantive progress.

Stephen Clark is a space reporter at Ars Technica, covering private space companies and the world’s space agencies. Stephen writes about the nexus of technology, science, policy, and business on and off the planet.

There’s a lot of big talk about sovereign launch—who is doing something about it? Read More »

Here’s the fun, action-packed trailer for Mandolorian and Grogu

culture, Entertainment, film trailers, Lucasfilm, Pedro Pascal, star wars, The Mandalorian and Grogu, Trailers / Kris Guyer / February 17, 2026

At long last, we have the official full trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu, a feature film spinoff from Disney’s megahit Star Wars series The Mandalorian.

Grogu (fka “Baby Yoda”) won viewers’ hearts from the moment he first appeared onscreen in the first season of The Mandalorian, and the relationship between the little green creature and his father-figure bounty hunter, the titular Mandalorian, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), has only gotten stronger. With the 2023 Hollywood strikes delaying production on season 4 of the series, director Jon Favreau got the green light to make this spinoff film.

Per the official logline:

The evil Empire has fallen, and Imperial warlords remain scattered throughout the galaxy. As the fledgling New Republic works to protect everything the Rebellion fought for, they have enlisted the help of legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his young apprentice Grogu.

In addition to Pascal, the cast includes Sigourney Weaver as Ward, a veteran pilot, colonel, and leader of the New Republic’s Adelphi Rangers. Jeremy Allen White plays Rotta the Hutt (son of Jabba, first introduced in 2008’s The Clone Wars), Jonny Coyne reprises his Mandalorian S3 role as an Imperial warlord leading a surviving faction of the Galactic Empire, and Dave Filoni will be back as New Republic X-wing pilot Trapper Wolf. We can also expect to see Garazeb (“Zeb”) Orrelios (Steve Blum) from the Star Wars Rebels animated series, Embo from The Clone Wars, and Anzellan aliens from The Rise of Skywalker. There’s also a shiny new version of Mando’s ship (destroyed in S2).

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Get ready for new Macs and iPads: Apple announces “Special Experience” on March 4

14-inch MacBook Pro, 16-inch MacBook Pro, Apple, iphone 17e / Kris Guyer / February 16, 2026

It may be more tempting to take that aging Mac you’ve been coddling and put it out to pasture soon. Apple has announced an event for March 4, which in usual Apple fashion, it has branded a “Special Apple Experience.” Also in usual Apple fashion, it has not come out and said what it’s going to be announcing. We have a pretty good idea, though.

The event will kick off at 9AM ET on March 4—Ars will be on the ground in New York City to cover Apple’s latest unveiling, whatever form it may take. Apple doesn’t release most products on a set schedule, but some recent speculation about likely hardware updates can point us in the right direction.

As we reported recently, the iPhone 17e may be making an appearance in Apple’s lineup soon. This updated version of the budget-oriented iPhone will have an A19 chip inside, similar to the one powering the base model iPhone 17. It may also add MagSafe charging. Don’t expect to see a multi-camera array like you’d get on the more expensive Apple phones, though. Pricing will be the most important thing to watch for should Apple announce this phone. Right now, the non-Pro iPhone 16 and 17 (including the 16e) are all clustered in the $600-800 range. Another $599 budget iPhone won’t make waves.

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Ancient Mars was warm and wet, not cold and icy

Mars, planetary science, Science, solar system / Kris Guyer / February 15, 2026

This is important because it means these rocks were less likely to have been altered in a hydrothermal environment, where scalding hot water was temporarily released by melting ice caused by volcanism or a meteorite impact.

Instead, they appear to have been altered under modest temperatures and persistent heavy rainfall. The authors found distinct similarities between the chemical composition of these clay pebbles with similar clays found on Earth dating from periods in our planet’s history when the climate was much warmer and wetter.

False colour image of the dried up river delta in Jezero crater, which Perseverance is currently exploring. Credit: NASA

The paper concludes that these kaolinite pebbles were altered under high rainfall conditions comparable to “past greenhouse climates on Earth” and that they “likely represent some of the wettest intervals and possibly most habitable portions of Mars’ history”.

Furthermore, the paper concludes that these conditions may have persisted over time periods ranging from thousands to millions of years. Perseverance recently made headlines also for the discovery of possible biosignatures in samples it collected last year, also from within Jezero crater.

These precious samples have now been cached in special sealed containers on the rover for collection by a future Mars sample return mission. Unfortunately, the mission has recently been cancelled by Nasa and so what vital evidence they may or may not contain will probably not be examined in an Earth-based laboratory for many years.

Crucial to this future analysis is the so-called “Knoll criterion” – a concept formulated by astrobiologist Andrew Knoll, which states that for something to be evidence of life, an observation has to not just be explicable by biology; it has to be inexplicable without it. Whether these samples ever satisfy the Knoll criterion will only be known if they can be brought to Earth.

Either way, it is quite striking to imagine a time on Mars, billions of years before the first humans walked the Earth, that a tropical climate with – possibly – a living ecosystem once existed in the now desolate and wind-swept landscape of Jezero crater.

Gareth Dorrian is a Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Space Science at the University of Birmingham

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Editor’s Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations

Staff / Kris Guyer / February 15, 2026

On Friday afternoon, Ars Technica published an article containing fabricated quotations generated by an AI tool and attributed to a source who did not say them. That is a serious failure of our standards. Direct quotations must always reflect what a source actually said.

That this happened at Ars is especially distressing. We have covered the risks of overreliance on AI tools for years, and our written policy reflects those concerns. In this case, fabricated quotations were published in a manner inconsistent with that policy. We have reviewed recent work and have not identified additional issues. At this time, this appears to be an isolated incident.

Ars Technica does not permit the publication of AI-generated material unless it is clearly labeled and presented for demonstration purposes. That rule is not optional, and it was not followed here.

We regret this failure and apologize to our readers. We have also apologized to Mr. Scott Shambaugh, who was falsely quoted.

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A Valentine’s Day homage to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Ang Lee, Chow Yun Fat, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, culture, Entertainment, film, film anniversaries, Michelle Yeoh, Sony Pictures Classics, wuxia / Kris Guyer / February 14, 2026

That thief turns out to be Jen, who has secretly been studying martial arts. And Jen’s really not keen on her upcoming arranged marriage because she has fallen in love with a bandit named Lo “Dark Cloud” Xiao Hou (Chang Chen). They are the symbolic tiger and dragon, with Lo as the unchanging yin (tiger) and Jen as the dynamic yang (the hidden dragon).

(WARNING: Major spoilers below. Stop reading now if you haven’t seen the entire film.)

Longtime friends Mu Bai (Chow Yan-Fat) and Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) have refrained from declaring their love out of respect for Shu Lien’s late fiancé. Sony Pictures Classics

There are multiple clashes between our main characters, most notably Jen battling Shu Lien, and a famous sequence where Mu Bai pursues Jen across the treetops of a bamboo forest, deftly balancing on the swaying branches and easily evading Jen’s increasingly undisciplined sword thrusts. It’s truly impressive wire work (all the actors performed their own stunts), in fine wuxia tradition. Jen is gifted, but arrogant and defiant, refusing Mu Bai’s offer of mentorship; she thinks with Green Destiny she will be invincible and has nothing more to learn. Ah, the arrogance of youth.

Eventually, Jen is betrayed by her former teacher, Jade Fox, who is bitter because Jen has surpassed her skills—mostly because Jade Fox is illiterate and had to rely on a stolen manual’s diagrams, while the literate Jen could read the text yet did not share those insights with her teacher. Jade Fox is keeping her drugged in a cave, intending to poison her, when Mu Bai and Shu Lien come to the rescue. In the ensuing battle, Mu Bai is struck by one of Jade Fox’s poison darts. Jen rushes off to bring back the antidote, but arrives too late. Mu Bai dies in Shu Lien’s arms, as the two finally confess how much they love each other.

(sniff) Sorry, something in my eye. Anyway, the ever-gracious Shu Lien forgives the young woman and tells her to be true to herself, and to join Lo on Mount Wudang. But things don’t end well for our young lovers either. After spending the night together, Lo finds Jen standing on a bridge at the edge of the mountain. Legend has it that a man once made a wish and jumped off the mountain. His heart was pure so his wish was granted and he flew away unharmed, never to be seen again. Jen asks Lo to make a wish before swan-diving into the mist-filled chasm. Was her heart pure? Did Lo get his wish for them to back in the desert, happily living as renegades? Or did she plunge to her death? We will never know. Jen is now part of the legend.

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Aided by AI, California beach town broadens hunt for bike lane blockers

AI, bike lanes, cameras, Hayden AI, Policy / Kris Guyer / February 13, 2026

This spring, a Southern California beach town will become the first city in the country where municipal parking enforcement vehicles will use an AI system looking for potential bike lane violations.

Beginning in April, the City of Santa Monica will bring Hayden AI’s scanning technology to seven cars in its parking enforcement fleet, expanding beyond similar cameras already mounted on city buses.

“The more we can reduce the amount of illegal parking, the safer we can make it for bike riders,” Charley Territo, chief growth officer at Hayden AI, told Ars.

Hayden AI’s bus cameras, designed to detect bike lane and bus zone violations, currently exist in two other California cities: Oakland and Sacramento. The company also has installations around the country, including New York City, Washington, DC, and Philadelphia. In September 2025, the company announced that it had installed 2,000 systems on buses worldwide.

Late last year, over a 59-day period, Hayden AI also said its technology detected over 1,100 parking violations at the University of California, San Diego—and 88 percent of those were instances of blocking a bike lane.

Hayden AI says it sells its product to municipalities and related entities to not only increase bus speed (by removing obstructions) but also improve safety.

“We do that by [reducing] one of the biggest causes of collisions with buses—moving out of their lanes,” Territo added. “So the fewer times they have to make a turn, the fewer instances there are [of a crash].”

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Author name: Kris Guyer