Foreign News
Damage puts end to ground-breaking Mars helicopter mission
Nasa’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter, which made history by achieving the first powered flight on another world, has suffered mission-ending damage.
In a statement, Nasa said the aircraft was forced to perform an “emergency landing” that damaged its rotors.
The space agency’s Bill Nelson said the aircraft was “the little helicopter that could” and had racked up far more missions than had been intended. He said Ingenuity had “paved the way for future flight in our solar system”.
Ingenuity is said to remain “upright” but images taken by an accompanying ground vehicle showed that “one or more of its rotor blades” were damaged and it was “no longer capable of flight”.
Nasa said the circumstances were being investigated.
“Ingenuity has paved the way for future flight in our solar system, and it’s leading the way for smarter, safer human missions to Mars and beyond,” Mr Nelson, a Nasa administrator, said in a video message on social media. “That remarkable helicopter flew higher and farther than we ever imagined and helped Nasa do what we do best – make the impossible, possible.”
Ingenuity reached the Red Planet in February 2021 by riding on the belly of the Perseverance rover.
It was meant to be on a short technology demonstration to prove flight was possible in the ultra-thin Martian atmosphere. The vehicle went on to support Perseverance by previewing areas of Mars that might be of interest, helping the wheeled robot and its drivers on Earth pick the right path.
Before its mission came to an end on Thursday, Ingenuity performed 72 flights and flew more than 14 times farther than originally planned.
Many will mourn the passing of the plucky chopper but its withdrawal from service has probably come at the right time, the BBC’s science correspondent Jonathan Amos says. The Perseverance rover is about to undertake some long, fast drives as it seeks to climb up on to the rim of Jezero Crater.
If still functional, Ingenuity would, in all likelihood, have struggled to keep up with Perseverance, or at the very least held up the rover’s exploration.
(BBC)
Bangladeshi security forces clashed with supporters of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, leaving at least three people dead and many injured.
Violence broke out Wednesday in the southern town of Gopalganj when members of Hasina’s Awami League tried to disrupt a rally by the National Citizens Party (NCP), which is made up of students who spearheaded the unrest that toppled the leader last year.
[Aljazeera]
An “unbelievably rare” piece of Mars – the largest ever found on Earth – has sold for $4.3m (£3.2m) at a New York auction on Wednesday.
The meteorite known as NWA 16788 weighs 54lb (24.5kg) and is nearly 15in (38.1cm) long, according to Sotheby’s.
It was discovered in a remote region of Niger in November 2023 and is 70% larger than the next biggest piece of Mars that has been recovered, the auction house said.
Meteorites are the remains of rock left after an asteroid or comet passes through Earth’s atmosphere.
Sotheby’s auction house described the meteorite, a reddish brown rock, as “unbelievably rare”. Only about 400 Martian meteorites have ever been found on Earth.
“This is the largest piece of Mars on planet Earth. The odds of this getting from there to here are astronomically small,” Cassandra Hatton, vice-chairman of science and natural history at Sotheby’s, said in a video posted online.
“Remember that approximately 70% of Earth’s surface is covered in water. So we’re incredibly lucky that this landed on dry land instead of the middle of the ocean where we could actually find it.”
It remains unclear where the meteorite will end up as information about the sale will remain private.
Additional taxes and fees brought the total price of the rock up to about $5.3m, Sotheby’s said.
At the Wednesday auction, which featured more than 100 items, a Ceratosaurus skeleton from the late Jurassic period sold for $26m and the skull of a Pachycephalosaurus sold for $1.4m.
[BBC]
The Trump administration says it has launched an investigation into Brazil’s “unfair” trading practices.
It will include the Brazilian government’s policies “related to digital trade and electronic payment services; unfair, preferential tariffs; anti-corruption interference”, a statement from the US trade representative said.
The investigation seeks to determine whether they are “unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict US commerce.”
Last week, US President Donald Trump urged Brazilian authorities to end their prosecution of the country’s former President Jair Bolsonaro, accusing them of carrying out a “witch hunt”.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the probe was being launched at Trump’s direction “into Brazil’s attacks on American social media companies as well as other unfair trading practices that harm American companies, workers, farmers, and technology innovators”.
“I have determined that Brazil’s tariff and non-tariff barriers merit a thorough investigation, and potentially, responsive action,” he said.
Greer accused Brazil of disadvantaging American exports by offering lower tariffs to other trade partners.
Investigators will look into alleged attempts by Brazil to penalise US companies involved in digital trade and services for not censoring political speech.
The office also alleged a lack of adequate enforcement of intellectual property rights, harming US workers “whose livelihoods are tied to America’s innovation- and creativity-driven sectors.”
Trump first threatened the investigation in a letter to Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva last week. In the same letter, the US president announced a 50% tariff on Brazil starting on 1 August. Lula said in response that Brazil would match any increase in tariffs.
Last year, trade between the two countries was worth $90bn (£67.2bn).
Washington reported a trade surplus with Brazil of $7.4bn in 2024, a 33% percent increase on the previous year.
[BBC]
President opens Wax Museum at the historic Ehelepola Walawwa in Kandy
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Indictments served on former Minister Keheliya Rambukwella and family
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