The Olhar Digital News broadcast from Thursday, July 23, covered various events, including the delay of the SpaceX Starship rocket launch and new security measures from Google.
SpaceX has once again postponed the launch of its Starship mega-rocket. This operation, which was scheduled for Thursday, the 23rd, is the thirteenth attempt to send the vehicle into space.
Google introduced a video selfie feature as a new method for account recovery and fraud prevention. This tool is intended for users who have lost access to their usual mobile phone or computer. It works by registering the face from different angles for comparisons and verifying the owner's identity.
According to the 20th Brazilian Annual Public Safety Yearbook, 830,890 cases of theft or mobile phone robbery were registered in Brazil in 2025, averaging 95 devices per hour. The report indicates a shift in criminal activity to the virtual environment, noting a record over two million fraudulent schemes conducted through social media and applications, as well as an increase in cyberbullying against children and adolescents.
The news bulletin from July 20th covered various technological and economic events. Among them was the advancement in the regulation of the electric flying car Eve 100 from Eve Air Mobility, an Embraer subsidiary.
Anac opened a public consultation to assess the noise criteria for this 'flying car.' According to Agência Brasil, this stage is critically important for obtaining model certification and preparing the manufacturer for commercial flights scheduled for this decade.
The European Commission fined AliExpress 550 million euros (equivalent to approximately 3.2 billion Brazilian reais). The reason was a violation of the DSA directive due to the platform's inability to control illegal and counterfeit goods. The Commission found that unsafe toys and dangerous cosmetics remained on the platform due to deficiencies in recommendation systems, weak moderation metrics, and low effectiveness of measures to prevent the return of prohibited goods.
Google is conducting confidential development of a new artificial intelligence chip internally named 'Frozen v2.' This component is intended to enable more efficient operation of the company's models and aims to expand the computational capabilities of Gemini. This initiative is part of a strategy to overcome computational bottlenecks that have already negatively impacted Google Cloud contracts.
The launch of the Kimi K3 model by the startup Moonshot AI caused significant resonance because its infrastructure exceeded available resources, forcing the company to temporarily suspend the acceptance of new subscriptions. This success intensifies global technological competition. In response, the Chinese company is reorganizing its corporate structure to attract capital and conduct an initial public offering in Hong Kong, thereby intensifying the discussion about the speed at which China is reaching the level of American competitors.
The Olhar Digital News broadcast from Wednesday, July 15, presented various global events concerning space, technology, and regulation.
SpaceX is finalizing preparations for the thirteenth test flight of its largest spacecraft in the world, Starship. This launch is scheduled for Thursday, July 16, at 19:45 Brazilian time. The start will take place from the Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. This mission will be the second flight of the new V3 version of the vehicle and will focus on testing updated systems. In addition to structural tests, the operation will serve as a practical demonstration for the Starlink network, which will carry 20 V3 satellites onboard.
Images obtained by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express probe have revealed giant dunes on the Red Planet. These images were captured using the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). The area shown in the pictures is located in the planet's southern hemisphere, a region noted for asteroid impacts over approximately four billion years.
The Chinese government implemented a new regulatory framework on Wednesday, July 15, prohibiting artificial intelligence platforms from providing virtual companions with romantic traits. The goal of this step is to slow down the development of excessively intense emotional bonds between users and digital systems.
A video clip that garnered over 100 million views on social media sparked discussions about technological progress. It showed a humanoid robot allegedly attacking employees in an office in Indonesia. However, the equipment developers explained that this episode was a misunderstanding caused by the execution of a pre-programmed sequence of movements.
SpaceX has received authorization from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to conduct another test with Starship, following a detailed investigation into the failure that occurred in the Super Heavy booster during the flight in May.
This new launch will be the second of the V3 version of the rocket and will also mark the introduction of the first Starlink V3 satellites, which are essential for expanding the company's space internet network. The event is scheduled for next Thursday, the 16th, with an expected time between 7:45 PM and 9:15 PM, Brasília time.
The project revision was motivated by the failure observed during the 12th flight. In May, the Super Heavy was supposed to simulate a landing in the Gulf of Mexico, but the engines failed to reignite properly after stage separation. According to SpaceX, small discrepancies in engine ignition caused an unwanted 90-degree rotation in the booster.
After meticulous analysis, the company adjusted the ignition sequence and implemented corrections aimed at greater reliability in reignition. The FAA also identified other contributing factors, such as thermal effects on propulsion system components during the rocket's ascent and inadequate settings in the engine alarm system.
The announced modifications include adjustments to the engine ignition system, enhancements to booster reignition reliability, changes to alert and mission abort protocols, as well as modifications to both hardware and operational procedures.
In addition to validating the corrections made to the Super Heavy, the next flight aims to place 20 Starlink V3 satellites into orbit. These satellites are larger and more powerful than previous models. SpaceX reported that they will use high-capacity lasers to connect to the main Starlink constellation and will disintegrate in the atmosphere approximately twenty minutes after launch.
Six of these satellites will be equipped with cameras intended to capture images of the external surface of the Starship, providing crucial data for engineers to analyze the vehicle's behavior throughout the flight.
SpaceX's approach remains firmly anchored in the philosophy of 'fly, fail, correct.' Each launch serves as a source of valuable information to refine the design and bring the company closer to its goal of operating a completely reusable system.
The current expectation is to confirm whether the changes applied after the May test resolved the problem faced by the Super Heavy. Positive performance in this flight will strengthen the company's plans to expand Starlink and prepare for future missions to the Moon and subsequently Mars.
The flight history includes: Flight 1 in April 2023, where Starship exploded attached to Super Heavy due to engine failures; Flight 2 in November 2023, which allowed initial separation but resulted in the booster exploding and the loss of Starship; Flight 3 in March 2024, which achieved a significant advance in about 50 minutes despite being lost before the planned landing; Flight 4 in June 2024, with controlled landing of Starship in the Indian Ocean and Super Heavy in the Gulf of Mexico; Flight 5 in October 2024, where SpaceX captured the Super Heavy on the launch tower and Starship performed a controlled reentry; Flight 6 in November 2024, with controlled booster landing and in-space engine reignition; Flight 7 in January 2025, which ended with the loss of Starship after an explosion; Flight 8 in March 2025, where the upper stage lost stability eight minutes after launch and was destroyed; Flight 9 in May 2025, which marked the first reuse of Super Heavy but had partial experiments compromised by failures; Flight 10 in August 2025, meeting goals such as satellite simulator tests, in-space engine reignition, and controlled reentry; Flight 11 in October 2025, successfully concluding the V2 phase, including controlled landing of Super Heavy and spacecraft reentry; and Flight 12 in May 2026, the first V3 version test, which showed notable advances but suffered a Super Heavy failure upon attempting return because the engines did not reignite correctly after separation.
