Technologies

Chinese Rocket Plummets to Earth, Causing One Country to Halt Air Traffic

The booster eventually broke up over the Pacific Ocean.

A Chinese rocket booster made an out-of-control reentry into Earth’s atmosphere over the water early Friday, the US military’s Space Command confirmed.

The booster is the first stage of a Long March 5B rocket that several days ago sent a large module to orbit to expand China’s Tiangong space station.

«The People’s Republic of China Long March 5B #CZ5B rocket reentered the atmosphere over the south-central Pacific Ocean at 4:01 a.m. MDT/10:01 UTC on 11/4,» the US Space Command tweeted Friday.

The Long March 5B weighs over 20 metric tons, measures 10 stories tall and appears to lack the hardware to make a controlled reentry and steer itself toward a safe, planned splashdown.

Instead, the Chinese space program rolled the dice that what remained of the rocket, after much of it burned up in the atmosphere, would land somewhere on the majority of the planet’s surface that is either unpopulated or covered by ocean.

It seems the gamble worked out this time, but in the process the dramatic descent caused a 40-minute closure of a significant portion of Spanish airspace, causing delays to around 300 flights, according to the Reuters news agency. It also potentially littered debris over an area in Mexico.

Jonathan McDowell, Harvard astronomer and leading expert on all things orbital, noted that the hunk of space junk likely broke apart as it was speeding over the Pacific in the direction of Mexico and that some of the debris may have made it ashore.

There have been no reports of debris on the ground just yet.

If the rocket broke up over the Pacific, why was there was concern on the other side of the world in Spain? It’s because the exact point of reentry is hard to predict. The errant object is traveling at thousands of miles per hour as it collides with the atmosphere and begins to slow down while burning up and being shredded by the friction.

The rocket remnant appears to have passed through Spain’s airspace without incident and broke up 40 minutes later — far, far away.

«The uncertainty of where the large debris will ultimately land presents a level of risk to human safety and property damage that is well above commonly accepted thresholds,» the Aerospace Corporation, which tracks reentries, wrote in a statement.

The rocket was used to send Mengtian, the third and final section of Tiangong, to orbit for installation on a launch that took place Monday.

Similar reentry risks were seen with the launch of the previous two Tiangong space station modules as well. A spent rocket landed in the Indian Ocean on May 8, 2021, and another broke up over Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines on July 30, 2022. In 2020, a Long March 5B mission also led to debris falling on western Africa.

Falling space junk has damaged property, but there has never been a report of human injuries or death. Earth’s population distribution makes it most likely any trash making it all the way from orbit to the surface ends up either in the ocean or someplace remote (rural Australia seems popular).

Technologies

Facebook Brings Back Local Job Listings: How to Apply

One of Facebook’s most practical features from 2022 is being revived by Meta.

On the hunt for work? A Local Jobs search is being rolled out by Meta to make it easier for people in the US to discover and apply for nearby work directly on Facebook. The feature is inside Facebook Marketplace, Groups and Pages, Meta said last week, letting employers post openings and job seekers filter roles by distance, category or employment type.

You can apply or message employers directly through Facebook Messenger, while employers can publish job listings with just a few taps — similar to how you would post items for sale on Marketplace.

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Facebook offered a Jobs feature before discontinuing it in 2022, pushing business hiring toward its other platforms. Its return suggests Meta is attempting to expand Facebook’s usefulness beyond social networking and to position it once again as a hub for community-driven opportunities.

«We’ve always been about connecting with people, whether through shared interests or key life events,» the press release states. «Now, if you’re looking for entry-level, trade and service industry employment in your community, Facebook can help you connect with local people and small businesses who are hiring.»

How to get started with Local Jobs on Facebook

According to Meta, Local Jobs will appear as a dedicated section in Facebook Marketplace starting this week. If you’re 18 or older, you can:

Tap the Marketplace tab on the Facebook app or website.
Select Jobs to browse available positions nearby.
Use filters for job type, category and distance.
Tap Apply or message the employer directly via Messenger.

Businesses and page admins can post jobs by creating a new listing in Marketplace or from their Facebook Page. Listings can include job details, pay range, and scheduling information and will appear in local searches automatically.

The Local Jobs feature is rolling out across the US now, with Meta saying it plans to expand it in the months ahead.

Technologies

Tesla Has a New Range of Affordable Electric Cars: How Much They Cost

The new, stripped-back versions of the Model Y and Model 3 have a more affordable starting price.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 22 #598

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 22, No. 598.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one — I definitely have at least two of these in my house. Some of the answers are a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Catch all.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: A mess of items.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

BATE, LICE, SLUM, CAPE, HOLE, CARE, BARE, THEN, SLAM, SAMBA, BACK

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

TAPE, COIN, PENCIL, BATTERY, SHOELACE, THUMBTACK

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is JUNKDRAWER. To find it, look for the J that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.

Quick tips for Strands

#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an «S» or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.

#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.

#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.