NASA announced another delay for its Artemis 3 mission, pushing the first manned lunar landing since 1972 to mid-2027. Technical problems with the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield were cited as the primary reason for the postponement.

“Safety is our top priority, and we won’t proceed until we are ready,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. He emphasized that the delay will still keep the U.S. ahead of China’s plan to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030.

Artemis 1 successfully sent the uncrewed Orion capsule around the Moon in 2022, but subsequent missions have faced repeated setbacks.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an antitrust investigation into Microsoft Corp., covering its cloud computing and software licensing businesses, as well as its cybersecurity offerings and artificial intelligence products.

After more than a year of informal interviews with competitors and business partners, antitrust authorities have crafted a detailed request to compel Microsoft to provide information, according to people familiar with the matter. The request, which consists of hundreds of pages, was sent to the company after FTC Chair Lina Khan gave her approval, one source said. FTC antitrust lawyers are scheduled to meet with Microsoft’s competitors next week to gather more information about the company’s business practices, according to two other sources familiar with the plans, who, like the others, requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the matter.

Microsoft and the FTC declined to comment.

The United States, spearheaded by SpaceX, dominated rocket launches in the year 2023. Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, conducted a total of 96 launches throughout the year with its Falcon 9, maintaining an impressive pace of almost two launches per week. This effort focused on the continuous expansion of the Starlink internet satellite constellation.

Thanks to SpaceX’s achievements, the United States once again stood out in the global market of space launchers, with a total of 107 orbital flights in 2023, significantly surpassing other players in this strategic sector.

SpaceX not only limited itself to Falcon 9 launches but also deployed its Falcon Heavy to orbit the military space drone X-37B. Additionally, two tests of the super-heavy Starship launcher, intended for the Artemis missions to the Moon, were conducted, although both ended in explosions. SpaceX’s ambition for the coming year is to achieve an impressive 12 flights per month, totaling 144 flights in the year, as stated by SpaceX’s Vice President, Bill Gerstenmaier, before the U.S. Senate in October.

Despite U.S. dominance, China is rapidly expanding its space activities with 67 launches in 2023. Russia, on the other hand, carried out 19 launches, with 17 of them involving the Soyuz rocket. Rocket Lab, the U.S. and New Zealand-based company, successfully launched its Electron rocket nine times, establishing itself as one of the few operational mini-launchers.

India, through the ISRO space agency, completed seven successful launches in 2023 and kicked off 2024 with the launch of a PSLV rocket placing a scientific satellite into orbit.

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In Europe, undergoing a launcher crisis, only three launches occurred in 2023. However, autonomous access to space is expected to be regained with the inaugural flight of Ariane 6 scheduled for mid-June and the Vega-C flight at the end of the year.

Japan, with three launches in 2023, faced challenges with the failure of the new heavy launcher H-3. The Japanese space agency, JAXA, announced a new attempt scheduled for February 15th.