Saturday, November 17, 2018

Antares Blasts Off Overnight from Virginia with Tons of Science Cargo for International Space Station


The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, with Cygnus NG-10 resupply spacecraft onboard, is seen above the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC, on Nov. 17, 2018. The rocket launched from Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia that morning. Northrop Grumman's 10th contracted cargo resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station will deliver about 7,400 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew.   Credit: NASA
Ken Kremer --SpaceUpClose.com  & RocketSTEM --17 November 2018

NASA WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY, VA –The Northrop Grumman Antares commercial  rocket put on a spectacular sky show with the middle-of-the-night blastoff early Saturday, November 17 from Virginia’s Eastern Shore on a cargo resupply mission bound for the International Space Station (ISS) carrying nearly 4 tons of science and supplies for the multinational crew - including the 1st ever ‘recycling refabricator’.  

Exceptionally clear skies made for a stunningly beautiful soar to orbit visible for hundreds of miles around – including Washington, D.C. – as seen in the long duration streak shot above. 
The flawless liftoff of Northrop Grumman’s upgraded Antares 230 configuration rocket carrying the Cygnus NG-10 supply ship took place right at the opening of the launch window at 4:01 a.m. EST on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018 from seaside pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility at the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia.  
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft launches on an Antares rocket at 4:01 a.m. EST Nov. 17, 2018, from the Virginia Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grumman's 10th contracted cargo resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station will deliver about 7,400 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew.  Credits: NASA/Joel Kowsky

“The spacecraft is extremely healthy and it’s ready to begin its trek to the ISS,” said Frank DeMauro, Northrop Grumman VP advanced programs, during the post-launch briefing.

And the magnificent launch finally came after a 48 hour delay due to drenching rainstorms and heavy winds inundating NASA’s Virginia launch base.

Oceanside view of Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, with Cygnus NG-10 cargo freighter aboard bound for the International Space Station, is seen on Pad-0A, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Poor weather forced launch postponement to Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com


Over 1 ton of science and research is on board from delivery to the Space Station. In  addition to the ‘Refabricator’ which will recycle waste plastic bags into a 3D filament to make tools and hardware,  other experiments will try to growing large crystals of an important protein (LRRK2) related to the development of Parkinson’s disease for the Michael J. Fox Foundation, examine the growth of crystals involved in cement solidification, situational awareness of the astronauts perception of motion, body position and distance to objects changes in space, the  lab-on-a-chip (fully automated, multifunctional cell culture platform) investigation looking at skeletal muscle cells, and a dust zapping  experiment related to the formation of the early solar system.

Deployment of the life giving UltraFlex solar arrays that charge the ships batteries began about 90 minutes after launch at 5:30 a.m. 

The unfurling process took about 30 minutes and was confirmed complete by NASA at about 6 a.m.  The pair of cymbal-shaped UltraFlex arrays are 12.1 feet (3.7 meters) in diameter. 

Cygnus NG-10 marks the company’s 10th contracted cargo delivery flight for NASA.  
Due to persistent drenching downpours Northrop Grumman Antares rocket on the Cygnus NG-10 cargo mission had to stay another two days atop the On-Ramp to the
International Space Station at pad 0A on NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Launch now reset to Nov. 17 at 4:01 a.m. EST. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com
The Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo freighter now begins a carefully choreographed two day orbital chase with a series of thruster firings setting up arrival at the station on Monday, Nov. 19.

Two of the Expedition 57 station astronauts Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA and Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) will use the space station’s 57.7 foot (19.9 m)  long Canadarm2 robotic arm to grapple Cygnus about 5:20 a.m. Monday, Nov. 19


NASA plans live coverage of the rendezvous, arrival, capture and berthing of Cygnus at the stations Earth-facing port on Unity - orbiting some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.  

Installation coverage will begin at 4 a.m. on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

Prelaunch view of Northrop Grumman Antares rocket and Cygnus NG-10 space station cargo delivery ship sitting atop the ramp on Pad-0A, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Launched Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

The two stage 139.4 foot (42.5 m) long Antares rocket was rolled out to pad OA around midnight Tuesday from the NASA Wallops Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) in a downpour of rain for a 1 mile (1.6 km) trip to the pad and raised erect around 5  a.m. Nov. 13 EST. 


Ponds surround Northrop Grumman Antares rocket after days of rain, with Cygnus NG-10 cargo freighter aboard bound for the International Space Station, is seen on Pad-0A, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Poor weather forced launch postponement to Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com
“The move was completed in a driving rain storm,” said Frank DeMauro, Northrop Grumman VP for Human Spaceflight at the prelaunch briefing.  

The trouble free countdown started at T Minus 6 hours 15 minutes before liftoff.  


Fueling began at T Minus 1.5 hours with liquid oxygen (LOX) and RP-1 propellants.


14 story tall commercial expendable Antares launch vehicle is launching in the upgraded and more powerful re-engined 230 configuration rocket compared to the original version. 


The first stage is powered by two newly built Russian-built NPO Energomash RD-181 engines with independent thrust vectoring and fires for 3 minutes and 35 seconds before separating from the upper stage.  They are test fired by Energomash in Russia and shipped to Wallops.
Two new Russian-built NPO Energomash RD-181 engines at the base of Northrop Grumman Antares rocket first stage that will power the NG-11 cargo resupply mission to the ISS scheduled in spring 2019 undergo processing inside the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore.  They are fueled by LOX and RP-1 kerosene.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com
They produce about 860,000 pounds of thrust, roughly 100,000 more thrust than the original Antares 100 configuration. They are throttled down at Max Q to maintain core integrity. 

The second stage comprises the Castor 30XL solid rocket motor producing approximately107,000 pounds of thrust.  It burns for about 156 seconds.
Antares Castor 30XL solid fueled second stage mounted atop/inside Northrop Grumman first stage core for Cygnus NG-10 cargo ship launch to the ISS on Nov. 17, 2018 backdropped by payload fairing at right. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com 
The two stage Antares measures 139 feet (42.5 m) tall and 13 feet (3.9 m) in diameter. 

It has a payload capacity of 18,000 pounds (8,000 kg) to low Earth orbit (LEO). 

Cygnus is loaded with cargo 3,350 kg (7,385 lb.) of cargo comprising science experiments, research gear, food, water, spare parts, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to support the Expedition 57 and 58 crews and over 250 new and ongoing research investigations.

The Cygnus NG-10 cargo freighter, built by Northrop Grumman Corporation, was christened the ‘S.S. John Young’ - in honor of astronaut John Young.  He was NASA’s longest serving astronaut and passed away earlier this year in January at age 87.

The Northrop Grumman built Cygnus NG-10 cargo spacecraft is prepped inside clean room High Bay facility at NASA Wallops and named in honor NASA astronaut and Apollo 16 moonwalker John Young on Oct. 24, 2018.  Blastoff on Antares rocket is slated for Nov. 17, 2018 from pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia bound for the International Space Station.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com
Young was selected for NASA’s second astronaut class and flew during the Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs. He walked on the Moon during Apollo 16 in 1972 and commanded the first space shuttle mission in 1981.
The S.S. John Young cargo resupply freighter is jam packed and will deliver nearly 4 tons of research experiments and station hardware and crew supplies to the trio of astronauts and cosmonauts living aboard the orbiting science outpost after blastoff atop the 2 stage Antares 230 version rocket.
NG-10 counts as Northrop Grumman’s 10th station resupply cargo mission for NASA. 
Here’s a breakdown of the manifest aboard Cygnus NG-10 which includes:   
Crew Supplies: 2,515.5 lbs. / 1,141 kg

Science Investigations: 2,301.6 lbs. / 1,044 kg


Spacewalk Equipment: 68.3 lbs. / 31 kg


Vehicle Hardware: 2,076.8 lbs. / 942 kg


Computer Resources: 253.5 lbs. / 115 kg


Total Cargo: 7,385.5 lbs. / 3,350 kg


Total Pressurized Cargo with Packaging: 7,215.8 lbs. / 3,273 kg


Unpressurized Cargo (NanoRacks Deployer): 169.8 lbs. / 77 kg 


Dr. Allison Porter, flight missions manager at Tethers Unlimited Inc., with a mock-up of the Refabricator, a combination 3D printer and recycler, headed to the International Space Station aboard NG-10. In Porter’s hand is a roll of 3D printer filament shown during the Nov. 13, 2018 science briefing at NASA Wallops. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com
Watch this NASA video highlighting some of the science including the ‘refabricator’:


Video Caption: A "Refabricator" for sustainable in-space manufacturing and a multifunctional cell culture platform or "lab-on-a-chip" are just some of the science investigations heading to the International Space Station. They're on board Northrop Grumman's Cygnus resupply flight 10 (CRS-10), launching in mid-November on the Antares rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. More: https://go.nasa.gov/2SVf82d. Credit: NASA



Here’s a summary of several of the science and research experiments on board from NASA:

Recycling and Fabrication in Space


The Refabricator is the first-ever 3D printer and recycler integrated into one user-friendly machine. Once it’s installed in the space station, it will demonstrate recycling of waste plastic and previously 3D printed parts already on-board into high-quality filament (i.e. 3D printer ‘ink’). This recycled filament will then be fed into the printer to make new tools and parts on-demand in space. This technology could enable closed-loop, sustainable fabrication, repair and recycling on long-duration space missions, and greatly reduce the need to continually launch large supplies of new material and parts for repairs and maintenance.


The demonstration, which NASA’s Space Technology Mission and Human Exploration and Operations Directorates co-sponsored, is considered a key enabling technology for in-space manufacturing. NASA awarded a Small Business Innovation Research contract valued to Tethers Unlimited Inc. to build the recycling system.


Formation of the Early Solar System


The Experimental Chondrule Formation at the International Space Station (EXCISS) investigation will explore how planets, moons and other objects in space formed by simulating the high-energy, low-gravity conditions that were present during formation of the early solar system. Scientists plan to zap a specially formulated dust with an electrical current, and then study the shape and texture of the resulting pellets.


Understanding Parkinson’s Disease


The Crystallization of LRRK2 Under Microgravity Conditions-2 (PCG-16) investigation grows large crystals of an important protein, leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2), in microgravity for analysis back on Earth. This protein is implicated in development of Parkinson’s disease, and improving our knowledge of its structure may help scientists better understand the pathology of the disease and develop therapies to treat it. LRRK2 crystals grown in gravity are too small and too compact to study, making microgravity an essential part of this research. This investigation is sponsored by the U.S. National Laboratory on the space station, which Congress designated in 2005 to maximize its use for improving quality of life on Earth.
UpClose view of Cygnus NG-10 cargo freighter atop Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, loaded with 3.7 tons of science and supplies for delivery to the International Space Station, is seen on Pad-0A, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Launched Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

Cygnus NG-10 counts as NASA’s 5 cargo resupply mission of 2018 and one more is also planned by SpaceX on NET Dec. 4, said Joel Montalbano, ISS Program deputy manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, at the prelaunch media briefing at NASA Wallops. 

Cygnus NG-10 will remain at the station for approximately 3 months until February 2019. 


Then it will unberth and depart and deploy a series of cubesats and orbits above and below the ISS altitude at a safe distance from the outpost.


Then it be commanded to a destructive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, disposing of several thousand pounds of trash.


This is the seventh flight of an enhanced Cygnus spacecraft, and the fourth using Northrop Grumman's upgraded Antares 230 launch vehicle featuring new RD-181 engines that provide increased performance and flexibility.



Cygnus will deliver vital equipment, supplies and scientific equipment to the space station as part of Northrop Grumman’s Commercial Resupply Services-1 (CRS-1) contract with NASA – totaling 11 cargo flights.

“NG-10 is the next to last followed by NG-11 next spring under the CRS-1 contract,” said Northrop Grumman’s Kurt Eberly. 


“Northrop Grumman also has been awarded the follow-on CRS-2 contract from NASA comprising at least 6 more cargo missions.”


To date, Cygnus spacecraft have delivered more than 23,000 kilograms of cargo to the International Space Station, and removed 17,000 kilograms of disposable cargo. 


The prior Cygnus cargo freighter was successfully launched by an Antares 230 vehicle from Wallops on May 21, 2018 on the Orbital ATK OA-9 resupply mission for NASA before the company merged with Northrop Grumman. 


Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.





Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com


Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area.


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Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events

14 comments:

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  5. ...interstellar travel constant acceleration (Chiquitita the stars are shining for you over there in the high)... Today there is not any song, crying bitter tears for the Chiquitita from Mexico who never more will return to sing, she was shut up forever of the more inhuman mode by the coward femnicidal "machismo", in reality those coward assassins are not males, they are homovices who although have the strength of men, they are not men (only the homovices, TV propagation, hate to women, libro homovicio "La ult muj de Austrl", the last Australia´s woman, the homovices want make a world without women for "substitute to women", damned-homovices-dirty-repugnant-sterile-ill-vicious-mistaken). Hypocrite politicians continuously doing damn´s concentrations to the coward feminicides perpetrated by homovices, that "damn" DON´T IS USEFUL FOR NOTHING, as can see, the unique that is useful is the Fear of Death Penalty, and all other are tales. The "civilized" politicians, guided by the religious "leaders" of the horror, they prefer that assassinating three thousand five hundred millions of women before call to Referendum and that being the People who decides applying to the feminicidal, a road-roller starting by the feet, and finished the coward feminicides committed by the homovices. The horror against women will stop someday. Chiquitita las estrellas brillan por ti allá en lo alto.

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  6. CO2 + UV laser → C + O2... 3d bioprinting = Immortality = go to stars ((typewrite: interstellar travel constant acceleration))

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  7. (2a)...interstellar travel not acceleration constant (laser)... a light´s beam that rotates is not a light´s beam that rotates... if it would be 1 only beam even the infinitesimal centrifugal force from gyration perhaps would break the beam launching tangentially its photons at straight line, as the stone of a sling loop that breaks. The arriving light (radiation) from a gyratory pulsar star is something seemed, the same than gyratory laser pointer from horizon to horizon 180º in 1 second, each beam that exits from a gyratory source is an independent light´s ray with limited length that only goes away in straight line: source on, beam starts; source turns, that beam finishes, is off, and starts-on another beam in the new direction... Photon, its mass "is believed" that is zero, but is the Photon´s Mass impacting against the future Space-Sail that produces the Transfer of Linear Momentum (mass*speed), the impulse... Photon, "relativistic" mass M = E/c²... constant h=6.626*10^-34 joules-sec... v, frequency e.g. red light=4*10^14 Hz... that photon energy E = h*v; E = (6.626*10^-34) * (4*10^14); E = 2.6504*10^-19 joules * (6.24*10^18 eV)=1.6538 eV... c=3*10^8 m/s, that photon MASS M = E/c²; M = (2.6504*10^-19) / (9*10^16); M = 2.944889*10^-36 kg... that Photon "relativistic" Mass ~29 ten-sextillionth of kg ______ 4 semicircular-Screens, if it would be 1 only beam, infinitesimal centrifugal Force ((N=kg*m/s², we do reference to g-Earth in any Universe place, for that also on the Moon kilograms force=Newtons/9.8)) in kgf (kp) from that Photon, according to huge centrifugal G (kgf=kg*number of g´s)... radius Earth→screens, 1: 95493 km (96,105,971g)=2.8*10^-28 kgf (~28 hundred-thousand-quadrillionth of kgf)... 2: Moon 384,403 km (386,870,541g)=1.1*10^-27 kgf (~11 ten-thousand-quadrillionth of kgf)... 3: Sun, 1.5*10^8 km (150,962,873,002g)=4.4*10^-25 kgf (~44 hundred-quadrillionth of kgf)... 4: Andromeda, 1.9*10^19 km (913,135,316,143,368g)=2.7*10^-21 kgf (~27 ten-thousand-trillionth of kgf)... When source turns, each individual laser mark on the semicircular-screen (L=3.14*r) haz zero speed, do not moves, arrives and it vanishes, such as a light-bulbs row that they go being on and off one after another, from the first to the last hyperluminal speed, but is Not the speed of a mobile because there is Not any mobile.

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    1. pulsar is not light visible, is invisible radiation

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  8. ...interstellar travel constant acceleration (coronavirus: influenza vaccine?)... they say that influenza vaccine diminishes the effects and gravity of COVID-19... so, "while arrives its specific vaccine": EVERYBODYVACCINATIONINFLUENZA (WHO)... ((El Sistema Inmunológico reacciona a la vacuna gripe creando Anticuerpos que dañarán parcialmente el covid19 cuando llegue. Sin vacuna gripe, el coronavirus ataca a sus anchas y el sistema inmunológico puede reaccionar de forma desproporcionada produciendo Gran Inflamación que es lo que mata, por ello tratan con inmunodepresores para evitar en lo posible esa inflamación mortal. Con los Anticuerpos (the dogs) producidos en respuesta a la vacuna gripe el coronavirus (the tiger) atacado y algo debilitado no produce tanta reacción inflamatoria mortal... so, "while arrives its specific vaccine covid19": MASSIVE VACCINATION AGAINST FLU ALREADY (WHO).

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  9. ...interstellar travel constant acceleration (Katherine Johnson, "the girl" math genius que traspasó las Puertas de la Historia para entrar en la Leyenda)... sus profesores a los padres cuando aún era una niña prodigio: "en todos mis años de enseñanza nunca he visto una cabeza como la de su hija, tienen que hacerlo, tienen que ver hasta dónde llega", "decidme donde queréis que caiga en el océano y yo os diré desde donde tenéis que lanzarlo", les decía a los científicos de la NASA cuando los primeros astronautas, a los que le iba la vida en ello, decían "que la chica haga los cálculos"... "El avión pequeño que cayó del cielo", nadie sabía entonces porque, ella descubrió y demostró matemáticamente que habían sido los vórtices de punta de ala de un avión grande que le precedía volando algo más alto, esa turbulencia de otras puntas de ala hizo que aquella avioneta se estrellara. Y hasta hoy en que la Aeronáutica sabe lo que Katherine descubrió (en el periódico que dio la noticia no mencionaron su nombre como autora). Pero como era mujer y negra, le adjudicaron el mérito a su jefe del departamento y a ella la dejaron como ayudante. Y tantos descubrimientos y cálculos de órbitas que hizo para hacer ir y volver con seguridad a los Apollo de la Luna, a los que llevó literalmente de su mano. A Katherine Johnson le pidieron la Luna y ella no se echó atrás, con poco más que un lápiz, una regla de cálculo y una incipiente informática, que ella tenía que verificar, trazó con precisión las trayectorias que permitirían el aterrizaje... "la NASA nunca olvidará su entusiasmo coraje y liderazgo, y los logros que no podríamos haber alcanzado sin ella"... "Katherine haz el cálculo"... (Cuando un día un funcionario fue a preguntarle al jefe por esos trabajos, este le dijo "mire hable con Katherine porque ella es en realidad la que lo hace casi todo"). No es de extrañar en un país donde sus religiosos presidentes dicen eso de "que Dios bendiga a los Estados Unidos de América" (y al resto del Mundo que lo parta un rayo), un país en el que la casa del presidente le llaman la casa "blanca". Aunque tardíos, al fin desde 2015 reconocimientos de la NASA y la nación: Medalla Presidencial Libertad, y en Langley "Centro Katherine G. Johnson", y Medalla de Oro del Congreso. (Sus publicaciones científicas: Wikipedia Katherine Johnson (12)... Legendary Mathematician Katherine Johnson: Honor and Glory Eternals... Already must have in the Universe one star called Katherine Johnson.

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  10. ...interstellar travel constant acceleration (without "God bless to the United States of America")... and to the rest of the World that crack to it a ray... Only USA cans do this: leave to be USA and take the lead of UNION WORLD without nations, without wars and without frontiers (cities only) with 1 only World Government, 1 only Idiom, 1 only Army, 1 only Anthem and 1 only Earth Flag, admitting in Equality in UW to all countries that also want leave to be it and go away together toward the Immortal Future without gods religion "blesses" nor tales, instead of continue wasting the time raising barriers and with the demented religious-patriots assail-Congresses who make a country in which the house of the president is called the "white" house... Come on to the Future, and goodbye UN... Hello UW...

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  11. ...interstellar travel constant acceleration (over 30 UFOs)... 05-06-2021, 22:30 h, they come from SW and go away toward NE... apparent size as stars, in orbital trajectory over 30 UFOs white light dots equal than tenuous Sun reflected on satellites, but with the luminosity that is sighted the Deneb star, in an Indian row equidistance maintaining in a perfect straight line all them at equal velocity as satellites ~28,000 km/h, seen from Earth Surface they go slowly and separated among them at an angle A ~3º: orbital height Adjacent Side AB supposing 300 km, Opposite Side BC, Hypotenuse AC; cos A=AB/AC; 0.9986=300/AC; AC=300/0.9986; AC=300.42 km; AC²=AB²+BC²; BC²=AC²-AB²; BC=SQR (300.42²-300²); BC=15.88 km... Over 30 Spacecrafts on Earth orbit in an Indian row separated 15 km among them toward NE (the next night already they did not pass)... where did come they from and where did go they... What would be that?... Space Drones.

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    1. News: are not UFOs, is a publicist invention of that one millionaire of the car on orbit, have light for on/off, and Starlink for Internet.

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  12. "Instituto Karolinska Logran crear neuronas electrónicas que pueden comunicarse con las naturales".

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