SpaceX's giant Starship rocket reached orbit for the first time yesterday (Monday) and deployed the new Starlink satellites, achieving a major achievement despite an engine failure early in the mission and the decision to shorten its duration by seven hours.
The mission was scheduled to last 10 hours, but was reduced to just three hours after an engine problem. The launch from Texas was the fourteenth flight of the missile since 2023, as Elon Musk's company plans to begin regular use of the missile later this year, according to what Reuters reported.
Unlike previous Starship flights, yesterday's mission (Monday) was a critical test of the next-generation rocket and an operational effort to transport Starlink's multi-million-dollar satellites into orbit, marking Starship's first revenue-generating mission, although its final design is still in development.
The 40-story-tall unmanned vehicle, consisting of a Super Heavy booster rocket topped by the main Starship vehicle for the upper stage, was launched from the launch pad of SpaceX's Starbase facility on the Gulf of Mexico near Brownsville.
Upon reaching space, one of Starship's three main engines stopped ahead of schedule, a development that prompted SpaceX spokesman Dan Huett to announce during the company's live broadcast of the mission that the vehicle would not be able to reach orbit.
“The team made the decision not to seek orbit,” Hewitt said.
Satellite launch
Once in orbit, Starship launched 26 Starlink next-generation satellites one by one to an altitude of approximately 269 kilometers, marking the first in-orbit deployment by the rocket.
“All 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites have been deployed and are operating normally,” Musk wrote on “X.”
Engine problems have appeared during some of Starship's previous suborbital flights into space, and they are ongoing challenges facing the program in a very important area, including the missile's ability to maneuver in space. Although this function is less important for Starlink deployments in low orbit, it is crucial for future Starship missions of transporting NASA astronauts to the Moon.
OpenAI said yesterday, Monday, that it will postpone the launch of a new model of artificial intelligence due to security concerns raised by its researchers, in the latest move by the company to slow the pace of development of this technology.
OpenAI's decision to postpone the launch of the model, called GPT-1.6 Astra, comes in light of a broader trend within the industry to slow down the development of systems that have increasing degrees of autonomy, until safety measures can keep pace with this development. The announcement comes a day before a scheduled meeting between artificial intelligence executives and President Donald Trump in Washington, at a time when technology companies face new pressure to take responsibility for how their models are misused, according to the American Associated Press.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the postponement of the launch of the Open AI model.
Sashi Jain, head of safety systems at OpenAI, said in a statement that this version “did not quite achieve the desired level.” She added that the model had become more persistent in completing tasks, but the company needed to balance this ability with the risks of unauthorized behavior.
Jane stressed the company's commitment to ensuring the safety of the model, whether during its testing within the company, or after it reaches the hands of users. “We have very high standards in terms of safety and compatibility,” she said.
Last week, OpenAI stopped training its most advanced models, and said that training would resume “only when we are confident that additional protection measures are in place.”
Marvel’s Wolverine is one of the most prominent and important exclusive releases for the PlayStation 5, as the long-established developer company succeeded in transferring the iconic character “Logan” from the pages of comic books and big screens to an amazing and profound interactive experience. The game offers a dazzling journey with an elaborate cinematic plot, moving away from the usual open-world game worlds to focus intensely on narrative and a focused experience that puts the player directly in the heart of the action and gives him a real feeling of being the most powerful human weapon on the face of the Earth.
Asharq Al-Awsat tested the game, and we will mention a summary of the experience.
Depths of the wounded soul: past struggles
The story takes us on a dark and emotional dramatic adventure, going beyond the superficial stereotypes of superhero roles. The plot focuses on Logan's internal conflicts and his painful experiences filled with difficult memories that made him a deadly human weapon that was exploited mercilessly:
* Voice performance and emotional depth: Actor Liam McIntyre gave the character “Wolverine” dramatic dimensions and high credibility that make players fully sympathize with his harsh nature and hidden kindness toward the weak and children, such as his touching human interaction with the character “Leach,” which creates a wonderful contrast between the ferocity of battles and the tenderness of buried human feelings.
* The world of mutants: The story maturely addresses human persecution of the mutant X-Men and their existential conflicts with organizations such as Trask and the Reavers militia, which gives the plot a dramatic weight worthy of praise, in addition to the appearance of prominent characters such as Jean Grey, Dr. Nathaniel Essex, and Mystique, which enriches the game world with side stories and ramifications that arouse curiosity and push the player to continually advance to find out what the end holds.
Gameplay and mechanics
The game abandons the expansive open-world style in favor of a linear, focused stage design similar to classic narrative adventure games, giving it a fast, continuous pace that relies on momentum and constant action combat without any feeling of boredom or distraction:
* Fierce combat and momentum: The combat system relies on agility, precise evasion, and timed blocks, integrated with the “Rage Meter” with its three levels, which gradually increases with every blow received or executed by the “Wolverine” character, to ultimately transform “Logan” into a deadly, invincible fighting machine that preys on everyone who stands in its way.
* Adamantium claws and techniques: The use of supernatural adamantium claws is carefully designed with dazzling finishing movements that provide precise details that increase the realism of the confrontations in a way that fully satisfies the aspirations of fans of the character. It is also possible to equip four special techniques at the same time, such as “Tornado Spin,” “Knee Breaker,” and “Spiral Strike,” and develop adaptations to expand the blocking range, absorb bullets, and inflict severe damage on armored enemies.
* Tracking capabilities and super senses: The game takes advantage of Logan's super senses to track smells and sounds through distinct visual traces within different environments to reach goals, uncover evidence, and solve simple environmental puzzles that integrate seamlessly with the nature of investigation and search for lost memories.
Rich content from the wilds of Canada to the alleys of Tokyo
The game's levels take us on an amazing global journey between the savage snowy prairies of Canada, and the narrow and dark streets of the city of Madripoor, all the way to the neighborhoods of Tokyo and the secret and danger-filled "Trask" laboratories:
* Design of stages and challenges: Despite the linearity of the stages, they are designed with extreme perfection to serve the cinematic narrative and provide interactive environments rich in details that are subject to partial destruction. The game provides fun side challenges, such as “Nightmare Doors” to test combat and quick navigation skills, in addition to searching for hidden bottles to explore Logan’s forgotten memories and deepen your understanding of his painful past.
* Costumes and customization: The game includes a wide arsenal of more than 30 different costumes inspired by the character’s long history in comics and cinema, such as the Weapon
Visual and audio enjoyment that mimics cinema
* Graphics: The game shows the developed company’s superior technical imprint on the “PlayStation 5” device with special technical improvements for the “PlayStation 5 Pro” version, highlighting the accuracy of the details of the characters’ faces and their realistic expressions, the miraculous healing effects, and the regeneration of living tissues after fierce battles, in addition to the picturesque lighting in the night cities decorated with “neon” lights, and the stability of performance at a rate of 60 frames per second to ensure the utmost smoothness of response in combat.
* Audio: The sound effects of metal tools and the sounds of Wolverine’s roar, in addition to the surrounding environmental sounds and the masterful voice acting performance of “Liam McIntyre” and the rest of the cast, place the player completely in the heart of the action and make him experience every detail with all his senses as if he were watching a huge cinematic film controlling its course himself.
* Arabic language support: The game comes with advanced support for the Arab audience, which includes accurate translation of conversations, professionalism in menus and explanatory texts, and textual translation of dialogues on the screen, which makes it easier for Arab players to fully integrate into the details of the complex story and follow the deep dramatic events without any language barriers, which reflects the developer company’s commitment to providing an integrated and customized experience for players in the Arab region.
Information about the game
- Programming company: Insomnia Games insomniac.Games
- Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment www.SonyInteractive.com
- Game website: www.Playstation.com
- Game type: Action Adventure
- Gaming devices: “PlayStation 5” exclusively
- Launch date: September 2026
- ESRB Rating: Adult 17+ M17 Plus
- Support for group play: No
