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CARL AZUZ: On this Sweet 16th of February,
we're glad you found time to check out our show.
I'm Carl Azuz.
We're looking up today.
There is a rogue rocket hurtling through space
right now that's expected to smack into the Moon next month.
But where did it come from?
That is a question that's been hanging in the air--
get it-- for years.
At first, an independent researcher
who studies orbital dynamics thought
the object came from a SpaceX rocket
that was launched in 2015.
Other space experts and NASA agreed with him.
But over the past few days, scientists
said they came to the conclusion that the object isn't part
of the SpaceX rocket, because it's
too far away from where another part of that vehicle flew.
So again, whose rocket is it?
Now, the prevailing theory is that it's
part of a Chinese booster that was launched in 2014.
The rocket is expected to crash into the far side of the Moon
on March 4.
Researchers don't expect people to be
able to see this from Earth.
The rocket stage is expected to be completely destroyed,
and to make a crater anywhere from 30 to 65 feet wide.
There are dozens of objects like this that people have lost
in deep space, and an astronomer interviewed by CNN
says no space agencies have done a thorough job
of keeping up with them.
So he says this highlights the need for organizations
like NASA to monitor deep space junk,
instead of relying on private individuals to do that.
And another researcher says more thought needs to be put
into keeping outer space clean.
That could start with more reusable spacecraft.
And the spaceflight company SpaceX
is trying to get its reusable Starship rocket off the ground.
It can't test it in orbit for the first time
until it gets the green light from the US government,
and that can't happen until the Federal Aviation Administration
completes its environmental review of the SpaceX facility
in South Texas.
Critics have said they're concerned
that wildlife in this area could be
threatened by SpaceX launches.
The FAA report has been delayed a couple of times,
and it's now due out on March 28.
RACHEL CRANE: I'm here at Starbase, Texas,
where Elon Musk gave his first update on SpaceX's
Starship program in two years.
Now, I just want to point out that over my shoulder,
you can see the Starship spacecrafts-- two of them,
actually.
And they are sitting there next to the Super Heavy Booster.
Now, the booster is what blasts that spacecraft into space.
And that's essentially SpaceX's R&D facility,
where they've been iterating and working
on the Starship program.
Now, over my other shoulder here, I
want to bring you to the vehicle being fully stacked.
Now, it's on the launch pad and it stands nearly 400 feet tall.
The vehicle is completely reusable.
And when ignited, this thing has more than twice the thrust
of the Saturn V, which is, of course,
the rocket that brought people to the moon
during the Apollo era.
So this is really a gargantuan vehicle.
Musk spending a lot of time talking
about why his company SpaceX is working on this program.
He believes that Starship will be
able to bring people back to the moon and one day to Mars.
Take a listen.
ELON MUSK: Starship is capable of doing that.
It's capable of getting a million
tons to the surface of Mars and creating
a self-sustaining city.
This is the first point in the four
and 1/2 billion year history of Earth
that it has been possible.
RACHEL CRANE: Before they can launch from Starbase, Texas,
to orbit, they need FAA approval.
And SpaceX and Musk hopes to have that in a matter of weeks.
And they hope to make that first orbital test launch
here from Starbase, Texas.
Musk also laid out very ambitious goals
of having three launches a day, painted a picture
of floating spaceports launching from Kennedy Space Center,
really all over the world.
So this is a very ambitious goal of ultimately one day
achieving that long goal of creating
a self-sustaining city on Mars.
CARL AZUZ: 10-second trivia!
The worst droughts that the US ever faced
occurred in what decade?
1870s, 1930s, 1950s, or 1980s?
The US government says the most significant droughts
in American history were during the Dust
Bowl period of the 1930s.
The Dust Bowl covered several states in the central US.
It was actually a series of dust storms and droughts
that came one after another.
Extreme heat was also part of it.
And it's considered the benchmark for record drought
in America.
The US government says droughts are normal,
that they've happened naturally at different levels
throughout history.
But a new study suggests that between the year
2000 and 2021, a drought in the American West
could be that region's worst in 1,200 years.
The city of Los Angeles, California
is exploring new ways to recycle water.
It's not the only part of the world that's bone dry.
- On the border of Spain and Portugal,
a village swallowed by the Zazeri River in 1992
to make way for a reservoir has now emerged as a ghost.
Visitors walking on the muddy ground cracked by drought
found partially collapsed roofs, bricks, and wooden debris that
once made up doors or beams.
Over the years, onlookers were able to see the roofs peeking
out of the water during drought season,
but the extreme drought this year has revealed
the village in its entirety.
The Iberian Peninsula, home to Portugal and Spain,
is experiencing one of the driest winters
on record, which is draining out reservoirs,
worrying farmers and residents.
Official records show Spain received only a quarter
of the precipitation it normally gets in January,
and water reserves are now at less than half
of their capacity.
- [speaking spanish]
INTERPRETER: If in these months, when it should
be raining the most, it is not raining,
then the reserves don't refill.
Also, their capacity, their water quantity
will continue to drop, and that can be
quite worrying for the future.
- In neighboring Portugal, drone footage shows boats
docked along dry banks as river waters recede.
Earlier this month, Portugal ordered five of its hydropower
dams to halt water use for electricity production
to save enough for people's daily use.
Antonio Esteveo is one of the farmers who is struggling
to feed his livestock.
Many are worried their crops for the season will be ruined.
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- Just over 100 million people in America
are estimated to have watched Sunday's Super Bowl.
It won't break the viewership record set seven years ago,
when 114 million people watched, but the game
is still the most-viewed annual event on TV.
And that's why companies pay so much to advertise during it,
likely a record $6 and 1/2 million this year
for a 30-second commercial.
But advertisers don't always get the response
they are hoping for.
JEANNE MOOS: Were you one of those people
chasing a QR code around your TV screen during the Super Bowl,
even getting down on your knees?
Or maybe like this 95-year-old grandma,
you were saying "what is that?"
- Did you get it?
- No.
Did you?
- No, I'm filming you get it.
JEANNE MOOS: Or maybe you were at a Super Bowl party
with guests who rooted for the code more than for the Rams
or the Bengals.
It zipped around the screen for 60 seconds, A?
Nod to the old bouncing DVD screensaver that became a meme,
even ending up on "The Office".
- There's this cube on the screen.
It bounces around all day.
And sometimes, it looks like it's
heading right into the corner of the screen,
and then at the last minute, hits a wall and bounces away.
- Well, "Where's Waldo"?
- Nice!
JEANNE MOOS: But this QR code commercial
was for the cryptocurrency trading company Coinbase.
And if your phone captured the code,
you were supposed to get an offer for $15 and free Bitcoin
for signing up.
But a lot of folks got this instead.
"We're having connection issues."
Others got "planned maintenance in progress."
What Coinbase apparently didn't plan for was this.
"We saw over 20 million-plus hits on our landing page
in one minute.
This volume led to us temporarily
throttling our systems."
For some--
- This is my favorite commercial!
JEANNE MOOS: Someone else complimented
the big brain of the guy who came up with that ad.
But a critic tweeted the company should have
saved the seven million in ad costs
and spent it on your servers.
Actually, 60 seconds probably cost at least $13 million,
but who's counting when fans are cheering a QR code like it's
a QB scoring a touchdown?
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
CARL AZUZ: Some might have seen that and thought,
QR not getting me to click.
I've scanned ads before, this one seems a little cryptic.
And even if it's code for a bit of coin,
I get plenty of screen time without taking game time
to screen the screen, then use a screen to screen,
then scan the screen in time.
Then again, some could just hit pause.
I'm Carl Azuz for "CNN 10".
Today's shoutout takes us to the heights of Cleveland,
where we are shouting out Cleveland Heights High School.
Thank you for watching from Ohio, and for your request
on our YouTube channel.
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