this is bbc news. the headlines: the us department of defence says it's tracking what's believed to be a chinese surveillance balloon flying over the country. these are believed to be the first images. a pentagon official said the balloon entered us airspace two days ago, with its flight path carrying it over a number of sensitive sites. a former russian army officer has told the bbc that he witnessed russian soldiers committing crimes in ukraine, including torture and looting. the claims also include a ukrainian prisoner of war being beaten and shot. meanwhile, president putin has used the 80th anniversary of the soviet victory over the nazis in the battle of stalingrad, to insist that russia will win the war in ukraine. mr putin said his country was once again being forced

to resist the aggression of the west. now on bbc news: click. this week, we're trying to get to space, which is even harder than it sounds. lara messes up the house... oh, no. i spilled my coffee! ..and then clears up. mind the cat, though. and fancy a drink? we're saving water... cheers. ..and trying to save nick from himself. oh, no, he's getting a tattoo. there's no going back from this. _

it's a pretty spectacular view from earth's orbit. and there are plenty of things that have that view these days. a couple of space stations and thousands of satellites. and more and more companies want to put stuff up there. did you know that the closer you are to the equator, the easier it is to get things up to the right speed to go into orbit? ah! that's because that's where the earth is spinning fastest. so as you launch, it gives you an extra whang. and that's why the uk spaceport is way down south in cornwall. yeah. and that's why it was there earlier in the year that virgin orbit attempted the first satellite launch from uk soil. the uk's first functioning spaceport is here in cornwall. we're creating a huge cluster of space technology. - the global value of the space economy is somewhere in the region of $360 billion.

to the uk, it's {16.5 billion every single year. newquay airport usually hosts small passenger and private aircraft. it's now home to spaceport cornwall. rockets aren't going to launch from the ground here, though. instead, private companies will take advantage of its runway, which is one of the longest in britain, and ideal for an innovative method of satellite deployment via a rocket called launcherone, courtesy of a company called virgin orbit. and it's no ordinary rocket launch. this converted 7a7 carries a rocket underneath its wing, which has nine microsatellites inside. the aircraft will take off from here, fly out over the atlantic and ascend to an altitude of 35,000 feet, where the rocket will detach and blast off to the edge of space and deliver its payload. the bbc has been granted exclusive access on board cosmic girl.

this aircraft used to be a virgin atlantic airliner, but it's been specially modified so it can launch rockets. in its former life, this cabin would have been filled with rows and rows of passenger seats, as well as galleys and bulkheads. they even used to have a bar on these aircraft. all of that has been stripped out to save weight — and weight saving is really, really important if you want to launch rockets. squadron leader matthew "stanny" stannard is on loan to virgin 0rbit from the royal air force. he's already played a role in three successful rocket launches from cosmic girl over the mojave desert in the united states. can you take us through a mission, how it works? we're going to get airborne from the runway behind us| and head out to what's called a race track. - that's the point we're . going to drop the rocket. that phase is called captive carry. - we're reallyjust looking - after the rocket, making sure it's healthy, using the launch engineers in the back-

and mission control on the ground. - we commence a pull—up. it's about 26. so if you are a passenger. on this aeroplane, you feel yourself being pushed downjust slightly in the seat, _ and we go to about 35 degrees, nose up. - and what we're doing - there is trying to transfer energy from the aeroplane to the rocket. _ by us going to that, _ the moment the rocket comes off, it's already heading where it wants to. - it's not wasting any fuel. when we get to about 35. degrees, nose up, we wait for the right speed and then the co—pilot will press - a button to release the rocket. at that point, the aeroplane's off all the way to the - right—hand side, and we're going to watch the rocket. head to space. our system is portable. it's an airplane with a rocket and a few skids with equipment on it. so we can move it anywhere. we can enable space launch anywhere — any airport that can handle a 747. there is a growing space economy here in the uk. the uk has been one of the leaders in small satellites, which is actually where the satellite market has drifted to.

now, some people might argue that there's lots of problems going on down here on earth, lots of massive economic problems going on on terra firma. why should governments, why should nations, why should people be concerned with what's going on in space? if you look at, for instance, the discussion about climate change — how do we know about climate change? because we've seen, from space, changes in earth's atmosphere. we can detect the chemical compositions. we're looking at where the pollution sources are now. methane is now being detected for the first time. while cosmic girl is changing the way that satellites launch into the heavens, this spaceport here in newquay could change the economy in this particular part of the world. the local council here has invested £5.6 million. overall, the spaceport has a £20 million price tag. it's a gamble for an area where mining and fishing were the traditional industries, now replaced by tourism.

we're creating 150 directjobs related to this amazing - facility that we've built - here at spaceport cornwall, and we plan to create another 240 jobs in the supply chain. i and this is in a high—tech, . futuristic, innovative sector. so we're trying to bring - a new industry to cornwall, to develop jobs in a new way, develop the skills base, - as well. the low—earth 0rbit economy, as i describe it, is definitely one that's growing. there were 1,700 small satellites launched into low— earth orbit last year. 0rbit�*s maiden uk flight took place onjanuary 9th 2023. the plan was for launcher0ne one to deploy nine microsatellites into orbit. things didn't work out like that, though. after a successful takeoff, the rocket launched from cosmic girl and, as it reached space, all look good. but at an altitude of 180km, the rocket experienced an anomaly and the mission abruptly ended, its satellites never achieving orbit. with the rocket�*s components

falling back to earth in what's described as an approved safety corridor, cosmic girl landed safely. 0rbit�*s next launch will be back over the mojave desert. it's investigating what went wrong in the skies above the uk. the company says it hopes to attempt another uk launch later this year. the uk's space race is now on. two conventional vertical rocket—launch facilities are being built in scotland. the prize of getting a satellite into orbit from uk soil is still up for grabs. that was marc. now, of course, you know what the most famous thing that's in orbit around the earth is, don't you? the moon. yeah. 0k, faircall. what's the second—most—famous thing in orbit around the earth? the international space station. exactly. there it is. and recently, i was lucky enough to meet the man who's in charge of the lab that's on board. the international space station has been in operation

for over 20 years. since 2005, we've also had a national laboratory, and that national laboratory enables access to microgravity, and the continuous observation of earth from space for companies all across the world. and what sorts of things can you do in microgravity that are usefulfor us down here on earth? well, there's lots of fun stuff. you see the astronauts play with water and m&ms, and those all have at their heart, you know, fundamental differences in the physical behaviour of objects in that environment. those translate down into some real—world benefits for those who seek to design new materials. so our portfolio includes advanced materials research, where folks are looking to better understand the way physics works in the absence of gravity. and that can lead to improvements in engine design, combustion, fluid systems, heat and thermal transfer. we also have, as a large part of our portfolio, medical devices and medical discovery. getting to space is getting cheaper, yes? absolutely.

and lift—off. lift-off. there is, for the first time in human history, reliable, frequent access to space. it is cheaper. it is not in the realm of cheap yet. it's not quite calling up an uber or lyft to get a ride, but it's heading in that direction. so as each of these companies perfect their technologies and these new approaches with reusable space flight hardware, costs continue to come down. that also speaks to launch opportunities here on earth. so the more sites where we can launch crew and cargo and tourists to space, the better off we all are. how long's the iss got left, and what comes next? so the international space station now has international support to operate through 2030. that will be over 30 years of continuous operations in space. so things are starting to age. we've replaced parts of it as we've gone along, but some of those systems are nearing the end of their lifetimes. the united states and partner nations are already working

on stations to supplement the activities of the international space station, and commercial companies are now working with nasa to design and build new platforms. some of those new space stations will interact with the international space station. others will be free flyers operating completely on their own. so the goal is that, by 2030, when the international space station has reached its end of life, there will be one, two or multiple commercial destinations in space that can fill all the wonderful niches that the international space station has filled. what happens to the iss after it's left by the last human? it's coming home. yeah. so they will detach... it's not going to be parked anywhere, is it? the plan right now is to have it burn up and target it so that it goes into a very specific location in the indian ocean known as point nemo. so if you have your own personal deep submersible, you can go visit the international space station — or what's left of it — at the bottom of point nemo in 2032 or 2031.

james cameron, if you're watching, it's one for you. michael, thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. thank you very much. lara: time for a look at this week's tech news. microsoft rolled back a network change which had left tens of thousands of users unable to access its services worldwide. outlook, teams and xbox live were all reported to have not been working. the disruption came on the same week as the company announced a multibillion investment in al. microsoft is extending its partnership with openai, whose chatgpt provides convincingly human responses to questions. it's also a really big deal because it's really going to push google to commercialise ai a lot faster, and i think the biggest impact will be in how much it pushes google in search. boston dynamics�* atlas robot can run, jump, pick up — and now throw heavy objects. one day it may even be able

to help out in the construction industry. although the robot has already done a backflip, the team has said that this new technology is a step forward. the world's largest pest—control group is now using facial recognition to track rats and assess how to deal with them. rentokil has been developing the tech along with vodafone for 18 months. it tracks the rodents�* habits and streams real—time analysis. whilst on our recent us travels, i got hands—on with some of the latest kit hoping to make your house a smart home. for some of us wanting to smarten up our homes, though, we don't want to add a whole load more devices — certainly not ones that look obvious. so the mui board here is based

around the idea of calm technology — something that has its functionality without being really in—your—face. when it's launched later this year it'll be based on the matter platform, which means that you can connect it to lots of different smart—home devices. and then you've got the choice of which ones you want listed when you bring it to life here. so you've got the option to have a weather forecast. if you want to set a timer for your lights to go off you can do it by drawing a line on here, and you can see the time going up, and then watching the line disappear as the lights go out. now, i don't know about you, but i cannot start my day without coffee. so this is of particular interest to me. it may look like an ordinary pod machine, but the morning is all about making gourmet coffee and getting it just right. using this dial, you can select the temperature, pressure and amount of coffee that you're making. there are a couple of pre—sets there, but otherwise you can be

absolutely specific about what you're after, which you can also do within the app. and if you're wondering how you'd know what settings to use, well, an assortment of coffees from around the world have their instructions programmed in. there's momos coffee, which was roasted in korea. this should be brewed at 92 degrees. let's put a pod in. this one will vary the pressure depending on what the coffee needs. so sometimes it's slower pressure at the beginning and builds up more towards the end. now for the big test. how's the flavour? the taste is intense. kind of nutty. without comparing it to making one in my regular pod machine, i guess it's a bit tricky to say. oh, no, i've spilt my coffee! it's so lucky that i have this robotic vacuum and mop here. florio, do your thing! vacuum starts. florio: robot is repositioning. upbeat music.

like other similar robo—cleaners, this mop—and—vacuum—in—one maps out its route. it uses what it calls neural vision navigation. so some cameras and sensors collect data for an algorithm to make sense of. it then sends a floor plan to your phone, where you can make sure it's right, and set any rules you may want for each room. oh, kitty, you'll be all right on the floor, won't you? and of course it has the obligatory obstacle—avoidance. it managed to move really closely around her without even stroking her fur. it also has a dynamic scrubbing function — the equivalent of a bit of elbow grease. and when it detects there's a carpet or a rug, it'll automatically lift up the wet—clean function by two centimetres and move to vacuuming.

what's different about this device is that there's no dirty water that needs to be cleaned out, and in fact it automatically changes the pads on the mop. and you can even assign it to do that room—by—room. meanwhile, it's time for some food. i'll be needing these as i'm testing the pronto pressure cooker, which also has an airfryer attachment goes on top. this is actuallyjust an aesthetic prototype at the moment, so it doesn't do anything, but the idea is that when there is a working one it'll make the food crispy, as well. now, the whole system is connected. there's a device here, as well as the option to use the mobile phone app, where there's a whole range of recipes — and you can even have live cooking lessons. so whilst for the sake of filming i've just put this to the test by making some sauteed potatoes, its multiple cooking modes mean that you could maybe bake bread or roast a chicken, saving the energy of a full oven. and it's done. whilst in this particular instance it's probably not really any more useful than a frying pan — in fact, probably more hassle — at least there is a lot

of versatility within what you can do here. and, well, still looks tasty. so whether it's for eating, drinking, resting or cleaning, there are some of the latest devices that you never knew you needed. any excuse to drink more coffee. i don't know what you're talking about, but whilst i've been swigging more caffeine, paul carter has been looking at ways to save water. las vegas in nevada is a city of contradiction. famous for its excess, it's also known for being based slap—bang in the middle of a landscape like this — desert. and that means that saving water is critical to its survival. so where better to come to see some companies showcasing their latest solutions to help save some of our most precious resource? dutch company hydraloop has created a system that recycles water within homes and businesses. our slogan is, "be wise,

use water twice." the units treat what's known as "grey water" so it can be safely used again for other purposes. grey water is lightly contaminated water from the bath, the shower, and from the washing machine. this particular model is designed for use in small homes. prices start at around $2,000 us per unit. it is integrated with the toilet flushing. this is the first interview i've ever conducted next to a toilet, by the way! we use six techniques, they're all organic. the shower water comes in here and it flows in this tank. anything that is heavier than water will actually collect here and gets wasted through the sewer. similar to anything that is lighter — it will float up. we push air into the system whereby the water here goes up and here is the skimmer. and anything like hair, anything floating, we get rid of, goes here and this is again automatically wasted through the sewer. then, what do we do? this blue one here, we inject

millions of air bubbles, the suspended solids, they make the water kind of the milky colour. they stick on the skin of the air bubble. i don't know if you know about there's, like, a dutch beer. i'm from the netherlands. you know, they pull the beer and then the guy goes, like... yeah, skim the top off. that's what we do here. it is our vision that, within ten years�* time, no house, no building will be built without its own decent water recycling system. now, that�*s one way of saving water inside the home. but what about outside? canadian company oto created an app—connected smart sprinkler system to help its users conserve water while maintaining their gardens. all that�*s needed is a hose and a wifi connection. the oto is weather—intelligent, so that means it�*s going to skip when it�*s raining, skip when it�*s too windy. so that means it�*s putting down the minimum amount water required to take care of your plants. shall we switch it on and see what it can do? yeah.

let�*s go. oh, cool. yeah. i love how much i�*m trusting this not to actuallyjust come around and spray us. it�*s very accurate, which is good. users can also set different zones for the sprinkler to water using the smartphone app. once you complete the area of the zone, oto will zigzag to fill it in. so let�*s set up a new zone. let�*s call it the bbc zone. so you�*re basically setting the perimeter of your zone. it�*s like setting waypoints, really. right now, i can edit this point and you just press "edit" and then it will go right there. ooh, wow! and still not got us wet. yeah. oto lawn claims its technology can halve water consumption from garden watering. one device costs about $500 us, but more than one may be needed, depending on the size of your garden. the un suggests that demand for water could increase by as much as 30% by 2030, driven by changes in temperature, usage changes, and population.

what may appear as niche applications now may yet turn out to be some of the most critical in the decades to come. and from water to a different sort of liquid — beer. which means this is a job for nick kwek. i mean, other people did want to do it, but somehow nick just got there first. what�*s your tipple, your brew of choice, your poison? well, if you�*re like me, "anything wet" is usually the answer. hello there, sir. i�*d like a beer, please. yes, sir. today, i�*m tasting three beers, each with their own unique flavour profiles as part of a beer recommendation system by silicon valley—based aromyx. when i�*m drinking the beers, the tablet here, and the camera on it is analysing my

facial expression. so it�*s looking for if i�*m having a good time drinking it or if i�*m hating the beer and then it�*s got an ai algorithm in the back end, which then comes up with my own personalised recommendation. cheers! did you get that? to be fair, i�*ve had a couple. the system cleverly recommends beers you may never have tried before based on your videoed response to just these three very different ones. to be able to do it, the company took loads of different beers — in this case around a0 — and tested them on human nose and mouth cells in their lab in an attempt to digitise taste. we exposed them to the product sample over a three—day process, and then, based on how they react, how intense that reaction is, they light up, we measure that light, and then that gives us that unique barcode, so to speak, for the taste or smell. and then we put them in sort of like an imaginary 3d cube of flavour. and we see are the ipas over here and the stouts are over here, and the flavoured orange beer is over here.

how similar or dissimilar are they to each other on a bunch of different vectors? when someone comes up here and we identify their unique preferences, we�*re looking back at that model in that 3d space to say, "well, you like flavours right over here. "let�*s recommend things that are close to that. "and we�*re not going to recommend over here because it�*s the opposite of what you like." the ai does the hard work so you don�*t have to. which, personally, i�*m rather devastated about. why would you need something like this? surely people know what they want to drink when they go out. you do know what you like to drink. but there�*s a whole world of beer out there that you�*ve never had before. we�*ve seen the craft beer space has exploded tremendously in the last few decades. the number of amazing breweries you can go to. now, you go into a bar and you�*re looking at a list a mile long. give me three beers to choose from, i can do that quickly. give me 100. good luck. i�*m going to walk away. i�*ll accept the challenge, to be honest. well, we appreciate you taking that challenge on. someone�*s got to do it. cheers. after a few more hours

of intense interrogation, i thought it�*d be a good idea to get some ink. there�*s no going back from this. "prinker" is a pain—free temporary tattoo printer. that�*s for you, lara and spen. luckily, what happens in vegas stays in vegas. nick, i thought we were forever! heartbroken. i�*m afraid that�*s all we�*ve got time for. yeah, thanks for watching. we�*ll see you soon. bye— bye. hello. weather change is on the way at the weekend. i�*ll detail in a moment. first, it�*s been a pretty wet 2a hours across parts of northern scotland, over 50 millimetres of rain in places, over 5 hours of sunshine in the sunniest parts of kent

on thursday, although much of the uk has been cloudy. some cloud, rain we are all in the mild air at the moment. it�*s this that changes at the weekend. by sunday, the blue takes over. it will be turning colder but actually it will be tipping the balance on sunday in favour of sunnier skies. once again with a big area of high pressure moving right across the uk. we�*re not there yet, and there will be a lot of clouds to start off on friday. there�*ll be a damp start across parts of southern scotland, northern ireland and northern england. particularly mild here though, double figure temperatures from the word go. now, any early rain will clear away from northern ireland and northern england, and push north across scotland. so any early sunny spells here will be short—lived. for northern ireland, england and wales into the afternoon, a lot of cloud around. you may still encounter some light rain or drizzle, but there�*ll also be some brighter spells developing in a few places too. and as for temperatures, they will be a little bit higher than they were on thursday, up to around 13, 11; degrees celsius

for, say, hull and for london. now on through friday night, we�*ll keep a good deal of cloud around. it�*s western areas that are most likely to get some further light rain or drizzle. very wet weather poised to move into scotland as we go on through saturday. another mild start to the day. so here�*s the weekend under way. we�*ve noticed a lot of cloud around during daylight hours. for england and wales it�*ll stay mainly dry. there will be a few sunny spells here and there. whereas for scotland and for northern ireland, we�*ll see this band of rain working its way southwards during the day and temperatures for many still in double figures. it will be turning colder in those areas. they�*ll see the back of the rain before the end of the day. and it�*s the rain along with this weather front that just moves its way southwards and weakens overnight, saturday night into sunday morning. and it�*s behind that — it is a cold front — the colder air moves in, but with a big area of high pressure across the uk — see the wind circulating around it here — there will be loads of sunshine around on sunday. just parts of scotland,

maybe the far southwest of england, holding on to some cloud. temperatures are down, yes, and a frosty night to follow on sunday night.

welcome to bbc news, i�*m monika plaha. our top stories: the us defense department says it�*s confident that a balloon spotted over montana is a chinese surveillance platform. these are believed to be the first images. a former russian officer tells the bbc he witnessed russian soldiers humiliating and shooting ukrainian prisoners of war. translation: the ukrainian had a blindfold on. _ the colonel put a pistol to the prisoner�*s forehead and said, "i am going to count to three "and then shoot you in the head." meanwhile, president putin uses the 80th anniversary of the soviet victory over the nazis in stalingrad to insist that russia will win the war in ukraine.

a convicted italian mafia killer has been arrested in france after 16 years on the run.