Lifestyle
Anti-drone defense in focus as airport endangerment episodes rise
In the wake of the drone sightings at London’s Gatwick Airport, an incident which grounded and delayed planes for 32 hours during the Christmas travel rush this past December, the issue of anti-drone defense is receiving serious attention from regulators. Recent studies on the issue are showing the loopholes – according to a recent UK Airprox Board (UKAB) report, around 120 near misses between drones and aircraft were reported across the UK in the last year alone. In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) receives over 100 reports every month of unauthorized drone activity around aircraft. While the future of drone tech has exciting possibilities, the security response will clearly need to grow with it, and the US and UK governments are stepping up their roles in the issue as commercial products expand their solutions.
The United Kingdom’s parliamentary leadership has recently called on all airports to make greater efforts in securing their facilities from the unauthorized small craft flights, specifically by investing in technology that will identify their presence and remedy it immediately. In response, military-grade anti-drone equipment has already been installed at several airports across the country. In the U.S., a pilot program has been launched by the FAA in collaboration with NASA to determine ways to integrate drones (or more broadly Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)) with current airspace traffic. Additionally, proposals will be coming soon for more drone rules that balance security concerns with innovation.
Unauthorized flights by hobbyists in airport spaces, potentially including those with bad intentions in the future, are a serious security risk, even deceptively so given the size difference between passenger aircraft and the typical commercial drone. Cockpit collisions and engine damage could have catastrophic results, something seen in aviation over the years with birds (see: “miracle on the Hudson”). In the wider realm, considering the growing capabilities of drones to carry larger payloads and have longer flight times, the potential security issues increase with the imagination – just about anything that could be a positive service for consumers could be modified into a nefarious one: illegal drug deliveries, spying, hacking, etc. Of course, drones falling onto unsuspecting heads below is also a serious concern.
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- The Skywall 100 anti-drone device. | Credit: OpenWorks Engineering Ltd.
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- The DroneGun Tactical, an anti-drone device. | Credit: DroneShield
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- An overview of the Dedrone DroneTracker system. | Credit: Dedrone
Some of the anti-drone solutions already on the market to assist with the emerging security issues arising from this developing technology are as interesting as the drones themselves. One such tech, called “DroneGun Tactical“, looks like a military rifle and works by jamming the communication signals between drones and their pilots, immediately ceasing video transmission as well. It’s designed to keep drone payloads intact so sensitive cargo (i.e., explosives) can be safely controlled and origination information can be retrieved. A similar product called the “IXI Dronekiller” has a similar function. Another firearm-styled anti-drone tech called “SkyWall100” allows operators to physically capture offending drones and has been previously used for presidential-level security operations.
On the larger scale tracking front, one of the major companies in the anti-drone solution business is Dedrone Inc., a venture using AI-driven tracking software. Dedrone’s technology combines sensors and machine learning to detect, identify, and alert clients of all craft in designated airspace. The system can distinguish between drones, birds, planes, and other moving objects, including the specific drone models being flown, providing additional information for security teams to locate the craft’s origin and determine its threat level. Similar technology such as Fortem Technologies’ “SkyDome” also provides airspace-specific security coverage. Dedrone additionally provided a situational awareness report to 4 UK airports wherein 285 drones were detected in their respective areas over the course of about 5 months, the findings of which further underscored the problem at Gatwick last month.
For whatever reason, the threat warnings regarding drones from those in the security industry haven’t merited responses like the ones now being seen following the UK airport incidence and subsequent revelations. The UKAB report also revealed 18 previously unknown near-misses between drones and airliners last year in the country. Previous crashes – including an airliner-drone nose collision on a Boeing 747 Aeromexico flight, an Army helicopter-drone hit, a small passenger plane-drone strike and a helicopter crash landing after a drone evasion – over the last couple of years weren’t determined by the FAA to be results of “catastrophic” drone risks. Perhaps 1,000 grounded flights affecting 140,000 passengers created enough of a Twitter storm to garner the needed attention.
The embrace of drone technology across multiple industries has already begun. In search and rescue efforts, the crafts have been used to locate missing hikers and accident victims. Retail giants like Amazon are testing consumer deliveries via drone, and hospitals are looking into organ transportation to expand donor organ availability. As with all new technologies, there will be growing pains – remotely controlled hobbyist and professional devices taking to the skies unsurprisingly are no exception.
Tesla announced its Spring 2026 software update, and it’s the most feature-dense seasonal release the company has put out. The update covers twelve named changes spanning FSD, voice AI, safety lighting, dashcam storage, and pet display customization, among other things.
The centerpiece for owners with AI4 hardware is a redesigned Self-Driving app. The new interface lets owners subscribe to Full Self-Driving with a single tap and view ongoing FSD usage stats directly in the vehicle.
Grok gets its biggest in-car upgrade yet. The update adds a “Hey Grok” hands-free wake word along with location-based reminders, so a driver can now say “remind me to pick up groceries when I get home” without touching the screen. Grok first arrived in vehicles in July 2025, but each update has pushed it closer to genuine daily utility. Musk framed the broader vision clearly at Davos in January, saying Tesla is “really moving into a future that is based on autonomy.”
On safety, the update introduces enhanced blind spot warning lights that integrate directly with the cabin’s ambient lighting, building on the blind spot door warning that arrived in update 2026.8.
Dog Mode has been renamed Pet Mode and now lets owners choose a dog, cat, or hedgehog icon and add their pet’s name to the display.
Dashcam retention now extends up to 24 hours, up from the previous one-hour rolling loop, with a permanent save option for any clip. Weather maps now show rain and snow with better color differentiation and include the past hour of precipitation data along the route.
Tesla has now established a clear rhythm of two major OTA pushes per year. As with last year’s Spring update, that cycle started taking shape in 2025 with adaptive headlights and trunk customization. The 2025 Holiday Update then added Grok to the vehicle for the first time. This Spring follows that structure: the Holiday update introduces new architecture, and the Spring update broadens it across the fleet.
Two notable features still did not make it. IFTTT automations, which launched in China earlier this year, were held back from this North American release for unknown reasons, and Apple CarPlay remains absent, reportedly still delayed by iOS 26 and Apple Maps compatibility issues.
Below is the full list of feature updates released by Tesla.
— Tesla (@Tesla) April 13, 2026
Lifestyle
Tesla hit by Iranian missile debris in Israel
A Tesla in Israel absorbed a direct hit from missile debris, and the glassroof held.
On March 30, 2026, Lara Shusterman was in Netanya, Israel when Iranian ballistic missiles triggered air raid sirens across the city. While she remained in safety, her 2024 Tesla Model Y did not escape untouched. A heavy piece of missile debris struck the car’s massive glass roof, leaving a deep crater but without shattering. In a Facebook post to the Tesla Israel community the following morning, Shusterman described what happened: “The glass did not shatter into dangerous shards. She stopped the damage and pushed the metal part to the ground.” She closed by thanking Elon Musk and the Tesla team for building what she called “security and a sense of trust even in extreme situations.”
Netanya is a coastal city in central Israel, roughly 18 miles north of Tel Aviv and has been among the areas most frequently struck during Iran’s ongoing missile campaign, following coordinated U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian military infrastructure. Falling shrapnel from intercepted missiles is a common occurrence.
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- Tesla Model Y glass roof shattered from a piece of falling Iranian missile debris
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- A piece of Iranian missile debris that struck Lara Shusterman’s Tesla Model Y in Netanya, Israel on March 30, 2026, after being intercepted by Israeli air defenses.
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- Tesla Model Y glass roof shattered from a piece of falling Iranian missile debris
Source: Tesla Israel Facebook Group
The incident is a testament to Tesla’s structural engineering. Tesla’s glass roof is designed to support over four times the vehicle’s own weight. That strength has shown up in real-world accidents too. In 2021, a Model Y in California was struck by a falling tree during a storm, with the glass roof holding firm and the cabin remaining intact. In another widely reported incident, a Tesla Model Y plunged 250 feet off the cliff at Devil’s Slide in California in January 2023, with all four occupants, including two young children, surviving.
Disturbing details about Tesla’s 250-foot cliff drop emerge amid initial investigation
Tesla officially launched sales in Israel in early 2021 and captured over 60 percent of Israel’s EV market in the first year. The brand’s foothold in Israel remains significant. Tens of thousands of Teslas are now on Israeli roads, making incidents like Shusterman’s easy to corroborate. On the same week her Model Y took the hit, the U.S. Space Force awarded SpaceX a $178.5 million contract to launch missile tracking satellites, a separate but fitting reminder of how intertwined the Musk ecosystem has become with the realities of modern conflict.
Elon Musk
NASA sends humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972 – Here’s what’s next
NASA’s Artemis II launched four astronauts toward the Moon on the first crewed lunar mission since 1972.
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket launches carrying the Orion spacecraft with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist on NASA’s Artemis II mission, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from Operations and Support Building II at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Artemis II mission will take Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back aboard SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft launched at 6:35pm EDT from Launch Complex 39B. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NASA launched four astronauts toward the Moon on April 1, 2026, marking the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in December 1972. The Artemis II mission lifted off from Kennedy Space Center aboard the Space Launch System rocket at 6:35 p.m. EDT, sending commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day journey around the far side of the Moon and back.
The mission does not include a lunar landing. It is a test flight designed to validate the Orion spacecraft’s life support systems, navigation, and communications in deep space with a crew aboard for the first time. If the crew reaches the planned distance of 252,000 miles from Earth, they will set a new record for the farthest any human has ever traveled, surpassing even the Apollo 13 distance record.
As Teslarati reported, SpaceX holds a central role in what comes next. The Starship Human Landing System is under contract to carry astronauts to the lunar surface for Artemis IV, now targeting 2028, after NASA restructured its mission sequence due to delays in Starship’s orbital refueling demonstration. Before any Moon landing happens, SpaceX must prove it can transfer propellant between two Starships in orbit, something no rocket program has done at this scale.
The last time humans left Earth’s orbit was 53 years ago. Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt of Apollo 17 were the final people to walk on the Moon, a record that stands to this day. Elon Musk has long argued that returning is not optional. “It’s been now almost half a century since humans were last on the Moon,” Musk said. “That’s too long, we need to get back there and have a permanent base on the Moon.”
The Artemis program involves 60 countries signed onto the Artemis Accords, and this mission sets several firsts beyond distance. Glover becomes the first person of color to travel beyond low Earth orbit, Koch the first woman, and Hansen the first non-American astronaut to reach the Moon’s vicinity. According to NASA’s live mission updates, the spacecraft’s solar arrays deployed successfully after liftoff and the crew completed a proximity operations demonstration within the first hours of flight.
Artemis II is step one. The Moon landing and the permanent lunar base come later. But after more than five decades, humans are heading back.
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