Wednesday☕️

19 Mar 2025 — 4 min read

Economics & Markets:

Geopolitics & Military Activity:

Since March 15, 2025, the United States has conducted a series of military strikes targeting Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, focusing on sites linked to the group’s attacks on Red Sea shipping. The operation began with a coordinated effort involving U.S. fighter jets, drones, and missiles, striking radar installations, air defenses, missile and drone storage sites, and operational bases. These actions followed months of Houthi disruptions to maritime traffic, which they have tied to their stance on the Gaza conflict. The U.S. has stated the strikes aim to reduce the Houthis’ capacity to threaten international shipping.

The campaign has continued beyond the initial wave, with additional strikes reported on March 16, 17, and 18th, targeting a wider range of Houthi facilities. The U.S. has suggested these operations could persist, reflecting a strategic effort to address the ongoing maritime threat. The Houthis, in response, have pledged to continue their attacks on U.S. and commercial vessels. The situation remains fluid, with regional dynamics complicated by the Houthis’ ties to Iran and the broader geopolitical context.

Environment & Weather:

Since March 17, 2025, the city of Asha in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region has experienced significant flooding, driven by a combination of heavy rainfall and rapid snowmelt that caused the Sim River to overflow. The flooding, reported on March 18, has affected multiple districts, submerging homes, roads, and vehicles, with at least 70 residents, including 20 children, evacuated by emergency services on March 18. Rising water levels have been linked to a blockage on the Sim River, with some locals pointing to inadequate infrastructure maintenance as a contributing factor. Authorities have set up temporary shelters and deployed rescue teams, though the full extent of the damage and any casualties remain unclear as of March 19, 2025.

Emergency efforts continue to focus on containment and support, but no official resolution has been reported as of early March 19, 2025. The flooding aligns with broader regional patterns of extreme weather, though specific updates on water levels and additional impacts are still developing.

Space:

Yesterday, March 18, 2025, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, after a 286-day stay on the ISS, returned to Earth in the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom. The astronauts launched on June 5, 2024, for a 10-day Boeing Starliner test, but issues forced Starliner to return empty on September 6, 2024, extending their mission. Joined by Crew-9’s Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov, who arrived September 29, 2024, for 171 days, they landed near Tallahassee, Florida, after a 16-hour trip.

The Crew-10 team—Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi, and Kirill Peskov—took over, launching March 14 and arriving March 16 for a two-day handover. The crew dealt with a hot reentry and parachuted down. Wilmore and Williams orbited Earth over 6,800 times, and Hague and Gorbunov did 150 experiments, wrapping up a long mission as NASA looks ahead.

Yesterday, March 18, 2025, SpaceX launched 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida using a Falcon 9 rocket. The mission, called Starlink 12-25, included 13 satellites with Direct-to-Cell features to connect directly to mobile phones. The rocket took off in the afternoon, and the first-stage booster landed on the droneship "A Shortfall of Gravitas" in the Atlantic Ocean after deploying the satellites into low Earth orbit. This launch, SpaceX’s 460th Falcon 9 flight, added to its constellation of over 7,900 satellites since 2019, aimed at boosting global internet coverage.

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