{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "compiledAt": "2026-11-05T04:52:56.845Z",
  "publication": "GlobalPulse",
  "responsibleAuthor": "Bono Fei Jin",
  "id": "technology-nasa-splice-calendar-2026-11-05",
  "desk": "Technology",
  "category": "Technology",
  "byline": "Nora Chen",
  "suggestedTitle": "NASA flew its landing trial in August. The report arrived in November.",
  "suggestedExcerpt": "The SPLICE update was published on 4 November, 69 days after the reported flight. Our source timeline separates the test date, publication date and next planned step so a new article does not become a claim of a new test.",
  "chartKind": "dated-timeline-with-intervals",
  "chartTitle": "SPLICE: the test date and the reporting date",
  "chartSubtitle": "Dates assembled from NASA's 2020 and 2026 primary accounts; elapsed days are GlobalPulse calculations",
  "unit": "calendar date / elapsed calendar days",
  "rawRows": [
    {
      "date": "2020-10-13",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "label": "NS-13 launched and landed",
      "status": "completed, according to NASA editor's note",
      "sourceId": "nasa-2020",
      "scope": "Suborbital Earth flight carrying the integrated computer and two SPLICE sensor systems. Launch success alone is not a quantified payload-performance result."
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-07-15",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "label": "Drone hover communications test",
      "status": "completed, according to NASA's dated photo captions",
      "sourceId": "nasa-2026",
      "scope": "Communications between SPLICE and the Alta-X drone during hover maneuvers near Armstrong."
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-08-27",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "label": "Simulated lunar-descent flight on Earth",
      "status": "completed, according to NASA",
      "sourceId": "nasa-2026",
      "scope": "Alta-X flight at Rogers Dry Lake; article supplies August 27 in its 2026 reporting context."
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-11-04",
      "datePrecision": "day",
      "label": "NASA published the flight account",
      "status": "publication, not a flight",
      "sourceId": "nasa-2026",
      "scope": "Publication timestamp of the primary account."
    }
  ],
  "plannedItemsOutsideCompletedTimeline": [
    {
      "period": "2026-11",
      "datePrecision": "month",
      "label": "Voyager full-scale test",
      "status": "planned as of 4 November; no completed result established by these sources",
      "sourceId": "nasa-2026"
    },
    {
      "period": "2026 autumn",
      "datePrecision": "season",
      "label": "NASA software-catalog availability",
      "status": "planned as of 4 November; no release date established by these sources",
      "sourceId": "nasa-2026"
    }
  ],
  "derivedMetrics": [
    {
      "name": "Hover test to simulated-descent flight",
      "formula": "(UTC(2026-08-27) - UTC(2026-07-15)) / 86400000",
      "value": 43,
      "unit": "elapsed calendar days",
      "startDate": "2026-07-15",
      "endDate": "2026-08-27"
    },
    {
      "name": "Reported flight to article publication",
      "formula": "(UTC(2026-11-04) - UTC(2026-08-27)) / 86400000",
      "value": 69,
      "unit": "elapsed calendar days",
      "startDate": "2026-08-27",
      "endDate": "2026-11-04"
    }
  ],
  "methodNotes": [
    "Subtract ISO calendar dates at UTC midnight; exclude the start date. The result describes elapsed dates, not hours worked, test duration or an assessed communications delay.",
    "If drawing the 2026 intervals as bars, use only the 43-day and 69-day records; show 2020 as a context row. Do not use one evenly spaced timeline to imply continuous measured development.",
    "NASA's 2026 account reports integration work in June and July but does not date every test. Those month-level references are excluded from day-precision calculations.",
    "The 2020 article originally appeared on 22 September 2020; its editor's note confirms the later 13 October flight. Its last-updated date of 22 June 2026 is not the test date.",
    "NASA reports successful Earth-based work. The pages do not supply a numerical landing-error benchmark, an independent replication, a completed Moon flight or confirmed software release."
  ],
  "editorialAngle": "A reader should be able to tell what happened recently and what was described recently. The 69-day calculation adds a clear reporting window without implying a delay or diminishing the engineering result. Keep completed tests and future milestones in separate visual rows.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "nasa-2026",
      "title": "NASA Navigation Experiment Shows Promise for Planetary Landings",
      "url": "https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/armstrong/nasa-navigation-experiment-shows-promise-for-planetary-landings/",
      "publisher": "NASA Armstrong",
      "publishedAt": "2026-11-04",
      "locator": "Article date; 15 July photo captions; main text describing 27 August flight; June/July integration and next planned test; planned catalog availability."
    },
    {
      "id": "nasa-2020",
      "title": "NASA Tipping Point Partnership with Blue Origin to Test Precision Lunar Landing Technologies",
      "url": "https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/johnson/nasa-tipping-point-partnership-with-blue-origin-to-test-precision-lunar-landing-technologies/",
      "publisher": "NASA Johnson",
      "publishedAt": "2020-09-22",
      "lastUpdatedAt": "2026-06-22",
      "locator": "Editor's note confirms NS-13 launch and landing on 13 October 2020; main text identifies integrated computer and two of three sensor systems."
    }
  ],
  "weeklyFollowUp": "Select one new technology announcement and build a claim ledger: event date, published date, test environment, disclosed metric and next milestone. Update only when a primary source reports the milestone's actual outcome."
}