Impact Lab – Page 264 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

Space Flight

The International Space Station (ISS) has been a key part of humanity’s presence in space for years, but its useful life is coming to an end. NASA and other stakeholders currently plan to end ISS operations by 2031, but what comes next? NASA is funding the Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Development Program (CLD) to encourage aerospace firms to build new stations, and a proposal from Blue Origin and Sierra Space just got the green light to move forward.

The station, known as Orbital Reef, was submitted to NASA for System Definition Review (SDR) earlier this summer. This report allowed the agency to assess the feasibility of the design, and it’s good news for Blue Origin and Sierra Space — NASA believes the companies have the technology and expertise to successfully build the Orbital Reef. Initial timelines project that construction could begin in 2026, and the station could begin operating as early as 2027.

Whereas space on the ISS was controlled exclusively by partnering space agencies, these new commercial projects will be different. “The microgravity factories and services provided by Orbital Reef have the potential to revolutionize every industry and become a major growth contributor to the U.S. and world economies,” said Tom Vice, CEO of Sierra Space. Other partners in the endeavor include Amazon, Boeing, and Arizona State University.

Space Flight

China makes progress in reusability with secretive second flight of suborbital spaceplane

September 19, 2022

A Long March 2D carrying the Yunhai-1 (02) satellite lifts off from Jiuquan in 2019. The unrelated suborbital spaceplane also launched vertically from Jiuquan, with no further details provided.

By Andrew Jones

Suborbital vehicle to combine with orbital spaceplane for fully reusable space transportation system.

HELSINKI — China has performed its first repeated use of a suborbital spaceplane as part of efforts to develop a fully reusable space transportation system.

The suborbital vehicle launched vertically from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on Friday, Aug. 26 Beijing time (Aug. 25 Eastern), according to CASC, China’s main space contractor.

The suborbital spaceplane later landed at Alxa Right Banner airport in Inner Mongolia. The short statement provided neither images of the craft nor information such as time, duration or apogee of the launch.

The launch occurred while an orbital spaceplane—launched Aug. 4 and an apparent part of a planned two-vehicle reusable system—continues to orbit the Earth.

The clandestine mission marks the second flight for the suborbital spaceplane, which was developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), a major CASC subsidiary.

Science & Technology News, Tesla

Elon Musk says Tesla cars will connect to Starlink’s new cellular-broadcasting satellites

September 19, 2022

Using the same tech it just announced in partnership with T-Mobile

By RICHARD LAWLER and MITCHELL CLARK

Elon Musk just announced that the upcoming second-generation Starlink internet satellites include cellular antennas for connections with phones from T-Mobile in the US and potentially other operators as well.

Following the event, he responded to tweets asking whether the connections will work with Tesla’s electric cars, which currently connect to AT&T’s LTE network. According to Musk, the answer is yes.

Blockchain

Technological convergence: Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence

September 18, 2022

By Montse Guardia

For a few years, technology has allowed us to exchange languages. We can travel safely, despite our ignorance of multiple languages that is because we have the necessary support in our pocket. At the same time, we can learn these languages regardless of where we are thanks to studying them with native speakers through mobile applications.

We are prepared to create tools that allow us to tele-communicate between different cultures, growing in knowledge and wisdom, beyond our knowledge of the vocabulary, grammar, and expressions of a language.

We are in the century in which we teach communication to machines, in which we get machines to express themselves naturally even in non-verbal communication. We are shepa.ai, we are prepared to learn, disseminate and deepen AI. But George Bernard Shaw told us that “the biggest problem of communication is the illusion that it has taken place”, we are in an era in which words are quickly labels to which we associate not only concepts, but also ideas and opinions and confusion.

Space Flight

NASA Engineer’s Quantum Dot Instrument Enables Spacecraft-as-Sensor Concept

September 18, 2022

Multiple solar sail ScienceCraft gather light spectra from Neptune’s moon Triton. Credits: Mahmooda Sultana NASA

By Keith Cowing

In NASA’s hunt for water and resources beyond Earth, a new technology could coat the “skin” of a satellite, turning its entire surface into a sensor that tallies the chemicals present on distant planets.

Solving the mysteries of our home planet, solar system, and beyond is a key priority for NASA, and the new sensor could be a powerful tool in the investigation. Mahmooda Sultana, an instrument scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, developed the Quantum Dot Spectrometer to help.

Quantum dots are a type of semiconducting nanocrystal that absorbs and re-emits different wavelengths of light depending on their size, shape and chemical composition. Sultana gets her dots, which vary from 2 to 10 nanometers or less than 50 atoms thick, from the lab of chemistry professor Moungi Bawendi, at the Cambridge-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

She then uses them to break down light from a planet or other target into portions of the spectrum, creating a sort of fingerprint which reveals what elements or compounds that light has touched.

“Basically, we are converting the entire optical problem into a math problem,” Sultana said. “The dots can be identified in the lab to register light of a particular wavelength – a fraction of the chemical fingerprint. Detectors on the other side of the dots collect the fractions, then the data is handed over to computers on the ground to reassemble the complete fingerprint.”

Housing

World’s first floating pod homes launched in Panama starting at $295,000

September 18, 2022

The luxury smart homes receive deliveries by drone and come with underwater marine detection cameras

Panama will be home to the world’s first community of floating SeaPods, with the inaugural pod now in the water at Linton Bay Marina in Colon.

Ocean Builders, a company specialising in innovative marine technology, has officially launched what it says are the first floating eco-restorative pod homes in the world.

Perched three metres above sea level on the Caribbean coast of Panama, the futuristic units are designed to accommodate two people and are on sale now, with prices ranging from $295,000 to $1.5 million.

Floating pod homes launched in Panama

By December, the first overnight guests will be able to bed down in the pods, and 100 fully-owned units will be ready for full-time residents by summer next year.

A second batch of more than 1,000 of the pods will go into production next year.

Designed by Dutch architect Koen Olthuis, the futuristic SeaPods are geared toward climate-conscious travellers who want to live on the water, but don’t want to give up the luxuries of modern living.

Robots

‘Chameleon Robots:’ These Robots Can Change Colors and Mimic Their Surroundings Through 3D Printing

September 18, 2022

These chameleon-like robots could pave the way for flexible electronics.

By Joaquin Victor Tacla

3D printing technology has come a long way throughout the years, and its vast potential in the field of robotics was even more materialized when it was recently used to develop chameleon-like robots.

Researchers from the Southern University have created flexible, elastic light-emitting devices that may be incorporated with soft robots using a 3D printing technique.

This technique was applied in a soft robot that can adjust its colors to blend in with its surroundings and might help create wearable electronics, next-generation smart displays, and artificial camouflage.

Robots

Scythe Robotics receives 7,000 orders for its autonomous law mowers

September 18, 2022

Scythe Robotics has received 7,000 orders for its autonomous law mowers, according to a report

BY DAVID EDWARDS

The startup company says it plans to expand its manufacturing facility in Colorado to be able to handle the orders, adding that its mowers have received strong interest from all across the United States.

Scythe Robotics specializes in building commercial-grade autonomous robotic solutions for the landscaping industry, and its first offering is an all-electric, fully autonomous mower, designed completely in-house.

Scythe raised $13.8 million in Series A funding led by Inspired Capital with participation from existing investors True Ventures, Zigg Capital, and Lemnos, bringing the company’s total funding to $18.6 million.

The new investment will be used to grow the company’s existing operations in Texas, Florida and Colorado, expand with new customers, and accelerate development of further products to revolutionize how commercial landscape contractors care for outdoor environments.

Founded in 2018 by Jack Morrison, Isaac Roberts and Davis Foster, Scythe says its launch comes at a “pivotal moment” for the $105 billion commercial landscaping industry, which has been plagued for years by painful labor shortages and hasn’t seen substantial technological innovation in decades.

Cancer

Imperial startup GlioQuell has the power to shut down cancer cells

September 18, 2022

Mitochondria membranes could unlock new cancer treatments

By Ian Mundell

A new company using research from the Department of Brain Sciences will look for drugs to treat brain cancers and diseases of old age.

Cancer cells grow at an extraordinary rate inside the body. To do this, they need energy, which is provided by mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell. Dr Kambiz Alavian in the Department of Brain Sciences has been looking for ways to turn off cancer cells’ power supply. He has now co-founded a company, GlioQuell, to accelerate the development of a new kind of cancer treatment.

“We think we have a new way of looking at the mitochondria of cancer cells, and of treating cancer, based on reducing the efficiency of these beasts inside the cells,” he says

All cells in the human body contain mitochondria, structures that produce energy and biomolecules for whatever activity the cells need to carry out. Looking closely at the cells involved in glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive and deadliest forms of cancer, revealed that their mitochondria are extraordinarily efficient.

“There is almost no cell that I have seen that is as efficient as these particular cells, in terms of utilising their resources for growth,” says Dr Alavian. “They resemble mini-embryos, growing very quickly inside the brain.”

Robots

‘Revolutionary’ robot brickie builds first house

September 16, 2022

Hadrian X robot said to build homes quicker and cheaper than traditional methods

By Emily Twinch

The Hadrian X robot that can built a home in up to three days.

A robot said to lay bricks with “absolute perfection” has completed the first clay block house for materials giant Wienerberger in Australia.

The masonry robot Hadrian X built the home in the Australian suburb of Wellard with Wienerberger’s Porotherm bricks and will now construct more single- and multi-family homes with the same blocks as part of the pilot project.

In a statement the Austria-based brick and products giant, which is working in partnership with the robot’s Australian designer, Fastbrick Robotics, said: “The robot not only accelerates the bricklaying process, but also excels in terms of precision, laying bricks with absolute perfection. Wind and vibrations are measured and balanced in real time.

“This forward-looking technology will revolutionise residential construction by making it faster, less expensive and more efficient, and guarantee a higher standard of quality.”

AI

Super-fast EV charging might be possible with AI and machine learning

September 16, 2022

Battery-specific chargers are on the horizon.

By Can Emir

Researchers from Idaho National Laboratory are using machine learning and other advanced analysis to reduce electric vehicle charging times without damaging the battery, a press release revealed.

Despite the growing popularity of electric vehicles, many consumers hesitate to make the switch. One of the primary reasons is that it takes so much longer to power up an electric car than to gas up a vehicle powered up by an internal combustion engine. This hesitation is a reflection of range anxiety, and the solution for this anxiety is to get yourself a long-range electric vehicle, which can be a bit pricey.

Aviation

This Flying ATV Might Bring Farming Into a Cyberpunk Future

September 16, 2022

It’s a little boring to fly. And that’s actually a good thing.

By Tony Ho Tran

It’s easier to operate a flying ATV than you think—or, at least it was for me. That’s not a humblebrag either. It was designed so any idiot like me—who backs up into his recycling bin every time he pulls out of the driveway—can jump in and use it.

Making sure I fly without freaking out, though, was another question entirely.

“Alright, you’re doing great,” the voice of Mick Kowitz, the CEO and founder of RYSE Aero Technologies, chirped in my ear via a radio relay in my helmet. “Now just pull back on the left handle and press the button to take off.”

The machine I was sitting in—dubbed the RECON—is known as an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and it’s Kowitz’s brainchild. While not technically a flying ATV, it’s pretty damn close. As I pulled back on the handle, six battery powered propellers whirred to life around me and my seat began to rumble. Images of the new Top Gun movie flashed in my mind’s eye before a macabre intrusive thought popped into my head: If I stuck out my arm just a little bit, I’d sever my hand entirely from my arm. A shiver ran down my spine as I attempted to bury the mental image.

I pressed the takeoff button on the center console. For a moment, nothing happened. As I was about to tell Mick that something was wrong, though, the motors whirred louder as the RECON lurched sideways. Before I could react, I felt a weight on my chest and my heart jump into my throat as it lifted me off the ground and into the sky.