Impact Lab – Page 275 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

3D Printed Space Habitat Lands at Institut auf dem Rosenberg

August 9, 2022

HÖHENWEG, Switzerland, July 20, 2022 — Institut auf dem Rosenberg and SAGA Space Architects unveiled the world’s tallest 3D printed space habitat, an extraterrestrial learning environment. The Rosenberg Space Habitat (RSH), which will serve as an experimental lab for students to explore and actively shape the future of humanity on our planet and beyond. Co-created by Rosenberg students and SAGA Space Architects with sustainable materials to intentionally fit inside SpaceX’s Starship rocket, the structure is the world’s tallest 3D-printed polymer structure measuring 23-feet high.

The RSH will be a site of research for students to learn about the fundamental conditions and architectural designs humans need to thrive, whether on Earth or in space. The project is based on the vision of planet-centered and need-lead innovation, teaching students not to fear new technology, but to embrace it and design it to its next generation.

“At Rosenberg, infusing education with real-life context is at the heart of what we do, rather than focusing on pure academics alone,” said Bernhard Gademann, Director General of Rosenberg. “Our aim is to provide future leaders with early exposure to the question of advanced space exploration, allowing our students to approach and solve these complex questions from a collaborative and holistic point of view.”

Crypto-Technology

AI-Based Startup Optic Raises $11M to Put the ‘NF’ in NFTs

August 9, 2022

Optic’s near-term plans include creating a public API for Web3 developers and new tools for NFT creators and collectors.

By Brandy Betz

Optic, a startup that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to authenticate non-fungible tokens (NFTs), unveiled its business on Wednesday and raised $11 million in a seed round led by Kleiner Perkins and crypto-native investment giant Pantera Capital. The company will use the funds toward building out the cost-intensive infrastructure and hiring engineering talent, Optic co-founder and CEO Andrey Doronichev told CoinDesk in an interview.

Alternative Transportation

Forget Sidewalk Robots or Drones. In the Future, Food Could Travel to Your Home in Underground Pipes

August 8, 2022

By Michael Wolf

Why use a drone or sidewalk delivery robot to deliver packages when you can have them sent directly to your kitchen via a series of tubes?

No, I’m not referring to Ted Stevens’ imagining of the Internet or a plotline from a Steampunk novel, but one startup’s vision of an underground delivery network that would send packages hurling towards their end destination at speeds of up to 75 miles per hour.

That startup is Pipedream Labs, which has a plan to build an underground pipe network for near-instant delivery of physical goods. The idea, which is one of those that is so crazy you can’t figure out if it’s brilliant or stupid, works like this:

The Pipedream delivery system would be a citywide underground delivery network that utilizes pipes and electric-powered delivery pods to shuttle things around at high speeds. It’s essentially a Hyperloop for delivery, only instead of transporting people, it will bring you the latest Amazon package or hamburger from your favorite restaurant.

While the initial plan is to create a “middle mile” network for long-haul delivery across cities, the company’s CTO says they have a vision for eventually delivering products directly into consumers’ homes. He envisions a new kind of home appliance called the Home Portal which would enable “cheap, fast, and environmentally friendly delivery of groceries, food, and packages.”

The delivery infrastructure will be PVC piping, the same kind used by city utilities for plumbing or electrical systems. In fact, the company says they plan on making all infrastructure usable by utilities “if needed” or “in the event that PipeDream migrates to an alternative delivery method (Star Trek Transporter?) or ceases operations”.

brain hacking

SCIENTISTS FINALLY BUILD ARTIFICIAL BRAIN CELLS

August 8, 2022

BRAIN-INSPIRED CIRCUITRY JUST TOOK A HUGE LEAP FORWARD.

BY DAN ROBITZSKI

Scientists have finally decoded the bizarre behaviors of brain cells — and recreated them in tiny computer chips.

The tiny neurons could change the way we build medical devices because they replicate healthy biological activity but require only a billionth of the energy needed by microprocessors, according to a University of Bath.

Neurons behave similar to electrical circuits within the body, but their behavior is less predictable — especially when it comes to parsing the relationship between their input and output electrical impulses. But these new artificial brain cells successfully mimic the behavior of rat neurons from two specific regions of the brain, according to researchpublished Tuesday in Nature Communications.

“Until now neurons have been like black boxes, but we have managed to open the black box and peer inside,” University of Bath physicist Alain Nogaret said in the release. “Our work is paradigm changing because it provides a robust method to reproduce the electrical properties of real neurons in minute detail.”

Aviation

American Airlines has ordered 250 electric flying taxis to ferry passengers around cities at speeds of up to 200 mph. Take a look at the VX4.

August 8, 2022

The VX4 is being developed by the UK firm Vertical Aerospace.

By Stephen Jones and Taylor Rains

American Airlines pre-ordered 250 VX4 flying taxis from UK aerospace firm Vertical Aerospace.
Insider recently saw a prototype of the VX4 unveiled at the Farnborough International Airshow 2022.
It can carry four passengers up to 100 miles and reach speeds of more than 150 miles per hour.

Space

SpaceChain completes EVM blockchain testing in Space

August 7, 2022

SpaceChain has announced the completion of the testing of the space node it created for Velas Network AG, which is hosted on an LEO satellite and independent of terrestrial networks. The space node is now capable of delivering the full functionalities designed for Velas, including transaction signatures, smart contract deployment, decentralized finance (Defi) activities and non-fungible token (NFT) minting with the seamless transaction of the Velas Token (VLX).

SpaceChain has assisted numerous blockchain customers to deploy space nodes and realize their space-based business operations through its commitment to utilizing space technology to help blockchain applications gain more application scenarios. SpaceChain will continue to invest in research and development to help reduce the time required for space node testing, expand application scenarios, and enable more blockchain companies to harness space as a platform for business innovation.

The space node was installed onto a satellite designed and manufactured by Spire Global, which managed the launch mission on January 13, 2022.

The mission marked SpaceChain’s successful integration of Velas, the world’s fastest Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) blockchain and open-source platform for decentralized applications, with its payload. The space node now supports and enables Velas to advance the development and deployment of its blockchain platform, which aims to be one of the most secure and fastest platforms in the industry.

Science & Technology News, Stem cells

Scientists are growing billions of stem cells on the ISS to help humans travel to other planets

August 7, 2022

Scientists are shooting stem cells into space, hoping to make discoveries that help people on Earth

Scientists have put stem cells on the International Space Station to explore whether they will grow better in zero gravity.

These cells would potentially be able to generate nearly any other kind of cell, possibly unlocking the potential to make treatments for diseases while off-planet.

The experiment is the latest research project that involves shooting stem cells into space. Some, like this one, aim to overcome the terrestrial difficulty of mass producing the cells. Others explore how space travel impacts the cells in the body. And some help better understand diseases such as cancer.

“By pushing the boundaries like this, it’s knowledge and it’s science and it’s learning,” said Clive Svendsen, executive director of Cedars-Sinai’s Regenerative Medicine Institute.

Six earlier projects from the US, China and Italy sent up various types of stem cells — including his team’s study of the effects of microgravity on cell-level heart function, said Dr Joseph Wu of Stanford University, who directs the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute. Dr Wu helped coordinate a series of programs on space-based stem cell research last year.

Space Flight

Isro developing capability to launch humans on quick space tourism flights

August 7, 2022

The Gaganyaan crew module will be the first indigenous spacecraft to take Indian astronauts into space. (Photo: Isro)

Isro is working on developing indigenous capabilities towards space tourism through the demonstration of human space flight capability to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is working on developing space tourism capability in a bid to score a chunk of the pie, which is set to become a multi-million-dollar market in the coming years.

Science & Technology Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said that the space agency is in the process of developing indigenous capabilities towards space tourism through the demonstration of human space flight capability to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). He added that Isro is currently working with 61 countries of the world in different fields of space activity.

The space tourism market has catapulted in the last couple of years with private aerospace companies dominating the field as government space agencies playing catch up. Elon Musk founded SpaceX is leading the space tourism market with its Dragon spacecraft taking people on tourism flights in zero gravity.

Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos-led Blue Origin is another big player with its New Shepard spacecraft launching from West Texas with passengers in brief joyrides to space. The flights last nearly 10 minutes, giving the passengers a view of the Earth from outside it. Isro is currently working on several other missions as it looks to conduct its first human spaceflight launch with the Gaganyaan mission, with an uncrewed launch delayed to next year.

Space

Goodyear joins Lockheed in developing airless tire concepts for future moon vehicles

August 5, 2022

Akron, OH – The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company supplied essential products for NASA’s Apollo program, including the Apollo 11 mission which landed on the Moon 53 years ago today. The company will continue that tradition—focusing on lunar vehicle tires—by joining Lockheed Martin in its development of a lunar mobility vehicle.

Since Apollo, Goodyear continued innovating alongside NASA to advance designs for a lunar vehicle tire. The team of companies intends to be the first to establish extended-use commercial vehicle operations on the Moon. Goodyear brings its vast expertise in a mission-critical component to traverse the lunar surface, tires.

“NASA’s Artemis program to live and work on the Moon has a clear need for lunar surface transportation that we intend to meet with vehicles driven by astronauts or operated autonomously without crew,” said Kirk Shireman, vice president of Lunar Exploration Campaigns at Lockheed Martin. “We’re developing this new generation of lunar mobility vehicle to be available to NASA and for commercial companies and even other space agencies to support science and human exploration. This approach exemplifies NASA’s desire for industry to take the lead with commercial efforts that enable the agency to be one of many customers.”

Tesla

Tesla Cybertruck on track to launch summer 2023, Elon Musk says

August 5, 2022

By Jaclyn Trop

Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed Wednesday that the automaker aims to launch its long-awaited Cybertruck mid-2023.

“We are still expecting to be in production with the Cybertruck in middle of next year,” Musk said during Tesla’s second-quarter financial report. “We’re very excited about that product. It might actually be our best product ever.”

Although prototypes have been spotted on public roads since 2019, details on the hotly anticipated Cybertruck have been scant and production has been repeatedly delayed.

During the earnings call with analysts, Musk said that the battery-electric truck will benefit from Tesla’s learnings on boosting efficiency throughout the manufacturing process.

“We’ll bring another level of simplicity and manufacturing improvements with Cybertruck and future products that we’re not quite ready to talk about now,” Musk said, “but that I think will be very exciting to unveil in the future.”

quantum computing

Physicists Create City-Sized Ultrasecure Quantum Network

August 5, 2022

By Sierra Mitchell

Quantum cryptography promises a future in which computers communicate with one another over ultrasecure links using the razzle-dazzle of quantum physics. But scaling up the breakthroughs in research labs to networks with a large number of nodes has proved difficult. Now an international team of researchers has built a scalable city-wide quantum network to share keys for encrypting messages.

The network can grow in size without incurring an unreasonable escalation in the costs of expensive quantum hardware. Also, this system does not require any node to be trustworthy, thus removing any security-sapping weak links.

“We have tested it both in the laboratory and in deployed fibers across the city of Bristol” in England, says Siddarth Koduru Joshi of the University of Bristol. He and his colleagues demonstrated their ideas using a quantum network with eight nodes in which the most distant nodes were 17 kilometers apart, as measured by the length of the optical fiber connecting them. The team’s findings appeared in Science Advances on September 2.

Driverless cars

Baidu Unveils Next-Gen Autonomous Vehicle With Detachable Steering Wheel

August 4, 2022

China’s Baidu, Inc. has unveiled its next-generation fully autonomous vehicle (AV) Apollo RT6, an all-electric, production-ready model with a detachable steering wheel. Designed for complex urban environments, Apollo RT6 will be put into operation in China in 2023 on Apollo Go, Baidu’s autonomous ride-hailing service.

The steering wheel-free design frees up more space to allow the installation of extra seating, vending machines, desktops, or gaming consoles.

Apollo RT6 integrates Baidu’s most advanced L4 autonomous driving system, powered by automotive-grade dual computing units with a computing power of up to 1200 TOPS.

The vehicle utilises 38 sensors, including 8 LiDARs and 12 cameras, to obtain highly accurate, long-range detection on all sides.

Apollo RT6 is the first vehicle model built on Xinghe, Baidu’s self-developed automotive E/E architecture specially for fully autonomous driving.