Space Flight

US-based Space Travel Company Space Perspective Raises US$ 7M

By Komal Pattanayak

Florida, US-based company Space Perspective, a space travel company that was established so that humans would explore space for the betterment of all, raised US$ 7 million in seed financing on 3rdDecember 2020.

The financing round was led by Prime Movers Lab and Base Ventures who is a leading Silicon Valley tech fund. Other participants in the round include world-renowned entrepreneur, author and business strategist Tony Robbins and venture capital firms Kirenaga Partners’ Central Florida Tech Fund, 1517 Fund, Schox, E2MC Ventures and SpaceFund Venture Capital. Anton Brevde of Prime Movers and Kirby Harris of Base Ventures will join the Space Perspective Board of Directors.

The funds raised will be used for the development and early flights of Spaceship Neptune, a space balloon capable of carrying passengers to the edge of space. The infusion of capital advances the human space flight company another step closer to fundamentally changing the way people have access to space for research and tourism.

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Blockchain

How blockchain can drive video games into the Web 3.0 future

NFTs, metaverses and ‘play-to-earn’ are upending gaming’s traditional revenue model. Shreyansh Singh of Polygon explains blockchain gaming’s business potential.

In recent years, various forms of in-game purchases and microtransactions have become the norm for many games. Free-to-play games that generate income from these revenue sources have also grown in popularity, but many gamers remain unconvinced. Now, thanks to developments in blockchain and novel software development kits (SDKs), developers can bring NFT-powered items and transactions into their games — even existing ones — for the first time. This stands to bring in a new era of gaming that benefits both developers and players alike.  

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Robots

Hobot Technology unveils new window-cleaning robot

BY DAVID EDWARDS 

Hobot Technology has officially launched its new window-cleaning robot, the Hobot-2S. The US launch date is scheduled for October 1, 2021.

Hobot says its window cleaning robots “have been recognized as the world’s standard in robotic technology”, adding that it’s the “most trusted brand of US consumers” due to quality, reliability, and customer support. 

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NASA

NASA Is Looking for the Next-Gen Lunar Vehicle, Won’t Be Your Grandpa’s Moon Buggy

by Florina Spînu

NASA is asking American companies for ideas and solutions to transport Artemis astronauts around the lunar South Pole later this decade. And it says that its next lunar vehicle will not be your grandpa’s old Moon Buggy, but a modern space vehicle ready to conquer our natural satellite. 6 photos

As part of Artemis, NASA will put the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface and establish a long-term presence on the Moon. Once they arrive, the astronauts will need a lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) to navigate the rugged surface. 

The first Moon Buggy was introduced on the Apollo 15 mission. With the LRV, astronauts were able to explore 17.25 miles (27.76 km) of various geological features, improving the scientific return of each mission. They were also capable of gathering more than ten times the amount of samples that they would’ve collected on foot.

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Medical Breakthrough

Nanoparticle-based disinfectant could be a powerful weapon against pathogenic viruses

Reviewed by Emily Henderson

University of Central Florida researchers have developed a nanoparticle-based disinfectant that can continuously kill viruses on a surface for up to seven days – a discovery that could be a powerful weapon against COVID-19 and other emerging pathogenic viruses.

The findings, by a multidisciplinary team of the university’s virus and engineering experts and the leader of an Orlando technology firm, were published this week in ACS Nano, a journal of the American Chemical Society.

Christina Drake, a UCF alumna and founder of Kismet Technologies, was inspired to develop the disinfectant after making a trip to the grocery store in the early days of the pandemic. There she saw a worker spraying disinfectant on a refrigerator handle, then wiping off the spray immediately.

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3D Printer

ICON Completes 3D-Printed Houses In Austin

By Andreea Cutieru

Developer 3Strands and construction company ICON have completed new 3D-printed houses for sale in the United States, showcasing the possibilities of additive manufacturing for mass-market housing. Located in Austin, Texas, within a fast-growing neighbourhood, the East 17th St Residences development is designed by Logan Architecture and comprises four units with 3D-printed ground floors whose tectonics reflect the construction technology.

The project was first announced earlier this year and was constructed using ICON’s proprietary technology and an “advanced building material”, which the company claims to be stronger and more resilient than conventional ones. The technology is set to provide safer dwellings, better equipped for withstanding hazards and natural disasters. 

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Alternative Transportation

This Hybrid Boat-plane Could Transform the Way We Travel Between Major Coastal Cities

The vehicle could take you from New York to Boston in as little as two hours.

BY JESSICA POITEVIEN

As lawmakers take steps toward improving the infrastructure of roads and railways across the U.S., Regent, a Boston-based startup, has set its eyes on another target: the sea.

According to CNN Travel, the company hopes to turn sea lanes along the east and west coasts into high-speed transportation corridors, cutting commutes in half between some of the biggest and busiest metropolises in the U.S. Still in its early stages, Regent already has the backing of some of Silicon Valley’s biggest investors who have pledged to help fund the endeavor.

Imagine skipping long lines at the airport or avoiding gridlock on the highway and still making the journey between New York and Boston in two hours. Or, consider decreasing the usually two-hour trip between Los Angeles and San Diego to just 50 minutes. Regent’s seagliders could make that possible.

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NASA

NASA is testing electric air taxis with Joby Aviation

The first eVTOL company to join the space agency’s national campaign to validate new technology

By Andrew J. Hawkins

NASA kicked off test flights of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft — colloquially referred to as “flying cars” — with Joby Aviation, the Northern California company that recently went public. The test flights are part of a national campaign by NASA to observe these experimental aircraft in action and gather data. 

Joby, which was founded in 2009, is the first eVTOL company to participate in NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) National Campaign. The test flights commenced Monday, August 30th, at the company’s airfield in Big Sur, California, and will run through September 10th, the agency said. 

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Agriculture

This farming robot zaps weeds with precision lasers

A new robot from Carbon Robotics can kill 100,000 weeds in an hour while keeping a farm organic.

Earlier this year, on a farm in southern New Mexico, a new kind of worker spent each day traveling slowly up and down the rows and rows of crops. On board, its 12 high-res cameras pointed at the ground, sending data to an artificial intelligence system that can nearly instantly identify plants. When the system detects a weed, a laser flashes, killing it.

“I think this will be the biggest revolution in weed killers in agriculture,” says James Johnson, the fourth-generation farmer who runs the farm that tested the robot and has two production models on order for delivery this fall. The tech is now poised to expand thanks to a startup called Carbon Robotics, which announced today that it has secured a $27 million Series B financing round.

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AI

Researchers Pioneer Optical Technology That Can Slash the Energy Required by AI

Aug. 30, 2021 — Optical technology is used for transmitting, storing, displaying and identifying data. It provides the processing speed that data centers need by offering efficient means for communication and analysis operations. The technology comes at a time when the massive scale of today’s datasets is straining the capacity of digital and electronic computers to compile them and extract key information. The research community has a strong interest in optical-based information processing for performing the high-speed calculations necessary in machine learning tasks.

“Light transmits information without any physical interference from cables. That’s the core advantage of optical technology when it comes to transferring data,” says Demetri Psaltis, head of EPFL’s Optics Laboratory within the School of Engineering. “To take artificial intelligence as an example, many AI programs require accelerators to carry out rapid calculations using minimal power. For now, while optical technology could theoretically meet that need, it has not yet reached the applied stage – despite a half-century of research. That’s because optical computing and decision-making do not yet save either time or energy.”

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City Planning

NEOM is on track to be the world’s first “sustainable” city. Here’s what we know.

By Tim Wenger

For followers of tech blogs, sustainable design, and futuristic thinking, the term “NEOM” and “The Line” are by now familiar. Outside those circles, NEOM is not yet a household name. The term signifies a new, futuristic plan for a city, built to the highest standards of sustainability and convenience. It’s forward-thinking, controversial, and in the broad history of cities, is far beyond the scope of anything that has been done before.

NEOM, an acronym for “new future,” is garnering increased publicity due to its concept as the ultimate “smart city.” But if you’re like most of us, even if you’ve heard the term, you may not fully grasp what NEOM is all about. Let’s cover the basics of what NEOM is, where NEOM is, and when NEOM will be complete.

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drones

Drone Highways In The Sky Could Be On The Horizon

Set in 2062, “The Jetsons'” whimsical world of flying cars and robot housekeepers captivated young viewers with a high-tech future. But Hanna-Barbera got it wrong: At least part of that future may be four decades early.

No longer the stuff of science fiction, highways in the sky are a very real proposition. Already, four states have test-run legislation that restricts drones to aerial corridors. Drone companies, states, and the Federal Aviation Administration are working to regulate the national airspace, and many industry advocacy groups, regulators, and operators see a drone “highway” model as the way forward. But they face a sizable and vocal opposition.

“I think people still think of drones as that Jetsonian future and don’t understand how close we are to really scaling them,” Casie Ocaña, marketing director for drone infrastructure company Airspace Link, told Modern Shipper.

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