Lifeboat Foundation

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has set a new pair of records after it survived its 10th close encounter with the Sun. On November 21, 2021 at 4:25 am EST (08:25 GMT), the robotic deep-space explorer came within 5.3 million miles (8.5 million km) of the Sun’s surface and reached a speed of 363,660 mph (586,864 km/h), making it both the closest satellite to survive such a near pass of the Sun and the fastest-ever artificial object.

The Parker Solar Probe was launched on August 12, 2018 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket, and this latest solar flyby between November 16 and 26 marks the halfway point in the spacecraft’s seven-year mission to study the Sun at such close quarters that it will eventually fly through the Sun’s corona.

Having easily beaten the record holder, the Helios-2 spacecraft and its maximum speed of 157,078 mph (252,792 km/h), Parker is now in a league of its own. Its latest speed record beats its own previous record, as will be the case for the future record speeds the probe is expected to reach in later flybys.

Today, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, in close collaboration with the Director of National Intelligence, directed the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security to establish within the Office of the USD(I&S) the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) as the successor to the U.S. Navy’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force. The AOIMSG will synchronize efforts across the Department and the broader U.S. government to detect, identify and attribute objects of interests in Special Use Airspace (SUA), and to assess and mitigate any associated threats to safety of flight and national security. To provide oversight of the AOIMSG, the Deputy Secretary also directed the USD(I&S) to lead an Airborne Object Identification and Management Executive Council (AOIMEXEC) to be comprised of DoD and Intelligence Community membership, and to offer a venue for U.S. government interagency representation.

Incursions by any airborne object into our SUA pose safety of flight and operations security concerns, and may pose national security challenges. DOD takes reports of incursions – by any airborne object, identified or unidentified – very seriously, and investigates each one. This decision is the result of planning efforts and collaboration conducted by OUSD(I&S) and other DoD elements at the direction of Deputy Secretary Hicks, to address the challenges associated with assessing UAP occurring on or near DOD training ranges and installations highlighted in the DNI preliminary assessment report submitted to Congress in June 2021. The report also identified the need to make improvements in processes, policies, technologies, and training to improve our ability to understand UAP.

In coming weeks, the Department will issue implementing guidance, which will contain further details on the AOIMSG Director, organizational structure, authorities, and resourcing.

“Sunday Morning” anchor Jane Pauley hosts “Forever Young: Searching for the Fountain of Youth,” a one-hour primetime special exploring the wonders, rewards, and challenges of growing older, to air on CBS Sunday, November 28 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, and to stream on Paramount+.

Can we reset our biological clocks? | Watch Video Life expectancy has increased in recent decades, but researchers are looking for ways to further slow the aging process. Correspondent Lee Cowan looks into recent developments in the study of extending human life, and efforts to ward off disease by targeting the biology of aging itself.

ABB’s Terra 360 modular charger can charge four vehicles at once.

Just to show that AI is not about to take over in the near future, due to the high inflation in the US, I decided to shop around and buy a ton of mouthwash from https://bedbathandbeyond.com. (I got BreathRX which I recommend.) They sold me a bunch at half the average price I found on the internet, and I looked forward to getting a big box of it. (Or maybe two or three boxes.)

To my great surprise they decided to send me lots of little packages of 1 to 3 bottles from all over the country. In many cases, they would send me a box big enough to hold 12 bottles, put 1 bottle in it, wrap the bottle for safety, and then add air bubble packaging plus air bag packages. They must have lost a fortune on this order!

Shop online or in-store at Bed Bath & Beyond for the best bedding, bathroom, kitchen, and home décor! Plus, create a wish list with a wedding or gift registry.

The ALICE collaboration has for the first time observed the residual strong interaction between protons and phi mesons. In an article recently published in Physical Review Letters, the ALICE collaboration has used a method known as femtoscopy to study the residual interaction between two-quark an.

Sustainable agriculture continues to spread at an accelerated pace and farmers need all the help they can get in order to cope with the increasing workload. California-based company Iron Ox specializes in the use of robotics and artificial intelligence in agriculture, and Grover is the latest robot to join its team.

Sustainable agriculture continues to spread at an accelerated pace and farmers need all the help they can get in order to cope with the increasing workload. California-based company Iron Ox specializes in the use of robotics and artificial intelligence in agriculture, and Grover is the latest robot to join its team.

The holidays still happen in space, they just look a little bit different. But the sentiments are the same.

“I’m going to do whatever I can to show how thankful I am for my crewmates,” said NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei in a NASA video shared from the International Space Station Monday. “It’s wonderful having all of these folks up here. We haven’t been up here together that long, but wow it sure has been wonderful already.”

Continue reading “This is how astronauts celebrate Thanksgiving in space” »

New Chinese fusion approach, betting big on fusion and lots more fusion stories!

A summary of recent fusion energy news stories presented by Dr Leigh Ann Kesler, a fusion consultant specialising in science communication.

Continue reading “Friday 26th November 2021” »