BERLIN (AP) — A joint European-Japanese spacecraft got its first glimpse of Mercury as it swung by the solar system’s innermost planet while on a mission to deliver two probes into orbit in 2025.
The BepiColombo mission made the first of six flybys of Mercury at 11:34 p.m. GMT (7:34 p.m. EST) Friday, using the planet’s gravity to slow the spacecraft down.
After swooping past Mercury at altitudes of under 200 kilometers (125 miles), the spacecraft took a low resolution black-and-white photo with one of its monitoring cameras before zipping off again.
This week’s episode is brought to you by The Space Force. For more information, please go to http://www.spaceforce.com #sponsored.
How much of your life is touched by space? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice break down the newest branch of the US military, The Space Force, with Charles Liu, Major General DeAnna Burt, and Dr. Moriba Jah. Is this one step closer to Star Wars?
Discover the alliance between astrophysics and the military. What ways are there to destroy a satellite? Charles Liu teaches us about electromagnetic pulses– EMPs– and how they disrupt electronics. Can people be safe from a detonated EMP, like in the movies? How do we protect ourselves against EMPs?
Next, we speak with Major General DeAnna Burt about her role within The Space Force and what it’s like to form an entire branch of the military from scratch. Who came up with the name Space Force? Is the creation of The Space Force an escalation of military tensions in the world? Is it a step towards war in space? Find out about geosynchronous robotic arms, kinetic kill vehicles, and what The Space Force really does to protect us against threats that exist already. We discuss satellites and just how much of daily life on earth is touched by space. How far does space go? Is The Space Force for the domain of the universe itself?
The future of space stations is uncertain once the International Space Station ends its mission — China and private industry could fill the void. — Retiring the International Space Station in the coming years presents a big void — what will be the future of space stations once the International Space Station meets its fiery death in the coming years? And SHOULD the ISS be decommissioned, or might the mission lifetime be extended?
Construction of the International Space Station (ISS), started in 1,998 was completed in 2011. Since that time, the ISS has housed travelers in space from 19 countries. Possessing the only laboratory for long-duration microgravity research, discoveries aboard the orbiting outpost have led to a bevy of new discoveries.
Now, its mission could be over as early as 2,024 as that is the time agreements between NASA and international partners comes to an end. However, on the 25 August, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated his support for extending the mission of the space station until the year 2030.
There might be billions, even trillions, of rogue planets in the Milky Way. Could they support life? How can we find out?
The search for potentially habitable planets is focused on exoplanets—planets orbiting other stars—for good reason. The only planet we know of with life is Earth and sunlight fuels life here. But some estimates say there are many more rogue planets roaming through space, not bound to or warmed by any star.
About six years ago, the CEO of Toyota Research Institute published a seminal paper about whether a Cambrian explosion was coming for robotics. The term “Cambrian explosion” refers to an important event approximately half a billion years ago in which there was a rapid expansion of different forms of life on earth. There are parallels with the field of robotics as modern technological advancements are fueling an analogous explosion in the diversification and applicability of robots. Today, we’re seeing this Cambrian explosion of robotics unfolding, and consequently, many distinct patterns are emerging. I’ll outline the top three trends that are rapidly evolving in the robotics space and that are most likely to dominate for years to come.
1. The Democratization Of AI And The Convergence Of Technologies.
The birth and proliferation of AI-powered robots are happening because of the democratization of AI. For example, open-source machine learning frameworks are now broadly accessible; AI algorithms are now in the open domain in cloud-based repositories like GitHub; and influential publications on deep learning from top schools can now be downloaded. We now have access to more computing power (e.g., Nvidia GPUs, Omniverse, etc.), data, cloud-computing platforms (e.g., Amazon AWS), new hardware and advanced engineering. Many robotics startup companies are capitalizing on this “super evolution” of technology to build more intelligent and more capable machines.
And, depending on how further studies progress, it could be implemented via gene therapy.
Early-stage pancreatic cancer has a ‘reset button’
“These findings open up the possibility of designing a new gene therapy or drug because now we can convert cancerous cells back into their normal state,” said Professor Bumsoo Han of Purdue’s mechanical engineering, who is also the program leader for the university’s Center for Cancer Research, in a blog post shared on the university’s official website. Han has also received a courtesy appointment in biomedical engineering, according to the post. The new time machine (speaking figuratively) from Han’s lab is a lifelike reproduction of a specific structure of the pancreas, called the acinus, which secretes and produces digestive enzymes into the small intestine. When pancreatic cancer strikes, it typically comes from chronic inflammation, which is caused by a mutation that tricks the digestive enzymes to begin digesting the pancreas itself. This is bad.
Swiss multinational company ABB a reputed name in the power and automation sectors has formally launched its electric vehicle charger, Terra 360 which is not only the fastest but can also power up to four vehicles at a time, said a company press release.
Creating next-gen technology to supercharge the second space race.
Honda has recently released their plans to build eVTOLs, robots, and even potentially help colonize the moon. All very noble and ambitious plans, but those, Honda says, that are being put in place to help solve issues beyond just transportation.
