Lifeboat Foundation

SpaceX’s fleet of reusable Falcon 9 rockets enabled it to conduct more missions in 2020 than ever before. SpaceX completed a record-breaking launch manifest this year, it conducted 26 rocket launches –the most annual launches it has performed in history. Rocket reusability has played a significant role in increasing launch cadence. Falcon 9 is capable of launching payload to orbit and returning from space to land vertically on landing pads and autonomous droneships at sea. To date, SpaceX has landed 70 orbital-class Falcon 9 boosters and reused 49. This year the company accomplished flying two particular rocket boosters 7 times. Engineers aim to reuse a first-stage booster at least 10 times to reduce the cost of spaceflight. The most reused Falcon 9 rockets that reached 7 reflights this year are two first-stage boosters identified as B1051 and B1049. SpaceX is just three flights away from achieving 10 reflights. SpaceX officials state Falcon 9 [Block 5] is designed to perform up to 100 reflights.

Stephen Marr, a spaceflight photographer who goes by the name @spacecoast_stve on Twitter, shared a photo collage of all the Falcon 9 boosters used in 2020, “SpaceX carried out a record-breaking 26 launches this year, but how many boosters did it take to get it done? The answer is 11. And here they are!” he wrote. SpaceX founder Elon Musk replied to Marr’s tweet –“Falcon was 25% of successful orbital launches in 2020, but maybe a majority of payload to orbit. Anyone done the math?” he said.

It’s nice to see the logic in how they make these things. It doesn’t seem simple at all. 😃

Click to expand.

This anti-ram barrier is capable of stopping a truck 😲 👏.

For computer lovers out there. 😃

These DDR5 modules are 1.8x faster than DDR4 and uses 20 percent less power.

It seems even police cars are moving to Tesla. 😃

Tesla Model Y enters the world of crime-fighting, commissioned by the Hastings-on-Hudson Police Department, Westchester County, New York. This is the first Model Y that has already been purchased and equipped as a police department vehicle in the world.

On December 21, the Hastings-on-Hudson Police Department shared the great news with the community via their Facebook. The PD has acquired and has already received their first electric car—Tesla Model Y. Police Chief David Dosin said the Westchester County Department was the first in the county to receive delivery of the all-electric police car, as the department is committed to alternative fuels and clean technologies.

Continue reading “Tesla Model Y Police Car Makes World Debut in New York” »

You want 2021 to be super. But not in a super gonorrhea type of way.

“Super gonorrhea” is trending on Twitter right now because, well, why not? It’s 2020, after all. And what better thing to have trend at the end of a year that brought us the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, a shortage of basically everything, constant drama in the White House, and a Presidential election that just won’t end? Consider this sexually transmitted infection to be the pie à la mode, the night cap, the final wipe of 2020.

This new anti-cancer drug will be attacking the mitochondria of cancer cells. They do this by inhibiting the enzyme mitochondrial RNA polymerase (POLRMT).

Differentiated tissues are said to be tolerant of the inhibition of this enzyme while rapidly proliferating cells are impacted more.

The compound was found to reduce tumor growth in mice.

Continue reading “New Drug Starves Cancer Cells” »

This doesn’t sound good. 😃

The scientists put hundreds of participants through memory and cognitive tasks as well as brain scans, according to the research, published last month in the journal World Psychiatry.

Joseph Firth, the Western Sydney University scientist who led the project, described in a press release how the internet’s design is changing both the structure and abilities of the human brain.

Continue reading “Wait, What? New Research Says Internet Use Is Killing Your Memory” »

A lot of risk here. I do also recall estimates for orbital refueling bringing the trip to Mars down to 3 months, but that appears not to be the case.

There are many things humanity must overcome before any return journey to Mars is launched. Let’s dive in.

The joint U.S.-European Solar Orbiter spacecraft had an appointment with Venus this morning, the first in a series of planetary flybys to hone the probe’s orbit on its journey to the sun.