Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Blog – Page 9260

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are still in their nascency, but analysis of BroadbandNow US market pricing data suggests that the technology could save American households more than $30 billion per year by intensifying broadband competition.

LEO satellites, such as the constellations planned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink project and Jeff Bezos’ Project Kuiper, promise to bring low-latency broadband internet to millions of Americans. LEO satellite orbit extremely close to earth, between 99 to 1200 miles versus 22,000 miles of traditional GEO satellites, which means less time to transfer information (lower latency) and a quality of service comparable to wired broadband cable and fiber providers. The arrays will be precisely mapped into massive constellations to maximize coverage.

LEO technology will offer robust internet access to underserved and rural communities lacking wired, low-latency broadband options. The arrival of this emergent technology is likely to drive down monthly internet prices for hundreds of millions of Americans.

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Jeff Bezos just unveiled a giant lunar-landing vehicle created by his rocket company Blue Origin.

Called “Blue Moon,” the lander is designed to deliver a variety of sizes and types of payloads to the moon’s surface, with the eventual goal of establishing what the company calls a “sustained human presence” on the moon.

The model of the Blue Moon lander that Bezos revealed today is the version designed to carry robotic and infrastructure payloads to the moon. Bezos said payloads could weigh up to 7 tons (6.5 metric tonnes). But according to the company’s website, “the larger variant of Blue Moon has been designed to land an ascent vehicle that will allow us to return Americans to the moon by 2024.” A vehicle designed for people was not shown at the event, however.

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A killer asteroid will hit the Earth, and it is not a matter of “if” but “when,” based on the discussions during last week’s 2019 International Planetary Defense Conference.

Bill Nye opened up about the threat of asteroid impacts and possible extinction, explaining that people need to be more aware of this threat. “The Earth is going to get hit with another asteroid,” Nye said during the 2019 International Planetary Defense Conference. “The problem is, we don’t know when.”

Nye, who is known as the TV “Science Guy” and is currently the CEO of the Planetary Society, continued by saying that even if an asteroid doesn’t hit Earth within the next few decades, the threat is still there.

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Google has won approval from US regulators to create sensors that can be triggered with hand gestures, dubbed “Project Soli,” Reuters reports.

The news: Google started work on Soli in 2015 but hit a roadblock because the sensors were required to operate at lower power levels than the company planned. These restrictions are in place to stop new products from interfering with other (more important) technologies—in this case radio astronomy and a satellite service. Now the US Federal Communications Commission has granted Google a waiver to let it operate Soli sensors at higher power levels, between 57 and 64 gigahertz. The FCC said this will “serve the public interest.”

How it works: The sensors use radar to capture motion in three-dimensional space. It means users can press invisible buttons or use a virtual dial, for example. The radar signal can penetrate fabrics, meaning it could work through a pocket or backpack.

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