Tag: Tech

Near Space Labs, a New York-based startup, has deployed a network of high-altitude balloons equipped with advanced robotic cameras to capture high-resolution images of disaster-prone neighborhoods across the United States. With this enhanced imagery, the startup said it aims to accelerate the work of insurance companies that rely on aerial data to assess property risks and respond to damage caused by extreme weather events. The newly deployed balloons are outfitted with AI-enabled robots called “Swifts,” which are capable of capturing imagery with a resolution of 7 centimeters (2.76 inches) per…

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NASA is looking to develop a new generation of low-emission commercial aircraft that will offer a more efficient and sustainable mode of travel. The space agency has commissioned five new design studies as part of its Advanced Aircraft Concepts for Environmental Sustainability (AACES) 2050 initiative. The organizations contributing to new airliner design concepts include Boeing’s Aurora Flight Sciences, the aerospace company Electra, the Georgia Institute of Technology, the aviation startup JetZero and Pratt & Whitney, according to a statement from NASA. “Through initiatives like AACES, NASA is positioned to harness…

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Asteroid prospecting company AstroForge has been awarded the first-ever commercial license for operating and communicating with a spacecraft in deep space, ahead of its Odin mission that’s set to launch and rendezvous with a near-Earth asteroid in early 2025. The license, granted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Oct. 18, pertains specifically to setting up a communication network with radio ground stations on Earth, to enable commands to be sent up to Odin and data to be transmitted back to Earth. In this case, deep space is defined…

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SpaceX’s Starlink internet service continues to make inroads around the globe. Starlink provided Wi-Fi on a Boeing 777 jet for the first time today (Oct. 22), during a Qatar Airways flight from the Qatari capital of Doha to London. The 777 is the “largest and longest-range passenger aircraft equipped with Starlink to date,” SpaceX representatives said in an emailed statement today. #QatarAirways launches the world’s first Boeing 777 Starlink-equipped flight. @StarlinkWe are proud to be the airline that leads the way, setting new standards in the airline industry. ✈️#QatarAirwaysStarlink pic.twitter.com/347ZnclANbOctober…

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Teleoperated rovers could soon be working on the moon, with human controllers on Earth manipulating the rovers’ tools virtually, allowing for greater dexterity when taking samples, digging or assembling. Researchers from the robotics laboratory at the University of Bristol in England have tested their new teleoperations system at the European Space Agency‘s (ESA) European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications at Harwell in Oxfordshire. By controlling a virtual simulation of a rover, they were able to manipulate a robotic arm to dig a sample of pretend lunar regolith (called simulant).…

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It’s high time to crank up the volume in space! That’s the shout from several private firms that want to see an inflation factor for the future. What is now being evaluated and tested is the use of “softgoods” to fashion inflatable/expandable airlocks and off-Earth habitats, not only for low Earth orbit, but also to provide comfy housing for future moon and Mars explorers. First, however, there’s a memory lane trip about this idea worth taking, one that also underscores how far things have evolved. NASA’s Echo balloon project in…

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Six decades after the supersonic Avro Arrow suddenly stopped flying, Canada is working hard to preserve what few pieces of it are left. The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow (known as the Arrow among its fans) was one of the most advanced supersonic jets of its era in the 1950s. It even has a link with NASA across the border, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia. But the Arrow program’s funding was nixed in 1959 in a still-controversial decision by the Canadian government of the day, led by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.…

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On April 23, NASA launched a solar sail protype to orbit around our planet — a piece of technology that could very well revolutionize the way we think about spacecraft propulsion. Then, on Aug. 29, the agency confirmed this sail successfully unfurled itself in outer space. Yet, we still didn’t have official photographic evidence of this for some time.  Now, as of Sept. 5, we indeed do. NASA has released the first image of the open solar sail, formally called the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System, and stated that the…

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Scientists have created an “exceptionally bright” light source that can generate quantum-entangled photons (particles of light) which could be used to securely transmit data in a future high-speed quantum communications network. A future quantum internet could transmit information using pairs of entangled photons — meaning the particles share information over time and space regardless of distance. Based on the weird laws of quantum mechanics, information encoded into these entangled photons can be transferred at high speeds while their “quantum coherence” — a state in which the particles are entangled —…

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