Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: drones – Page 10

SpaceX Falcon 9 cleared to launch by FAA; next launch: Starlink overnight

Three days ago, an old Falcon 9 booster crashed and exploded while landing on a drone ship during its 23rd landing. This caused SpaceX to halt the launch of another Falcon 9 rocket scheduled a few hours later while they worked on the problem.

3 days later, SpaceX had already corrected the problem and did two more Falcon 9 launches and landings. The 3 days included one day to get permission from the Federal government to launch again.

No other space company moves this fast! Normally, a space company takes a year or two to recover from an accident.

For example, NASA didn’t launch again for over 2 1/2 years after the Challenger accident and again didn’t launch again for over 2 1/2 years after the Columbia accident. These massive delays didn’t even contribute much to safety. For example, the last time a Falcon 9 booster crashed and exploded was over 250 missions ago, more missions than all the Space Shuttles flew in total! The last time SpaceX actually lost customer cargo was 351 flights ago! (The Space Shuttle had a total of 135 flights, 2 being failures that killed a total of 14 people.)

Again, talking about safety, the Columbia blew up because its heat shield tiles failed. Well, in the last Starship test, many heat shield tiles failed although it landed safely, so Elon made a ton of changes to Starship including adding ablative shielding under critical heat shield tiles. The Space Shuttle never got protective ablative shielding, an example of why it had a poor safety record.

The FAA has cleared SpaceX to launch the Falcon 9 while the investigation into Wednesday’s mishap wraps up.

Redox-active metal-organic framework developed for Li batteries in freezing conditions

The Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) has developed a redox-active metal-organic hybrid electrode material (SKIER-5) for Li batteries that remains stable in cold conditions as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius. By addressing the limitations of graphite as an anode material of conventional Li batteries under freezing conditions, SKIER-5 has the potential to be a superior alternative. This novel material can be used in Li batteries for a variety of applications, including electric vehicles, drones, and ultra-small electronic devices, even at low temperatures.

Currently, graphite is the conventional material used for anodes in due to its thermodynamic stability and low cost. However, batteries with graphite anodes have significant drawbacks: their storage capacity sharply decreases at , and dendrites can form on the anode surface during charging. This can lead to thermal runaway and potential explosions.

A research team led by Dr. Jungjoon Yoo, Dr. Kanghoon Yim, and Dr. Hyunuk Kim at KIER has developed a redox-active conductive called “SKIER-5.” This framework is assembled from a trianthrene-based organic ligand and nickel ions. SKIER-5 exhibited a discharge capacity five times higher than that of graphite in subzero environments.

Animal brain inspired AI game changer for autonomous robots

A team of researchers at Delft University of Technology has developed a drone that flies autonomously using neuromorphic image processing and control based on the workings of animal brains. Animal brains use less data and energy compared to current deep neural networks running on GPUs (graphic chips). Neuromorphic processors are therefore very suitable for small drones because they don’t need heavy and large hardware and batteries.

The results are extraordinary: during flight the drone’s deep neural network processes data up to 64 times faster and consumes three times less energy than when running on a GPU. Further developments of this technology may enable the leap for drones to become as small, agile, and smart as flying insects or birds.

Photo of the “neuromorphic drone” flying over a flower pattern. It illustrates the visual inputs the drone receives from the neuromorphic camera in the corners. Red indicates pixels getting darker, green indicates pixels getting brighter. (Image: TU Delft)

SpaceX’s Revolutionary Plan: Landing Starship and Booster on Droneships

SpaceX is working towards the goal of landing both the super heavy booster and Starship on a drone ship in the ocean, which has the potential to revolutionize space travel and support their mission for greater sustainability and reusability Questions to inspire discussion What is SpaceX’s goal for landing the super heavy booster and Starship?

An aerial robot that can independently control its own position and orientation

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, are now used to capture images and carry out a wide range of missions in outdoor environments. While there are now several UAV designs with different advantages and characteristics, most conventional aerial robots are underactuated, meaning that they have fewer independent actuators than their degrees of freedom (DoF).

Underactuated systems are often more cost-effective and can be controlled using simpler control strategies than overactuated systems (i.e., robots that have more independent actuators than their DoF). Nonetheless, they are often less reliable and not as capable of precisely controlling their position and orientation.

Researchers at Tecnalia’s Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA) in Spain recently developed a new overactuated aerial that can independently control the position and orientation of its main body. This robot, introduced in a paper published in Robotics and Autonomous Systems, has four quadrotors that cooperatively carry its central body.

Anduril to open software-based manufacturing hub to scale production

As the Pentagon makes a push toward scaling production of autonomous systems and weapons, Anduril Industries is accelerating its own manufacturing capabilities through a new software-based production hub called Arsenal.

The California-based defense technology company announced Wednesday it will build the first Arsenal facility in the U.S., using funding from a recent $1.5 billion Series F investment round. Chris Brose, Anduril’s chief strategy officer, told reporters the firm’s goal is to consolidate manufacturing in order to “hyperscale” production across its product lines, including uncrewed combat drones and autonomous underwater vehicles.

“When we say hyperscale, we mean the ability to produce tens of thousands of a given system,” he said in a briefing. “This is the target that we’re setting for ourselves right now.”