The U.K. has approved its first coal mine in 30 years, despite climate concerns. The British government approved the move on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022, just one year after it hosted the major climate summit, COP26, reported the BBC
The mine, near Whitehaven in Cumbria, will take two years to build and is set to produce around 2.8 tonnes of coking coal per year, according to the Washington Post.
Environmentalists have voiced their concerns, saying the new mine will stoke global emissions and spread a negative message around the world about Britain’s climate image.
Government support is needed, however, to help consumers overcome heat pumps’ higher upfront costs relative to alternatives. The costs of purchasing and installing a heat pump can be up to four times as much as those for a gas boiler. Financial incentives for heat pumps are now available in 30 countries.
In the IEA’s most optimistic scenario – in which all governments achieve their energy and climate pledges in full – heat pumps become the main way of decarbonising space and water heating worldwide. The agency estimates that heat pumps have the potential to reduce global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by at least 500 million tonnes in 2030 – equal to the annual CO2 emissions of all cars in Europe today. Leading manufacturers report promising signs of momentum and policy support and have announced plans to invest more than US$4 billion in expanding heat pump production and related efforts, mostly in Europe.
Opportunities also exist for heat pumps to provide low-temperature heat in industrial sectors, especially in the paper, food, and chemicals industries. In Europe alone, 15 gigawatts of heat pumps could be installed across 3,000 facilities in these three sectors, which have been hit hard by recent rises in natural gas prices.
SpaceX revealed a new business segment called Starshield aimed at U.S. national security government agencies. “While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for government use, with an initial focus on three areas: Earth observation, communications and hosted payloads,” the company said on its website.
This is a big deal as SpaceX is currently burning through $2 billion/year as it works to develop Starlink and Starship. So SpaceX wouldn’t mind some extra cash!
WASHINGTON — SpaceX on Dec. 2 revealed a new business segment called Starshield aimed at U.S. national security government agencies.
This sector of SpaceX intends to leverage the Starlink internet constellation in low Earth orbit to develop products and services — including secure communications, remote sensing and space surveillance payloads — that are in growing demand by U.S. defense and intelligence organizations.
“While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for government use, with an initial focus on three areas: Earth observation, communications and hosted payloads,” the company said on its website.
The UK government has announced that artificial intelligence algorithms that come up with new technologies will not be able to patent their inventions.
The Intellectual Property Office said on Tuesday that it also plans to tweak existing laws to make it easier for people and institutions to use AI, machine learning and data mining software in order to rapidly advance research and innovation without requiring extensive permissions from copyright owners.
After the successful completion of India’s first space mission, homegrown firms are now looking to set up manufacturing facilities for satellites etc. Homegrown space startups, Pixxel and Dhruva Space, are eyeing new assembly facilities for satellite manufacturing in the country, following successful satellite launch missions on November 26.
Satellite manufacturing is an integral part of India’s plans for the space sector. The government’s liberalized space policy, which is said to be in the final stages of completion, is expected to allow the country’s firms to take a larger share of the global space market. At present, India accounts for only 2% of the global space economy, according to data shared by Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (MoS) for science, technology and earth sciences, in the Lok Sabha in August.
The two companies are also part of a growing crop of homegrown private space startups that are launching the final trial phase of their products and services. On November 18, Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace became India’s first private firm to launch its own rocket. Pixxel and Dhruva’s satellites were successfully deployed in their intended low-earth orbits (LEOs) on November 26. India’s upcoming space policy is expected to invite more participation from such startups, taking some of the load off ISRO and its coffers.
President Whipps was formerly a two-term Senator having served in the 8th and 9th Olbiil Era Kelulau (OEK, Palau National Congress) from 2009 through 2016. His Senate report card maintains his reputable record in policy making to promote and protect the best interests of Palauans, including: conducting more than 100 oversight hearings to promote transparency and accountability in delivery of government services, spearheading the first bill introduced in the 9th OEK that became law to increase the minimum wage since its enactment in 1997, and most recently, balancing Palau’s focus on developing and promoting human resources and fostering their economy, while striking a balance in the protection of the environment, putting the Palauan people first.
Prior to his career in politics, President Whipps had over 30 years of private sector experience managing one of the largest growing companies in Palau. As CEO and president of the Surangel and Sons Company, he led the expansion from a one floor store with 50 employees, to a diversified company employing over six-hundred people.
President Whipps grew up in a family business that started with his parents improvising to sustain their living by opening a restaurant, fishing and selling their catch, taking tourists out to the rock islands and diving, and selling goods out of their house.
As Chief Scientist of TRISH, Dr. Fogarty leads an innovative and high-risk research and technology development portfolio to address the most challenging human health and performance risks of space exploration.
At Sophic Synergistics, which is a women-owned and women-led Human Centered Design firm specializing in integrating human factors engineering and human health and performance into a business model, Dr. Fogarty’s Division focuses on developing and expanding the application of medical technologies for use in remote medicine, telemedicine, and home healthcare.
In both roles, Dr. Fogarty’s goal is to increase access to high quality healthcare and empower patients and medical providers by incorporating precision medicine and cutting-edge science and technology with actionable data both in space and on Earth.
Dr. Fogarty has over twenty years of experience in medical physiology and extreme environments and was the NASA Human Research Program Chief Scientist. Her approach prioritizes communication and collaboration with industry academia, government and commercial spaceflight programs, and international partners. She values and seeks collaborations with external institutions and government agencies to assess fundamental and mechanistic discoveries as well as innovative prevention and treatment strategies for application to preserve health and performance.
Dr. Fogarty has a Ph.D. in Medical Physiology from Texas A&M University School of Medicine and a B.S. in Biology from Stockton University. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, an editor of the Fundamentals of Aerospace Medicine 4th and 5th edition, and associate editor for the journal npj Microgravity.
Lifeboat to the Stars award and he contributed to Lifeboat Foundation’s Visions of the Future which reached #1 under “Hot New Releases in Science Fiction Anthologies” on Amazon. As an accomplished science fiction author of over 50 novels, Greg received five Nebula Awards and two Hugo Awards. He even.
Helped the government prepare for attacks of the future, working with our Arlan Andrews and Jerry Pournelle.
The central government has started a drive to upgrade its IT equipment and infrastructure so that all electronic, data storage and communication devices used in government departments and agencies remain within the life span specified by the manufacturer and remain immune to cyber threats.
The move comes in the wake of a large number of cyber security incidents reported by Cert-In, a nodal agency for responding to such incidents and a recent ransomware attack at country’s top medical institute All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi on 23 November.
The ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) has directed all secretaries of central ministries to actively take actions with regards to cyber security. Use of out-of-date operating systems and IT equipment must be discontinued, Meity said in a communication reviewed by Mint.
25 years ago, the film Contact made its theatrical debut starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey and told the story of Dr. Eleanor Arroway (Jodie Foster) who picked up a radio signal from the star Vega and how this discovery impacted not just herself, but humanity as a whole. Over time, she discovers the signal has embedded instructions sent by the aliens to build a device capable of sending one person into outer space, presumably to meet the Vegans.
The device is built, and she is eventually hurled through a series of outer space tunnels where she meets an alien in the form of her long-deceased father. Right before she’s sent back home, the alien informs her, “This was just a first step. In time you’ll take another.” When she awakens, her colleagues inform her the pod she sat in fell straight through the device and she never actually left. With no hard evidence of both her travels and meeting the aliens, Eleanor is left scrutinized by both the public and Congress. She is ultimately given a “healthy grant” to fund further research into finding more signals from ET, and the film ends with her pondering her journey to the stars.
While some moviegoers were bummed that they didn’t see the aliens—who instead downloaded Jodie Foster’s consciousness so they could talk to her easier—the important message of the film, and the book that it’s based on, is to persevere, but also knowing there will be hardships and sacrifices along the way. In the case of Eleanor, she loses her father at a very young age who had gotten her hooked on astronomy. Later, she passes on love with Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey) to remain in pursuit of her research, all while consistently being roadblocked by her former boss. And even after she reaches her goal of contacting the aliens who sent the message, she’s still scrutinized and ridiculed.
