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Archive for the ‘space travel’ category: Page 10

Feb 6, 2024

Starship Technologies raises $90M as its sidewalk robots pass 6M deliveries

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, space travel

Sidewalk delivery robot services appear to be stalling left and right, but a pioneer in the concept says it is profitable and has now raised a round of funding to scale up to meet market demand. Starship Technologies, a startup out of Estonia that was an early mover in the delivery robotics space, has picked up $90 million in funding as it works to cement its position at the top of its category.

This latest investment round is being co-led by two previous backers: Plural, the VC with roots in Estonia and London that announced a new $430 million fund last month; and Iconical, the London-based investor backed by Janus Friis, the serial entrepreneur who was a co-founder of Skype, and who is also a co-founder of Starship itself.

It brings the total raised by Starship to $230 million, with previous backers including the Finnish-Japanese firm NordicNinja, the European Investment Bank, Morpheus Ventures and TDC.

Feb 6, 2024

Navigation Doppler Lidar: Revolutionizing Lunar Landing

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, space travel

Read about NASA’s new instrument for landing on other worlds!


Landing on planetary bodies is both risky and hard, and landing humans is even riskier and harder. This is why technology needs to be developed to mitigate the risks associated with landing large spacecraft on the Moon and other planetary bodies we plan to continue exploring, both in the near and distant future. This is what makes the Nova-C lunar lander from Intuitive Machines—which is scheduled to launch to the Moon on February 13 and also called Nova-C (IM-1) —so vital to returning humans to the Moon. One of its NASA science payloads will be the Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL), which will serve as a technology demonstration for future landers to help them navigate risky terrain and land safely.

Image of the Navigation Doppler Lidar which will be a technology demonstration during the IM-1 mission. (Credit: NASA/David C. Bowman)

Continue reading “Navigation Doppler Lidar: Revolutionizing Lunar Landing” »

Feb 5, 2024

Salad in Space? New Research says it’s Not a Healthy Choice

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, space travel

It’s been more than three years since the National Aeronautics and Space Administration made space-grown lettuce an item on the menu for astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Alongside their space diet staples of flour tortillas and powdered coffee, astronauts can munch on a salad, grown from control chambers aboard the ISS that account for the ideal temperature, amount of water and light that plants need to mature.

But there is a problem. The International Space Station has a lot of pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Many of these disease-causing microbes at the ISS are very aggressive and can easily colonize the tissue of lettuce and other plants. Once people eat lettuce that’s been overrun by E. coli or Salmonella, they can get sick.

With billions of dollars poured into space exploration each year by NASA and private companies like SpaceX, some researchers are concerned that a foodborne illness outbreak aboard the International Space Station could derail a mission.

Feb 5, 2024

Evolution and state of the art of launch systems

Posted by in categories: business, chemistry, robotics/AI, space travel

In the XXI century, the world of orbital launchers has started a revolution, a fundamental change of paradigm: the replacement of expendable rockets with reusable ones is well underway. This presentation summarizes the situation at the beginning of year 2024.

A short bio.
Alberto Cavallo is an Electrical Engineer, graduated at the Politecnico di Torino in 1985. He began his activity with designing electric systems in Fiat Engineering, the engineering and construction company of the FIAT Group, moving soon to control and automation systems in the same company. He was involved in all business areas of the company, which included revamping and new projects of car factories for the FIAT Group as well as large infrastructures, power and cogeneration plants for external clients. Among the projects of that time were the new FIAT factories in Melfi and Pratola Serra, the high speed railways Torino-Milano and Bologna-Firenze, the district heating system of Torino Sud, combined cycle power plants for several hundred megawatts in Italy and in Brazil. Since Fiat Engineering was transferred from the FIAT Group to a new EPC group and then merged with a large EPC company in Milan, he has been involved in large oil and gas and petrochemical projects all over the world. Besides his professional activity, he has always taken part in several cultural activities. He was a member of the Associations of Alumni of the Liceo Classico Vittorio Alfieri of Turin, active in promoting humanistic culture as well as its connection to the technical and scientific area. He manages his own website www.eurinome.it (in Italian only) about philosophy, science and politics/geopolitics. Due to this he got in contact with Adriano Autino and his TDF, then becoming one of the founding members of Space Renaissance International. Besides several papers in his professional area he has written several articles for his own site, for TDF and SRI, coauthoring the book “Three Theses for the Space Renaissance” with Adriano Autino and Patrick Q. Collins. He is currently member of the Board of SRI.

Feb 3, 2024

Researchers designs robots to maintain resilient deep space habitats

Posted by in categories: habitats, robotics/AI, space travel

NASA has set its sights on sending human crews back to the moon and establishing a permanent base on the lunar surface. The agency wants to return to the moon, build a lunar outpost, and eventually send humans to Mars. But these missions come with risks and challenges.

As humans venture deeper into space and explore other worlds, they face daunting challenges.

Continue reading “Researchers designs robots to maintain resilient deep space habitats” »

Feb 3, 2024

SpaceX’s Starship to launch private space station into LEO in one flight

Posted by in category: space travel

Starlab Space has chosen SpaceX to launch the private space station, Starlab, into low-Earth orbit (LEO) in just one flight.

Starlab Space is a transatlantic collaboration between Voyager Space and Airbus.

The announcement reveals that SpaceX’s Starship vehicle would undertake a single mission to transport the entire Starlab before the International Space Station’s (ISS) retirement, scheduled for 2030. However, the company’s release did not specify the launch date of Starlab.

Feb 3, 2024

Watch Ax-3 astronauts leave ISS in SpaceX Dragon capsule Feb. 5 after delay

Posted by in category: space travel

Departure is now scheduled for no earlier than Monday (Feb. 5)

Feb 3, 2024

SpaceX shows off Super Heavy boosters ‘for the next 3’ Starship flights (photos)

Posted by in category: space travel

The building is jam-packed with towering stainless-steel cylinders — Super Heavy vehicles, the first stage of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket — which rise nearly to the roof.

“Super Heavy boosters for the next three flights, with a fourth ready to stack, in the Starbase Megabay,” SpaceX wrote in the post.

Feb 1, 2024

Elon Musk Fumes as Judge Takes His $55 Billion

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

A Delaware judge has voided Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s gargantuan $55 billion pay package following a lawsuit by shareholders claiming it was far too much wealth to award a single individual.

In a ruling this week, Delaware judge Kathaleen McCormick called the billionaire’s cushy compensation plan “an unfathomable sum,” arguing it was unfair to shareholders.

Uncontested, the decision could leave a massive gap in the net worth of the once richest man in the world, which could have a ripple effect on his other ventures, including SpaceX and his online echo chamber X-formerly-Twitter.

Jan 31, 2024

Starlab, meet Starship: Private space station buys SpaceX launch for later this decade

Posted by in category: space travel

SpaceX signed a deal with Starlab, the private space station joint venture of Voyager and Airbus, to launch on Starship.

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