Science fiction literature is filled with strange ideas about how to travel to space and in it. We’ve got anything from hyperloops to wormholes and space elevators, strings, FTL-capable ships, and even the crown jewel of instant transport, teleportation. I know this because I really, really enjoy sci-fi.
Goodyear’s airless tires are now being used by a fleet of Starship’s autonomous delivery robots on a college campus in the U.S.
The request: Starship recently asked Goodyear if it could design a smaller version of its airless tires for the company’s delivery robots, and the tire giant has now delivered.
“The micro delivery space presents a different set of needs as it relates to the tire,” said Michael Rachita, Goodyear’s senior program manager for non-pneumatic tires, “and our NPT technology is ideal to meet those needs to help enable a maintenance-free and long-lasting experience.”
Goodyear’s airless tires are now being tested on a small fleet of Starship delivery robots on the Bowling Green State University campus in Ohio. If the trial goes well, they may roll out nationwide.
In another example of space technology coming down to Earth.
One of the big arguments in favor of investing in space technologies is that the same technology is often used to benefit citizens down here on Earth.
In a new example of an Earth-focused application of space technology, SpaceX has won a U.S. Air Force contract worth over $102 million to help deliver humanitarian aid using heavy rockets, according to a report from SpaceNews.
The contract, part of the U.S. Air Force’s $47.9 million Rocket Cargo program, is aimed at developing rocket cargo solutions that can deliver aid as well as military cargo. Neither the U.S Air Force nor SpaceX has so far provided any information regarding which specific rockets will be used for the program. However, Greg Spanjers, rocket cargo program manager, told SpaceNews that the Department of Defense (DoD) wants to develop the capability to quickly deliver humanitarian aid anywhere in the world using specially adapted launch vehicles.
Full Story:
SpaceX just won a U.S. Air Force contract worth over $102 million to deliver humanitarian aid and military cargo using heavy rockets.
At this rate the CCP will be launching everyday by the end of the decade. Wow.
China became the country that has carried out the most space launch missions in the world over the past year.
The combination of the Shenzhou-13 manned spaceship and a Long March-2F carrier rocket is transferred to the launching area of Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, Oct. 7, 2021. (People’s Daily Online/Liu Huaiyu)
The country’s Long March series carrier rockets, Kuaizhou series carrier rockets, as well as those developed by private space firms have made 55 launches and sent over 100 spacecraft into space.
SpaceX has won a potential five-year, $102 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to demonstrate technologies under a program that seeks to determine the viability of using large rockets to support the Department of Defense’s global logistics missions, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.
Under the Rocket Cargo program, the Air Force Research Laboratory will gather data on performance and environments signatures by having access to SpaceX’s orbital launches and booster landings.
The company will present cargo bay designs that are compatible with intermodal containers of U.S. Transportation Command under the contract, which includes an option for SpaceX to conduct a full-up demonstration of capabilities for heavy cargo transport and landing operations.
One critical difference? Unlike a Mars mission’s “seven minutes of terror,” during which the entry, descent, and landing occur too fast for human operators to interfere, gene therapy delivery is completely blind. Once inside the body, the entire flight sequence rests solely on the design of the carrier “spaceship.”
In other words, for gene therapy to work efficiently, smarter carriers are imperative.
This month, a team at Harvard led by Dr. David Liu launched a new generation of molecular carriers inspired by viruses. Dubbed engineered virus-like particles (eVLPs), these bubble-like carriers can deliver CRISPR and base editing components to a myriad of organs with minimal side effects.
Excellent news.
More than five years after its founding, Renton, Wash.-based Radian Aerospace is emerging from stealth mode and reporting a $27.5 million seed funding round to support its plans to build an orbital space plane.
The round was led by Boston-based Fine Structure Ventures, with additional funding from EXOR, The Venture Collective, Helios Capital, SpaceFund, Gaingels, The Private Shares Fund, Explorer 1 Fund, Type One Ventures and other investors.
Radian has previously brought in pre-seed investments, but the newly announced funding should accelerate its progress.
Parallel Systems bursts out of stealth mode with a SpaceX pedigree and a plan for launching the nation’s railways into the space age with autonomous electric railcars.
Electric trains have been much in the news lately. Adding to all the hoopla today is the US startup Parallel Systems, which has just busted out of stealth mode with a recipe for replacing thousands of trucks on the highways with zero emission short-haul autonomous electric railcars. The company sports a leading lineup of three former SpaceX electronics and battery experts, so let’s see what all the fuss is about.
Autonomous Electric Railcars
The idea of electric locomotives is beginning to catch on, but Parallel Systems is calling its version a “rail vehicle” because it has no resemblance to a locomotive. Think of it as a train without locomotives, and the picture comes into sharper focus.
SpaceX is busy testing its rocket engines in Texas, and a ew test resulted in green flames that re a sign of failure.
