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The robot is being developed to offer an helping hand to astronauts, designed to operate in hostile and hazardous conditions in space.


NASA’s first bipedal humanoid robot, Valkyrie, is undergoing a few of its final testing phases at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

A humanoid, much like Iron Man but constructed from metal and electronics, mimics human walking and appearance. Designed for a diverse array of functions, NASA is exploring if such machines can further space exploration, starting with the Artemis mission, according to Reuters.

Valkyrie, named after a prominent female figure in Norse mythology, commands attention with her formidable presence. Standing at 6 feet 2 inches (188 centimeters) and weighing 300 pounds (136 kilograms), NASA is an electric humanoid robot capable of operating in degraded or damaged human-engineered environments.

Did you know that Einstein’s most important equation isn’t E=mc^2? Find out all about his equation that expresses how spacetime curves, with Sean Carroll.

Buy Sean’s book here: https://geni.us/AIAOUHn.
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This lecture was recorded at the Ri on Monday 14 August 2023.

00:00 Einstein’s most important equation.
3:37 Why Newton’s equations are so important.
9:30 The two kinds of relativity.
12:53 Why is it the geometry of spacetime that matters?
16:37 The principle of equivalence.
18:39 Types of non-Euclidean geometry.
26:26 The Metric Tensor and equations.
32:22 Interstellar and time and space twisting.
33:32 The Riemann tensor.
37:45 A physical theory of gravity.
43:28 How to solve Einstein’s equation.
47:50 Using the equation to make predictions.
51:05 How its been used to find black holes.

The real Einstein’s Equation is part of general relativity, which relates the curvature of spacetime to the mass and energy distributed within it.

Japan’s space agency announced Thursday it will launch its next-generation H3 rocket in February after two failed attempts early this year.

The rocket, billed as a flexible and cost-effective new flagship, is scheduled to lift off between 9:22 am and 1:06 pm (0022 and 406 GMT) on February 15 from the southern island of Tanegashima, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in a press release.

The third launch attempt comes after the spacecraft was forced to self-destruct in March when the command center concluded its mission could not succeed.

One of the hardest things for many people to conceptualize when talking about how fast something is going is that they must ask, “Compared to what?” All motion only makes sense from a frame of reference, and many spacecraft traveling in the depths of the void lack any regular reference from which to understand how fast they’re going.

There have been several different techniques to try to solve this problem, but one of the ones that have been in development the longest is StarNAV—a way to navigate in space using only the stars.

Several projects named “StarNAV” seem to be ongoing at various stages of development, including a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts grant for some researchers on the East Coast of the US and a small start-up company based on technology out of UC Irvine. In this case, we’ll look at the work done by the researchers, particularly a paper they released last year detailing some progress toward a prototype.

The specifics of the funding round are yet to be finalized.


In the early stages of this process, discussions have taken place with potential investors, as per a report by Bloomberg. However, specific details such as the terms, valuation, and timing of the funding round are still being worked out and may undergo changes.

OpenAI in talks to raise fresh funding

The hottest startup in Silicon Valley has already raised about $13 billion from Microsoft. OpenAI’s upward growth trajectory is in tandem with the artificial intelligence boom brought on by ChatGPT last year.

If you ever find yourself aboard a spaceship exploring the profound mysteries of the universe and you have the sudden urge to poop — former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino has some insights for you.

“It requires a lot of training,” Massimino told “The Daily Show” guest host Kal Penn during a recent segment. “You get rendezvous training and robotics training in space, and there would be potty training.”

Because toilets on board NASA spacecraft are unlike Earth-bound commodes, he explained, you will need practice. These space thrones don’t use water but instead use negative air presure to suck away waste like a vacuum.