Lifeboat Foundation

The Board of Directors of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center, MBRSC, held a meeting chaired by Talal Humaid Belhoul, Vice President, MBRSC to discuss developments related to future projects at the Center, aligned with the strategic plan of the UAE’s National Space Program. The meeting was attended by Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, Chairman, MBRSC, Yousuf Hamad AlShaibani, Director-General, MBRSC, along with the members of the Board of Directors, Mohammad Abdullah Alzaffin, Mansoor Juma Buosaiba, Mohamed Saif Al Meqbaali, and others.

During the meeting, Belhoul was briefed on the reports of the MBRSC’s current projects, strategy and plans that endeavor to support the country’s strategy in the space sector and its contributions to other sectors, within the UAE’s National Space Program. Belhoul appreciated the efforts of the work done by the team at the center and the support they provided to government agencies and vital sectors in the UAE.

Stressing on the importance of the Center’s role in actively contributing to the promotion of space exploration in the UAE, he said, “Space is a competitive arena for scientific knowledge, and we are proud that the UAE is one of nine countries in the world that has an active space program. We have achieved a lot in this short span, but we have much more to accomplish. We will work towards achieving the vision of the wise leadership of the UAE to be one of the leading countries in terms of knowledge and scientific achievements.”

Mike Snead, P.E., president of the Spacefaring Institute, was invited to present at the Envision Humanity conference held in Portugal on 18 July 2020. This presentation was delivered via video. It addresses the world green energy needed to “globally reset” human civilization using astroelectricity (GEO space-based solar power) to achieve sustainable, prosperous living worldwide. The presentation also shows why the “Green New Deal’s” call to use terrestrial nuclear and renewable energy to replace fossil carbon fuels is not a practical solution. The presentation provides an interesting way to understand the magnitude of the engineering challenge and options available to complete this important transition to sustainable energy.

In The Martian, Matt Damon’s character is able to survive being marooned on Mars by growing potatoes in the Martian soil. While fictional, this plot point reflects a real need for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) to support long-term human space exploration missions. A new study by a team from the Florida Institute of Technology suggests that the Martian soil may be more hostile to plant life than previously thought and that the capability of growing Martian potatoes will require additional development to make agriculture feasible.

The researchers studied three examples of Martian regolith simulants. These simulants are produced from materials found on Earth to reproduce the mineralogy and chemistry of the soil we expect to find on Mars. They found that none of these simulants were able to support plant life on their own, partly due to nitrogen deficiency, and only two were able to do so when nutrient supplements were added. More crucially, none of these simulants could support plant life at all when calcium perchlorate — a common, and toxic, substance on Mars’s surface — was added. Their results suggest that any scheme for ISRU agriculture on the surface of Mars must plan to remediate, or otherwise avoid, the toxic effects of perchlorate before attempting an extraterrestrial harvest.

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SpaceX just hit the FCC’s goal for low internet lag. Next step: 1 gigabit internet speeds.

Filecoin, a blockchain-based decentralized storage project, is officially launching its testnet- Space Race to test out the network before the mainnet launch.

As promised, Filecoin will start its testnet launching competition. It encourages global miners for the next three weeks to be competing for up to four million Filecoin in prizes to onboard as much storage space to the network as possible, says the report. The contest begins on August 24 at 10 pm UTC.

The top 100 miners globally, and the top 50 miners from each continent, will use the earned Filecoin rewards to jump-start their mainnet mining efforts based on how much storage they and the network achieve during the competition. People can also track their progress on the testnet main website.

Continue reading “Miners on Decentralised Storage Network Compete For 4 Million Token Prize” »

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An international team of researchers have discovered a dense, cold gas that’s been shot out from the center of the Milky Way “like bullets”.

Exactly how the gas has been ejected is still a mystery, but the research team, including Professor Naomi McClure-Griffiths from The Australian National University (ANU), say their findings could have important implications for the future of our galaxy.

“Galaxies can be really good at shooting themselves in the foot,” Professor McClure-Griffiths said.

Astronomers have bounced lasers of mirrors left by Apollo astronauts on the lunar surface for decades. But this is the first time bouncing one off a lunar orbiter — after a decade of trying.