Lifeboat Foundation

We could soon see a SpaceX’s Starship SN8 prototype lift off 50,000 feet (ft) above Boca Chica Beach in South Texas! The launch will be the company’s first higher altitude test flight performed by a stainless-steel prototype of the Starship spacecraft SpaceX is developing to colonize Mars. –“I think the most important thing is to create a self-sustaining city on Mars,” the founder of SpaceX Elon Musk says, “That’s, I think, the critical thing for maximizing the life of humanity; how long will civilization last.” Musk hopes the vehicle could one day launch hundreds of astronauts to build the first settlement on the Red Planet. SpaceX is working on an ambitious schedule to make life multiplanetary in our lifetime. The company targets to launch a Starship with cargo to the Martian surface by 2022, followed by the first crewed mission in 2024. “I think we have a fighting chance of making that second Mars transfer window,” Musk said, in reference to the launch opportunity that arises every 26 months when Mars and Earth’s orbit align closer to each other to enable a shorter-duration voyage. He said that if it the orbital alignments that enable voyages to Mars every 26 months were not needed, SpaceX “would maybe have a shot of sending or trying send something to Mars in three years. […] But the window is four years away, because of them [planets] being in different parts of the solar system,” he stated during the Humans To Mars conference in August.

Believing in a dream pic.twitter.com/kicgiwFYDc — Austin Barnard🚀 (@austinbarnard45) November 28, 2020

Musk plans to convert Boca Chica into a spaceport, the “Gateway to Mars.” SpaceX teams are simultaneously building multiple Starship prototypes and rapidly expanding the launch facility. Today, Musk shared the Starship SN8 prototype could take flight as soon as Wednesday, December 2nd. Tomorrow, engineers will perform a static-fire test, to assess Starship SN8’s triple Raptor engines performance. During the routine pre-flight preparation, they will briefly ignite the Raptors while the vehicle is grounded to a test stand at the launch pad. When asked if he was ‘nervous about people watching from the build site’ due to the engines’ high thrust, Musk said – “Static fire is not risky from build site, but we need to clear the build site for early flights,” he wrote via Twitter. The static-fire test could take place on Monday, November 30, sometime between 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. CST, according to Cameron County Boca Chica Beach road closure announcements.

Austrian boatbuilder Silent Yachts has already gained a fair bit of attention with its solar electric catamarans. Its just-announced latest model should continue that trend, as it’s the result of a partnership with automakers Volkswagen and Cupra.

According to Silent Yachts, the as-yet unnamed solar-powered electric catamaran will feature the company’s own photovoltaic system. This will be used to charge batteries that will in turn provide power to the yacht’s onboard electronics, and to its electric propulsion system.

That system will be based around Volkswagen’s modular electric drive matrix (MEB) platform. MEB was initially designed as an optimized means of delivering power from a bank of chassis-integrated batteries to a motor on a car’s rear axle – the platform can also be set up for four-wheel-drive. Volkswagen has since made the technology available for third-party applications, hence its upcoming use for spinning the catamaran’s propellers.

Japan and China are racing to build a new type of ultra-fast, levitating train, seeking to demonstrate their mastery over a technology with big export potential.

Magnetic levitation, or maglev, trains use powerful magnets to glide along charged tracks at super fast speeds made possible by the lack of friction. A handful of short distance and experimental maglev trains are already in operation, but Asia’s two biggest economies are vying to develop what would be the world’s first long-distance intercity lines.

Electric RV. Now with an energy-efficient thermal rating construction & revolutionary energy supply, the ERV can truly enhance your caravanning experience.

Elon Musk made new comments about the Tesla Semi program, Tesla’s upcoming electric semi truck, and said that the vehicle will eventually have up to 1,000 km (621 miles) of range.

This new range is going to be achieved, thanks to Tesla’s new in-house battery cells and battery pack technology.

When launching Tesla Semi in 2017, the automaker said that the production versions of Tesla Semi, which is a class 8 truck with a 80,000-lb capacity, will have 300-mile and 500-mile range options for $150,000 and $180,000, respectively.

O,.o hungry babies.

Rat school is in session as fed-up New Yorkers try to learn how to deal with a surging rodent population.

Rats as big as bunnies are roaming the streets in broad daylight, nesting in trees and chewing through car engine wires that can cost thousands to fix. And there are so many that residents are kvetching about them every chance they get: Complaints about rats to the 311 hotline have totaled 12,632 so far this year, a third more than the 9,042 for all of 2019.

Continue reading “Giant New York rats overtaking Central Park and the UWS” »

It’s pretty easy to dismiss the capabilities of Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving beta. A look at Autopilot’s ranking from Consumer Reports alone would suggest that Tesla’s driver-assist system is pretty average at best, and that solutions like GM’s Super Cruise are far more advanced and capable.

With this in mind, the narrative surrounding Tesla’s self-driving efforts largely suggests that the company’s driver-assist systems, while advanced, are years away from being a capable autonomous driving solution. And when Tesla achieves autonomy, actual FSD companies like Waymo and Cruise would be far ahead.

These preconceptions about Autopilot and the Full Self-Driving suite, however, are a bit questionable, especially if one were to consider the capabilities of the FSD beta today, which is currently being tested by a select group of Tesla owners. Tesla owner and YouTube host Dan Markham of the What’s Inside? Family channel recently experienced this, when he took a drive on a Model S equipped with the FSD beta.

When the Mini Vision Urbanaut is parked, the dashboard can turn into a daybed among other lounging-related abilities in the concept car.

Travel + Leisure reports the same company that operates luxury, glass-domed trains in Western Canada, Rocky Mountaineer, plans to launch a new route from Denver to Moab beginning August 2021. The route, named Rockies to the Red Rocks, will be two days with one night in a hotel in Glenwood Springs.

The train ride focuses on great views in glass-domed trains with outdoor viewing decks, gourmet dining and tremendous service while passing on the sleeping arrangements — leaving that up to the hotel in Glenwood Springs.

“Rocky Mountaineer will bring a new luxury train tour to explore the historic rail route between Denver and Moab. Over the past 30 years, Rocky Mountaineer has become renowned for our world-class train travel experiences, and now we are opening our newest train experience in the region where train travel history began,” said Peter Armstrong, founder of Rocky Mountaineer. “This region, with its magnificent scenery, national parks, vast opportunities to explore, will delight millions.”