The latest test flight by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic successfully rocketed to the edge of space and back.
The firm’s SpaceShipTwo passenger rocket ship reached a height of 82.7km, beyond the altitude at which US agencies have awarded astronaut wings.
It marked the plane’s fourth test flight and followed earlier setbacks in the firm’s space programme.
Payloads on the flight will collect valuable data to improve technologies for future exploration missions. This flight will be specifically be used to study how dust disperses in microgravity. Understanding dust dynamics can help abate the damage that is caused by particles contaminating hardware and habitats. Swoop in: https://go.nasa.gov/2Gr79YT
It’s a problem that has many academics here worried. As India becomes increasingly polarised, coordinated efforts to popularise pseudoscientific theories, and to aggrandise the nation’s own scientific past, have begun to gain ground, they say. It’s a worrying mash-up of nationalism, religion, and scientific bunkum that appears to be an increasingly easy sell—and one that leaves the population both misinformed and perennially at odds with itself. “That is why our leaders and scientists talk about how evolution is wrong,” said Aniket Sule, an astrophysicist and colleague of Karandikar at HBCSE, “or how Indians were first to invent plane or atomic theory, or how cow worship is scientific.”
A wave of superstitions is being promoted as legitimate science.
Electric vehicles, especially Tesla’s vehicles, are not being left out when it comes to armored vehicles.
After a Model S earlier this year, we’ve now got a look at what could be the first Tesla Model X armored vehicle.
We heard a rumor that Tesla’s showroom in Mexico City was displaying a bulletproof Model X.
Buried beneath 4,000 feet of Antarctic ice lies Lake Mercer, a subglacial body of water that formed thousands of years ago and has been long separated from the rest of the world. A project to explore this lake—and its mysterious contents—is finally set to begin later this month.
Called Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access, or SALSA for short, the project aims to uncover new knowledge about Antarctica’s subglacial lakes, of which over 400 are known to exist. Over the next two months, SALSA scientists will explore one of the largest subglacial lakes in West Antarctica, a body of water known as Lake Mercer. The team will bore through some 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) of ice using a 60-centimeter-wide drill capped with hot water. In addition to extracting water and mud samples, the researchers will deploy a remotely operated vehicle—a scientific first for a subglacial lake.
STOREY COUNTY — The need for more infrastructure and housing is constraining Tesla Motors’ desire to grow its footprint in Northern Nevada, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Tuesday.
Musk’s comment came during a technology and innovation summit hosted by Gov. Brian Sandoval at Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 located just outside of Sparks.
Musk said he envisions growing the number of employees at the Nevada factory from roughly 7,000 currently to upward of 20,000 in the future, and more than doubling the physical footprint of the 5.8 million-square-foot lithium-ion battery factory.
Continue reading “Tesla’s Elon Musk describes factors needed to grow company in Nevada” »
General Motors recently announced plans to double its investment in electric vehicles and that’s just fine with Elon Musk. 60 Minutes, Sunday. https://cbsn.ws/2L0D2pw&h=AT27OxLLrIvSTagOUUaqQ8rb_hlgmnx14C…svvYFzIR1X
Tesla launched a new ‘Enhanced Anti-theft’ system as an aftermarket product last month and we now take a first look at one of the very first installations on a Model X.
There have been strings of Tesla thefts earlier this year that prompt the automaker to offer several new security features.
We reported on several Tesla vehicle thefts through relay attacks in Europe earlier this year.
The Ferox Azaris is a work of art to look at, and should offer some awesome rough terrain capabilities – but at its heart, it’s a test bed and demonstrator for a new, 98 percent efficient in-wheel motor, with a highly responsive fluid drive system that Ferox hopes will enable some pretty crazy future vehicle architectures.
