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Space exploration contains large potential for the creation of innovative applications, products and services, also benefitting Earth. With new topics and application areas arise countless possibilities for technology transfer and novel ideas for space-based technologies and their application in non-space industries, as well as new targets and opportunities for business.

This year AZO has launched the Space Exploration Masters on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA) and in line with the goals of the ESA Space Exploration Strategy, in cooperation with strong world-class partners. The Space Exploration Masters is an international competition to identify best technology transfer business successes, as well as to empower and foster business innovation around space exploration activities in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), on Moon, Mars, or beyond – for the benefit of society and Earth.

The two different prize categories “Technology Transfer Success “ and “New Business Innovation “ look for exciting submissions in the fields of Human Space and Robotic Missions, Space Resources & Industry, Discovery & Space Observation, Spacecraft, Rockets, Propulsion, Space Tourism, Deep Space Communication & Navigation, Space Habitats, and Life Sciences – just to name a few.

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A service lab has turned a lieutenant’s brainstorm into a testable prototype dubbed the GunnAR augmented-reality headset.

In just a year, a wearable headset designed to help U.S. Navy gunnery sailors cut through the fog of combat has evolved from a lieutenant’s brainstorm to a prototype being tested in various exercises.

Conceived by a junior officer aboard the destroyer Gridley, the idea for GunnAR was presented at last year’s ONR Innovation Jam, where it received first prize — and $100,000 to make it real. After rapid progressions through various development milestones, the blue-tinted visor was put to the test in the Trident Warrior 2017 experiment aboard USS Bunker Hill, where sailors used it to put live fire on targets.

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The process of manually colorizing an image is usually cumbersome, time consuming and requires significant skill, which makes it a prime target for automation. Researchers at UC Berkeley led by Alexei A. Efros, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, have released a paper that outlines a new method for using deep neural networks to help aid in the colorization of images.

Aided by these deep neural networks almost anyone, even those completely lacking any artistic ability, can easily create convincing colorized images.

The group’s paper, entitled “Real-Time User Guided Colorization with Learned Deep Priors,” will be presented at SIGGRAPH 2017, a conference which highlights computer graphics research.

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“He learns to manage his image in the minds of others, and finds himself reflected, as in a mirror, through the interface of language and non-verbal communication […] The self is not unitary and separate from others; peopling occurs in the context of mutual-mental-modeling relationships, which continue to affect each person when he is alone…” sarah perry.

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DNA testing is not new to consumers, but it’s a one-shot deal. You send in your sample, then you get to see ancestry and health data provided by the company you chose to use for testing. Some new insights might be added over time, but there’s not much else you can do with that genetic data. A startup called Helix is counting on people being curious enough to drop cash in its DNA app store on a regular basis. The initial testing costs $80, and after that you can buy the applications you want.

helix

Helix uses a type of genetic testing called DNA sequencing. Other companies like 23andme are using the far simpler genotyping; Helix is actually finding the pattern of nucleic acids (using flow cells like the one above) in your DNA for around 20,000 different genes, known as the exome. A genotyping test only tells you which variant you have of specific genes, so a full sequence generates about 100 times as much data. Helix is taking this approach because the company is not deciding what sort of data to show users. Instead, that’s all up to third-parties that decide to sell DNA apps to people in the Helix store, and the full sequence includes more precision.

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