Lifeboat Foundation

The billionaire space race is continuing to expand across the globe. Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin has announced plans to expand its operations to “Europe and beyond,” the Financial Times reports. Part of this growth hinges on finding a site for an international launch facility — the company has already put down roots in Texas, Washington, Florida and Alabama — but the new location hasn’t been chosen yet. It’s also actively looking for fresh acquisitions and partnerships outside of the US in areas such as manufacturing and software.

“We’re looking for anything we can do to acquire, to scale up to better serve our customers,” Bob Smith, Blue Origin CEO, said. “It’s not a function of size — rather how much it accelerates our road map of what we’re trying to get done.” Last year, Blue Origins bought New York-based Honeybee Robotics, a move that appears successful: The space-based robotics company was part of the Blue Origin team that recently received $3.4 billion to build the lunar lander for NASA’s third Artemis mission. Blue Origin’s biggest competitor, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is handling the first and second Artemis moon landings.

Though Blue Origin was the first to launch, land and reuse a rocket successfully, it has fallen behind its rival due to hold-ups with building its launchers. Blue Origin’s plans for a more global footprint might help them catch up with SpaceX’s progress. Amazon’s Project Kuiper also plans to use Blue Origin’s rocket New Glenn for at least 12 launches between 2024 and 2029 after a few years of delays.

“Part of what we’re doing is conceptually simple, reflecting sunlight to a solar panel located in the dark,” said Maxar Chief Robotics Architect and lead for Light Bender Sean Dougherty in a Maxar statement. “Where it gets complex is doing that without humans involved. We’re leveraging investments in autonomy to study how NASA can use robots to assemble and deploy a set of reflectors that keep sunlight focused on a solar panel operating in the shadows. It’s never been done before.”

Light Bender works by hoisting two 33-foot (10-meter) reflectors up a 65-foot (20-meter) telescoping mast. One mirror autonomously tracks the sun and reflects that light to the second mirror, which then reflects those rays towards the intended solar panels.

The Light Bender project is a collaboration between Maxar and NASA’s Langley Research Center, and is scheduled for its first terrestrial demonstration in 2025. The company was awarded the contract in May 2023, under NASA’s Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity Program. For their part, NASA’s team is responsible for Light Bender’s structural design, and Maxar is taking the lead on the robotics — an aptitude for which the company has demonstrated in the past.

July 3 (UPI) — A California startup announced its prototype flying car has been cleared for takeoff by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Alef Aeronautics said its “Model A” is the first flying vehicle that can drive on public roads and park like an average car to receive clearance for flight by the FAA.

The FAA confirmed the vehicle was given a special airworthiness certificate for purposes including research, development and exhibition.

Wind turbine maintenance is an important yet unheralded task. But drones have arrived to spice things up.

RigiTech is a Swiss drone manufacturer and operator boasting some of the most extensive beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight authorizations in the industry. And it just completed a landmark test of its Eiger delivery system, flying spare parts to the Anholt Offshore Wind Farm, located 20 sm (17 nm) off the coast of Denmark. But there’s a catch—the drones didn’t need to land.

The tests marked the rollout of RigiTech’s prototype precision dropping system, which autonomously releases cargo from a few feet in the air when it detects the drone has reached its destination. That’s a game-changer in the case of offshore wind turbines, which typically do not have landing pads.

NASA

This advancement is made possible through lasers acting as data carriers, offering a much wider spectrum than traditional microwave technology. The deployment of this cutting-edge technology is expected to revolutionize ground communication with satellites.

Windows are quickly evolving into futuristic gateways.

• Cultivating critical thinking: Emphasizing critical thinking skills equips students with the ability to analyze information, evaluate its credibility and make informed decisions. Encouraging open-mindedness, creativity and curiosity fosters independent thinking and problem-solving abilities.

• Contextual learning: Educators should design learning experiences that integrate real-world contexts, enabling students to understand the dynamic nature of information and adapt their knowledge to diverse situations. This approach encourages adaptability, resilience and a deeper understanding of the implications of changing contexts.

As automation continues to reshape the world of work, recognizing the inherent value of human skills becomes paramount. Emotion and context are two indispensable components that differentiate humans from machines and underpin critical aspects of work, such as effective communication, problem-solving and judgment. Nurturing these skills through educational systems will empower individuals to thrive in an automated future, ensuring they possess the abilities that automation cannot replicate. By embracing a holistic approach to education that integrates technical proficiency with emotional intelligence, critical thinking and contextual understanding, we can prepare the workforce of tomorrow to embrace the opportunities and challenges brought by automation while leveraging their uniquely human capabilities.

Artificial intelligence systems can mimic some aspects of human intelligence with impressive results, including detecting objects, navigating environments, playing chess, or even generating text.

But cloning human behavior has its limitations.
Without backing actions with thought, AI systems can become brittle and make unpredictable mistakes when faced with novel situations.

One recent project by scientists at the University of British Columbia and Vector Institute shows the benefits of getting AI systems to think like humans.

Google claims to have proved its supremacy over conventional machines with new quantum computer.

Google has developed a quantum computer that instantly makes calculations that would take the best existing supercomputers 47 years, in a breakthrough meant to establish beyond doubt that the experimental machines can outperform conventional rivals.

A paper from researchers at Google published online claims that the company’s latest technology is “beyond the capabilities of existing classical supercomputers”.