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Category: transportation

Made in Space and NanoRacksMade In Space and NanoRacks have been making news lately with the announcement of partnerships to change the way objects are imagined and built off the planet, and now the companies have joined forces to provide a novel new service for CubeSat developers.

mmThey call it “Stash & Deploy,” and the service will leverage the NanoRacks heritage in CubeSat deployment and the capability of Made In Space to provide 3D printing capabilities and deliver – on-demand – satellite manufacturing, assembly, and deployment in the space environment.

The plan calls for a variety of standard and customer-specific satellite components to be “cached” within a satellite deployment vehicle such as the International Space Station, and the components will be “stashed” for rapid manufacture of CubeSats.

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“The SpaceX Hyperloop Pod competition crowned a winner on Sunday, naming the MIT Hyperloop Team as the group with the best look at what the Hyperloop transportation pod system might look like in the future.”

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The DeLorean could soon be going back into production thanks to a new law that exempts small volume car manufacturers from the safety requirements applied to most new car makers. Also, I’m going to attempt to write this article without any Back to the Future jokes.

The law only applies to “replica” vehicles, that is, cars that resemble the body of another vehicle produced at least 25 years ago. Think stuff like the Shelby Cobra or the ‘65 Mustang — or the venerable DeLorean.

The DeLorean Motor Company, which acquired what was left of the original manufacturer 30 years ago, currently focuses on repairing and restoring all the DeLorean vehicles that are floating around the world. But now, with this specialty legislation, the company can use its millions of factory parts (and some that have been recreated from the original blueprints) to build new, 2017 model year DeLoreans complete with a crate engine from an outside supplier.

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Interesting & a perplexing viewpoint by this author on “Singularity” and AI in general. First, I believe folks have varying views on the word “Singularity.” This author believes it is when machines become smarter than humans. In my case; I see Singularity is when humans and machines become connected to all things; not necessarily when a machine becomes smarter than myself. Also, the author definitely is not open to exploring all the possibilities around AI; thank goodness all innovators do not have this same mindset.

Human-like robots are popping up everywhere. From the factory floor to product packaging and delivery. From restaurants to the battlefield. From patient care to camel racing. And countless other places. The driverless cars we talked about in this column only a few years ago can be seen on the road today. Our electronic devices are not only talking to us, they’re beginning to understand what we need without even having to ask.

All of this has led to rampant speculation about when the so-called “singularity” is going to happen. When machines become “smarter” than humans. Sorry to disappoint, but the ultimate brain isn’t a future generation of IBM’s Watson or some super-distributed artificial intelligence network like the fictional Skynet portrayed in the Terminator movies.

The next leap in intelligence may actually be viewed as a step backward. That’s because it’s been around for as long as humans have inhabited the earth. Maybe even longer. It’s a network more massive than Skynet, with trillions of nodes and innumerable connections. And it’s not something “out there.” This recently discovered superbrain exists inside each and every one of us. Introducing … the human microbiome.

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One of the best places to test what it will actually be like to fly in Mars’ thin atmosphere is at 90,000 feet in our own. Ironically, this summer, Airbus and partners are testing the Perlan 2 glider in part to help determine among other things just what we need to do to actually aviate through the red planet’s atmosphere. Maybe Andy Weir has a sequel in him.

By pushing the atmospheric envelope at the edge of Earth’s stratosphere, the Airbus Perlan 2 glider’s next tests should pave the way for both future aviation on Mars and Earth-based commercial hypersonic aircraft, Allan McArtor, the Chairman and CEO of Airbus Group, Inc… told me.

The Perlan 2 sailplane/glider, which had its first test flight last September in Oregon, will attempt to reach its optimal cruising altitude of 90,000 feet as early as this coming June in Argentina, says McArtor. When it does, it will be the highest that any winged vehicle, powered or otherwise has gone.

As part of the Perlan Project — a nonprofit supported by title sponsor Airbus Group and others; the glider’s two-man crew will scientifically sample the stratosphere at altitudes exceeding those of even the U-2 and the SR-71 spy planes.

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With the recent use of genetically engineered mosquitoes in Brazil to halt the spread of the Zika virus, we might be beginning to see some major health improvements as a consequence of the genetics revolution. A world in which mosquitoes were all but eliminated from the ecosystem would look quite different from the world of today, especially for people living in the tropics where the threat of mosquito transmitted infections does more than just mar an otherwise tranquil margarita sipped from the veranda of a beach resort. This is not to beggar the more mundane advantages of a mosquito-free habitat, but rather call attention to the fact that for large parts of the world, including Brazil, mosquitoes can be the difference between life and death.

Ironically, the genetic changes made to the Aedes aegypti mosquito in order to halt the spread of the Zika virus are deceptively simple. The company behind the project, Oxitec, used a modified version of something called the “Sterile Insect Technique” to create their hybrid specimens. The end goal of this process is to produce a male mosquito possessing a “self-limiting gene.” When these males mate with wild female mosquitoes, they create non viable offspring that perish soon after the birth. The end result is a rapid drop in the mosquito population of a given area.

When compared with some of the more hazardous forms of mosquito control currently in use such as massive spraying of DEET and chemical infusers popular throughout Asia, sterilizing mosquitoes sounds like an imminently reasonable approach. As a journalist who once saw his roadside samosa blasted by a massive spray of DEET from an oncoming municipal vehicle in India, I can personally attest to a preference for a genetic solution.

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In a first, a driverless bus will now have to undergo real world traffic while shuttling passengers as a public trial on Dutch roads begins.

While Google and Uber are currently experimenting with self-driving cars, other companies are adapting the same idea to public transportation. Trials for driverless buses and trains are currently ongoing across the world.

But now, a new milestone has been reached.

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Hope it is a success; he will need it.

Tesla Model 3 will be unveiled in March, with budget Model Y CUV to followReports claim that the Tesla Model 3, the Palo Alto automaker’s long-awaited electric car for the masses, will be unveiled in March. Better yet, the company also has a Model Y compact crossover planned for the future, though details on this vehicle are largely limited to the type of vehicle it would be.

March’s Model 3 launch will focus exclusively on the new EV – an electric sedan like the Model S, but this time sold at a more affordable price point. Tesla CEO and founder Elon Musk called the vehicle “probably the most profound car that we make” and a “very compelling car at an affordable price,” and that only adds to the hype of a car that’s expected to drive Tesla sales to 500,000 in 2020, from a mere 50,000 in 2015.

Design-wise, Musk says it will be a “slightly smaller version of the Model S” with less “bells and whistles.” Storage should be quite ample for a smaller car, considering Tesla’s use of sub-floor batteries. The Model 3’s range is expected to be upwards of 200 miles on a single charge, putting it on similar ground as Chevrolet’s recently-unveiled Bolt EV.

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