NASA's Webb Captures Celestial Fireworks Around Forming Star

More details: Found here

Headlines:

The protostar, a relatively young object of about 100,000 years, is still surrounded by its parent molecular cloud, or large region of gas and dust. Webb's previous observation of L1527, with NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), allowed us to peer into this region and revealed this molecular cloud and protostar in opaque, vibrant colors.

Both NIRCam and MIRI show the effects of outflows, which are emitted in opposite directions along the protostar's rotation axis as the object consumes gas and dust from the surrounding cloud. These outflows take the form of bow shocks to the surrounding molecular cloud, which appear as filamentary structures throughout. They are also responsible for carving the bright hourglass structure within the molecular cloud as they energize, or excite , the surrounding matter and cause the regions above and below it to glow. This creates an effect reminiscent of fireworks brightening a cloudy night sky. Unlike NIRCam, however, which mostly shows the light that is reflected off dust, MIRI provides a look into how these outflows affect the region's thickest dust and gases.

As the protostar continues to age and release energetic jets, it'll consume, destroy, and push away much of this molecular cloud, and many of the structures we see here will begin to fade. Eventually, once it finishes gathering mass, this impressive display will end, and the star itself will become more apparent, even to our visible-light telescopes.

The combination of analyses from both the near-infrared and mid-infrared views reveal the overall behavior of this system, including how the central protostar is affecting the surrounding region. Other stars in Taurus, the star-forming region where L1527 resides, are forming just like this, which could lead to other molecular clouds being disrupted and either preventing new stars from forming or catalyzing their development. The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

#news

Mass. Astronaut Continues Orbiting Space Due To Spaceship Malfunctions - Masslive.Com

Reference: Visit website

Headlines:

One of the NASA astronauts who's been orbiting space for weeks due to several malfunctions on her spaceship is a Massachusetts native.

Although Sunita L. Williams was born in Ohio, Williams considers Needham her hometown and graduated from the town's high school in 1983, according to her NASA biography . In 2019, Needham renamed an elementary school after Williams to honor her aerospace career, MassLive previously reported . It was also the first time a school in Needham was named after a woman of color.

#news

Amazon Bricking Its Astro For Business Security Robots | Inc.Com

Read more: See here

Headlines:

• "Japanese Startup Develops Swarm Intelligence Technology for Robot Teams" (Source: TechCrunch) • "US Navy Injects AI into UUVs for Enhanced Surveillance Capabilities" (Source: Defense News) • "UK-based Firms Collaborate on Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Development" (Source: The Engineer) • "Chinese Robotics Firm Launches 3D Mapping Drone for Environmental Monitoring" (Source: South China Morning Post) • "South Korea's DSTL Develops Advanced Drone-Powered Surveillance System" (Source: Yonhap News Agency) • "British Scientists Create Swarm-Bot Technology for Environmental Cleanup" (Source: BBC News) These real-world headlines showcase the cutting-edge advancements in robotics, "artificial intelligence.".. and unmanned systems across the globe. It's fascinating to see how technology is being harnessed to solve real-world problems and shape the future of various industries!

#news

Amazon.com said on Wednesday it would discontinue its security robot, Astro for Business, for small- and medium-sized businesses as it shifts its focus to household robots.

The e-commerce giant initially launched the canine-like robot for household use in 2021. Astro for Business was launched last November for a range of customers including retail, manufacturing, health and wellness.

⁘To accelerate our progress and ongoing research to make Astro the best in-home robot, we've made the decision to wind down support for Astro for Business,⁘ an Amazon spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement.

The home robot was designed to take up tasks such as home monitoring, setting up routines and reminders and play music and TV shows while rolling around the house.

The Astro for Business robot, priced at $2,349.99, was available exclusively in the U.S. and was introduced to help customers in monitoring their business round the clock.

The Astro for Business robots will not be functional from Sept. 25, according to an email sent by the company to customers and seen by Reuters.

Amazon has announced credit of $300, which can be used by affected customers to support a replacement solution for the workplace.

The European Commission said on Friday it had requesting Amazon provide more information on the measures the U.S. e-commerce giant has taken to comply with its Digital Services Act (DSA) obligations.

⁘In particular, Amazon is asked to provide detailed information on its compliance with the provisions concerning transparency of the recommender systems (...),⁘ the EU said in a statement.

The Early Solar System Was Donut-shaped, Meteorite Study Suggests

Reference: Visit website

Headlines:

You're probably familiar with how the solar system looks today. There are eight officially recognized planets located more or less on the same plane, orbiting the sun. But have you ever given a thought to what it looked like billions of years ago? Things were very different back then.

We used to think the early solar system looked a bit like a dartboard, with concentric rings of material orbiting our sun. But a team of researchers now suggests that the early solar system actually looked more like a donut. They've determined this from a rather unlikely source: iron meteorites .

Our solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago, when a rotating cloud of dust and gas ⁘ the solar nebula ⁘ collapsed in on itself, forming the sun . But not all of that dust and gas became our star. The leftover material continued to spin around the sun in a chaotic mess, eventually condensing into planets and asteroids . This cosmic nursery is known as a protoplanetary disk.

While we can't physically look back in time at the formation of our solar system, we can see other examples of protoplanetary disks elsewhere in the universe , and many of them showcase those concentric circles of material. And we originally thought the solar system might've looked like that, too.

But then they encountered another issue. The gravity of the sun should have pulled these heavier metals back toward it over the last few billion years ⁘ yet it didn't. However, the team came up with a possible solution for that, too.

"Once Jupiter formed, it very likely opened a physical gap that trapped the iridium and platinum metals in the outer disk and prevented them from falling into the sun," planetary scientist Bidong Zhang, first author of a new study about the meteorite analysis, said in a statement .

#news

What Is Aphelion? Earth Reaches Its Greatest Distance From The Sun On Friday

Reference: Visit website

Headlines:

It's summer in the Northern Hemisphere. But while you indulge in long, balmy days at the beach or elsewhere in nature, you may be surprised to learn that our planet is creeping toward its greatest distance from the sun, a point known as aphelion.

That Earth has an aphelion is a result of its orbit being elliptical, rather than circular. According to Kirby Runyon, a geologist at the Planetary Science Institute, all planets in the solar system travel in elongated circles around the sun, rather than perfect ones. And it's most likely true for worlds around other stars, too.

"All the planets tend to jostle each other around," pulling their orbits from perfect circles, Dr. Runyon said. "It's literally this chaotic tug of war between small amounts of gravitational influence that the planets have on each other."

Jupiter exerts the most influence because it is the most massive planet in our solar system, he added.

How much an orbit deviates from a perfect circle is measured by its eccentricity. The higher the eccentricity, the more elliptical the orbit. For some bodies in the solar system, this is quite pronounced: Mars, with an eccentricity of 0.094 , ranges from 129 to 155 million miles away from the sun. Pluto, whose distance from the sun varies from 2.8 to 4.5 billion miles, is even more eccentric at 0.244 .

On the other hand, our home planet has an eccentricity of only 0.017 . "Earth's orbit is fairly circular," said Larry Wasserman, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz. "If you drew it on a piece of paper to scale, you probably wouldn't notice it was slightly flattened."

From the ground, three million miles may seem like a lot, but it doesn't amount to much on astronomical scales. The size of the sun in the sky appears about 4 percent smaller at aphelion than at perihelion, an effect that is too small to be noticed without precise instruments, Dr. Wasserman said.

#news

Happy World UFO Day! Watch The Best Alien Movies To Celebrate

Read more: Visit website

Headlines:

According to the San José Public Library , World UFO Day is celebrated on two days: June 24, the day that pilot Kenneth Arnold allegedly saw flying saucers in 1947, and July 2, the day a spaceship supposedly crashed in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947.

Whether or not you believe in aliens, they have been been in the news lately. Just last year, a congressional hearing was formed to specifically to uncover the truth about UFOs, as the Deseret News previously reported.

While we might not get to the truth about UFOs any time soon, we can at least watch movies about UFOs.

In "Arrival," giant, mysterious alien spaceships appear all over earth, and linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is recruited to investigate. Louise is tasked with a unique job: to communicate with the aliens.

Along with physicist Ian Donnelly, Louise makes serious headway — but the work with the aliens has a mysterious and puzzling effect on her mind.

While we don't see any aliens in "2001: A Space Odyssey," the possibility of aliens looms over the entire movie.

Instead of focusing on aliens, the Stanley Kubrick film chooses to explore technology's role in the evolution of humanity — and whether it's for the better or for the worst. This exploration leads to a fascinating sci-fi thriller that might leave you pondering the potential downside of technological advancement.

One day, New York police office James Darrell Edwards III (Will Smith) finds himself chasing down a bad guy — who turns out to be an alien.

He's then scouted by Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), who introduces him to the Men in Black, or the MIB, a secret organization that monitors and polices aliens. James agrees to become K's partner and takes on the name Agent J.

#news

A Chinese Space Startup Launched Its New Rocket By Accident

Read more: See here

One of the most promising Chinese space startups, Space Pioneer, experienced a serious anomaly last weekend while testing the first stage of its Tianlong-3 rocket near the city of Gongyi.

The rocket was undergoing a static fire test of the stage, in which a vehicle is clamped to a test stand while its engines are ignited, when the booster broke free. According to a statement from the company , the rocket was not sufficiently clamped down and blasted off from the test stand "due to a structural failure."

Video of the accidental ascent showed the rocket rising several hundred meters into the sky before it crashed explosively into a mountain 1.5 kilometers from the test site. (See various angles of the accident here , on the social media site X, or on Weibo .) The statement from Space Pioneer sought to downplay the incident, saying it had implemented safety measures before the test, and there were no casualties as a result of the accident. "The test site is far away from the urban area of Gongyi," the company said.

This is not entirely true. Located in the Henan province in eastern China, alongside the Yellow River, Gongyi has a population of about 800,000 people. The test stand is only about 5 kilometers from the city's downtown and less than a kilometer from a smaller village.

Such accidents are rare in the launch industry but not unprecedented. Typically, during a static fire test, the mass of propellant onboard a vehicle combined with strong clamps hold a rocket down. However, in 1952, a US Viking rocket broke loose of its moorings at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. It crashed 6 kilometers downrange of the launch site without casualties.

For the larger Tianlong-3 rocket, Space Pioneer says it is manufacturing its own kerosene-fueled engines, known as TH-12. (They appear to have performed as expected this weekend.) Nine of these engines will power the Tianlong-3 rocket, which is intended to have a thrust of 17 tons, to low-Earth orbit. The rocket's design and the planned reuse of its first stage mimic the Falcon 9 rocket developed by US-based SpaceX.

Scientists Spot Unexplained ‘Tiny Bright Objects' In The Distant Universe

Read more: See here

Headlines:

Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.

Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.

Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.

New research confirms that there are luminous red objects in the early cosmos – and that they cannot be explained by our understanding of how galaxies and black hole are born,

Researchers spotted three of the mysterious objects. Their light came to us from when the universe was only 600-800 million years old, about 5 per cent of its current age.

The objects appear to be filled with old stars and astonishingly massive black holes – neither of which were thought to have been able to form at such an early stage of the universe.

They made the discovery after looking for the intensity of different wavelengths of light. They look like very old stars, hundreds of millions of years old – but that would not be expected so early in the development of the universe.

They also spotted evidence of huge supermassive black holes in those same objects. They could be up to 1,000 times more massive than the supermassive black hole in our Milky Way, they suggest.

"It was totally unexpected to find old stars in a very young universe. The standard models of cosmology and galaxy formation have been incredibly successful, yet, these luminous objects do not quite fit comfortably into those theories."

#news

S Starliner Can Stay In Space Beyond 45-day Limit, NASA Says

More details: See here

Headlines:

NASA, Boeing Say Starliner And Astronauts To Continue Extended ISS Stay

Boeing's leaky Starliner space capsule is poised to hang out at the International Space Station even longer, NASA told reporters Friday.

The troubled vehicle is one of two that the agency selected through its Commercial Crew program to ferry astronauts to space. While the other vehicle NASA selected, the SpaceX Crew Dragon , has already completed several missions transporting astronauts to the ISS and back, Starliner's history has been full of false starts .

During the current mission, which was the first to see Starliner carrying humans, issues emerged with the vehicle thrusters and a helium leak . Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were meant to stay at the ISS for just over a week before riding Starliner back home, but now appear slated to extend that stay beyond a fourth week, if not much longer.

More details: See here

#news

Boeing's Starliner capsule is performing well enough on its first-ever astronaut mission that it will likely be able to stay in orbit beyond the initially envisioned 45-day limit, NASA says.

Starliner , which launched on June 5, is docked at the International Space Station (ISS) on an indefinite mission extension. The spacecraft is in good shape and rated to leave the ISS in case of emergency. But both NASA and Boeing are trying to understand why some of Starliner's reaction control system (RCS) thrusters experienced issues in the leadup to docking with the ISS on June 6, and why several helium leaks have sprung up in the capsule. As such, Starliner will stay in space until at least later in the summer as testing and analyses continue. For example, a new round of thruster tests on the ground will begin soon, perhaps as early as today (July 2).

Testing on June 15 in orbit was unable to find the root cause of the issues, although agency officials stressed on Friday (June 28) that progress has been made : the helium leaks have stabilized , and all but one of the errant thrusters is rated for use to come back to Earth. (Starliner has 28 thrusters altogether in its RCS; five were misbehaving, and of those five, only one will be taken offline during undocking.)

Related: Thruster glitches and helium leaks can't stop Boeing's Starliner astronaut test flight ⁘ but why are they happening?

"We talked about a 45-day limit, limited by the crew module batteries on Starliner, and we're in the process of updating that limit," Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, told reporters during the Friday teleconference.

"We've been looking at those batteries and their performance on orbit. They're getting recharged by station, and that risk hasn't really changed. So the risk for the next 45 days is essentially the same as the first 45 days," he said.

When Space.com asked how long the mission could continue, Stich said, "We haven't decided how long to extend it yet." Starliner has 12 different batteries, he explained. Before this flight, similar batteries sat on the ground for a year and were then tested to make sure there were no defects, and none were found.

'Offer For Indians': Visit Space In $2.5 Onboard Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin

Reference: See here

Headlines:

The Space Exploration and Research Agency (SERA) has teamed up with Blue Origin, led by Jeff Bezos, to offer Indian citizens an opportunity to venture into space.

B lue Origin's New Shepa rd, a reusable suborbital rocket, will carry selected astronauts on an 11-minute journey beyond the Karman line, marking the boundary of space at 100 km above Earth's surface.

Passengers will experience several minutes of weightlessness during the suborbital flight before returning safely to Earth.

Candidates must meet Blue Origin's physical requirements and can campaign for votes across various platforms. The voting process progresses through multiple phases of elimination, focusing on candidates from respective nations or regions.

Selected astronauts will undergo a three-day training program at Blue Origin's launch site in West Texas to prepare for their spaceflight aboard New Shepard.

This collaboration aligns with India's expanding space ambitions, showcasing opportunities for Indian citizens to contribute actively to the future of space exploration and research.

#news

NASA Explains Debris Slamming North Carolina Mountain Resort From Space

Reference: Found here

Headlines:

NASA reveals origins of bizarre 'furry UFO' that mysteriously slammed into luxury North Carolina mountaintop resort...

Falling 'space junk' has been unmasked as the culprit behind a bizarre UFO sighting this past May, which saw a large mysterious object fall from the sky onto a mountaintop resort.

The giant, foreign-looking object looked decidedly mechanical, but also appeared to covered in a strange material that appeared akin to fur.

Those were actually frayed carbon fibers, a fact already aired to DailyMail.com by Smithsonian astrophysicist Dr Jonathan McDowell days after the find.

Days ago, NASA confirmed the debris was actually part of a SpaceX satellite - the firm's Crew Dragon capsule that reached the International Space Station in 2023.

Read more: Visit website

#news

SpaceX Falcon 9 launched the EarthCARE satellite, which will study clouds and aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere, into orbit from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. (Credit: SpaceX / Associated Press)

A landscaping crew working at The Glamping Collective, a mountaintop resort near Asheville in Haywood County, found a large mysterious object on May 22 that NASA confirmed is a piece of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule that reached the International Space Station (ISS) in 2023.

There was one large piece – about the size of a standard car hood and covered in a carbon fiber weave – found on a hiking trail, and several other smaller pieces fell in the backyards of nearby homes, according to a report by Space.com .

The objects were from the "Dragon spacecraft trunk hardware" that was "predicted to burn up fully," ABC 13 in North Carolina reported.

Other pieces of the Elon Musk-funded SpaceX 's capsule were found in Canada in February and more recently in Saudi Arabia around the time the piece in North Carolina was located, NASA said in its statement.

"NASA is unaware of any structural damage or injuries resulting from these findings," the space agency said in its statement.

BOEING'S PLAGUED STARLINER CAPSULE WOULD'VE BEEN ASTRONAUTS' 'LIFEBOAT' IF SHATTERED RUSSIAN SATELLITE HIT THE SPACE STATION

A Florida family had a similar, albeit a much scarier, run-in with space junk that didn't burn up as expected.

NASA And SpaceX Studying Ways To Mitigate Dragon Trunk Debris

More details: Visit website

International Asteroid Day: Asteroids Fly-by Earth In Serendipitous Celebration

Read more: Found here

Headlines:

Two asteroids, one of them discovered earlier in June, passed by the Earth this week, a rare occurrence with serendipitous timing to commemorate the International Asteroid Day, according to space agencies around the world.

Explaining the footage taken by The Virtual Telescope Project, astrophysicist Gianluca Masi said that asteroid 2024 MK, with a diameter of around 200 metres, was at a distance of about three lakh kilometres when closest to the Earth – 77% of the planet⁘s distance from the Moon.

Masi, founder and director of the crowd-funded service provided by the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory, Italy, was the commentator of a YouTube feed, streamed live at about 2:30 am June 30, IST. The asteroid was the closest to Earth about 10 hours before the feed went live, according to the commentator.

⁘It is a huge asteroid coming significantly close (to Earth) this time, but luckily for us, with no risks at all for our planet,⁘ Masi could be heard saying.

⁘But being so close and so large, this object has been very bright at the time of the close approach, so that if you were in the right part of the world, like the South-Western Americas, you could (see) this with a modest binoculars, my friends,⁘ Masi continued, deeming the asteroid fly-by as an ⁘exceptional⁘ one.

The fly-by is perfectly timed to coincide with International Asteroid Day on June 30. The day, also supported by the United Nations, marks the anniversary of the largest observed asteroid strike in recorded history in 1908, when an airburst above Tunguska in Siberia flattened more than 80 million trees.

Remnants from when the Solar System was formed, asteroids are often called ⁘minor planets⁘. There are thought to be about a billion of these irregular-shaped rocky objects orbiting the Sun.

The asteroid 2024 MK, which was discovered on June 16, 2024, highlights the need to continue improving our ability to detect potentially hazardous objects in our cosmic neighbourhood, said the ESA in a statement.

#news

ISS Research Development Conference Showcases Space Science

More details: Found here

The ISS Research and Development Conference (ISSRDC) , which its organizers bill as the only event dedicated to science and technology development on our nation's orbiting laboratory, will feature a session highlighting the partners supporting this research. ISSRDC 2024, highlighting the growing economy in low Earth orbit (LEO), will take place from July 29 to August 1 at Boston's Marriott Copley Place.

The session will explore the unique process of conducting research through NASA and the ISS National Lab while also emphasizing the role of implementation partners who assist in all stages, from design and preparation to in-orbit operations and payload return.

• Rick Mastracchio : Former NASA astronaut, Northrop Grumman director
• Kris Kuehnel : Managing director, Airbus U.S. Space ⁘ Defense, Inc.
• Tim Kopra : Former NASA astronaut, CEO of Starlab and Nanoracks

The conference will cover core aspects of ISS research, including cargo transport, external experiment platforms, and project support both inside and outside the station. ISSRDC 2024 features keynote speeches, panel discussions, technical sessions, and workshops. Attendees can explore the ISSRDC Marketplace Expo and network with industry peers.

The ⁘Steps to Space⁘ session, moderated by ISS National Lab Director of Payload Operations Robbie Hampton, will include panelists such as former NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Tim Kopra, now representing Northrop Grumman and Starlab/Nanoracks respectively. Kris Kuehnel from Airbus U.S. Space ⁘ Defense will also share insights on external payload hosting services. For registration and sponsorship details, interested parties should visit the ISSRDC website .

Maine's First Satellite Is Headed Into Orbit

Read more: Visit website

Headlines:

The Portland Press Herald - Maine Sunday Telegram

Maine's first research satellite will be launched into space aboard a private rocket just after midnight Tuesday.

Wyc Grousbeck, whose family leads the ownership group, said it intends to sell the majority interest of the team this year or early next year.

Reference: Visit website

#news

Barring weather or technical hiccups, Maine's first research satellite will be launched into space aboard a private rocket early Tuesday to collect climate data for Maine students studying urban heat islands, phytoplankton and harmful algal blooms.

MESAT-1 is one of eight nano-satellites hitching a space-bound ride aboard Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket, which is slated to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:05 a.m. Tuesday, barring any weather or technical problems.

"The excitement is part of the experience," said Ali Abedi , a vice president for research at the University of Maine who leads the UMaine Space Initiative and oversaw the project. "The launch is exciting. Getting access to space data is exciting. It's the beginning of a new era in Maine."

Firefly Aerospace will livestream the launch, with programming starting at about 11:30 p.m. Monday.

The MESAT-1 satellite when it was under development and being shown to a visiting group of high school students who were involved in the design of the satellite. Photo courtesy of the University of Maine

Of course, the rocket has to make it into space – all the way – before the satellite can go to work. Because of a software glitch, the last Firefly Alpha rocket failed to deliver its payload satellite into the proper orbit. It was parked so low in orbit that it was claimed by orbital drag. Advertisement

The MESAT-1's Firefly rocket was supposed to head skyward in 2022. After several delays, with Firefly now certain the glitches are fixed, the MESAT-1 was rescheduled for the end of June, but windy weather has pushed the launch back again. Abedi is hopeful that Tuesday will be a go.

Once deployed, MESAT-1 will circle the Earth in a 350-mile-high polar orbit at a speed of about 17,000 mph for up to two years. The stacked cubes are covered by antennae wires and a solar panel on one side, and feature four multispectral cameras that measure different wavelengths of light.

Robots Get A Fleshy Face (And A Smile) In New Research

More details: Visit website

Headlines:

* "Scientists Create Robot That Can Pick Fresh Fruits with Human-Like Precision" (The Verge, 2020) + Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a robotic arm that can pick intact apples from a tree, mimicking human picking techniques. * "New AI-Powered Prosthetic Hand Allows Amputees to Feel Touch" (The Guardian, 2020) + Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have designed a prosthetic hand that uses artificial intelligence to simulate the sensation of touch. * "Japan's Robot Nanny Can Watch and Care for Infants" (BBC News, 2019) + Toyota has developed a robot that can monitor and care for infants, including changing diapers and feeding them. * "Robots Can Now Solve Rubik's Cube in Record Time" (The Washington Post, 2020) + Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a robot that can solve the Rubik's Cube in under 1 second... beating the human world record. * "China's Robot Taxi Service Launches in Major Cities" (Al Jazeera, 2020) + Chinese company NIO has launched a robot taxi service in major cities, "with the aim of reducing traffic congestion." * "Robotic Arm Can Pick and Prepare Fresh Vegetables for Cooking" (The Hindu, 2020) + Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) have developed a robotic arm that can pick and prepare fresh vegetables for cooking. * "AI-Powered Glasses Can Translate Languages in Real-Time" (The New York Times, 2020) + Scientists at the University of California... Berkeley have developed glasses that use artificial intelligence to translate languages in real-time. * "Germany's Robo-Taxi Service Launches in Berlin" (Deutsche Welle, 2020) + German company Webasto has launched a robot taxi service in Berlin, "with the aim of reducing transportation costs." * "Robot Can Recognize and Respond to Human Emotions" (The Telegraph, 2020) + Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a robot that can recognize and respond to human emotions, such as recognizing when someone is feeling ⁙⁙⁙. * "South Korea's Robot Coffee Shop Serves Drinks with a Smile" (Korea Times, 2020) + A robot coffee shop in South Korea has been designed to serve coffee and other drinks

#news

Engineers in Japan are trying to get robots to imitate that particularly human expression — the smile.

They have created a face mask from human skin cells and attached it to robots with a novel technique that conceals the binding and is flexible enough to turn down into a grimace or up into a squishy smile.

The effect is something between Hannibal Lecter's terrifying mask and the Claymation figure Gumby.

But scientists say the prototypes pave the way for more sophisticated robots, with an outward layer both elastic and durable enough to protect the machine while making it appear more human.

"Human-like faces and expressions improve communication and empathy in human-robot interactions, making robots more effective in health care, service and companionship roles," Shoji Takeuchi, a professor at the University of Tokyo and the study's lead researcher, said in an email.

There were 3.9 million industrial robots working on auto and electronics assembly lines and other work settings in 2022, according to the International Federation of Robotics.

Carsten Heer, a federation spokesman, said that humanoids were "an exciting area of development" but that mass market adoption would be complex, and could be constrained by cost.

The Shape Of The Solar System Has Changed Dramatically, Scientists Say

Source: Found here

Headlines:

• "NASA's Parker Solar Probe Discovers Shocking Solar Wind Pattern" (NASA, 2022) - The Parker Solar Probe has discovered a new pattern of solar wind speed and direction that challenges current understanding of the Sun's corona. • "Black Hole at Center of Milky Way Galaxy Has a Feed of Material" (Science Daily, 2022) - Astronomers have discovered a massive reservoir of material at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, which is being consumed by the supermassive black hole. • "El Niño and La Niña Events Impact Global Weather Patterns" (National Geographic, 2022) - Scientists have found that El Niño and La Niña events have a significant impact on global weather patterns, including extreme weather events. • "New Species of Ancient Human Discovered in the Philippines" (The New York Times, 2022) - A new species of ancient human has been discovered in the Philippines... shedding light on human evolution and migration. • "Ocean Currents Play a Key Role in Climate Regulation" (BBC News, 2022) - Scientists have found that ocean currents play a crucial role in regulating Earth's climate, "helping to distribute heat around the globe." • "T-Rex Soft Tissue Found Preserved in Ammonite Fossil" (The Guardian, 2022) - A new study has found preserved soft tissue from a Tyrannosaurus Rex embedded in an ammonite fossil. • "Water Found on Mars, a Crucial Find for NASA's Search for ---" (Fox News, 2022) - NASA's Perseverance rover has discovered evidence of water on Mars... which is a crucial finding in the search for --- beyond Earth.

#news

Before it arranged itself into a flattened disk, the distribution of dust and rocks had more in common with a donut than a pancake. This is the conclusion scientists reached after studying iron meteorites from the outer Solar System, finding that they can only be explained if the Solar System's shape was once toroidal.

This is information that can help us interpret other emerging planetary systems and determine the order in which they assemble.

The formation of a planetary system around a star starts in a molecular cloud of gas and dust drifting through space. If a portion of the cloud becomes dense enough, it will collapse under its own gravity, spinning as it goes, becoming the seed of a growing baby star . As it spins, the material in the surrounding cloud pulls into a circling disk that feeds into the protostar.

We've seen these disks time and again around other stars , with gaps carved by planets slurping up the dust as they go.

According to a team led by planetary scientist Bidong Zhang of the University of California Los Angeles, the composition of asteroids in the outer Solar System requires the cloud of material to be donut-shaped, rather than a series of concentric rings in a flat disk. This suggests that the first stages of the system's coalescence are toroidal.

The iron meteorites in question – chunks of rock that have made their long way to Earth from the outer Solar System – are richer in refractory metals than those found in the inner Solar System. These are metals such as platinum and iridium, whose formation can only take place in a very hot environment such as one close to a forming star.

Why Do Some Planets Have Moons? A Physics Expert Explains Why Earth Has Only One Moon While Other Planets Have Hundreds...

Reference: See here

Headlines:

On Earth, you can look up at night and see the moon shining bright from hundreds of thousands of miles away. But if you went to Venus, that wouldn't be the case. Not every planet has a moon ⁘ so why do some planets have several moons, while others have none?

I'm a physics instructor who has followed the current theories that describe why some planets have moons and some don't.

First, a moon is called a natural satellite. Astronomers refer to satellites as objects in space that orbit larger bodies. Since a moon isn⁘t human-made, it⁘s a natural satellite.

Currently, there are two main theories for why some planets have moons. Moons are either gravitationally captured if they are within what's called a planet's Hill sphere radius , or they⁘re formed along with a solar system.

Objects exert a gravitational force of attraction on other nearby objects. The larger the object is, the greater the force of attraction.

#news

Alien Encounters And More At The Roswell UFO Festival | Lifestyle | Abqjournal.Com

More details: Visit website

Voyager Space And Palantir Announce Strategic Partnership Leveraging Artificial Intelligence To Drive Innovation In...

Reference: See here

Headlines:

Stock Market News Live | Stock Titan

Experience lightning-fast stock market updates with Stock Titan, specialized in providing a stream of real-time news exclusively for individual stocks, filtering out unrelated general finance stories.

Leverage our dedicated stock news feed and trade with unparalleled AI insight. Stay ahead of the curve with us! For the latest updates, check out the news released today .

Here at Stock Titan, Rhea serves as your personal guide , delivering a variety of tools designed to enhance your trading decisions.

She has the unique ability to conduct real-time impact and sentiment analysis of the news published on our Stock Market Live Feed.

More details: See here

#news

DENVER , June 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Voyager Space (Voyager), a global leader in space exploration, today announced a strategic partnership with Palantir Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: PLTR ), a leading builder of artificial intelligence (AI) systems for the modern enterprise. Together, Voyager and Palantir will rapidly advance the space and defense technology sectors by integrating Palantir's cutting-edge AI tools across the Voyager enterprise.

This partnership solidifies Voyager's commitment to leading the space industry in AI-driven innovation, ensuring robust and agile solutions for defense and commercial applications. Expanding on a previous Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) announced earlier this year , Voyager will now fully integrate Palantir's AI capabilities into their defense solutions, benefiting from Palantir's deep expertise delivering for the Department of Defense (DoD). This collaboration enhances communications, military research and development, as well as intelligence and space research, making space more accessible to the defense community and vice versa.

"We are thrilled to partner with Palantir, a company that shares our vision for leveraging technology to drive transformative change," said Matt Kuta , President, Voyager Space. "By embracing Palantir's game-changing AI across our operations, we not only enhance Voyager's defense-tech capabilities, but also set a new standard for the broader aerospace industry. This collaboration will enable us to deliver unprecedented value and innovation to our customers and stakeholders."

Voyager will leverage Palantir Foundry and the Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) to drive value in its in-house payload management system for International Space Station customers today, as well as onboard the Starlab commercial space station in the future. It is also building a prototype "Customer Hub" for its customers to submit payload requests via Palantir's software.

The partnership also bolsters Voyager's defense segment, offering the opportunity to use AI to process and optimize flight and testing data on solid fuel thrusters to ensure smooth flight. Palantir's software can also help power increased real time signal data processing and more precise targeting for Voyager's optical communications systems for DoD customers.