Elon Musk Discusses AI, Longevity, and Bots with Peter Diamandis.
Technology, innovation, and optimism are crucial for solving global challenges and crafting a better future for humanity.
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Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its first six satellites capable of offering mobile phone service as the company races to bring more connectivity to remote areas.
NASA space debris expert Don Kessler observed that, once past a certain critical mass, the total amount of space debris will keep on increasing: collisions give rise to more debris and lead to more collisions, in a chain reaction. So Clean Space is seeking not just to cut debris production from future ESA missions but to reduce the total mass of current debris, such as the robotic salvage of derelict satellites. The task is an urgent one: debris levels have increased 50% in the last five years in low orbit.
Rocket propulsion technology has progressed leaps and bounds since the first weaponized rockets of the Chinese and Mongolian empires. They were nothing more than rocket-powered arrows and spears but they set the foundations for our exploration of space. Liquid propellant, ion engines and solar sails have all hit the headlines as we strive for more efficient methods of travel but a team has taken the next leap with a palm-sized thruster system that could boost future tiny spacecraft across the gulf of space.
Palm-sized thrusters are quite different from the gargantuan rockets we are used to, for example the Saturn V rocket that took the Apollo astronauts to the moon that stood 110 m tall. The difference for the ATHENA thrusters is that they are designed for maneuvering and propelling cubesats and small satellites once they are in space rather than propelling rockets from the surface of the Earth.
The team led by Daniel Perez Grande, CEO and Co-Founder of IENAI Spain, have called their palm-sized thruster “Athena,” not the most catchy title but neatly represents what it does—the Adaptable, THruster based on Electrospray powered NAnotechnology. The technology has been developed for ESA and, following a successful design stage and, if all goes to plan, a prototype will be available by the end of 2024.
The first satellites capable of providing direct-to-cellular service via SpaceX’s Starlink network and T-Mobile’s cellular network have been sent into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Six of the cell-capable satellites were among a batch of 21 Starlink satellites launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 7:44 p.m. PT Tuesday. The satellites were deployed successfully, and the rocket’s first-stage booster made a routine landing on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean.
While we recover from New Year festivities, SpaceX is already checking off things on its 2024 list. SpaceX recently shared photos on X stating that six Starlink satellites with Direct to Cell capability will be launched into orbit soon.
“SpaceX is leveraging its experience in manufacturing [and] launching the world’s most advanced rockets and spacecraft to deploy Starlink satellites with the Direct to Cell capability at scale,” notes SpaceX.
“Direct to Cell satellites will initially be launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and then Starship. On orbit, the satellites will immediately connect over laser backhaul to the Starlink constellation to provide global connectivity.”
Starlink may have launched its first African service in Nigeria, but it is choosing Kenya as the location of its first physical office on the continent.
SpaceX, parent company of the satellite internet company Starlink, recently posted a job vacancy for the position of Global Licencing Activation Manager, sub-Saharan Africa.
The successful candidate is expected to manage a portfolio of countries, interfacing internally and externally, to enable Starlink to become licenced as an Internet service provider and bring the country online, so it can serve people and enterprises around the world in the near future.
India launched its first satellite on Monday to study black holes as it seeks to deepen its space exploration efforts ahead of an ambitious crewed mission next year.
SN 1,006, a supernova observed over a millennium ago, has been extensively studied using NASA ’s Chandra and IXPE telescopes, revealing critical details about its magnetic field and particle acceleration, contributing to our understanding of cosmic rays.
When the object now called SN 1,006 first appeared on May 1, 1006 A.D., it was far brighter than Venus and visible during the daytime for weeks. Astronomers in China, Japan, Europe, and the Arab world all documented this spectacular sight, which was later understood to have been a supernova. With the advent of the Space Age in the 1960s, scientists were able to launch instruments and detectors above Earth’s atmosphere to observe the Universe in wavelengths that are blocked from the ground, including X-rays. The remains of SN 1,006 was one of the faintest X-ray sources detected by the first generation of X-ray satellites.
Recent observations with nasa’s x-ray telescopes.
