Lifeboat Foundation

Japan’s government to join forces with industry to supercharge development.

TOKYO — A trip of 500 km on one charge. A recharge from zero to full in 10 minutes. All with minimal safety concerns. The solid-state battery being introduced by Toyota promises to be a game changer not just for electric vehicles but for an entire industry.

The technology is a potential cure-all for the drawbacks facing electric vehicles that run on conventional lithium-ion batteries, including the relatively short distance traveled on a single charge as well as charging times. Toyota plans to be the first company to sell an electric vehicle equipped with a solid-state battery in the early 2020s. The world’s largest automaker will unveil a prototype next year.

Continue reading “Toyota’s game-changing solid-state battery en route for 2021 debut” »

Scientists find routes using arches of chaos that can lead to much faster space travel.

Today we’re joined by Melodie Yashar — Designer, Researcher, Technologist, co-founder of the firm Space Exploration Architecture (SEArch+), Senior Research Associate with San Jose State University Research Foundation at NASA Ames Research Center, and an Associate Researcher within the UC Davis Center for Human/Robotics/Vehicle Integration and Performance (HRVIP). She also teaches undergraduate and graduate design at Art Center College of Design and is a 2019–2020 Future Space Leaders Fellow.

Melodie’s current work focuses on the relationship of advanced software & hardware systems for spaceflight and maintains ongoing research interests in the design of augmented environments, human-machine interaction, human performance studies, and space technology development.

Continue reading “Melodie Yashar — Co-Founder of Space Exploration Architecture (SEArch+)” »

Lifeboat Foundation congratulates Guardian Award Winner Elon Musk and SpaceX on their latest accomplishment with the Starship, the world’s first reusable space vehicle. The Starship will transform our world, starting with making Starlink the first non-bankrupt LEO constellation, later bringing us to the Moon and then hopefully Mars.

We recommend that NASA redirect their funds from the dead-end SLS system towards Starship. Even if NASA continues to waste tens of billions of dollars on SLS, it is unlikely that it will ever do more than a handful of launches as the low-cost Starship program makes it obsolete.

Also, here’s an appeal to Guardian Award Winner Elon Musk:

Continue reading “Lifeboat Foundation congratulates SpaceX on its successful SN8 Launch!” »

Elon Musk hopes to send first humans to Mars aboard a Starship craft within the next four years.

Future lunar landers might come equipped with 3D printed rocket engine parts that help bring down overall manufacturing costs and reduce production time.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=nf83yzzme2I

On December 8th, SpaceX plans to conduct its most ambitious test flight yet of its Starship prototype, sending the vehicle to an altitude of 12.5 kilometers, or nearly 8 miles high.

This theoretical engine could drastically reduce the cost of getting to space. Now two companies are trying to make it real.