Liberty get another win, this time over the Atlanta Dream – Nets Daily

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Stay consistent, stay optimistic. When youre starting over, it takes time to see the vision youre hoping to build. People need time to get comfortable, familiar with one another, and hope that good things go their way. Once you start to see good results come in, it validates the work youve put in and has you hungry for more.

On Friday night, the New York Liberty faced off against the upstart Atlanta Dream. The Dream have already tied their win total from all of 2021 and are one of the surprise teams in the league this season. They fell behind by as much as 19 points, but fought back to get as close as three points late in the third quarter, but the Liberty hit timely shots over and over again to come away with an 89-77 victory.

Ball movement has been critical to the Libertys success this month. Tonight was the seventh straight game in which the team has had 20 or more assists and as theyve gotten that chemistry, theyve cut down on the turnovers at the same time. Being able to make the most out of every possession is essential, especially when youre still missing three of your best players. In the first, the Liberty hit seven three pointers in route to a franchise tying high of 16 threes made. This possession exemplified everything the team is looking to accomplish on offense:

We asked Sabrina Ionescu about the great passing the team displayed:

Everybody eats.

Theres an art to getting timely buckets on the road. The home team is on an extended run, the fans are locked in and making noise, and the tide of the game is turning in their favor. With that in mind, Marine Johannes hit perhaps the biggest shot of the game with the Liberty clinging to a 65-62 lead

On the night, MJ had 17 points with five made three pointers in 30 minutes of game time. Johannes (and Didi Richards) got the assignment of guarding Dream star, Rhyne Howard. Howard has been one of the better finishers at the rim this season, and the strategy was to keep her from getting to the cup. On the night, Rhyne only went 6-18 from the field, with only four shots coming from inside the painted area. In the postgame, we asked Sandy Brondello about the job her team did against the young star, and she said:

As the team continues its climb, their work on defense will be essential. So to will be the collective effort on the glass.

Atlanta has been the second best rebounding team in the WNBA this season, but the Liberty wound up winning the battle by eight. If you dig a little deeper into that, you see that in the quarters that the Liberty won, they overwhelmed Atlanta on the glass, and in the quarters Atlanta won, they controlled the glass. Natasha Howard led everyone in rebounds with ten (along with 19 points, five assists, and two steals) and in the postgame noted that it was a team effort to keep an elite rebounding team like Atlanta off the glass. Win the boards, win the game. Its a motto to live by.

On Friday morning, the Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to an abortion among with other privacy rights established by it. The Supreme Court isnt done rolling back rights yet, and are primed to do even more damage to this country soon enough. The reaction was swift as the WNBPA released a statement criticizing the decision from the WNBPA.

Stefanie Dolson tweeted about the ruling and its consequences as well:

This decision coming immediately after the 50th celebration of Title IX was a particular punch in the gut, as explained by Natalie Weiner of Fanbyte. In the pregame media availability, Sandy Brondello was asked about the ruling and if the team has had any discussions about it. Heres what she said:

We havent had any yet, but obviously were all thinking about it. For me, its mind boggling to be quite honest. Its a disgusting result. We just had great things, 50 years of Title IX, and were taking steps [forward] for womens rights and now were taking two steps back, basically because you dont give them freedom of choice. Its a womans body, so its very sad to be quite honest. People can buy guns easily, but a women cant decide what she wants to do with her own body. I dont know, its supposed to be the best country in the whole world, isnt it?

Times are dark, and we hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Its always great to see an old friend of yours in their new digs. For the Liberty, they got to see AD for the first time since the trade earlier this month. AD came in the game and was an immediate sparkplug for the Dream as they got it going early and often.

On the night, they led the Dream with 23 points and two steals in 29 minutes off of the bench. In her postgame, Brondello noted that the isolation offense of Dream head coach, Tanisha Wright, allows AD to flourish and utilize their athleticism to make good things happen.

All eyes are on Sabrina Ionescu. The 2022 All-Star led the way with another all-around excellent performance as she scored 21 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and handed out eight assists on the evening. Ionescu had been struggling with her shot over the past few games, but snapped out of her funk by going 5-of-9 from 3-point range on the evening. Having Ionescu hitting her shots from three point range makes this Liberty offense even more dangerous as shell have room to drive to the basket and create space for the teams post players as well.

And she wrapped this party up in style

Night night.

The Liberty are off for a few days before returning home to face the Dream again on June 30. Tip is after 7 p.m. that night.

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Liberty get another win, this time over the Atlanta Dream - Nets Daily

Liberty SiriusXM Group (NASDAQ:LSXM.K) shareholders have endured a 22% loss from investing in the stock a year ago – Simply Wall St

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It's easy to match the overall market return by buying an index fund. But if you buy individual stocks, you can do both better or worse than that. For example, the The Liberty SiriusXM Group (NASDAQ:LSXM.K) share price is down 22% in the last year. That contrasts poorly with the market decline of 18%. At least the damage isn't so bad if you look at the last three years, since the stock is down 5.5% in that time. Furthermore, it's down 21% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders. But this could be related to the weak market, which is down 17% in the same period.

Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they've been consistent with returns.

Check out our latest analysis for Liberty SiriusXM Group

In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

Liberty SiriusXM Group managed to increase earnings per share from a loss to a profit, over the last 12 months.

When a company has just transitioned to profitability, earnings per share growth is not always the best way to look at the share price action. But we may find different metrics more enlightening.

Liberty SiriusXM Group's revenue is actually up 8.3% over the last year. Since the fundamental metrics don't readily explain the share price drop, there might be an opportunity if the market has overreacted.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

We know that Liberty SiriusXM Group has improved its bottom line lately, but what does the future have in store? You can see what analysts are predicting for Liberty SiriusXM Group in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

We regret to report that Liberty SiriusXM Group shareholders are down 22% for the year. Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 18%. Having said that, it's inevitable that some stocks will be oversold in a falling market. The key is to keep your eyes on the fundamental developments. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 2% per year over five years. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Liberty SiriusXM Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Liberty SiriusXM Group (of which 1 is significant!) you should know about.

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Liberty SiriusXM Group (NASDAQ:LSXM.K) shareholders have endured a 22% loss from investing in the stock a year ago - Simply Wall St

Anker’s Liberty 3 Pro noise-canceling earbuds are $70 off for the first time – The Verge

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Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Only the best deals on Verge-approved gadgets get the Verge Deals stamp of approval, so if you're looking for a deal on your next gadget or gift from major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and more, this is the place to be.

The theme of todays Verge Deals roundup is that, well, there is no theme. Were just a few weeks out from Amazons Prime Day extravaganza, happening on July 12th and 13th, and its typical to see a relative calm before the storm of deals arrives. Why not kick things off today with a stellar deal on some already inexpensive true wireless earbuds? Ankers Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro (in black) are just $99.99 at Best Buy as part of the retailers deal of the day. They normally cost $169.99, and normal sale prices typically sit around $130.

These $100 earbuds might be exactly what youre after if you need active noise cancellation (ANC), several ear and wing tips included in the box for a cozy custom fit, and Bluetooth multipoint support, allowing you to connect the Liberty 3 Pro to multiple devices at a time. Theyre a great value, though the ANC effect doesnt beat pricier options. Check out Chris Welchs full review right here.

Ankers top-level Liberty 3 Pro wireless noise-canceling earbuds support high-quality LDAC audio and feature three different transparency modes.

If you need some affordable portable storage, Best Buy has a deal of the day discount on Western Digitals 1TB USB-A external drive. While its certainly not the fastest kind of external storage you can buy, its tough to knock its $44.99 price. Your use cases may differ from mine, but my brother-in-law recently converted a bunch of home movie VHS tapes to digital, and Ive been looking for a low-cost portable drive that I can load it all onto and give to family members. This seems like itll be a good fit.

Western Digitals Easystore external hard drive with 1TB of storage is a great value if you need some cold storage for important files or if you want to make copies of large files for family members.

If you missed out on Ubisofts Far Cry 6 when it launched in late 2021, the game has reached its lowest price at Amazon. You can get any version of the game on disc for just $14.99, whether you have a PS5, PS4, or an Xbox console. Our pals at Polygon said in their review that the games gameplay loop of infiltrating enemy bases and traversing a large open-world environment is entertaining for the first few hours and kind of wears away after that (due in part to some clumsy storytelling). But you might get more enjoyment out of the game if you love the series or are coming in totally fresh.

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Anker's Liberty 3 Pro noise-canceling earbuds are $70 off for the first time - The Verge

X-15: The Mach 6 Space Plane That Broke All the Rules – 19FortyFive

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What a former of the U.S. Air Force and defense expert had to say on the X-15:Before the Mercury astronauts broke the threshold of outer space, before John Glenn rode Friendship VII around the globe for three orbits, and well before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set the Eagle lunar module down upon Mare Tranquillity, a question persisted within the aerospace community: which agency would take Americans into space? And within what type of vehicle would they ride?

The Air Force Made a Strong Case to Go Into Space

The U.S. Air Force advocated that they, rather than the newborn NACA (later NASA), should bear the responsibility of taking Americans into space. And the Air Force, experts of controlled flight, believed that their men should actually fly into space, rather than be launched into space aboard a rocket. To prove that Americans could indeed be flown into space, rather than shot spam-in-a-can style, the Air Force would need a unique machine. Something fast. Something high flying. The solution was indeed the fastest and highest-flying aircraft ever built: the North American X-15.

The X-15 is essentially a rocket with maneuverable flight surfaces and a cockpit. Initially, the X-15 used an XLR11 rocket engine, which was also used in the Bell X-1 that Chuck Yeager used to break the sound barrier for the first time. The XLR11 only lasted eleven flights, however, before being swapped for the XLR99. Developed by Reaction Motors, the XLR99 provided a stunning 57,000 pounds of thrust. Using anhydrous ammonia and oxygen as a propellant, the jet consumed fuel voraciously; the jet could burn 15,000 pounds of propellant in just one minute and twenty seconds. In the process, the X-15 set records, for speed and altitude, that remain intact today, nearly six decades later.

The X-15 Earns its Wings and Breaks a Few Records

In October of 1967, USAF pilot William J. Pete Knight flew an X-15 to 100,000 feet and gunned the throttle. Sliding past Mach 1, sliding past Mach 2, he just kept accelerating. Knight maxed out at Mach 6, an unmatched 4,520 miles per hour; fast enough to cross the continental United States in about forty minutes. No one has ever flown faster. And no one has ever flown higher than the X-15 pilots who, on 13 separate occasions, flew above 50 miles, or 264,000 feet, past the accepted boundary of outer space.

In doing so, these 13 flights qualified as space flights, confirming the USAFs belief that man could be flown into space, rather than shot into space. The pilots who crossed the 50-mile outer space boundary were given astronaut wings, just like NASA darlings Armstrong, Aldrin, Conrad, and Schmitt. The still-standing record for altitude belongs to Joseph A. Walker, who guided his X-15 to 67 miles above the Earth on August 22nd, 1963.

The X-15 did not use a runway like most planes. Rather, the X-15 was ferried into the air attached to the hardpoint of a B-52 Stratofortress. The eight-engine B-52, the biggest bomber in the USAFs inventory, was so powerful it had no problem hefting the X-15. Once aloft, the B-52 would release the X-15, which would light the candle and fly away under its own power. Before NASAs Mercury capsule was formally chosen as the vehicle to take Americans into space, the Air Force considered launching an X-15 into orbit aboard the SM-64 Navaho missile. The X-15-Navajo configuration forebode the Space Shuttle configuration that would dominate space flight in the 1980s and 90s.

The X-15 was never launched into orbit, and the space race moved on, favoring capsules to planes. However, the X-15 program gleaned information that aided space exploration. Retired in 1968, only three X-15s were ever built. The X-15 is featured prominently in First Man, where Neil Armstrong, depicted by Ryan Gosling, pilots the jet, the fastest ever.

Harrison Kass is the Senior Defense Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, he joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison has degrees from Lake Forest College, the University of Oregon, and New York University. He lives in Oregon and listens to Dokken. Follow him on Twitter @harrison_kass.

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X-15: The Mach 6 Space Plane That Broke All the Rules - 19FortyFive

LightSail 2 marks 3rd anniversary as end of mission approaches – Space.com

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A solar-sailing mission is now marking three years of spaceflight, but is unlikely to celebrate a fourth anniversary.

The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 is a crowdfunded solar sail that launched June 25, 2019. It was expected to last a year in an assessment of how well a spacecraft could perform using only the power of the sun.

Now tripling that expectation, the spacecraft continues to work well but is in a fight with atmospheric drag. Molecules of the Earth's atmosphere are slowly pulling the spacecraft back to our planet, with re-entry expected in perhaps a few months, according to a Planetary Society update (opens in new tab).

"We have continued to work to learn more and sail more efficiently as part of itsextended missionincluding itssecond yearin orbit as well as this last year, its third year," Bruce Betts, the mission's project manager, wrote Friday (June 24) on the Planetary Society's website.

Related: LightSail 2 captures stunning photos of Earth from space

Like any long-running mission, the spacecraft has met a few challenges. Last summer, engineers recalibrated the gyroscopes on the spacecraft to account for drift, but the gyros "began returning data that measured incorrect spin rates," Betts wrote.

"We developed techniques to calibrate the gyros on orbit, and updated the onboard flight software to enable corrections to the gyro bias parameters. The update improved our sail control, thus improving our solar sailing."

The change allowed the altitude to rise by 328 feet (100 meters) per day for a few months, but as of today the average altitude is about 390 miles (627 kilometers). That's compared with 446 miles (718 km) at mission start.

The altitude fell for a few reasons, Betts explained, including communications trouble with the spacecraft due to ground station components breaking (and requiring replacement), ongoing atmospheric drag, and increased activity in the 11-year solar cycle puffing up Earth's atmosphere and moving more molecules higher.

That said, the Mylar sail material remains in good condition and the spacecraft has no major component failures, which Betts said is "an amazing testament to the many tens of people over the years whove worked on it."

He added the team plans to "make the most out of the next several months" before LightSail 2's eventual re-entry, but the data collected will remain useful essentially forever after the mission. The team plans numerous mission analyses, paper publications and conference publications for LightSail, as well as continuing their connections with other space missions planning on using solar sails themselves.

In the meantime, the LightSail team continues to publish updates through technical publications (opens in new tab) and, while the mission is active, you can view key parameters through the mission control dashboard (opens in new tab).

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter@howellspace. Follow uson Twitter@Spacedotcomand onFacebook.

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Former astronauts and space industry leaders weigh in on fall of Roe v. Wade and abortion access – Space.com

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Space exploration is feeling the shockwaves from the historic decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to revoke Roe vs. Wade on Friday (June 24).

The decision overturns a constitutional right to abortion in America first established in 1973, and counteracts a United Nations assertion in 2018 (opens in new tab) that abortion should be considered a human right. The loss of Roe v. Wade is so profound that the New York Times termed it (opens in new tab) a "political and social earthquake" on Sunday (June 26).

Space figures are now also weighing in on the verdict.

A former astronaut now serving in the U.S. Senate promised to never back down from fighting for abortion rights, for example.

"This is a giant step back for our country and an all hands on deck moment," wrote Mark Kelly (D-Ariz) on Twitter (opens in new tab). Kelly flew four times in space on space shuttle missions and is married to a former Democratic senator from Arizona, Gabrielle Giffords.

Related: Texas abortion ban could take an unexpected toll on the space industry

Several individuals with connections to space talked about how abortion impacted their careers, or how the lack of it will hurt others.

Kellie Gerardi, a science communicator and researcher expected to launch into space on a future Virgin Galactic flight, wrote on Twitter (opens in new tab) that she "wouldnt have the family or career I've built without access to abortion."

"I wouldn't be able to fly to space, participate in the workforce or reach my full potential without reproductive healthcare. I need every person or company who calls me a role model to remember that," she said Saturday (June 25).

"Of equal consequence, my husband wouldnt have the family and career he's built without this access either," she added, noting in a separate tweet (opens in new tab) that "reproductive healthcare" (for her, meaning egg freezing and birth control) allowed her to be a candidate for a research spaceflight.

"My public vulnerability is for those who can't be," Gerardi said.

Implications for the ruling are vast for women, non-binary genders, transgender individuals and anyone with a uterus; in addition, the decision may ripple out to other issues revolving around privacy.One justice in the majority decision, Clarence Thomas, said in his assenting decision that the court should "overturn protections on access to contraception, same-sex relations and same-sex marriage," the Times added.

Abortions are now regulated at the state level; more than 20 states (out of 50) are set to ban all abortions, including those required to save a pregnant person's life, the Times reported. The ruling will disproportionately affect lower-income individuals and Black and Hispanic individuals, who statistically are less likely to be able to afford out-of-state transportation or other measures to seek safe abortion access, according to the Times.

Former NASA astronaut Terry Virts tweeted that the decision is "the latest and most egregious example of minority rule, and that needs to be fixed to save our democracy."

He outlined several ways to address the situation: "Electoral college, term limits, filibuster, primary system, gerrymandering, etc. We need to fix these folks," he wrote (opens in new tab) Saturday (June 25).

A media report suggests current NASA administrator Bill Nelson (a former astronaut and former Democratic Florida senator) opposes the decision, too.

"I strongly believe this ruling directly and detrimentally impacts the NASA workforce as it delegates an intensely personal decision to lawmakers in states where NASA employees live and work," Nelson wrote in a note to agency employees, according to Reuters reporter Joey Roulette on Twitter (opens in new tab).

The fall of Roe v. Wade will see broader effects similar to those experienced in Texas after a new anti-abortion law went into effect in September 2021.

NASA's Johnson Space Center, the hub for astronaut training, is located in Houston, and the state at large is home to numerous sectors of the space industry. Roughly 144,000 people (opens in new tab)are employed in Texas in aerospace, the state reported in 2020, including big companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin and smaller ones like Intuitive Machines and Axiom.

The Texas legislation banned any abortions more than six weeks into a pregnancy, which is before many people are aware they are pregnant. The decision came under criticism from Biden at that time, as well as from people in the space industry.

"I've had a handful of women *just today* seeking advice in my DMs [direct messages] because they have anxiety either deciding to take a space job in Texas or already having accepted a space job in Texas," science communicator Emily Calandrelli, who hosts the Emmy award-winning science series "Emily's Wonder Lab" on Netflix,tweeted (opens in new tab)on Sept. 2, the day after the law took effect. "Space leaders in Texas, please pay attention to this. You're going to lose talent."

And Frances "Poppy" Northcutt, who was the first female engineer to work at NASA's Mission Control during the Apollo program and is now a Texas attorney who fights for access to reproductive healthcare, has also been weighing in on Twitter.

She shared a photo (opens in new tab) of what she said had been the fourth largest abortion provider in the U.S. with a new sign saying it could no longer offer abortions. She also encouraged (opens in new tab) those who oppose the decision to reach out to their elected representatives, among other comments.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter@howellspace. Follow uson Twitter@Spacedotcomand onFacebook.

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The Number of Space Travelers Every Year Since Space Travel Began – 24/7 Wall St.

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Since Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union became the first human to go into space in 1961, more than 500 people have traveled into the great beyond. Some estimates, including those from the United States Air Force, put the total at 628.

Over the 61-year span, the human pathways into the so-called final frontier have been marked by triumph, milestones, discovery, wonder, and tragedy. And people continue to push the boundaries of human endeavor into space.

To determine the number of individuals who went into space every year since 1961, 24/7 Tempo, referred to data from Worldspaceflight.com, Spacefacts, Space.com, NASA, encyclopedic sources, and various media websites to compile this list. We tallied only those who had gone into space for the first time in a particular year for this list.

The first decade of space travel involved competition between the Soviet Union and the United States, as the two superpowers took their Cold War confrontation beyond the confines of Earth. The first space travelers from both countries were affiliated with the military. Gradually the two programs began including scientists and those from other fields in space travel.

The Soviet Union exploited its early advantage after the launch of the first satellite Sputnik in 1957 with some notable space firsts. Besides Gagarins initial space journey, other Soviet Union triumphs included the first woman in space in 1963, Valentina Tereshkova, and the first person to walk in space, Alexei Leonov, in 1965.

The U.S. was playing catch-up and there were tragedies along the way. A major setback occurred in 1967 when Apollo 1 astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee died during a routine ground test of the capsule. It would not be the last disaster for the U.S. space program. (These are the most important events in NASAs history.)

The Apollo program vaulted the United States into the technological lead, and on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the moon. Though other nations have landed space probes on the lunar surface, only the U.S. has actually landed people there. (These are the 12 people who have walked on the moon.)

Click here to see the number of space travelers every year since space travel began

Competition gave way to cooperation between the United States and Soviet Union in the 1970s as the two former space adversaries carried out joint missions starting in July 1975.

Space travel became more or less routine in the 1980s with the start of the space-shuttle program and the launch of the international space station, which became truly international as other nations began providing space travelers for the ISS.

Dennis Zito became the first paying space tourist in 2001, and private companies, led by maverick mogul Elon Musk, are leaping into the realm.

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Why You Should Avoid This Space Pioneer for Now – The Motley Fool

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Space tourism could be a big industry in the future -- some analysts think it could grow to an estimated $1.5 billion by 2027, and easily get far bigger over the coming decades.

Virgin Galactic Holdings (SPCE -5.27%) is one of the companies vying to carve out its market share in the sector. It's developing spacecraft for taking civilians on suborbital flights. The business is exciting, and a successful spaceflight program could have enormous long-term potential. However, several red flags make Virgin Galactic a risky investment in today's bear market. Here is what investors should know.

Virgin Galactic made headlines last summer when it successfully conducted a crewed test flight on its flagship spacecraft Unity that included the company's founder, Richard Branson. Virgin Galactic is gearing up for commercial flights, but supply chain problems caused it to push these trips back to next year.

Meanwhile, there is another spacecraft in development, Imagine, which currently has a target-ready date of mid-2023 for commercial use -- but it hasn't yet gone to space, so there is still more testing needed.

A lot of money and work go into preparing these spacecraft for commercial use, and the repeated delays could impact the company's cash burn, a risk in this current market. Meanwhile, rival companies are pushing forward.

Virgin Galactic had $1.2 billion in cash and short-term investments as of the company's 2022 Q1, likely alleviating any immediate financial needs. However, investors should consider how the company accumulated some of these funds. It took out a loan for just $425 million in early 2022. Debt is rarely ideal for a young and growing company, especially when the business model is not yet operational.

The chart below shows Virgin Galactic's negative free cash flow, meaning the business loses cash. It's burning between $50 million and $90 million per quarter, totaling about $253 million over the past year. Management guided for a cash burn of up to $90 million for 2022 Q2.

SPCE Free Cash Flow data by YCharts

It's easy to do the math and figure out that there's enough cash to last many quarters, but Virgin Galactic presents unique risks that investors should consider. Commercial flights keep getting delayed, which is discouraging because the commercial flights will take time to ramp up -- the company's Unity spacecraft will conduct just one flight per month to start.

The Unity spacecraft holds just eight people, including two pilots, which means that actual paying passengers will number just six per trip. $450,000 per ticket is about $3 million in monthly revenue. In other words, the company is still far from running commercial trips frequently enough to bring in meaningful revenue.

And what happens if there is a problem? Could a technical failure cause months of lost revenue from the resulting testing and repairs? Could the company face pricing pressure if there's trouble stirring up demand at such lofty ticket prices? Virgin Galactic's cash pile needs to be enormous, because it will likely take a while to start turning a profit, and a lot could go wrong along the way.

This makes the current market all the more treacherous for investors. Interest rates are rising to combat inflation, making debt more expensive.

The current bear market has crushed share prices of stocks across Wall Street, and Virgin Galactic is no different, down almost 90% from its peak. It's hard to issue stock to raise money when prices are low because you can't raise a significant amount without dilution -- adding tons of new shares decreases the value of existing shares.

Virgin Galactic will hopefully see its share price recover before it needs to raise money again; debt isn't healthy for a company with hardly any revenue. The company could be in a tricky spot if the stock languishes until more cash is needed.

This dilemma makes the stock riskier for investors. There isn't a clear path to near-term profitability, and the long-term financials of the company are questionable at best. However, patient investors could benefit -- the stock is worth just $1.6 billion today, leaving room for investors to capture long-term upside once the business proves itself a bit more.

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Why You Should Avoid This Space Pioneer for Now - The Motley Fool

Thunderbird School prepares global leaders with an out-of-this-world education – ASU News Now

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June 27, 2022

Researchers at Arizona State University have earned 19 National Science Foundation early faculty career awards dating back to June 2021. The new awards total $12 million in funding for ASU researchers in grants that will be used over the next five years.

The work covers subjects that explore a wide variety of science and technology, from advancing AI-based data processing to measuring the cosmological signatures of stars and galaxies to understanding infants development of curiosity to enhancing 3D-printing precision.

The NSFs Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program identifies the nations most promising young faculty members and provides them with funding to pursue outstanding research, excellence in teaching and the integration of education and research. Often, these awards spur the creativity of the faculty member and help set them on an innovative career path. To date, more than 200 ASU faculty members have earned NSF CAREER awards.

The 19 ASU NSF CAREER award recipients exemplify the best of our ASU faculty, said Nancy Gonzales, executive vice president and university provost. Each scholar is committed to research that improves our world, while demonstrating equal dedication to their teaching, guiding and mentoring students to achieve their highest potential.

I am proud that these honorees come from a range of academic disciplines at ASU, including engineering, psychology and the sciences. On behalf of the Academic Enterprise, I congratulate you on this well-deserved award.

Here is a look at the current ASU NSF CAREER award recipients:

Abhinav Acharya, assistant professor, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy

Acharya works at the interface of the immune system and engineering. His efforts include the isolation and identification of disease biomarkers and natural therapeutics, as well as biomaterials synthesis and translational technology development. The results of his NSF research could enable the development of vaccines to treat diseases such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. Read more

Kumar Ankit, assistant professor, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy

Ankit is leading the first integration of computational, experimental and characterization techniques to better understand how processing methods affect steel microstructures and their properties, such as strength and hardness. This project will add new knowledge to the field and help optimize the future of steel manufacturing. Read more

Christina Birkel, assistant professor, School of Molecular Sciences

Birkel is working to create new materials that can be used for renewable energy, catalysts and permanent magnets. Materials are all around us and are the driving force for new and innovative solid-state technologies centered on batteries, sensors and magnets. Birkels projects focus on solid compounds that contain different metals and either carbon, nitrogen or both, called carbides, nitrides or carbonitrides, respectively. Read more

Katelyn Cooper assistant professor, School of Life Science

Cooper is a biology education researcher whose work seeks to understand the relationship between biology learning environments and undergraduate and graduate student mental health. Her research aims to identify factors of student research experiences that positively and negatively impact mental health, and to develop tools and resources to support students throughout their research experiences. Read more

Deliang Fan, assistant professor, School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering

Fan is conducting electrical and computer engineering research to validate the performance of a new hybrid in-memory computing system. The concept behind his work is to leverage memory device and circuit properties in ways that will advance AI-based big data processing fields such as computer vision, autonomous driving and robotics. Read more

Emma Frow, assistant professor, School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering and School for the Future of Innovation in Society

Frow studies the role of care in responsible innovation for bioengineering. Her work will document the growth and development of a new type of facility for high-throughput design and genetic engineering called "biofoundries. Her research aims to design interventions or tools that can help attune practitioners to the politics of care and responsibility, and shape the governance of these foundries. Read more

Gillian Gile, associate professor, School of Life Sciences

Gile studies the diversity and evolution of microbial eukaryotes, otherwise known as protists. Despite their microscopic size, protists are more closely related to plants and animals than to bacteria, and they play important roles in ecosystems such as soil and marine plankton. Her research examines protists that live in termite hindguts and digest wood to understand the origin and evolutionary dynamics of the termite microbiome.

Christian Hoover, assistant professor, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment

Hoovers research focuses on further understanding the synergistic effects of composition, porosity and structural rigidity on the mechanics of glassy metal-organic frameworks. These porous materials have the ability to be used for several applications, especially in carbon dioxide capture, separation and storage. Read more

Daniel Jacobs, assistant professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration

Jacobs is an interdisciplinary scientist across the areas of astrophysics, cosmology, experimental physics and aerospace engineering. His primary research focus is measuring cosmological signatures of the first stars and galaxies in the early universe with custom radio arrays. The award will be used for observation with existing radio arrays, to improve radio arrays and to develop new technology to support future experiments. Read more

Kelsey Lucca, assistant professor, Department of Psychology

Luccas research investigates cognitive development during infancy and early childhood, with a focus on the development of curiosity, social cognition, communication and problem-solving. The award will help her explore the psychological processes involved in curiosity starting in infancy.

Yuval Mazor, assistant professor, School of Molecular Sciences

Mazor's research focus is the structural biology of the membrane complexes involved in oxygenic photosynthesis. His research explores new approaches in cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) that are revolutionizing the abilities to understand the role of structure for different functions carried out by essential protein supercomplexes. Read more

Troy McDaniel, assistant professor, Polytechnic School

McDaniel is exploring how intelligent wearable technology can enable older adults with memory challenges to live independently. Using visual recognition, this novel hardware, placed strategically on the wrist, deciphers hand movements and identifies objects in the environment through a camera lens, providing insight to a users behaviors to aid cognitive decline. Read more

Anamitra Pal, assistant professor, School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering

Pal conducts fundamental and applied research in the power and energy systems domain. His project employs robust statistics and machine learning to real-time data for better monitoring and control of our national electric power infrastructure, helping to ensure the reliable and resilient operation of the electric power grid. Read more

Kenan Song, assistant professor, Polytechnic School

Song is developing a new additive manufacturing method called Multiphase Direct Ink Writing to enhance 3D printing precision of ordered patterns at nanoscales. This method can be used for rapid prototyping of sensors and for applications in supercapacitors, batteries and regenerative medicine. Read more

Beckett Sterner, assistant professor, School of Life Sciences

Sterner examines issues in the philosophy of biology and medicine. His research studies how and why pluralism advancing multiple approaches to an issue makes a difference to current and historical practices of computational science. He is applying these insights to develop novel, collaborative approaches to making data and models relevant to global societal challenges such as biodiversity.

Xiaojun Tian, assistant professor, School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering

Tian employs quantitative experiments and mathematical modeling to expand the understanding of fundamental problems in systems and synthetic biology. His exploration of molecular and cellular mechanisms could enable the synthesis of new therapeutics, the expansion of sustainable agriculture and the production of renewable resources. Read more

Arul Mozhy Varman, assistant professor, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy

Varman is developing advanced metabolic engineering computational tools and strategies to harness the capabilities of microbial cell factories for the sustainable production of chemicals, fuels and pharmaceuticals. His work to optimize genetic and metabolic processes can have an impact on the production of bulk chemicals, fuels and pharmaceuticals. Read more

Ruoyu Fish Wang, assistant professor, School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence

Wang is working on research to mitigate the effects of malware and computer viruses by making the vulnerabilities in software easily understandable. His research may enable analysts and researchers to uncover source code in a manner that identifies vulnerabilities to protect them from malware. Read more

Jia Zou, assistant professor, School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence

Zou is designing a new database that seamlessly supports and optimizes the deployment, storage and serving of both traditional machine learning models and deep neural network models. This work significantly decreases latency in databases that rely on real-time results, such as credit card fraud detection and emergency services response.Read more

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Thunderbird School prepares global leaders with an out-of-this-world education - ASU News Now

Australia`s space economy projected to triple by 2030, sees India as important international partner – WION

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"India is an important International Space partner for Australia," said Mr Enrico Palermo, Head, Australian Space Agency(ASA), while virtually addressing a conference on 'Development of Space Start-up Ecosystem in India'(DeSSEI). Referring to the areas of Indo-Australia cooperation in the space sector, he mentioned India's Gaganyaan Human Spaceflight mission, the $25million (INR 144crore) expansion of the Indian International Space Investment initiative and assured that Australia continues to look at new ways to enhance space collaboration with India.

According to the Australian Government, the country's space economy is projected to triple in size by 2030, to $12bn(INR 65,200crore). With natural features such as clear skies, unique geography and advanced space capabilities, Australia offers international players comparative advantages in earth observation, communication technologies and services, access to space, robotics and automation, it was added.

Speaking at the event, Mr Michael Costa, Australia's Deputy Consul General to South India said that Australia welcomes Indian space start-up partnerships. He also highlighted the pathways for Indian space sector start-ups to access funding, tax incentives, incubation programmes and global networks in Australia. "The planned establishment of an Australian Consulate-general and a join Australia-India Centre of Excellence on Critical and Emerging Technology Policy in Bengaluru ais to further encourage technology linkages between Australia and India from cyberspace to outer space" he added.

Speaking of how there was an increasing appetite for Australian Space firms to set up a physical presence in India, Piyush Dhaundiyal, General Manager, Space Machines Company(SMC) said that his firm performed assembly, integration and testing of hardware in Sydney, while their core R&D, design and prototyping were being conducted in Bengaluru. Notably, Bengaluru is the aerospace hub of India.

Earlier, Mr Anthony Murfett, deputy head, Australian Space Agency(ASA), had said The Australian government is proud to be supporting the Gaganyaan mission, by tracking through Australias territory on the Cocos (Keeling) islands. It shows that Australia can be a trusted partner - we were a partner to NASA during the Apollo missions, we were a partner to Japan during Hayabusa 1&2 and now were working with India on Gaganyaan mission.

ISRO has been working on the ambitious Gaganyaan mission that involves demonstrating the indigenous capability to undertake human space flight missions to low Earth orbit and will lay the foundation for a sustained Indian human space exploration programme in the long run. As part of this programme, two unmanned missions and one manned mission have been approved by the government of India.

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FK White trio wins ultimate STEM prize, Experiment chosen to go up to International Space Station – American Press | American Press – American Press

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By Emily Burleigh

American Press

An experiment designed by three students at F.K. White Middle School has been chosen as the winner of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Educations Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.

The team is made up of Edith Evey, Cynthia Caron Chulo and Priscilla Moncada and their experiment, Sunflower Microgravity Growth, seeks to analyze whether or not sunflower seeds exhibit a difference in growth with microgravity exposure.

Sunflower microgravity growth is very simple in its nature, yet the impact of what is to be learned from it could have far-reaching effects, said their teacher, Dana Istre. The project that the girls will execute is to send a few dozen organic sunflower seeds on board the International Space Station for several weeks.

Upon return to Earth the students will plant the seeds that were exposed to microgravity along with a control group of seeds that were not exposed in an effort to learn how or if the microgravity will affect growth.

The experiment, part of Mission 16 for the SSEP, is projected to launch this fall.

The winning experiments are being loaded onto rockets and being transported to the International Space Station as it is in orbit, Istre explained. Therefore, projects may contain no more than three volumes that are no greater than 10 ml altogether.

Istre said the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program website will be frequently updated with countdowns, dates and live links of mission launches.

The students will be notified with details of the launch while coordinating with teacher facilitators and the flight operations manager for the program, Istre said.

After the experiment is conducted, the students will present their findings at the annual SSEP National Conference at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

They will be considered official microgravity researchers, Istre said.

There were 1,234 submissions nationwide, and these students were selected to be a part of the final 21, Istre said. Two other projects were submitted from, F.K. White, including one on the growth of Bacillus Coagulns in microgravity and another on yeast fermentation in microgravity.

Istre said she and colleague Sandra Hayes were honored to guide the students through this process.

To be able to participate in a project that can have such meaningful results in the real world outside of the classroom I believe was eye-opening for the students as they saw that they can be valuable assets to their community, even at such a young age, Istre said. I feel confident that this project could have a lifelong impact for the winning group.

Istre said the three students, two of whom are Spanish-speaking, show that girls in STEM are capable and passionate and will change the world.

It was exciting to see the learning happening as the students did research and mini-experiments and worked so hard to complete their projects, but it was most exciting just to be able to bring an opportunity like this to our students.

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FK White trio wins ultimate STEM prize, Experiment chosen to go up to International Space Station - American Press | American Press - American Press

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day Containing Whirlpool Galaxy Recognized for Decades of Outreach – SpaceCoastDaily.com

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NASA & SPACE NEWSThe picturesque Whirlpool galaxy (M51) is a classic spiral 60,000 light-years across and located 30 million light-years away. This view, featured on the June 13, 2022, APOD, digitally combines images taken in different colors by NASAs Hubble Space Telescope. The Whirlpool is interacting with a smaller companion galaxy on the left. (NASA image)

(NASA) On June 16, 1995, when the World Wide Web was young, two gamma-ray astronomers at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, launched a website with a simple aim to post a daily astronomical image along with a brief, easily understood explanation.

Twenty-seven years on, Astronomy Picture of the Day (known affectionately as APOD) is available in 20 languages, seen by millions each day, and is used in classrooms throughout the world.

APOD has now been honored in the International Astronomical Unions first-ever round of outreach prizes. The award will be presented at the IAU General Assembly in Busan, South Korea, in August.

APOD is a gem in the crown of astronomy outreach that continues to raise awareness of astronomy and space science, said Mark Clampin, the director of Goddards Sciences and Exploration Directorate. It is truly a fixture in the daily routines of millions of people.

APOD founders Jerry Bonnell, working at the University of Maryland, College Park and Goddard, and Robert Nemiroff, now at Michigan Technological University, hit on the idea while brainstorming how they might contribute to the growing web.

We realized NASA had an incredible archive of images from astronomy and solar system exploration missions, explained Bonnell.

We started with those but invited basically anyone with a camera to contribute. The individual amateur contributions really took off and are a mainstay of APOD after all these years. Posting one astronomy picture a day and a simple explanation really became a labor of love.

APOD features science ranging from atmospheric phenomena and naked-eye astronomy to cosmology and space exploration, with images taken in light across the spectrum, from radio to gamma rays, along with supercomputer simulations and data visualizations.

Weve always had a very generous idea of what constitutes an astronomical picture, said Nemiroff.

That first image was one I computed showing how Earth and the sky would look if our planet had the density of a neutron star. While APOD features the work of professional astronomers using high-end facilities, including NASA satellites, we frequently highlight the work of non-scientist astrophotographers, who produce incredible work now.

APOD has hosted nearly 9,900 daily images over the last 27 years. As one of NASAs most popular websites, APOD continues to inspire awe, curiosity, and interest in the cosmos. Its creators hope something like it will continue far into the future, long after the web itself is obsolete.

APOD is funded by NASAs Science Activation program, a community-based approach to connect NASA science with learners of all ages, from the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

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NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day Containing Whirlpool Galaxy Recognized for Decades of Outreach - SpaceCoastDaily.com

The view through the window: Three Canadian astronauts weigh in on innovation, climate and future of spaceflight – Financial Post

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Dave Williams, Chris Hadfield and Robert Thirsk say the ISS offers the world a model for collaboration

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The space station, high above, is a microcosm an international collection of people living in a finite area with finite resources, just like the planet below, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield once wrote. He knows the International Space Station (ISS) well. Hes been up three separate times: 1995, 2001 and 2012, eventually becoming ISS commander on his final mission.

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The stations limited resources coupled with the harsh environment of space create the perfect conditions for innovation.For one, the ISS uses closed-loop heating and water systems so the astronauts dont need to depend on external sources. You flush the toilet, and yesterdays coffee becomes todays water, astronaut Dave Williams said, with a laugh.

The crew members, who all hail from different parts of the world, offering a range of technical and professional expertise, have to work together to maintain and operate the stations habitability systems.

Innovation on Earth tends to follow the drumbeat of space. A website called NASA Spinoff documents the space technologies that have found their way back to Earth, which include memory foam and freeze-dried food. Arguably, the most important space export by far is the strong tradition of collaboration between the international crew members, which transcends cultures and political affiliations.

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Thats exactly what we need to address the Earths most pressing issues, namely, the climate crisis, Williams said. It is the greatest lesson of the International Space Station: the opportunity to learn how effective collaboration actually works.

The growing space economy, now worth US$424 billion, will create an abundance of new jobs linked to climate innovation, he added. Youre developing technologies, many of which are going to help with the greening economy and enable us to have less environmental impact.

Williams went to space in 1998, and again in 2007, setting the record for the most spacewalks completed by a Canadian astronaut. His biomedical tech startup, Leap Biosystems Inc., is just one example of the ways in which space technology can be used on Earth.

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The company is experimenting with holoportation, a technology developed by Microsoft Corp., which allows someone wearing a headset on Earth to appear as a hologram on the ISS. It reminds Williams of Star Trek. Beam me up, Scotty! he said.

The technology is still in its infancy, but he hopes it will one day be used to deliver medical care to remote corners of the world.

It is the greatest lesson of the International Space Station: the opportunity to learn how effective collaboration actually works

Dave Williams

Lately, Williams has been considering another terrestrial application for space technology. In his forthcoming book on planetary stewardship, he asks: Can we live as collaboratively and sustainably on Earth as we do on the ISS?

The globe, like the ISS, is a closed loop. It depends on finely tuned connections between the land, oceans, atmosphere, the freshwater cycle, flora and fauna, astronaut Robert Thirsk wrote in his blog.

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He went to the ISS in 1996 and 2009, setting the Canadian record for the most time spent in space, at 204 days and 18 hours. The planet is whole. And its integrated, he said in an interview.

The planet is whole. And its integrated

Robert Thirsk

From the ISS, astronauts can watch as natural events on one side of the world affect the other. Smoke plumes from forest fires in Siberia drift over to North America, lowering the air quality there. A small, unassuming atmospheric depression in the southern Atlantic grows into a Category 4 or 5 hurricane, affecting residents and businesses along the Gulf Coast.

Thirsk said that a mutant virus originating in Asia and wreaking havoc on the world may seem unbelievable to most, but for an astronaut, that is very easy to appreciate.

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The astronauts marvel at natural phenomena. Travelling at 8 km/s, or 25 times the speed of sound, the ISS completes a single orbit of the globe once every 90 minutes, meaning that its occupants witness a sunrise and sunset every 45 minutes.

The view out the window takes everyone by surprise, Thirsk said. Theres (something) about seeing the Earth with your naked eyeball and seeing it from above. The privileged position that you have, somehow, it just amplifies the beauty and majesty of it all.

Earthbound astronauts speak about the planet with wonder. Williams called it a beautiful blue oasis cast against the infinite void of space. Describing this image to people back home, he said, is perhaps a lesser-known mission of space travel.

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The view of the Earth from space was personally transformative, Thirsk wrote on his blog. Viewed from afar, our marbled-blue planet is alone for hundreds of millions of kilometres, surrounded by nothing but void.

Hadfield said he was fortunate enough to watch the world change seasons, snow shifting from one hemisphere to the other.

I got to see the world, in effect, take one breath out of 4.5 billion breaths There has been life, uninterrupted, on Earth, for four billion years, he said. Thats really optimism-building. Life isnt going anywhere. The world isnt going anywhere. The question is: How good a quality of life do we want for people, and how sustainable do we want it to be?

Every day, astronauts on the ISS are confronted with the reality of the ecological crisis. Mining cuts jagged strips into the Earth. A smear of pollution obscures major cities. The Amazon rainforest is clear cut and burnt down to create room for agriculture, the smoky pall drifting across the Atlantic to impact the air quality in Africa.

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There is just a thin veil of atmosphere around the planet that is protecting the inhabitants below from the vacuum of space, the ultraviolet and ionizing radiation, the extremes of temperature, Thirsk said.

That, he said, is the only thing that makes the difference between a barren planet and one that teems with life.

Realizing that frail, vulnerable planet down below is our home makes me even more diligent in preserving its existence, he added.

If everyone in the world could see that view, the astronauts said, the question would no longer be if we will solve the climate crisis, but when.

Astronauts are not the only ones keeping an eye on emissions from space. Private satellite companies are jostling for market share in the expanding orbital environmental monitoring industry.

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Montreal-based company GHGSat Inc., which sends satellites into space to track methane emissions, on June 15 said one of its satellites had detected 13 plumes of methane emanating from a coal mine in Russia in January. It was the largest methane leak the company had ever detected.

Compared to carbon dioxide, methane is 25 times as effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere.

GHGSat has a track record of calling out serious offenders. In 2019, its satellites helped pinpoint methane leaks in Turkmenistan, which were releasing emissions equivalent to 250,000 gas-powered cars. In 2021, the company spotted a methane plume coming from a landfill in Pakistan.

The public sector is getting involved as well. This January, Canada committed $8 million to environmental monitoring via satellites as part of the Canadian Space Agencys smartEarth initiative.

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Its an emerging area. Its really going to change the way we quantify and understand emissions, said atmospheric scientist Ray Nassar, one of the pioneers of environmental observation via satellites. You cant manage what you cant measure.

In 2017, he led the first study to use satellites to quantify carbon emissions, with results precise enough to pinpoint the source of emissions to a single power plant.

Emissions can be tracked from the ground as well, but satellites allow enhanced transparency, Nassar said. Under the Paris Agreement, countries are pledging to reduce their emissions. Theyre not actually obligated to do that. Theyre obligated to report. We want to have the ability to verify emissions reductions.

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Satellites will paint a more cohesive picture than traditional measurement techniques.

There is a network of ground-based measurements for greenhouse gases across the world, Nassar said. But the thing about those measurements is its so unequally distributed if you ever want a global picture, its really lacking. And satellites can do that.

The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) is trying to get the companies that send out these satellites to work together and share data, to create a sort of constellation of satellites in space, he said.

As the green transition progresses, collaboration will be key, both in space and on Earth. The astronauts were divided on the solutions to the climate crisis, but agreed that addressing the issue would require precise political co-operation, similar to what already exists on the ISS. Co-operation on the ISS is next to perfect. It has to be.

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Everyone on the space station, their lives are in each others hands, Hadfield said. If anybody makes a mistake, everyone else dies.

The ISS astronauts are united by a common purpose, he added, and by the ever-present danger of being there.

Everyone on the space station, their lives are in each others hands

Chris Hafield

But even on the ISS, collaboration is not always easy, Williams said. He likened it to disputes among family members. On a planetary scale, however, the disagreements are more complex and involve more people, such that it is difficult to find solutions that work for all governments.

Collaboration on the ISS is helped because political divisions are muted.

Were just a bunch of people up there, Hadfield said.

Thirsk echoed a similar sentiment: All the crews from all the nations, the cultures that are represented, have a single-minded focus on accomplishing the mission objectives.

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To facilitate communication, astronauts aboard the ISS need to speak English and Russian, with English serving as the interstellar lingua franca.

Even so, when youre on board the space station as a crew member, most of us tend to think of ourselves as humans first, he said.

Williams considers himself a Canadian, but also a citizen of the Earth, a resident of a global village. The borders between countries, he pointed out, are invisible from space.

Were just a bunch of people up there

Chris Hadfield

If youre sitting in Montreal, or sitting in Toronto, you have a really skewed view of the world, Hadfield said. Its very local. As a result, a lot of the decisions that we make and some of our elected officials make are parochial in nature.

Citizens tend to focus on their own communities. What they can see, where they can travel. But when you get into space, you see Earth as a planet, he said.

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The astronauts said that, upon returning to Earth, their political perspectives had evolved. For instance, Thirsk said that the daily, local news cycle was of little interest. Thats all noise level to me. His concerns are now more global, chief among them being nuclear annihilation and the climate.

I do worry about the motives of some of these world leaders who have created an unstable geopolitical situation, he said. I dont see the older generation showing enough leadership in making the difficult decisions, today.

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Thirsk expects it will be the younger generation who will ultimately take charge of the climate fight. Williams agreed. Young people, he said, led by activists such as Greta Thunberg, will lead the way.

Its really easy to be critical of the lack of collaboration, he said. There are areas that, quite clearly, we are not collaborating here on Earth and areas that we are.

Either way, Hadfield is optimistic that we will find answers. The same driving, restless intellect that created the problems can minimize and even reverse them, he once wrote.

If ever we doubt our capacity to collaborate, we need only look up, morning and night, and watch the space station fly over, Hadfield said. Its a pretty clear example of what we do together when we do things right.

Email: mcoulton@postmedia.com | Twitter: marisacoulton

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The view through the window: Three Canadian astronauts weigh in on innovation, climate and future of spaceflight - Financial Post

Amazon and Axiom Space Remotely Operate AWS Snowcone on the International Space Station (ISS) – StorageReview.com

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Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a recent collaboration with Axiom Space. Together, they are developing a more efficient way to analyze data from the Axiom Mission 1 (known as the Ax-1, the first all-private mission to the ISS) via Amazons AWS Snowcone SSD. Ax-1 is the first of several private space missions to ISS planned by Axiom Space, with the ultimate goal of building the first commercial space station.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a recent collaboration with Axiom Space. Together, they are developing a more efficient way to analyze data from the Axiom Mission 1 (known as the Ax-1, the first all-private mission to the ISS) via Amazons AWS Snowcone SSD. Ax-1 is the first of several private space missions to ISS planned by Axiom Space, with the ultimate goal of building the first commercial space station.

Bandwidth is seriously contained on space stations due to the limited available infrastructure, which makes sending data and imagery astronauts attain back to the surface for processing arduous. While this only presents a minor inconvenience while orbiting just above the Earth, this will eventually cause serious problems when space expeditions start to venture much further (such as missions to Mars). There will be considerably longer delays due to the vast distance and the massive amount of data that will be transmitted back to Earth and then back to a spacecraft again. Amazon aims to help solve this.

At Amazon re:MARS 2022, AWS announced the joint Axiom Space-AWS team has successfully communicated remotely with the Snowcone on the ISS and also demonstrated the repeatable ability to perform edge processing on space-based datasets. This is a significant accomplishment, as it is the first time AWS has remotely operated a general-purpose edge processing and storage device on the ISS.

One of the main objectives of the Ax-1 mission is scientific research. Axiom private astronauts are working as many as 14 hours a day on 25 different research investigations and technology demonstrations, including the AWS Snowcone. Microgravity experiments (that is, experiments that are not possible within the gravity of Earth), such as modeling tumor organoids for cancer research, are generating a plethora of imagery and data that must be both cataloged and analyzed. In addition, on-board experiment photos must be screened for sensitive information. This research activity results in terabytes of data every day.

The AWS Snowcone SSD is an ideal solution for this, offering edge processing capabilities with multiple layers of encryptionall in a simple, ultra-portable form. During a 7-month process, AWS worked with Axiom and NASA to ensure the Amazon storage device can be safely sent to the ISS. This meant putting the device through NASAs rigorous safety review process, including detailed thermal analysis and a range of laboratory tests that simulated random vibrations of both a rocket during launch and the spacecraft during flight.

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LZH and TU Berlin Bring 3D Printing to the Moon – Photonics.com

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HANNOVER, Germany, June 28, 2022 Scientists from the Laser Zentrum Hannover eV (LZH) and the Technische Universitt Berlin (TU Berlin) are planning a flight to the moon to melt lunar dust with laser radiation. Researchers, on a project calledMOONRISE, are looking to AI-aided lasing for the 3D printing of landing sites, roads, or buildings, using lunar dust.

Pulverized lunar rock, or regolith, is abundant on the moon and could be used as a raw material for 3D printing. Onsite fabrication of infrastructure could save enormous transportation costs. The use and processing of onsite materials, known as in situ resource utilization, or ISRU in spaceflight, could be a crucial factor in advancing the exploration of the moon and space.

Because the far side of the moon is always turned away from Earth, it is considered a prime spot for powerful space telescopes; the European Space Agency, therefore, has plans for a moon village. The lower gravity and lack of an atmosphere make the moon an ideal stopover for setting up missions to more distant destinations in space. However, the problem of launch pads, landing sites, and buildings remains an expensive one.

At a cost of up to a million dollars per kilogram, a complete transport of the material from Earth to the moon would be extremely expensive, said Jrg Neumann, MOONRISE project manager at LZH.

In a predecessor project funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, the team developed a laser and tested it in the laboratory on the robotic arm of a lunar rover. The scientists also smelted regolith under lunar gravity in the Einstein-Elevator of the Hannover Institute of Technology at Leibniz Universitt Hannover.

The task now is to make the laser fit for lunar flight. The scientists from LZH and TU Berlin want to develop a flight model of the laser that is qualified for use in space. The laser will be supported by trained AI.

To train the AI, the researchers will photograph the regolith under lighting conditions that mimic those on the moon. This will allow a corresponding pool of images to be created.

In addition, a regolith construction kit has been developed over the past few years, which allows the various possible landing sites to be precisely recreated in terms of properties, said Benedict Grefen from the group Exploration and Propulsion at TU Berlin. This is then adapted in the project to the final landing site on the moon, so that in the laboratory the laser and the AI can be aligned with the real lunar mission.

The surface analog model created in this way will also support decision-making during the mission.

Once the technology is deployed on the moon, a camera will take photos of the lunar dust melted by the laser. Researchers will analyze these photos with the help of an intelligent image processing system.

The MOONRISE FM project will run for three years and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action with 4.75 million ($5 million). The mission is scheduled to launch in 2024.

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LZH and TU Berlin Bring 3D Printing to the Moon - Photonics.com

Spotting Objects From Space Is Easy. This Challenge Is Harder – WIRED

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This spring, when the teams submitted their results to IARPA, evaluator teams graded how well each one did. In June, the teams learned who was moving on to Smarts second phase, which will run for 18 months: AFS, BlackSky, Kitware, Systems & Technology Research, Applied Research Associates, and Intelligent Automation, which is now part of the defense company Blue Halo.

This time, the teams will have to make their algorithms applicable across different use cases. After all, Cooper points out, It is too slow and expensive to design new AI solutions from scratch for every activity that we may want to search for. Can an algorithm built to find construction now find crop growth? Thats a big switch because it swaps slow-moving, human-made changes for natural, cyclical, environmental ones, he says. And in the third phase, which will begin around early 2024, the remaining competitors will try to make their work into what Cooper calls a robust capabilitysomething that could detect and monitor both natural and human-made changes.

None of these phrases are strict elimination roundsand there wont necessarily be a single winner. As with similar DARPA programs, IARPAs goal is to transition promising technology over to intelligence agencies that can use it in the real world. IARPA makes phase decisions based on performance against our metrics, diversity of approaches, available funds, and the analysis of our independent test and evaluation, says Cooper. At the end of phase 3, there could be no teams or more than one team remainingthe best solution could even combine parts from multiple teams. Alternatively, there could be no teams that make it to phase 3.

IARPAs investments also often leak beyond the programs themselves, sometimes steering scientific and technological paths, since science goes where the money goes. Whatever problem IARPA chooses to do is going to get a lot of attention from the research community, says Hoogs. The Smart teams are allowed to go on to use the algorithms for civil and civilian purposes, and the datasets IARPA creates for its programs (like those labeled troves of satellite imagery) often become publicly available for other researchers to use.

Satellite technologies are often referred to as dual-use because they have military and civilian applications. In Hoogs mind, lessons from the software Kitware develops for Smart will be applicable to environmental science. His company already does environmental science work for organizations like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; his team has helped its Marine Fisheries Service detect seals and sea lions in satellite imagery, among other projects. He imagines applying Kitwares Smart software to something thats already a primary use of Landsat imagery: flagging deforestation. How much of the rainforest in Brazil has been converted into man-made areas, cultivated areas? Hoogs asks.

Auto-interpretation of landscape change has obvious implications for studying climate change, says Bosch Ruizseeing, for example, where ice is melting, coral is dying, vegetation is shifting, and land is desertifying. Spotting new construction can show where humans are impinging on areas of the natural landscape, forest is turning into farmland, or farmland is giving way to houses.

Those environmental applications, and their spinout into the scientific world, are among the reasons Smart sought the United States Geological Survey as a test and evaluation partner. But IARPAs cohort is also interested in the findings for their own sake. Some environmental issues are of great significance to the intelligence community, particularly with regard to climate change, says Cooper. Its one area where the second application of a dual-use technology is, pretty much, just the same as the first.

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Spotting Objects From Space Is Easy. This Challenge Is Harder - WIRED

What is the difference between Asteroids and Comets? Nasa expert replies – HT Tech

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NASA near-Earth asteroid expert Dr. Ryan Park explains the difference between an Asteroids and Comets.

Do you know the difference between Asteroids and Comets? Though an asteroid and comet are all celestial objects that may seem similar, there is actually quite a bit of difference between them.

According to NASAs near-Earth asteroid expert Dr. Ryan Park, these are planetary objects which revolve around the Sun.

Dr. Park says, An asteroid is a small, rocky object and when seen in a telescope, it appears as a point of light. Most asteroids are found in a ring between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter called the asteroid belt.

Asteroids have several shapes, they may be spherical, elongated, or oddly shaped. Some asteroids even have their own satellites! Isnt that amazing?

Well, according to Dr. Park, A comet also orbits the Sun, but unlike an asteroid, it's composed of ice and dust. So, when a comet gets close to the Sun, its ice and dust content start to vaporize. So, when seen in a telescope, a comet appears fuzzy and/or has a tail.

To sum it up, Well, asteroids are rocky, and comets are icy. Dr. Park said.

In fact, a comet is currently in the news as it heads towards the Earth. NASA found a comet, which can be anything between 30 to 160 kilometers wide, approaching the Earth. Spotted first in 2017, Comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) is coming all the way from the Oort cloud to visit the Earth. The comet was discovered by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (PanSTARRS) observatory and thus its name. However, it is also known as the K2 comet in short. Traveling from the outer edges of the solar system, this comet is scheduled to arrive at the closest point to the Earth on July 14.

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What is the difference between Asteroids and Comets? Nasa expert replies - HT Tech

Comets to make move to the Cascade Conference in 2023 – The Hillsdale Daily News

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JONESVILLE The Jonesville Comet will be making their first conference transition since the formation of the Big 8 in 1973.

Jonesville school board members voted on Monday, June 27 to join the CascadeConference after the 2022-23 sports season. The Comets will join Leslie and Brooklyn Columbia Central High School in their moves to the Cascades Conference.

Jonesville superintendent Erik Weatherwax released an official statement on the move:

"JCS is excited to announce that tonight our school board voted unanimously to switch to the Cascades Conference beginning the 2023/2024 school year. This was not a decision that was taken lightly given our historywith the Big 8 and the tradition that goes along with it. However, the move to the Cascades Conference provides more athletic opportunities for our students and that's what we had to stay focused on. I want to thank our community members, coaches, parents, board members, and Mrs. Bondsteel for their work in exploring this opportunity. In the end, it's the best decision for our Jonesville Comet athletes. Go Comets!"

Weatherwax said that school and class size diminishes had limited Jonesville students' opportunities. "The move opens those opportunities back up for our kids," said Weatherwax. Weatherwax said that while there were questions about travel, the number of miles Comets would drive to playCascades games was not significantly different to the amount they currently travel with their scheduled athletic events.

Several opportunities that will be available to athletic programs at Jonesville include the potential introduction of a full conference schedule for Comet bowling teams. There will be new opportunities for junior varsity athletes to compete in different sports. The Comets look to potentially have a girls golf team when they enter the Cascades conference. Weatherwax believes that while there may be challenges ahead for the Comets as they enter a new era, those challenges will only bring good things to their sports programs and the students.

Jonesville A.D. Kathy Bondsteel said that the Cometathletic programs are looking forward to the transition and will look to work with the Cascades to help develop a game plan for what the sports calendars for Cascadeschools will look like in 2023.

"We appreciate the Big 8 conference and the history of Jonesville being a part of it for so many years," said Bondsteel. "We look forward to the opportunities this will present to us. We will start to meet with the Cascade athletic directors to look into out how we are going to put the league together. There's a lot of things the Cascades has now but they are interested in hearing feedback from all of us (new schools) and including us in those conversations. We look forward to bringing our coaches in and having them be a part of the transition as well."

There are no current plans for how each sport will be structured in the Cascade conference during the 2023-24 season.

The move brings the total number of Cascade teams up to 11. The Cascades Conference was formed in 1954 with Vandercook Lake, Michigan Center, Napoleon, East Jackson and Grass Lake. Other current members include Addison, Hanover-Horton and Manchester high schools.

The Cascades has seen it's fair share of schools come and go over the past few decades. Columbia Central will be making its second tint in the conference, having previously left in 1996. Columbia Central has played in the Lenawee County Athletic Association since 2012. Leslie will conclude its ninth year in the Greater Lansing Area Conference after joining in 2014. Both teams are committed to finishing this upcoming year in their current leagues.

Jonesville will compete in the Big 8 conference this upcoming sports calendar before making the transition to the Cascades in 2023. Jonesville has been a member of the Big 8 conference since 1973, after the league formed around the remaining members of the Little-C Conference. Jonesville's history with teams currently in the Big 8 can date all the way back to the early 1950's.

It is unknown how the move will affect the current rivalries Jonesville has established with teams like Homer and Reading. The Comets and the rest of the Big 8 play in crossover games with the Cascades Conference, and no decisions (if any) have been made that would change those events in the future.

Jonesville may not be the last Big 8 member to move to the Cascades, as there have been reports another team may be on the move in the near future. The Big 8 conference last saw a shift at the end of the 2016 sports calendar. Athens High School made a move to the SCAA conference, before dropping to 8-player football. Bronson High School joined in 2017. Superintendent Erik Weatherwax said that the Big 8 conference will seek to expand in the future. There is no current information on who those new schools will be or when that expansion will happen.

The Comets have seen a fair share of success over the past few years in the Big 8 conference. The Comets have competed for league titles across all of their sports including football, softball and boys and girls basketball.

This past football season, the Comets went undefeated in the Big 8 and won the Cascades Crossover Championship with Addison High School. Jonesville has played more than 70 football games against Big 8 rivals Homer, Quincy, Union City and Reading. The Big 8 conference has no moves currently in the plans to bring in more teams, and the conference currently still has Homer as a member.

In addition to the recent moves in the Big 8 and Cascades conferences, The Daily Telegram's Doug Donnelly reports that Adrian Madison will formally join the Lenawee County Athletic Association, leaving the Tri-County Conference and filling the void Columbia Central has left. The LCAA conference includes Hillsdale, Hudson, Onsted, Blissfield, Dundee, Clinton and Ida.

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Comets to make move to the Cascade Conference in 2023 - The Hillsdale Daily News

A huge comet will fly by Earth in July and you might be able to see it – Space.com

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A comet first spotted in the distance in 2017 might finally be within view soon of amateur astronomers.

Comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS), called K2 for short, was then the farthest active comet ever spotted, a title it recently surrendered to megacomet Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein, detected last year. But even down one superlative, K2 is remarkable for activity. The comet began to spew gas and dust in the far outer solar system, whereas it's more typical for comets to wake up around Jupiter's orbit, much closer in.

Five years later, the icy body is finally drawing within reach of Earth and its amateur astronomers. K2's closest approach to our planet will be on July 14, and it will get closest to the sun on Dec. 19.

Related: Giant comet was active way farther from the sun than expected, scientists confirm

Assuming K2 survives the heated journey and continues to brighten, EarthSky (opens in new tab) predicts people with small telescopes will be able to spot the sojourner soon.

"It should brighten tomagnitude8 or even 7, still too dim for the unaided eye," EarthSky wrote.

Sharp-eyed viewers can usually spot stars of magnitude 6 in dark-sky conditions with no aid. In the case of this comet, you will also need areas away from light pollution to spot it with a telescope.

"The darker the skies, the better the contrast will be," EarthSky advised.

As the comet approaches us, professional observatories may be able to figure out how big its nucleus is. Early observations by the CanadaFranceHawaii Telescope (CFHT) suggested K2's nucleus could be between 18 and 100 miles (30 to 160 kilometers) wide; Hubble Space Telescope observations suggested it might be only 11 miles (18 km) at most, EarthSky said.

In 2017, Hubble imagery determined that the comet's coma (or fuzzy atmosphere) likely includes oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, all turning from solid to gas as the comet warmed.

An archival search of CFHT imagery suggested K2 was active at least as far back as 2013, when it was between the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, NASA said at the time.

All predictions for comet activity are subject to change, however. Comets are prone to falling apart or brightening unpredictably when the draw close to the intense heat and gravity of our sun. That characteristic, however, makes them all the more interesting to astronomers who want to understand how comets are put together.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter@howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter@Spacedotcom (opens in new tab)and onFacebook (opens in new tab).

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A huge comet will fly by Earth in July and you might be able to see it - Space.com

UTD Honors Juneteenth with Celebrations, New Service Project – University of Texas at Dallas

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The University of Texas at Dallas community commemorated Juneteenth with a week of celebrations that included a service project to provide meal kits for people in need.

The Reunited-themed events brought Comets together on campus to celebrate the holiday marking the end of slavery in the U.S.

We want to show up for one another. We want to unite, and we want to be united because here at UT Dallas, we see diversity, but we also need to put diversity in our heads, in our hearts and in how we treat each other, Multicultural Center director Bruce August Jr. told volunteers at the Juneteenth Day of Service.

The Multicultural Center, part of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, organized the events along with campus partners on its Juneteenth Planning Committee.

The service project drew 126 volunteers who packed 21,888 meal kits for area food pantries. Wearing hairnets and plastic gloves, students, faculty and staff members sorted, measured and packaged ingredients for red lentil jambalaya. The Office of Student Volunteerism (OSV), which led the event, partnered with the nonprofit organization U.S. Hunger, which delivered the meal kits to the North Texas Food Bank. Some of the meal kits also were donated to the Comet Cupboard, UT Dallas food pantry for students in need.

Borna Afkhami-Rohani, a biology sophomore who packed meals at the event, said he signed up because he enjoys volunteering and the opportunity to meet new people.

The event was great. I met three new friends while preparing meals for those who are less fortunate, Afkhami-Rohani said. It doesnt get any better than that.

Mark Este, director of the OSV, said the event was made possible through financial support from the Multicultural Center, Black Faculty and Staff Alliance (BFSA), the Eugene McDermott Library, Fraternity and Sorority Life, Naveen Jindal School of Management, Living Learning Communities and the Young Professionals Employee Resource Group.

At the Office of Student Volunteerism, we strive to address inequities in our local and national communities through service and have amazing partners throughout the campus to collaborate with on this front, Este said.

In addition to the service project, the University held a kickoff party sponsored by the BFSA, a virtual cookbook release event and a celebration that included a health and wellness fair.

Volunteers celebrated after they finished packing meal kits for area food pantries. Most of the nearly 22,000 meal kits were delivered to the North Texas Food Bank, and the rest were donated to the Comet Cupboard.

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UTD Honors Juneteenth with Celebrations, New Service Project - University of Texas at Dallas