What’s Up in the Sky: Here’s what to expect in 2021 – Akron Beacon Journal

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Suzie Dills| Special to Akron Beacon Journal

Although 2020 was a very difficult year for us, it gave us a chance to take time to observe astronomical highlights and night sky delights and view live broadcasts of historic launches. Many of us enjoyed the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn and the surprise visit of Comet NEOWISE. We watched the launch of the next Mars rover, Perseverance, in July. History was made with the NASA SpaceX Crew Dragon flight, the first American rocket launch since 2011 and the NASA SpaceX Crew-1 Mission.

Mars Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is scheduled to land inside the 28-mile Jezero Crater, on Feb. 18. Perseverance will search for signs of ancient life in Jezero Crater, which harbored a lake and river delta billions of years ago. The rover will collect and store samples for future return to Earth, along with demonstrating technology that could aid in future exploration. A tiny helicopter, namedIngenuity, hitched a ride on the belly of Perseverance. After the rover lands, it will find a place for Ingenuity to conduct test flights. Then Ingenuity will make a few short flights into the Martian skies. This will be the first ever flight by a rotorcraft on a planet beyond Earth.

SpaceX crew In May, the NASA SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts will return to Earth. Soon after the NASA SpaceX Crew-2 Mission with four astronauts aboard will head to the International Space Station. The Crew-2 astronauts will spend six months at the ISS.

Boeing crew Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 is targeted to launch March 29. The first crewed mission for Boeings CST-100 Starlinerwill be slated for June or later.

Moon The first stage of the Artemis program for the return to the moonby humanswill begin with the launch of Artemis Iin November 2021. The mission is designed to test the crew spacecraft Orion and the Space Launch System. Crewed Artemis missions will follow.

Space telescope The James Webb Telescope is still on track for launch on Oct. 31. The James Webb Telescope will be the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built and launched into space. With the Webb, we will be able see much closer to the beginning of time, when the first stars and galaxies started to form.

March 10 The thin crescent moon joins Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn in the morning twilight.

April 25 Mercury and Venus will be about a degree apart, low in the western sky after sunset.

April 26 Supermoon: closest full moon of the year.

May 12 Venus and the thin crescent moon, less than 1 degree apart, low in the west-northwest at dusk.

May 26 Partial lunar eclipse, begins at 5:44 a.m. with the moon setting at 6:02 a.m.

June 10 Partial solar eclipse, will be underway with the sunrise at 5:52 am. Maximum at 5:55 a.m., and eclipse will end at 6:35 a.m.

July 11 The thin crescent moon will be 5 degrees from Venus and Mars, which will be separated by 1 degree low in the western sky at dusk.

Aug. 22 Seasonal blue moon, occurs when we have four full moonsin one season. The third is called the blue moon. This is the original definition of a blue moon.

Nov. 19 Near-total lunar eclipse. Partial eclipse begins at 2:18 a.m., maximum at 4:02 a.m. and eclipse ends at 5:47 a.m.

Dec. 5 Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and the moon form a spectacular line in the western sky after sunset.

Planets and moon:Jupiter and Saturn start the month low in the southwestern sky, right after sunset. By mid-month, they drop from view, but will return to the morning sky next month. Mercury returns to the evening sky in January and creates a spectacular trio with Jupiter and Saturn, in the southwest, right after sunset Jan. 10. Mercury will continue to climb higher and remains visible through the end of the month. Mercury reaches greatest elongation Jan. 23, 19 degrees east of the sun. Mars shines brightly overhead all month but continues to move away from Earth. At the beginning of the month, Mars is 84.3 million miles from Earth, at months end it will be 111 million miles away. Brilliant Venus will be low in the predawn southeastern at the beginning of January but lost in the suns glare at months end. Jan. 18-22 will be a great time to spot Uranus. Mars will pass north of Uranus, with Jan. 21 as the best night, when Uranus is 1.7 degreesdue south of Mars. On Jan. 1, Neptune will be 1 degree east of Phi Aquarii in eastern Aquarius. On Jan.14, the moon pairs with Mercury, 35 minutes after sunset. Then on Jan. 17 the moon passes south of Neptune and on Jan. 21 passes south of Mars and Uranus. In the predawn sky, the moon pairs with Venus on Jan. 11.

Constellations:East Great star hopping in this part of the sky! Start with the most magnificent picture in our stars, Orion, the Hunter. Look for the three stars in a line, which make up the belt of Orion. The bright red-orange star up and to the left of the belt is Betelgeuse. The bright blue-white star down and to the right of the belt is Rigel. Draw a line up from the belt to a red, orange star, Aldebaran, which is the eye of Taurus, the Bull. The sideways V shape is the face of Taurus. Above Taurus, the small cluster of stars is the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. Making a counterclockwise loop from the Pleiades, the next bright star is Capella. Continuing down, the two stars you see are Gemini, the Twins.

North The Big Dipper is beginning to swing up on its handle. Following the two stars at the end of the cup to the next bright star, is Polaris, or the North Star. The constellation Cassiopeia is above and to the left of Polaris and resembles the letter M.

West There you will see four stars that form the Great Square of Pegasus.

Binocular highlights When facing north, locate the M shape of Cassiopeia. From the left point of the M shape, scan slowly up to the left. You will see a fuzzy circular shape. That is the Andromeda Galaxy. It is 2.5 million light years away. From the right point of the M,scan up slightly. You will come upon the Double Cluster in Perseus. High overhead, you will see the small cluster of stars, the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. ThePleiades is a beautiful open star cluster. Head to Orion, the Hunter. Scan below the three stars of Orions belt. You will see fuzzy area with bright stars. This is the Orion Nebula, a hydrogen gas cloud where new stars are forming.

The peak of the Quadrantid Meteor Shower is Jan. 3.

For further night sky details, maps and audio, visit my website http://www.starrytrails.com.

Visit the Hoover Price Planetarium: Visit http://www.mckinleymuseum.org, for limited show dates and times. Planetarium shows are free with museum admission. Seating is limited and will be on a first-come, first-served basis. The planetarium is located inside the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum, 800 McKinley Monument DriveNWin Canton. For more information,call the museum at 330-455-7043.

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What's Up in the Sky: Here's what to expect in 2021 - Akron Beacon Journal

New memorial highlights Nazis’ overlooked crimes in Greece – DW (English)

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Germany's occupation of Greece from 1941 to 1945, and the issue of reparations forcrimes committed during this time, still burden German-Greek relations 75 years after the end of World War II. And while many Germans are well aware of the atrocities committed by the Nazis in Germany and elsewhere, little is known about the crimes committed in Greece.

That's why, between now and February 2021, an outdoor exhibition has been set up on the railings surrounding the Villa ten Hompel memorial museum in the western Germancity of Mnster, which commemorates crimes committed by the police and the administrative authorities during the Nazi era.

"Contrary to what the majority of Greeks believe, very few people in Germany and Europe know anything about Greece's martyred villages and towns," said Babis C. Karpouchtsis, a political scientist and Ph.D student at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. He told DW that the massacres of villagers, the mass shootings of innocent people and the deportation and murder of Greek Jews was still largely unknown in Germany.

The idea for an exhibition came about in September 2018 during a delegation exchange visit organized by the Working Group of Nazi Memorial Museums and Memorial Sites in North Rhine-Westphalia. The visit was planned by Villa ten Hompel director Christoph Spieker, working group director Alfons Kenkmann and Peter Rmer, the working group's executive assistant. Together, they came up with the concept of the "Gallery Walk," consisting of intense and very emotional impressions of Greek memorial sites.

"The working group has always sought contact with international partners," said Rmer, adding that trips in recent years have focused on Poland and Israel, which most Germans associate with the Holocaust. "But we are also conscious of the fact that we are living in a migration society. In North Rhine-Westphalia, in particular, there are a lot of people with Greek roots. And so Greece became a focus, because Germans committed a great many crimes there."

In the space of a week, the German delegation traveled all over Greece, learning about the whole dreadful spectrum of recent history: from the village of Kandanos on Crete that was burned to the ground during the battle for the island in 1941, to the mass shootings in Kaisariani and Kalavryta and the extermination of the Jewish community in Thessaloniki.

"I found it truly shameful how little was paid in reparations in the 1950s," said Kenkmann, a professor at the University of Leipzig. "When you've been to the Holocaust sites, and in the villages where the civilian population were murdered, or where mass shootings took place I am very ashamed of the hubris of the Germans of the 1950s."

The return visit of their Greek counterparts was originally planned for this year, but has been postponed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. For Kenkmann, though, the most important thing is that initial contact has been made and that "through this, the Greeks will see that there may indeed be people in civil society in North Rhine-Westphalia who could represent their interests."

A memorial to the 500 people murdered in the Nazi massacre at Kalavryta

With this initiative, Kenkmann is aiming to create a new channel of communication between Germany and Greece. He is particularly keen to promote exchange projects dealing with the notorious Pavlos Melas concentration camp in the northern city of Thessaloniki, drawing on the link between Thessaloniki and its sister city, Leipzig.

Karpouchtsis believes exchange projects like these are important for the joint academic study of Germany's wartime occupation of Greece. "Open dialogue with civil society and visits by research groups and academics promote our historical understanding and knowledge and in doing so, they also strengthen democracy at local, national and European levels," he said.

This article has been translated from German.

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New memorial highlights Nazis' overlooked crimes in Greece - DW (English)

Dr. William Good, who battled Nazis in Poland, dies of COVID-19 – Los Angeles Times

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It was 1943 and Wowa Zev Gdud, a Jewish teenager who had already escaped execution three times, had a chance to avenge loved ones killed in the Holocaust. He ordered two Lithuanian policemen to kneel at gunpoint in a desolate swamp.

The policemen were from the same unit that had, two years earlier, gunned down his mother and brother. But as Gdud raised his pistol his hand began to tremble. He had already seen too much death, he would explain years later, and he couldnt add to it. He lowered the gun and walked away.

Gdud would survive the war, study medicine in Italy and eventually emigrate to the U.S., where he changed his named to William Z. Good. He never forgot that day in the swamp when, by choosing humanity over revenge, he took the first steps on a path that would end up touching tens of thousands of lives.

Good, who died in an Azusa senior care community Friday at 96 of complications from COVID-19, ran a quiet medical practice in La Puente, a blue-collar melting pot of cultures where the doctors knowledge of 11 languages was invaluable. So was his altruism. For more than five decades everyone received the same treatment whether they could pay or not, and many couldnt.

I often worked in the office on holidays and summers and witnessed his kindness and generosity with both his time and financially with his patients, said Donna Daniel, whose mother, Tommie Allen, worked as one of Goods nurses for 45 years. Everyone got his full attention.

His son Michael, who runs his own medical practice in Connecticut, said his father made house calls, assisted in the operating room and delivered more than 2,000 babies.

He was such an extraordinarily kind person, remembered Richard Pace, who, as an accident-prone child growing up in West Covina, was a frequent visitor to the doctors office. He also had a wonderful sense of humor.

Good was born in Minsk, Belarus, but grew up outside Vilna, Poland, a city that would be claimed by three countries during World War II. Shortly after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Good was captured and taken to the notorious Ponary killing ground, where the bullet meant for him just missed. He survived by falling into a pit and feigning death among the corpses.

There would be other close calls during the war, much of it spent hiding in the forest with his father, occasionally joining the resistance in sabotaging Nazi rail lines and surviving thanks to the bravery of local families. Goods wartime experiences were largely unknown to his former patients until he was profiled in The Times in September.

Good never killed anyone, something he said shamed him during the war but later, when he had children of his own, became a point of pride.

We did not kill. They killed our children, so we have nothing to hide, he said in an interview.

Ill tell you, he continued, most people are very angry Look what they did to us. And so they dont go on with their lives. They are bitter. [But] if I am angry at you, its eating me. You dont even know that Im angry at you.

So I decided that thats a dead emotion, and I better get rid of that. And I did that early in life.

After the war, Good made it to Italy, where he studied medicine and, with two other medical students, founded a hostel for Jewish war refugees. That was where he met Perela Esterowicz, a doctoral student in chemistry who survived the Holocaust in a work camp in Vilna; she later took the name Pearl and became his wife of 67 years.

Their story is told by their son Michael in The Search for Major Plagge: The Nazi Who Saved Jews, which recounts the couples 1999 return to Vilna to learn more about Karl Plagge, a mysterious German officer who ran the Vilna camp but helped save hundreds of Jews. Pearl Good would later unveil his name when it was added to the Wall of the Righteous at the Yad Vashem Holocaust remembrance center in Jerusalem.

Good is survived by Pearl, 91; three children, all of whom are doctors; six grandchildren, one a doctor; and three great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be in private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Temple Ami Shalom (templeamishalom.org) or The American Joint Distribution Committee (www.jdc.org)

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Dr. William Good, who battled Nazis in Poland, dies of COVID-19 - Los Angeles Times

When it comes to the truth, are we different than Nazi Germany? – Wyoming Tribune

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One of Hitlers biggest lies was that Germany was not beaten in World War I. Hitlers Minister of Propaganda said:

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus, by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.

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When it comes to the truth, are we different than Nazi Germany? - Wyoming Tribune

Headstones with swastikas removed from Nazi POW graves in Texas – BRProud.com

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SAN ANTONIO (KXAN) The graves of two Nazi prisoners of war who died in Texas during World War II are now gone from Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio after years of controversy.

The headstones of German prisoners Alfred P. Kafka and Georg Forst were removed without prior notice at 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 23, according to San Antonio Express-News.

The Jewish War Veterans of the United of States of America, called the removal the last gasp of the Third Reich, while Michael L. Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation also praised the decision, calling the presence of the headstones, not merely an eyesore, it was an assault on everything that is decent and moral and ethical.

The foundation began its campaign for the removal last May, but the Department of Veterans Affairs declined, saying it had a responsibility to protect historic resources, even ones that are divisive.

The two headstones showed a modified Iron Cross, which had a swastika in the center of a cross they also contained a German inscription reading, He died far from his home for the Fhrer, people and fatherland.

The headstones, which have been at Fort Same since 1947, have courted calls for removal for several years. Southern Poverty Law Center fellow, Eric Ward, said back in May: The VAs defense of the swastika the preeminent symbol of antisemitism only gives oxygen to the white nationalist movement.

Many Texan members of Congress supported the removal, including Sen. Ted Cruz and Reps. Will Hurd and Kay Granger.

In June, the VA announced all imagery related to Nazism and Adolf Hitler would be removed from the Fort Sam and Fort Douglas Post Cemetery in Utah, where theres one other swastika-bearing headstone.

Im glad that the headstones have been replaced, Rep. Joaquin Castro, according to NBC News. Its jarring to think that symbols of the Third Reich and the Nazi regime would stand in an American military cemetery.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, of Laredo, compared the debate over the headstone removal to that of debates over images of the Confederacy while noting a key difference, in his opinion.

Theyre both offensive, but this one is foreign country, foreign symbol foreign symbol for a regime that killed so many of our soldiers and caused misery to a lot of families that lost soldiers during World War II, said Cuellar.

The VA explained the unannounced removal was to prevent it from becoming a media event, and out of respect for the cemetery. The department reports there are 133 German POWs buried at the site.

Its not yet known if the headstone in Utah has been removed.

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Headstones with swastikas removed from Nazi POW graves in Texas - BRProud.com

Hateful Neo-Nazi propagandist who called for extermination of Jews and gay people jailed for four years – PinkNews

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A neo-Nazi propagandist who called for gay people and Jews to be exterminated has been jailed for four years.

Luke Hunter, of Newcastle, was sentenced to four years behind bars at Leeds Crown Court last Wednesday (23 December) after he admitted seven charges of encouraging terrorism and disseminating terrorist publications.

The 23-year-0ld was a key figure in the online neo-Nazi movement, tied with the now-banned terrorist organisation Feuerkrieg Division (FKD).

According to the UKs Counter Terrorism Policing Network, Hunter was persistent and prolific in his efforts to promote right-wing terrorism, utilising a variety of platforms and accounts to spread his hateful ideology and encourage others to do the same.

The neo-Nazi established his own website through which to disseminate his vile white supremacist, anti-Semitic and homophobic views, police say, noting that his workhad a significant online reach, particularly among young people.

His Telegram channel, where he shared designs glorifying Admiral Duncan bomber David Copeland, Jo Coxs murderer Thomas Mair and white supremacist mass murder Dylann Roof, attracted more than 1,200 subscribers.

Anti-extremist group Hope Not Hate, which tracks online extremism, reports that Hunter produced hundreds of hours of podcasts, multitudes of graphic designs, and dozens of stylised fascist videos which were promoted across his websites, numerous Twitter accounts, YouTube, Instagram, and the messaging apps Telegram and Discord.

He was arrested last October after an investigation into right-wing terrorism. Searches of Hunters home yielded Nazi memorabilia, white supremacist texts, military training manuals and guides on guerrilla warfare.

Detective chief superintendent Martin Snowden, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: Hunter invested a lot of effort in maintaining his website, his online presence and his status among like-minded individuals. He saw himself as an influencer and even sought to widen his following by speaking at a right wing conference in the UK.

These actions are not simply the result of a young person simply seeking to explore and express their social or political views. Hunter promoted neo-Nazism to the widest possible audience and was reckless about the consequences.

Through his pleas, Hunter accepts he was responsible for the hateful posts on his accounts, posts which glorified terrorism, promoted killing techniques and encouraged the killing of Jews, non-white races and homosexuals.

Luke Hunter represents a threat to our society, not simply because of his mindset, but because of the considerable lengths he was prepared to go to in order to recruit and enable others in support of his cause.

Hope Not Hate warned: The milieu to which Hunter belonged regards mass murder as a means to revolution and retribution, but also as a form of entertainment. Talk in the media of lone wolf far-right terrorists can, when used incorrectly, give the impression that an individual has radicalised in complete isolation.

However, while some terrorists do plan and carry out their attacks alone, they near-universally emerge from an ecosystem of sorts. Hunter, and others like him, intended to foster such an ecosystem.

The hate that motivates modern far-right terrorists may be old, but they have found new ways to operate and organise. Telegram continues to fail to take appropriate action against the dangerous hate operating through its software.

Hunters channel remains available on the platform, and his violent propaganda continues to be circulated by other channels. All tech companies have a responsibility to deal with the use of their platforms for nefarious purposes, and Telegram must be held to account.

PinkNews has contacted Telegram for comment.

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Hateful Neo-Nazi propagandist who called for extermination of Jews and gay people jailed for four years - PinkNews

Iceland Abstains From Voting On Anti-Nazism UN Resolution – Reykjavk Grapevine

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Javier Carbajal/Wikimedia Commons

Iceland was amongst 51 countries that abstained from voting on a resolution, put forward to the United Nations by 24 countries, which condemns Nazism and other far-right ideologies, calls upon nations to fight against racial discrimination, and expresses concern over increased activity from far-right groups. Two countriesthe United States and Ukrainevoted against the resolution.

130 countries voted in favour. As a simple majority is all that is needed to pass a UN resolution, these are more than enough votes for passage. UN resolutions are non-binding, unless pertaining to internal matters.

Political reasons may play a part in the number of abstentions. The 24 countries who submitted the resolution include Russia and, as RV points out, the United States cited frustrations in dealing with Russia in their written explanation for their vote against the resolution when it was submitted last year.

In that explanation of their No-vote, the US furthermore accused Russia of thinly veiled attempts to legitimize longstanding Russian disinformation narratives smearing neighboring nations under the cynical guise of halting Nazi glorification, while at the same time the US also maintained their commitment to freedom of expression.

Furthermore, a good number of socialist countries stood behind the submitting of the resolution, while countries such as Germany, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and the UK abstained, potentially underlining the political rift over the votes on the resolution.

Note: Due to the effect the Coronavirus is having on tourism in Iceland, its become increasingly difficult for the Grapevine to survive. If you enjoy our content and want to help the Grapevines journalists do things like eat and pay rent, please consider joining our High Five Club.

You can also check out our shop, loaded with books, apparel and other cool merch, that you can buy and have delivered right to your door.

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Iceland Abstains From Voting On Anti-Nazism UN Resolution - Reykjavk Grapevine

Neutrino Energy Will Unlock the True Potential of Space Travel – PRNewswire

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HAMBURG, Germany, Dec. 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --By developing a new, more reliable form of usable energy, the Neutrino Energy Grouphopes to do its part in unlocking the mysteries of space and propelling humanity into its rightful place amongst the stars. Led by energy visionary Holger Thorsten Schubart, the Neutrino Energy Group is thrilled to be involved in the development of tomorrow's space travel energy technologies.

Limitations of Current Spacecraft Energy Technologies

Once spacecraft have broken free of the Earth's gravity well, they no longer need the immense propulsive power of chemical rockets to stay aloft. Astronauts must still perform activities while in space, however, and vital functions like life support and lighting must also be supported.

At present, photovoltaic cells (solar panels) are primarily used to provide electrical power to spacecraft while they are in orbit or traveling between celestial bodies. Even though objects in space aren't pulled along by the Earth's diurnal cycle, however, they can't always be positioned in direct sunlight.

Additionally, solar panels take up considerable surface area, and they're constructed using inflexible materials. As a result, impacts from space junk, meteoroids, and other types of moving objects in space commonly impact the operation of solar panels.

Neutrino Energy Holds Infinite Potential

Over the decades, scientists have postulated that neutrinos might serve as a source of energy. It was only in 2015, however, that the mass of neutrinos was theoretically proven, and over the last five years, numerous laboratory experiments have definitively demonstrated that the mass of neutrinos can be converted into electrical energy.

Neutrino-generated electricity is currently held back by its low production capacity. Any reduction of the burden currently placed on solar energy, however, would come as a welcome development to engineers of spacecraft. Over time, neutrinovoltaic devices will become capable of producing increasing amounts of electricity, and they will become reliable sources of energy both in space and down here on Earth.

Unlike photovoltaic cells, neutrinovoltaic devices do not need to be directly exposed to sunlight. They can operate in complete darkness, and they can be placed inside the thick, protective outer hulls of spacecraft.

The Secrets of Space Will Soon Be Uncovered

Having attended the 69th International Astronautical Congress in Bremen, Germany, Holger Thorsten Schubart maintains his contacts within the space travel community as he and the Neutrino Energy Group continue developing practical neutrino energy technologies. With the help of neutrinovoltaic technologies, humanity's exploration of the stars will become safer and more rewarding.

Neutrino Deutschland GmbHUnterden Linden 2110117 BerlinTel.: +493020924013Email:[emailprotected]

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Neutrino Energy Will Unlock the True Potential of Space Travel - PRNewswire

The Year in Space Travel – The Wall Street Journal

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We dont have to remind readers of the ways that 2020 has been dispiriting, but theres been some good news. The Covid vaccine rollout is a tribute to American ingenuity, and then theres the remarkable success of the SpaceX rocket launches.

The latter have become so routine that they barely make the news. On Saturday the company lit the fuse on one of its 229-foot Falcon 9 rockets, which put into orbit a U.S. spy satellite. It was SpaceXs 26th launch of 2020.

The part that looks surreal is when the Falcon 9s first stage plummets back to Earth, fires its engines to arrest its fall, and then sticks an upright landing. Saturdays rocket was launched from Floridas Kennedy Space Center. Eight minutes later, the first stage touched down on a landing pad at nearby Cape Canaveral. If youve never seen the feat, check out the footage online.

The repeat landings are a technical and economic achievement since they lower the cost of access to orbit. The Falcon 9 booster on Saturday was completing its fifth mission. This was SpaceXs 70th successful recovery, and in November a booster was used for a seventh time. SpaceX says one might eventually fly 10 missions without a major refurbishing. The company is aiming at a 24-hour turnaround from landing to relaunch. For almost a decade after the final Space Shuttle flight in 2011, Americans had to hitch a ride to the International Space Station on Russian craft. Now they can take the Falcon 9.

Space exploration is risky, and two weeks ago a prototype of SpaceXs Starship, a 160-foot silvery rocket that founder Elon Musk wants to send to Mars, was meant to gently land during a test. Instead it came down too fast and exploded in a fireball. But Mr. Musk wasnt fazed, at least on Twitter : We got all the data we needed! Congrats SpaceX team hell yeah!!

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The Year in Space Travel - The Wall Street Journal

Long before Armstrong and Aldrin, artists were stoking dreams of space travel – Yahoo News

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In the midst of the space race, Hereward Lester Cooke, the former co-director of the NASA Art Program, observed, Space travel started in the imagination of the artist.

If the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing was an opportunity to celebrate a remarkable technological achievement, its also a good time to reflect on the creative vision that made it possible.

Long before Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, artists and writers were crafting visions of extraterrestrial exploration that would make space flight possible.

For centuries, the dream of human travel into the cosmos has fired imaginations.

Ancient mythologies teemed with deities who suffused the skies, glimmered from stars and rode the Sun and Moon. Pythagoras, Philolaus and Plutarch each contemplated the Moon as a world of its own. Leonardo da Vinci famously imagined flying machines that would take their occupants skyward. Authors such as Cyrano de Bergerac whos credited with being the first to imagine a rocket being used for space travel fed a growing appetite for stories of celestial exploration.

In 1865, the French writer Jules Verne published his novel, From Earth to the Moon, followed five years later by its sequel, Round the Moon.

Vernes tale provides an uncannily prescient account of the development of space travel: Three astronauts blast off from Florida in a small aluminum capsule, fired from the end of an enormous cast iron gun. After orbiting the Moon and making observations with a pair of opera glasses, the three men return to Earth, splashing into the ocean as heroes.

Almost a century later, RKO Pictures would release a film inspired by Vernes adventure story, while a comic book version of the tale went through multiple printings between 1953 and 1971.

In the 1950s, the painter Chesley Bonestell further stoked the imagination of future space-farers with his visions of space stations, published in Colliers. Walt Disney would follow with three made-for-TV movies that illustrated the ways people might one day be able to fly into space and land on the Moon.

Story continues

In 1969, Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins would realize the vision that Verne and others had instilled in the minds eye of millions.

This accomplishment would, in turn, inspire artists anew.

Nothing will already be the same, reads the text along the right edge of Robert Rauschenbergs collage Stoned Moon Drawing. Published in the December 1969 issue of Studio International, Rauschenbergs work combined images of the Apollo 11 moonwalk, Cape Canaveral and the Gemini print shop. Rauschenberg wanted to draw attention to the deep collaboration required in the worlds of art and science, whether it was for print-making or lunar landings.

In the 1970s, the color field painter Alma Thomas explored what she described as the vastness and incomprehensibility of space in abstract paintings like Blast Off, Launch Pad and New Galaxy.

When I paint space, I am with the astronauts, she said.

The artist Red Grooms, who attended the Apollo 15 launch, turned to official NASA photographs to create a gigantic sculptural installation of astronauts David Scott and James Irwin exploring the lunar surface with cameras and a lunar rover.

I wanted, he explained, to do the sort of thing the [NASA] people were doing build something incomprehensible then try to get it off the ground.

What can be gleaned from this tale of outer space visionaries?

Perhaps, most simply, it is the power of the arts to cultivate the imagination to render possible in the mind what has not yet been tangibly realized. As the Canadian theorist Marshall McLuhan observed in his 1964 classic, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man:

The artist is the [person] in any field, scientific or humanistic, who grasps the implications of [their] actions and of the new knowledge in [their] own time. [The artist] is the [person] of integral awareness.

In recent years, American education policy has increasingly emphasized the value of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, often at the expense of support for the arts.

At what peril does education policy drift away from the arts? What sort of navigational cues might go missing?

Scientists, the essayist Rebecca Solnit noted, certainly play an integral role in human discovery. They transform the unknown into the known, haul it in like fishermen.

But it is the artist, she writes, who gets you out into that dark sea in the first place.

It was artists who first envisioned and produced photographic technologies. It was artists who first foresaw a world in which individuals might fly. And it will be artists who continue to shatter the perceived limitations to our own intellectual frameworks.

In 2018, the Japanese tycoon Yusaku Maezawa paid an undisclosed sum of money to become the first person to orbit the Moon since 1972. If all goes according to plan, hell depart in 2023 with companions of his choosing.

I find his selection fitting: He intends to take along a group of artists.

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This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

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Anne Collins Goodyear does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Long before Armstrong and Aldrin, artists were stoking dreams of space travel - Yahoo News

6 space missions to look forward to in 2021 – TechRepublic

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From Martian rover landings to the launch of Hubble's "successor," here are some of the most exciting space missions pegged for next year.

image: NASA JPL Caltech

Space agencies around the globe have a number of pioneering missions planned for 2021. Interestingly, next year is set to feature not one but two highly anticipated Martian rover landings including NASA's Perseverance mission. On the heels of China's recent successful Chang'e-5 lunar mission, the nation will also attempt to land a rover on Mars in the months ahead. Below, we've curated a roundup of some of the standout missions pegged for 2021.

SEE: TechRepublic Premium editorial calendar: IT policies, checklists, toolkits, and research for download (TechRepublic Premium)

Image: NASA

On July 30, 2020, the Mars 2020 Mission launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station en route to Mars with the Perseverance rover onboard. On Feb. 18, 2021, after millions of miles of space travel, the craft is set to land on the Red Planet. The "car-sized" Perseverance rover stands 7-feet tall, approximately 10 feet in total length, 9-feet wide, and weighs more than 2,000 pounds. Perseverance builds on previous NASA Martian rover missions will use instrumentation to continue the search for ancient microbial life as well as help plan for future human missions to Mars.

SEE: NASA's Mars 2020 Rover: Everything you need to know about Perseverance and the mission (TechRepublic)

Image: NASA

On July 23, 2020, the Chinese Tianwen 1 mission successfully launched en route to the Red Planet with an orbiter, lander, and rover in tow. After months of travel, the craft is set to arrive at Mars in February 2021. The craft will first orbit the planet using onboard cameras to pinpoint potential landing areas. Once a site has been determined, the rover and lander will separate from the craft and attempt to land on Mars. At the moment, this landing is scheduled for April 2021, per NASA.

Image: Intuitive Machines

NASA's Artemis program is set to return humans to the lunar surface for the first time in decades, including the first woman to walk on the moon in 2024. In preparation for future manned lunar exploration efforts, the Intuitive Machines 1 (IM-1) mission is set to launch to the moon on Oct. 11, 2021. The lander (Nova-C) is a "tall hexagonal cylinder," which will carry five NASA payloads as well as commercial cargo, according to the space agency.

SEE: NASA to build lunar 4G network (TechRepublic)

Image: Soutwest Research Institute

On Oct. 16, 2021, NASA's Lucy mission is scheduled to launch as part of a journey that will include flybys of seven asteroids. The mission's objectives are designed to help scientists understand the formation of the early solar system including the accretion of giant planets, the "sources of primordial organic matter," and more, per NASA. Based on the current launch timeline, Lucy could first fly by asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson in April of 2025.

Image: NASA/Desiree Stover

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is scheduled to launch on Oct. 31, 2021. NASA has described JWST as the "successor" to the Hubble Telescope, however, Webb uses a primary mirror that is 6.5 meters in diameter and touts a collection area that is approximately 6.25 times larger than Hubble's, according to NASA. Webb analyzes the universe primarily in infrared and the longer wavelength coverage allows Webb to "hunt for the unobserved formation of the first galaxies" and peer inside of "dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming today," according to the space agency.

SEE:OSIRIS-REx mission's project scientist details "greedy" asteroid sampling, challenges, and more(TechRepublic)

An illustration of the NEA Scout spacecraft and its solar sail.

Image: NASA

NASA's Near-Earth Object Observations Program was established in 1998. In the decades since, NASA has identified thousands of near-Earth objects (NEOs). In fact, the space agency estimates that "an average of 30 new discoveries are added each week." While most NEOs entering the Earth's atmosphere will disintegrate before reaching the surface, larger objects could potentially "cause widespread damage in and around their impact sites," per NASA.

The Near-Earth Asteroid Scout (NEA Scout) mission is scheduled to launch in late 2021. The missions will use a 6U CubeSat to fly by Near-Earth Asteroid 1991 VG to collect images as well as observe the object's shape, debris field, morphology, and more. NASA estimates that the mission will take little more than two years.

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Neutrino Energy Will Unlock True Potential of Space Travel – I-Connect007

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By developing a new, more reliable form of usable energy, the Neutrino Energy Group hopes to do its part in unlocking the mysteries of space and propelling humanity into its rightful place amongst the stars. Led by energy visionary Holger Thorsten Schubart, the Neutrino Energy Group is thrilled to be involved in the development of tomorrow's space travel energy technologies.

Limitations of Current Spacecraft Energy Technologies

Once spacecraft have broken free of the Earth's gravity well, they no longer need the immense propulsive power of chemical rockets to stay aloft. Astronauts must still perform activities while in space, however, and vital functions like life support and lighting must also be supported.

At present, photovoltaic cells (solar panels) are primarily used to provide electrical power to spacecraft while they are in orbit or traveling between celestial bodies. Even though objects in space aren't pulled along by the Earth's diurnal cycle, however, they can't always be positioned in direct sunlight.

Additionally, solar panels take up considerable surface area, and they're constructed using inflexible materials. As a result, impacts from space junk, meteoroids, and other types of moving objects in space commonly impact the operation of solar panels.

Neutrino Energy Holds Infinite Potential

Over the decades, scientists have postulated that neutrinos might serve as a source of energy. It was only in 2015, however, that the mass of neutrinos was theoretically proven, and over the last five years, numerous laboratory experiments have definitively demonstrated that the mass of neutrinos can be converted into electrical energy.

Neutrino-generated electricity is currently held back by its low production capacity. Any reduction of the burden currently placed on solar energy, however, would come as a welcome development to engineers of spacecraft. Over time, neutrinovoltaic devices will become capable of producing increasing amounts of electricity, and they will become reliable sources of energy both in space and down here on Earth.

Unlike photovoltaic cells, neutrinovoltaic devices do not need to be directly exposed to sunlight. They can operate in complete darkness, and they can be placed inside the thick, protective outer hulls of spacecraft.

The Secrets of Space Will Soon Be Uncovered

Having attended the 69th International Astronautical Congress in Bremen, Germany, Holger Thorsten Schubart maintains his contacts within the space travel community as he and the Neutrino Energy Group continue developing practical neutrino energy technologies. With the help of neutrinovoltaic technologies, humanity's exploration of the stars will become safer and more rewarding.

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Star Trek actor James Doohan has his ashes at the ISS – Redshirts Always Die

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The ISS (International Space Station) is home to many wonderful astronauts, but now its also home to James Doohan of Star Trek fame.

James Doohan is most known for playing Montgomery Scotty Scott in the original Star Trek series from the 1960s. Now, however, the former real-life World War II vet hes also going to be known as the first Star Trek cast member ever on the ISS. Even though Doohan passed away in 2005, his legacy is still persisting in a way thats taken him to the stars, because his ashes are now onboard the ISS (International Space Station).

The Times of London (via the Verge) reported this nugget and revealed that while most are just finding out about Doohans post-mortem trip, even though it happened 12 years ago. How did it happen though? Well, Richard Garriott was a private citizen who traveled to space and wanted to bring the ashes of Doohan with him but was denied. So he instead brought some of them, along with a lamented picture, and smuggled Doohan on board, hiding him under the floor of the USS Columbus, the ISSs module. No one knew until the article came out.

It was completely clandestine, Garriott told the Times. His family were very pleased that the ashes made it up there but we were all disappointed we didnt get to talk about it publicly for so long. Now enough time has passed that we can,

This isnt Doohans first trip in space either. His ashes were taken up in 2012 aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch. According to the Times, his ashes have traveled an estimated 1.7 billion miles across space, and have orbited the Earth more than 70,000 times.

A touching tribute to a man who inspired so many to reach for the stars. The original cast of Star Trek came around right as the United States was starting to test the dream of space travel, and landing on the moon. For an entire generation of astronauts, it was the crew of the Enterprise who inspired them to travel to the stars. So its only fitting that they return the favor.

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Star Trek actor James Doohan has his ashes at the ISS - Redshirts Always Die

Lockheed to boost space expansion with $4.4 billion Aerojet deal – The Dallas Morning News

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Lockheed Martin Corp. is expanding its foray into futuristic space travel and missile defense by acquiring supplier Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. in a deal valued at $4.4 billion, targeting higher sales and more savings in an environment of tightening defense budgets.

Aerojet is a supplier to Lockheed, including its Lockheed Martins Grand Prairie-based Missiles and Fire Control division and its F-35 assembly facility in Fort Worth.

As part of the transaction, Aerojet declared a $5 per share special dividend to be paid on March 24 to holders of record as of March 10. The payment of that special dividend will adjust the $56 per share consideration to be paid by Lockheed Martin, according to a statement Sunday.

At $51, Lockheed will be buying Aerojet at a 21% premium from the closing price on Friday. Lockheed chief executive officer Jim Taiclet stepped into the top job this year with a reputation as a dealmaker and a stockpile of cash. With Aerojet, he is picking up a key U.S. supplier of propulsion systems for missiles, rockets and other space and defense applications.

Still, the consolidation is likely to face scrutiny from key customers such as the U.S. Defense Department and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Another question mark is the reaction of competitors such as Boeing Co. and Raytheon Technologies Corp. that rely on Aerojets motors for their own hypersonics and missile products.

Its not clear how defense and antitrust officials will view this deal, especially in a new administration, but we could imagine pushback from others in industry, such as Raytheon or Boeing, Seth Seifman, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co., said in a note to customers.

Aerojet soared almost 24% to $52.10 in afternoon trading in New York after surging as much as 26%, the most intraday since 2009. Lockheed fell almost 6% to $349.99. Aerojet has declined 7.9% this year through Dec. 18 while Lockheed dropped 8.6%. A Standard & Poors index of U.S. aerospace and defense companies tumbled 18% over the same period.

Lockheed has been scouting for acquisitions. In January, the company said it was flush with cash and open to deals as Raytheon Co. prepared to combine with United Technologies Corp. to create a powerhouse in aerospace and defense.

During Lockheeds October earnings call, Taiclet said the company would be active but very, very prudent in its drive to bring in the technologies faster into the company that we think are going to be crucial for the future.

The Aerojet transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2021 after getting regulatory approvals and a nod from Aerojets shareholders.

Lockheeds space division is its third-largest business, contributing 18% of its 2019 revenue. The company competes with Elon Musks Space Exploration Technologies Corp. for U.S. government rocket launches through the United Launch Alliance, its joint venture with Boeing.

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Lockheed to boost space expansion with $4.4 billion Aerojet deal - The Dallas Morning News

Introduction to Preview 2021 – Travel Weekly

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In late 2019, then-editor of Travel Weekly Rob Fixmer sat down to pen the introduction to our annual Preview issue. "Let's face it," he wrote, "some things are simply unknowable, unpredictable, undecipherable."

Examples in the introduction included volcanoes, technology fails, political action, revolutions. A global pandemic was not on the list.

Of course, we did experience some of those things in 2020. But as soon as the coronavirus hit the world with full force in the first quarter, the industry focus was singlemindedly on the virus and its impact. Travel was necessarily curtailed, travel advisors went from dream-makers to refund-obtainers, and last year's Preview issue suddenly was a quaint reminder of hopes and dreams of simpler times an era now known as "pre-Covid."

Yet here we are again, looking through the crystal ball at what 2021 might bring. And again, we face the unknowable.

Or do we? With our continuing focus on Covid-19, we know that much of 2021 will be driven and shaped by the response to the virus. In the short term, most experts project that the first part of 2021 is going to be tough. Especially at the start, the same challenges that we're facing right now will still be there. Airlines will lose money; cruise ships won't carry paying passengers; quarantines will continue; meetings and events will be pushed off.

But one theme, one strain (if you will) runs through our Preview issues year after year, in interviews with trusted sources, analysts and advisors: Optimism. The act of travel is an optimistic act, and the people who make up the travel industry are an optimistic, forward-looking bunch. So in our Preview pages you'll find optimism of a better year to come. And also stoicism. Travel may be bloodied, but it's not beaten.

Many of the predictions from experts, advisors, executives and journalists are that travel is poised for a comeback in the second half of the year. Could 2021 be the Year of the Comeback? Not immediately, perhaps. But it seems reasonable to predict that once the vaccination starts to take hold, and once transmission rates subside, and if there are no other major setbacks, that people will be eager desperate to travel. In the leisure space, we expect to see friends and family look for ways to make memories with the people they haven't seen or hugged in a year.

Meanwhile, we'll see how the adjustments and pivots of 2020 will play out. People will reckon with testing and vaccinations and whether proof will be required of one or both in order to travel. The easing this year of cancellation and rebooking policies will make travel more consumer-friendly. A willingness by companies to alter the way they view agent pay may change advisor-supplier relationships in the short- and medium-term. The ubiquity of Zoom makes home-based work even easier and more accessible. Mobile advancements pushed to the fore by necessity will make travel more hands-free and frictionless, and although the thrill of stepping into a buzzy restaurant is still a long way off, we're eager to see how hotels, resorts and cruise lines are rebuilding their dining and entertainment concepts to make things safe and yes, fun.

If just a few of the trends we identify in the Preview issue play out, our 2022 edition will be quite different from this year's. Let's just say we're optimists.

-- Rebecca Tobin

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Introduction to Preview 2021 - Travel Weekly

Breaking down the one joke Stanley Kubrick hid within 2001: A Space Odyssey – Far Out Magazine

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More than half a century ago, director Stanley Kubrick, alongside futuristic writer Arthur C. Clark set out to make, a good science fiction cinematic experience. The resulting film,2001: A Space Odyssey,premiered in spring 1968 (nearly a year before Neil Armstrong landed on the moon) is a landmark moment in the history fo cinema and one that has influenced sci-fi filmmakers for generations including the likes of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Christopher Nolan.Nolan, in an interview with the Stanley Kubrick Appreciation Society, said, [2001] is in dialogue with our ideas of the future.

The influence of2001: A Space Odysseyon subsequent sci-fi technology and special effects has been pervasive. The film won an Oscar for its pioneering special effects and has been called a quantum leap in technological advancements by film criticJames Verneire. However the concurrent artistic and philosophical bravura of the film is unparalleled. Never before or after has a film on space engaged in such immersive visual dialogues on the philosophy of humanitys evolution and the philosophy of technological advancement. Unlike Kubricks 1964 nuclear satireDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb,2001:A Space Odysseyrestrained its use of humour to one hidden intentional joke which stopped the comic element of an otherwise ambiguous film from flushing down the toilet.

The virtuosity of Kubrick is indeed in infusing the scientific with the enigmatic. The subliminal transcendence of the trajectory of 2001 can be akin to a psychedelic hallucinogen ingestion induced epiphany or Scientological epiphany depending on the viewers biases. At the time of its premiere in 1968, Renata Adler in the Times described the movie as somewhere between hypnotic and immensely boring.

Indeed one of the biggest philosophical easter eggs hidden within2001:A Space Odysseyis the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The film opens to Richard Strausss evocative tone poem, Also Sprach Zarathustra based on Nietzsches, Thus spoke Zarathustra, with the visual the sun, moon and earth aligning in the symbolism of Zoroastrianism, based in the teaching of Zoroaster (also known as Zarathustra).

2001s divergence from quintessential sci-fi music is reiterated with Johann Strauss The Blue Danube playing to the docking of the space shuttle. The films divergence from the staple is future exacerbated by exiguous verbal sound in the film. While most cinematic pictures rely on dialogues to reveal plotlines, Kubrick intended 2001 to be a visual experience, mostly devoid of verbiage. In 1970, Kubrick explained that the movie was basically a visual, non-verbal experience. It avoids intellectual verbalisation and reaches the viewers subconscious in a way that is essentially poetic and philosophical.

Kubrick further added, I think that 2001, like music, succeeds in short-circuiting the rigid surface cultural blocks that shackle our consciousness to narrowly limited areas of experience and is able to cut directly through to areas of emotional comprehension.

2001 exemplifies Hitchcocks dictum not to tell what you can show. The narrative of the film unfolds in four movements:

The Dawn Of Man

The initial Dawn of Man segment opens with the eponymous landscape shots of dawn in prehistoric earth. A tribe of apes in a Darwinian struggle for survival engage in territorial battle over a watering hole with another tribe of apes only to be defeated. The former tribe of humanoid primates encounter a mysterious black monolith. The monolith accelerates their enlightenment, as one of the Apes figures out the use of bones as weapons and kills a tapir, turning the pirates into carnivores. The tribe deploys their newfound weapon in a battle against the opposing tribe and kills the leader of the opposing tribe.

In triumphant jubilation akin to a footballers celebratory high five, the ape-man flings the bone in the air. In one of most iconic jump-cuts in cinematic history, the bone in the air transforms into what is presumably a space satellite, propelling the timeline of the narrative forward by four million years. According to Clark, the Space Satellite is supposed to be an orbiting space bomb, a weapon in space. Thus the transition from the Pleistocene era to space-age is tethered by the notion that human evolution is concurrent with the evolution of bigger and better ways of destruction.

The Floyd Segment

This segment introduces Dr Heywood Floyd (William Sylvester) en-route to a space station and onwards to Clavius, a lunar settlement. Replete with technological advancements such as artificial gravity, zero-gravity toilets, voiceprint recognition, video payphones, corporatisation of space travel (did someone say Elon Musk?) Clarke and Kubricks futuristic predictions are of near Nostradamus proportions of accuracy if not wholly infallible and a tad over-optimistic.

The banality of dialogues between Floyd and his Russian counterparts is interspersed with the parody of a full page of instructions to use a zero-gravity toilet. The narrative progresses with the revelation of the discovery of a monolith, now identified as TMA-1 or Tycho Magnetic Anomaly, buried under the lunar surface which emits a signal to Jupiter.

The fearful reverence of the apes is replaced by the arrogance of man as the astronauts try to take a picture in front of the monolith. Under instructions from the National Council of Astronautics, Floyd prohibits his colleagues from disclosing the news of the TMA-1.

The Jupiter Mission

Fast forward 18 months Dr Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood)) and Dr David Bowman (Keir Dullea) are aboard a spacecraft, Discovery 1, on an expedition to Jupiter along with three other astronauts in hibernation and a H.A.L 9000 (voiced by Douglas Rain) supercomputer that talks in a Canadian accent.

In a fastidious sub-plot, the question of the sentience of the machine is evoked when H.A.L who proclaimed to be foolproof and incapable of error misdiagnoses a fault in AE-35 unit and Poole and Bowman discuss disconnecting HALs primary brain functions. HAL goes ape-shit crazy (Remember the primate with bone?) and kills the entire crew except for Dave, who manages to disconnect HAL. The supercomputer is acutely humane in his last moments as it says, I am afraid Dave, my mind is going, I can feel it.

Jupiter and Beyond the infinite

Perhaps the most baffling part of the movie is its ending, which is more evocative than instructive. A third monolith suspended in Jupiters atmosphere propels Dave in a space pod through a kaleidoscopic, psychedelic plethora of colours and shapes, popularly known as the Stargate sequence.

Kubricks special effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull used a pioneering slit-scan technique to achieve the impressionistic psychedelic effect, a feat which will be replicated decades later by CGI. Dave is transported into a neo-classical French style room, and in an anachronistic time wrap the film rapidly shifts perspective from young Dave to an older Dave and finally, a bedridden Dave, who reaches towards the monolith in action oddly reminiscent of Adam reaching out to God in Michaelangelos fresco in the Sistine chapel, only to be transformed into a foetal Star child.

The film ends in a shroud of ambiguity with the star child floating in space near earth. However, Kubrick, unperturbed by the annals of audience restlessness to the pervasiveness of ambiguity in 2001 said in aninterview with Joseph Gelmis: Once youre dealing on a nonverbal level, ambiguity is unavoidable. But its the ambiguity of all art, of a fine piece of music or a paintingyou dont need written instructions by the composer or painter accompanying such works to explain them.

Perhaps, thus the zero-gravity toilet instructionis the only intentional joke in the film. In a scene aboard the space station, Floyd is seen peering at a detailed and convoluted instruction manual on the use of the zero-gravity toilet. Kubricks disdain of instructions for the understanding of the film highlights the irony of a page long instructions from the zero-gravity toilets. In an interview, Kubricks explained the zero-gravity toilet was the only intentional joke in the film. That evolution and technological advancement would lead to convoluting of tending to basic human needs is well worth a snigger. Despite its ambiguity, Kubrick doesnt want to spell out a verbal roadmap for 2001. Kubricks film doesnt come with an instruction manual, but the zero-gravity toilet does.

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Breaking down the one joke Stanley Kubrick hid within 2001: A Space Odyssey - Far Out Magazine

A visit to the moon, lab-grown meat: Projects that promise to make 2021 an exciting year – Economic Times

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Technology evolves at a rapid pace leading to a constant flow of innovation to help you live and work better. From space travel to food, here are six developments in science and tech that promise to make 2021 an exciting year

AR in ecommerceTHE NEW SHOPPING REALITYWant to walk into a store say Bata and try out their footwear with-out leaving the safe confines of your home? Augmented reality (AR) will change the game in retail. You can create a look, share it with friends and get their opinions before paying for the product. Even e-retailers will bet big on AR in 2021 as it can bring a mall to a customer's home. Reliance-backed ecommerce platform Fynd is already doing it. Amazon and Flipkart could well be next.

Lab-grown or plant-based meatIMPOSSIBLE BECOMES POSSIBLEThe Impossible Burger a plant-based, lab-grown meat from Impossible Food Inc is all the rage in the US. Even chains like McDonalds and Burger King are getting into the game. In India, the government has granted Rs 5 crore to a couple of in-stitutions to work on lab-grown meat. This could well be the year of vegetarian meat in India. Not having to kill an animal to fill your stomach may help give you a clear conscience. But note that plant-based meat sells for almost double the price of regular meat in several parts of the world.

Rollable, waterproof TVsROLL, BABY ROLLIn 2020, Samsung launched a TV called The Terrace. USP: water-proof TV. It could be a pool-side companion or a prop for that rain-dance party. More brands are likely to follow with similar TVs. And then there are rollable TVs which can be rolled up and tucked away. LG launched the worlds first rollable TV. Others won't be far behind. But you might have to pay a bomb for these. The water-proof Samsung TV costs $3,500 (roughly Rs 2.7 lakh) and the rollable TV costs a whopping $87,000 (an eye-popping Rs 64 lakh). Who said innovation comes cheap.

Space travelA WEEKEND AROUND THE MOONRichard Branson, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are all working on sending ordinary people to space. India isn't far behind. Isro is working on a manned mission to space Gaganyaan. This could lay the foundation of space travel and tourism in the country. Ordinary Indians might not be able to go to space in 2021. But soon, it would not be out of reach of a billionaire to realise such a million-dollar dream.

Foldable devicesMORE THAN SMARTPHONESSamsung, Huawei and LG have thrown their hats into the foldable smartphone ring. But brands are just getting started in this space. 2021 may very well be the year when foldable PCs make a mark. Lenovos foldable PC also the worlds first that arrived in 2020 gave us a glimpse of what to expect. But it would cost a bomb. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold costs a whopping $2,499 (roughly Rs 1.85 lakh). Foldable devices not only ensure innovations in hardware but also software. If you can stomach the inevitable glitches, it is going to be an exciting time.

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A visit to the moon, lab-grown meat: Projects that promise to make 2021 an exciting year - Economic Times

Russia Wants To Film A Movie In Space Before Tom Cruise Does – Screen Rant

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Before Tom Cruise and Doug Liman team up to make SpaceX Project in outer space, Russia is hoping to beat them to it with the new film, Challenge.

Ahead of Tom Cruise's plan to shoot a feature film in space, Russia hopes to beat the American to it. Cruise has been keeping very busy of late, as his upcoming film roster includesMission: Impossible 7 andMission: Impossible 8 (which are currently in production), as well as the completedTop Gun: Maverick. The sequel to the 1980s classic would have seen its release this year if it weren't for the ongoing COVID pandemic. It's now set to come out in July 2021, a handful of months beforeMission: Impossible 7. And after that, he's got something even bigger planned.

Cruise'shard work in filmmaking has continuously impressed. Known for completing many death defying stunts across the world, Cruise is scheduled to shoot a movie in outer space with Doug Liman, whom he worked with onEdge of Tomorrow.The film, currently known as the SpaceX Project, is expected to start production late next year with the help of NASA, as well astechnologyinnovator and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.SpaceX Project boasts a $200 million production budget, and will shoot on the International Space Station. It's certainly an ambitious project, but Cruise could get beaten to the punch depending on how things play out.

Related:Every Upcoming Tom Cruise Movie

Sky News has reportedthat Russian space agency Roscosmos and Channel One are lookingto start production in October 2021 on Challenge, a film that Channel One CEOKonstantin Ernst says"is not science fiction, this is a very realistic version of what may happen in the near future". They have also put out a casting call for an actress to appear in the film, whom will ideally be a Russian citizen, have no criminal record, and have a "chest girth of 112 cm", to be trained as acosmonaut-researcher. Plot details of Cruise's space film are currently unknown,exceptthat he will be in a starring role, also planning to begin production in October 2021.

The space race is back on. While this fun film battle may not carry the same repercussions than that of the Cold War, Cruise is clearly a very determined, and at times aggressive, film producer, as evident by his recent on-set rant concerning crew members not following COVID guidelines. While that may have recently been called out as a publicity stunt, the news still goes a long way in indicating that Cruise and his team will rise to the challenge of being the first narrative film production crew to ever shoot in space. Though the Russians' casting call isn't very telling in terms of Challenge's plot, it is still slightly more information in terms of what audiencesmight be seeing in the near future, meaning Cruise, Musk, Liman and NASA have a bit of catching up to do. After the Edge Of Tomorrowduo of Cruise and Liman demonstrated potential for great action spectacle in that film,their outer space film hasthe slight edge of a proven track record, as opposed to the Russian film castingunknowns. However, audiences will have to wait for a long time to find out.

Seeking an exclusive theatrical release, Tom Cruise's SpaceX Project has mounting competition from Russia'sRoscosmos and Channel One.Challengehopes to find its "big international star" soon in order for training to begin for outer space travel. Whichever film shoots on the International Space Station first will no doubt have audiences' full attention for being an historical moment, provided all the principal photography goes smoothly.

Next:How Fast Tom Cruise Can Run

Source: Sky News.

WB May Have to Pay $250 Million for Godzilla vs. Kong Streaming Release

Darius Azadeh is a film and television news writer for ScreenRant. After graduating university, he went on to report at the world's leading film festivals, including Cannes, BFI London and Raindance, writing reviews, think pieces and interviews. While he continues to do so, his love for cheesy shlock is never ending, despite claiming Le Cercle Rouge to be one of his all time favorites.Based out of Birmingham, U.K., he also works as an event organizer and part time programmer at an independent cinema.

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Russia Wants To Film A Movie In Space Before Tom Cruise Does - Screen Rant

Gamasutra’s Best of 2020: The top 10 games of the year – Gamasutra

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Looking back at the games we played this year reads a bit like a soundtrack to a disaster film, with each game representing a specific piece of time. We dove into Animal Crossing headfirst as lockdowns began. Then Jackbox was a go-to for Zoom happy hours with friends and family. As time--and the pandemic--wore on and as reality sunk deeper into our lives and routines, Hades conveyed the idea of persistence in the face of hell itself. And so on.

The games here offered some escapism, some human connection, a joyful retreat from the turmoil we faced and continue to face. We appreciatethe developers of these games as well, who had no idea the context in which their work would exist.We're thankful that these 10 games in particular came out when they did.

Listed in alphabetical order (developer, publisher)

Animal Crossing: New Horizonswas a long time coming and, for many of us, exactly what we needed to make it through the pandemic's early days in the United States. The latest in the nearly 20 year old series,Animal Crossing: New Horizonsis the first mainlineAnimal Crossinggame fans of the series have seen since 2012'sNew Leafand it couldn't have arrived at a better time.

New Horizonsis excellent in its own right, but the serendipitous timing of its launch elevated the game into a cultural phenomenon. It was the first comfort game many of us fixated on to get through those initial weeks of lockdown. It was rare to turn on your Switch and not see an entire friends list of people playingAnimal Crossing: New Horizons.Friends met up to enjoy a meteor shower together, group chats lit up when the illusive traveling shopkeeper Redd graced one islander's shores, andAnimal Crossingitself became the backdrop for social chats, general shenanigans, and birthday celebrations.

That commotion has died down and given way to the relaxing, piecemeal gameplay theAnimal Crossingseries is known for, allowing its tedious but somehow still super charming mechanics to really shine. There's less going on inNew Horizonsthan, say,New Leafbut all in all it still makes for an incredible game that remains a cozy escape from everything this year has had to offer. - Alissa McAloon

As next-generation hysteria reached fever pitch, few people were talking aboutAstro's Playroom,the unassuming 3D platformer that came pre-loaded onevery PlayStation 5. In retrospect, that was a blessing in disguise, because it meant those lucky enough to get their hands on the hefty unitgot to experience one of the best console launch titles ever made with completely fresh eyes.

Team Asobi's nostalgia-drenchedjaunt is first-and-foremost designed to introduce players to the unique capabilities of the DualSense gamepad. That alone made it the first proper'next-generation' experience I played this year, with the game providing a perfect showcase for the controller'spinpoint haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. It's impossible to conveyjust how much those features addedin terms of immersion, but trust me when I say that after blitzing throughAstro's Playroomwith the DualSense firing on all cylinders, conventual controllers and their bare bones rumble feel woefullymundane.

Astro's Playroomis more than a glorified tutorial, though. It's a compellingexperience in its own right, chock full of dynamiclevels ripe for exploring, a plethora of collectibles, a hub-world filled with secrets, testing boss battles,and a lead character that's more than deserving of their very own franchise. The only question at this point, is whetherAsobi Team will be given the chance to make good on that promise and gift the world a properblockbuster sequel. Make it happen, Sony. - Chris Kerr

How do you even describe Blaseball? How can a procedural adaptation of America's most popular pastime, filled with incinerations, teleporting, and demigods make any kind of sense? Ask the folks at The Game Band, who went from "notable Apple Arcade developers" to "chaotic baseball developers who want to attack and dethrone God" in the space of a few months.

Blaseball's "game"isn't just in the clicker-website that lets you bet money on games and vote on cosmic events that will reshape a season. It's in the Discord servers that popped up for each team, it's in the stories that players have come up with for each of the players (shoutout to Jessica Telephone). It's in the chaos that leaves viewers panicking when the developers tweet ominous messages in all caps.

It's sucked in the attention of game developers, ordinary players, and folks who might not fully grasp the procedural chaos of Crusader Kings III, but can definitely piece together the drama of surviving a baseball season (emphasis on surviving). Blaseball is one of 2020's indie success stories, and we'd be remiss to not feature it here. (Claws up!!!)- Bryant Francis

Dreams is so dang good. #MadeInDreams #PS4sharehttps://t.co/9yFhybO35F pic.twitter.com/qOrr3IXota

I've barely scratched the surface of Dreams. Media Molecule's long-awaited creative engine technically launched this year (despite opening up a sort of early access in 2019) and, impressively, released an update with PSVR compatibility several months back. Dreams exists on user-created content; players can either roam from dream to dream and try out a wide array of games created within Dreams by other players, take a stab at creating their own assets for other players to use, or build their own playable creations.

I can't speak to the creation tools because I haven't quite dived that deeply into Dreams, but it's impressive judging only by what players have managed to make thusfar! I've played remakes of Beat Saber and Guitar Hero within Dreams (with very little success because I'm trash at rhythm games), been completely enthralled by a deceptively complex puzzle game starring a little lightbulb robot friend (above), laughed to the point of tears in a Wallace and Gromit inspired(?) meme-laden adventure, and relaxed to an in-game recreation of Godot's very good theme song from the Phoenix Wright games. (We won't talk about the Sonic VR remake I played, but I will say that WIP VR experiences are a trip.)

There's such depth in Dreams and you don't have to look far to find it. The game shines both because of its community and because of the palpable love Media Molecule put into creating something powered by the purest creativity. If you've been on the fence about picking this one up, it's well worth checking out. -Alissa McAloon

Mediatonic knocked it out of the parkwithFall Guys. The studio's overwhelmingly endearing take on the battle royale format proved you can do more with the genre than ask players to blast each other to smithereens. The concept at play here is simple: waddle your way through a series of solo and team-based slaloms packed with all manner of madcap traps in a frantic bid to be the first to cross the finish line.

It's essentially the video game equivalent ofshows like Takeshi's Castle and Wipeout, and succeeds in tapping into the same zany, unpredictable energy that made those series so popular. Of course, there's more toFall Guysthan its impeccably crafted, wacky obstacle courses--many of which have taken on lives oftheir own on the meme-fuelled Twittersphere.

It also packs plenty of heart thanks to some whip-smart character and sound designthat turnedthe game's bouncing beans into the real stars of the show. There'ssomething almost hypnoticabout watchingswarms of those rotund,hapless creatures squeak and scramble over each other before being sent packing by an inflatable hammer the size of a fridge, knowing full well that you could (and likely will) be next. Edge-of-your-seat moments like those are the bread and butter ofFall Guys, and helped transform the bumble royaleinto bona fide video game gold.- Chris Kerr

Among the most universally-praised games of 2020 is Hades, Supergiant Games' latest effort and proof positive that this studio is something special. Hades takes everything people love about roguelikes (replayability, predictable controls, tough but fair challenge) and smooths out the qualms that many have with the genre (repetitiveness, frustration, little to no narrative progression or character development).

Other games have approached character death or endgame states in unique ways as well, but Hades is a standout example. The game loop is intertwined with the narrative in such a way that one cannot exist without the other. Death loses its sting when you realize that dying pushes the story forward and develops not only Zagreus as a character, but all of the gods and monsters he encounters along the way.

This is a game explicitly designed around failure. When you fail, what you lose in terms of your current build and level progression, you gain in story development and access to new skills and abilities. Failure ensures a tradeoff that feels fair, and gives the player immediate encouragement to try another run. And that kind of positive persistence is something we can all relate to this year. - Kris Graft

The folks at Blackbird Interactive crafted a wonderful and unique science fiction game that deserves to be celebrated for portraying not only the future of space travel, but the future of work. It's a really fascinating piece of work that mixes the power of game development technology with a unique setting and tone, all to create a game that feels like a job, that still manages to have a decent amount of social commentary relevant to 2020.

Blackbird did all this while only launching the game in Early Access. They've already added a number of features that have improved on the game's core experience, and continued to make it all the more worthwhile to while away hours tearing ships apart.

The lesson of the game's development--how it went from scripted four-hour experience to evolving Early Access phenomenon--seems reflective of how many game developers are evolving in 2020 in games like Teardown and even Baldur's Gate 3. We've known for a few years that Early Access titles have the potential to be foundation for generation-defining games, it's great to see developers like Blackbird Interactive continue to so much great work in the space at this year has rolled on. - Bryant Francis

A number of games from this year help define certain periods of pandemic lockdown, and for us, the Jackbox Party Pack series occupied the early part of the pandemic. Remember back then? Regularly-scheduled happy hours with friends, family and coworkers. An apprehension about the months to come but a belief that "we're all in this together." There was confusion about face masks, concern about mass toilet paper shortages, and the habit of disinfecting absolutely everything.

We have more toilet paper now, but we got that in exchange for a dose of reality. But throughout the waves of anxiety Jackbox has been a welcome escape from the world while bringing family and friends together virtually.

While we've played every single Jackbox Party Pack this year as well as standalone Jackbox games like Quiplash and Fibbage, this year's Jackbox Party Pack 7 is notable on its own. Made partially under remote working conditions, Party Pack 7 is a rare iteration of the franchise where every single game is pure gold. Whether it's Talking Points (essentially an improvised presentation party), The Devils and the Details (a collaborative game where you're part of a family of demons), or a new version of a classic word game in Quiplash 3, Party Pack 7 is the best collection yet. It's something we look forward to playing with friends and family once we're not confined to our little Zoom phantom zones. - Kris Graft

After 2018's Marvel's Spider-Man, Insomniac Games would have been well within its rights to sit back and devote most of its efforts toward a PlayStation 5-exclusive sequel. Instead it worked quickly to ship a standalone game that's one part expansion pack, one part origin story, and one part tech demo to show off the best of what the next generation has to offer. And notably, it's a work that celebrates the power of a Black superhero who's from a working class community.

Miles Morales benefits from a streamlined reconstruction of Marvel's Spider-Man's core mechanics, wisely slimming down the missions that fill out the experience without sacrificing story quality or the beauty of its huge, open world New York.

It's a bold experiment in what "defines"a full $60 game that hopefully clears the way for other developers to make more meaningful experiences with the same scope, beauty, and sense of focus. -Bryant Francis

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is one of those games that has notable flaws--there are pacing issues, the grind can get tiresome, and it's impossible to ignore some problematic issues that continue in the series regarding its portrayal of women.

Ok, that's a difficult intro to claw back from when making a game of the year argument. But the fact is that overall, Like a Dragon is an utter joy to experience. Even in moments when protagonist Ichiban Kasuga is scraping rock bottom and making bad decisions, there is something effervescent and innately playful about him. He's loud, he wears his own joy and disappointment on his sleeve, he's child-like. He's flawed but exhibits moments of self-awareness which allow him to take the initial steps forward to improve himself.

Also notable aside from Ichiban and his small gang of outcasts is the switch from the series' well-established real-time beat-em-up combat system to a turn-based RPG system. It's an unexpected change that works surprisingly well. It changes the tenor of the action when compared to previous entries, while still retaining all the face-slams in enemy encounters. When all the pieces of Like a Dragon are combined, the game is like Ichiban: a little fucked up, but incredibly memorable and so easy to root for. - Kris Graft

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Gamasutra's Best of 2020: The top 10 games of the year - Gamasutra

The Top Five Hypergrowth Industries I’m Targeting In 2021 – Forbes

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Here are the top new hypergrowth industries Im focused on right now. My research shows all of them will soon have their breaking out moment in 2021:

1.Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology is a brand-new sector where breakthrough technology allows scientists to program living things. Im sure youve seen the DNA double helix before.

Source: edn.com

DNA is basically your bodys unique set of instructions. Its what makes you, you. Your unique DNA makeup determines what you look like, how your body functions. Think of DNA as the source code of every living thing on Earth. Synthetic biology gives us the tools to edit and create the DNA of an organism to get it to do something entirely new. Basically, it allows scientists to alter the makeup of living things.

How does it work? In short, engineers design sequences of DNA on computers. Then they physically print out those sequences and insert them into living things. This can then add beneficial character traits to a living thing.

For example, scientists already use it to make self-fertilizing plants. Joyn Bio used fake DNA to modify the microbes of plants so they can pull nitrogen gas from the air and convert it into fertilizer. Using synthetic biology, scientists have also created a reliable source of artemisinin which is used in malaria vaccines.

Fake meat pioneer Beyond Meat also harnessed this new technology to create more realistic veggie burgers. It was first to use a DNA coding sequence from soybeans to create meat that looks and tastes like beef but is actually made from vegetables.

In short, this breakthrough tech allows scientists to reprogram the operating system of plants and other organisms. Synthetic biology is hands down the most cutting-edge industry on earth right now. Just as Intels microchips and IBMs computers underpinned Americas computing revolution,Twist BiosciencesDNA synthesis platform provides the building blocks for the biology revolution.

2.Genomics

DNA carries your genetic information. Think of it as a set of instructions for your body. Mapping your DNA allows scientists to decipher your bodys unique set of instructions. By learning the secrets hidden within your DNA, doctors can tell what diseases youre likely to get. This allows them to catch problems earlier and diagnose them more accurately.

In fact, the use of DNA mapping in healthcare is exploding right now. A new prenatal test based on DNA mapping can detect hard-to-find problems with babies inside their mothers wombs. Its the fastest-growing medical test in American history.

Invitae(NVTA)is using these breakthroughs to turn Americas healthcare system on its head. In short, its building an alternate healthcare industry around DNAor geneticinformation.

By the end of 2020, Invitae will have mapped the DNA of almost one million Americans. And its creating a system where this information is used in our healthcare decisions. For example, most cancers have a genetic link. In other words, mapping DNA can help detect the disease early. And when it comes to cancer, an accurate and timely diagnosis can literally save your life.

But right now, many cancers go largely undetected. Invitae is working to change this. I see genetic mapping ushering in the era of personalized medicine in America. If you havent heard about this yet, you will soon.

In short, DNA mapping will allow you, as an individual, to know which diseases youre most at risk for. Knowing this, youll better understand the perfect foods, the perfect drugs, and the perfect exercise regimen, just for you.

But thats only stage one. The genomics industry is evolving from mapping our DNA to editing it. Gene editing promises to transform how we treat and cure disease. Humans have between 20,000 and 25,000 genes that carry the DNA instructions for our bodies. But devastating diseases like cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia are caused by just one error.

Gene editing is making cures for certain diseases possible for the first time in history. It has the potential to cure thousands of diseases like cystic fibrosis, Huntingtons, sickle cell anemia, and hemophilia.

Space has always been a business dominated by governments. The Space Race between America and the Soviet Union kicked off back in the 1950s. And since then, the US government has pumped $600+ billion into NASA. That dwarfs the $20 billion that private companies have invested in space.

But over the past decade, theres been a quiet revolution in the space industry. The advent of reusable rockets and innovative launch methods have slashed the cost of going to space. The cost to launch a satellite into orbit has dropped more in the past 10 years than in the entire history of space!

Rapidly declining costs are transforming space travel into a thriving business. In fact, private space investment has jumped 400% since 2013. Elon Musks intergalactic company SpaceX has launched 20+ resupply rockets to the International Space Station over the past few years. And earlier this year SpaceX sent its first two astronauts into space on its Crew Dragon capsule. It was the first privately built rocket and capsule ever to put humans into space.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is also pushing private space exploration forward. His company, Blue Origin, recently won a NASA contract to put Americans back on the moon. In short, the era of private space exploration is here. Over the coming years, tourists will fly into outer space, companies will figure out how to mine asteroids, and companies likeMaxar Technologies (MAXR)will continue to improve their fleets of spy satellites.

Over the past decade, investors have poured a record $26 billion into 535 space companies globally. Last year alone $5.8 billion was investeda new record. In fact, data from the Space Foundation shows the space economy generated $415 billion in revenue last year. Current industry projections peg the 2040 global space economy at between $1 and $3 trillion.

And keep in mind, government activity in space is growing once again. The Commerce Department revitalized the Office of Space Commerce, which was established over 30 years ago to help enable commercial space activities. Last December, Congress approved a $738 billion defense policy bill to create a Space Force, the sixth branch of the US military.

The core idea of artificial intelligence (AI) is a machine that learns and thinks just like you or me. Most important, it learns all by itself, without human intervention. But please understand, AI isnt one single all-knowing machine like you see in the movies. Instead, it describes intelligent computers that do ultra-specific tasks.

For example, right now machines are learning to see for the first time ever. This is the basis of the flourishing computer vision industry. Medical imaging disruptor Paige is using computer vision to revolutionize the way we diagnose cancer. Paige fed millions of real-life medical images into its computer program and taught it to detect early signs of tumors.

And it recently tested the system by scanning 12,000 medical images for potential tumors. It had never seen these images before, yet achieved near-perfect accuracy. In other words, this computer has learned to recognize cancerous tumors better than human doctors. Paige is just one example of machines performing like superhuman doctors.

Stanford researchers recently built a computer that scans MRIs to detect Alzheimers disease with 94% accuracy. Other teams are teaching computers to drive. Amazon recently acquired top self-driving car startup Zoox for $1.2 billion. Zooxs computer on wheels is so good at driving it can zip through San Franciscos busy streets without a human driver.

Then you have firms developing checkout-free grocery stores, which turns your local Whole Foods into a giant supercomputer. Earlier this year, Amazon launched its Dash Cart. The shopping cart uses computer vision algorithms and sensors to identify the items in the cart. So you can simply grab items, throw them in the cart, and walk out.

In short, these are all world-changing technologies that will make many folks rich. Many new, unique disruptions are hiding underneath the misleading banner of AI.

Do you remember when every company had a dedicated payroll department?Now most businesses outsource it to companies like Paylocity and Paycom. In fact, offloading your payroll department makes total sense. Why do it yourself when you can pay a specialist to do it for less?

And as businesses outsourced their payroll needs, Paylocity and Paycoms stocks surged. This outsourcing phenomenon isnt just confined to payroll anymore. All kinds of functions that used to be done in-house like accounting, web design, IT support, and data storage are being offloaded now. For example, most companies that need to build a website no longer hire a whole web design team. Instead, they pay firms like Shopify and Wix to handle all their online needs.

Firms still employ armies of accountants to look after their finances. But this is rapidly changing. An upstart called BlackLine has created software that automates most accounts payable and receivable jobs. It now counts major firms like Nike, Costco, and Dominos as customers. And its stock has shot up 300%+ in the past couple years.

Remember when every office in America had a dedicated server room? The in-house IT department would look after the companys systems. And ensure hackers couldnt steal valuable data.

IT departments are now shrinking rapidly. Instead of employing dozens of workers to stop hackers, companies now simply pay cybersecurity firms likeOktaandZscalera monthly fee to protect their networks.

Then you have a company likeSmartsheet, which is automating much of what project managers used to do. Its app basically allows teams to collaborate, manage, and report on work in real time. And its stock has surged 150%+ over the past couple months.

All these jobs used to be done by in-house employees. Now they are being outsourced to specialist firms. And the firms pioneering new software products have been among the best-performing stocks in the entire market.

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The Top Five Hypergrowth Industries I'm Targeting In 2021 - Forbes