Daily Archives: January 16, 2015

SpaceX Releases Footage Of Failed Reusable Rocket Landing

Posted: January 16, 2015 at 4:40 pm

Last Saturday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully lifted off to the International Space Station, carrying cargo, scientific experiments, and supplies. It successfully berthed to the International Space Station without a hitch.

But one interesting aspect of the liftoff is that SpaceX was using the opportunity to test its first stage rocket, which the company is attempting to make reusable in order to drive down the costs of its launches. The company has previously tested a descent of a first stage into the water, but those rockets didnt survive.

On Saturday, SpaceX tried something new landing the rocket on a drone barge floating in the ocean. The test failed, however, and the rocket was destroyed on impact. (Something that CEO Elon Musk referred to jokingly on Twitter as a rapid unscheduled disassembly.)

Today, SpaceX released some footage of the attempted landing, which you can see below:

Close, but no cigar, the company noted in an accompanying tweet. This time.

In a separate Tweet, Musk said that the company would be trying it again with another launch in 2-3 weeks. This time, with way more hydraulic fluid.

At least it [should] explode for a [different] reason, he tweeted.

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SpaceX Releases Footage Of Failed Reusable Rocket Landing

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Virgin And Qualcomm Are Investing In Satellite Internet Company OneWeb

Posted: at 4:40 pm

Credit: OneWeb Ltd

Virgin and Qualcomm announced today that they will be leading investments in OneWeb Ltd, a satellite internet company founded by Greg Wyler, the founder of satellite internet company O3b Networks. OneWeb aims to build and launch a satellite constellation to provide internet directly to users.

The size of the investment has not been disclosed, but Qualcomm Chairman Paul Jacobs and Virgin founder Richard Branson will be joining the board of OneWeb.

The satellite constellation will be comprised of 648 low-weight, low orbit, low latency satellites that will work with mobile providers on the ground to provide high-speed internet connectivity to areas where its too expensive to provide conventionally.

We are excited by OneWebs bold vision to launch this major satellite constellation and be one of its key early investors, Branson said in a statement. Imagine the possibilities for the three billion people in hard to reach areas who are currently not connected.

In addition to Virgin being an investor in OneWeb, it was also announced that Virgin Galactic will launch the satellites. They will do so using their LauncherOne spacecraft, which is designed to put commercial satellites in orbit.

Virgin Galactic has announced that its actively hiring people for the LauncherOne program in order to prepare for what would be its first commercial customer. The LauncherOne is still under construction, although the engines have been built and test fired.

Were excited for the opportunity for Virgin Galactics LauncherOne programme to help make it possible through low cost, reliable and frequent satellite launches, added Branson.

Competition Or Opportunity For SpaceX?

One interesting aspect of this Virgin/OneWeb news is that it comes on the heels of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk telling Bloomberg News earlier this week that it would be building a satellite manufacturing center in Seattle. Thats because, in November, the Wall Street Journal ran a report claiming that SpaceX was going to start building internet satellites, too. And in that report, it was claimed theyd be partnering with WorldVu Satellites Ltd. (which operates as OneWeb) to do it. A few days after the WSJ broke that story, Musk confirmed on Twitter that SpaceX was going to be developing internet satellites. However, he also stated that WSJ was wrong on several important points. The article shouldnt have been written on rumor and hearsay.

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Virgin And Qualcomm Are Investing In Satellite Internet Company OneWeb

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The Top 9 Books About The Future Of Medicine – The Medical Futurist – Video

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The Top 9 Books About The Future Of Medicine - The Medical Futurist
I #39;ve been reading amazing books that focus on the future of medicine, what changes we can expect to see in healthcare in a few years #39; time from different angles and perspectives so I thought...

By: The Medical Futurist

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The Top 9 Books About The Future Of Medicine - The Medical Futurist - Video

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Digital Ethics and the future of humanity. Gerd Leonhard Futurist Keynote Speaker TedXBrussels – Video

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Digital Ethics and the future of humanity. Gerd Leonhard Futurist Keynote Speaker TedXBrussels
The complete video of my talk at at http://www.tedxbrussels.eu/ Thanks to the team for making this available! Original version at http://youtu.be/bZn0IfOb61U See http://www.futuristgerd.com/2014/...

By: Gerd Leonhard

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Digital Ethics and the future of humanity. Gerd Leonhard Futurist Keynote Speaker TedXBrussels - Video

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Futurist Speaker Gerd Leonhard: short take on artificial intelligence, digital ethics Tedx – Video

Posted: at 4:40 pm


Futurist Speaker Gerd Leonhard: short take on artificial intelligence, digital ethics Tedx
This is a short excerpt from my talk at TedXBrussels Dec 1 2014 on #digitalethics see http://youtu.be/DD5XVDKcuSo for the entire video Find out more and download the slides via my blog at...

By: Gerd Leonhard

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Futurist Speaker Gerd Leonhard: short take on artificial intelligence, digital ethics Tedx - Video

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The Global Economy’s Effect on Irish Hotels – Futurist Speaker – Video

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The Global Economy #39;s Effect on Irish Hotels - Futurist Speaker
The global economy and the impact on the Irish hotel industry. The global economic crisis showed the future power of the emerging markets who remained in growth even in the crisis years. Long...

By: Patrick Dixon Futurist Keynote Speaker for Industry Conference

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Future of Corporate Events in Ireland – Futurist Speaker – Video

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Future of Corporate Events in Ireland - Futurist Speaker
Future of corporate conferences and events in Ireland. It #39;s already with over 100 million Euros to the Irish economy, and looks set to continue to grow. Unique events are preferred by corporations...

By: Patrick Dixon Futurist Keynote Speaker for Industry Conference

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Future of Corporate Events in Ireland - Futurist Speaker - Video

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Elon Musk Tries To Woo John Carmack Back To Rockets With SpaceXs Drone Ship Impact

Posted: at 4:40 pm

Genius futurist, entrepreneur and expert Twiterrer Elon Musk revealed some new information about SpaceXs most recent reusable rocket landing attempt following the launch of its Dragon space capsule to resupply the International Space Station. In a conversation with John Carmack, formerly of ID and current VR software guru at Oculus, Musk shared still frames from SpaceXs autonomous seafaring drone landing ship, which show the rockets RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly) in spectacular glory.

Musk had previously revealed that the rocket landed hard, but despite its fantastic fireball, the test was actually a relative success for SpaceXs efforts to recapture its first stage rocket for re-use. Explosions arent always signs of failure when youre dealing with science, and in the case of spacefaring tech thats even more true.

After posting the photos (and new SpaceX Vine, just added) above, Musk also reiterated that SpaceX will get another chance to test the landing and recovery capabilities of its reusable rockets and the autonomous barges it is using as mobile landing platforms in about two to three weeks time. With his trademark wry humour, he said the next test would involve way more hydraulic fluid, and that it sh[ould] explode for a diff[erent] reason at the very least. Failing for new reasons is basically the definition of scientific progress, is basically what hes getting at.

Musk ended his flurry of tweets saying his motivation in posting the photos to Carmack is a desire to get the legendary programmer back into aerospace tech. Carmack founded Armadillo Aerospace back in 2000, with the aim of building suborbital space tourism spacecraft, but essentially shuttered the project in 2013, so Musk may be only half-kidding.

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Elon Musk Tries To Woo John Carmack Back To Rockets With SpaceXs Drone Ship Impact

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Virtual Traffic Lights Could Revolutionize City Driving

Posted: at 4:40 pm

The average American worker spends almost half an hour commuting each day, but virtual traffic lights could cut that almost in half.

If traditional traffic lights were replaced with virtual ones, the results could include not only a reduction of up to 40 percent in urban workers' commute times, but also lower carbon emissions, less congestion and fewer accidents, a study from Carnegie Mellon University suggests.

"These systems could be made even smarter and more efficient, tweaking things like how many cars you let go by in the main direction during rush hour before letting the side street traffic in," Roger Kay, founder and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, told TechNewsWorld.

"There's a whole lot of work that could be done in this area, essentially sociological programming," added Kay, who has been enthusiastic about the concept for several years.

Based on vehicle-to-vehicle technology mandates expected within the United States, virtual traffic lights will appear not on the street, but on drivers' windshields as they approach an intersection.

"When the driver is looking through the windshield, they'll see that going straight is a green light, and turning right is a red light," explained Ozan Tonguz, a Carnegie Mellon professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering who helped develop the technology. "It's a seamless process -- the driver does not get involved in this decision making."

Once the driver proceeds through the intersection, the virtual traffic light will disappear.

CMU startup Virtual Traffic Lights is working on commercializing the patented technology.

"I think this technology can hit the market in most large cities around the world within one to two years," Tonguz told TechNewsWorld. "We are currently looking for partners and investments to implement this technology on a large scale."

Virtual Traffic Light tech can be used "as a standalone technology for traffic management," he said. "In addition, it could be used in conjunction with autonomous cars -- pursued by Google and several car manufacturers -- and congestion pricing, which is used by IBM and several other companies in different countries to mitigate congestion during rush hours."

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Virtual Traffic Lights Could Revolutionize City Driving

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