Monthly Archives: July 2021

This last weekend featured the much-ballyhooed launch of Virgin Galactics first (nonpaying) passengers, with founder and CEO Richard Branson along for the ride. After the festivities, I had the chance to talk with the companys president, Mike Moses, who seems to be familiar with every detail of the operation and the companys plans for going from test to commercial flights.

Unfortunately my recorder went on the fritz, but Moses was kind enough to hop on the phone later in the week to talk (again) about the next generation of spaceplanes, where the company needs to invest, and more. You can read through our conversation below. (Interview has been lightly edited for clarity.)

TC: To begin with, can you tell me whats left to test, and when do you expect to finish the test flight phase?

Moses: The test flight series that were kind of in right now, and the flight with Richard was the first of those, represents a shift from what was more classic and traditional, envelope testing, where were looking at aerodynamics and trajectories and handling qualities, to more of an operational check-out, where we are validating cabin experience experiences, training procedures, hardware for the folks in the back and what theyre going to go through.

So weve laid out a series of a few flights there, three to be specific, that both demonstrate key product milestones and features, as well as allow us time to iterate and develop and optimize some of that back-of-cabin experience. But as always, thats a notional schedule, right? The schedule and the numbers are going to depend on the results. So if things go well, we think thats a three-flight series if we find things that we need to adjust, well add more as needed based on what were learning.

Based on the results that we got after Richard and crew came back from the last flight, you know, we know we have some stuff to work on but but everything was pretty much thumbs up.

Now, we know were going to do those flights over the course of this summer and late summer, and then well be ready to move into, as we announced during our previous earnings call, a modification phase where were going to do some upgrades on our mothership and our spaceship to prepare them for commercial service. The main focus there is to look at things that allow us to increase the flight-rate frequency. Right now in test, we fly at a fairly slow pace [i.e. infrequently, not at low speed], because were inspecting everything prudently. Were going to want to start to move away from that, and as we learn, and so we already know, theres some modifications we want to make to enable that to start to happen. We havent set a specific timescale for when that officially ends.

TC: You mentioned when we talked at the Spaceport, the crew hadnt yet really been debriefed about the experience. Im hoping maybe you have a little more information now about recommendations from Sir Richard, from Siriha, from everybody that was actually up there. Have you gotten any substantive feedback that you can share?

Moses: So we are definitely in the middle of all that feedback and debriefing. As you might imagine, theres a lot of data to go through. And in some cases, that data is as simple as the 16 video cameras that we had onboard, and getting them all synced up to see that whats happening where, and couple that with live notes, and debriefs, and the audio tracks that went with it. We are definitely gathering up the inputs, but theres nothing on that list that I think Im ready to disclose at this time. Well keep folks posted as we go.

The general feedback, post-landing both that day and the next day, was things were awesome, right? Now thats not a scientific answer, and I want the scientific answer, so were gonna make them go through the work to debrief.

Image Credits: Virgin Galactic

TC: You touched on this with the modification phase Unity is, I dont know how exactly youd describe it, a production prototype. Could you tell me whether theres any special upkeep for it as the sort of first off the line?

Moses: Theres nothing special as part of its design or build that requires special upkeep. But as a test vehicle and as our first article, we give it a lot of extra attention. We dive in pretty deep on inspections, both regularly and as we see issues, we would probably, test those and explore just to make sure we truly understand that theres no unknowns out there, things like how the system performs how it does in cold temperatures, under load and under stress. We keep an eye on it.

Theres a series of measurements that we make to say, you know, where did the vehicle perform based on its design envelope. And if were close to the edges of any of that envelope, we go do extra inspections to validate that our modeling and our predictions are right. So in that regard, its pretty similar to how you would have a first set of articles coming out for a new aircraft development, you would build a maintenance and inspection program. That is, an extremely conservative one. And then as you use it, you start to pull out that conservatism based on your positive feedback.

But in general, yes, Unity does get a lot of extra attention. And the next vehicles will have some of that designed in part of that. Weve already learned a bunch of, like, hey, on the next vehicle, make this different so I dont have to look at it every time, I can look at it every five times.

TC: I think that when we when we talked before, you mentioned that you expect multiple-hundred flights, at least theoretically, out of Unity.

Moses: Yeah, multiple-hundred flights of the vehicle. We set a design envelope where we designed for a certain lifetime, and we we tested to that, and then we can always go do life extension. Some of that is just a limitation of you know, were going to cycle the stuff 10,000 times rather than 40,000 times, and well come back later and get the other cycles when we get closer to the 10,000 life. Well go back and add more to it. Theres not a lot of components that have, you know, like a fall off the cliff type of lifetime.

TC: You mentioned some of the modifications you are going to build into the successor or production craft. Can you tell me any of those, how it will differ in minor or major ways, when you expect weight on wheels and that kind of thing?

Moses: So weve already done weight on wheels. And we had our rollout, which is effectively that weight on wheels, where we transition from, basically major factory assembly into ground tests. So all of the systems are installed, and now theyre gonna start to run integrated ground testing, where you can basically go run a computer system through its checkouts, you can run the flight control system through checkouts youre still on the ground, right, youre not yet ready to fly. But we are in that integrated testing.

As far as changes when we designed the structure, if you think about it as the skeleton, under the skin, with Imagine and Inspire, we optimized and moved those skeletons, the ribs in the spars, to the locations where the load was highest. Unity was built off of the original design intent of Scaled Composites, and flight tests, theyve shown us that sometimes that load is not exactly where it is expected. Theres a lot of extra weight in Unity to account for that load; Imagine and Inspire, were able to optimize and put the structure right where it needed to be.

Theres a joint, for example, on Unity that I have to go look at every time, because I had to add extra to it. Whereas on Imagine, it was designed to where it should be in the first place. Ill still look at it, but its much easier access and a much shorter inspection.

Image Credits: Virgin Galactic

So things like that, that let me optimize my inspection schedule. And other just simplistic things there are now access panels where we know we need them, whereas we had to kind of add them after the fact in Unity. Your quick release fasteners and things like that, that make inspections shorter, we were able to add into the design, we made a pretty significant number of changes like that, all fairly minor, but they have a large effect on the maintainability of the vehicle.

And the next phase, right, we talked about this, the Delta class of spaceships, were going to make changes for manufacturability. Unity and Inspire and Imagine are still fairly one-off hand-built aircraft spacecraft, sorry. And if we want to go build a dozen or more to get to these 400-flight-a-year rates, we need to make sure theyre manufacturable at a smaller price tag in a smaller time scale. So that next design will incorporate a bunch of that stuff.

TC: Thats actually one of the things I wanted to talk about is how you get to the reliability and cadence that you want to have for commercial operation? Obviously, more aircraft is one part of that, but you know, maybe expanding ground ops or crew, better maintenance and stuff like that.

Moses: Yeah, you bet. And I think thats it, right: Its a fleet, so we have multiple vehicles for dispatch. That gives you capacity to be able to handle anything that comes up unexpected, like weather. And then its the workforce with more workforce, a 24/7 clock, then you can have multiple expertises, or a crew focused on just one vehicle. And the second crew, theyre focused on the second one.

I think our mantra here is going to be to take it in baby steps were not going to try to go to those high flight rates initially, we want to get a little faster, then a little faster, then a little faster. Thats kind of Unitys purpose in life in 2022, to allow us to go explore those operational cadences and see where we can apply multiplying factors for when we get additional spaceships.

You know, the business model is a great one, right? But in these next couple of years, its fairly insensitive to whether Im doing eight flights or 10 flights or 12 flights with Unity. I mean, in terms of revenue, it doesnt move the needle very much. But in terms of operational learning, thats a significant step for us, so we want to be prudent with how we proceed down that path.

MOJAVE, UNITED STATES OCTOBER 10: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SUBJECT SPECIFIC TV BROADCAST DOCUMENTARIES OR BOOK USE) Virgin Galactic vehicle SpaceShipTwo completes its successful first glide flight at Mojave on October 10, 2010 over Mojave in California. (Photo by Mark Greenberg/Virgin Galactic/Getty Images)

TC: Can you can you tell me again why, or whether, you plan on keeping the flight plans more or less the same? Maybe theres possibility, later down the line with the revised version with six people in it, that you might have to have a slightly different profile?

Moses: Thats kind of coupled with what we talked about at the beginning of this Q&A, the move from a test phase into this operational readiness phase. Coupled with that is a profile that is now set the trajectory that the pilots fly, the techniques they use, well still optimize, but were not making major revisions. Those are all pretty much physics-based results. The airspeed were at, the angles that were at, and the subsequent altitude we get to, the weight we carry, are all kind of locked-in variables, and theres not much you can do to change that equation.

Therell be some definite trajectory changes that come along with Imagine because it will have more capacity on board, which means itll have a slightly different performance, and we just need to go verify that envelope. But for the most part, you know, the physics of the equation kind of set what you can do, roughly speaking, so thats why were limited to only carrying four passengers here initially. We can change that, and we do plan on looking at weight reductions in the ship, but again, with an eye towards the fleet that were building, and make sure we get a fleet that is serviceable for the long haul.

TC: Thats all Ive got here. Thanks again for taking the time to chat.

You can watch a recap of the recent Virgin Galactic launch here.

See more here:

Virgin Galactic president Mike Moses on whats next for the companys growing fleet - TechCrunch

Although we are still in the heat of summer, a new school year will be here before you know it. That means now is a great time to take a minute and catch your breath before what assuredly will be a busy fall full of sports, plays, recitals, clubs and other school and extracurricular activities.

Oftentimes in todays world we stretch ourselves so thin with activities and commitments that we spend most of our time rushing from one place to the next. I know we have all heard the old adage about taking the time to stop and smell the roses, right? Well, most of our days it seems like we have to get up early, work late, go to a meeting, grab some dinner on the runjust so we can get home, take the kids to practice and possibly spend some time with our families before bedtime. By the time you actually get home, the roses I mentioned that are so important to stop and smell are probably wilted because you never have the time to water them!

The same hectic reality also applies to many of our kids schedules these days. With more and more demands in our daily lives and less time to spend on the things that we truly enjoy, it is critical to remember we dont have to cram everything into one day. In order to appreciate the things in life that truly make us happy, its important to space them out so they dont end up becoming a burden and creating unnecessary stress. Now dont get me wrong, I think it is wonderful for young people to be involved in an array of activities. This can help them become increasingly well-rounded and college applications certainly look better littered with a medley of involvement. The trick is being able to give kids the best possible experiences without making your family insane. So whats the key to managing all of these activities without burning yourself and the kids out? Balance. Easier said than done, I know, but attainable if approached correctly.

Balancing your activities and budgeting your time is one of the most difficult things for parents to do. Working a full time job and taking your kids to practices and games can leave little time for anything else. It may be helpful to try asking kids about each of their activities, finding out why they enjoy participating in them, and which ones are their favorites. This does not mean you have to make them decide between one activity or another, but it will give you a better idea of where their passion lies. Its important to know why your child is participating in these activities. Is it because they want to, or is it because they are feeling pressure from you or others?

Parents that support their kids participating in a variety of sports and activities should be applauded. The time and financial investment cannot be underestimated or overvalued. Just keep in mind that when extracurricular involvement gets to the point where its becoming more of a hassle than a highlight, it may be time to step back and reevaluate the situation.

Bill Stone is the County Extension Director for North Carolina Cooperative Extension in Lee County.

Bill Stone is the County Extension Director for North Carolina Cooperative Extension in Lee County.

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EXTENSION NEWS: Setting priorities in a fast-paced world - The Sanford Herald

Financialnewsmedia.com News Commentary

PALM BEACH, Fla., July 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) is an aircraft system without a human pilot aboard, commonly known as a drone and also referred by several other names. Unmanned Aircraft Systems can be remote controlled aircraft or fly autonomously based on pre-programmed flight plans or more complex dynamic automation systems, they can be used both for wild land firefighting and civilian fields. Drones are remarkable devices. They can hover in midair, do back flips and spins; they can maneuver smoothly and precisely through small spaces or in concert with other drones; and they can do all this while carrying things like a stabilized video camera and a multitude of other technologies on board. The extent of their versatility is what makes them a viable option for a number of different tasks. Drones can be deployed as weapons in far-away wars or can help reinvent the way humanitarian aid is provided. Drones can help advance scientific research or can perform tracking and monitoring and surveillance work. According to many industry reports, such as Absolute Reports, drones could revolutionize the way humans do certain work or even perform dangerous tasks, but they could also encroach on the core values of a free and democratic society. Drones have unique capabilities and are very flexible in terms of the tasks they can perform, which is what is making them a desirable alternative to manned flights.Active stocks in the markets this week include Plymouth Rock Technologies Inc. (OTCQB: PLRTF) (CSE: PRT), Raytheon Technologies(NYSE: RTX), Ambarella, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMBA), Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: KTOS), Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC).

Commercial applications for the operation of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) continue to evolve in safety-critical industries such as oil and gas, power and utility, mining, and construction. Growing regulatory acceptance and recent technology advancements in flight payload and remote sensing have created opportunities to leverage sUAS platforms for tasks such as environmental assessment, asset inspection and permit compliance monitoring, data collection, and other emerging applications. The use of UAS can dramatically increase project efficiencies.An all-day task in the field on foot could be reduced to 15 minutes with the use ofdrone technology. Additionally, drones cannegateenvironmental and topographical limitations.

Plymouth Rock Technologies Inc. (CSE: PRT.CNQ) (OTCQB: PLRTF) BREAKING NEWS: PLYMOUTH ROCK TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES CONTRACT FOR DRONES WITH AI MONITORING OF ENDANGERED SPECIES AND POACHER IDENTIFICATION IN MADAGASCAR - Plymouth Rock Technologies ("Plymouth Rock", "PRT", or the "Company"), a leader in developing detection apparatus and unmanned technologies, is pleased to announce a contract for the sale and delivery of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) to the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust ("Durrell") to perform critical environmental operations in Madagascar.

At the beginning of 2019, a team of conservationists from Durrell, alongside researchers from Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) visited Lac Alaotra to trial the use of drone-based thermal infrared cameras as a new way of monitoring the lemurs and identifying any potential poachers. Thermal or infrared imaging is the process of taking digital pictures with a specialized camera, which record infrared or heat radiation as opposed to visible light. In short, the drone would fly over large areas of otherwise inaccessible marshes and detect the lemurs from their body heat, making them much easier to spot and allowing the team to obtain more accurate estimates of their population size. In a single 20-minute flight, the drone was able to cover a greater area of the marsh than a canoe team could cover in two days, hugely increasing the efficiency of the surveys.

The infrared trial had an immediate measurable impact on efficiencies to aid Durrell's work towards rebuilding healthy wetlands for wildlife, and the people that rely on them. The team immediately envisaged how this exciting technology could be adapted for use at other sites and with other species in Madagascar.

Due to the success of this trial, the team received a large research grant from United Kingdom Research Innovation (UKRI) to continue the development of this monitoring system. CONTINUEDRead this and more news for PRT at: https://www.plyrotech.com/news/

Other recent developments in the tech industry include:

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.(NASDAQ: KTOS), a leading National Security Solutions provider and industry-leading provider of high-performance unmanned systems, recently announced that it has partnered with North American Wave Engine Corporation to develop the Versatile Air-Launched Platform (VALP), an air-launched vehicle designed to leverage and demonstrate low-cost, high-impact technologies for future aerial systems. The VALP will use Wave Engine Corp.'s propulsion technology to bend the cost curve and reduce lead times for capabilities necessary to challenge near peer adversaries.

Steve Fendley, President of Kratos Unmanned Systems Division, said, "Being at the forefront of high-performance unmanned systems, Kratos continuously pursues technologies that can transform the paradigms of their cost-per-performance. We look forward to working with Wave Engine Corp. to advance and help bring this state-of-the-art, novel platform and propulsion technology to market."

In June 2021, Wave Engine Corp. was awarded a $1 million contract from the United States Air Force Armament Directorate to build and demonstrate the VALP as part of the USAF's efforts to develop high-impact technologies critical to the future of aviation and aerial combat. In support of this contract award, Kratos will be leading the aerodynamic and structural design of the airframe, as well as providing systems engineering support.

Ambarella, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMBA), an AI vision silicon company, recently announced the expansion of its AI vision SoC portfolio with the new CV5S and CV52S security families. Based on the CVflowarchitecture and advanced 5nm process technology, the new SoCs support simultaneous 4K encoding and advanced AI processing in a single low-power design, which provides industry-leading edge AI SoC performance per watt. The CV5S family is ideal for security camera applications that require multiple sensors for 360-degree coverage, over a wide area and with a long range, such as outdoor city environments or large buildings. The CV52S family is designed for single-sensor security cameras with advanced AI performance that need to more clearly identify individuals or objects in a scene, including faces and license plate numbers over long distances, such as ITS traffic cameras.

Ambarella announces the CV5S and CV52S edge AI vision SoC families for next-generation multi-imager and single-imager video security, smart city, smart building, smart retail and smart traffic AIoT camera applications

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) and the company's wholly-owned subsidiary, SpaceLogistics LLC, have recently & successfully completed the docking of the Mission Extension Vehicle-2 (MEV-2) to the Intelsat 10-02 (IS-10-02) commercial communications satellite to deliver life-extension services.

Northrop Grumman is the only provider of flight-proven life extension services for satellites, and this is the second time the company has docked two commercial spacecraft in orbit. The company's MEV-1 made history when it successfully docked to the Intelsat 901 (IS-901) satellite in February 2020. Unlike MEV-1, which docked above the GEO orbit before moving IS-901 back into service, MEV-2 docked with IS-10-02 directly in its operational GEO orbital location.

Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a Raytheon Technologies business (NYSE: RTX), has recently been awarded a$171.6 millioncontract for Low-Rate Initial Production Lot I, or LRIP I, of the U.S. Navy's Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band. The award advances the program from the development stage into production and deployment.

NGJ-MB will fundamentally change the way the Navy conducts airborne electronic attack - NGJ-MB is the Navy's advanced electronic attack system that offensively denies, disrupts and degrades enemy technology, including air-defense systems and communications. NGJ-MB uses the latest digital, software-based, and Active Electronically Scanned Array technologies. This allows operators to non-kinetically attack significantly more targets and at greater distances.

DISCLAIMER: FN Media Group LLC (FNM), which owns and operates FinancialNewsMedia.com and MarketNewsUpdates.com, is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release.FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks.For current services performed FNM has been compensated twenty five hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press releases issued by Plymouth Rock Technologies Inc. by a non affiliated third party. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

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Global UAS Market Size Projected To Reach $4.5 Billion By 2023 USA - PRNewswire

UK government has admitted it is in the dark about how many of the citizens who downloaded the NHS Test and Trace App have since deleted it or switched off Bluetooth for the app, rendering it obsolete.

The costly App, which finally came to market last summer after dithering by politicians, is designed to help combat the spread of Covid-19 by registering entry into a venue where close proximity is likely, pinging other users within Bluetooth range, and advising on self-isolation should the users come close to someone testing positive for COVID-19.

Yet in a telling written answer to Parliament yesterday, Jo Churchill, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care, said:

"We do not hold data on the number of people who have deleted the app or the number of people with the app but with Bluetooth turned off. We are currently considering what further metrics we may be able to publish about app usage."

The app is coming under pressure for doing the very thing it was designed to do. As cases of COVID-19 surge in the UK with the economy reopening on 19 July, the code is telling more and more people to self-isolate.

A poll published by The Guardian found that around one in five one-time app users had already deleted it; among those aged 18-34 that ratio rose to around a third.

The motivation for scrubbing the inconvenient bit of code is clear: people needing to work.

The Financial Times has reported that as the particularly virulent delta variant sweeps across parts of the UK, many companies are missing a fifth of their staff due to self-isolation.

"Labour shortages have hit factories, shops and warehouses, with workers 'pinged' by the NHS Covid app and told to self-isolate for 10 days if they have come into contact with an infected person," the pink newspaper said.

The industry lobby group CBI is also pressuring the government to change the rules for self-isolation when individuals come into contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

Given the app's difficult gestation, in which an attempt to build a central database was abandoned in favour of a distributed approach (from dominant mobile operating system vendors Apple and Google), it is alarming that the government is seemingly uninterested in how it is being used, especially as it has proved effective.

According to a study in Nature earlier this year, the app and resulting self-isolation may have avoided 284,000 cases from its launch on 24 September 2020 to the end of December 2020, during a time when it was used regularly by approximately 16.5 million people or 28 per cent of the total population in Britain.

The 22bn Test and Trace programme was, however, criticised in March by the Public Accounts Committee - a spending watchdog comprised of MPs from across the political divides - for failing to limit the number of lockdowns. MPs said there was "no clear evidence" to judge its success, i.e - no data.

Who is using the simple and potentially life-saving app now is anyone's guess, according to Churchill.

"Data saves lives" was the mantra of former UK health secretary Matt Hancock before a CCTV camera revealed to world+dog his predilection for indiscretion. Data saves lives, it seems, unless it is a political or economic inconvenience, in which case the government seems to think it best to move on.

Deloitte has been awarded a 24m 9-month extension to disaggregate its work on COVID-19 test platform. The IT and consultancy megacorp bagged the contract extension without competition to support NHS Digitals Covid-19 National Test Service.

Contract extension, until April 2022, is for digital solution design, build and live service of a digital platform, ordering portals and mobile applications, according to the tender notice.

The services provided under this contract support the digital and data journey for COVID-19 testing, currently amounting to millions of tests each week, and have introduced new capabilities as the testing programme has evolved to support the pandemic response, the document said.

NHS Digital said the work under the contract would now include the provision of services to disaggregate the solution, removing interdependencies and facilitating the formation of independent services capable of transition to replacement suppliers.

However, only one supplier is in line for that work, given the bespoke nature of the digital testing platform.

NHS Digital awarded the 51m IT contract to Deloitte in February without prior notice or competition at the same time the UK government faced a legal challenge for Deloittes work on a "management" contract. The total value of the COVID-19 work now stands at 75m. Nice work if you can get it.

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How many Brits have deleted life-saving track and trace app from their phones? No idea, junior minister tells MPs - The Register