Monthly Archives: January 2022

Understanding the health implications of living in space is crucial to plan safe space travel. Since the first space mission, astronomers have reported about their anemia. However, the mechanisms contributing to anemia in space flight have remained unclear.

A world-first study from the Ottawa Hospital revealed that space travel could cause lower red blood cell counts, known as space anemia. The analysis changes whats known about space anemia.

Space anemia was previously considered a quick adaptation to fluids shifting into the astronauts upper body when they first arrived in space. Astronomers lose 10% of the fluid in their veins thusly.

Astronomers were thought to lose 10 percent of their red blood cells to restore the balance, and red blood cell control was normal after ten days in space.

For this study, astronomers analyzed 14 astronauts during their six-month space missions.

The human body creates and destroys 2 million red blood cells every second on Earth. Scientists found that astronomers bodies destroyed 54 percent more red blood cells in space or 3 million every second. These results were the same for both female and male astronauts.

Scientists collected astronauts air and blood samples three months before the space mission for the study. Four times onboard the ISS and serially after landing. They then precisely measured the tiny amounts of carbon monoxide in the breath samples from astronauts. One molecule of carbon monoxide is produced every time one heme molecule, the deep-red pigment in red blood cells, is destroyed.

Although the red blood cell production was not measured directly, scientists assume the astronauts generated extra red blood cells to compensate for their destroyed cells. Otherwise, the astronauts would end up with severe anemia and would have had significant health problems in space.

Lead author Dr. Guy Trudel, a rehabilitation physician and researcher at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of Ottawa, said,Thankfully, having fewer red blood cells in space isnt a problem when your body is weightless. But when landing on Earth and potentially on other planets or moons, anemia affecting your energy, endurance, and strength can threaten mission objectives. The effects of anemia are only felt once you land and must deal with gravity again.

Five out of 13 astronauts were clinically anemic when they landed one of the 14 astronauts did not have blood drawn on landing.

Scientists noted, Space-related anemia was reversible, with red blood cells levels progressively returning to normal three to four months after returning to Earth.

After returning from the space mission, scientists found that red blood cell destruction was still 30 percent above preflight levels. The findings indicate that structural changes may have happened to the astronaut in space. This changes red blood cell control for up to a year after long-duration space missions.

The findings have multiple implications:

These are the first published results from MARROW, a made-in-Ottawa experiment looking at bone marrow health and blood production in space.

Journal Reference:

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Space travel can cause lower red blood cell counts - Tech Explorist

The Artemis 1 mission will soon let human voice bellow from the lunar surface.

2022 marks half a century since the Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan left the last footprints on the moon in 1972 and a lot has changed since then.

That year the first scientific hand-held calculator was released; today we carry more computing power in our pocket than that which safely guided the Apollo astronauts to the moon and back.

Related: Every mission to the moon

Now, at long last, humanity is about to leave Low Earth Orbit (LEO) again. Only two dozen astronauts have achieved that feat so far, all of them white men. Soon the first female astronaut and astronaut of color will join the lauded lists of moonwalkers. It's all thanks to the Artemis program NASA's plan to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before.By 2025 we could see astronauts walk in the lunar dust once more, with the upgrade from grainy black and white video footage that half a century of technological progress will bring. A whole new generation could see themselves as budding space travelers, inspired to dream big.

But pulling this off requires an entirely new launch system and a bit of practice first.

March 2022 will see the launch of Artemis 1 an uncrewed test flight. It will be the maiden use of NASA'sSpace Launch System(SLS). It's a rocket that will send the new Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle(MPCV) on a 236,000-mile-long (380,000-kilometre-long) journey to the moon. If all goes to plan then it will be followed by a crewed mission Artemis 2 in 2024. It will test everything out in Earth orbit, then it's full steam ahead for the history-making Artemis-3 crew to land on the lunar south pole and spend a week there in 2025.

Even without a crew, Artemis 1 will be a record-breaker. According to NASA, "Orion will stay in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before." But first it has to leave the Earth.

Two huge boosters and a core stage filled with 733,000 gallons (3,332 liters) of propellant will power the rocket through Earth's atmosphere. Once in space, the boosters will be jettisoned and the core stage will separate from the Orion spacecraft atop it. Orion will then orbit the planet while it deploys its solar panels. Finally, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) will fire to eject Orion from orbit and send it on its way towards the moon.

Stacking the rocket

Before it can launch, the parts of the rocket and spacecraft are joined together.

Once the ICPS has been discarded it has another job: to deploy a series of tiny satellites that have hitch-hiked along for the ride. They include BioSentinel, a mission that will carry yeast samples beyond LEO. The idea is to study radiation levels and their effect on living organisms, which will provide key insights in keeping astronauts safe when they fly on Artemis 3.

After separation with the ICPS, Orion will be propelled and powered by the European Service Module built by the European Space Agency. "The Service Module will also provide consumables for future crew, including water and oxygen," says Phillippe Berthe, ESA's Project Coordination Manager for the module.

Artemis 1 may not have a human crew on board, but the Commander's seat will be occupied by a mannequin dressed in the Orion Crew Survival System a special suit designed to help protect against radiation. Two radiation sensors will monitor radiation levels.

The mannequin will be strapped in, but the weightless environment also needs testing. So NASA is flying a "zero gravity indicator" in the form of a Snoopy cuddly toy dressed in an iconic orange NASA jumpsuit. The comic strip character has a long association with lunar exploration the crew of Apollo 10 used it as nickname for their lunar module.

So how does the new Service Module compare to the lunar modules that sent Apollo astronauts to the moon? "The propulsion is largely the same, it is very comparable to the Apollo era," says Berthe. Yet half a century of technological progress has brought other strides forward. There have been vast improvements in solar cells, Berthe says. So that's where the spacecraft will derive most of its power.

"Computing power is another major improvement," says Berthe. The Apollo astronauts famously flew to the moon with less computing power than found in an iPhone. That meant a lot of manual tasks for the crew. This time around, the spacecraft's powerful computers can do most of the heavy lifting. "We can program much more complex operations now. The crew don't need to intervene directly in every nitty-gritty detail," Berthe says.

Artemis 1 will be gone for between 26 and 42 days. It'll take 1-2 weeks to get to the moon, where it will swoop down close to the lunar surface and use the gravitational kick it receives to enter a so-called "distant retrograde orbit". Retrograde means that it will orbit the moon in the opposite direction to that in which the moon spins. It will stay in that orbit for between 6 and 19 days. Then it will swing back down towards the moon for another kick to help power its 9 to 19 day journey back to the Earth.

Artemis 1 will be gone for between 26 and 42 days. It'll take 1-2 weeks to get to the moon, where it will swoop down close to the lunar surface and use the gravitational kick it receives to enter a so-called "distant retrograde orbit". Retrograde means that it will orbit the Moon in the opposite direction to that in which the moon spins. It will stay in that orbit for between 6 and 19 days. Then it will swing back down towards the Moon for another kick to help power its 9 to 19 day journey back to the Earth.

This project has been a labor of love for Berthe, who has been involved with it for nearly two decades and has seen many obstacles come and go. "One of the biggest challenges has been maintaining support across four administrations," he says. Presidents Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden have all wanted to put their spin on it and whether they wanted to go to the moon or Mars. The timeline has also moved around, from a landing in 2028, then 2024 and now 2025. "The mission has changed a lot of times," Berthe says.

On top of the politics came the coronavirus pandemic, although Berthe says it didn't have as big an impact as he feared. "It was difficult for people to cross international borders," he says. For a huge multi-agency project like this that somewhat slowed us down.

There are also plenty of nay-sayers those who argue that sending humans back to the moon is a waste of time, money and resources. We've already done it, why go back? Especially as we've already sent an armada of robotic spacecraft to both scan the moon from orbit and drive across the lunar surface. "An astronaut will do in a 6 hour [moonwalk] what a robot can do in 6 months, Berthe says. It is more expensive, but it is more efficient."

We ultimately also want more than just fleeting visits. "We want to stay permanently and build something sustainable for the long run," Berthe says. To this end, an orbital outpost called Gateway is a big part of the Artemis programme. Think of it like an International Space Station, but in orbit around the moon. A home considerably-further-away from home. It could be ready as soon as November 2024 and it is intended to last for 15 years.

The hope is that it will be ready in time for the crew of Artemis-3 to dock with. While aboard Gateway, astronauts will stay in the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO). There are also additional docking ports for cargo ships to come and go with supplies. Astronauts would then transfer to the Starship Human Landing System (HLS), a lunar lander based on SpaceX's existing Starship. However, if Gateway isn't ready then the crew will transfer directly to the HLS for landing at Artemis Base Camp.

Initially stays will be short and largely inside the lander, but ultimately NASA wants astronauts living on the lunar surface for at least a month at a time in purpose built accommodation. In September 2021 the Agency put out a call for companies to submit their proposals for the next generation of spacesuits that Artemis astronauts will wear during their history-making moonwalks.

Eventually the space between the Earth and the moon could be swarming with spacecraft ferrying goods and astronauts back and forth. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and CEO of space travel company Blue Origin, has suggested that the moon could be a place to put our heavy industry. The idea being that it would free up living space on Earth and move our atmosphere-polluting infrastructure somewhere where there isn't even an atmosphere.

The moon is also an ideal staging post for deeper solar system exploration. The size and scale of the Space Launch System(SLS) shows just how hard we have to work to escape from Earth's gravitational clutches. The moon's gravity, which is six times weaker than ours, is considerably easier to flee from. There are also huge amounts of water on the moon. As water is H2O, that means an abundant supply of oxygen. In fact, the moon's top layer alone has enough oxygen to sustain 8 billion people for 100,000 years. Liquid oxygen is also rocket propellant.

Related: How rockets work: A complete guide

That's why Artemis Base Camp will be at the moon's South Pole. We already know that there's plenty of water there. Lunar Flashlight, one of the small spacecraft hitching a ride on Artemis-1, will orbit the Moon and shine infrared lasers into permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles to further reveal the quantity and quality of water ice there.

The sunlight at the South Pole is also favorable it is illuminated approximately ninety per cent of the time, compared to two weeks of daylight followed by two weeks of darkness on the rest of the moon. That's good news for a colony powered by solar panels. The combination of these two factors water and sunlight - may lead to a time when rocket ships routinely fuel up close to Artemis Base Camp and blast off for more distant climes such as Mars and the Asteroid Belt.

Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine certainly sees lunar exploration as a key step on our journey towards becoming an inter-planetary species. He has said that "we need several years in orbit and on the surface of the moon to build operational confidence for conducting long-term work and supporting life away from Earth before we can embark on the first multi-year human mission to Mars."

It's all part of returning to where we came from. The iron in your blood and the calcium in your bones was forged inside stars that blasted them across the universe when they died. Eventually those atoms found themselves inside sentient creatures who dreamed of sailing between the stars and built cathedral-sized rocket ships to take them there. The Artemis-1 launch later this year may only be a small step, but it's an important one. Future historians could look back on it as the moment humanity took a giant leap in its return to the moon, this time for good.

For more information about the Artemis 1 mission and to receive live updates, check out NASAs Artemis 1 webpage. The European Space Agency (ESA) have also put together this animation to visualize the mission.Andrew Doan et al. End-to-End

Assessment of Artemis-1 Development Flight Instrumentation, Sensors and Instrumentation, Aircraft/Aerospace, Energy Harvesting & Dynamic Environments Testing, Volume 7, September 2020,https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47713-4_4

V. Angelopoulos. The ARTEMIS Mission. Springer (2010)https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9554-3_2

Marshall Smith et at, "The Artemis Program: An Overview of NASA's Activities to Return Humans to the Moon,"IEEE Aerospace Conference, pp. 1-10, March 2020,https://doi.org/10.1109/AERO47225.2020.917232

John Honeycutt. NASA's Space Launch System: Progress Toward Launch, Session: On-Earth Spaceports and Launch Systems, November 2020,https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2020-4037

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Artemis 1: Going back to the moon - Space.com

Traveling into space is a dangerous endeavor. Humans have evolved to live on the surface of our planet and venturing outside of our atmosphere brings all manner of complications. There are the obvious things, like the lack of food, water, and oxygen. Not to mention the deadly vacuum of space or the potentially toxic environments of other worlds. Then there are less obvious problems, things which might not be immediately deadly but could become a problem in an emergency.

Here on Earth, if you become injured you have access to a worlds worth of infrastructure including over the counter medications and healthcare systems. In space, if you get a flesh wound, your crewmates might hear you scream but theyll have limited ways to help. An experiment by German Space Agency (DLR) is hoping to solve this problem with bioprinted bandages made from an astronauts own cells.

SpaceXs 24th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station, which launched in late 2021, carried with it a handheld device known as the Bioprint FirstAid Handheld Bioprinter, or Bioprint FirstAid for short.

The device is designed to hold cells from astronauts or Earth-bound patients, infused inside a bio-ink. In the event of an injury, the Bioprint FirstAid would be used to apply a bandage to the injury site in near real-time. The bio-ink mixes with two fast setting gels and will create a covering similar to plaster.

Previously existing technologies for creating similar structures involved bulky machinery and required additional time for the patches to mature. The Bioprint FirstAid has the benefit of being small enough to hold in the hand and it is totally manual, requiring no batteries or other outside power source to use.

For the tests on the ISS, the device wont have any live cells inside. Instead, its carrying fluorescent microparticles which take the place of cells for later observation. The primary objective of these experiments is to test the print capability of the device in microgravity and compare it to performance in Earth gravity.

Taking this technology into space allows researchers to understand the way tissue layers work together in microgravity, which might be fundamentally different to the way they operate here at home.

The findings will not only inform the future of this technology in space but will also provide insight which might be useful on the ground. While the allure of bioprinting technology for space-based missions is immense, this technology will likely do most of its work here on Earth.

Using bioprinted skin patches for wound healing offers a decreased risk of rejection, because the patch itself will contain cells from the target patient. A handheld device like the Bioprint FirstAid also opens up treatment into additional scenarios. Doctors and emergency response personnel could take the device to where the patients are, without necessarily needing them in a hospital setting.

The benefit to space travel shouldnt be understated, however. Astronauts in space heal differently than they do on Earth. Low gravity is known to increase the time needed for healing injuries, scientists are hoping bioprinting might help bridge the gap in the event of injury during long-duration space missions when traditional medical intervention isnt readily available.

NASA has made no secret of their intent to return humans to the Moon and complete longer duration missions to Mars and elsewhere. Other organizations including the ESA, DLR, and SpaceX will likely also have their hands in exploring the solar system; developing systems for more readily treating injuries in space will likely become critical as our time spent in space increases.

If theres one thing weve learned from our space exploration efforts, its that things go wrong. It takes a thick skin to be an astronaut, it cant hurt to make it a little thicker.

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Astronauts are testing a 3D printer that would make bandages made of their own skin - Syfy

The final frontier figures highly on Jake Paul's list of priorities this year after the boxing sensation flagged his desire to travel to space in 2022.

The Paul brand went global in 2021 after brothers Jake and Logan notched big wins over the likes of Tyron Woodley, Ben Askren and Floyd Mayweather, but the journey is far from over.

That's after the former took to Instagram and specified one of his five goals this year is to "Go to outer space with Jeff [Bezos], Richard [Branson], or Elon [Musk]."

While the comment may be tongue in cheek, it wouldn't be the first time in recent years that Paul has set out to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

Few would have expected the Ohio native to be quite so successful in the world of boxing, and yet he continues to surprise his doubters in the ring.

The 'Space Race' has been reborn in the private sector in recent years as billionaires like Amazon founder Bezos, Tesla titan Musk and Virgin supremo Branson compete for prominence among the stars.

Bezos bankrolls aerospace company Blue Origin, while Musk has long been at the helm of his own space transport giant, SpaceX, and Branson has a seat in the industry through Virgin Galactic.

Musk put his rivalry with Bezos to one side in October and offered his congratulations when the latter flew legendary Star Trek actor William Shatner to the stratosphere aboard one of his Blue Origin vessels.

Do you think Jake Paul will ever fight in the UFC? Let us know in the comments section.

And the younger Paul sibling seemingly wants to be among the next intake of space-flight passengers as he looks to expand his horizons once more in 2022.

The 25-year-old's other ambitions included getting "better every single day," "expose bully [UFC president] Dana [White]/help fighters" and to "help as many kids as possible through @boxingbullies."

Paul also highlighted his desire to "elevate Amanda Serrano and women's boxing," having signed the Puerto Rican boxing star to Most Valuable Promotionsa company he co-foundedin September.

The sky appears to be the limit for Paul after improving his professional boxing record to 5-0 in 2021, having knocked out Askren in April before notching back-to-back victories over Woodley.

The second of those wins against the former UFC welterweight champion came just last month, a sixth-round finish that won ESPN Ringside's Knockout of the Year award.

It remains uncertain as to what lies next for Paul in the boxing world, although a face-off with Tommy Fury no longer looks viable after Tyson Fury's half-brother withdrew from their December duel due to injury.

Instead, a 36million battle against former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson has been touted as a possibility.

Paul has also continued his war of words with UFC president White amid rumours he could transition into mixed martial arts, having recently started training for the cross over.

Any sporting ambition may be forced to fit in around a schedule that could comprise a voyage to the stars at some point, provided one of the three titans of space travel are willing to take Paul as a passenger.

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Jake Paul announces plans to travel to "outer space" with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos - Daily Star

A CEO is describing a balloon that glides through space for a few hours, cocktail bar included, before returning to earth with a gentle splash in the ocean as a yacht waits to pick up the passengers. This is met with nods all around, because this audience is used to imagining far-fetched possibilities. This is a gathering of techies with lots of ideas and the funds to execute themand many of their inventions already exist today, ready to be unrolled. Welcome to a look into the future.

Normally, the thought of trade shows instantly summons boredombut not CES. This annual tech convention offers a glimpse into a future dominated by electric vehicles, robots, and something strange and sinister called the metaverse.

After going all-digital (appropriately so, in more ways than one) due to the pandemic in 2021, the latest edition of the Consumer Electronics Show returned to Las Vegas the first week of January. The event was more toned down than usual (thanks, Omicron), but still offers a fascinating peek into the potentially dramatic changes for how you travel this year, in the next two to three years, or by the end of the 2020s. Take a look.

Ride in a car with wheels, wings why not?

Flying cars used to be something you only saw in James Bond movies, but they're fast becoming a reality for the consumer market. Aska is building a full-size prototype in Silicon Valley that may take flight as soon as this year. The four-seat vehicle has six propellers and is mostly electric with a small gas-driven generator to restore used battery power. It's designed to take off and land vertically, but also has wheels to be driven like a car. "When you land, everything folds up and tucks away less than eight feet (wide), so it's street legal," says David Hoover, who's in charge of manufacturing and production.

The speed tops out at 150 miles per hour with a distance of 250 milesperfect for traveling from the Bay Area to Lake Tahoe or the Hamptons to Manhattan in less than an hour. The company is targeting a $789,000 price tag, so start saving up those dollars now. Anyone behind the wheel would need to have a pilot's license and depart from an actual airport, just like any other private aircraft.

Travel and try on clothes from your couch, via the metaverse

You'll soon be able to take a vacation without leaving the comfort of your couch. The word that dominated CES this year was "metaverse"a catch-all phrase for 3D virtual worlds. Digging into the possibilities would take an entirely separate article, but CES proved that there's no shortage of businesses and products eager to jump into these uncharted digital waters.

Caliverse by South Korea's Lotte Data Communication is developing virtual experiences for attending concerts, watching movies, and shopping (in which your digital avatar can try on clothes before you buy) by donning a pair of googles. Headsets by Oculus were used for demonstration purposes at CES. "If your friend is living in France and you're in the US, you can meet and join the online concert whenever you want," says Manager David Yoon. If nothing else, it saves the price of a plane ticket.

E-bike through the snow

Your next winter ski vacation might not require skis at all. Check out Moonbikes, the first electric bike for zipping through the snow. No emissions or noise, which is especially important when considering the sensitivity of sound for potential avalanches. A Moonbike kinda looks like a motorcycle, but with tank-like track propulsion in the rear and a single ski or snowboard-style leg in front. The concept originated in the French Alps and is already being used at winter resorts. The bike is also useful for those who live in the mountains or plan to vacation in a remote lodge that isn't easy to reach by car.

Speed through the airport with face scans

Even the TSA will get better with technology as it meets security and public health needs. "The demand around seamless travel will lead to some exciting public-private sector collaborations in the near future," says Ha McNeill, former chief of staff for the Transportation Security Administration. She's now CEO of Pangiam, a company working with Google Cloud to improve aviation security for checked bags via AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning).

Biometrics scanning could come into play too. "One could envision an experience where the traveler uses their face to enable a curb-to-gate process from checking in bags, security checkpoints, lounge access, and boarding, [while] never having to take out an ID and boarding pass," adds McNeill.

Hover a flying taxi over the Grand Canyon

Skydrive is a Japanese company with a flying taxi prototype that already has a thousand hours of testing under its belt. It looks like a giant drone with two passenger seats. Eight individually controlled motors with eight propellers are powered by eight batteries. If one goes out, the others pick up the slack. "The reason why it's so small is we want to make sure it can land anywhere two cars can park," says Skydrive representative Nicolas Zart.

The flying taxi is also autonomousa safety feature since, you know, do you really want humans driving this thing? The company is targeting the tourism industry first, with an interest in using the taxis for sight-seeing near cruise ships, trade shows, or even popular destinations like the Eiffel Tower or Grand Canyon. Skydrive expects the flying taxis to be in service by 2025.

Never lose your luggage again

Targus recently introduced the Cyprus Hero eco-backpack. Made from recycled water bottles, it's the first baggage officially authorized to sync with the "Find My" technology by Apple that's commonly used to track down missing iPhones. If your bag is lost or stolen, you can determine its location in seconds using an app. Just pair it via Bluetooth. Unlike an AirTag, the tech is built inand can also work in reverse with a button inside the backpack to ping a lost phone.

The Cyprus Hero holds a 16-inch laptop and is available to buy this spring for $149.99. "This is geared toward anyone who needs to carry their laptop and protect itand also have that sense of security to know where your backpack is at all times," says Andrew Corkill, vice president of global marketing and e-commerce. Targus plans to use the tech in larger luggage in the future.

See everything through the eyes of a virtual tour guide

Kura earned a CES 2022 Innovation Award for its Gallium lightweight glasses that push the boundaries of what's possible in augmented reality. Imagine walking through a museum and receiving 8K-level graphics in your line of vision that identify a painting as a Monet or Picasso with detailed information. Imagine walking outdoors at Disneyland with virtual charactersthat only you can seeinteracting with real-world settings. The product includes a 150-degree field-of-view, 95-percent transparency, and unlimited depth-of-field. In other words, this technology is going to merge reality and the metaverse in ways you've never seen before.

Take a balloon ride to space

Who needs rockets? Space Perspective is taking a completely different approach to space tourism, making flights smooth and easy at a pace of 12 miles per hour. A balloon carries eight people and a pilot inside a pressurized capsule dubbed Spaceship Neptune to 100,000 feet above the Earth. There will be a bar and bathroom on board without any emissions, noise, or g-force to get in the way. You can even have a wedding ceremony up there.

The entire journey lasts six hours before the capsule splashes down to the ocean, where you and everyone on board can "get picked up by a beautiful yacht perhaps," says founder and Co-CEO Jane Pointer. "Think of it as a luxury space flight experience." Reservations are already sold out for 2024, but currently available for 2025.

Drive with augmented reality on your windshield

Expect road trips to look very different in the no-so-distant future, thanks to 3D Augmented Reality Head-Up Displays (or 3D AR-HUD) by CY Vision. The tech turns real life into a virtual world, thanks to hologram-like pop-ups on your windshield that interact with real-world situations. The effects range from lines in the road and turning cues that reflect GPS directions to pop-up graphics that signal when your car is passing a four-star restaurant or a hotel with vacancies available. It can also announce when you're passing notable landmarks.

In a world with enough distracted driving as it is, could this make things worse? "It's actually an improvement," argues Co-Founder Hakan Urey, adding that the technology prompts on-the-spot warnings for jaywalking pedestrians and potential car collisions. "These features enhance driving safety." CY Vision is working with BMV and other companies (including an "EV startup") with the technology expected in use by the end of 2023.

Test for COVID in seconds with a breathalyzer

ViraWarn by Opteev Technologies is ready to unleash Freedom on the world. It's a personal breathalyzer-like device that can detect if the user is carrying the coronavirus or flu within five seconds. It's not a stretch to think every tourist (especially those traveling internationally, on a cruise, or attending a crowded trade show like CES) might want to carry one of these portable units. So how accurate is it? "100 percent," according to CEO and Co-Founder Conrad Bessemer, citing a George Washington University study.

He says the device can make an accurate reading "whether there are 2,000 virus particles or 200," since it recognizes a tiny electrical charge that happens when a spike-protein virus interacts with a solid conductive polymer disc. Bessemer is hoping the FDA can approve Freedom via Emergency Use Authorization with a projected retail price of $199 to $259. The cartridge is good for up to 300 tests. Each replacement is $40. The company also has Liberty and Liberty Plus: in-room devices that can detect viruses in the air, which may come to a hotel near you in the future.

Traffic jams? What traffic jams?

Triggo has unveiled an electric car with a unique perk: the width can be modified at the touch of a button, bringing in the wheels and chassis for a slimmer frame to navigate between other vehicles and bypass traffic jams like a motorcycle. The thin mode operates at slower speeds, while the regular wider modification can handle highway speeds.

"You don't have to buy one. You might rent one," says CEO Rafal Budweil. The cars, produced in Poland, can be ordered on an app and delivered to your location via remote controlan appealing prospect for visitors in busy tourist destinations. Triggo vehicles are proving to be attractive for emergency use situations too. Police and fire services in Singapore have signed up to use the vehicles this year.

Take a space plane to a commercial space station

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson dominate the headlines, but space tourism doesn't begin and end with billionaire bro-culture. Sierra Space (a spin off company of the Sierra Nevada Corporation) is aiming to launch Orbital Reef by the end of the decade. Think of it as a business park and space station in one. "It's going to be the largest real estate development in space," says Chairwoman Eren Ozmen. Sierra Space is also the force behind Dream Chaser, a "space plane" designed to transport crew and cargo to lower orbit and return to any airport on Earth. If you're wondering if Sierra Space is the real deal, just know the company already has a $3 billion contract with NASA.

Transform your hotel room to your mood that day

Marriott took advantage of the hype surrounding CES week to announce a new design lab at its Maryland headquarters to test and explore new innovations with partners like Carrier and LG Electronics. One idea involves "transforming" hotel rooms with layouts altered at the touch of a button for evolving purposes. "A Murphy bed of the future," is one example cited by Marriott International President Stephanie Linnartz, "where you can have a bed that flips up and turns into a desk." You may also see kitchen features that appear and disappear or televisions and other entertainment components that drop from the ceiling. The concept is in the early stages, but could resonate in dense urban markets like New York, where every inch of real estate comes at a premium.

Take wifi with you on the go

Internet access can be a crapshoot when traveling, especially across borders. If you don't want to be at the whim of hotels and coffee shop passwords, Ukrainian-based Nect produces a portable modem that fits in the palm of your hand. The device provides high-speed 4G LTE connectivity in 113 countries on your laptop or another device with a sim card and USB port. "You can take it with you anywhere," says Head of Business Development Vlady Berezina. "When going through lines at an airport, nobody will ask you questions because it's so lightweight." The modem doesn't have a battery; it lasts as long as the charge in your device. There are no contracts, and the modem can work as a hotspot for up to 10 devices.

Order up a self-driving bus

South Korean company Ciel is developing a new concept that falls somewhere between ride-sharing and public transportationwith autonomous vehicles, of course. Users will request a ride from any location using a phone app. An artificial intelligence hub will then dispatch a self-driving car or bus (depending on real-time demand and conditions) with routes determined live on the spot. Ciel plans to debut the technology in Seoul before rolling it out in other cities.

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Flying Taxis and Balloon Rides to Space Will Change Travel in 2022 - Thrillist

Published onJanuary 18, 2022

CategoryNews

Combining funk, electro, disco, and sci-fi-inspired synths.

Maastricht-based band YN YN are releasing a new album, titled The Age of Aquarius, via Glitterbeat this March.

Formed by Kees Berkers and Yves Lennertz, YN YN also includes Robbert Verwijlen, Remy Scheren, and are sometimes joined by Jerome Cardynaals or Gino Bombrini.

The Age of Aquarius sees the group combining funk and disco sounds with electro and space travel atmospherics.

Continuing the interstellar theme, the record is described as the soundtrack to an entity that travels through space, encountering different planets, aliens, parties and galaxies along the way.

It follows YN YNs 2020 LP, The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers.

Pre-order The Age of Aquarius here in advance of its 4th March release, check out the artwork and tracklist below.

Tracklist:

1. Satya Yuga2. Chong Wang3. Shnzou V.4. Faiyadansu5. Declined by Universe6. Nautilus7. The Age of Aquarius8. Kali Yuga

Photo by: Ben Houdijk

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YN YN craft space travel atmospherics on new LP, The Age of Aquarius - The Vinyl Factory