Important Innovations

  NASA Will Pay Thousands for Moon Dirt and Moon Rocks Source:  Moon stock image  Moon Commercial Exploration About to Expand NASA wants to mine the Moon. And to do so, it just announced that it's looking for companies to do lunar mining.  This is a bold bid by NASA to start the commercial development of the Moon.  The initial purpose is to help US astronauts establish permanent bases on the Moon and "live off the land".  And, then for NASA to move forward to Mars where astronauts would need to live off the resources available there. The new program to find valuable resources on the Moon and later Mars is part of NASA's Artemis Project and it is open to international companies. International Companies Encouraged to Participate NASA is looking for private companies, that are already part of space explorations, to collect rocks and dirt from the lunar surface and sell them to NASA, as part of a technology development project.  NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted:

  Tesla's New Gigafactory in Germany Source:  Tesla Factory  Sustainable Energy  Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk is promising that his new gigafactory in Brandenburg, Germany will revolutionize how electric vehicles are built.  He is replacing hundreds of robots with huge, aluminum casting machines to build simpler chassis and parts. From Musk's perspective, the robots are not up to the task that he wants to accomplish. Musk is repositioning production to components glued and rivetted into the car's rear underbelly with a single module from the aluminum gigapress machines.  Musk also predicts that the Brandenburg plant will deliver a radical overhaul in the way electric car battery cells and battery packs are built. At the new plant, Tesla intends to manufacture a new version of its Model Y crossover vehicle. Moving Toward Sustainable Energy In a visit to the Tesla plant site in Germany, Musk said he will transform the core structural design of electric cars, in terms of en

  Walmart's Online Business Has Doubled On Demand Drones Walmart is beefing up its delivery services with on-demand drones. It just announced that it's launching a pilot program delivering groceries and other household items by drones.  The pilot program is being done in partnership with the drone delivery service Flytrex.  The world's biggest retailer is flying the grocery deliveries using Flytrex automated drones. Drone Insights Drone deliveries started today in Fayetteville, North Carolina.  Cloud-controlled drones are picking up and dropping off select items.  In a blog post, Walmart SVP of Customer Products Tom Ward said the drones are controlled over the cloud using a smart and easy control dashboard.  Through the drone delivery service in Fayetteville, Walmart hopes to gain insights into  customer and staff drone experiences "from pickup and packing to takeoff and landing". COVID Environment Because of the COVID pandemic, shoppers prefer having items delive

  GM Has #1 Electric Vehicle in China Source:  GM's MINI EV That #1 China EV Seller GM Just Inked a Deal with E-Truck Maker Nikola Two big surprises from GM.  Its micro electric vehicle made by GM's Chinese joint venture is the #1 selling electric vehicle in China.  It sold 15,000 cars in August beating Tesla's 11,800 Model 3 sedans. Hongguang MINI EV The model is called the Hongguang MINI EV.  It's a two-door micro-mini EV that was launched this past July by the joint venture between GM, SAIC Motor Corporation and SGMW.  The starting price is very low at $4,200.  That price is less than 10% of the cost of Tesla's Model 3. Nikola-GM Deal Meanwhile, Wall Street is cheering news that GM and electric truck startup Nikola will join forces to build electric pickup trucks and commercial trucks powered by fuel cells.  Their intent is to compete hard against Tesla's e-trucks.  GM has taken an 11% stake in Nikola, which is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.  The stake is

  Passengers Protected from COVID By Multiple Features Source:  Futurebus rendering  Award Winning Design "Futurebus" is a new public transportation, bus design concept for the times that we live in.  Every aspect of the design protects passengers from the spread of COVID-19 by minimizing contact with fellow passengers.  There are self-sanitizing handles that utilize UV light and antimicrobial fabrics.  There is a large, single sliding door that allows riders to board and leave the bus with no contact.  The bus has alternated seating to create a protective barrier and cooper infused fabric to reduce pathogens. International Team of University Designers The bus was designed by an international team from Harvard University, Northwestern University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Tong University.  The design won top prize in the Four C Competition, an international design competition sponsored by Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Design.  The competition happened tot

  Is It China's Version of the USAF X-37B Spaceplane? Source:  USAF X-37B Spaceplane  New Reusable Space Vehicle Shrouded in Mystery China has successfully launched an experimental reusable spacecraft.  It was deployed into orbit Friday onboard a Long March 2F rocket.  The mystery space vehicle successfully landed at a designated location, presumably in China, today.  The Chinese news agency Xinhua calls the space vehicle a breakthrough that will lead to more frequent round trips to space at a greatly reduced cost.  The big question:  is it China's version of the top secret, US Air Force X-37B spaceplane? Low Key Mission with No Photos The Chinese government has kept the mission very low key.  No photos of the spacecraft have been distributed and no details provided on the technology involved.  But there is a great deal of speculation that the vehicle may be the Chinese version of the USAF's top secret X-37B spaceplane.  The X-37B is an autonomous spaceplane developed by Bo

  Latest Science on Climate Change & Most Innovative Remedies Source:  Amazon   https://amazon.com/author/ekane Just Published on Kindle & Amazon Journalist Edward Kane's latest book "Fighting For A Greener World" has just been published on Kindle and Amazon.  It contains the latest science on Climate Change and the most innovative remedies, including green travel vehicles, renewable energy and the efforts of governments, businesses and investors to reverse and eliminate Climate Change. For a free preview of the book, go to  https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B08HKM38V7&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_NlqvFb2XG6VTF&tag=ejkane2-20    I co-authored the book with Ed.