Important Innovations

  CEO Elon Musk's Roadster Approaches Mars                                                                           Source:  SpaceX and Tesla "Starman" Behind the Wheel, Inside a Rocket SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk's red, $100,000 Tesla Roadster had made its closest approach to Mars.  The Roadster driver "Starman", which is a mannequin in a spacesuit, are part of a payload inside the second stage of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Colonizing Mars One of entrepreneur Elon Musk's major goals is to colonize Mars and make all of us an interplanetary civilization. SpaceX says the Falcon Heavy rocket vehicle with the Roadster inside made their first close approach to Mars and was within 5 million miles of the planet.   Harvard Astronomer Tracking Harvard astronomer Jonathan Dowell is tracking the journey.  He says the SpaceX spacecraft is in an elliptical orbit around the Sun.  The vehicle is 37 million miles from Earth and has travelled 1.3 billion miles sin

  Reopens to the Public in Phoenix After COVID                                                       Source:  Waymo Robo Taxis Hitting the Road Waymo's autonomous, robo taxi ride hailing service is open to the public in Phoenix.  The company has put years of autonomous driving research on the line to operate Waymo as a revenue producing business.  Waymo has a serious tech pedigree.  It is a business unit of Google's parent company Alphabet. Driving Plans With No Human Attendants Today, Waymo driverless minivans with no human attendants on board resumed operations for members of Waymo One service in Phoenix. In the spring, operations were suspended because of the COVID pandemic.  Now, within a few weeks, there will be open access for anyone who downloads the smartphone app and wants to hail a Waymo ride within a 50 square mile radius of Phoenix.  Next step will be to offer the service within a 100 square mile area of Phoenix.  The company has hopes of expanding operations beyond

  Looking To Launch Starliner First Un-crewed, Then Crewed                                                       Source:  Boeing Spaceship with Checkered Past Boeing has built the Starliner, a next generation spacecraft, that's designed to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS).  It is an alternative vehicle to the highly successful SpaceX Crew Dragon that brought two astronauts back and forth to the ISS this past summer.   The Starliner has been plagued with development problems, test failures and schedule slippages.  Now it has lost its astronaut Commander Chris Ferguson.  Ferguson is an engineer who helped Boeing develop the space vehicle. December 2019 Test Starliner has experienced a rocky road to development.  In December 2019, during an un-crewed flight, software problems caused the engines to misfire.  Starliner entered the wrong orbital path, never reached the ISS and was forced to return to Earth.  Now, for "personal reasons" Boeing e

  Planets Better For Life Than Earth                                                       Source:  NASA New Scientific Discovery Scientists have discovered 24 "superhabitable" planets with conditions better for life than on Earth and with stars better than our Sun.  The research was led by a team at Washington State University. The planets are warmer, wetter, larger and older than the Earth.  The scientists used a set of criteria to identify the "superhabitable" planets including presence of water, mild temperature and atmospheric conditions, among others. Space Targets For the Search For Life The 24 planets are 100 light years away from the Earth.  The scientists say their findings serve as targets for the next generation of telescopes to explore for signs of life. The scientists believe these 24 planets have the most promising conditions for complex forms of life.  They were identified from a group of 4500 exoplanets.  They estimate the age range of the planets a

SpaceX To Build Hypersonic and Ballistic Missile Tracking Satellites                            Source: Artist Image of Hypersonic Missile New, Highly Advanced Satellite Technology The US Department of Defense has awarded SpaceX a $149 million contract to build hypersonic and ballistic missile tracking and warning satellites.  The satellites will be positioned in low-Earth orbit similar to Starlink.  Starlink is SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's mega-constellation of satellites to provide the world broadband internet at inexpensive prices.  The Pentagon contract is a first for SpaceX and yet another major win for CEO Elon Musk.  This contract comes 3 weeks after US Defense Secretary Mark Espey announced that China and Russia have weaponized space with killer satellites and directed energy weapons. New, Advanced Satellite Technology The new satellites for the military will have wide field of vision, infrared sensors that can pinpoint and track potential missile threats coming in from space at

  Top Ranked on Amazon's Automotive Engineering                                                  Source:                                          Amazon  https://amazon.com/author/ekane My Book on Musk's SpaceX & Tesla Breakthroughs Journalist Edward Kane's just published book "The Elon Musk Factor" is ranked as the #1 new release in Amazon's Automotive Engineering category.  It's also on Amazon's Hot New Releases list.  For a free preview, go to  https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B08KHCYGY9&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_JkAFFbC7T0C4C    I co-authored the book with Ed.

  60 More Broadband Satellites Launched Today                                                 Source:  NASA/SpaceX Elon Musk's Promise of More Inexpensive Internet  SpaceX has just deployed 60 more Starlink satellites into orbit.  SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk tweeted, when the satellites reach their targeted points, SpaceX will be able to roll out a fairly wide, public beta test in the northern United States and possibly in southern Canada.  And, he says, as soon as SpaceX receives regulatory approvals from more nations, he will roll the system into other countries.  Musk's space system is designed to deliver inexpensive internet services globally. Starlink Mega-Satellite Constellations for Global Internet This is the 13th Starlink low-earth orbit satellite launch so far.  SpaceX plans on dozens more as it grows its broadband mega-satellite constellation into thousands of small satellites.  The promise is for much less expensive internet availability on a global basis.  Tha