Important Innovations

SpinLaunch: Launching Rockets with a Giant Centrifuge Source: SpinLaunch Tremendous Fuel Savings A Long Beach, California based company has developed a unique breakthrough technology that literally flings rockets into space.  The technology is under development with big investment backing and a contract from the US Department of Defense.  The SpinLaunch system is a giant centrifuge, the size of a football field, that will spin rockets up to 5,000 mph and then fling them out for orbit into space.  What's the key value:  tremendous fuel savings.  The company says, it will be able to do 5 launches a day at a cost of $250,000 per launch as a result of  the fuel savings. Giant Centrifuge and Kinetic Energy The giant centrifuge launch system is based on kinetic energy.  Inside the centrifuge, which is a partial vacuum, a long arm with a launch vehicle on one end and a counterweight on the other, starts accelerating the spin speed over a few hours.  At peak velo

Subatomic Particle 14 Billion Years Old Source:  European Space Agency/Hubble Big Bang Subatomic Particle May Provide Answers on Dark Matter Researchers believe that they have identified a subatomic particle that may have formed the Universe's dark matter right after the Big Bang, nearly 14 billion years ago.  They say this is one of the strongest pieces of evidence of the very existence of dark matter.  Dark matter can be seen in the picture (above) floating like a ring in the galaxy cluster ZwC10024+1652.  The team of astronomers, studying images obtained from the Hubble telescope, believe that dark matter was produced by a collision between two huge space clusters. Dark Matter Scientists have estimated that 27% of the matter in the Universe could be dark matter.  There has been very little substantive understanding of what dark matter is until now.  A team of nuclear physicists think that dark matter could be made from the newly identified particle - the

Spacecom Satellite Providing Vital Communications Services to Africa Source:  Spacecom AMOS-17 I srael’s AMOS-17 satellite, manufactured by Boeing, blasted into space aboard a SpaceX rocket in late October 2019.   The communications satellite is now successfully deployed and fully operational, providing advanced communications services to Africa.   AMOS-17 has provided Israel and satellite designer and operator Spacecom a triumphant return to Space, three years after a launchpad explosion destroyed another one of its satellites AMOS-6. Communications Services for Africa The demand for the communications services AMOS-17 is providing to Africa is huge.   The continent suffers from a lack of internet access infrastructure with some parts of Africa underserved or completely unconnected to any communications infrastructure.   Meanwhile demand for access is growing.   More than half of the African population is under 18 years old.   And the number

Russia's Skybot on the International Space Station Source:  Sputnik Delivered by Soyuz Rocket with No Humans on Board Russia's humanoid robot Skybot is onboard the International Space Station.  It was carried up to the ISS on a Soyez MS-14 rocket with no humans onboard.  The space journey was a non-human test flight of new systems including new motion control and navigation systems.  The inflight verifications, including data collected by Skybot, have cleared the way for Russian crews to be transported to ISS on the Soyuz 2.1a rocket starting in Spring 2020. Skybot the Crew Member Skybot F-850, formerly known as FEDOR, is designed to replicate the motions of a remote human operator.  The robot has arms and legs and can perform some functions autonomously.  Onboard the ISS, Skybot is testing its voice program to communicate with Russian astronauts and its ability to function in microgravity.  During its trip to the ISS, Skybot provided G-force and tempera

First Arab Nation to Launch Interplanetary Mission Source:  Emirates Mars Probe/University of Colorado UAE To Launch Mars Probe to Document Martian Climate and Atmosphere The United Arab Emirates has big space ambitions and plans.  It is going to launch a mission to Mars in 2020, making it the first Arab nation to launch an interplanetary mission.  The Hope Mars probe will deploy the Hope Satellite to study the climate on Mars. Destination Mars 2021 When the Hope satellite reaches Mars in 2021, it will show how Mars' climate conditions change throughout the year.  The satellite will be launched from Japan in June 2020.  It will reach Mars in February 2021 and collect data for two years.  The mission could be extended through 2025.  Interesting, a female scientists is a key player behind the mission.  Sarah Al Amiri is deputy project manager of the Mars Mission and Chairperson of the UAE Council of Scientists.  90% of the workers on the Emirates Mars Mission a

Growing Global Space Programs Source:  ISRO Lunar Explorations and Global Cooperation India is a growing leader in the exploration of space.  Of particular interest is India's many lunar exploration successes.  India is providing vital data from its multi-year Chandrayaan-2 mission that is now orbiting the Moon.  The images are being provided to the NASA-led Artemis program, which is a multinational effort to put astronauts back on the Moon by 2024.  The images of the surface of the Moon are vital to determine the best landing spot on the Moon for the next team of astronauts. Back in 2009, India was the first to discover ice deposits on the surface of the Moon. In 2021, it plans to launch Chandrayaan-3 that will include another landing attempt.  Their Vikram lander failed to land safely on the Moon as part of the C-2 mission. US-India Space Cooperation Accelerating President Trump in his late February 2020 trip to India praised India's many space exploration and te

LoCoMoGo Smart Train Set Source: LoCoMoGo For Kids 4 to 12 years old, Learning Computer Coding by Playing LoCoMoGo of Amsterdam, Holland has created a toy train set that helps kids learn basic computer coding by playing with the toy.  It's designed for children 4 to 12 years old.  The company says the purpose of the smart train set is to help the child have fun, learn, be educated and keep on playing. How This Very Innovative New Toy Works The child uses the tape provided to set up the train tracks in whatever configuration he or she desires.  By pressing a button on the top of red engine, the cars start rolling along the tracks.  The train set teaches the child the basics of coding with the simple color coded cars. Different colored tapes are placed along the tracks. The blue car provides basic "if-then" code logic.  The blue car reacts to the different colors placed along the tracks. It accelerates when it passes green tape.  By adding the