Important Innovations

Supersonic Flights Across the Earth Source:  Virgin Galactic Flying Public at Supersonic Speeds NASA is teaming up with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space company to develop high speed technologies for supersonic air travel.  The purpose is to make high Mach speed vehicles for the travelling public here on Earth to get from "Point-to-Point" in vastly reduced times.  NASA and Branson have finalized their collaboration by signing a Space Act Agreement.  Vision and Goal Branson's vision for transporting the public at Mach speeds is a "global network of spaceports, transcontinental supersonic space flights and delivering passengers anywhere in the world in a couple of hours".  To achieve this, the aircraft will actually be a spacecraft. Technological First The envisioned SST would be a spacecraft that would launch into space from its departure point, then re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and arrive at the destination point for landing

New World Being Created in a Swirling Orange Disc Source:  European Space Agency  Creation of a Planet Deep in Space Astronomers have discovered a new planet being born inside a swirling orange disc surrounding a distant young star.  And, the team of international astronomers who discovered it say this is the first time that humanity has witnessed the birth of a planet.  They add this discovery will help them to better understand how planets come to exist around stars. Celestial Creation As you can see in the picture, the new planet is forming in the very bright yellow twist in the inner region of the orange, swirling disc that surrounds the young star AV Aurigae.  It was spotted by the European Space Agency's European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in northern Chile. 520 Light Years Away The birth of the new planet is taking place 520 light years from Earth.  Lead astronomer Anthony Boccaletti of the Observatoire de Paris in France says the image shows

More Cars, More Pollution & More New Alternative Vehicles Source:  Stock Image of Public Transit Being Cleaned New Travel World from COVID-19 Americans and many others around the world in urban areas are getting behind the wheel to avoid mass transit. The difficulty of social distancing and feeling secure to avoid COVID-19 in crowded trains, buses and planes is driving the return to cars.  Polls indicate that American plan to avoid trains and buses as the stay-at-home orders lift.  The shift to cars could be a boom for the hard pressed automotive industry.  It could also lead to more pollution and traffic jams. New Issues For Mass Transit Ironically, the effort to avoid public transit and take your car in order to protect yourself from COVID-19 is creating new problems.  Urban experts believe it could lead to increased road congestion, additional carbon emissions and put a major strain on cash-strapped transit systems.  Transit ridership is down 95% in major

First Since 1650 Source:  NASA Start of a New Ice Age? NASA scientists say that the Sun is in a much less active phase, meaning far less solar flares, energy and sunspots.  The phase is called a Grand Solar Minimum, which hasn't occurred since 1650 to 1715.  It triggered a Little Ice Age in the Northern Hemisphere with lower temperatures. The question is are we headed toward another Ice Age? Climate Change NASA scientists say we are not on the brink of a new Ice Age.  And the new scientific basis of their conclusion is interesting.  They say the warming of the Earth from fossil fuels and their greenhouse gas emissions is six times greater than even decades long cooling from the Grand Solar Minimum.  In fact, NASA adds:  "Even if the Grand Solar Minimum were to last a century, global temperatures would continue to warm."  A shocking measure of the impact of global warming. Search for Life in Space The Sun is very dynamic and goes through 11 year cycl

Highly Innovative, New Pulse Concept Source:  Embraer New Transportation System Embraer's Pulse Concept electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (EVTOL) centers around a smart glass passenger pod that seamlessly transfers the occupants between the plane and the car for flying and driving modes.  This is a first of its kind transportation system that links autonomous land and flying vehicles with a central passenger pod.   It is a unique and highly creative new concept that provides a fascinating look at the future of transportation and the futuristic types of travel models that could be in use within 45 years. Paired Autonomous Vehicles The Design Ops team at Brazilian based Embraer created the Pulse Concept for Embraer's 50th anniversary as an aircraft manufacturer.  Pulse Concept is a pair of autonomous vehicles that travel on land and in the air without the passengers ever having to get out of the central pod. The pod moves to the vehicle in us

  "Search for Life in Space" by Edward Kane  New Book on Search for New Forms of Life in the Universe Are there new forms of life, perhaps even highly advanced civilizations, in space?  The collective opinion of many top global scientists and experts at NASA, the European Space Agency and the Chinese Space Agency is YES. Visitors From Space As a journalist, Ed Kane has written "Search for Life in Space" to document the scientific undertakings now underway to make our civilization the first to find life in the universe - life that may be radically different from ours.  We start the space journey with images of UFOs over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  The images were shot by US Navy pilots and just released by the US Department of Defense to show that UFOs are real.   NASA, UFOs and Aliens NASA has made a priority of finding new forms of life in the universe.  In fact, NASA Director Jim Bridenstine says "we are well on our way to discover

 An Inflatable E-bike Source:  Add caption POIMO May Be Your Next Bike This is fascinating new, lightweight travel technology, that's so flexible and inflatable it can be carried in a large backpack. It's an electric bike, called POIMO, invented by researchers at the University of Tokyo.  The inventors claim that because the e-bike is lightweight and inflatable, it protects riders and pedestrians in the event of an accident. At the moment, it's a prototype that the researchers intend to develop into a final product that's even lighter and more portable for commercialization. Future of Travel Innovation:  Soft Mobility This is a great example of the potential future of travel innovation. The researchers call POIMO soft mobility or personal mobility using soft, lightweight and inflatable materials to make the vehicle portable, foldable, flexible, inflatable, deflatable and storeable in a backpack.  So you can take it and deploy it wherever you want. Next St