Lifeboat Foundation

Everyone’s talking about private industry getting humans on Mars. Mars trips! Mars houses! Mars colonies! But no one’s going anywhere without the help of one brilliant, peculiar, fantastical space center—NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, which is behind almost every amazing feat in the history of space travel. August 2012.

At 2:00 a.m. in the blond hills of La Cañada Flintridge, California, one house stands lit among the others—an open eye in a sleeping town. Bryn Oh, the woman who lives in the house, helps her son Devyn, eight, walk his bike to the parking lot of the high school across the street. Devyn, who just learned to ride, wobbles for a few minutes before pedaling furiously out into the darkness, letting off a whoop as he gets going. Bryn’s older children, Ashlyn, ten, and Braden, thirteen, watch as he goes. David Oh, Bryn’s husband and the reason they’re all up at this uncivilized hour, isn’t there to see it. He’ll arrive home around 3:00 a.m., when he gets off work. Tomorrow will probably be closer to 3:40. Bryn has it all worked out on a spreadsheet.

A recent study suggested that the total number of unique species that call Earth home may be as mind-bogglingly high as 1 trillion. Granted, the vast majority of those are microscopic organisms, but still, that number makes the Digital Life project’s goal, to make 3D scans of every kind of living animal, sound ridiculously ambitious. Nevertheless, the team believes that digitally preserving the biodiversity of the planet is increasingly important.

To reach that lofty goal, scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are using an array of 30 cameras they call the Beastcam. This contraption is made up of 10 fixed arms with three Canon G16 cameras attached to each one, and a platform in the middle for the subject to sit on, or where that’s not possible, a more portable, handheld version can be passed over the animal to take the shot. All of the cameras take photos of the animal simultaneously, before off-the-shelf software stitches them together into a 3D model.

“We are excited to use the Beastcam technology to preserve the digital heritage of all life on Earth,” says Duncan Irschick, the biologist leading the team. “This will take several lifetimes, but we are thrilled to begin the journey. Digitally preserving the heritage of life on Earth is especially important given the rapid decline of many species, and this technology can recreate organisms in a way that has never been done before.”

Hold onto your butts solar aficionados, the next generation solar roof is coming, and it looks good. During a brief event Friday night, Elon Musk presented his plan to integrate solar roofs with Powerwall power packs. But that’s not all. On Saturday Musk expanded on his talk by explaining via Twitter that the new solar tiles would come with some pretty sweet features — more specifically, built-in defrosters.

Unlike the solar systems of the past, Tesla’s newly designed roofs will feature aesthetically pleasing, energy efficient glass solar tiles, that will replace a home’s roof rather than sit on top of it.

Harsh weather conditions — like snow and ice — are known for wreaking havoc on traditional asphalt shingles, but that’s not the case with Musk’s new design. The solar glass tiles are not only more durable, but are also packing specialized heating elements that work much like the rear defroster does on your car.

Continue reading “Elon Musk Says Tesla’s New Solar Tiles Can Defrost Themselves” »

So, could this material be also in the metal exterior of their cars?

Last Friday, Tesla Motors??? (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk debuted new solar roof shingles for homes at an event at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, reminding all of us that the electric car maker is much more than just a car company.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mUJnKI3ipI&feature=youtu.be

Energy independent housing. Here you go.

Filmed on Oct 28, 2016.

SpaceX’s Elon Musk wants to put millions on Mars, but fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos envisions having them in rotating space habitats.

NASA is offering $1.1 million in prize money in Phase 2 of the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge for new ways to build houses where future space explorers can live and work.

The three-part competition asks citizen inventors to use readily available and recyclable materials for the raw material to print habitats.

Phase 2 focuses on the material technologies needed to manufacture structural components from a combination of indigenous materials and recyclables, or indigenous materials alone. NASA may use these technologies to construct shelters for future human explorers to Mars. On Earth, these same capabilities could also be used to produce affordable housing wherever it is needed or where access to conventional building materials and skills is limited.

Continue reading “NASA Offers Prize Money for 3D-Printed Habitat Ideas” »

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama sought Tuesday to reinvigorate his call for the U.S. to send humans to Mars by the 2030s, showcasing budding partnerships between the U.S. government and commercial companies to develop spacecraft capable of carrying out the extraterrestrial mission.

Obama was calling attention to government contracts awarded to six companies to build prototypes for “habitats” that could sustain human life in deep space. He also said that within two years, private companies will send astronauts to the International Space Station, part of a program to allow companies to use an open docking port on the station to develop their own innovations.

“These missions will teach us how humans can live far from Earth, something we’ll need for the long journey to Mars,” Obama wrote in an op-ed on CNN’s website. He said the ultimate goal is for humans eventually to stay on the red planet “for an extended time.”

Continue reading “Obama pushes US goal to send humans to Mars” »

https://youtube.com/watch?v=nNO5ewmkLe8

Smart bricks that can self-assemble into structures could be the key to future disaster relief. Cathal O’Connell explains how they work.