Lifeboat Foundation

Camera sensitive enough to spot a single photon finally achieved by researchers in colorado.

A team of researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, has successfully developed a super-sensitive camera capable of detecting a single photon.

This remarkable achievement opens up new avenues for scientific exploration and holds significant potential for applications in quantum computing, communications, space exploration, and medical research.

Continue reading “Camera Sensitive Enough to Spot Single Photons Finally Achieved by Colorado Researchers” »

The billionaire space race is continuing to expand across the globe. Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin has announced plans to expand its operations to “Europe and beyond,” the Financial Times reports. Part of this growth hinges on finding a site for an international launch facility — the company has already put down roots in Texas, Washington, Florida and Alabama — but the new location hasn’t been chosen yet. It’s also actively looking for fresh acquisitions and partnerships outside of the US in areas such as manufacturing and software.

“We’re looking for anything we can do to acquire, to scale up to better serve our customers,” Bob Smith, Blue Origin CEO, said. “It’s not a function of size — rather how much it accelerates our road map of what we’re trying to get done.” Last year, Blue Origins bought New York-based Honeybee Robotics, a move that appears successful: The space-based robotics company was part of the Blue Origin team that recently received $3.4 billion to build the lunar lander for NASA’s third Artemis mission. Blue Origin’s biggest competitor, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is handling the first and second Artemis moon landings.

Though Blue Origin was the first to launch, land and reuse a rocket successfully, it has fallen behind its rival due to hold-ups with building its launchers. Blue Origin’s plans for a more global footprint might help them catch up with SpaceX’s progress. Amazon’s Project Kuiper also plans to use Blue Origin’s rocket New Glenn for at least 12 launches between 2024 and 2029 after a few years of delays.

Using the Spektr-RG (SRG) spacecraft and the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), an international team of astronomers has discovered a new eclipsing cataclysmic variable system, which received designation SRGeJ045359.9+622444 (or SRGeJ0453 for short). The finding is reported in a paper published June 22 on the pre-print server arXiv.

Cataclysmic variables (CVs) are binary star systems consisting of a white dwarf primary that is accreting matter from a normal star companion. They irregularly increase in brightness by a large factor, then drop back down to a quiescent state. These binaries have been found in many environments, such as the center of the Milky Way galaxy, the solar neighborhood, and within open and globular clusters.

AM CVn stars (named after the star AM Canum Venaticorum), are a rare type of CV in which a white dwarf accretes hydrogen-poor matter from a compact companion star. In general, such systems are helium-rich binaries, not showing traces of hydrogen in their spectra, with orbital periods between five and 65 minutes.

A fully electric flying car that’ll cost about $300,000 just won approval to start testing on the road – and in the air.

Alef Aeronautics, a Californian automaker, said in a press release it had received a Special Airworthiness Certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the Model A.

It’s the first such approval for a flight-capable car, according to the startup, which has been backed by the likes of SpaceX.

From Google DeepMind’s ChatGPT-eclipsing AI to SpaceX’s next Starship launch, check out this week’s awesome tech stories from around the web.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A European space telescope blasted off Saturday on a quest to explore the mysterious and invisible realm known as the dark universe.

SpaceX launched the European Space Agency’s Euclid observatory toward its ultimate destination 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away, the Webb Space Telescope’s neighborhood. It will take a month to get there and another two months before it starts its ambitious six-year survey this fall.

Flight controllers in Germany declared success nearly an hour into the flight, applauding and shouting “Yes!” as the telescope phoned home after a smooth liftoff.

In three months, the tool will begin a six year exploration of dark energy and dark matter.

Dark energy and dark matter discovery tool Euclid successfully launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA, at 11:11 local time / 16:11 BST / 17:11 CEST on Saturday 1 July 2023. The first stage proceeded to return to Earth to be recaptured and reused at later flights.

Continue reading “Euclid successfully launched into space by Falcon 9 rocket” »

Virgin Galactic successfully flew its first paying customers to the final frontier Thursday, a long-awaited achievement that puts it back on track in the emerging private spaceflight sector.

Italian Air Force officers unfurled their nation’s flag and peered out windows at the curve of Earth while enjoying a few minutes of weightlessness at 52.9 miles (85.1 kilometers) above sea level.

“It was a beautiful ride,” Colonel Walter Villadei told reporters at a press conference, adding that his favorite moment was seeing the contrast between the black of space and the planet beneath.

Elon Musk / Twitter.

Ship 25, the Starship upper stage prototype that will attempt to fly to orbit during the fully-integrated Starship launch system’s second test flight, performed the static fire test on Monday, June 26 at 8:27 pm EDT.