Meet PitRanger: Tiny rover designed to probe the lunar underworld

Researchers have been busily building a prototype of a 33-pound (15 kg) lunar mini-robot, set to be the key instrument in a future mission aimed at capturing high-definition images of moon pits. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/meet-pitranger-a-tiny-rover-to-probe-lunar-underworld…

Amazon Wants To Scan Your Body To Make Perfectly Fitting Shirts

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fast Company: For just $25, Amazon wants to make you a custom T-shirt. And a virtual body double. This week, the company unveiled a brand called “Made for You” that creates made-to-measure clothes. The initial product, a T-shirt, can be personalized to your taste and measurements, and more products are coming. This is Amazon’s…

‘Will Remote Work Kill Innovation?’ Ask Silicon Valley Experts

Remote work “is here to stay,” argues a new article in Silicon Valley’s newspaper The Mercury News (also re-published in the East Bay Times). But they’ve also asked industry professionals around Silicon Valley whether this will hurt our ability to innovate. Software engineer/entrepreneur Joyce Park (who’s worked in Silicon Valley over 20 years): “Fast feedback is what we’re all about in…

For 3rd data release, Gaia gazed toward galactic anticenter

The 3rd data release from the Gaia mission will provide astronomers with a “treasure trove” of information they didn’t have before. As they analyze Gaia’s data in the years ahead, we’re sure to learn new and surprising things about our home galaxy, the Milky Way. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/gaia-3rd-data-release-edr3-dec-2020…

Gaia’s 3rd data release, in numbers

The much-anticipated 3rd data release from the Gaia space observatory happened today. Source: https://earthsky.org/todays-image/graphic-gaias-3rd-data-release-in-numbers…

Intel Shuts Down Its AR/VR Volumetric Capture Stage

Intel has pulled the plug on one of its most ambitious AR/VR projects to date: The company quietly shut down Intel Studios, a 10,000-square-foot volumetric capture stage in Los Angeles, last month. The facility had been heralded as the world’s largest capture stage of its kind, and was used to record music videos for Reggie Watts and K-pop band NCT 127,…

The Audacious Plan to Launch a Solar-Powered Rocket Into Interstellar Space

Ars Technica glimpsed a possible future at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory: a solar simulator “that can shine with the intensity of 20 Suns…” “They think it could be the key to interstellar exploration.” “It’s really easy for someone to dismiss the idea and say, ‘On the back of an envelope, it looks great, but if you actually build…

SSDs Are Primed To Get Bigger and Faster With Micron’s New NAND Memory Tech

Micron has announced it’s shipping 176-layer TLC NAND flash memory to customers, a move that portends larger, faster and even cheaper SSD drives for all. From a report: The company said its 5th-gen 3D NAND memory should put its density about 40 percent higher than its nearest competitors, which are using 128-layer NAND. Micron said read and write latencies are reduced…

Scientists 3D Print Microscopic Star Trek Spaceship That Moves On Its Own

fahrbot-bot shares a report from CNN: A team of physicists at a university in the Netherlands have 3D-printed a microscopic version of the USS Voyager, an Intrepid-class starship from Star Trek. The miniature Voyager, which measures 15 micrometers (0.015 millimeters) long, is part of a project researchers at Leiden University conducted to understand how shape affects the motion and interactions of…