A brief burst of high-energy light swept through the solar system on April 15, triggering many space-based instruments, including those aboard NASA and European missions. Now, multiple international science teams conclude that the blast came from a supermagnetized stellar remnant known as a magnetar located in a neighboring galaxy. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-astronomers-unmask-cosmic-eruptions-nearby.html…
Tag: Teams
Pandemic Paved the Way for Sim Racing, but Will It Last?
It takes more than gasoline to make a racecar run. It requires money. And money requires sponsors. And sponsors require spectators who they hope will become customers. Which became a problem for motorsports when Covid-19 shut down tracks worldwide early last year. The cash drought put teams, tracks and race series in danger of extinction. From a report: The industry turned…
Opera Now Has a Game Engine To Go With Its Gamer-Focused Browser
Opera has acquired YoYo Games, a British game development platform best known for GameMaker Studio 2, and is launching its Opera Gaming division. Engadget reports: Opera has bought the company for a simple reason: Opera GX. The gamer-focused web browser was launched in early access back in June 2019. Its headline feature is a slide-out control panel that lets you limit…
The first CubeSat with a Hall-effect thruster has gone to space
Student-led teams aren’t the only ones testing out novel electric propulsion techniques recently. Back in November, a company called Exotrail successfully tested a completely new kind of electric propulsion system in space—a small Hall-effect thruster. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-cubesat-hall-effect-thruster-space.html…
‘Major Component Malfunction’ Ends SLS Rocket Test Early. NASA Considers New Timeline
“NASA’s rocket charged with taking the agency back to the moon fired its four main engines Saturday afternoon, but the test in Mississippi was cut short after a malfunction caused an automatic abort,” reports Florida Today… “We did get an MCF on engine four,” a control room member said less than a minute into the test fire, using an initialism that…
New study finds polyester fibers throughout the Arctic Ocean
A new study has found that pollution from microplastics is widespread in the Arctic Ocean, and 92% of those particles are minuscule synthetic fibers from our clothes. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/polyester-fibers-arctic-ocean-microplastic-pollution…
Qualcomm To Acquire NUVIA: A CPU Magnitude Shift
Today, Qualcomm has announced they will be acquiring NUVIA for $1.4 billion — acquiring the start-up company consisting of industry veterans which originally were behind the creation of Apple’s high-performance CPU cores. AnandTech reports: NUVIA was originally founded in February 2019 and coming out of stealth-mode in November of that year. The start-up was founded by industry veterans Gerard Williams III,…
The realization of a single-quantum-dot heat valve
While many research teams worldwide are trying to develop highly performing quantum computers, some are working on tools to control the flow of heat inside of them. Just like conventional computers, in fact, quantum computers can heat up significantly as they are operating, which can ultimately damage both the devices and their surroundings. …
How will the U.S. space program fare under Joe Biden?
Joe Biden is the United States presidential election winner, but his plans for NASA remain unclear. And while citizens digest the election results, the space industry is left wondering what comes next. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/how-will-the-u-s-space-program-fare-under-joe-biden…
New XPrize Challenge: Predicting Covid-19’s Spread and Prescribing Interventions
Slashdot reader the_newsbeagle shares an article from IEEE Spectrum:
Many associate XPrize with a $10-million award offered in 1996 to motivate a breakthrough in private space flight. But the organization has since held other competitions related to exploration, ecology, and education. And in November, they launched the Pandemic Response Challenge, which will culminate in a $500,000 award to be split between two…