China is developing a megawatt nuclear reactor for moon and Mars missions according to the South China Morning Post. Jiang Jieqiong, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Nuclear Safety Technology, has suggested that the nuclear reactor could use a foldable structure – similar to an umbrella – to increase the surface …
Alex Tolley has written up an analysis of an improved plasma magnet sail concept called Wind Rider. Centauri Dreams covered the work. Nextbigfuture notes that the design looks very simple and achievable. If it works then by 2030s we would be able to mass produce probes by the thousands to explore the solar system and …
As of September, Guinness World Records was still verifying Lola Francisca Susan’s documents. The Philippines claims she was officially 124 when Lola Francisca Susan died. Once verified, she would officially eclipse France’s Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at age 122. Local records claim Francisca Susano was born on September 11, 1897, one year before …
Tesla sold more cars of any kind than all other carmakers other than Toyota and Honda in California in the third quarter of 2021. California passed 10% for EV sales in the third quarter. Passing 10% for EVs for total car sales seems to be a major milestone. Norway went from 10% EV sales to …
Stanford research on whale feeding highlights how the precipitous decline of large marine mammals has negatively impacted the health and productivity of ocean ecosystems. Nextbigfuture had a video highlighting the problem of lack of whales and whale poop. Nextbigfuture also identified how iron fertilization of the ocean by humans could take the place of whales …
Elon Musk is being interviewed by the Space Studies Board. Talks first about the SpaceX Super Heavy Starship. He expects the first orbital flight will be January 2022. This will be the largest rocket ever made. The first launch may not be fully successful but they have made factories to make many of the rockets. …
IBM announced a new 127-quantum bit (qubit) ‘Eagle’ processor at the IBM Quantum Summit 2021. The ‘Eagle’ processor is a breakthrough in tapping into the massive computing potential of devices based on quantum physics. It heralds the point in hardware development where quantum circuits cannot be reliably simulated exactly on a classical computer. IBM also …
QuEra Computing Inc. emerged from stealth mode has revealed a completed 256 qubit device. QuEra Computing Inc. emerged from stealth mode today with $17 million in funding from Rakuten, Day One Ventures, Frontiers Capital and leading tech investors Serguei Beloussov, and Paul Maritz among others. The company recently received a DARPA award, and has already …
A recent NASA audit reveals Boeing and Grumman cut of Space Launch System contracts. It also reveals that NASA Artemis will end up costing $93 billion through 2025. $29 billion will have gone to SLS. Lockheed gets $17 billion for Orion. SOURCES – NASA Written by Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com
NASA Office of Inspector General – Office of Audits IG-22-003 (A-20-008-01) says NASA Artemis program will not land humans on the moon before 2027. The NASA Artemis program had been targeting to return humans to the Moon by late 2024 rather than 2028 as initially planned. NASA implemented modifications to its routine procurement and program …
Both nuclear reactors of the High-Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor-Pebble-bed Module (HTR-PM) at the Shidaowan plant in China’s Shandong province have reached criticality for the first time. The HTR-PM has two 250 MW thermal reactors that drive a single 210 MWe turbine. Commercial 600 MWe pebble bed reactors (6×250 MWt, total 655 MWe) will follow. the …
