Here is the 712 page breakdown of NASA $18 billion 2017 budget which provides only a few million for Advanced concepts and innovation projects and has not budgeted a launch of an EMDrive to Space Station. $2.7 billion to operate and manage facilities on the ground. $1.78 billion on Earth science $1.45 billion on Planetary …
Apple iPhone maker, Foxconn, is automating its factories in three phases — and it has already completed the automation process at some of its plants, Dai Jia-peng, general manager in Foxconn’s Automation Technology Development Committee Phase 1. Factories are equipped with robots at individual workstations. Those robots will handle tasks that are either too dangerous …
A spinoff from the robot veterans at SRI is making a big bet on ubiquitous soft robotics: SuperFlex aims to establish a new product category with what it calls “powered clothing.” The company, which initially split off in April, hopes to have a product to show in a few months, and has raised nearly $10 …
Centauri Dreams has a review of the EMDrive by Marc Millis, former head of NASA’s Breakthrough Propulsion Physics project and founding architect of the Tau Zero Foundation and other experts. They have spent the last two months reviewing the relevant papers. Millis enlisted the help of scientists with expertise in experimental issues, all of whom …
China flew an improved version of its Shenyang FC-31 Gyrfalcon stealth fighter. Compared to the previous prototype, the new version features a host of refinements and has started to resemble a genuine fifth-generation stealth aircraft in many ways. The FC-31 is intended for military export markets. It is expected to be priced around $70 million. …
Nextbigfuture has reviewed AI and Computers and Space for 2016 and looked ahead in those areas. Here we will look at Energy. France also had a shutdown of some nuclear reactors because of concerns over japanese parts The component in question was manufactured by Japan Casting and Forging Corp., which is based in Kitakyushu. In …
Several energy analysts who are pro-solar and wind believe that they will dominate global energy and not face limitations based upon grid issues and other factors The pro-solar case is based upon massive scaling of lower cost solar and low cost batteries. In the USA, the residential solar market is starting to slow down after …
Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology. Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a …
Amazon has been awarded a patent for a giant flying warehouse that acts as a launchpad for drones to deliver items within minutes. The U.S. e-commerce giant described plans for an “airborne fulfillment center” (AFC) such as an airship or blimp that would float at an altitude of around 45,000. The airship will be stocked …
Spacex shows the Falcon Heavy on instagram Falcon Heavy interstage being prepped at the rocket factory. When FH flies next year, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. The first launch of the Spacex Falcon Heavy is expected to take place in early 2017. Brian WangBrian …
Stephen Hsu at Infoproc reports that we now know enough about the genetic architecture of human intelligence to make predictions based on DNA alone. While it is a well-established scientific fact that variations in human cognitive ability are influenced by genes, many have doubted whether scientists would someday decipher the genetic code sufficiently to be …