NASA has given Nokia a $14 million contract to create LTE service on the moon. Nokia will deploy the first LTE/4G communications system in space. The system could support lunar surface communications at greater distances, increased speeds, and provide more reliability than current standards. Nokia Bell Labs’ pioneering innovations will be used to build and …
Tesla’s Model Y factory in Shanghai could be start production in November. The Q3 earnings report showed that the megacasting and other production equipment appears to be mostly installed. Above there two main buildings in the Tesla Shanghai picture. The one that is closer in the new Model Y factory. The one behind it is …
A Masters Thesis analyzed a mission to Saturn’s moon Titan using the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Direct Drive Fusion system. The Direct Fusion Drive (DFD) is based on a D-3He fueled, aneutronic, thermonuclear fusion propulsion system. He considered a 2-MW-class single DFD module, which provides 8 N of constant thrust and a specific impulse of …
An Office of the Secretary of Defense review of the US Navy calls for reducing aircraft carriers by 20% to support a 20% increase in smaller ships. This would cut carriers from 11 to nine to add 65 frigates and unmanned ships. The addition of ships would be mainly (about 50) frigates. This would help …
On Saturday, October 24, 2020, SpaceX completed its 100th successful flight since Falcon 1 first flew to orbit in 2008. Over the course of these flights, SpaceX landed Falcon’s first stage booster 63 times and re-flew boosters 45 times. SpaceX is approaching the 15000 meter test flight for the fully reusable SpaceX Starship. Felix at …
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) and Boeing are working together to scale 100 kW-class lasers to 250 kW-class High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon system to they can shoot down missiles and not just drones. The HEL weapon system will combine GA-EMS’ scalable distributed gain laser technology, HELLi-ion battery systems and integrated thermal management with Boeing’s …
Canada will have a pilot program for international travelers for the option to shorten the 14-day self-isolation period for COVID-19 to about 48 hours if a traveler receives a negative COVID-19 test result at one of two border crossings in the province. If the test comes back negative, travelers will be allowed to leave their …
The U.S. Navy plans to put hypersonic missiles on Virginia Attack Submarines, Zumwalt Destroyers and all Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The Conventional Prompt Strike program will provide hypersonic missile capability for faster missiles with longer ranges according to National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien. The Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) program was given $278 million in fY2019 …
The British Navy tested having three commandos use Jet Packs to test boarding and capturing a patrol boat. The Gravity Industries Jet Suit has 5 engines, 1050 horsepower, and a top speed of over 85 mph. The suits cost about $440,000. They were also tests flying from and to an aircraft carrier. There are Jet …
The Canadian government is investing CAD20 million (USD15 million) of federal funds to accelerate the development of Terrestrial Energy’s Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) power plant. The IMSR power plant will generate 195 MWe, fueled using standard-assay low-enriched uranium. The IMSR will produces 40% more electricity than a comparably sized water-cooled SMR. The result is …
Elon Musk said that all vehicles on Earth are slow for a phased array antenna. This means that the 100 mbps, 30 millisecond latency Starlink will work in trains, cars and planes. Will Starlink dishes be deployable on high-speed moving objects like trains? It would be incredible if trains moving through the middle of nowhere …