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Dec182022 by adminNo Comments

SpaceX launches two broadband satellites for Luxembourg firm

Science

Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Elon Musk's SpaceX launched two high-power broadband satellites for a Luxembourg firm's new communications system toward orbit Friday evening from Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket's second stage was to place the first two O3b mPOWER satellites into orbit to join Luxembourg-based SES's 20 first-generation O3b Internet satellites. SES is a satellite telecommunications network with 67 currently operational satellites under its control in both geostationary orbit and medium Earth orbit. Five of those are part of a group called O3b, also referred to as O3b MEO. O3b stands for "Other 3 Billion" in recognition of the billions of people without access to reliable Internet service. According to Boeing and SES, the new satellites use a "software-defined payload," which will allow them...

Apr92021 by adminNo Comments

Elon Musk’s brain implant firm teaches monkey to play Pong with its mind

Technology

Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink has released a video showing how it has taught a monkey - Pager, a nine-year-old macaque - to play the video game Pong with its mind.The video follows Mr Musk's assertion in February that the company has "a monkey with a wireless implant in their skull with tiny wires" that it uses to play video games. Neuralink Corporation, which Elon Musk owns alongside his SpaceX and Tesla businesses, previously claimed to have implanted coin-sized wireless sensors inside the brains of two pigs, describing the sensors as "a Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires". Image: 'He's a happy monkey,' says Elon Musk At the time of the video, Pager was six weeks on from having had the Neuralink devices installed - o...

Mar222021 by adminNo Comments

Dominic Cummings and the £400m public bailout to rescue imperilled satellite internet firm

Technology

This Thursday, three dozen satellites will be fired into space from a launch station in a desolate corner of eastern Russia, less than a hundred miles from the northern Chinese border.Each a little bigger than a fridge, they are attached to a Russian rocket which will travel 750 miles up into what is known as low Earth orbit. Here they will stay, at an altitude 30 times closer than that of more traditional communication satellites, in a zone previously the domain of international space stations and the Hubble telescope, and if all goes well provide internet connectivity, in time, to every corner of the globe. Image: A Russian rocket will be used to take the UK bankrolled satellites 750 miles up They are a marvel of innovation and tech...

Mar82021 by adminNo Comments

Whitehaven coal mine firm seeks judicial review of council U-turn

Science

West Cumbria Mining CompanyA company planning to build a coal mine in Cumbria is taking legal action over the county council's decision to reconsider its approval of the scheme.The authority granted West Cumbria Mining (WCM) planning permission in October but the plans had not been formalised.WCM said the decision to reconsider approval "cannot be justified" and it is seeking a judicial review.Cumbria County Council has been approached for comment.The firm's CEO Mark Kirkbride said it was "extremely regrettable that WCM has been placed in this position after committing so much time, resource and private funding"."The latest actions of the council have created a very real risk that the project will never be delivered, which would be devastating for West Cumbria, as well as the Northern Powe...

Mar42021 by adminNo Comments

Amazon-backed food delivery firm Deliveroo picks London for its blockbuster debut

Finance

A Deliveroo courier rides along Regent Street delivering takeaway food in central London during Covid-19 Tier 4 restrictions.Pietro Recchia | SOPA Images | LightRocket via Getty ImagesLONDON — British food delivery start-up Deliveroo announced Thursday that it plans to list in London, in a post-Brexit boost for the City.The firm, which is backed by Amazon, is expected to go public later this year. It went from near failure in 2020 amid a competition review into Amazon's minority investment, to operating profitability toward the end of the year thanks to the coronavirus lockdown-driven surge in demand for online takeout services. Amazon's stake in Deliveroo was greenlit by the regulator last summer.Deliveroo said it would adopt a dual-class share structure for its market debut, giving its f...