TYB
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/elon-musk-unveils-robotaxi-and-teslas-autonomous-future/
https://www.tesla.com/we-robot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v6dbxPlsXs
Elon Musk Unveils the Long-Awaited Robotaxi and Tesla's Autonomous Future
Oct. 10, 2024 9:25 p.m. PT
Tesla has entered the robotaxi arena. CEO Elon Musk on Thursday unveiled the company's autonomous Robotaxi vehicle during its We, Robot event at Warner Bros.
Studios in Los Angeles. The car shown off is of a silver-chrome hue and features no steering wheel or pedals.
It'll charge via induction and use AI to navigate roads. Musk said the car will cost "below $30,000."
The process of rolling out fully autonomous, unsupervised driving will begin in Texas and California with the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y next year, Musk said, before the eventual rollout of the Robotaxi, which Musk also referred to as a Cybercab throughout the event.
"We expect to be in production with the Cybercab, which is really highly optimized for autonomous transport in probably well I tend to be a little optimistic with time frames," Musk hesitated, "but in 2026.
Before 2027, let me put it that way." That's all dependent on regulator approval, as Musk also noted.
"I think it's going to be a glorious future," he said.
Musk also unveiled what's called a Robovan, which is a larger autonomous vehicle that can fit up to 20 people in addition to carrying goods.
Tesla demonstrated the Robotaxi and Robovan by having them roam Warner Bros. Studios. Musk opened the event by hailing a ride in the Robotaxi to the keynote stage.
"When we think about transport today, there's a lot of pain that we take for granted that we think is normal, like having to drive around LA in 3 hours of traffic," Musk said during the keynote, undoubtedly appealing to those in attendance.
"With autonomy, you get your time back."
The self-driving space is fairly nascent but rapidly advancing.
Among the biggest players are Alphabet-owned Waymo, which operates in cities such as San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles; and Amazon-owned Zoox, which hasn't yet opened to public riders but is conducting testing in cities including San Francisco, Las Vegas and Seattle.
GM-owned Cruise, which was suspended indefinitely in California last year after one of its driverless cars hit a jaywalking pedestrian, has also resumed operating manual and supervised rides in certain cities.
Musk and Tesla have long touted what the company calls Full Self-Driving, which has far from lived up to its name just yet. Rather, FSD can help a Tesla vehicle change lanes, park and navigate roads, but a driver needs to remain alert and behind the wheel even with the feature activated.
It's more advanced than Tesla's Autopilot feature, which includes cruise control-like features and auto steering but can't carry out more complex tasks like responding to traffic lights and stop signs.
(Tesla owners have to pay up to $199 extra per month for FSD.) Earlier this year, Musk mandated Tesla staff to "install and activate" FSD software for every new customer and to give a "short test ride."
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Both Autopilot and FSD have hit road bumps, as California's Department of Motor Vehicles in 2022 accused Tesla of false advertising when promoting the features.
The Department of Justice later that year launched a criminal investigation into the company after more than a dozen crashes were recorded with Tesla vehicles engaging Autopilot software.
In December 2023, Tesla recalled more than 2 million vehicles over an Autopilot safety issue, adding a software update aimed at ensuring drivers pay attention to the road, even with the feature activated.
Still, Tesla has long pledged to build a fully self-driving car, with Musk earlier saying he was "highly confident" the car maker could achieve full autonomy in 2021.
(That, of course, did not happen.) In fact, Musk proposed the idea of a Tesla robotaxi fleet all the way back in 2019, saying the goal was to have 1 million robotaxis on the road testing without passengers by the end of 2020. (That, too, did not happen.)
Now, with the unveiling of the Robotaxi and Robovan, Musk touted both the potential time-saving and safety advantages of the autonomous vehicles, saying you could spend more time on your phone, watching a movie or doing work while traveling to your destination.
"It'll save lives, like a lot of lives, and prevent injuries," Musk said. "I think we'll see autonomous cars become 10 times safer than a human."
In addition to self-driving cars, Tesla also showed off developments on the Tesla Bot, which Musk said could do various tasks like babysit, mow the lawn, get your groceries and "just be your friend, serve drinks – whatever you can think of, it will do."
He says the bot will eventually cost $20,000 to $30,000. A livestream of the We, Robot event showed the humanoids standing behind a bar seemingly serving up drinks to attendees as the keynote wrapped up.
If Musk's timeline for getting fully autonomous cars on the road seems aggressive, it's because Tesla has got some catching up to do with other companies that have already hit the ground running.
Waymo, for instance, says it provides more than 100,000 trips each week across the handful of cities in which it operates.
In addition, the Alphabet-owned company will soon expand to more cities, including Austin and Atlanta, thanks to a partnership with Uber.
So for Tesla, the clock is ticking. Whether it actually meets those ambitious timelines, though, remains to be seen.
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Earth from Space: Hardap Dam, Namibia
11/10/2024
Resembling a Martian-like surface, this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image shows part of the Hardap region in south-central Namibia on the western edge of the Kalahari Desert.
Hardap is a hot and arid region, where groundwater is difficult to obtain. Its name reflects the importance of the Hardap Dam, Namibia’s second largest dam, visible in blue in the centre of the image.
The various blue hues denote the presence of sediment in the water.
With a surface area of 25 sq km, the dam supplies electricity and water to the whole area and the reservoir is home to numerous examples of Namibia’s wildlife.
The dam controls the flow of the Fish River, which can be seen snaking its way across the image. In this false-colour image, captured on 28 August 2024, the Copernicus Sentinel-2’s near-infrared channel was used to highlight vegetation in red, which appears mainly concentrated south of the dam along the river.
Agricultural fields can be spotted on the floodplain below the dam, where mainly vegetables and citrus fruits are grown.
The different shades of red show the state of the crops: the brighter the red, the healthier is the vegetation.
About 20 km southeast of the dam, on the eastern bank of the river, lies the town of Mariental, the region’s capital. Its urban environment can be seen as a blend of red and grey dots.
Near Mariental, the rocky plain of the Central Highland merges with the dry, sandy soil of the western limits of the Kalahari Desert.
The entire western Kalahari is characterised by long chains of sand dunes.
Some of these dunes can be seen in shades of yellow in the top-right corner and appear surprisingly parallel and uniform.
On the right side of the image, the landscape is dotted with dry lake beds known as salt pans, seen as gleaming white circles.
Roads can be identified as white lines cutting sharply across the landscape.
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/10/Earth_from_Space_Hardap_Dam_Namibia
Monstrous Hurricane Milton captured in 4K video by new Sen cameras on ISS
October 10, 2024
The International Space Station has been getting new equipment in the form of some 4K cameras, and the views they captured of Hurricane Milton are breathtaking.
A SpaceX cargo launch to the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this year, the CRS-30 mission, included a payload called SpaceTV-1 — a set of 4K cameras from the space video streaming company Sen to be fastened to the station's exterior.
Now that the cameras have been attached to the European Space Agency's Columbus module and pointed toward Earth, they are sending back some incredible views.
Sen's goal is to have 4K livestream feeds from space available for free across the globe. "Sen uses its own satellites and hosted cameras in space to gather news and information about what’s happening on Earth and in space," the company's website states.
Sen has been testing the new ISS cameras' capabilities over the past several months as it ramps up its business model, and its most recent video shows the headline-grabbing Hurricane Milton, which made landfall in Florida overnight on Wednesday (Oct. 9).
The video shows Milton as the ISS passed over the Gulf of Mexico, the storm nearly stretching across the entire visible portion of the Earth below.
The stunning footage gives "additional live views to those provided by NASA's High Definition video cameras already on the space station," a Sen press release says.
The company's website features videos from the past several months taken from the ISS, as well as videos from a Sen satellite launched in 2019.
The 4K content is also available through the company's YouTube channel, as well as a dedicated iOs app and forthcoming Android app.
"All videos will be free to the consumer to view, supporting by advertising, and then there will be subscription services for consumers, businesses and government agencies (such as those monitoring the environment who want access to our data for their analytics models)," Sen CEO and founder Charles Black told Space.com.
"Sen hopes its 4K livestream of Earth will be accessed over time by billions of people, empowering everyone with live views of our planet to inform, educate, inspire and benefit humanity," the company said in a press release.
Though its continous ISS livestream has yet to officially begin, Sen has been leaving the cameras on as much as possible.
"Sen's new 4K livestream is available for over 20 hours per day, with just a few hours a day of expected downtime due to routine loss of signal communications with the inter-satellite link relaying the video data to the ground," the release says.
https://www.space.com/sen-4k-camera-iss-hurricane-milton-video
https://about.sen.com/what-we-do/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jhyOuQH07g
'It was 3 hours of magic': Spectacular auroras thrill stargazers across the world (and internet) as intense geomagnetic storm batters Earth
October 11, 2023
A geomagnetic storm supercharged Earth's auroras, or the northern lights overnight on Thursday (Oct. 10), with aurora watchers in the U.S. and across the globe on hand to capture the stunning light-show.
Not to be left out, Space.com's own crack team of aurora hunters (the A-Team?) were also out in the field to catch some incredible images.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), the geomagnetic storm resulted from Earth being struck by an eruption of charged particles or "plasma" that burst from the sun, more specifically sunspot AR 3848 in the evening of Tuesday (Oct. 8).
The plasma eruption from the solar flare, an example of a "coronal mass ejection" or "CME," traveled to Earth at speeds of 2.9 million mph (4.6 million kph).
That's about 2,000 times as fast as the top speed of a Lockheed Martin F-16 jet fighter.
Yet, even at these incredible speeds, the CME still took a few days to travel the 93 million miles (150 million km) between Earth and the sun.
When the CME struck Earth's magnetosphere, the resultant geomagnetic storm reached G4 levels on the SWPC's geomagnetic storm scale.
This is the second highest grade on the scale, which considers both severity and potential impacts.
NOAA stated on Thursday evening that the storms have the potential to reach extreme G5 levels.
While a common sight in Alaska and neighboring regions in the U.S. (as seen above) the G5 status of this geomagnetic storm ensured the Aurora Borealis was visible to many other Americans last night.
Space.com's own Josh Dinner was on hand to capture colorful images of the aurora over Griffey Lake in Bloomington, Indiana, on Thursday night at 10:10 pm EDT (0310 GMT).
"A small number of people began gathering along the levy walkway beside the Indiana reservoir shortly after sunset.
There was a faint pink glow as the twilight slipped to darkness, and then suddenly, the sky erupted with a vivid pink and green dance above our heads," Dinner explained.
"It only lasted a minute or so, but it could be seen with the naked eye. "I was absolutely mesmerized."
Rural areas weren't the only ones treated to auroral light shows. Skywatchers also caught images of the northern lights over some awe-inspiring man-made structures.
For example, the following image shows the aurora borealis manifesting over the Tappan Zee or Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge near New York City early Friday morning (Oct. 11).
The aurora was visible, albeit fainter over the entire skyline of New York City in another image captured early Friday morning.
Though visible only as a smear of color, the image shows the vast dome-like shape of the magnetosphere.
cont.
https://www.space.com/spectacular-auroras-photos-thrill-skywatchers-from-geomagnetic-storm-october-2024
Nabta Playa: A mysterious stone circle that may be the world's oldest astronomical observatory
October 11, 2024
Name: Nabta Playa
What it is: An ancient stone circle in the Egyptian desert that may be the oldest known astronomical observatory
Where it is from: An desert area of southern Egypt, about 175 miles (280 kilometers) southwest of Aswan, that was once inhabited by the ancient Nubians.
When it was made: About 7,500 years ago
What it tells us about the past: Nabta Playa, which is 2,000 years older than Stonehenge, may have been one of the earliest astronomical observatories.
Today, its main stones are in a museum in Aswan to protect them from vandalism.
But originally, Nabta Playa consisted of dozens of upright stones, each a few feet high, in the desert about 60 miles (100 km) west of the Nile.
In addition to a pile of stones above a central tomb, many of the stones seemed to have been deliberately placed in a circle to align with the rising of certain stars.
The circle's six inner stones may have been used in rituals or to mark important alignments.
These inner stones were surrounded by 29 standing stones that some researchers think formed a primitive calendar.
Excavations of the central tomb in 2001 uncovered no human remains but revealed the complete skeleton of a cow.
Along with other evidence, that suggests Nabta Playa was built by ancient people who depended on driving herds of cattle between seasonal lakes.
The researchers suggested that distinctive stones in the calendar circle may have indicated sunrise on the summer solstice, which was a signal for these Stone Age people to soon expect rainfall that would replenish the lakes.
It's also been proposed that three of the central stones represented the "belt" of Orion and that some of the stones marked seasonal risings of the bright stars Arcturus, Sirius and Alpha Centauri.
https://www.space.com/nabta-playa-a-mysterious-stone-circle-astronomical-observatory
Shijian-19 reusable satellite lands after 2 weeks in space
October 11, 2024
China’s first retrievable and reusable satellite returned to Earth late Thursday following two weeks of experiments in low Earth orbit.
The Shijian-19 satellite touched down at 10:39 p.m. Eastern Oct. 10 (0239 UTC, Oct. 11) at the Dongfeng landing site near Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert.
Recovery personnel opened the spacecraft to retrieve its payloads. Shijian-19 launched on a Long March 2D rocket Sept. 27 from Jiuquan.
It carried plant and microbial breeding payloads, as well as autonomous, controllable, and new technology verification test payloads, space science experiment payloads, and cultural items, according to a China National Space Administration (CNSA) statement.
The mission also “verified the technical indicators of the new generation of high-performance reusable returning space test platform and achieved various expected test results,” CNSA stated.
The mission also carries payloads from five countries, including Thailand and Pakistan, according to a post-launch CNSA statement.
China has a strong interest in space breeding of crops. Exposure to space conditions is thought to accelerate genetic mutations that may enhance crop resilience and productivity.
With relatively little arable land, China aims to increase crop yields and agricultural output.
Officials with the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), the spacecraft’s maker, had presented the reusable, retrievable Shijian satellite series back in 2018. CAST initially planned around 15 missions for the period 2019-2025.
Shijian-19 was, however, the first such mission. The Shijian-19 satellite, weighing approximately 3,500 kilograms, has different configurations for varying mission requirements.
This mission used a “short-term” version, designed for missions lasting about two weeks. A long-term configuration, equipped with solar arrays on its propulsion and power module, is capable of remaining in orbit longer, supporting extended experiments.
The recoverable portion can carry between 500 to 600 kilograms of payload.
The Shijian-19 mission is part of China’s broader space program, which includes ambitious plans for deep space exploration, a range of experiments aboard the Tiangong space station, and advancements in reusable space technologies.
The new Shijian satellite builds on China’s earlier Fanhui Shi Weixing (“recoverable satellite”) series, first launched in the 1970s.
Those satellites notably used impregnated oak for the heat shield for the reentry portion of the spacecraft.
Chinese launch activity
The Shijian-19 launch was China’s 46th orbital mission of 2024. The country has since then launched a new high orbit internet satellite (Oct. 10) for undisclosed purposes.
Launch of the crewed Shenzhou-19 mission is currently expected in late October, though no firm date has been provided.
First indication of imminent launch will be the roll out of the mission’s Long March 2F launch vehicle at Jiuquan in the days before launch.
A second batch of China’s Qianfan/Thousand Sails megaconstellation satellites could take place as soon as next week. The mission will be closely watched for a number of reasons.
These include potential debris from the Long March 6A, as created by the first Qianfan satellite launch, and the apparent brightness of the satellites, which could pose issues for astronomy.
CASC said late September it plans to conduct more than 20 launches before the end of the year.
https://spacenews.com/shijian-19-reusable-satellite-lands-after-2-weeks-in-space/
Pentagon denies report claiming to reveal name of top-secret UFO program ‘for the first time’
Published Oct. 9, 2024, 12:28 p.m. ET
The Pentagon has categorically denied a report claiming that a whistleblower has, for the first time, revealed the name of an ultra-secret program investigating UFOs.
The whistleblower has named an “active and highly secretive” unacknowledged special access program (USAP) being illegally withheld from US Congress, according to independent American journalist Michael Shellenberger, writing on his Public Substack blog.
‘Immaculate Constellation’ is allegedly the name of a program established by the Department of Defense in 2017 after The New York Times revealed the existence of an earlier UFO investigation effort, the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP).
“The DoD has no record, present or historical, of any type of SAP called ‘Immaculate Constellation’,” Department of Defense spokeswoman Sue Gough said in a statement on Tuesday night after the article’s publication.
Sean Kirkpatrick, former director of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), told the NY Post’s Steven Greenstreet, “There’s no such thing.
I had access to all of the unacknowledged SAPs and reviewed them with the SAPCO director.”
Shellenberger wrote on X, “I stand by my story.”
Described as a “parent” program consolidating UFO observations and data gathered by US military and intelligence platforms, ‘Immaculate Constellation’ is a “strategic intelligence program” that is part of the a “family of longstanding, highly-sensitive programs dealing with various aspects of the UAP ‘problem’,” the unnamed whistleblower told Shellenberger.
The whistleblower, described as “a current or former US government official,” has allegedly written a report that claims the US executive branch “has been managing UAP/NHI [non-human intelligence] issues without Congressional knowledge, oversight, or authorisation for some time, quite possibly decades.”
The whistleblower’s report is said to describe a number of UFO encounters in detail that are kept in the database, including one incident in which an F-22 fighter jet was “intercepted and boxed in” by three to six orbs and forced to leave a mission area, and another where the crew of a Navy aircraft carrier saw an orange-red sphere with a surface “roiling like the sun” rapidly descend from high altitude to about 100-200 yards (90-180 metres) over the flight deck.
Shellenberger told NewsNation he had been in touch with the alleged whistleblower, but identifying details about their exact role and even gender were being withheld out of fear of reprisal.
“I don’t think that they’re faking it or that they’re lying about their fear,” he said. “This person discovered this material accidentally. This was not something they had expected to encounter.”
In her statement, Ms Gough denied that the Department of Defense had broken any laws by failing to inform Congress about any secret UFO program.
The US National Security Act of 1947 requires that secret military and intelligence operations, including special access programs (SAPs), be reported to relevant senior members of Congress.
“To date, the Department has found no evidence of the existence of any classified UAP program, including any SAP or controlled access program related to UAP, that had not been properly reported to Congress,” Ms Gough said.
She referred to the findings of AARO, the new public-facing UFO investigation agency established by the Pentagon in July 2022.
AARO’s first report, released in March, concluded there was “no evidence that any [US government] investigation, academic-sponsored research, or official review panel has confirmed that any sighting of a UAP represented extraterrestrial technology.”
“AARO assesses that the inaccurate claim that the [US government] is reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology and is hiding it from Congress is, in large part, the result of circular reporting from a group of individuals who believe this to be the case, despite the lack of any evidence,” the report said.
Those individuals include a number of high-profile ex-government whistleblowers who have gone public in recent years, including former Pentagon official Luis Elizondo, who first revealed the existence of the aerospace threat program in 2017, and David Grusch, a former intelligence officer who claimed in June 2023 that the US had retrieved crashed craft and bodies of non-human origin.
The Pentagon has denied their claims and neither men have provided much in the way of evidence such as images or video to back up their testimony, saying it is classified.
https://nypost.com/2024/10/09/us-news/pentagon-denies-report-claiming-to-reveal-name-of-top-secret-ufo-program-for-the-first-time/
https://x.com/shellenberger/status/1843778324776280390