Chinese citizens lashed out online against billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Monday after China complained that its space station was forced to take evasive action to avoid collision with satellites launched by Musk’s Starlink programme. The satellites from Starlink Internet Services, a division of Musk’s SpaceX aerospace company, had two “close encounters” with the Chinese space station on July 1 and Oct. 21, according to a document submitted by China earlier this month to the U.N.’s space agency. “For safety reasons, the China Space Station implemented preventive collision avoidance control,”…
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NASA to create first-ever space technology research institutes
NASA has selected proposals for the creation of two multi-disciplinary, university-led research institutes that will focus on the development of technologies critical to extending human presence deeper into our solar system, the US space agency said. The new Space Technology Research Institutes (STRIs) created under these proposals will bring together researchers from various disciplines and organisations to collaborate on the advancement of cutting-edge technologies in bio manufacturing and space infrastructure, with the goal of creating and maximising Earth-independent, self sustaining exploration mission capabilities. “NASA is establishing STRIs to research and…
Read MoreThe rise of chatbots in the edu-tech space
Over the years, while start-ups have shut down or absorbed heavy losses across sectors, the education sector, for the most part, seems to be facing ups and downs squarely. A number of edu-tech players have also survived VC’s tightening purse strings in the last year or so. What’s more, in the age of machine learning and artificial intelligence, bots are mushrooming in many sectors – they’ll increasingly take over some functions across a range of businesses. But if Prepathon’s founder Allwin Agnel’s surmise turns out to be largely accurate, while…
Read MoreLiberal arts schools seek collaboration in digital learning space
Dive Brief: Campus Technology profiles the annual Future Trends Forum video chat, during which leaders from several liberal arts colleges detailed the efforts to combine on distance learning technology and innovation in 21st century teaching. Some schools discussed the difficulty of collaborating on EdX platforms, as varying campuses held contracts at different times and resource challenges prohibit flexibility to expand program offerings. Some attendees discussed the value of the Liberal Arts Consortium for Online Learning, which has helped member schools to redesign core curriculum courses for online learning and standardizes…
Read MoreJapan tests innovative magnetic tether for slowing space junk
Japan has launched a cargo ship which will use a half mile- (700m)-long tether to remove some of the vast amount of debris from Earth’s orbit. The tether, made of aluminium strands and steel wire, is designed to slow the debris, pulling it out of orbit. The innovative device was made with the help of a fishing net company. There is estimated to be more than 100 million pieces of space junk in orbit, including discarded equipment from old satellites, tools and bits of rocket. Many of these objects are…
Read MoreKids ‘hack’ space tech to save Earth
Kolkata: Imagine tackling day-to-day environmental challenges in Kolkata by putting to use technologies that are already in place at the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting the Earth. That’s exactly what schoolkids from Bengal and California have done to tackle environmental issues and sustainability challenges in Kolkata and Oakland. From cleaning up the air by replacing fuels in cars with hydrogen produced from air to filtering the highly toxic chromium ions in the tannery waste, Indian and American students have collaborated to churn out six demonstrable projects that will be…
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