“I believe we are on the dawn of a new era in commercial space exploration.”–Elon Musk
Yeah, well, ol’ Elon would say that. His SpaceX venture is heavily invested and involved, both with NASA and other space faring concerns, and is somewhere between trying to colonize Mars long term and actually turning a profit, near term. But in the final analysis, what they seem to be locked into is a race with Boeing to launch the first commercial manned space vehicle, and thus get back to where NASA was over 50 years ago.
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Space Commerce–Despite all the bravado, Elon Musk may not be winning the race for the first commercial manned space launch. A new internal NASA document suggests they believe that Boeing may beat them to the punch.
Oh SpaceX, were art thou?
–According to that same government audit report, neither company is likely to be ready to launch crews to the ISS in 2019. It states that neither company is likely to be able to do so before Augist of 2020.
–While Boeing and SpaceX race to send crews into space, another concern has a loftier goal. Israeli firm SpaceIL plans to launch the first privately-funded, unmanned lunar lander, in February of next year. They’ll use a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in an attempt to claim the Google X prize.
Hail! Halil, Asgardia, land of the free and brave!
–Manned space commerce may still be a ways away, and space colonization even farther out. But that hasn’t stopped Russian computer scientist Igor Ashurbeyli and the 200,000 denizens of self-acclaimed space nation Asgardia from naming him the first leader of the (as of now) virtual nation, as Futurism.com reports.
Hail, Hail Asgardi…er…Freedonia…land of the free and brave!
Longevity/Anti-aging research–One of the leading figures in the radical human longevity field has tempered his former optimism. In silico CEO Alex Zhavoronkov now thinks the 150+ year human lifespan he has long dreamed of won’t become reality any time soon.
—On the other hand, researchers at Stowers Institute for Medical Research have made a stem cell breakthrough that could lead to antiaging therapy. They’ve discovered the one cell in flatworms capable of regenerating an entire organism.
Future transportation–Do you think self-driving cars are a bit out there? Flying cars? Now a French firm is proposing what amounts to a flying train. (Video below).
French flying train proposal. Maybe they’re just giddy about the World Cup?
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