Exponentials & IR4.0

“Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent, they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those languages, or we remain mute.”

• Radio-based space communications have been the convention since the days of NASA’s Mercury and Geminiprograms, but even with dramatic improvements to the technology in the last half-century, radio communications are...

• NASA has just announced funding for eight ambitious new space projects, which include the development of new habitats far away from planet Earth, a magnetic force field system, a deep sleep chamber for astronauts travelling to Mars, and self-assembling outposts to act as stop-off points on the way to the Red Planet.
• If these all sound a little ‘out there’, it’s because they’re entries in NASA’s...

NASA is learning the best way to grow food in space

Can gardens help astronauts go farther?

• “Our plants aren’t looking too good,”astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted from the International Space Station on December 27, 2015. He was right: The attached picture showed four baby zinnias bathed in magenta light. Three of the four leafy stalks were discolored and curling in on themselves. The station’s garden...

• The idea of faster-than-light travel has been one of the greatest staples in science fiction for as long as the genre has been around.
• The idea of traveling to other planets with terrestrial technology seemed impossible for a long time — but, with the power of faster-than-light travel, moving from planet to planet would be almost instantaneous.
• Who wouldn’t want to go zipping through the galaxy,...

• According to a new study, scientists have cracked one of most challenging obstacles to deep space travel: how to ensure that astronauts have enough fuel, air and water for the trip. Their proposed method involves “photo catalysts” that can split or recombine water molecules.
• The emptiness of space and the vast distances between locations pose huge and unique challenges to space travel. One of the...

• In deep space, accurate timekeeping is vital to navigation, but many spacecraft lack precise timepieces on board. For 20 years, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has been perfecting a clock. It’s not a wristwatch; not something you could buy at a store. It’s the Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC), an instrument perfect for deep space exploration.
• Currently, most missions rely on...

• The youngest exoplanet yet discovered is less than 1 million years old and orbits Coku Tau 4, a star 420 light-years away. Astronomers inferred the planet’s presence from an enormous hole in the dusty disk that girdles the star. The hole is 10 times the size of Earth’s orbit around the Sun and probably caused by the planet clearing a space in the dust as it orbits the star.
• Exoplanets are planets...

• In science fiction, when people need to travel immense distances through outer space and don’t have a wormhole nearby, they bed down for a very long nap. For this, the heroes of films like “Aliens,” “Avatar,” “Interstellar,” and “Passengers,” have put themselves into suspended animation.
• It would be convenient if real astronauts could hop in a sleep pod and wake up years later without aging a day....

• NASA has awarded Lockheed Martin a $247.5 million contract to turn its Low Boom Flight Demonstrator into the next X-plane.

NASA/LOCKHEED MARTIN

• IF THERE’S A pantheon of great airplanes, the X-planes deserve an entire wing of the place. Since the Chuck Yeager-toting Bell X-1broke the sound barrier in 1947, these experimental aircraft have pushed up against, and burst through, the boundaries of...

• The cybersecurity market was valued at USD 156.24 billion in 2020, and it is expected to reach USD 352.25 billion by 2026, registering a CAGR of 14.5% during 2021–2026.
• The Market is Segmented by Product Type (Solutions and Services), Deployment (On-cloud and On-premise), End-user Industry (Aerospace, Defense and Intelligence, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), Healthcare,...

• The global water and wastewater treatment market size is projected to reach USD 456.68 billion by 2026. The increasing demand for water treatment facilities across the world will have a positive impact on the growth of the market in the coming years. According to a report published by Fortune Business Insights, titled ‘Water and Wastewater Treatment Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By...

RIL — Forays Into 750 Bn Furniture Retailing Market

• Reliance Retail Ventures acquires 96% holding in Urban Ladder for Rs 182 cr.
• Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has acquired equity shares of Urban Ladder Home Decor Solutions Private Ltd (UrbanLadder) for a cash consideration of Rs 182.12 crore.
• The investment represents 96 percent holding in the...