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Category: space travel

All-In’s 2026 Predictions

Questions to inspire discussion.

💰 Q: What would California’s wealth tax cost super voting shareholders like Larry Page and Sergey Brin? A: The tax multiplies voting ownership percentage by market cap to value super voting shares, resulting in a punitive tax rate of up to 50% on net worth for founders with control premiums.

🏃 Q: How much wealth could leave California if the asset seizure tax passes? A: An estimated half a trillion dollars in net worth could exit the state, creating severe budget implications for California’s social programs and general budget.

📊 Q: What should entrepreneurs do to prepare for potential wealth taxes on unrealized gains? A: Maintain a liquid safety net to cover tax bills on unrealized gains, though this is impossible to plan for if stock values later decline and bankrupt the company.

2026 Business Opportunities.

🤖 Q: Which company will become the first with more robots than humans? A: Amazon is predicted to become the first company with more robots than humans driving its bottom line by 2026 as they deploy robots while keeping human hiring flat.

Continue reading “All-In’s 2026 Predictions” | >

The 2026 Timeline: AGI Arrival, Safety Concerns, Robotaxi Fleets & Hyperscaler Timelines | 221

The 2026 Timeline: AGI Arrival, Safety Concerns, Robotaxi Fleets & Hyperscaler Timelines ## The rapid advancement of AI and related technologies is expected to bring about a transformative turning point in human history by 2026, making traditional measures of economic growth, such as GDP, obsolete and requiring new metrics to track progress ## ## Questions to inspire discussion.

Measuring and Defining AGI

🤖 Q: How should we rigorously define and measure AGI capabilities? A: Use benchmarks to quantify specific capabilities rather than debating terminology, enabling clear communication about what AGI can actually do across multiple domains like marine biology, accounting, and art simultaneously.

🧠 Q: What makes AGI fundamentally different from human intelligence? A: AGI represents a complementary, orthogonal form of intelligence to human intelligence, not replicative, with potential to find cross-domain insights by combining expertise across fields humans typically can’t master simultaneously.

📊 Q: How can we measure AI self-awareness and moral status? A: Apply personhood benchmarks that quantify AI models’ self-awareness and requirements for moral treatment, with Opus 4.5 currently being state-of-the-art on these metrics for rigorous comparison across models.

AI Capabilities and Risks.

Continue reading “The 2026 Timeline: AGI Arrival, Safety Concerns, Robotaxi Fleets & Hyperscaler Timelines | 221” | >

SpaceX IPO: Tesla Shareholder Warrants, SPARC, and Elon’s Liquidity Event

SpaceX’s potential Initial Public Offering (IPO) could not only reward long-term Tesla shareholders but also has significant implications for Elon Musk’s companies, with a possible valuation of $1.2–1.5 trillion, driven by ventures like Starlink and Starship # ## Questions to inspire discussion.

IPO Timing and Valuation Strategy.

🚀 Q: When could SpaceX realistically go public and at what valuation? A: SpaceX IPO timing targets mid-2026 with potential valuation of $1.2–1.5 trillion, dependent on Starship production readiness, successful orbital launches with Starlink payloads by mid-2024, and prevailing volatile public market conditions at listing time.

💰 Q: How much capital would SpaceX raise in the IPO? A: SpaceX would likely issue new shares to raise approximately $80 billion at the $1.2–1.5 trillion valuation target, rather than conducting a buyback of existing shares, with potential share prices ranging $50–150 per share.

📈 Q: What drives SpaceX’s trillion-dollar valuation thesis? A: Valuation hinges on Starlink satellite network (10M subscribers, 10K satellites), rapid and complete reusability of Starship launch vehicles, planned Moon and Mars bases by 2030–2040, and the Musk premium factor where investors pay extra for his involvement.

Starship as IPO Catalyst.

Continue reading “SpaceX IPO: Tesla Shareholder Warrants, SPARC, and Elon’s Liquidity Event” | >

Astronomers build molecular cloud atlas for nearby Andromeda galaxy

Astronomers from Cardiff University, UK, have employed the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) to explore the nearby Andromeda galaxy. Results of the observational campaign, published December 27 on the pre-print server arXiv, yield important insights into the molecular cloud system of this galaxy.

Molecular clouds are huge complexes of interstellar gas and dust left over from the formation of galaxies, composed mostly of molecular hydrogen. Such clouds with masses greater than 100,000 solar masses are called giant molecular clouds (GMCs). In general, GMCs are 15–600 light years in diameter and are the coldest and densest parts of the interstellar medium.

The Andromeda galaxy, also known as Messier 31, is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It is a barred spiral galaxy with a diameter of about 152,000 light years and a mass of some 1.5 trillion solar masses.

Developmental Cell

Cancer stem cell plasticity and tumor hierarchy👇

✅Hierarchical tumor organization Tumors are organized in a hierarchical manner, with cancer stem cells (CSCs) positioned at the apex. CSCs possess long-term self-renewal capacity and generate diverse progeny, sustaining tumor growth and cellular heterogeneity.

✅Self-renewal and differentiation CSCs can undergo self-renewal to maintain the stem cell pool or differentiate into multiple cancer cell lineages. These differentiated cells form the bulk of the tumor and display varying functional and phenotypic states.

✅Cell plasticity and dedifferentiation Differentiated cancer cells are not irreversibly committed. Through cellular plasticity, they can dedifferentiate back into CSCs, often via processes such as epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), restoring stem-like properties.

✅Interconversion of CSC states Distinct CSC subpopulations can transition between different stemness states. This dynamic interconversion enhances tumor adaptability and contributes to therapy resistance and disease progression.

✅Biological and clinical relevance The combination of hierarchy and plasticity allows tumors to regenerate after treatment and maintain intratumoral diversity. Targeting both CSCs and the mechanisms that enable plasticity is therefore critical for effective cancer therapy.

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NASA announcement for new lunar vehicle expected ‘in coming weeks,’ Colorado company 1 of 3 in consideration

WASHINGTON, DC (KOAA) — As NASA looks to return to the moon’s surface in the near future, Colorado company Lunar Outpost is one of three companies currently competing for a multi-billion dollar contract from the space agency for a new Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV).

On Monday, NASA indicated to KOAA the long-awaited decision could finally be made in the coming weeks of early 2026. NASA’s contract could have a combined maximum potential value of $4.6 billion for all awards.

Time runs faster on Mars and scientists just proved it

Thanks to Einstein’s relativity, time flows differently on Mars than on Earth. NIST scientists have now nailed down the difference, showing that Mars clocks tick slightly faster—and fluctuate over the Martian year. These microsecond shifts could play a big role in future Mars navigation, communications, and even a solar-system-wide internet. It’s a small time gap with big consequences for space exploration.

Why Supersonic Jet Engines Will Power AI Data Centers

⚙️ Q: What makes supersonic engines better than subsonic for ground power generation? A: Supersonic engines designed for 160°F operation at 60,000 ft and Mach 1.7 handle high ground temperatures without requiring water cooling, throttling, or water spray that subsonic engines need to avoid melting in hot conditions.

Deployment Timeline.

📅 Q: When will Boom’s engines start powering AI data centers? A: Boom’s supersonic engines are scheduled to begin providing power to AI customers in 2027, becoming the most tested new jet engine ever before carrying passengers.

Business Model.

💰 Q: How does powering data centers benefit Boom’s supersonic aircraft development? A: The symbiotic relationship creates a financial bridge where engines generate revenue from data center operations before deployment in commercial passenger aircraft, funding the experimental-to-commercial transition.

Environmental Considerations.

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Space travel will radically change human psychology and spirituality

It may cause us to geneticly engineer ourselves to live in dangerous environments too.

Throughout human history, we have associated our spirituality, myths, and religions with the sky. Constellations are peppered with sky stories, from Orion to Warepil (the eagle constellation of aboriginal Australians). The Lakota Native Americans associated the Milky Way as a path for departed souls. Jesus ascended to the heavens. The primary god of ancient Egyptians was Ra, the god of the Sun. And the entire Universe was seen inside Krishna’s mouth.

Jason Batt, a science fiction author, mythologist, and futurist, has spent a lot of time thinking about stories like this, and how our relationship with the heavens will change when we become a space-faring race. “So what happens to humanity?” Batt, who is also a co-founder of Deep Space Predictive Research Group and a Creative Manager of 100 Year Starship, pondered while speaking to Big Think. “What is going to change in us? What is going to transform?”

Even though we often associate our space travel with feats of engineering and science, there is an undeniable connection with our myth as well. We see this in how we name our rockets destined for space: Gemini, Apollo, Artemis. Going to space is big, not just for our technology, but for our spirits.

It is rocket science: New method to more rapidly evaluate heat shields

From the tragedy of the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003 to the now-routine return of commercial spacecraft, heat shields—formally called thermal protection systems—are critical for protecting vehicles from the intense heat and friction of atmospheric reentry or traveling at many times the speed of sound.

Now, a team of engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed ways to rapidly evaluate new thermal protection materials for hypersonic vehicles. Their three-year research project combined computer modeling, laboratory experiments and flight testing to better understand how heat shields behave under extreme temperatures and pressures, and to predict their performance much faster than before.

Hypersonic flight means traveling at speeds of at least five times faster than the speed of sound, or more than 3,800 miles per hour. Other vehicles, such as ballistic missiles, can travel this fast, but hypersonic vehicles are far more maneuverable and unpredictable, making them harder to intercept. Unlike reusable spacecraft, the thermal protection systems used on U.S. hypersonic missiles—which solely deliver conventional weapons—are designed for a single use.

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