Lifeboat Foundation

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk went into a bit more detail about the timelines and vehicle requirements to not only reach Mars, but to set up a sustainable base on the Red Planet that can serve as an actual city, supporting a local population. That’s the long-term vision for Musk and his space technology company, after all — making humans an interplanetary species. The timeline that Musk discussed today, replying to fans on Twitter, might be incredibly impressive or incredibly ambitious, depending on your perspective.

Addressing a question about comments he made earlier this week at the U.S. Air Force startup pitch day event in California, Musk said that his stated launch cost of only around $2 million per Starship flight are essentially required, should the final goal be to set up a “self-sustaining city on Mars.” In order to make that city a reality, he added, SpaceX will need to build and fly around 1,000 Starships according to his estimates, which will need to transport cargo, infrastructure and crew to Mars over the course of around 20 years, since planetary alignment only really allows for a realistically achievable Mars flight once every two years.

Musk addressed more near-term potential for Starship as well, including how much payload capacity Starship will provide for Earth orbital transportation. Starship’s design is intended to maximize re-use, and in fact Musk noted that ideally it can fly up to three times per day. That amounts to more than 1,000 flights per year per Starship, which means that if they end up with as many Starships as they currently have built Falcon rockets (around 100) and those can each transport as much as 100 tons to orbit, then on an annual basis, SpaceX will be able to launch upwards of 10 million tons to orbit per year.

The speed at which current lithium-ion batteries can be charged is limited by a phenomenon known as lithium plating – the build-up of metallic lithium on the battery’s positive electrode – that happens when they take on charge at an accelerated rate. This severely reduces the battery’s life.

In 1884, a schoolmaster and theologian named Edwin Abbott wrote a novella called Flatland, which tells the story of a world populated by sentient two-dimensional shapes. While intended as a satire of rigid Victorian social norms, Flatland has long fascinated mathematicians and physicists and served as the setting for many a thought experiment.

One such thought experiment: How can light be controlled in two dimensions?

When a wave of light is confined on a two-dimensional plane by certain materials, it becomes something known as a polariton—a particle that blurs the distinction between light and matter. Polaritons have exciting implications for the future of optical circuits because, unlike electronic integrated circuits, integrated optics is difficult to miniaturize with commonly used materials. Polaritons allow light to be tightly confined to the nanoscale, even potentially to the thickness of a few atoms.

Harley-Davidson hasn’t been shy when it comes to talking about its ambitious electric bicycle goals. In fact, Harley-Davidson electric bicycles are a big part of the More Roads to Harley Davidson plan.

China is mulling of establishing an Earth-moon space economic zone by 2050, with insiders expecting the zone to generate $10 trillion a year.

Bao Weimin, director of the Science and Technology Commission of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, revealed the ambitious plan at a seminar on space economy on Wednesday, media reported Friday.

In a report on developing earth and moon space, Bao shared his thoughts on the huge economic potential in this field and pledged that the country would study its reliability, cost and flight-style transportation system between the Earth and moon, The Science and Technology Daily reported Friday.

When we think about eco-friendly vehicles, most of the time we think about electric and hybrid vehicles. At other times, we might even go as far as coming up with vehicles that operate on bio, solar or wind energy. However, this is not all. There are innovations that are breaking all the barriers of thought and technology. One such innovation is electromagnetic propulsion technology. We are seeing many vehicle designs that are utilizing it. Therefore, it would be no wonder if it becomes mainstream in our distant future.

Vehicles driven by electromagnetic propulsion technology

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“Unplugged Performance thoroughly reworks the suspension with a custom race valved adjustable coilover suspension kit, along with billet adjustable front upper control arms, billet adjustable rear camber and toe arms and a beefier 3 way adjustable front/rear sway bar set with uprated bushings. The highly adjustable suspension and handling capabilities pair with massive 6 piston 15.5” uprated brakes and competition brake pads. Unplugged Performance 20” wheels shod with Michelin Cup 2 tires are then fitted. The wheels are custom machined out of 6061-T6 billet APP forgings, the same forgings used by Koenigsegg and Lamborghini, and every set is FEA optimized and specifically engineered to the specific build’s desired spec and use. Wheel weights range from 19.6–21.0lbs in 20” with tire sizings up to 305mm wide.”

While Tesla is working on a track-focused Model S, the Model 3 Performance is getting its own street-legal racing treatment from Unplugged Performance.

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While some high – end electric vehicles ( like the most expensive Teslas ) are starting to approach those kinds of ranges, it still takes around 50 minutes for a full charge using the most powerful superchargers available. That’s a long time to hang around if you’re doing a cross-country trip that requires multiple pit stops.

The result is range anxiety, where people worry about running out of juice and facing delays due to the long time it takes to recharge their car s. There are two ways to tackle the problem: building higher-capacity batteries or charging existing ones faster.

Bigger batteries are a tricky problem, because vehicles face a balancing act between weight an d capacity. After a certain point the extra weight of batteries cancels out the boost in power they provide. There’s plenty of work into batteries with better energy density—how much charge they can hold for a specific weight—but there aren’t any major breakthroughs on the horizon.

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