Sci-Tech

Apple gets nod for new emojis

  By Don Orozco EBC US correspondent/ Eagle News Service A list of new emojis has been approved by the Unicode consortium, an agency that handles release of emojis. There were about 37 new emojis that will be added for use in all of digital devices. Some of the emojis feature peaking eyes, empty nest, a heart emoji with different skin tones and a troll emoji. An emoji is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram or smiley […]

Computing pioneer Clive Sinclair dies at 81

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Clive Sinclair, the British inventor who pioneered the pocket calculator and affordable home computers, reportedly died on Thursday at the age of 81. He passed away at his home in London after fighting cancer for more than a decade, UK media said, prompting tributes from many who fondly recalled their first experience of computing in the early 1980s. He was still working on inventions last week “because that was what […]

Chinese astronauts return to Earth after 90-day mission

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth Friday after completing the country’s longest-ever crewed mission, the latest landmark in Beijing’s drive to become a major space power. The capsule carrying the trio deployed its parachute and landed in the Gobi desert at 1:34 pm local time (0534 GMT). “It feels very good to be back!,” Tang Hongbo told state broadcaster CCTV after the 90-day mission, a record for China. “I want to […]

SpaceX’s tourist crew ‘healthy, happy and resting’

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — SpaceX’s all-civilian Inspiration4 crew are “healthy, happy and resting comfortably,” the company said Thursday in its first update since the pioneering mission blasted off from Cape Canaveral the night before. The four American space tourists “traveled 5.5 times around Earth, completed their first round of scientific research, and enjoyed a couple of meals” before going to bed, Elon Musk’s company said. Musk tweeted that he had personally spoken with the […]

In first, SpaceX to send all-civilian crew into Earth orbit

by Lucie AUBOURG Can four people who’ve never been to space before spend three days spinning around Earth after only a few months of training? That’s the challenge SpaceX has set for itself when it launches its first tourism mission on Wednesday, the first time a crew of exclusively private citizens will orbit our planet. A five-hour launch window for “Inspiration4” opens from 8:02 pm (0002 GMT Thursday). A Falcon 9 rocket, with a Dragon […]

Astronauts smell smoke, burning on Russia’s ISS module

  MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — A smoke alarm sounded Thursday in Russia’s segment of the International Space Station (ISS) and astronauts smelled “burning” on board, Russia’s space agency and NASA said. The incident, which the Russian space agency Roscosmos said happened at 01:55 GMT ahead of a scheduled spacewalk, is the latest in a string of problems to spur safety concerns over conditions on the Russian segment. “A smoke detector was triggered in the Zvezda […]

NASA confirms Perseverance Mars rover got its first piece of rock

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — NASA confirmed Monday that its Perseverance Mars rover succeeded in collecting its first rock sample for scientists to pore over when a future mission eventually brings it back to Earth. “I’ve got it!” the space agency tweeted, alongside a photograph of a rock core slightly thicker than a pencil inside a sample tube. The sample was collected on September 1, but NASA was initially unsure whether the rover had successfully […]

After six months on Mars, NASA’s tiny copter is still flying high

  by Lucie AUBOURG Agence France Presse It was only supposed to fly five times. And yet NASA’s helicopter on Mars, Ingenuity, has completed 12 flights and it isn’t ready to retire. Given its stunning and unexpected success, the US space agency has extended Ingenuity’s mission indefinitely. The tiny helicopter has become the regular travel companion of the rover Perseverance, whose core mission is to seek signs of ancient life on Mars. “Everything is working […]

NASA thinks Mars rover succeeded in taking rock sample

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — NASA’s Perseverance rover succeeded in its second attempt to scoop up a piece of Martian rock for future analysis by scientists on Earth — probably. Its first effort earlier this month failed after the rock was too crumbly to withstand the robot’s drill, but data received late on September 1 indicates the process worked this time around. The US space agency said Thursday it remains a little uncertain, because images […]

Researchers discover world’s ‘northernmost’ island

Scientists have discovered what is believed to be the world’s northernmost landmass — a yet-to-be-named island north of Greenland that could soon be swallowed up by seawaters. Researchers came upon the landmass on an expedition in July, and initially thought they had reached Oodaaq, up until now the northernmost island on the planet. “We were informed that there had been an error on my GPS which had led us to believe that we were standing […]

Massive “solar tsunami” observed after sunspot eruption; solar flare, coronal mass ejection observed

Solar storm cloud “appears to be heading for earth” says space weather monitoring site   (Eagle News) – Space weather observers noted a “massive solar tsunami” across the sun caused by the eruption of a sunspot that happened on Thursday, Aug. 26, according to a website monitoring the sun’s activity. Spaceweather.com said that this solar tsunami could cause a coronal mass ejection (CME). In fact, coronagraphs of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), already detected […]

Elon Musk says Tesla’s robot will make physical work a ‘choice’

After dominating the electric vehicle market and throwing his hat into the billionaire space race, Tesla boss Elon Musk announced the latest frontier he’s aiming to conquer: humanoid robots. The irascible entrepreneur said Thursday he would have an initial prototype of an androgynous “Tesla Bot” by next year. Based on the same technology as the company’s semi-autonomous vehicles, the robot will be able to perform basic repetitive tasks with the aim of eliminating the need […]