Sci-Tech

SpaceX postpones test flight of Starship, world’s biggest rocket

by Patrick Fallon with Chris Lefkow in Washington SpaceX on Monday postponed the first test flight of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, designed to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars and beyond. Liftoff of the gigantic rocket was called off just minutes ahead of the scheduled launch time because of a pressurization issue in the booster stage, SpaceX said. SpaceX founder Elon Musk said a pressure valve appeared to be frozen, forcing […]

SpaceX Starship, world’s biggest rocket, set for first test flight

by Patrick Fallon with Chris Lefkow in Washington Agence France Presse Starbase, United States (AFP) SpaceX is counting down to the first test flight on Monday of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, designed to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars and beyond. The giant rocket is scheduled to blast off from Starbase, the SpaceX spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas, at 8:00 am Central Time (1300 GMT). Fallback times are scheduled for later […]

‘Big sponge’: new CO2 tech taps oceans to tackle global warming

by Romain FONSEGRIVES Agence France-Presse SAN PEDRO, United States (AFP) — Floating in the port of Los Angeles, a strange-looking barge covered with pipes and tanks contains a concept that scientists hope to make waves: a new way to use the ocean as a vast carbon dioxide sponge to tackle global warming. Scientists from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) have been working for two years on SeaChange — an ambitious project that could one […]

Elon Musk forms X.AI artificial intelligence company

Elon Musk has formed an X.AI artificial intelligence corporation based in the US state of Nevada, according to business documents that surfaced on Friday. Musk, who is already the boss of Twitter and Tesla, was listed as director of X.AI Corporation founded on March 9, a state business filing indicated. Musk recently merged Twitter with a newly created “X” shell company, keeping the brand name for the platform but not the business. Musk’s founding of […]

NASA unveils ‘Mars’ habitat for year-long experiments on Earth

  Four small rooms, a gym and a lot of red sand — NASA unveils a new Mars-simulation habitat, in which volunteers will live for a year at a time to test what life will be like for future missions to Earth’s neighbor. The facility, created for three planned Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) experiments, is located at the US space agency’s massive research center in Houston, Texas.  

Europe’s JUICE mission blasts off towards Jupiter’s icy moons

by Juliette COLLEN The European Space Agency’s JUICE space probe successfully took off on Friday for a mission to discover whether Jupiter’s icy moons are capable of hosting extra-terrestrial life in their vast, hidden oceans. The launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, came after a previous attempt on Thursday was called off due to the risk of lightning. Despite cloudy skies, the rocket lifted off as planned at […]

How Japan’s big plans for a ‘hydrogen society’ fell flat

by Etienne BALMER Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — It was once touted as a miracle solution to Japan’s energy problems: creating a “hydrogen society” by sharply ramping up use of the fuel for vehicles, industry and housing. But the country’s plan to expand its hydrogen market and slash greenhouse emissions has suffered delays and criticism over the fuel’s green credentials. As G7 climate ministers meet this weekend in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo, […]

Albania pushes out boat to save world’s rarest seal

by Briseida MEMA Agence France Presse Vlora, Albania (AFP) — A team of Albanian marine biologists scan the azure waters of the Ionian Sea for a sign of one of the rarest marine mammals in the world. Mediterranean monk seals were once abundant, but now there are only a few hundred left in small scattered groups off Albania, Greece and Turkey and in Mauritania, on Africa’s Atlantic coast. Yet there are glimmers of hope for […]

Elon Musk says ‘many mistakes’ made since Twitter takeover

San Francisco, United States (AFP) — Twitter boss Elon Musk said running the social media network has been “quite a rollercoaster” and acknowledged “many mistakes” along the way, six months after he bought the company for $44 billion. In a live interview with the BBC after agreeing to a last-minute invitation for the “spontaneity” of it, Musk appeared to tacitly acknowledge that one of those errors was the decision to label the broadcaster’s account “government-funded […]

NASA unveils ‘Mars’ habitat for year-long experiments on Earth

HOUSTON, United States (AFP) — Four small rooms, a gym and a lot of red sand — NASA unveiled on Tuesday its new Mars-simulation habitat, in which volunteers will live for a year at a time to test what life will be like on future missions to Earth’s neighbor. The facility, created for three planned experiments called the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA), is located at the US space agency’s massive research base […]

Twitter working on AI despite Musk call for global pause: report

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Elon Musk is advancing an artificial intelligence project at Twitter despite recently calling for an overall pause in developing such technology, US media reports said Tuesday. Musk has bought thousands of powerful, costly computing processors and hired AI engineering talent, Insider reported, while another tech-focused outlet, the Information, said the entrepreneur has floated the idea of starting a rival to ChatGPT. Meanwhile, Musk has slashed staff at Twitter as […]

News presenter generated with AI appears in Kuwait

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (AFP) — A Kuwaiti media outlet has unveiled a virtual news presenter generated using artificial intelligence, with plans for it to read online bulletins. “Fedha” appeared on the Twitter account of the Kuwait News website on Saturday as an image of a woman, her light-coloured hair uncovered, wearing a black jacket and white T-shirt. “I’m Fedha, the first presenter in Kuwait who works with artificial intelligence at Kuwait News. What kind of […]