Technology

NASA’s Psyche mission fires up its futuristic electric engines

Published

3 weeks ago

May 23, 2024

NASA’s Psyche mission fires up its futuristic electric engines

NASA has turned on the electric Hall thrusters of Psyche, a spacecraft that’s now gently motoring toward a metal-rich asteroid embedded in the main asteroid belt beyond Mars. The agency says Psyche is in “full cruise” mode now, six months after launching on October 13th, 2023, on a conventional, SpaceX rocket.

On the way, NASA used Psyche to test laser-based deep space communications. The craft shot a communications laser back at the Earth from close to 10 million miles out, which is a first for NASA. It’s expected to reach its target and namesake, the Psyche asteroid, by 2029 and will orbit it for two years, observing and sending data back to NASA. Scientists suspect Psyche is actually the beginning core of a planet, also called a planetesimal.

Ion propulsion is both relatively new and pretty old for NASA. The agency has been working on the tech since before US astronauts first flew to the Moon, having test-fired its first ion thruster in 1964. They also have no moving parts; instead, they generate thrust by exciting xenon particles, pushing them out of the thruster. You can read more about them in this NASA paper (PDF) describing ion propulsion.

There are lots of different kinds of ion propulsion, including the magnetic Hall thrusters used by Psyche. In 2018, Psyche’s Spacecraft Chief Engineer wrote this detailed explanation of the differences between those and other ion thrusters, as well as other kinds like arc jets and microwave thrusters.

NASA first used ion propulsion as a spacecraft’s main propulsion for 1998’s Deep Space 1, a mission specifically conducted to test “various advanced technologies for future interplanetary missions.” In 2007, Dawn became NASA’s “first exclusively science-focused” mission to use ion thrusters, flying until it ran out of hydrazine, the fuel it used for its orientation thrusters. Without those, it couldn’t turn itself back to maintain communication with NASA

Ion propulsion isn’t powerful enough to launch a rocket from Earth, but they can still reach very high speeds over time. Right now, NASA says Psyche is traveling at 23 miles per second, or about 84,000mph, and will eventually reach 124,000mph. Thrusters like Psyche’s are generally useful because the lack of moving parts makes them durable, and they use less fuel, so they’re lighter and can be used on smaller spacecraft. Plus, they look cool when they’re turned on.

Technology

NASA says Voyager 1 is fully back online months after it stopped making sense

Published

5 hours ago

June 15, 2024

Press Room

NASA says Voyager 1 is fully back online months after it stopped making sense

Voyager 1, the farthest human-made craft from the Earth, is finally sending back data from all four of its scientific instruments, NASA said this week. That means the agency is once more receiving its readings on plasma waves, magnetic fields, and space-bound particles.

Now, NASA says Voyager 1, which is over 15 billion miles from Earth, is “conducting normal science operations” and the agency just needs to resync its timekeeping software and do some maintenance on a sparingly-used digital tape recorder.

One of several Voyager posters from NASA’s website.

Image: NASA

Now seems like a great time to either remind you of or point you to the sick Voyager posters, like the one above, that NASA has published on its site.

Technology

Fox News AI Newsletter: Ashton Kutcher doubles down

Published

5 hours ago

June 15, 2024

Press Room

Ashton Kutcher attends the 9th annual Breakthrough Prize ceremony at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on April 15, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.

IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:

– Ashton Kutcher doubles down on AI comments after facing backlash: ‘Need to be prepared’ for what’s coming
– Artificial intelligence, proven in NASA and neurosurgery, could remake childhood education
– Pope Francis warns of AI in first-ever G-7 papal address

‘BE PREPARED’: Ashton Kutcher is addressing the backlash he’s faced after saying artificial intelligence could essentially replace a multitude of roles in the entertainment industry. Last week, Kutcher spoke with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the Berggruen Salon in Los Angeles, praising OpenAI’s generative video tool, Sora.

Ashton Kutcher listens during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on May 2, 2023. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

TEACHER’S AID: Artificial intelligence delivered advances to the U.S. space program and to medicine decades before it made headlines. Now, AI is poised to bring major improvements to American education, tech entrepreneur Alex Galvagni said in an exclusive interview in New York City with Fox News Digital.

AI BOOM COMING? Apple’s artificial intelligence features will push consumers to seek iPhone upgrades and be a boon for future sales, some analysts projected. “We believe Apple’s AI strategy will leverage its golden installed base around personalization and LLMs [large language models] on the phone that should change the growth trajectory of Cupertino as spur an AI driven iPhone upgrade cycle starting with iPhone 16,” Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives said in a research note after WWDC.

Apple made a major artificial intelligence announcement this week. (Stanislav Kogiku/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

POPE’S AI WARNING: Pope Francis delivered the first-ever papal address at a G-7 conference on Friday, warning about the ethical pitfalls of artificial intelligence. The pope told the council of world leaders in Fasano, Italy, that AI offers immense benefit to the human race, but also threatens to dehumanize society.

Pope Francis delivers remarks as French President Emmanuel Macron (L), Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (R) and President Biden (bottom, back turned) take part in a working session on Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Africa-Mediterranean at the Borgo Egnazia resort during the G7 Summit in Savelletri near Bari, Italy, on June 14, 2024. (LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images)

MUSK MOVES: Billionaire Elon Musk moved to drop his lawsuit against artificial intelligence (AI) firm OpenAI that accused the company of abandoning its original mission of developing AI for the benefit of humanity rather than financial profit.

Subscribe now to get the Fox News Artificial Intelligence Newsletter in your inbox.

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Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future with Fox News here.

This article was written by Fox News staff.

Technology

Philips Hue’s jaunty sunrise smart lamp is called the Twilight

Published

12 hours ago

June 15, 2024

Press Room

Philips Hue’s jaunty sunrise smart lamp is called the Twilight

Philips Hue’s next smart bedside lamp will reportedly be called the “Twilight.” The lamp will feature two buttons on top for power, scene selection, and sleep automation, and it also has LEDs in the back that will feature a sunrise or sunset effect, according to HueBlog.com.

The rear LED and main light, like the Hue Dymera’s top and bottom lights, will apparently be individually controllable, and when triggering its sleep automation, the site says it will simulate a sunset before turning off. It’s not clear yet when — or for how much — Philips will release the Twilight.

Philips might also have a new 5-meter (about 16 feet) lightstrip called the Hue Solo on the way, as it was briefly listed by “a major American retailer” for $89.99 before being taken down, according to a story HueBlog published yesterday. And there is indeed a cached Best Buy Hue Solo product page that describes a “seamless blend of multicolor light in a single LED strip” and says it can be controlled via Bluetooth.