Lifeboat Foundation

An exhibition at the Science Gallery Dublin explores how humans are preparing to live in the harsh conditions of outer space — and how microorganisms might help us do so.

Space traveling is closer than many of us think. NASA has plans to send humans to Mars in the 2030s, and Elon Musk seems to have taken on a personal challenge of establishing a city on the red planet. He says the Martian city should reach a million inhabitants within 40 to 100 years.

However, the human body is not adapted to life in space. In zero gravity, muscles lose force, bones lose density, vision becomes blurry, and the immune system grows weaker. A study that sent astronaut Scott Kelly to space for a year showed that the regulation of his DNA — but not its actual sequence — changed as compared to his twin brother, who stayed on Earth.

Elon Musk says SpaceX’s ambitious Starlink satellite internet setup has made great steps toward providing good internet to previously low-priority locations. Musk’s Starlink plan accounts for an eventual 40,000 satellites in orbit to blanket the globe in internet coverage, far surpassing any existing satellite internet service.

SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk has shared more details about when in 2020 we can expect the company’s Starlink low-latency, high-bandwidth satellite internet service to actually be available to customers. He said on Twitter that a private beta for Starlink would begin in around three months, with a public beta to kick off roughly three months after that.

The initial beta test will apply to those located in “high latitudes,” Musk added. To date, SpaceX has said that Starlink service will initially be made available to customers in Canada and in the northern United States in 2020, with additional service expansion to follow to other parts of the world throughout 2021. On Twitter in response to a question about whether Germany counts as “high latitude,” Musk said that it does, indicating beta service at least may be available in more markets than the U.S. and Canada ahead of next year.

Late last year, Musk tweeted saying he was using a Starlink satellite connection to do so, and since then the company has launched six batches of 60 satellites each to build out its network. The small satellites work by flying around the Earth in low orbit, passing off connection between one another to ensure consistent service is provided to ground stations. They orbit lower than geostationary communications satellites, which provides latency and speed benefits, but don’t remain in a fixed position so a large number of them are required to provide consistent connectivity.

Elon Musk seems to be really interested in Tesla expanding into the home HVAC industry — going as far as saying that he is “dying to do it.”

He first brought up the idea in an interview on the Joe Rogan Experience almost two years ago.

Continue reading “Elon Musk hypes up Tesla smart home HVAC, hints at Cybertruck feature” »

Elon Musk has unveiled plans to implant computer chips in people’s brains that the US billionaire says will treat brain diseases and enable superhuman intelligence.

Neuralink, a secretive company set up by Mr Musk two years ago, has said it plans to begin tests of its “brain-computer interface” technology on humans in the next year.

Mr Musk, 48, the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, said the technology will help “solve brain disorders of all kinds” and allow humans to merge with artificial intelligence.

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO made the announcement of two beta tests — one public and one private — on Twitter Wednesday night.

Tesla’s mobile app is one of the key parts of the Tesla ownership experience, and yet its security is lacking an important feature — two-factor authentication.

According to CEO Elon Musk, this will change in the near future.

When asked on Twitter whether there are any updates regarding two-factor authentication for the app, Musk said it’s “coming soon” (via Teslarati).

Tesla Cybertruck is going to be “able to float for a while,” says CEO Elon Musk, who apparently can’t wait to bring the electric pickup truck to production.

For a while now, Elon Musk has cautiously boasted about the ability of Tesla vehicles to float, or even “act as a boat” for short periods of time.

Continue reading “Tesla Cybertruck is going to be ‘able to float for a while,’ says Elon Musk” »

NASA and SpaceX are targeting May 27 for the launch of Demo-2, the first launch of NASA astronauts from the U.S. since 2011 and the first crewed launch for Elon Musk’s space company.

As its name implies, Demo-2 will be the second time the company launches its Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. But, unlike Demo-1 last year, this time two astronauts will be on board – a pair that will be the first NASA astronauts to launch from the U.S. since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011.