Ontario firm awarded contract to develop a drill for space mining on the moon

DATE: 12/04/2016
SOURCE: INVEST IN ONTARIO


Deltion Innovations Ltd. is an award-winning mining equipment design firm from Sudbury, Ontario that has recently received a contract from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to develop a drill for mining in space.

No longer just confined to the realm of the imagination, over the past decade, space mining has increasingly captured the minds of scientists, governments and private space mining companies. Once the budding industry gets off the ground, companies like Deltion Innovations are also expecting a big lift.
Made-in-Ontario space mining drill could play an important role in enabling long distance space travel


READ THE REST @

http://www.investinontario.com/spotlights/ontario-firm-awarded-contract-develop-drill-space-mining-moon

All of humanity should share in the space mining boom

DATE: 19/04/2016
AUTHORS: MORGAN SALETTA & KEVIN ORMAN-ROSSITER (UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE)
SOURCE: UNIVERSAL SCIENCE

One solitary asteroid might be worth trillions of dollars in platinum and other metals. Exploiting these resources could lead to a global boom in wealth, which could raise living standards worldwide and potentially benefit all of humanity.

There are already companies, such as Planetary Resources, hoping to make mining in space a reality.

Peter Diamondis, co-founder of Planetary Resources and founder of the XPrize Grand Challenges, believes that the benefits to humanity give us a moral imperative to explore and utilise space. He has also declared “there are twenty-trillion-dollar checks up there, waiting to be cashed!"

However, behind the utopian rhetoric and dazzling dreams of riches lie some very real problems.

Ownership and the Outer Space Treaty

The framework of international space law is given by the Outer Space Treaty (OST), which entered into force in 1967. Among its main principals, the OST includes these statements:

    the exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind

and,

    outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means

Because the OST is generally interpreted as preventing anything like private fee-simple ownership, it is sometimes claimed to be an obstacle to commercial ventures in space. But such claims simply do not hold water.

There are numerous terrestrial examples where resources are profitably exploited in the absence of fee-simple ownership. Governments routinely licence companies to engage in timber extraction, mining, offshore oil exploration and other activities, receiving royalties payments on production.

READ THE REST @ http://www.universal-sci.com/headlines/2016/4/18/all-of-humanity-should-share-in-the-space-mining-boom

Uber’s self-driving cars start picking up passengers in San Francisco

DATE: 14/12/2016
AUTHOR: DARRELL ETHERINGTON
SOURCE: TECHCRUNCH

Uber’s self-driving cars are making the move to San Francisco, in a new expansion of its pilot project with autonomous vehicles that will see Volvo SUVs outfitted with sensors and supercomputers begin picking up passengers in the city.

The autonomous cars won’t operate completely driverless, for the time being – as in Pittsburgh, where Uber launched self-driving Ford Focus vehicles this fall, each SUV will have a safety driver and Uber test engineer onboard to handle manual driving when needed and monitor progress with the tests. But the cars will still be picking up ordinary passengers – any customers who request uberX using the standard consumer-facing mobile app are eligible for a ride in one of the new XC90s operated by Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG).
Third generation autonomy

There’s a difference here beyond the geography; this is the third generation of Uber’s autonomous vehicle, which is distinct from the second-generation Fords that were used in the Pittsburgh pilot. Uber has a more direct relationship with Volvo in turning its new XC90s into cars with autonomous capabilities; the Fords were essentially purchased stock off the line, while Uber’s partnership with Volvo means it can do more in terms of integrating its own sensor array into the ones available on board the vehicle already

READ THE REST @ https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/14/ubers-self-driving-cars-start-picking-up-passengers-in-san-francisco/

Asteroid Mining News: Luxembourg Partners With Deep Space Industries For Prospector-X Mission

DATE: 05/05/216
AUTHOR: CHARLES POLADIAN
SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES

The first trillionaire could be an asteroid prospector, if you believe entrepreneur Paul Diamandis. Asteroid mining is very much in its infancy, but Luxembourg wants to get in on the ground floor. Deep Space Industries and the government of the small European grand duchy announced Thursday a partnership that will help advance the technology required for spacecraft to mine highly valuable asteroids.

Prospector-X, the partnership between Luxembourg and Deep Space Industries, will be a research and development mission exploring experimental technologies that could be used in future asteroid mining missions. "The opportunity to partner with Luxembourg on Prospector-X allows a number of the key technologies for cost-effective deep space operations to be rapidly flight-tested in advance of more complex missions," Daniel Faber, CEO of Deep Space Industries, said in a statement. Luxembourg's space resources initiative was revealed in February. In its attempts to enter the asteroid mining industry, the tiny country is seeking partnerships with Planetary Resources — backed by the likes of Google founder and CEO of Alphabet Larry Page, Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt and Sir Richard Branson — and Deep Space Industries, with a headquarters on its territory.

READ THE REST @ http://www.ibtimes.com/asteroid-mining-news-luxembourg-partners-deep-space-industries-prospector-x-mission-2364780

Overpopulation: Where Do We Put the Next Billion Humans

DATE: 03/12/2016
AUTHOR: Cecille De Jesus
SOURCE: Futurism


Too Many People?

August 8 this year marked the Earth Overshoot Day, which essentially means that we have officially consumed far more than the Earth can replenish in a year. The Global Footprint Network estimates that the current population requires resources equivalent to that of over 1.6 Earths. And the UN projects that our population may balloon to upwards of 8.5 billion by 2030.

As the population grows, more and more lands are allocated for urbanization, taking up resources that could be used for agriculture and vegetation. On top of this, the wastes and pollution resulting from human activity speeds up the degradation and deterioration of resources.

Harvard University Graduate School of Design research professor Richard Forman and professor of sustainability science at Arizona State University Jianguo Wu wrote a call for global and regional urban planning approaches. They say that existing communities are built in the wrong places,”places that should have been allocated for nature and agriculture.

READ THE REST @ https://futurism.com/overpopulation-where-do-we-put-the-next-billion-humans/

Tsunami would wipe out New York, Miami and hit England if landslide takes place in Spain, researcher claims

Researcher Dr Simon Day has predicted waves of up to 25 metres if there is a landslide in the Canary Islands

DATE: 12/12/2016
SOURCE: THE OLIVE PRESS


A MEGA-TSUNAMI could destroy New York and Miami if a landslide takes place in Spain.

Researcher Dr Simon Day has predicted waves of up to 25 metres if there is a landslide in the Canary Islands.

The UK’s southwestern shoreline would also be battered by three metre waves if a landslide triggered on the Spanish archipelago, according to Day’s report. 

A researcher at UCL university in London, Day first raised his theory 15 years ago but was mocked by fellow researchers.

However, his findings are now being taken more seriously after four large tsunamis acorss the world since he published his report.  

READ THE REST @ http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2016/12/12/tsunami-would-wipe-out-new-york-miami-and-hit-england-if-landslide-takes-place-in-spain-researcher-claims/

Earth is NOT prepared for a surprise asteroid strike: Nasa warns 'there's not a lot we can do about it at the moment'

DATE: 13/12/2016
SOURCE: DAILYMAIL


    Nasa scientist, Dr Joseph Nuth spoke about the issue at a conference this week
    He said the warning time is not long enough to launch a deflection mission
    He says that a new interceptor rocket could be designed to launch within a year to deflect an asteroid and prevent it hitting Earth

While the possibility of a catastrophic asteroid slamming into Earth is extremely rare, it may only be a matter of time before this threat becomes a reality.

But experts have warned that humans are not prepared for an asteroid impact, and should one head for Earth, there's not much we can do about it.

A Nasa scientist has said that our best hope is building an interceptor rocket to keep in storage that could be used in deflection missions.

Dr Joseph Nuth, a researcher at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland was speaking at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union earlier this week.

He said: 'The biggest problem, basically, is there's not a hell of a lot we can do about it at the moment.'

While dangerous asteroids and comets rarely hit Earth, Dr Nuth warned that the threat was always there.

He said: 'They are the extinction-level events, things like dinosaur killers, they're 50 to 60 million years apart, essentially.

'You could say, of course, we're due, but it's a random course at that point.'

In the past, comets have come very close to hitting Earth.


NASA'S ASTEROID REDIRECT MISSION

Nasa is planning an ambitious mission that will see a robotic spaceship visit an asteroid to create an orbiting base for astronauts.

The robot shipwill pluck a large boulder off the space rock and sling it aroundthe moon, becoming a destination to prepare for futurehuman missions to Mars.

Nasa plans to study the asteroid for about a year and test deflection techniques that one day may be necessary to save Earth from a potentially catastrophic collision.

READ THE REST @ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4028398/Earth-NOT-prepared-surprise-asteroid-strike-Nasa-warns-s-not-lot-moment.html