How India uses mission for own future space plans with a female mission commander (age 65) to dock with the ISS

Amazing stuff! Astronauts from India, Poland, Hungary, and the US on board.

The Indian astronaut is flying with a duck as a mascot.

General Fusion fires up its newest steampunk fusion reactor

Good news!

"General Fusion announced on Tuesday that it had successfully created plasma, a superheated fourth state of matter required for fusion, inside a prototype reactor. The milestone marks the beginning of a 93-week quest to prove that the outfit’s steampunk approach to fusion power remains a viable contender.

The reactor, called Lawson Machine 26 (LM26), is General Fusion’s latest iteration in a string of devices that have tested various parts of its unique approach. The company assembled LM26 in just 16 months, and it hopes to hit “breakeven” sometime in 2026.

General Fusion is one of the oldest fusion companies still operating. Founded in 2002, it has raised $440 million to date, according to PitchBook. ..."

"General Fusion’s Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) demonstration, Lawson Machine 26 (LM26), has successfully formed a magnetized plasma in the machine’s target chamber—a significant achievement in the operation of this world-first machine. LM26 is now forming plasmas daily as General Fusion’s team optimizes performance in preparation for its next step—compressing plasmas with a lithium liner to create fusion and heating from compression. ..."

"General Fusion’s Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) technology is designed to scale for cost-efficient power plants. It uses mechanical compression to create fusion conditions in short pulses, eliminating the need for expensive lasers or superconducting magnets. An MTF power plant is designed to produce its own fuel and inherently includes a method to extract the energy and put it to work."

General Fusion fires up its newest steampunk fusion reactor | TechCrunch

General Fusion’s Made-in-Canada Technology Achieves First Plasma in Cutting Edge Fusion Demonstration Machine

Helion raises $425M to help build a fusion reactor for Microsoft

Good news! 

Wind power is a heavily government subsidized greatest scam of our time! Solar power is an environmental disaster!

Since Western governments have failed spectacularly for decades investing billions of dollars to make it happen! Perhaps, it is time for private businesses to take over!

"Few fusion startups have been as closely watched as Helion. The 12-year-old company is backed by Sam Altman, rumored to be in talks with OpenAI, and has a deal to supply Microsoft with electricity by 2028 — years earlier than its competitors. 

The company’s unorthodox approach to fusion power and relative secrecy has earned it plenty of fans — and critics. But don’t count its investors among the naysayers. 

Helion announced Tuesday a $425 million Series F raise that pushed its valuation $5.245 billion. The startup also flipped the switch last month on its latest prototype, Polaris, which it anticipates will be the first fusion reactor to generate electricity.  ..."

Helion raises $425M to help build a fusion reactor for Microsoft | TechCrunch

Private companies aim to demonstrate working fusion reactors in 2025

Good news!

"Will this be the year private companies start to transform nuclear fusion from an interminable scientific puzzle into a profitable technology for producing carbon-free energy? So far, most of the dozens of efforts backed by venture capital have not gotten beyond computer predictions and small-scale prototypes.

But this year, several firms will debut large new machines that, they say, will soon coax a roiling ionized gas to fusion-friendly temperatures. In theory, these bigger testbeds could even produce more heat than they use to spark fusion—a threshold known as breakeven. ..."

Private companies aim to demonstrate working fusion reactors in 2025 | Science | AAAS

Datev-Mittelstandsindex: Warum so viele mittelständische Unternehmer aufgeben

Die Lage ist ernst in der Bananenrepublik D!

Man kann das natürlich wieder mal einfach abtun als Kaufleute/Unternehmer klagen immer. Diesmal ist es aber vielleicht anders.

"Steuerberater schlagen Alarm. Durchschnittlich fast fünf Mandanten einer Kanzlei haben in den vergangenen zwölf Monaten ihr Unternehmen aufgegeben oder – seltener – ins Ausland verlagert. Die Gründe für die Geschäftsaufgaben der Mandanten sind vielfältig. Oft fehlen Nach­folger, doch auch mangelnde Rentabi­lität und der Personalmangel werden als Gründe genannt, um den Laden dichtzumachen. ..."

Datev-Mittelstandsindex: Warum mittelständische Unternehmer aufgeben "Etliche Mittelständler können den Personalmangel und die hohen Kosten nicht mehr bewältigen, warnen Steuerberaterkanzleien. Vor erdrückender Bürokratie fliehen viele Unternehmer ins Ausland, zeigt eine bisher unveröffentlichte Umfrage."

Startup Starpath Robotics accelerates moon water mining plans with $12M in funding

How much space travel by humans does humanity actually need? What are the benefits of a permanent presence on the moon?

We still have not yet really explored our own planet very well!

"NASA and the space industry are in agreement: if we want to establish a permanent human presence on the moon ... 

Starpath Robotics is one of a handful of startups planning for this future [on the moon]. The startup is betting that there will be a thriving market for liquid oxygen (LOX) refined from lunar water ice, and that harvesting this resource will be key to humanity’s expansion throughout the solar system. LOX is a crucial component of propellant for some vehicles like rockets and spacecraft like lunar landers, and its used as the oxidizer alongside a combustible fuel such as hydrogen, kerosene, or methane.

The company came out of stealth last September with an ambitious water harvesting architecture, involving mining rovers, refineries and LOX storage systems. ..."

Starpath accelerates moon water mining plans with $12M in funding | TechCrunch

Tech companies aim to harness nuclear fusion in ways that have never been done before

Very recommendable! Nuclear fusion is salvation! E.g. wind power is the greatest hoax and scam of in a generation!

Around the globe, there are about 40 private companies trying to turn nuclear fusion into a reliable energy source.

First private spaceship lands on the moon by commercial company Intuitive Machines

Bravo! What an achievement! Very intuitive indeed!

Private enterprise Venturi Astrolab’s rovers will deploy $160M worth of payloads on the moon in 2026

Good news! Private enterprise can easily compete with NASA!

"It turns out a NASA contract isn’t the only way to fund a mission on the moon.

Lunar technology startup Venturi Astrolab announced today that its first moon rover mission will bring in over $160 million in customer contracts. That mission, aptly named Mission 1, will launch and land on a SpaceX Starship as early as mid-2026.

The contract value is spread across eight customers ...

The three remaining customers were not disclosed.

Astrolab has developed a rover it calls Flexible Logistics and Exploration, or Flex, that will be capable of carrying 1,500 kilograms of payload to the lunar surface. ..."

Venturi Astrolab’s rovers will deploy $160M worth of payloads on the moon | TechCrunch

FLEX is going to the Moon in 2026

Kenya to privatize 35 state companies, says President

Good news!

37 year old OpenAI CEO Sam Altman invested $180 million into a company trying to delay death

You can never be too young to think about how to extend your lifespan!

I think I like Altmanbucks better than Zuckerbergbucks! 😊

I have little doubt that we are on the cusp of being able to live longer healthy lives!

"When a startup called Retro Biosciences eased out of stealth mode in mid-2022, it announced it had secured $180 million to bankroll an audacious mission: to add 10 years to the average human lifespan. 

The business has always been vague about where its money had come from. Now MIT Technology Reveal can reveal that the entire sum was put up by Sam Altman, the 37-year-old startup guru and investor who is CEO of OpenAI. 

The amount is among the largest ever invested by an individual into a startup pursuing human longevity, and will fund Retro’s “aggressive mission” to stall aging, or even reverse it. ..."

Sam Altman invested $180 million into a company trying to delay death | MIT Technology Review Can anti-aging breakthroughs add 10 healthy years to the human lifespan? The CEO of OpenAI is paying to find out.

Eyeing a new lunar economy, ispace plans to land on the moon at the end of April

Private enterprise can do it too!

Eyeing a new lunar economy, ispace plans to land on the moon at the end of April | TechCrunch

HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Let’s go to the Moon

Microsoft partners with India space agency to work with startups

Good news! Let private enterprise explore space!

"Microsoft plans to collaborate with the Indian space agency to give Indian space tech startups free access to cloud tools ...

As part of a memorandum of understanding that Microsoft has signed with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the firm will also provide space tech startups with go-to-market support and help them become enterprise ready, it said."

Microsoft partners with India space agency to work with startups | TechCrunch

Startups set to go to space for the first time on SpaceX’s Transporter-6 mission

Good news! Let private enterprise explore space! 

"SpaceX is poised to launch 114 payloads to orbit on a Falcon 9 tomorrow morning, the sixth mission of its small-sat ride-share program. But while the rocket company is now an old hand at launches — SpaceX just completed a record year with 61 launches in 2022 alone — for a handful of space startups, Transporter-6 marks a milestone.

Those startups include Launcher, which is conducting its first space tug mission; Magdrive, which is providing an inaugural in-orbit tech demonstration; and Epic Aerospace, which is also launching a space tug for the first time. ..."

Startups set to go to space for the first time on SpaceX’s Transporter-6 mission | TechCrunch

Deci Launches Version 2.0 of Its Deep Learning Platform to Ease AI Application Development

If it is not too much hype, then it is impressive what this company Deci, founded in 2019, has to offer.

"... While Neural Architecture Search (NAS) has been proposed as a possible method for automating the construction of improved artificial neural networks that surpass manually-designed architectures, the resource requirements to run such technology are prohibitive. Yet, only Google, Microsoft, and academic institutions have effectively adopted NAS, demonstrating its impracticality for the great majority of developers.

To address this issue, Deci’s platform, which is driven by their unique NAS engine dubbed AutoNAC (Automated Neural Architecture Construction), allows AI developers to create efficient computer vision models automatically and economically for any given inference hardware, speed, size, and targets. Deci models outperform other known state-of-the-art (SOTA) designs by three to ten.

Developers may utilize the AutoNAC engine to construct more unique architectures adapted for their individual use-cases or start their projects using pre-trained and optimized models (DeciNets) provided by the AutoNAC engine for a wide range of hardware and computer vision activities. ..."

Deci Launches Version 2.0 of Its Deep Learning Platform to Ease AI Application Development - MarkTechPost

The first and only commercially scalable solution based on Neural Architecture Search

SuperGradients Easily train or fine-tune SOTA computer vision models with one training library.

Unsung Heroes: Private Food Inspectors

Recommendable! Anybody who believes that food safety depended on government inspections is pretty foolish! Private businesses themselves have a keen self-interest to make sure that their food is safe and enjoyable!

"In Private Governance, prominent economist Edward Stringham presents case studies of the various forms of private enforcement, self-governance, or self-regulation among private groups or individuals that fill a void that government enforcement cannot."
It is by far not just a void left by government, it goes far beyond. Private assurance of product/service quality or safety, contract fulfillment etc. have been plenty in history!

Unsung Heroes: Private Food Inspectors – AIER: Both mortality and morbidity figures would be much higher if Americans really did leave something as fundamental as food safety to government bureaucrats.

David: From Slingshot To Moonshot

Posted: 2/22/2019

It is an extraordinary event that tiny Israel just successfully launched a mission to Moon. Only a few nations (4 to be exact) have achieved this.

Not only that Israel also demonstrates that private space exploration is at least as good as government sponsored space missions. I would even argue that the heavy and rather domineering government involvement in the past has actually considerably retarded space exploration and its potential for humanity!

The Age Of Private Commercial Space Exploration Has Finally Arrived

Update As Of 5/20/2014

Now that private enterprises really get involved in developing space opportunities, we read almost daily about amazing new advances. See e.g. here an article in the MIT Technology Review.

To The Moon And Beyond

Today (7/20/2013), I read here that Moon Express Inc. is carrying out a major new mission to the moon. I remember other news in recent years about significant progress was being made by commercial spaceflight etc.

Finally and long overdue, private initiative and enterprise is taking over from inflexible, risk averse government bureaucracies to advance human understanding of space and to commercialize space.

Big Government Retarded Civilian Space Research & Exploration

President Eisenhower’s NASA of 1958 was a big mistake copying the Soviet Union in light of the Sputnik shock. The Europeans copied this mistake in 1975 with ESA (European Space Agency). I would argue that this route taken by the USA has unnecessarily slowed down progress in this area perhaps by decades. This was an unjustified government takeover.

Well, NASA had a predecessor called NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) established in 1915 as an emergency measure during World War I. The Wikipedia entry mentions: “On the other hand, NACA's 1941 refusal to increase airspeed in their wind tunnels set Lockheed back a year in their quest to solve the problem of compressibility in the P-38.” I would bet that this earlier federal agency had more bad influences on the development of civilian aircraft and spacecraft. This could be a research topic for the future.

More About NACA

NASA has a webpage on the history of its predecessor here. Why this page is formatted as if written with an old typewriter on wrinkled paper is a mystery to me, it reduces legibility.

Excerpts and [comments]:

1.       “Throughout the next three decades [1930s-1950s], NACA continued to expand its influence in the field of aviation by recruiting top notch engineers and scientists to work in ever larger and more [government run] advanced technological facilities.”

[Here we have a government agency competing with private enterprises for top notch engineers by offering state of the art, tax payer financed research facilities approved by government officials.]

2.       “After World War II, NACA began to work on the goal of supersonic flight.”

[Is it possible that because of NACA and the New Deal such research was delayed by years?]

3.       “NACAs efforts were in a large part responsible for turning the American airplane from slow cloth-and-wood biplanes of the World War I era into the jets of today.”

[This self congratulation of a government agency is how big government would like to be perceived. Had the private sector played a larger role progress would have been faster and better.]

Still Waiting On Supersonic Transportation

In my view it is also quite possible that too much government intervention killed commercial adoption of supersonic transportation or even hypersonic transportation. How I wish I could fly in a few hours from my home in Phoenix, AZ to my hometown Frankfurt am Main, Germany at an affordable price.

I would argue that human ingenuity would by now have overcome most technical problems and it would have developed solutions to the noise pollution.