Orlando airport takes small steps toward solar power with a floating system.
The solar power project is the first major floating system in Florida and one of only a handful in the U.S. The project is being developed by Ciel & Terre, a French pioneer in the photovoltaics that is specialized in floating solar arrays for commercial, government, and non-profit institutions in collaboration with D3Energy of Florida, a leading developer of floating solar systems in the United States. Ciel & Terre that has 60-megawatt of floating experience worldwide manufactured the Hydrelio HDPE-floats that hold the panels and wires.
Launch of next Mars rover
slips to July 30 as planetary launch window extended.
NASA is pushing back the launch of its next Mars rover, called Perseverance, by a week, due to a problem with the rocket. An Atlas 5 rocket is going to send the spacecraft to the Red Planet. However, due to possible trouble with an oxygen sensor NASA and United Launch Alliance are prompted to delay the launch to no earlier than July 30, the space agency announced Tuesday. The agency’s $2.4 billion Perseverance Mars rover is scheduled to launch from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has just launched a U.S. Space Force GPS 3 satellite. The rocket lifted off at 4:10 p.m., from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
The third GPS 3-series satellite designated GPS 3 SV03 is riding a 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket. The 9,505-pound spacecraft launched on a trajectory toward the northeast from Cape Canaveral, flying almost parallel to the U.S. East Coast.
Theme parks and attractions across Central Florida have announced closures as a precaution against the coronavirus earlier this month but technology has stepped in to make sure that quarantined Americans still have a way to experience their favorite rides. A YouTube channel is bringing Disney World and Universal Studios rides to people’s homes with virtual reality and it is for free. The videos have a remote in the corner of the screen that allows the virtual riders to navigate their view of the attraction.
Elon Musk shared an animation that reveals details on SpaceX
progress and what the company soon hopes to achieve after nearly a decade of
effort.
Musk shared a video showing the SpaceX team working on building
the curved dome that will be mounted atop the completed Starship SN1. The digit
likely stands for “number 1”. Musk added that each new SN version of the rocket
builds will have minor improvements “at least through the first 20 or so
versions”, so it is clear they expect to test these quickly.
A rocket prototype developed by SpaceX,
Mark 1, partially exploded during a pressure test conducted in Boca Chica,
Texas.
The incident happened at the company’s launch site in Boca Chica this week and was captured on a Livestream by a YouTube user. During the test, the upper portion of the rocket blew apart and heavy plumes of smoke flowed from the vehicle, sending shrapnel flying into the air.
SpaceX successfully launched its 18th cargo flight to the space station Thursday evening.
The Space-X Dragon Capsule lifted off at 6:01 p.m., from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Thunderstorms
moving across Florida delayed a launch attempt on Wednesday and the weather
predictions indicated a low chance for launch Thursday as more stormy weather
was expected. However, clouds thinned out and right on time the Falcon 9 roared
to life and lifted off.
SpaceX Falcon heavy rocket next launch from Florida’s Space Coast has been pushed back to Tuesday, April 9. The megarocket will lift off from historic Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center carrying the Arabsat 6A communications satellite.
Although this is the second launch of the world’s most powerful
rocket, it will be its first commercial mission. Its maiden launch was a
demonstration flight on February 6, last year, when Elon Musk’s cherry-red
Roadster and a Starman dummy pilot were sent into space.
Look, ma, no
driver! Driverless shuttles are coming to Lake Nona.
Orlando’s Lake Nona unveiled the first autonomous vehicles in Florida last Tuesday.
Autonomous vehicle company Beep revealed that a miniature, self-driving bus will hit the streets of Lake Nona in the coming months.
Move Nona is a self-driving shuttle and will seat up to 15 passengers. The vehicle will be able to travel no more than 16 miles per hour, according to Beep. The project is supplied by French company Navya, whose representatives also came to Lake Nona to announce Beep had been chosen as a partner on the project. Both Beep and Navya have been contracted by Lake Nona owner and prime developer- Tavistock Group which is a Bahamas-based private investment organization founded in 1975 and controlling assets in various land development projects.
Dozens of executives and local officials gathered in the Orlando suburb for the announcement. Beep is planning to plant its headquarters square in Lake Nona – a 17 square-mile neighborhood in south Orlando billed as one of the newest, fastest developing tech-heavy ‘smart cities.’ If you need one of the new autonome shuttles, all you have to do is use an app to request a pickup. The shuttles run on batteries and are guided by sensors. The project aims to reduce air pollution and congestion. Each bus will be able to accommodate eight seated passengers and there is standing room for a few more.
Orlando mayor
Buddy Dyer told reporters that the aim of the area is to become one of the
autonomous vehicle central-points of all the United States as currently it is one
of ten autonomous vehicle proving grounds in the country.
On a launch pad in Florida, SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is ready for the first flight test of its new space capsule designed to carry astronauts into space.
The Falcon 9 is scheduled to take to the skies over Florida
Saturday morning. The rocket’s payload is the new Dragon capsule, the company’s
very first vehicle designed to take people to the International Space Station. Even
though the Crew Dragon capsule is meant for passengers, it will not carry
any people on board when Falcon 9 rocket blasts off.
The mission is called Demonstration-1 or DM-1 and the flight is
a test. It is only meant to show NASA that the Crew Dragon is space-worthy and
safe for future human crew members.NASA is particularly concerned
about this, because the very first people who will fly on the Crew Dragon capsule
will be the space agency’s astronauts. The Crew Dragon is a critical part of NASA
Commercial Crew Program, which has been developed by using privately-made spacecraft
to transport NASA astronauts to and from the space station.
The white, bell-shaped Dragon
capsule can carry up to seven astronauts and it is basically a more powerful
version of the SpaceX robotic cargo ship. When the capsule blasts off as, it
will travel to the International Space Station and dock there. The three
astronauts currently living in the space station will be able go
inside the hatch to load and unload cargo before the Dragon returns to Earth
and splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean.
