Day: November 29, 2018

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Indian Rocket Launches 31 Satellites to Orbit

https://www.space.com/42580-indian-rocket-launches-31-satellites-success.html


An Indian rocket successfully lofted 31 satellites to Earth orbit late Wednesday night (Nov. 28), just a few days before the scheduled liftoff of a SpaceX booster that’s even more jam-packed.


The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, on India’s southeast coast, at 11:27 p.m. EST (0427 GMT and 0957 local Indian time on Nov. 29). 


The PSLV’s primary payload was the 840-lb. (380 kilograms) HySIS satellite, whose main goal “is to study the Earth’s surface in the visible, near-infrared and shortwave-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum,” officials with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) wrote in a statement after the successful launch. [See amazing launch photos for India’s HySIS mission]

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket carrying 31 satellites lifts off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Nov. 29, 2018.

Credit: ISRO


Also aboard the PSLV were 29 nanosatellites and one microsatellite, which were provided by eight different countries. All of these little spacecraft reached their intended orbits, ISRO officials said.


This phalanx included 16 “Dove” Earth-observing cubesats built by San Francisco-based company Planet and two shoebox-size “Pioneer spacecraft.” The Pioneers are owned by the company Spire Global but were developed under the European Space Agency’s ARTES (Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems) Pioneer program.


The twin Pioneers will test the ability of tiny spacecraft to perform “radio occultation” science, European Space Agency officials said. This work consists of measuring how satellite signals are refracted by Earth’s atmosphere, information that can in turn help characterize the atmosphere, potentially aiding weather and climate forecasts. 


The PSLV launch serves as something of a prelude for the upcoming SSO-A: SmallSat Express mission, which is scheduled to lift off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday (Dec. 2). The two-stage Falcon 9 will carry to orbit 64 small satellites, including one that contains a bust of Robert H. Lawrence Jr., the first African-American astronaut.


SSO-A will also mark the first time that a Falcon 9 first stage has launched on three separate orbital missions. This first stage also helped loft Bangladesh’s Bangabandhu-1 communications satellite in May and the Merah Putih satellite for PT Telkom Indonesia in August.


Sixty-four satellites is a lot, but it won’t set the record: A PSLV launched 104 spacecraft to orbit back in February 2017.


Mike Wall’s book about the search for alien life, “Out There” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate) is out now. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us @Spacedotcomor Facebook. Originally published on Space.com. 

via Space.com https://www.space.com

November 29, 2018 at 04:20PM

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Adult Swim, Crunchyroll announce first-ever co-production: A Blade Runner anime

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1419981


A still from Warner Bros.' <em>Blade Runner: Black Out 2022</em> short, which may be a good hint of what to expect from this upcoming, brand-new anime series in the same universe.
Enlarge /

A still from Warner Bros.’

Blade Runner: Black Out 2022

short, which may be a good hint of what to expect from this upcoming, brand-new anime series in the same universe.

Warner Bros. Pictures

The events of last year’s Blade Runner 2049 hinted at more stories to come in the series’ universe, and sure enough, a follow-up project has been announced. But Blade Runner: Black Lotus isn’t a vehicle for the continued tales of Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford.

Instead, it will take viewers back in time—and back to anime.

Black Lotus, announced on Thursday, will launch as a 13-episode prequel anime series as a first-of-its-kind partnership between two Western anime-distribution titans: Crunchyroll and Adult Swim. No release date has been announced, but work begins with some pretty nimble hands on the deck. Shinji Aramaki and Kenji Kamiyama will direct all episodes, having done that kind of work with seminal mid-’00s series Appleseed and Ghost In The Shell: Stand-Alone Complex, respectively.

Additionally, Shinichiro Watanabe will oversee the project as creative producer, and that name will likely stand out for three reasons. First, he’s known for directorial work on the series Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo; second, he is apparently also overseeing the live-action Cowboy Bebop series announced merely one day earlier by Netflix.

Watanabe is no stranger to Blade Runner-related anime productions, either. The run-up to last year’s 2049 included a “prologue” anime short, Black Out 2022, which connected the timelines of the original film and the 2017 follow-up. This, directed by Watanabe and drawn in part by Aramaki, was exactly the kind of tone-perfect glimpse at the series that whet our appetites for the eventual film. The short makes us excited to see what returning crew members can do with more episodes and another back-in-time dive into the series universe. All we know for now is that this prequel series will take place in the year 2032 and will “include familiar characters from the Blade Runner universe.”

That 14-minute short is embedded below, and if you missed it last go-round, carve out a few minutes today to breathe its dark weirdness in. It will have to tide you over until Crunchyroll and Adult Swim eventually reveal art or videos of Black Lotus.

Blade Runner: Black Out 2022, directed by Shinichiro Watanabe

via Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com

November 29, 2018 at 12:35PM

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Microsoft wins $480 million military contract to bring HoloLens to the battlefield

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1419881


HoloLens from above, showing the visor and the headband.

HoloLens from above, showing the visor and the headband.

Esy Casey

Microsoft has won a $480 million contract to develop an augmented reality system for use in combat and military training for the US Army.

Called Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), formerly Heads Up Display (HUD) 3.0, the goal of the project is to develop a headset that gives soldiers—both in training and in combat—an increase in “Lethality, Mobility, and Situational Awareness.” The ambitions for the project are high. Authorities want to develop a system with a goggle or visor form factor—nothing mounted on a helmet—with an integrated 3D display, digital cameras, ballistic laser, and hearing protection.

The system should provide remote viewing of weapon sights to enable low risk, rapid target acquisition, perform automated or assisted target acquisition, integrate both thermal and night vision cameras, track soldier vitals such as heart and breathing rates, and detect concussions. Over the course of IVAS’s development, the military will order an initial run of 2,550 prototypes, with follow-on production possibly in excess of 100,000 devices.

The military has already used HoloLens for training. Microsoft’s current headset falls far short of the requirements—for a start, it’s too bulky and offers an insufficient field of view—but it certainly serves as important precursor technology. A new version of the headset is expected to be shown next year. Augmented reality startup Magic Leap is also reported to have bid, as part of an attempt by the military to expand the range of contractors beyond the traditional military-industrial complex.

The successful bid comes against a backdrop of employees being increasingly willing to speak out against customers that they disapprove of. In June this year, Microsoft staff penned an open letter imploring the company to end its contract with ICE due to widespread revulsion at ICE’s family separation policy. Google similarly has seen substantial internal backlash over its plans to build a censored search engine for China, and earlier in the year, an image recognition system for the Department of Defense.

via Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com

November 29, 2018 at 12:43PM

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From Raspberry Pi to Home Brewing, Here Are 19 Projects To Make From Our Gift Guide

https://makezine.com/2018/11/29/from-raspberry-pi-to-home-brewing-here-are-19-projects-to-make-from-our-gift-guide/


Gift guides are great, nearly everybody loves them. They may be one of the few advertisements that people are happy to see, since they can genuinely help you decide on a fun gift for a loved one. I know I use them pretty extensively for my shopping.

We came up with an idea to make ours even better. We’re adding some inspiration into the mix. This week we’ll find interesting projects that you can carry out using our top picks from our holiday gift guide:

 

 

Makita 5 piece cordless tool kit

Sure, it has the standards — circular saw, drill, impact driver (alone a must-have). But the reciprocating saw and flashlight can be surprisingly useful in your workshop, and the canvas bag is a great way to tote everything around. Two 18V lithium-ion batteries provide the kick your project needs.

Projects:

 

Monoprice Select Mini 3D Printer

Voted best value in our 2018 digital fabrication guide, the Monoprice Select mini is hard to beat. A 120 cubic millimeter build volume for under $200 is pretty amazing, especially when you look at the print quality this machine supplies. It comes with a heated build plate and control interface on the machine, which is a bonus in this price range.

This machine comes fully assembled and ready to print out of the box, and the metal construction will leave you feeling like you really got more than your money’s worth.

Projects:

Amscope Microscope Science Kit

This starter kit gives you everything you need to start observing science in the microscopic world. The microscope itself ranges from 120x to 1200x magnification. It offers a built-in light source (powered by two AA batteries, included) as well as a mirror for using natural light. The ABS carry case stores the microscope and supplies — blank slides and covers, tweezers, eye dropper, Petri dish, and more.

A camera-equipped version is also available, although without the science experiments.

Projects:

 


OpenBuilds mini mill kit

If you’ve been considering building your own small-scale CNC mill, this kit may be exactly what you’re looking for. All the mechanical parts from the OpenBuilds MiniMill in one place. Simply assemble this kit and add your own stepper motors, limit switches, and control system. The C-beam construction will assure that you’ve got a rigid platform for clean milling.

Winner of Editor’s Choice in this year’s digital fabrication issue of Make: magazine, this mill is a tinkerer’s dream.

Projects:

TPI oscilloscope and multimeter

Whether you’re out in the warehouse troubleshooting a PLC or on the combat robot floor figuring out what damage has been done, a portable scope really comes in handy. The TPI 440 offers a fully functional digital multimeter with oscilloscope display. With robust and tough design, this scope will fit perfectly in any mobile tool set.

Projects:


Raspberry Pi 3 Model B

When it comes to tiny computing, this thing is the Hulk. The Raspberry Pi 3 B+ is the current top of the line in the product range with a 1.4 GHz processor and 1GB of RAM, but still roughly the size of a deck of cards. This bundle comes with all the other parts you need too, like a power supply, case, and even a microSD card.

Projects:


Brewmaster 5 Gallon Starter Kit

Learning how to brew your own beer is easy with this classic beginner’s setup — food-grade plastic buckets for fermenting and bottling, fermentation airlock, hydrometer for testing your beer’s strength, and bottling gear. Our resident brewmaster learned with a similar kit 20 years ago and is still homebrewing today. This kit is nicely documented, affordable, and stocked with a few extras including Star San sanitizer (indispensable) and nylon mesh bags for dry hopping or full grain brewing (when you’re ready to up your game from malt-extract beginner brews). Just add barley malt, hops, and a big old pot for your stovetop and you’re all set.

Projects:

via MAKE https://makezine.com

November 29, 2018 at 08:11AM

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AR technology helps the blind navigate by making objects ‘talk’

https://www.engadget.com/2018/11/29/ar-headset-tech-helps-blind-navigate/



Engadget

If you’re blind, finding your way through a new area can sometimes be challenging. In the future, though, you might just need to wear a headset. Caltech researchers have developed a Cognitive Augmented Reality Assistant (CARA) that uses Microsoft’s HoloLens to make objects “talk” to you. CARA uses computer vision to identify objects in a given space and say their names — thanks to spatialized sound, you’ll know if there’s a chair in front of you or a door to your right. The closer you are, the higher the pitch of an object’s voice.

This could quickly become overwhelming, so the team created a trio of modes modes. The most intuitive option, spotlight mode, has objects speak their names only when you’re looking at them. If you’d rather get a sense of what the room is like before moving, a scan mode will name everything in view of the HoloLens’ cameras. And if you have somewhere specific to be, a target mode lets you focus on just one object.

The technology is very young and not particularly accessible when it requires an expensive AR headpiece. Early results are promising, at least. Scientists conducted successful tests where blind volunteers found their way through a Caltech building using CARA to tell them where to turn, where the stairs were and even when there were hand rails. In the long-term, the goal is to make CARA-equipped headsets useful in many places. You could visit a store for the first time and navigate the aisles as if you’re a regular.