NASA is seeking something very cool, an update to its classic and iconic Crew Transportation Vehicle. Currently the vehicle is a shiny silver 1983 Airstream transportation vehicle. That vehicle has been in use for decades and has carried most NASA astronauts to the launch pad to head into space. NASA has issued a request for proposal seeking a new or updated Artemis Crew Transport Vehicle (CTV).
The pandemic and resulting chip shortage has severely impacted production at several major automakers. Mercedes-Benz recently confirmed that it was seeing high demand for its vehicles and with pandemic related production issues, wait times for ordered vehicles are growing. Mercedes says that some customers will be waiting more than a year for their vehicles to be delivered. Daimler CEO Ola Kallenius said recently that for some models, the wait is currently over a year.
NASA's InSight mission has been on the surface of the Red Planet for a long time now and so far hasn't detected much in the way of seismic activity. NASA recently announced that InSight has finally detected quakes on Mars that are larger than a magnitude 4. One of the quakes was very interesting, lasting more than 90 minutes.
One of the key tales in the bible is of the destruction of Sodom. A new study has proposed that the basis for that biblical tale was an airburst meteorite that exploded over the ancient city over 3.5 centuries ago. The team found evidence of sudden destruction in the ancient city of Tall el-Hammam including collapsed buildings, melted pottery, and more.
The pandemic has thrown a wrench in a lot of the plans that automakers have for revealing and building new vehicles. Stellantis had planned to reveal all the details on the 2022 Grand Cherokee, including the anticipated plug-in hybrid Grand Cherokee 4xe during the New York Auto Show, but that event was cancelled. That left Stellantis with an odd situation where it had teased the Grand Cherokee 4xe during its summit on electrified vehicles, but had offered no official launch date after the cancellation of the show in New York.
SpaceX successfully sent and returned the first all civilian crew to and from orbit with its Inspriation4 mission earlier this month. While there were some challenges with the flight, namely issues with the toilet aboard the spacecraft, the mission was trouble free. SpaceX has now confirmed that after the Inspriation4 mission, it has seen an increased interest in civilian spaceflight.
New high-resolution image of the moon focusing on the Tycho Crater has been released. It was made using the National Science Foundations Green Bank Observatory and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. The image of Tycho Crater has a resolution close to five meters by five meters and is comprised of about 1.4 billion pixels.
One of the biggest manufacturers of commercial aircraft in the world is Airbus. The company has revealed its plans for the emerging Urban Air Mobility (UAM) market with a helicopter called CityAirbus. The next generation of the flying vehicle is fully electric and has fixed wings and a V-shaped tail. It's powered by eight electric propellers and is designed to carry up to four passengers.
Researchers worldwide conduct vital research involving the understanding of the very early development of humans inside the womb using human embryos. Research of the type uses surplus embryos donated by people who have undergone in vitro fertilization. However, the amount of research conducted into these early stages of human development is extremely limited by the availability of embryos.
Paleontologists from the University of Washington and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture spent the summer working in Montana. They dug up the fossilized remains of four dinosaurs. All of the dinosaur fossils will be taken to the Burke Museum, where the public will be able to watch the team of paleontologists remove the rock surrounding the fossils. Work at the museum will be carried out in the fossil preparation laboratory.
Audi has been putting its RS Q e-tron rally car through grueling testing in Morocco under some of the most extreme desert conditions in the world. The hard-core testing is part of Audi's preparations to participate in the Dakar Rally next January. Recently, Audi spent two weeks testing the RS Q e-tron under some of the most extreme conditions available in Morocco.
Tuesday, NASA administrator Bill Nelson announced that the space agency was creating a pair of new mission directorates to see it through the next two decades. The announcement separates NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate into the new Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) and Space Operations Mission Directorate. According to Nelson, the changes are being made to accommodate increasing operations in low Earth orbit and the development of programs such as Artemis underway for deep space exploration.