Astronomers have discovered a cloud-free exoplanet for only the second time ever. It's the first Jupiter-like planet that doesn't have clouds or haze in the observable atmosphere. The plan is called WASP-62b; a gas giant first detected in 2012 using the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) survey. The recent study marks the first time its atmosphere has been scrutinized.
Automaker Hyundai has a new employee working in one of its showrooms in Seoul, Korea. The employee is an AI-powered automated robot called DAL-e that provides customer services at the showroom. The automaker says it plans to adopt the robot in diverse operating environments.
Samsung has announced an update for its latest tablet devices, the Galaxy Tab S7 and Tab S7+. The One UI 3 update adds new productivity and connectivity features to help users stay connected and be more productive. The software update was announced at the recent Galaxy Unpacked 2021 event.
One significant area of concern today is space junk, as more and more satellites are being put into orbit around the Earth. If satellites fail or become useless, they are often left orbiting the Earth, which poses a hazard to functional satellites. Researchers have created a new iodine thruster that could improve the mission lifetime for small CubeSats that orbit the Earth for various reasons, from monitoring crops to providing Internet access.
Brown University researchers have shown off a new way that allows them to build super-hard metal from nanoparticles. By smashing the tiny metal nanoparticles together, the researchers could customize grain structures and improve their mechanical and other properties. Metalworkers have long used methods to make metal harder such as bending, twisting, and pounding with hammers.
Tesla has announced a significant reduction in the infotainment system upgrade price for older Model S and Model X vehicles. The cost of the MCU1 to MCU2 retrofit is now priced at $1500, a 40 percent discount from its previous price. The upgrade brings a more advanced and smoother experience for the media control units inside the vehicles.
NASA's TESS has discovered a distant star system that scientist Brian Powell says exist against all odds. Powell is a data scientist at the NASA High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center. The star system in question is called TIC 168789840 and is 1900 light-years away from us.
The Hubble space telescope has been in orbit for decades, and while still extremely useful, it's aging, and NASA is preparing to replace it. One of the key observations that the Hubble space telescope makes are images known as Hubble ultra-deep fields. The upcoming Roman space telescope will be much more capable of taking ultra deep field images than Hubble.
Living in space is hazardous and requires things to be precise and Squeaky clean. Part of the tasks astronauts perform when living aboard the space station is to keep most surfaces in areas squeaky clean, but there is one area that's left filthy for science. Astronauts aboard the ISS clean every Saturday, wiping down surfaces, vacuuming, and collecting trash.
Boeing has announced that it has set a target for its commercial aircraft to fly on 100 percent sustainable aviation biofuel by 2030. The move is part of Boeing's effort to reduce carbon emissions produced by its aircraft. Boeing has said that it is already conducting test flights with aircraft that have replaced petroleum-based jet fuel with pure biofuel.
Yesterday we mentioned SpaceX was forced to scrub the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket only minutes before launch due to weather. SpaceX was quick to point out that there was no problem with the rocket or the payload. The launch was scrubbed due to a violation of the electrical field rule for a safe launch at the launch site. The launch window for the mission is open again this morning, and SpaceX will attempt the launch today.
The latest announcement will come as no surprise to anyone who follows Dodge muscle cars. Most car guys and gals knew last summer when Dodge announced it would build the 2021 Durango SRT Hellcat for six months that every one of the units would be gobbled up. Some speculated that a six-month build window meant there would be lots of the vehicles made.