Startup behind world’s first hydrogen eVTOL eyes 2025 takeoff

Jan12
by on January 12, 2024 at 3:38 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized


Swiss startup Sirius Aviation has unveiled designs for the world’s first hydrogen-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.  The jet, which kind of looks like Night Fury from How to Train Your Dragon, is billed to travel 1,851 km at speeds up to 520 km/h. That is four times as far as competitors like  German eVTOL startup Lilium are targeting using batteries. It will achieve these feats thanks to liquid hydrogen propulsion, which some consider the holy grail of fuels. The energy density of liquid hydrogen means vehicles can travel much further than when powered by gaseous hydrogen or batteries…

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These AI binoculars just made birdwatching a whole lot easier — and more expensive

Jan12
by on January 12, 2024 at 12:27 pm
Posted In: artificial intelligence


As a kid, perhaps unsurprisingly, I was the only person I knew interested in birdwatching. Nevertheless, I regularly went out in nature armed with my binoculars, bird book, and camera, ready to document as many species as I could.  The process was largely manual — spot a bird through the binoculars, snap a pic (if it stood still for long enough), and then try to figure out what species it was, if I didn’t already know. But the times they are a changin’.  Austrian optical specialist Swarovski Optik has just unveiled the world’s first pair of smart binoculars. Powered by…

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Domestic humanoid backed by OpenAI closer to market after $100M raise

Jan11
by on January 11, 2024 at 4:01 pm
Posted In: Insider


A humanoid just has taken a step towards consumer households after robot maker 1x raised a cool $100mn. The Norwegian startup will spend the funds on bringing an android named Neo to the market. The bipedal is designed for everyday domestic tasks, from laundry to tidying. “The once-distant dream of having a versatile, intelligent home assistant is now becoming a reality,” Bernt Øivind Børnich, CEO of 1X, told TNW. Børnich co-founded 1X in 2014. He envisions the company producing commercial androids that benefit society and meet labour demand. To reach those combined goals, the robots are designed to work alongside…

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ESA’s annual budget hits record €7.8B, with biggest chunk for Earth observation

Jan11
by on January 11, 2024 at 12:15 pm
Posted In: Insider


The European Space Agency’s budget for 2024 has hit a record €7.79bn — 10% more than last year. The largest portion of the funds will go to Earth observation (EO), which is allocated almost €2.4bn — around 30.5% of the total. It’s a share that reflects growing demands for satellite-based monitoring of our planet. The data can play a powerful role in managing pressing global challenges, such as climate change and natural disasters. After EO, the biggest chunks of ESA’s budget go to navigation and space transportation, which bag around €1bn each. A further €874mn is reserved for human and…

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Dutch startup battles energy grid congestion with digital twins

Jan11
by on January 11, 2024 at 2:00 am
Posted In: Uncategorized


Europe is electrifying — literally. From EVs to heat pumps, more and more of our critical technologies need to get plugged in. This is a positive step toward net zero, but it is also putting a massive strain on the electricity grid.  Grid congestion is like rush hour traffic on a busy highway — excessive demand for electricity creates bottlenecks and slows the flow of energy.This can cause power outages, voltage fluctuations, and equipment damage. It’s such a big problem that some companies wanting to install large heat pumps or fast-charging infrastructure for EVs have been forced to wait for…

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