Explore Business Standard
The International Space Station returned to full strength with the arrival of four new astronauts to replace colleagues who bailed early because of health concerns. SpaceX delivered the US, French and Russian astronauts on Saturday, a day after launching them from Cape Canaveral. Last month's medical evacuation was NASA's first in 65 years of human spaceflight. One of four astronauts launched by SpaceX last summer suffered what officials described as a serious health issue, prompting their hasty return. That left only three crew members to keep the place running - one American and two Russians - prompting NASA to pause spacewalks and trim research. Moving in for eight to nine months are NASA's Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, France's Sophie Adenot and Russia's Andrei Fedyaev. Meir, a marine biologist, and Fedyaev, a former military pilot, have lived up there before. During her first station visit in 2019, Meir took part in the first all-female spacewalk. Adenot, a military helicopt
Elon Musk vowed this week to upend another industry just as he did with cars and rockets -- and once again he's taking on long odds. The world's richest man said he wants to put as many as a million satellites into orbit to form vast, solar-powered data centres in space -- a move to allow expanded use of artificial intelligence and chatbots without triggering blackouts and sending utility bills soaring. To finance that effort, Musk combined SpaceX with his AI business on Monday and plans a big initial public offering of the combined company. "Space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale," Musk wrote on SpaceX's website Monday, adding about his solar ambitions, "It's always sunny in space!" But scientists and industry experts say even Musk, who outsmarted Detroit to turn Tesla into the world's most valuable automaker, faces formidable technical, financial and environmental obstacles. Feeling the heat Capturing the sun's energy from space to run chatbots and other AI tools wou