Tech
Canadian satellites to help combat threat of collisions in Earth orbit – Yahoo News Canada
Humans produce a lot of garbage here on Earth. It turns out we produce a lot of it in space, too.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="An estimated 20,000-plus satellites and pieces of debris are orbiting Earth. These satellites can be operational or defunct, and the debris is left over from the thousands of spent rocket stages or the result of collisions that have produced smaller pieces.” data-reactid=”13″>An estimated 20,000-plus satellites and pieces of debris are orbiting Earth. These satellites can be operational or defunct, and the debris is left over from the thousands of spent rocket stages or the result of collisions that have produced smaller pieces.
It’s these collisions that are of particular concern, especially with more and more private companies and countries launching satellites into space.
While this may not sound like something that poses a threat to our daily life, the fact is that it could disrupt it in many ways, with the two main threats being to the lives of astronauts in space, as well as the threat to the satellites we depend on each day.
One Canadian company wants to decrease the chance of these collisions.
On Tuesday, Montreal-based NorthStar Earth & Space announced that in 2022 it plans to launch the first commercial constellation — a collection of satellites — to reduce the threat of the collision of objects in space. Thales Alenia Space will build the first three satellites in the Skylark constellation with Seattle’s LeoStella, overseeing the final assembly.
“People tend to forget that today, we actually depend on spaceflight. When you look at your smartphone, 40 per cent of the apps they have, they rely to some degree on data from space — let it be the weather forecast, let it be the navigation app that relies on GPS satellites, TV broadcasting and sometimes the phone connection itself” said Holger Krag, head of the European Space Agency’s Space Debris Office in Darmstadt, Germany.
“They all go via satellite. So if we don’t have satellites, we will quickly realize what is missing.”
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="According to the European Space Agency (ESA), over the past 20 years, there have been roughly 12 accidental breakups annually in low-Earth orbit. ” data-reactid=”31″>According to the European Space Agency (ESA), over the past 20 years, there have been roughly 12 accidental breakups annually in low-Earth orbit.
While current technology relies mostly on ground-based telescopes to track potentially dangerous space debris and satellites, NorthStar will have satellites equipped with telescopes in orbit around Earth, bringing the accuracy of tracking within metres.
“We’ve got the International Space Station up there. We’ve got astronauts going back and forth. We’ve got stuff flying around from a bunch of satellites and constellations,” said Stewart Bain, NorthStar’s CEO. “You want to make sure you know where things are with metre precision, not kilometre precision.”
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Close calls” data-reactid=”34″>Close calls
On Oct. 16, a dead Russian satellite and a spent Chinese rocket stage missed each other by a mere 11 metres, extremely close in Earth-orbit terms.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="In January, there was a similar incident.” data-reactid=”36″>In January, there was a similar incident.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="And in September, the International Space Station was forced to conduct an "avoidance manoeuvre" in order to avert a collision with an unknown piece of space debris.” data-reactid=”37″>And in September, the International Space Station was forced to conduct an “avoidance manoeuvre” in order to avert a collision with an unknown piece of space debris.
They are all examples of just how frequent these potential collisions are.
Though satellites are tracked by countries, such as the U.S. Air Force’s Combined Space Operations Center, there are private companies, such as LeoLabs in Menlo Park, Calif., that also monitor the busy space around Earth. However, most rely on telescopes here on Earth.
The problem with that is, ground-based telescopes aren’t as accurate and can be taken out of service due to inclement weather.
That’s the benefit of having satellites in space directly monitoring objects, Bain said.
ESA’s Krag said that NorthStar’s plan is a good step in getting more accurate information as to how close satellites might be to one another.
“As soon as the data comes in, it’s accurate. It’s more accurate in particular than anything else we have,” he said. “In space, you can observe all the time when you have an optical sensor because you’re not dependent on weather conditions. You can basically position yourself in a way that you always have the objects in sunlight.… I think that’s a very promising solution.”
However, he said that there are also challenges, such as how fast the object will pass in the tracking satellite’s line of sight, so the sensor will need to be very fast.
Krag also noted while there’s a worrying trend that there is more debris being created by collisions or other means, the good news is that more rockets are being better disposed of and more satellites are being put into orbits where they can re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and break up as they descend.
Still, with a new space economy, Bain said that it’s becoming increasingly important to ensure that our satellites are protected, even if it’s not something most people think about on a daily basis.
“We rely on space to monitor our crops, to monitor food production, to monitor the quality of water, to monitor the weather, telecoms, everything,” Bain said. “We rely on space, but we take it for granted.”
Tech
Ask Andy: How can you tell whether a startup is a good place to work? When is it safe to disclose a mental-health challenge to coworkers?
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As a software developer who would like to work for a startup, what should I look for in a company so that I know it’s legit? If I am putting a lot of work into a product, I want to know that at minimum it’s for a legitimate company and founder—not just another person with an overdone app idea that knows nothing about the tech world. – Sarah C.
If you’re learning the startup game, the best bet here is to go later-stage. Focus on a pre-IPO company that is growing quickly, has raised money from blue-chip investors, and is getting positive buzz in the market that it will go public within the next two years.
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Then, don’t believe any of it.
Network your way into three of the company’s team members on LinkedIn or through your network. Have three virtual or IRL coffees. Have them tell you about the culture: If they’re learning; if the company’s really growing; and most importantly, whether or not they respect and, ideally, admire the leadership.
Keep looking until you find this vetted opportunity.
That’s a systematic, rational approach. But that’s not the only way to go. You could throw it all out the window.
Find a company where you believe in the mission. One where you fall in love with the product or service. You might already be a high LTV customer or a power user. Check your credit card statement and your app home screen to source ideas. Your passion for the mission will make it work for you for some time, even if the company doesn’t work in the long run.
However you get there, once you’re inside for a year or two, you’ll be learning.
You may have to switch horses. That’s okay.
When you do, you’ll know more people, you’ll have more insight, and the path on what to pick next will be clearer. Heck, you might even notice an inflection point and meet a cofounder that leads to you starting a company yourself.
It’s like dating.
You probably won’t marry your first love—but you might. If you don’t, your judgment will iteratively improve. And the good news is unlike a marriage, you can change out your partner every few years. (What I’ve found, though, is that the most successful people professionally, and those who generate the most wealth, have more like 5- to 10-year runs.)
Trust your intuition. Follow your heart on the mission or product. Then, don’t trust yourself. Study the market. Use the product. And do at least three off-list references outside of who you interview with. Read every single Glassdoor entry.
And then jump!
You’ll be fine.
Do you think you could have shared your mental health conditions publicly BEFORE you were professionally successful, and still have been successful? Or was the fact that you had already achieved professional success what allowed you to be open? – Zack
No, I don’t think I could have shared before we succeeded. I wouldn’t have had the courage to, and I feared it might be career-limiting.
Then again, it was almost seven years ago that I had my I-can’t-deny-this-any-longer moment with my Bonobos colleagues and investors. As of today, I think it’s becoming more possible to be candid about mental health. I hope we can move to a world where I could have been more open, sooner, at least selectively with my leadership team and board.
Some entrepreneurs ask me when to tell their VCs about the mental-health challenge or mental-health diagnosis they wrestle with. I always say the same thing: at a breakfast meeting, four months after you’ve closed the round and hit your numbers. Nobody cares about your neurodivergence if you’re performing—and most VCs actually know enough to know that most founders have more going on than meets the eye.
With your team, I think it’s doable, even now. Perhaps especially now. The truth is, they know. They know you deal with stuff because they’re around you. And the vulnerability you share in disclosing will multiply their respect for you. More importantly, it’ll give those team members the space to reciprocally share their stuff with their colleagues, and potentially you as well, and bring their full selves to work.
Wouldn’t that be cool?
Tech
Take-Two Buys Gearbox And Its New ‘Borderlands’ Game From Embracer
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If you’re a game developer owned by Embracer Group at this point, you are nervous about layoffs, shutdowns or game cancellations after the last few years. But now, there is a somewhat happy ending for one of them, Gearbox.
It’s just been announced that Take-Two, which owns GTA developer Rockstar, will purchase Gearbox for $460 million. This also includes the properties Gearbox owns, the Borderlands and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands franchises, Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms and Duke Nukem. The report says Gearbox has six games in development, five sequels, including a new Borderlands game, the not-announced-but-definitely-happening Borderlands 4. Here’s Strauss Zelnick:
“Our acquisition of Gearbox is an exciting moment for Take-Two and will strengthen our industry-leading creative talent and portfolio of owned intellectual property, including the iconic Borderlands franchise,” said Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two. “This combination enhances the financial profile of our existing projects with Gearbox and unlocks the opportunity for us to drive increased long-term growth by leveraging the full resources of Take-Two across all of Gearbox’s exciting initiatives.”
Gearbox has been working with 2K and Take-Two for decades, so it was a logical place for them to land. This is, of course, not a great look for Embracer, who only purchased Gearbox three years ago. The price tag back then was “worth up to $1.3 billion” but there were a lot of strings attached to that where it’s not necessarily the case that selling for $$460 million netted them a ~$900 million loss.
As for what this means for gamers, it would seem something like the Borderlands franchise is now on more stable ground, as it was hard to believe any project at Embracer is fully safe these days. Last year, Embracer quietly cancelled 29 different unannounced games and shut down seven studios in a six month period including Volition and Free Radical Design. That came with around 1,400 layoffs. More recently, Embracer laid off 97 people at Eidos in Janaury and cancelled a Deus Ex game.
Sufficed to say, those at Gearbox probably feel pretty good about this. And as for Take-Two, Borderlands is still a valuable IP, and Tiny Tina’s Wonderland was a surprise hit. There’s a new Homeworld game coming as well. In an era for multi-billion dollar acquisition, Gearbox for $460 million doesn’t seem that bad. That’s probably a third of what GTA 6 will sell on day one next year.
Tech
What's Brewing in the iPhone 16 Rumor Mill? AI, Action Buttons and More – CNET
As the iPhone 15 settles into the market, the tech community is buzzing with anticipation for Apple’s next-generation handset, which is expected to be named “iPhone 16.”
We’ve heard whispers about the iPhone 16’s features, which are said to span from a new power-efficient display to larger screens, better zoom lenses, an action button and, perhaps not surprisingly, a suite of new gen-AI powered features.
Read more: Best iPhone of 2024
However, the iPhone 16 is still presumably six months away and nothing will be confirmed until Apple’s iPhone event in the fall. Still, these rumors could give us an idea of what to expect from the next iPhone.
Here are the most credible rumors for the iPhone 16.
Will the iPhone 16 fold?
Probably not. The newest rumors suggest Apple has been working on iPhone Flip models in two different sizes, though there have been difficulties in making the devices to Apple’s standards. The company may also be working on a folding tablet with a screen around the size of an iPad Mini. Even though virtually every major phone-maker — from Google to Oppo to OnePlus and Samsung — have launched their own bendable handsets, Apple has been characteristically quiet about whether there will ever be an iPhone Flip or an iPhone Fold.
Prior rumors said Apple may not launch its own flexible screen device until 2025. Samsung hasn’t let phone fans forget it — by releasing an app that will let Apple phone owners experience a Z Fold-esque experience by placing two iPhones side-by-side.
iPhone 16 Pro models to get bigger screens?
Apple has maintained the two screen sizes for iPhone Pro models since 2020 when it launched the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro and the 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max. However, that’s rumored to change with the iPhone 16 Pro models, which might get bigger screens.
Display analyst Ross Young suggested earlier this year that the iPhone 16 Pro models will have larger screens, putting the sizes at 6.3 inches for the iPhone 16 Pro and 6.9 inches for the iPhone 16 Pro Max. That rumor was later corroborated by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who said the iPhone 16 Pro models could grow by “a couple tenths of an inch diagonally.”
The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus models are believed to be sticking with the current 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch sizes. If the size increase is accurate, it would be yet another move from Apple to distinguish its Pro iPhone models from its regular ones.
iPhone 15 screen sizes
- iPhone 15: 6.1 inches.
- iPhone 15 Plus: 6.7 inches.
- iPhone 15 Pro: 6.1 inches.
- iPhone 15 Pro Max: 6.7 inches.
Rumored iPhone 16 screen sizes
- iPhone 16: 6.1 inches.
- iPhone 16 Plus: 6.7 inches.
- iPhone 16 Pro: 6.3 inches.
- iPhone 16 Pro Max: 6.9 inches.
iPhone 16 gets more AI tricks
One of the most salient selling points of Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series and Google’s Pixel 8 lineup were each of their souped-up AI tips and tricks, and it wouldn’t be a major shock if Apple went in the same direction. Apple CEO Tim Cook has gone on the record this year confirming Apple sees “a huge opportunity for Apple with gen AI and AI.”
According to Gurman’s Power On newsletter, iOS 18 will feature generative AI technology that “should improve how both Siri and the Messages app can field questions and auto-complete sentences.”
A September report from the Information says Apple plans to use large language models, a crucial part of generative AI, to make Siri smarter. The report said this feature is expected to be released with an iPhone software update next year.
Read More: iPhone iOS 18: A Possible Big Leap In AI
iPhone 16 design: New action button?
In March, AppleInsider published a collection of photographs purportedly displaying 3D-printed dummy models of the rumored iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro. The images revealed that the iPhone 16 may have a vertical camera stack as opposed to a diagonal one and an action button, similar the one on last year’s iPhone 15 Pro.
iPhone 16 gets more power-efficient display?
Another change that could make its way to iPhone 16 displays is greater power efficiency. Samsung Display is apparently developing a new material set, dubbed M14, specifically for Apple, according to a TheElec report, which says the new technology should arrive on iPhones launching next year. M14 will replace the blue fluorescent technology that’s used now with blue phosphorescence technology, creating an even more power-efficient screen than the current LTPO ones used on Pro models, the report says.
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