Dr. Peter Hotez told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that people in the US shouldn’t get complacent about dropping Covid cases, especially in the face of new reports of a new variant, B.1.526, hitting New York spread.
“We’re all running high because the numbers are falling, and I say we are in the eye of the hurricane and the next big wave is coming,” said Hotez, co-director of the vaccine development center at Texas Children’s Hospital.
According to a CNBC analysis of the Johns Hopkins data, the average daily cases of coronavirus in the United States have decreased by about 57%. However, some states don’t see such a sharp decline. Vermont is only down 22% averaging daily falls, New York is down about 45%, Oregon is down nearly 47%, and Florida is down 48% averaging daily. Hotez recognized Florida for distributing a highly transmissible variant of Covid in the state, which was first found in the UK
“The only state that really intrigues me, not necessarily in a good way, is Florida because we hear that about 10% of Florida-derived virus isolates are the UK-derived B.117 variant.” said Hotez in an interview on Wednesday night.
Hotez urged that now is the time for the US to really take a vaccination boost, especially before more variants of Covid spread. While AstraZeneca reported that it expects its vaccine to be approved in the US in April, Hotez said, “I think sometimes we have to think about making the beep” and should approve it sooner.
Sony hits CES 2021 with a bang and unveils its first drone: The Airpeak. The company has shared photos and videos of its new project and has given some sparse details on what to expect from the drone’s launch.
According to Sony, the Airpeak is the smallest drone currently available that can accommodate one of their DSLR Alpha cameras. These single lens full frame mirrorless cameras are bulky devices designed to capture high quality, professional grade footage.
To support this weight, the Airpeak has a quadcopter format. The landing gear retracts upwards in the air so that the view of the camera is not blocked. Sony also promises that the drone will allow precise movements and stable flying to capture fluid footage.
To give you an idea of what that looks like, Sony also released some test shots taken by the drone in Austria. The drone was sent to film over the street the company is using to test its VISION-S electric car concept so you can get an idea of how it works in the real world.
Sony teased the drone’s arrival last November, suggesting that it wanted to provide a tool for video artists and professionals that was both safe and reliable, especially in difficult environments.
Now is a good time for Sony to enter the drone market. Chinese drone manufacturer DJI was recently added to the US Department of Commerce’s trade list. DJI says it will still be able to sell its drones to US retail customers, but the company’s future in the US could be difficult. This offers Sony’s drone the opportunity to become a tool of choice among US video artists.
Sony has yet to reveal full specs for the drone, or reveal its pricing or release date.
Enbridge Enemy Whitmer declares Michigan power emergency Ian Vandaelle, BNN Bloomberg
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of Enbridge Inc.’s Line 5 project, which is the state’s primary source of domestic heating fuels. But now she has declared a state of emergency at a bitterly cold moment – and warns that an increase in the energy demand for heating fuels such as propane has strained the nationwide distribution.
[…]
Enbridge Inc.’s Line 5 pipeline provides approximately 65 percent of the propane consumed in the state’s upper peninsula and 55 percent of Michigan’s total supply.
Last November, Whitmer revoked approval of the pipeline, arguing that the project – particularly a section that runs beneath the Great Lakes through the Strait of Mackinac – poses an “unreasonable risk” to the state.
BNN Bloomberg
How stupid does a politician have to be to try to shut down the main source of heating oil in his country just before winter? You’d have to be doubly stupid to do this in a state with real winters like Michigan. As bad as the Texas energy disaster was, the icy weather that triggered it only lasted about 10 days.
Whitmer is driving to shut down Enbridge’s line 5 Beth LeBlanc The Detroit News, November 13, 2020
Lansing – Governor Gretchen Whitmer plans to shut down Line 5 by revoking and ending a 1953 easement that allows Enbridge Energy to operate the double pipeline through the Straits of Mackinac.
The announcement was hailed on Friday by environmental groups to protect the Great Lakes and was attacked by the governor and energy companies of neighboring Ohio in an attempt to cost jobs and raise fuel and heating prices for consumers.
The Democratic governor said Friday that she had filed a lawsuit to confirm the lawsuit in the Ingham County Circuit Court. Enbridge has to shut down the pipeline by May, according to the announcement.
[…]
The Detroit News
While the contract would have allowed the pipeline to run until spring, how would Michiganders heat their homes next winter? The section of Line 5 that runs through the Strait of Mackinac will eventually be replaced by pipelines that run through the Great Lakes Tunnel. However, this is not even fully allowed.
The Great Lakes Tunnel Project
On December 19, 2018, Enbridge announced that it had reached an agreement with the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority (MSCA) on the future of Enbridge’s Line 5 Light Oil and Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) pipeline on the Mackinac Strait.
The Great Lakes Tunnel, a $ 500 million private investment by Enbridge, Michigan, is being built deep under the road to accommodate Line 5. While Line 5 has operated safely and reliably in the road for more than 65 years, the Great Lakes Tunnel is being built to get you drilled through rocks up to 100 feet below the lake – making the possibility of a pipeline incident in the road handy is excluded.
The Great Lakes Tunnel is a daunting undertaking. It is built by Michigan workers and leverages the knowledge and experience of industry-leading tunnel engineers. Pending the necessary permits and permits, Enbridge expects to begin construction of the Great Lakes Tunnel in 2021 to accommodate a replacement segment of Line 5 in the road.
Enbridge
Enbridge has received permits from the Michigan Department of the Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) but still needs permits from the Michigan Public Service Commission and the US Army Corps of Engineers before construction can begin.
Governor Witless and the same group of environmental terrorist organizations have also spoken out against these permits. This is literally government sponsored environmental terrorism …
Lose Whitmer, Nettle, as Court of Appeal upheld Line 5’s Tunnel Act Karen Bouffard The Detroit News, June 11, 2020
Lansing – The Michigan Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the constitutionality of a law allowing Enbridge to build a tunnel for 66-year-old Line 5 under the Strait of Mackinac – another setback for Attorney General Dana Nessel’s efforts to halt operations on the oil pipeline.
[…]
The Detroit News
These greentards are literally killing people to shut down pipelines.
Line 5 has been in operation for almost 70 years without incident …
Above line 5 Power for Michigan since 1953.
While traveling under the Strait of Mackinac, Line 5 branches off into two parallel pipelines 20 inches in diameter. For this reason, the pipeline system is sometimes referred to as a “double” or “double” pipeline. They start underground on land, taper deep underwater, and cross the strait for 4.5 miles.
The products were used on Line 5 for boiler houses and businesses, fuel vehicles, and the power industry in the state of Michigan.
Line 5 supplies 65% of the propane needs in the Upper Peninsula and 55% of the propane needs of Michigan nationwide. In total, Line 5 carries up to 540,000 barrels of light crude oil, light synthetic crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) per day (bpd) that are refined into propane.
Mackinac Junction Line 5 was built in 1953 by Bechtel Corporation to meet exceptional design and engineering standards. It is in excellent condition and has never experienced a leak in more than 65 years of operation. The intersection of Line 5 has an exceptional and incredibly durable enamel coating and pipe walls that are three times thick (at least 0.812 inches) than a typical pipe. In addition, the Bechtel Corporation – known for the legendary Hoover Dam – designed and built Line 5 in an area of the strait to minimize possible corrosion due to lack of oxygen and cold water temperature. This attitude helps maintain the integrity of Line 5, which has enabled it to serve the region safely and reliably for more than six decades.
We’re working hard to keep it that way. We monitor the street of Line 5 around the clock with specially trained staff and sophisticated computer monitoring systems. We also conduct regular inspections of the line using in-line tools, skilled divers and remote controlled vehicles (ROVs) that go beyond legal requirements.
CES went virtual this year, but there is still a lot of amazing technology out there. CES 2021 features everything from AI innovations to cleaning technologies, and offers a glimpse into the near future with the latest and greatest offers from brands big and small. This year we’re seeing some robots – robots to help you around the house, teaching robots, and even robots designed to fight COVID-19. Check out some of the best robots at CES 2021 below.
More CES 2021 coverage
Samsung bot cell phone
Samsung attracted a lot of attention this year with its bot mobile phone “Robot Butler”. Samsung shows the robot that empties the dishwasher, picks it up around the house, pours a glass of wine and raises and lowers itself depending on the height of the items it needs to pick up. Imagine coming home from work and having a robot tidy you up and pour a glass of wine after a busy day! We don’t know when the bot cellphone will hit the market or how much it will cost, but the idea of a robot doing the job sounds pretty amazing so we’ll be keeping an eye out for updates.
Samsung Bot Care
Samsung also showed other bots, including a robotic vacuum cleaner with an integrated surveillance camera (JetBot 90 AI +) and Bot Care. The Bot Care is intended to act more as a personal assistant, only that it is on the road with you at home or in the office. There is a tablet-like display on top of the bot for calls and communication. Also, it can learn your behavior to better support you. Like the Bot Handy, the Bot Care isn’t yet available, but we’ll be looking out for this advanced wizard.
LG UV robots
Some of the technologies at CES 2021 are aimed at tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. LG is developing an autonomous robot that uses UV-C light for disinfection. The company plans to target hotel, retail and business locations and provide a device that can be disinfected during the pandemic. “This autonomous UV robot comes at a time when hygiene is a top priority for hotel guests, students and restaurant customers,” said Vice President Roh Kyu-chan, head of the robotics division at LG’s Business Solutions Company, in a press release. The robot typically irradiates touchable surfaces in 15 to 30 minutes and can disinfect multiple surfaces with a single charge. LG’s UV robot will be available in early 2021.
Similarly, Hills Engineering’s Coro-Bot also kills viruses and bacteria, wanders around, and sterilizes with UV light. It has arms as well as an air circulator that helps kill germs.
Avant-garde Moflin
Always wanted a pet but without all of the responsibility? Vanguard could be an ideal option for you. Soft and fluffy, this adorable hamster-like little robotic creature looks like a real pet. It develops its own personality based on its surroundings (how you treat your Moflin) and is equipped with tech sensors, gyroscopes, bluetooth, app connectivity and much more. Vanguard expects delivery of Moflins to begin in 2021.
Yukai Engineering’s Petite Qoobo was also on display at CES 2021, a smaller version of the brand’s original Qoobo. It’s a furry robotic pillow with a tail that wags when you stroke it. It is designed to be therapeutic in that you can hold the qoobo and stroke it comfortably.
Moxie of Embodied
Moxie is an educational robot for children. At first glance, it doesn’t look too advanced, but Moxie uses machine learning to “sense, process, and respond to natural conversation, eye contact, facial expressions, and other behaviors, as well as recognizing and remembering people, places, and things “, So the winners of the CES 2021 Innovation Award.
Moxie is designed for social and emotional learning and is priced at $ 1,699.
ITRI’s DARS robots
ITRI’s Dual Arm Robot System (DARS) has human-like features – arms, hands, torso and head. It can do tasks for people, and we’re excited to see where it will lead. “Using advanced sensor technologies and machine learning algorithms makes the robot more versatile. ITRI welcomes industrial and academic partners to jointly develop more innovative DARS applications, ”stated a company press release.
Die NHL-Saison 2021 scheint sich um eine Ecke gedreht zu haben. Die Spiele liefen in letzter Zeit reibungslos (und wie geplant), nachdem aufgrund der anhaltenden COVID-19-Pandemie eine Reihe zusätzlicher Protokolle durchgeführt wurden.
In der dieswöchigen Ausgabe der ESPN-Power-Rangliste haben wir für jedes Team eine Statistik ermittelt, mit deren Hilfe die Geschichte ihrer Saison erzählt werden kann.
Wie wir rangieren: Die ESPN-Hockey-Redaktion legt eine Auswahl der Ranglisten-Teams 1 bis 31 vor – unter Berücksichtigung der Spielergebnisse, Verletzungen und des bevorstehenden Zeitplans – und diese Ergebnisse sind in der hier aufgeführten Liste aufgeführt.
Hinweis: Die vorherige Rangliste für jedes Team bezieht sich auf unsere Ausgabe der 5. Woche, die am 17. Februar veröffentlicht wurde. Die prozentualen Punkte beziehen sich auf die Spiele vom 23. Februar.
Die 16-Punkte-Serie von Auston Matthews endete am Montag. Aber er hat immer noch 18 Tore in seinen ersten 19 Spielen, was ihn in einer vollen Saison mit 82 Spielen auf 78 (!) Tempo bringen würde.
Vorheriges Ranking: 3 Prozentualer Punktestand: .719 Diese Woche: CAR (24. Februar, 25); gegen DAL (27. Februar); @ DAL (2. März)
Kein Nikita Kucherov, kein Problem … für jetzt. The Lightning ist mit durchschnittlich 3,63 Toren pro Spiel die Nummer 1 in der Liga. Es hilft, dass Steven Stamkos sich im vollständigen Rebound-Modus befindet, mit einer Karrierehöhe von 1,21 Toren pro Spiel bis 14.
Es gab einige Leute, die dachten, David Pastrnak würde sich in dieser Saison zurückbilden. Diese Leute haben sich geirrt. Pastrnak hat in seinen letzten 82 Spielen 59 Tore und 113 Punkte erzielt, die auf die letzte Saison zurückgehen.
The Lightning hat endlich einen Weg gefunden, auf den Canes zu punkten, und am Montag einen Sieg eingefahren. Es war der erste Regelungsverlust für Carolina zu Hause seit 359 Tagen. Fast ein Jahr geschafft!
Vorheriges Ranking: 1 Prozentualer Punktestand: .719 Diese Woche: @ SJ (25. Februar); @ ANA (27. Februar); vs. MIN (1. Februar)
Ist es an der Zeit, über Marc-Andre Fleury als ernsthaften Kandidaten für die Vezina Trophy zu sprechen? Die Blume ist die erste in Toren, die laut Natural Stat Trick über den Erwartungen (10,36) gespeichert wurden. Seine Ersparnis von 0,942 Prozent übertrifft alle Torhüter mit mindestens fünf Starts.
Vorheriges Ranking: 10 Prozentualer Punktestand: .633 Diese Woche: vs. MIN (24. Februar); @ ARI (26. Februar, 27); @ SJ (1. März)
Die Avs hielten an Philipp Grubauer fest, anstatt nach Torwarthilfe in dieser Nebensaison zu suchen. Das hat sich ausgezahlt. Er strebt nach Karrierebesten in Prozent (0,932), Toren gegen den Durchschnitt (1,78) und ist bereits ein Shutout, der es scheut, seine Karrierebesten zu binden (drei).
Vorheriges Ranking: 7 Prozentualer Punktestand: .765 Diese Woche: gegen DAL (24. Februar, 25); CAR (27. Februar, 1. März)
Die Cats haben am Montag in der zweiten Halbzeit 29 Schüsse gegen Dallas abgegeben. Während Chris Driedger und die Überraschungsleistungen der blauen Linie große Geschichten waren, treibt das Vergehen dieses Team an. Es ist echt.
Ein schlechter Ausflug in seinem ersten Spiel im Freien hat Carter Harts Saison ins Rampenlicht gerückt, und die Zahlen sind nicht schön. Der 22-Jährige hatte Probleme, Konsistenz zu finden, und erzielte in 10 Spielen eine Ersparnis von 0,891 Prozent.
Vorheriges Ranking: 20 Prozentualer Punktestand: .619 Diese Woche: @ VAN (25. Februar); TOR (27. Februar, 1. März)
Connor McDavid kann nicht aufgehalten werden. Er brauchte 92 Spiele, um seine NHL-Karriere von 0 bis 100 Punkten zu beginnen, 82 Spiele, um die nächsten hundert zu erreichen, 68 Spiele, um die nächsten hundert zu erreichen, und 67 Spiele für die hundert danach. Und noch 64 Spiele von 400-500, die er letzte Woche getroffen hat.
Vorheriges Ranking: 11 Prozentualer Punktestand: .639 Diese Woche: gegen MTL (25. Februar, 27); VAN (1., 2. März)
Die Jets klicken und ihr beständigster Darsteller war Mark Scheifele. Er hilft Pierre-Luc Dubois in die Aufstellung in der obersten Reihe (bis Dubois wieder in die Mitte wechselt) und hat eine 10-Punkte-Serie (sieben Tore, neun Vorlagen).
NHL Hockey ist zurück! Holen Sie sich den 2021 All-Access Pass zum Streamen von Spielen außerhalb des Marktes für nur 99,99 US-Dollar. Klick hier um mehr zu erfahren “
Vorheriges Ranking: 16 Prozentualer Punktestand: .611 Diese Woche: gegen PIT (25. Februar); @ NJ (27. Februar, 28)
Wenn sich Nicklas Backstrom diese Woche dem Meilenstein von 700 Karriere-Assistenten nähert, stellen wir fest, dass das Zentrum auch seinen besten Start (22 Punkte in seinen ersten 18 Spielen) in neun Spielzeiten hat.
Vorheriges Ranking: 6 Prozentualer Punktestand: .611 Diese Woche: @ WPG (25. Februar, 27); OTT (2. März)
Die Habs befinden sich derzeit in einem leichten Einbruch, sind aber immer noch gut positioniert, um sich für die Nachsaison zu qualifizieren. Sie spielen schwer, was ein gutes Zeichen sein sollte, wenn sie es schaffen. Montreal führt die Liga in Treffern pro 60 Minuten (28,95) an.
Vorheriges Ranking: 15 Prozentualer Punktestand: .618 Diese Woche: @ WSH (25. Februar); @ NYI (27. Februar 28); PHI (2. März)
Wir sind uns immer noch nicht sicher, was wir von diesem 2021 Penguins-Team halten sollen, aber es hat die Siege herausgepresst. Pittsburgh führt die Liga mit einem Gewinn von 800 Prozent in Ein-Tor-Spielen an.
Vorheriges Ranking: 12 Prozentualer Punktestand: .583 Diese Woche: gegen BOS (25. Februar); gegen PIT (27. Februar, 28); @ NJ (2. März)
Die Inselbewohner lieben es, zu Hause zu spielen. Sie sind 5-0-1 im Nassau Coliseum in dieser Saison, aber 4-6-2 überall sonst. Jetzt ist ein guter Zeitpunkt, um im Osten wieder gut zu werden: Acht der nächsten neun Spiele der Inseln finden auf Long Island statt.
Vorheriges Ranking: 8 Prozentualer Punktestand: .579 Diese Woche: LA (24. Februar); @ SJ (27. Februar); @ ANA (1. März)
St. Louis wurde von Verletzungen von Schlangen gebissen und muss immer noch Konsistenz finden. Aber Justin Faulk war fantastisch für sie. Beim 5-gegen-5 war er 23 Tore auf dem Eis und nur neun gegen.
Erleben Sie NHL-Spiele, die in dieser Saison jeden Abend (und bei Wiederholung) live auf ESPN + übertragen werden. Klicken Sie hier für den nächsten Zeitplan und zu lernen, wie man sich anmeldet.
Vorheriges Ranking: 13 Prozentualer Punktestand: .600 Diese Woche: @ CBJ (25. Februar); vs. DET (27. Februar, 28)
Chicago ging ohne fünf der zehn besten Torschützen der letzten Saison in die Saison. Deshalb ist es eine so angenehme Überraschung, dass drei Newcomer – Philipp Kurashev, Mattias Janmark und Pius Suter – bereits 17 Tore erzielt haben.
Vorheriges Ranking: 21 Prozentualer Punktestand: .600 Diese Woche: @ COL (24. Februar); LA (26. Februar, 27); @ VGS (1. März)
The Wild scheint mit Rookie Kirill Kaprizov, Victor Rask und dem kürzlich zurückgekehrten Mats Zuccarello eine großartige Line-Combo gefunden zu haben. Obwohl es sich um eine kleine Stichprobe handelt, hat das Trio erwartete Ziele für einen Prozentsatz von 67,7%.
Vorheriges Ranking: 27 Prozentualer Punktestand: .559 Diese Woche: @ STL (24. Februar); @ MIN (26. Februar, 27)
Heben Sie Ihre Hand, wenn Sie Dustin Brown auf dem Tor der West Division hatten. Der 36-Jährige hat in seinen ersten 17 Spielen 10 Tore erzielt (und diese Woche seinen Meilenstein von 1.200 Spielen erreicht).
Vorheriges Ranking: 22 Prozentualer Punktestand: .500 Diese Woche: @ BUF (25. Februar); gegen WSH (27. Februar, 28); NYI (2. März)
Corey Crawfords überraschender Rücktritt bedeutete nur, dass die Mackenzie Blackwood-Ära früher beginnen konnte. Der 24-Jährige sieht allmählich aus wie ein Franchise-Torwart und geht mit einem Ersparnis von 0,935 Prozent zu Beginn der Saison mit 4: 2: 1.
Vorheriges Ranking: 18 Prozentualer Punktestand: .525 Diese Woche: gegen CHI (25. Februar); @ NSH (27. Februar, 28); DET (2. März)
Da die Blue Jackets nach mehr Konstanz streben, ist ihre Top-Defensiv-Paarung nicht ganz so gefährlich wie gewöhnlich. Zach Werenski hat eine Verletzung, während Seth Jones für 17 Columbus-Tore und 25 von Gegnern auf dem Eis war.
Dallas muss einen Weg finden, um bessere Starts zu erzielen. Sie haben in dieser Saison in 21 Spielen nur fünf Tore in der ersten Spielperiode erzielt (im Kontext führen die Oilers die Liga mit 28 Toren in der ersten Spielperiode in 28 Spielen an).
• Wer wird diesen Sommer die erste Wahl sein? » • Frühe Top-32-Rangliste der potenziellen Kunden » • Wie sich COVID-19 auf Bewertungen auswirkt »
Vorheriges Ranking: 25 Prozentualer Punktestand: .469 Diese Woche: @ PHI (24. Februar); gegen BOS (26. Februar, 28); BUF (2. März)
Die Rangers finden immer noch ihren Weg und haben es mit Widrigkeiten auf und außerhalb des Eises zu tun. Aber sie führen die Liga in einer interessanten Statistik an: Imbiss pro 60 Minuten – im Durchschnitt sind es fast acht!
Vorheriges Ranking: 24 Prozentualer Punktestand: .471 Diese Woche: gegen VGS (25. Februar); gegen STL (27. Februar); COL (1. März)
Erik Karlssons offensiver Produktionsrückgang war steil. Der gut bezahlte Verteidiger sollte diese Woche nach einer Verletzung am Unterkörper zurückkehren. Beachten Sie jedoch, dass seine Punktzahl pro Spiel (0,31) fast ein Drittel der in seiner ersten Sharks-Saison (0,85) beträgt.
Vorheriges Ranking: 19 Prozentualer Punktestand: .528 Diese Woche: gegen ANA (24. Februar); COL (26. Februar, 27)
Letzte Woche haben wir Conor Garland hervorgehoben. Diese Woche ist es Christian Dvorak. Er fährt zwar einen himmelhohen Schießanteil (25,0%), hat aber in 18 Spielen neun Tore erzielt, was nicht unerheblich ist.
Vorheriges Ranking: 17 Prozentualer Punktestand: .500 Diese Woche: @ TOR (24. Februar); @ OTT (25. Februar, 27. März, 1. März)
Calgarys Abschaltung von Toronto am Montag war ziemlich historisch und gab einem kämpfenden Team Auftrieb. Es war das erste Mal, dass die Flames die Maple Leafs in Toronto geschlossen haben, seit das Franchise nach Calgary verlegt wurde.
Vorheriges Ranking: 28 Prozentualer Punktestand: .391 Diese Woche: gegen EDM (25. Februar); @ WPG (1., 2. März)
Zu Beginn der Saison war Elias Pettersson ein ernsthafter MVP-Kandidat, aber er ist nicht seinen (oder den der Canucks) Weg gegangen. Pettersson führt die Liga mit acht Schüssen an, die entweder die Latte oder einen Pfosten getroffen haben (niemand anderes hat mehr als vier).
Vorheriges Ranking: 26 Prozentualer Punktestand: .438 Diese Woche: NJ (25. Februar); gegen PHI (27. Februar, 28); @ NYR (2. März)
Die Anzahl der Sabres-Fans, auf die fixiert ist, ist Null. So viele Tore hat Jeff Skinner in dieser Saison erzielt, obwohl er 9 Millionen Dollar verdient hat. Ist jetzt ein angemessener Zeitpunkt, um zu erwähnen, dass er bis 2026-27 unter Vertrag ist?
Vorheriges Ranking: 29 Prozentualer Punktestand: .444 Diese Woche: @ DET (25. Februar); gegen CBJ (27. Februar, 28); CAR (2. März)
Oh, wo soll ich anfangen, Nashvilles Elend in dieser Saison darzustellen? Die Predators haben keine Spiele, in denen sie in die dritte Periode geführt haben, und haben nur dreimal zwei Tore Vorsprung.
Vorheriges Ranking: 23 Prozentualer Punktestand: .395 Diese Woche: @ ARI (24. Februar); gegen VGS (27. Februar); gegen STL (1. März)
Die Enten sind neben den Red Wings das einzige Team, das durchschnittlich weniger als zwei Tore pro Spiel erzielt. Sie verstehen also, warum die Fans so begeistert sind von Trevor Zegras, dem vielbeachteten Interessenten.
Übergangsritus für jeden NHL-Rookie – die Solo-Runde. Hol sie dir, @ tzegras11! #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/fFKYqHb0mi
– Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) 23. Februar 2021
Vorheriges Ranking: 30 Prozentualer Punktestand: .310 Diese Woche: gegen NSH (25. Februar); @ CHI (27. Februar, 28); @ CBJ (2. März)
Es gibt einige Möglichkeiten zu zeigen, warum die Red Wings noch nicht da sind, aber ihr Machtspiel war so vergeblich, dass es erwähnenswert ist. Nach der Auslosung am Dienstag haben sie nun 13 Spiele absolviert, ohne den Mannvorteil zu erzielen (0: 36 in dieser Strecke).
Ottawa ist mit vier Toren pro Spiel das schlechteste in der Liga. Die Senatoren haben auch acht Niederlagen in Spielen, in denen sie ihre Gegner hinter sich lassen. Wahrscheinlich verwandt: Brady Tkachuk führt die Liga bei den getroffenen Schüssen an.
Machine learning is changing the world, and it’s changing it fast. In the last few years it has brought us virtual assistants understand the language autonomous vehicles, new drug discoveries, AI-based triage for medical scans, Handwriting recognition and more.
One thing that machine learning shouldn’t change is the climate.
The problem relates to the evolution of machine learning. In order for machine learning (and deep learning) to accurately make decisions and predictions, it needs to be “trained”.
Imagine an online shoe sales marketplace that has a problem with people trying to sell other things on the site – bicycles, cats, and theater tickets. The marketplace owners decide to limit the website to shoes only by creating an AI to recognize photos of shoes and decline the listing with no shoes in the picture.
The company collects tens of thousands of photos of shoes and a similar number of photos without shoes. It hires data scientists to design a complicated mathematical model and turn it into code. And then they start training their machine learning model for shoe detection.
This is the crucial part: the computer model looks at all of the images of shoes and tries to figure out what makes them “shoey”. What do they have that the non-shoe pictures don’t have? Without getting lost in technical details, this process takes up a lot of computing resources and time. Training accurate models for machine learning means running multiple chips like GPUs at full power for weeks or months for weeks or months while the models are trained, optimized, and refined.
In addition to time and money, AI training also consumes a lot of energy. Modern computer chips use minimal power when idle, but when they’re at full capacity they can burn electricity and generate a lot of waste heat (which also needs to be pumped out with cooling systems that use more energy).
Any major energy consumption has an impact on climate change, as most of our electricity is still generated from fossil fuels and carbon dioxide is created when burned. One Recent study from the University of Massachusetts claimed that training a single advanced voice-processing AI produced 626,000 pounds of CO2, the same amount five cars would produce over their lifetime!
In fact, a team at Canada’s Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA) published that Machine learning emissions calculator in December last year to help AI researchers estimate how much carbon is being generated training their machine learning models.
This problem is only getting worse as data scientists and engineers solve more complicated AI problems by throwing more power on them and using bigger, more expensive computers to solve tough problems instead of focusing on efficiency.
GPT-3, the AI-based language model recently published by OpenAI, has been trained on 45 terabytes of text data (the entire English Wikipedia contains around 6 million articles). makes up only 0.6 percent of his training data) with the environmental cost of this extremely powerful machine learning technology still unknown.
To be fair, other computer processes are also on a worrying path. ON study ICT specialist Anders Andrae stated that by 2030, according to his most optimistic projections, the ICT industry, which provides internet, video, voice and other cloud services, would be responsible for 8% of the total global energy demand, while his realistic forecast this figure put at 21% – with data centers using more than a third of that.
One of Key recommendations from the University of Massachusetts research on reducing waste through AI training was “a concerted effort by industry and science to encourage research into more computationally efficient algorithms and hardware that requires less energy”.
Software can also be used to increase hardware efficiency, thereby reducing the computing power required for AI models. However, the greatest impact may come from the use of renewable energy sources for the data centers themselves. Facebooks Data center Odense, Denmarkshould be operated entirely with renewable energy sources. Google has its own energy-efficient data centers. like this one in Hamina, Finland.
In the long run, as the developed world moves away from fossil fuels, the link between computational load and carbon production may be broken and all machine learning may be carbon neutral. Even longer-term, deep learning about weather and climate patterns could help humankind better understand how climate change can be combated and even reversed.
Until then, responsible companies should consider the carbon impact of their new technologies, including machine learning, and take steps to measure the carbon costs of their model development by improving development, software and hardware efficiencies.
“Autonomous vehicles and autonomous driving [brought with it a huge amount] of the hype. Everyone thought that by 2020 or 2021 we would see significant numbers of autonomous vehicles, autonomous services, and autonomous robots. That didn’t happen. I think there is consensus that the reason for this is the lack of mature sensor technology. “
At first glance, this is a strange thing for Ram Machness, Vice President of Product at a company called Arbe Robotics. Finally, Arbe makes sensors that can be used by autonomous vehicles. This is a bit like Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, saying that the reason the smartphone market has declined over the past year is because nobody makes good smartphones.
Machness has a point, however. He hopes the company’s new technology unveiled at this year’s virtual CES will help make the change. With its new sensor technology, it won’t be long before more autonomous driving technology hits the road. Really this time.
Machness points out that the misconception many people who built self-driving cars made was that the algorithms they built for autonomous driving would have access to complete information about the world in which those cars drove. That didn’t happen. Instead of having perfect information about the world they were moving in, they were hampered by perceptual problems that needed to be solved before they could develop algorithms that support autonomous technologies for various applications.
It’s like trying to teach someone how to do their job in an office that has just had a power outage. One problem must be resolved before the other can be tried. And that wasn’t possible before.
Could next generation radar help change that?
Radar is making a comeback
Radar hasn’t been taken too seriously as a way of tricking autonomous vehicles into perceiving the world, except as a means of sensing the speed of objects already identified by other sensors. Much of the main discussion involved either computer vision with standard cameras or lidar, with reference to reflected lasers used to measure distances. Both approaches have their positive and negative aspects.
Radar, which reflects electromagnetic waves, has been around much longer than lidar, but there are also some pretty big challenges.
As an example, Machness shows an image of a black screen with a handful of bright orange dots on the surface. It looks like someone splashed a small amount of colored paint on a dark wall, or maybe the lights of the city reflected in the water at night. It is practically impossible to find out what you are seeing. This is traditional radar, a technology that many cars are equipped with today for things like parking sensors, but that practically no one takes seriously for imaging. What we “see” is a street scene with other cars and a number of additional obstacles.
Machness jumps to another video and we’re now seeing a psychedelic dashcam of a car winding its way through tree-lined streets. Aside from the fact that it looks like it was captured in Predator thermal imaging, it’s perfectly readable – by humans, let alone machines.
The big upgrade is the number of transmit and receive channels on the radar. Machness compares this to the number of pixels in a camera image. “If I count the number of channels in radars today, they have 12 channels,” he said. “The more advanced have 48 channels. We see some competitors working towards 192 channels. [We’ve developed radar with] 2,000 channels. This is the breakthrough. We can process them at the same time. “
As announced at CES on January 11th, Arbe’s new radar technology promises 4D radar imaging for autonomous vehicles with the ability to separate, identify and track objects in high resolution thanks to a next-generation radar, the 100- times more detailed than any other radar on the market. This “2K radar technology with ultra-high resolution” promises to be “ready to go” by the beginning of 2022, one year from now.
The company is working with a large number of large, but not yet announced, partners to integrate this technology into future road platforms for vehicles. “The problem Arbe is trying to solve is to provide an imaging radar with near zero false positives and very high resolution [to autonomous vehicles,]Said Machness.
One of the great advantages of radar is the ability to use it in poor weather conditions. “Things to which cameras and lidar are very sensitive – such as fog, rain or dust – that radar technology is much less sensitive to,” said Machness.
Live up to the hype?
Not to say that’s the case here, but CES demos can, at best, be massaged to make the technology look better than it is. Any live demo can. (Steve Jobs demonstrated the original 2007 iPhone on a model that would fail if he didn’t follow exactly a series of steps to show how it works.) Demos in the virtual era – like a virtual live stream Show like CES 2021 – open up even more opportunities for misrepresentation.
When it comes to autonomous vehicles and imaging, there are many question marks. Until the problem of autonomous driving is perfected (and what exactly does that mean?), There will be disagreements about how best to build one. Lidar, for example, has its staunch supporters, while Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has declared it “unnecessary” and “a fool’s game.”
However, new opportunities like these are not only competing approaches, they also represent breakthroughs that could be part of smarter hybrid systems that use the best of all worlds. In this role, Arbe is not the only one to announce autonomous sensor breakthroughs at CES. Also at this year’s show, Seoul Robotics – a South Korean company – is introducing its first mass market product, a next-generation cross-industry plug-and-play lidar solution. Another startup, Cognata, introduces Real 2 Sim, a new product that takes data from drives and automatically converts them into simulations and data sets.
It’s not just self-driving cars that this technology could benefit from. For its part, Arbe is heavily focused on improving autonomous delivery robots so that they can better navigate the real world. “For the first generation [creators went] Overkill with the amount of sensors they use, ”said Machness. “But to try to cut costs, [they are now trying to] Reduce the number of sensors, but also increase the safety of these robots and their ability to move anywhere. “
The same technology could also be used to power autonomous trucks, buses, drones, and more, which will hit the streets in increasing numbers over the next few years.
Autonomous vehicles have been a headline-making part of CES since at least 2013. Hopefully this year, with the coronavirus removing the flash of the live event, it will focus more on substance and solve some of the problems that have remained autonomous vehicles in part for so long in the realm of science fiction.
After all, who wouldn’t want to see the next generation of vehicles with self-driving technology?
Daniel Kaluuya, which was nominated for his appearance in an Oscar Jordan PeeleIn the much-touted horror film Get Out, he is said to have never been invited to the world premiere of the film.
The widow star made the claim on the Graham Norton Show, telling the host, “You didn’t invite me, brother.”
When Norton said there was no way that could be true, Kaluuya stated that he was never asked to attend the screening at the Sundance Film Festival, which showed the film to the public for the first time. The actor explained, “I was shooting in Atlanta [Black Panther.] I’ve relaxed and cleared my schedule. I said, “I really want to do it.” And then I just didn’t get the invitation. “
He added that he ended up having his premiere alone. “I wasn’t invited so I was just in my bed,” he said with a laugh. “Somebody wrote to me, ‘It is really well done.'”
When 3D printing went mainstream and gained popularity in the mid-2010s, it was hyped as it could be. Evangelists told us it would fundamentally change the way goods are made and usher in a bold new era of creative freedom. Soon, they said, we could be making Star Trek replicator-style whatever we wanted from the comfort of our homes as needed.
But of course, 3D printing hasn’t really fulfilled this lofty dream. Instead, it caused a brief stir and then largely returned to the sidelines to make its way in hobby workshops and state-of-the-art product design laboratories, but not changing the face of manufacturing in the way many had hoped.
Why? Well, despite some huge advances, additive manufacturing has been hampered by the lack of variety in material options. You can print anything you want – as long as it’s made of plastic. Because of this, the technology has been used primarily to make prototypes rather than durable end-use parts.
But that is starting to change. To get a better sense of where things are going, we met with Formlabs – arguably one of the most innovative and agile companies in the industry – at CES 2021 to get a glimpse into the future of product manufacturing.
From machines to materials
Last but not least, Formlabs will be showing a stylish new machine at CES 2021. It’s a material. Specifically, a new wax-based resin that enables ultra-fine, detailed prints that can be cast and used to make molds for jewelry making.
It’s certainly not the most eye-catching technology to hit the headlines at CES, but while that one material doesn’t seem particularly significant on its own, it’s a perfect example of where the 3D printing industry is headed. The focus is shifting more and more away from hardware innovations and improvements to machines and more towards expanding the range of materials with which these machines can produce material.
The level of detail on the surface of this ring is insane. Notice how my fingerprints look huge compared to the virtually invisible layer linesDrew Prindle
“WeI’ve always focused on materials, “says Kathy Bui, Verticallead Engineering at Formlabs,” but there has been a lot of emphasis on them lately, especially because the technology on the hardware side is slowly maturing. In the end, a 3D printer is a tool. A great tool, but really no materials, makes the tool less powerful. Our renewed focus on materials is therefore intended to unlock new uses and allow people to do more with the tool, as this tool is only as good as what comes out of it. “
To illustrate this point, Formlabs Digital Trends sent a sample box of items showing some of the company’s latest materials. A lot of these would have been unfathomable on a desktop printer just a few years ago – like a 3D printed spring that’s as strong and springy as metal, a heat-resistant dryer attachment that doesn’t melt at high temperatures, and a bottle opener that is almost as hard how steel is. There is even a new line of biocompatible resins in the range that can be used to print medical devices.
“It’s a big change,” says Bui. “I think it opens the door to a lot of developments in consumer products.”
Building beyond prototypes
Importantly, Formlabs is not alone in this pursuit. The shift in focus from hardware to materials engineering is happening across the additive manufacturing industry. Large companies like Stratasys and 3D Systems, as well as newer competitors like Carbon 3D, are stepping up their efforts in material development and increasingly using their extensive material libraries to differentiate themselves from the competition. The race for mastery of the materials is on.
It’s not easy to tell by just looking at them, but these objects are made from some of the most modern materials on earth. Each of them have completely different physical properties, although they start out as a puddle of viscous goop.Drew Prindle
But what exactly does that mean for the future? From Formlabs’ perspective, this means turning away from prototyping and finally ushering in the future we’ve dreamed of for the past decade.
“In terms of the next five or ten years,” says Bui, “I think the industry as a whole is likely to move towards end use and more production use – not so much towards prototyping.”
However, she is quick to note that the usefulness of 3D printing for prototyping is not going away anytime soon and that 3D printers will still be an invaluable resource for product designers. The difference is that with better materials they can make dramatically better prototypes – ones that actually have the properties and capabilities they are looking for.
“We’ll probably see much better design products for people because you can test and fail quickly, over and over again. So I think the product development cycle will get even shorter in the next few years and see even better products than it is now. “
While you’re probably not jumping up and down with excitement about the company’s latest resin, you should definitely be excited to see what this resin – and others who like it – will make possible in the near future.
In the coming generations, humanity’s presence in space is expected to grow considerably. With everything from space tourism, the commercialization of Low Earth Orbit (LEO), asteroid mining, and maybe even settlements on the Moon and Mars in mind, there appears to be no limit to what we hope to accomplish. Another interesting thing about the modern space age is the way it is becoming more open and accessible, with more people and nations able to take part.
Unlike the Space Race, where two nations dominated the playing field and astronauts corps were almost exclusively made up of white men, space exploration today is more representative. However, there are still many challenges and barriers for women and people of color in space exploration and the related STEAM fields, not all of which are visible. Addressing these requires that we become better at listening to those who deal with them.
To this end, the Space Court Foundation (SCF) is launching a new series titled “Women of Color in Space.” As part of their mission to foster a conversation about space law and the future of space exploration today, this series interviews women of color who have made it their mission to advance space exploration and fulfill the promise of making space “the province of all of humanity.”
The Foundation
Back in September, Universe Today spoke to Chris Hearsey and Nathan Johnson, the founding members of the SCF. As we noted at the time, the SCF was created by legal scholars and space experts to foster a conversation about space law and related issues. In addition, the Foundation seeks to foster outreach and education to raise awareness about the various legal issues that arise in space exploration.
They also want to create the first-ever Law Library and archives, a one-stop source for all materials and questions related to space law. On top of that, they intend to create an animated series titled Stellar Decisis, where members of the Foundation and special guests will engage in mock trials that examines the practice of law and the administration of justice in space.
With the latest installment in their repertoire, the SCF aims to make space law and policy more accessible by promoting an understanding of the hurdles minority communities face in the international space sector. Given the lack of visible representation (as well as a disproportionate level of access to resources and career opportunities), this series kicks off on February 24th with Women of Colour.
Sharing their Experience
This series is the brainchild of Director Mclee Kerolle and Director Nivedita Raju, who are also the directors of International Outreach & Diversity and Legal Affairs and Research for the SCF (respectively).
Kerolle is a graduate of the International Institute of Air and Space Law at Leiden University(The Netherlands), the former Executive of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), and an active member of the Effective and Adaptive Governance for a Lunar Ecosystem (E.A.G.L.E.) Action Team (a part of the SGAC).
The Space Court Foundation was founded in . Credit: Space Court FOundation
Raju is an associate researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a Research Fellow with the Open Lunar Foundation (OLF), and a former Deputy Representative to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation at McGill University (Montreal, Canada).
Both Kerolle and Raju were inspired to create a series that looks at the space industry from one of its most underrepresented sides. In addition, as Raju conveyed to Universe Today via Zoom, the issue is one that is very familiar to her:
“There were times when I was either the only woman present or the only person of color present in the room and from a country that has struggled against colonialism and western hegemony. I was determined to make space for myself and ensure that others like me follow.
“So we designed this series to try and amplify voices from minority communities, and add to that the issues of race and gender, we’re hoping that our speakers will be able to share their own experiences and also advise students and young professionals in these communities.”
Alongside Kerolle, the two designed the initiative to address a key issue that most communities from developing nations have to contend with – access to resources. In terms of education on space, international law, and the STEAMs, educational resources and networking opportunities is essential. And yet, not everyone has equal access to these (or at all), which is evident when it comes to representation.
Illustration of NASA astronauts on the lunar South Pole. Credit: NASA
Despite decades of progress, space exploration and the commercial space industry are still dominated by men of European (Caucasian) ancestry. “This series is specifically for women of color,” added Kerolle. “We’re not doing one on gentlemen, and the reason is a lot because there’s the lack of visibility in it. That’s really what it is, so we wanted to just put a highlight on that.”
Invisible Barriers
The types of challenges that women face in this male-dominated industry are made quite plain when you look at the careers of the first women to go to space. On June 16th, 1963, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to go to space aboard the Vostok 6 mission (about two years after Yuri Gagarin became the first man to go to space).
During her nearly three-day flight, Tereshkova orbited the Earth forty-eight times and conducted a number of operations. These included keeping a flight log, taking photographs of the horizon, and manually orienting the capsule. On the first day of her mission, she reported an error in the Vostok capsule’s control program, which she corrected by inputting new data from mission controllers into the system.
Aside from experiencing some nausea during the flight and a nasty bump on the head that she incurred while parachuting from the Vostok capsule after re-entry, the mission was a complete success. However, certain elements within the Soviet Air Force attempted to discredit Tereshkova, claiming that she showed up drunk to the launch pad (hence her case of nausea) and that she was insubordinate while in orbit.
Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman launched to space 50 years ago aboard Vostok on June 16th, 1963. Credit: Roscosmos
This latter charge was based on the fact that she issued the correction to the ground crews after she discovered the error in the capsule’s control systems – which some in the ground crew clearly saw as a slight. There were also some who claimed that she caused the error, and they were correcting for her mistakes. These accusations were dismissed, however, and Tereshkova became a national hero.
And then you have Sally Ride, who became the first American female astronaut to go to space in 1983 on the Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-7). During a pre-flight press conference, she was asked a number of obviously chauvinistic questions, such as: “Will the flight affect your reproductive organs?”, “Do you weep when things go wrong on the job?”, “Will you become a mother?”
Unrattled, Ride cooly refused to indulge such questions, stating that she viewed herself in only one way: as an astronaut. She did, however, point out the obvious, asking, “How come nobody ever asks Rick those questions?” In her various roles as a space law and industry expert, Raju can attest that this kind of thinking is pervasive:
“I think you could find that there are still a lot of surprises where accomplished women in our field [are concerned]. There’s always going to be a follow-up question related to ‘what about family?’ ‘what about pursuing your own family?’ and ‘what about working on those kinds of goals?’
I find it extremely frustrating because, again, you never ask men those same questions. You never ask men, ‘oh, is it time for you to become a father?’ But inevitably, even in extremely professional environments, you still have questions like ‘where [do] you see yourself in 10 years?’ and ‘wouldn’t you be raising a family then? How will that affect your work?’ That’s still very much a part of our field and one of the struggles that we also deal with.”
Sally Ride communicates with ground controllers from the flight deck during the six-day mission in Challenger, 1983. Credit: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Beyond gender, there’s also the issue of cultural barriers and the subtle prejudices that are all too common. In addition to not having the same kind of privileges in terms of education or class, a person’s access to their chosen profession can be limited by language and cultural barriers. As Raju explained, it can even be something as simple as an unfamiliar name, which can provoke a negative response:
“It’s as simple as your name being in a pile of CVs. You’re submitting for a job application, and someone says, ‘Oh, well, this is a name that I’m unfamiliar with. The name is something that I’ve not heard before.’ Passing over South Asian, African, and Latin American names is something that tends to happen on a regular basis. It happens with all women of color, I would say. And that is something that you can definitely see that there are disadvantages like this on a regular basis.”
Sharing Unique Perspectives
Each episode in the Women of Color in Space series will feature a different speaker in a 15-minute interview conducted by Raju. Each speaker will be asked to talk about their work experiences and the difficulties they’ve faced as trailblazers in the field. And of course, the speakers are encouraged to share whatever advice they have for future students and graduates from their respective communities.
For their first episode, which premiers tomorrow (Wed, Feb, 24th), the Foundation spoke to Space Law and Policy Analyst Ruvimbo Samanga. A graduate of the Faculty of Law from the University of Pretoria (South Africa), Samanga is currently a consultant with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and (like Nivedita) a Research Fellow with the OFL.
Banner for the first episode of Women of Colour in Space. Credit: Space Court Foundation
She is also the National Point of Contact for Zimbabwe with the Space Generation Advisory Council, a Ban Ki-Moon Global Citizen Scholar, and the recipient of the 2019 African Space Industry Top 10 Under 30 and 2020 Top Talents Under 25 in the World awards and an advisor to the Space Court Foundation. She is also a recipient of the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship and was recently inducted into the 10,000 Points of Light Program created by Banking On Africa’s Future (BOAF).
As Samanga has attested, the journey that brought her to space law began at the 2018 Manfred Lachs Moot Court Competition finals. Samanga was a semi-finalist in the competition that took place the previous year and returned to coach the team representing Africa in 2018. Not only did they win the 2018 competition, but they were also the first team from Africa to win the competition since its inception in 1991.
And she did it all before she was even 25! Nivedita met Samanga through their mutual involvement with the Open Lunar Foundation (where they are both OLF Research Fellows) and had the honor of seeing Samanga present at the 2018 African Leadership Conference (ALC) Youth Forum in Abuja, Nigeria. Her presentation was based on her seminal paper, titled “Lunar Ethics and the Implication of Resource Mining in Outer Space.”
In both cases, Samanga drew on her own experiences in the African NewSpace industry and using nano-satellites to promote sustainable practices in the farming, mining, and petroleum industries. In the end, she showed how the lessons learned from this could help inform policies for lunar mining and settlement and offer a framework for African governments interested in leveraging space applications to promote socioeconomic development.
Ruvimbo (Middle) with the winning Students from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Credit: Space in Africa
Since then, Samanga has launched a startup called Agrispace – based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe – that seeks to leverage space technology to help farmers simultaneously meet the rising demand for food and reducing the overall environmental impact of farming. Given their familiarity with her work and accomplishments, Mclee and Raju knew that Samanga would be the perfect candidate to kick off the SCF’s Women of Color series. Said Raju:
“Our first speaker, Ruvimba Samanga, is an inspiration. I think that she is she’s definitely someone who exemplifies all of the qualities of a leader in the industry. She spoke about how the intersection of gender and race has affected her own access to resources, what that would mean for other students and other young professionals in Zimbabwe.
“She talks a lot about her work and how it has been difficult, even in terms of a University education. When you have subjects like the law, and when you’re not able to access certain textbooks or even quality case records, then that does ultimately have an impact on the quality of the research and your career as well. So in terms of identifying what those issues are and enabling accessibility, our first episode went way beyond my expectations.”
In addition to the many hats she wears, Samanga is presently working with the recently established Zimbabwean Space Agency as well. She also participated in the 39th mission of Habitarte Marte, an analog research environment located in Brazil near the town of Natal. As we covered in a previous article, this research group was founded by Professor Julio Rezende in 2017 and is South America’s only Mars-analog research station.
The Road Ahead
Looking to the future of space exploration and the level to which it is representative of humanity, two questions naturally come to mind. On the one hand, we’re forced to wonder if we’ve truly made any progress. Second, there’s the all-important question of what needs to be done moving forward. Mclee and Raju, for their part, are hopeful and optimistic. At the same time, they are cautious and know that there is a lot of work to be done.
“You don’t want these differences to be under the table,” said Mclee. “You want to celebrate the differences that people have. You see a lot of performative activism happening in the industry now because of everything that’s going on, but you don’t want to just do it for the sake of doing it. That’s why we’re having this interview series, to highlight the people, the actual people aspect behind it too.”
“When you highlight the lack of women of color in the space industry, the defensive response is to mention famous astronauts: ‘Oh, but we have had women of color as astronauts.’” added Raju. “But that’s also only one segment of the space sector. Here, we’re talking about policy, we’re talking about engineering, we’re talking about astrophysics, and there isn’t sufficient representation there.”
By making resources available, the Women of Color in Space series is in keeping with the overall mission of the Space Court Foundation, which is to foster a conversation about space-related issues and promote awareness. Similarly, the series is meant to inspire and to let young women of color today (and the next generation) know that they can make a difference in the STEAM fields and the international space industry.
Illustration of Artemis astronauts on the Moon. Credits: NASA
Herein lies another insidious barrier, where people are raised to believe that (by virtue of gender or geography) they can’t follow certain paths. As Raju summarized beautifully:
“We want future Trail Blazers to watch the series, be encouraged, know that their voice matters, and that we will be able to hear them – that we’re all available here. You can find membership in this industry, even if it hasn’t been very supportive to you so far, based on these oppressive structures. We are here actively trying to fight that on a daily basis, and we’re going to try and support them through that process as much as possible.”
By helping to identify and dismantle the oppressive structures that are part of our society and the international space sector, the Space Court Foundation is living up to another purpose for which it was founded: the preservation of the spirit of the Outer Space Treaty, which was signed in 1967 and established the guiding principle that space is for the benefit of “all peoples.”
In the past, the word “mankind” was repeatedly used to imply all of to humanity. This reflected the prevailing power structure of the time, which was also evidence from the way space exploration was very much restricted to white cis-males. The current era of space exploration, in contrast, is all about fostering cooperation, increasing accessibility, and breaking down traditional barriers. I think we can all agree that there are few barriers worse than an unwillingness to listen or entertain different perspectives.
Tune in tomorrow to hear more about Samanga’s journey, which you watch on SCF’s Youtube channel, or by going to the SCF website. Samanga’s interview will be available after 12:00 P.M. CET (or after 03:00 A.M. PST; 06:00 A.M. EDT). It promises to be very educational and inspirational!
Be sure to subscribe as well so you will be notified in advance about the latest interviews in the Women of Color in Space series. Also, be sure to check out the Space Court Foundation’s home page to learn more about their purpose, advocacy, research, and outreach.
