Sunday, September 28

Author:

TOMY’s Big Klingon D7 Star Trek Model Closes In On Pre-Order Goal [UPDATED] – TrekMovie.com
Star Trek

TOMY’s Big Klingon D7 Star Trek Model Closes In On Pre-Order Goal [UPDATED] – TrekMovie.com

TOMY’s ongoing crowdfunding campaign for the D7 Klingon Battlecruiser from Star Trek The Original Series is in its final hours. We have an update from the TOMY team, plus a cool video tour of the prototype. Honorable reservations close on Friday TrekMovie covered the initial announcement a few weeks ago, details of which can be found here. The campaign has reduced its funding target and appears to be closing in on its new $1.4 million goal. TOMY Communications Manager, Jordan Swenson tells TrekMovie, “We’re doing everything we can in order to reach the goal.” Time is running out, as the deadline to back this project is September 5, 2025, at 12 PM ET. [September 4 update: Goal surpassed, currently at $1.5 million, still time to pre-order] [September 5 update: Backer deadline extended to ...
We could spot a new type of black hole thanks to a mirror-wobbling AI
Science

We could spot a new type of black hole thanks to a mirror-wobbling AI

Black holes produce gravitational waves when they collideVICTOR de SCHWANBERG/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Efforts to understand the universe could get a boost from an AI developed by Google DeepMind. The algorithm, which can reduce unwanted noise by up to 100 times, could allow the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) to spot a particular type of black hole that has so far eluded us. LIGO is designed to detect the gravitational waves produced when objects such as black holes spiral into each other and collide. These waves cross the universe at the speed of light, but the fluctuations they cause in space-time are extremely small – 10,000 times smaller than the nucleus of an atom. Since its first observations 10 years ago, LIGO has recorded such signals p...
Pentagon announces senior U.S. Space Force leadership changes
NASA

Pentagon announces senior U.S. Space Force leadership changes

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Friday announced a slate of senior leadership shifts within the U.S. Space Force, including new appointments to key command and planning posts. Lt. Gen. David Miller will serve as deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs and requirements, succeeding Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton. Miller previously commanded Space Operations Command at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado. Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess has been named deputy chief of space operations for operations, taking over from retired Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt. Schiess most recently led U.S. Space Forces–Space and served as Combined Joint Force Space Component Commander at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The service also announced two promotions.  Maj. Gen. Gregory Gagn...
SpaceX aces 500th Falcon booster landing amid sunrise Starlink mission – Spaceflight Now
SpaceX

SpaceX aces 500th Falcon booster landing amid sunrise Starlink mission – Spaceflight Now

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on the Starlink 10-57 mission. Image: Adam Bernstein / Spaceflight Now Update Sept. 5, 9:40 a.m. EDT: SpaceX confirms deployment of the 28 Starlink satellites. SpaceX completed its 500th recovery of a Falcon booster during a Friday morning flight supporting its Starlink satellite constellation. The Falcon 9 rocket roared away from Launch Complex 39A at 8:32 a.m. EDT (1232 UTC). The Starlink 10-57 mission flew on a north-easterly trajectory upon leaving the pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, with the rocket soaring past and through the clouds over Florida’s Space Coast. Nearly 8.5 minutes after takeoff, the Falcon 9 booster supporting this mission, tail number 1069, safely landed on the drone ship, ‘J...
The Ocean Carbon Sink Is Ailing – State of the Planet
Science

The Ocean Carbon Sink Is Ailing – State of the Planet

Image: Philip Thurston Adapted from a release written by Michael Keller for ETH Zurich. In brief Extreme sea surface temperatures in 2023 resulted in high CO₂ outgassing, particularly in the North Atlantic, meaning that the global ocean absorbed less CO₂ overall. Thanks to El Niño, much less CO₂ than usual escaped into the atmosphere in the eastern Pacific, but the outgassing in the North Atlantic negated the positive effect. The fact that the ocean did not lose even more CO₂ is due to physical and biological processes that limited outgassing despite the record-high temperatures. Researchers are unsure if these compensating processes will continue to effectively support the marine carbon sink as global warming progresses. The world’s oceans act as an important sink f...