Move over, batteries: green hydrogen is the key to getting flying taxis off the ground

VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft are rapidly growing from prototypes to commercial vehicles. But while most prioritize electric batteries, there’s a suite of companies developing hydrogen-powered VTOLs, including the Skai from US company Alaka’i I recently spoke to Brian Morrison, co-founder, president, and CTO, to find out more.   Why is Skai using hydrogen, not lithium-ion batteries? Firstly, I was curious why hydrogen instead of Lithium-ion batteries. Morrison said: “Lithium-ion batteries scare me.” He recalled the Boeing 787 lithium-ion battery fires in 1987. Boeing had delivered the aircraft to the airline just 18 days prior. In that time, the…

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The Article Was Written/Published By: Cate Lawrence

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NASA Delays Moon Landing to 2025, Blames Jeff Bezos and Congress

In what is a surprise to absolutely no one, NASA won’t be sending astronauts to the lunar surface in 2024. Blaming everyone but the kitchen sink for the delay, the space agency now intends to send a crew, including a woman and a person of color, to the Moon in 2025.

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Source: https://gizmodo.com/nasa-delays-moon-landing-to-2025-blames-jeff-bezos-and-1848026410
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The Article Was Written/Published By: George Dvorsky

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9 Surreal Photos of Volcanic Ash Blanketing One of the Canary Islands

The Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma in the Spanish Canary Islands is on its sixth straight week of eruption, seriously shaking up life on the island as it’s forced 7,000 people to evacuate, destroyed 2,500 homes, and created strange and hazardous side effects. As the volcano keeps erupting—and residents…

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Source: https://gizmodo.com/9-surreal-photos-of-volcanic-ash-blanketing-one-of-the-1847988877
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Molly Taft

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US Department of Energy wants to dramatically reduce the cost of carbon capture technology

The US Department of Energy wants to accelerate the development of carbon capture technology. On Friday, the agency announced a program called Carbon Negative Shot. Part of its Energy Earthshots initiative, the goal here is to foster the development of carbon capture technology that can sequester CO2 at a cost of less than $100 per ton, and can be deployed at the gigaton scale. To put that in perspective, that much carbon is equivalent to the annual emissions of approximately 250 million cars.

“By slashing the costs and accelerating the deployment of carbon dioxide removal — a crucial clean energy technology — we can take massive amounts of carbon pollution directly from the air and combat the climate crisis,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “With our Carbon Negative Shot, we can help remove the greenhouse gases already warming our planet and affecting our health — positioning America as a net-zero leader and creating good-paying jobs for a transitioning clean energy workforce.”

If it wasn’t clear already, the Energy Department has set an ambitious target. In September, Orca, the largest direct carbon capture facility ever, opened in Iceland. The plant will capture 4,000 tons of CO2 per year at a cost of about $600 per ton for bulk purchases. Chimeworks, the company that operates Orca, aims to reduce the cost to $300 or less per ton by 2030. That’s a long way away from the Energy Department’s goal of less than $100 per ton, but sustained and substantial support and investment from the government is exactly what could make that happen.

Source: https://www.engadget.com/department-of-energy-carbon-negative-shot-204740973.html?src=rss
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Igor Bonifacic

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Wright Spirit 100-passenger aircraft aims for all-electric flights by 2026

During the COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference this week, Wright Electric unveiled its latest commercial aircraft, the 100-passenger Wright Spirit. According to the company, its new model outfits the British Aerospace (BAe) 146 airliner with Wright’s megawatt-class electric propulsion system for zero-emissions operation. The company has an ambitious plan to reach all-electric aircraft status by 2026. “Because we built … Continue reading

Source: https://www.slashgear.com/wright-spirit-100-passenger-aircraft-aims-for-all-electric-flights-by-2026-05698487/
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Brittany A. Roston

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COP26: Quitting coal and rebounding CO2 emissions

Five things you need to know about COP26 – the United Nations climate change conference – on Thursday.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59155316?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
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NASA records a massive solar flare

The NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft recorded a significant solar flare on October 28, 2021, at 11:35 AM EDT. The SDO constantly watches the sun, and it recorded images of the solar flare as it happened. A solar flare is a burst of radiation that emanates from the sun. If they are intense enough, they can interrupt communications between … Continue reading

Source: https://www.slashgear.com/nasa-records-a-massive-solar-flare-29697497/
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Shane McGlaun

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Twitter gives paid ‘Blue’ subscribers early access to more new features

Twitter has rolled out Labs for its Blue subscription service, which will give its paid users early access to select experimental features. At the moment, one of the first two Labs experiments available to subscribers will give them the capability to upload videos up to 10 minutes long, which is much, much longer than its standard limit of 2 minutes and 20 seconds. That is, so long as they upload their video from a PC. The other experimental feature will allow them to pin their favorite conversations at the top of their inbox by swiping on those particular DM convos. 

Labs will accept experimental features from various internal Twitter teams, allowing them to get early data from users. Just like any other test feature, the Labs experiments could be vastly different by the time they’re ready for general release, if Twitter does decide to roll them out. 

Like being ahead of the curve?

Today, we’re rolling out Labs , giving you *early access* to some new features we’re building before everyone else like:
Pinned Conversations on iOS
Longer video uploads on desktop only

Here are some questions you might be asking:

— Twitter Blue (@TwitterBlue) October 27, 2021

A Blue subscription will set users back $3 a month and will give them access to exclusive features, including folders for organizing bookmarks and a “reader mode.” It also gives users a way to “undo” their tweets. At the moment, it’s only available in Canada and Australia, and it’s still unclear when it will roll out in the US and other countries.

Source: https://www.engadget.com/twitter-blue-labs-095220405.html?src=rss
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Mariella Moon

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Wealthy Countries Are Spending More on Border Security Than Climate Aid

Wealthier countries are going to be several years late in delivering their promises to give money to poorer countries to help adjust to the impacts of climate change, the United Nations said Monday. A new report shows where wealthier countries could start finding extra money: their increasingly beefy military budgets.

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Source: https://gizmodo.com/wealthy-countries-are-spending-more-on-border-security-1847931924
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Molly Taft

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Four revelations from the Facebook Papers

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

Facebook is battling its gravest crisis since the Cambridge Analytica scandal after a whistleblower accusing the company of placing “profit over safety” shed light on its inner workings through thousands of pages of leaked memos.

The documents were disclosed to US regulators and provided to Congress in redacted form by Frances Haugen’s legal counsel. A consortium of news organisations, including the Financial Times, has obtained the redacted versions received by Congress.

Earlier this month, Haugen testified in Congress that the social media company does not do enough to ensure the safety of its 2.9 billion users, plays down the harm it can cause to society and has repeatedly misled investors and the public. The Wall Street Journal also ran a series of articles called the Facebook Files.

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Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/10/four-revelations-from-the-facebook-papers/
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Eric Bangeman

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Plastic industry pollution to overtake coal in US by 2030, report says

Enlarge / Smoke billows from one of many chemical plants near Baton Rouge, La. ‘Cancer Alley’ is one of the most polluted areas of the US and lies along the once pristine Mississippi River that stretches some 80 miles from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, where a dense concentration of oil refineries, petrochemical plants, and other chemical industries reside alongside suburban homes. (credit: Giles Clarke/Getty Images)

Plastic pollution usually conjures images of grocery bags blowing in the wind or nurdles lodged in a seabird’s stomach. But soon, plastic pollution may take on another meaning, as a new report forecasts that the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions in the US will outpace those of coal by the end of the decade.

“Unlike the plastic trash choking our waterways and littering our communities, the plastic industry’s devastating impact on our climate is taking place under the radar, with little public scrutiny and even less government accountability,” Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics and a former EPA regional administrator, said in the report.

Plastic is a large but often overlooked source of carbon pollution. Production in the US creates at least 232 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, according to the report by Bennington College and the nonprofit organization Beyond Plastics. Plastic production is expected to emit another 55 million tons by 2025 if the 42 plants currently planned or under construction come online.

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Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/10/plastic-industry-pollution-to-overtake-coal-in-us-by-2030-report-says/
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Tim De Chant

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Colin Powell Dies of Complications From Covid-19

Colin Powell, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a key figure in multiple Republican administrations, and the first Black person to serve as secretary of state, has died of complications from covid-19 at the age of 84.

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Source: https://gizmodo.com/colin-powell-dies-of-complications-from-covid-19-1847883339
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Tom McKay

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The ABCs of Big Oil: How Big Oil Killed Our Political Imagination

On The ABCs of Big Oil, a new podcast miniseries produced in collaboration with Drilled, my co-host Amy Westervelt and I have been exploring the oil and gas industry’s infiltration of grade school curricula to promote the false idea that humanity needs fossil-fueled capitalism to survive. This week, we’re moving on up…

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Source: https://gizmodo.com/the-abcs-of-big-oil-how-big-oil-killed-our-political-i-1847868351
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Dharna Noor

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Rocket Report: Virgin Galactic stands down, SpaceX faces environmental lawsuit

Enlarge / Blue Origin’s New Shepard launches its second human spaceflight on Wednesday. (credit: Blue Origin)

Welcome to Edition 4.20 of the Rocket Report! If this is edition 4.20 of the newsletter, you know we’re going to bring extra smoke. So let’s get to it.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Virgin Galactic substantially delays next mission. The space tourism company announced Thursday afternoon that it will delay a planned human flight for the Italian Air Force, Unity 23, and begin a “planned enhancement program” for its VMS Eve carrier aircraft and VSS Unity spacecraft. Effectively, this means that the vehicles will be taken out of service for the next eight months for repairs and upgrades. As one reason for this decision, the company cited a recent test that “flagged a possible reduction in the strength margins of certain materials used to modify specific joints, and this requires further physical inspection.”

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Source: https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/10/rocket-report-virgin-galactic-stands-down-spacex-faces-environmental-lawsuit/
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Eric Berger

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Mustang GT sits atop the American-made auto index

Researchers at the Kogod School of Business have released the 2021 version of the American Auto Index. The American Auto Index looks at which vehicles sold in the US have the most domestic content in their construction. Sitting at the top of last year’s list was the Ford Ranger. The Ford Ranger is no longer at the top of the … Continue reading

Source: https://www.slashgear.com/mustang-gt-sits-atop-the-american-made-auto-index-15695305/
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Shane McGlaun

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Most People Shouldn’t Take Baby Aspirin to Prevent Heart Attacks, U.S. Experts Say

A low dose of aspirin a day may not do as much good for the aging heart as we’ve previously hoped. This week, an independent and influential group of experts announced their intention to downgrade their previous recommendation for some older people to take daily aspirin as a way to reduce their risk of cardiovascular…

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Source: https://gizmodo.com/most-people-shouldnt-take-baby-aspirin-to-prevent-heart-1847849242
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Ed Cara

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NASA Is Preparing for the Ravages of Climate Change

The agency knows it needs to adapt to climate-driven events that will increasingly threaten coastal launch sites and other key space infrastructure.

Source: https://www.wired.com/story/nasa-is-preparing-for-the-ravages-of-climate-change/
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Ramin Skibba

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Two Scary Deer Illnesses Are Spreading in the U.S.

It’s a perilous time right now for deer in America. On Monday, Minnesota officials enacted an emergency order to stop the local travel and importation of farmed deer, in hopes of slowing down the spread of a universally fatal prion disease among wild deer. Meanwhile, in Vermont, wildlife officials today announced the…

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Source: https://gizmodo.com/two-scary-deer-illnesses-are-spreading-in-the-u-s-1847841521
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Ed Cara

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Rare Snow Leopard at a South Dakota Zoo Likely Died of Covid-19

A big cat at the Great Plains Zoo in South Dakota may have been killed by covid-19, zoo officials reported over the weekend. The cat, a female snow leopard named Baya, died last Thursday after testing positive for the virus and experiencing severe respiratory symptoms. Several other cats at the zoo have been similarly…

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Source: https://gizmodo.com/rare-snow-leopard-at-a-south-dakota-zoo-likely-died-of-1847838300
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Ed Cara

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Why Your Coffee Tastes Bad, and What You Can Do About It

Good coffee is delicious and helps us power through our day, but sometimes, your java can suddenly taste a bit lackluster. There are a few reasons why this happens. If your coffee has gone from tasty to meh, here’s what you can do about it.

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Source: https://www.lifesavvy.com/94455/why-your-coffee-tastes-bad-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Emilee Unterkoefler

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