Give people a barrier, and at some point they are bound to smash through. Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947. Yuri Gagarin burst into orbit for the first manned spaceflight in 1961. The Human Genome Project finished cracking the genetic code in 2003. And we can add one more barrier to humanity’s trophy case: the exascale barrier.
The exascale barrier represents the challenge of achieving exascale-level computing, which has long been considered the benchmark for high performance. To reach that level, however, a computer needs to perform a quintillion calculations per second. You can think of a quintillion as a million trillion, a billion billion, or a million million millions. Whichever you choose, it’s an incomprehensibly large number of calculations.
On May 27, 2022, Frontier, a supercomputer built by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed the feat. It performed 1.1 quintillion calculations per second to become the fastest computer in the world.
People believe that exotic new propulsion systems are needed to reduce the one way trip times from Earth to Mars from 180–270 days down to 45 days each way. The slower mission times are for chemical rockets where we barely get out of Earth orbit with a small rocket engine. SpaceX Starship can refuel after reaching orbit to enable faster orbits (straighter and less looping paths) to go to Mars. This makes 90 day times each way easy with chemical Starship and even more wasteful but still chemical rockets to Mars in 45 days each way.
This is calculated by Ozan Bellik.
In 2033 there are opportunities to do a high thrust ~45 day outbound transit with a ~10.5km/s TMI (trans Mars injection). If you refill in an elliptical orbit that’s at LEO+2.5-3km/s then the TMI burn requirement goes down to 7.5-8km/s. A SpaceX Starship with 1,200 tons of fuel should be able to do with roughly 150 tons of burnout mass. This is enough for ship, residuals, and a crew cabin with enough consumables to last a moderately sized crew for the 45 day transit. The trouble is that once you get there, you are approaching Mars at ~15km/s.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. needs to flex its space muscles in the face of China’s lunar ambitions, argues a new report from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies released Jan. 17.
More specifically, the U.S. military should step up collaboration with NASA and support the development of infrastructure for scientific and economic activities in cislunar space, “as well as the means to secure those activities from potential threats such as territorial claims and irresponsible or hostile behavior,” writes Charles Galbreath, senior fellow for space studies at the Mitchell Institute.
Cislunar space — the region of space between Earth and the orbit of the moon — is becoming increasingly important strategically and economically due to potential lunar exploration, space mining and other commercial efforts poised to ramp up in the coming years.
We can calculate the travel times for the SpaceX Starship to reach Mars. It is relatively easy to get 90 day trips each way with SpaceX Starship. This is faster than the usual 180–270 one-way travel times. This can be faster because we will have a lot more fuel to enable more direct routes to Mars. We could catch up Mars in 1/6th of an orbit instead of half of an orbit around the Sun.
There are ways to use extra expandable Starship tankers that fly with the main Starship and then transfer the extra fuel for deceleration from higher speed.
If there is more things built and working in orbit around the Earth, then this can be used to enable more ways to save fuel for faster or bigger missions. This can be done with reusable tugs to move a fully fueled Mars bound ship to higher orbits or even to escape velocity.
We are already living in the era of the fourth industrial revolution, but in the near future we will be facing another one that could really change everything. We are talking about the revolution of humanoid robots — versatile, intelligent and dexterous machines that can not only help, but also replace humans in tight places. In this video, we’ll tell you about the top 10 newest and most advanced humanoid robots in the world, and what technologies will make them truly versatile! Onward to a brighter future)
0:00 A breakthrough in humanoid robots. 1:17 What technologies could make robots as dexterous as humans? 3:46 Digit, the first commercial humanoid robot from Agility Robotics. 5:18 New humanoid robot from Singapore. 6:45 What kind of humanoid robot has OpenAI invested in? 7:34 New Apollo robot from Apptronik. 9:00 CyberOne humanoid robot project from Xiaomi. 10:20 Unitree’s H1 robot. 11:07 XPENG’s agile and stable robot PX5 12:05 Sanctuary AI’s most agile robot Phoenix. 13:13 The world’s most advanced humanoid robot by Figure AI 15:18 Tesla Bot: Ilon Musk’s Humanoid Robot. 16:15 The world’s most advanced humanoid robot from Boston Dynamics.
Boston Dynamics Atlas. If you’ve been following robotics, you’ve likely seen this humanoid robot in action. Atlas is a pinnacle of robotic achievement, showcasing impressive mobility and coordination. Its advanced control system allows it to perform backflips, handstands, and navigate complex environments with ease. Atlas is not just a demonstration of technological prowess; it’s a glimpse into the future of robotics assisting in real-world scenarios.
Moving on to the Valkyrie robot from NASA. Initially designed for space exploration, Valkyrie boasts a humanoid form with an emphasis on strength and adaptability. Its design includes 44 degrees of freedom, making it highly flexible and capable of mimicking human movements. While initially intended for space missions, Valkyrie’s applications extend to disaster response and exploration of challenging terrains.
Now, let’s talk about the Tesla Bot. Yes, you heard it right, Tesla is venturing into humanoid robotics. Elon Musk unveiled the Tesla Bot with a vision to eliminate dangerous, repetitive, and boring tasks performed by humans. While specific details are still emerging, the idea is to create a humanoid robot using Tesla’s expertise in electric vehicles and AI. The Tesla Bot aims to be a general-purpose, capable machine for a variety of everyday tasks.
