Lifeboat Foundation

Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio (FA8684-24D-B018); The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri (FA8684-24D-B019); The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts (FA8684-24D-B014); Chip Scan Inc., Rockaway Beach, New York (FA8684-24D-B004); General Dynamics Mission Systems Inc., Dedham, Massachusetts (FA8684-24D-B006); GE Aviation Systems LLC Grand Rapids, Michigan (FA8684-24D-B008); Honeywell International, Clearwater, Florida (FA8684-24D-B010); Idaho Scientific LLC, Boise, Idaho (FA8684-24D-B012); Kratos SRE Inc., San Diego, California (FA8684-24D-B005); L3Harris Technologies Inc., Palm Bay, Florida (FA8684-24D-B007); Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida (FA8684-24D-B009); Mercury Systems Inc., Andover, Massachusetts (FA8684-24D-B016); Microsemi SOC Corp., San Jose, California (FA8684-24D-B011); Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Linthicum Heights, Maryland (FA8684-24D-B003); Radiance Technologies Inc., Huntsville, Alabama (FA8684-24D-B013); Raytheon Co., McKinney, Texas (FA8684-24D-B015); and Sabre Systems Inc., Warminster, Pennsylvania (FA8684-24D-B017), were awarded a $499,000,000 multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the design, build, test, and delivery of functioning anti-tamper solutions that will be ready for follow-on production to be integrated into a broad range of Department of Defense programs. The development of these solutions enables the necessary protection of critical program information from adversarial tamper efforts. Work will be performed in the continental United States and is expected to be completed Feb. 28, 2030. This contract was a competitive acquisition, and 20 offers were received. Fiscal 2024 research, development, test, and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,000 per awardee are being obligated at time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.

Roundhouse PBN LLC, Colorado Springs, Colorado, was awarded a $13,619,953 commercial, fixed-firm-price contract for a temporary and relocatable Program Integration Office/Program Management Office facility for the Sentinel Program at F. E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. This contract provides for a one-time procurement for a secure, prefabricated, nominal 26,000-square-foot temporary facility, that will satisfy immediate requirements for additional office space for up to 200 Sentinel project personnel. This will be a commercial supply contract to procure a facility and furnishings, with a limited construction service component to conduct site preparation. Work will be performed at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 7, 2025. This contract was a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2024 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $1,923,839; and fiscal 2024 procurement funds in the amount of $11,696,114, are being obligated at time of award.

Tesla has signed a deal with Choice Hotels International to bring chargers to thousands of additional hotels.

Over the last year, Tesla has become increasingly dominant in the charging space. It’s not like it wasn’t already, but with NACS, its own charge connector, becoming the standard in North America, and the release of its Universal Wall Connector, it is now extremely dominant.

The Tesla Universal Wall Connector is now becoming the top option for commercial level 2 installations as it can serve all EV owners now and it is future-proof for when everyone moves to NACS.

Two astrophysicists from the Laboratory for Space Research (LSR) at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) have finally solved a 20-year-old astrophysical puzzle concerning the lower-than-expected amounts of the element sulfur found in planetary nebulae (PNe) in comparison to expectations and measurements of other elements and other types of astrophysical objects.

The expected levels of sulfur have long appeared to be “missing in action.” However, they have now finally reported for duty after hiding in plain sight, as a result of leveraging highly accurate and reliable data. The team has recently reported their findings in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

PNe are the short-lived glowing, ejected, gaseous shrouds of dying stars that have long fascinated and enthused professional and amateur astronomers alike with their colorful and varied shapes. PNe live for only a few tens of thousands of years compared to their host stars, which can take billions of years before they pass through the PN phase on the way to becoming white dwarfs.

In new images captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft, fiery volcanic activity is seen erupting across Jupiter’s moon, Io.

Io is the third-largest of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons and is the most volcanically active celestial body in our solar system, with roughly 400 active volcanos, according to the agency.

Marking the second flyby of Jupiter’s scorching moon in the last 22 years, NASA’s orbiter came within about 930 miles of Io and captured two twin volcanic plumes spewing into space from the moon’s surface.

EV charging network Electrify America will soon offer the public an EV charging experience safe from the elements, where drivers can pull in, plug in, and chill out while their vehicle replenishes. This flagship indoor charging station kicks off a potential future in which you don’t have to wait in your car or outside while you charge… It also has complimentary Wi-Fi.

Electrify America is one of the largest open DC fast charging networks in the US that is investing billions into expanding EV infrastructure to support the growing number of zero-emissions vehicles hitting roads.

Outside of the Tesla Supercharger network, Electrify America is easily the most prominent and recognizable name in its respective space, expanding cleaner energy alternatives like solar farms to support its growing number of EV charging stations.

Read about the recent stunning image of Jupiter’s moon, Io, obtained by NASA’s Juno spacecraft on Dec 30, 2023!

Jupiter’s first Galilean moon, Io, is one of the most fascinating objects in the entire solar system, exhibiting hundreds of volcanoes that send molten lava hundreds of miles into space, some of which come raining back down onto the small moon’s surface. While Io was explored in depth with NASA’s Galileo spacecraft during the late 1990s and early 2000s, Io hasn’t been imaged up close since then. But NASA’s Juno spacecraft recently broke this dry spell when it passed within 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) of Io’s surface on December 30, 2023, capturing stunning images of active volcanic plumes and several lava fields.

Image of Jupiter’s moon Io, obtained by NASA’s Juno spacecraft on Dec 30, 2023, with its night side being illuminated by reflected sunlight bouncing off Jupiter, also called “Jupitershine.” (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing by Emma Wälimäki © CC BY)

Continue reading “Exploring Io: Juno’s Closest Flybys in Over 20 Years Unveil Spectacular Views” »

NASA’s PACE mission stands for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud and ocean Ecosystem.

OSIRIS-REx principal investigator Dante Lauretta told New Scientist that asteroid Bennu may have been “an ancient ocean world.”

The MMU was the highlight of the STS-41B mission as demonstrated by the stunning mission photographs that graced the cover of Aviation Week & Space Technology, not once, not twice, but three times.

“Hoot” Gibson, the flight’s pilot, shot the photograph featured on the February 20, 1984, issue of the magazine from the crew cabin. Gibson remembered he was the only one on the crew that “had absolutely nothing to do” as McCandless made his way out into space, so he picked up a Hasselblad camera and began documenting the events. When he first looked through the camera’s viewfinder, he could not believe what an incredible sight it was to see McCandless untethered, floating above the Earth. Gibson wanted to capture what he was seeing and remembered how meticulous he was. For each photograph he took three light meter readings and checked the focus four times. In the crew’s photography training he learned that an off-kilter horizon looked wrong and was not pleasing to the eye. That presented a slight problem because Challenger was at a 28.5-degree inclination, so he “tilted the camera to put the horizon level in the pictures.”