Comment The Simpsons did it again! (Score 2) 117
So Mr. Burns was right all along?
Submission + - In a stunning comeback, Jared Isaacman is renominated to lead NASA (arstechnica.com)
FallOutBoyTonto writes: President Trump announced Tuesday evening that he is renominating private astronaut Jared Isaacman to lead NASA.
"Jared’s passion for space, astronaut experience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and advancing the new space economy make him ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new era," Trump wrote on his social media network, Truth Social.
"Jared’s passion for space, astronaut experience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and advancing the new space economy make him ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new era," Trump wrote on his social media network, Truth Social.
Comment It wasn't space debris (Score 4, Informative) 58
Apparently it was a weather balloon... Source
“The mysterious impact of a United Airlines aircraft in flight last week has sparked plenty of theories as to its cause, from space debris to high-flying birds. However the question of what happened to flight 1093, and its severely damaged front window, appears to be answered in the form of a weather balloon. “I think this was a WindBorne balloon,” Kai Marshland, co-founder of the weather prediction company WindBorne Systems, told Ars in an email on Monday evening. “We learned about UA1093 and the potential that it was related to one of our balloons at 11 pm PT on Sunday and immediately looked into it. At 6 am PT, we sent our preliminary investigation to both NTSB and FAA, and are working with both of them to investigate further.”
Submission + - Trump pulls Isaacman nomination for space. (arstechnica.com)
FallOutBoyTonto writes: The Trump administration has confirmed that it is pulling the nomination of private astronaut Jared Isaacman to lead NASA.
First reported by Semafor, the decision appears to have been made because Isaacman was not politically loyal enough to the Trump Administration.
First reported by Semafor, the decision appears to have been made because Isaacman was not politically loyal enough to the Trump Administration.
Submission + - Judge rejects claim AI chatbots protected by First Amendment (legalnewsline.com) 1
schwit1 writes: A federal judge has decided that First Amendment protections don’t shield an artificial intelligence company from a lawsuit accusing the firm and its founders of creating chatbots that figured prominently in an Orlando teen’s suicide.
Judge Anne C. Conway of the Middle District of Florida denied several motions by defendants Character Technologies and founders Daniel De Freitas and Noam Shazeer to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the mother of 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III. Setzer killed himself with a gun in February of last year after interacting for months with Character.AI chatbots imitating fictitious characters from the Game of Thrones franchise, according to the lawsuit filed by Sewell’s mother, Megan Garcia.
“ Defendants fail to articulate why words strung together by (Large Language Models, or LLMs, trained in engaging in open dialog with online users) are speech,” Conway said in her May 21 opinion. “ The court is not prepared to hold that Character.AI’s output is speech.”
Judge Anne C. Conway of the Middle District of Florida denied several motions by defendants Character Technologies and founders Daniel De Freitas and Noam Shazeer to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the mother of 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III. Setzer killed himself with a gun in February of last year after interacting for months with Character.AI chatbots imitating fictitious characters from the Game of Thrones franchise, according to the lawsuit filed by Sewell’s mother, Megan Garcia.
“ Defendants fail to articulate why words strung together by (Large Language Models, or LLMs, trained in engaging in open dialog with online users) are speech,” Conway said in her May 21 opinion. “ The court is not prepared to hold that Character.AI’s output is speech.”
Comment Populace reaction... (Score 1) 218
I'm seeing a lot of discussion on how it might be calculated/applied, but not a lot of discussion on WHY it's being calculated/applied... Is everyone already resigned to accepting that it's happening and have to figure out how to implement it, that it isn't worth discussing on why or how to stop the madness (on this and various other items)?
Comment But Watts aren't energy... (Score 1) 193
Technology Connections has a great video explaining this
Submission + - Trump nominates Jared Isaacman to become the next NASA administrator (arstechnica.com)
FallOutBoyTonto writes: President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday he has selected Jared Isaacman, a billionaire businessman and space enthusiast who twice flew to orbit with SpaceX, to become the next NASA administrator.
"I am delighted to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot, and astronaut, as Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)," Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social. "Jared will drive NASA’s mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in space science, technology, and exploration."
In a post on X, Isaacman said he was "honored" to receive Trump's nomination.
"Having been fortunate to see our amazing planet from space, I am passionate about America leading the most incredible adventure in human history," Isaacman wrote. "On my last mission to space, my crew and I traveled farther from Earth than anyone in over half a century. I can confidently say this second space age has only just begun."
"I am delighted to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot, and astronaut, as Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)," Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social. "Jared will drive NASA’s mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in space science, technology, and exploration."
In a post on X, Isaacman said he was "honored" to receive Trump's nomination.
"Having been fortunate to see our amazing planet from space, I am passionate about America leading the most incredible adventure in human history," Isaacman wrote. "On my last mission to space, my crew and I traveled farther from Earth than anyone in over half a century. I can confidently say this second space age has only just begun."
Submission + - Grok names Musk 'one of the most significant spreaders of misinformation on X' (fortune.com) 2
fahrbot-bot writes: Fortune reports that X user Gary Koepnick asked [Grok], "Who personally spreads the most disinformation on X?" and the service did not hesitate in pointing a finger at its creator.
"Based on various analyses, social media sentiment, and reports, Elon Musk has been identified as one of the most significant spreaders of misinformation on X since he acquired the platform," it wrote, later adding "Musk has made numerous posts that have been criticized for promoting or endorsing misinformation, especially related to political events, elections, health issues like COVID-19, and conspiracy theories. His endorsements or interactions with content from controversial figures or accounts with a history of spreading misinformation have also contributed to this perception."
The AI also pointed out that because of Musk's large number of followers and high visibility, any misinformation he posts is immediately amplified and gains legitimacy among his followers.
This, it said, "can have real-world consequences, especially during significant events like elections."
Grok did note that the definition of misinformation is somewhat subjective and often depends on the ideological stance of the reader. And it added, late in its answer, that there are many actors, bots and more that spread misinformation.
"Based on various analyses, social media sentiment, and reports, Elon Musk has been identified as one of the most significant spreaders of misinformation on X since he acquired the platform," it wrote, later adding "Musk has made numerous posts that have been criticized for promoting or endorsing misinformation, especially related to political events, elections, health issues like COVID-19, and conspiracy theories. His endorsements or interactions with content from controversial figures or accounts with a history of spreading misinformation have also contributed to this perception."
The AI also pointed out that because of Musk's large number of followers and high visibility, any misinformation he posts is immediately amplified and gains legitimacy among his followers.
This, it said, "can have real-world consequences, especially during significant events like elections."
Grok did note that the definition of misinformation is somewhat subjective and often depends on the ideological stance of the reader. And it added, late in its answer, that there are many actors, bots and more that spread misinformation.
Comment Maybe... (Score 1) 119
You're holding it wrong!
Comment Re:Not sure how this would help (Score 1) 72
While I agree SpaceX launches the majority of orbital missions and should be included, I don't know where those numbers came from. SpaceX hasn't even reached 500 launches in it's lifetime, let alone getting that in one quarter. They just now reached their 100th launch of 2024.
"The company reached its 400th orbital flight with the NROL-167 mission out of Vandenberg this week. Just as impressive, SpaceX launched a Falcon vehicle for the 100th time this year on the OneWeb mission, having already broken last year’s record of 98 launches." Source: https://www.nasaspaceflight.co...
"The company reached its 400th orbital flight with the NROL-167 mission out of Vandenberg this week. Just as impressive, SpaceX launched a Falcon vehicle for the 100th time this year on the OneWeb mission, having already broken last year’s record of 98 launches." Source: https://www.nasaspaceflight.co...
Comment Re:Impressive. (Score 5, Informative) 203
One of the reasons why a catch was chosen rather than landing legs is due to the weight the landing legs would add. With the large amount of mass the booster has, the landing legs would have to be quite beefy and with that adds a lot more dry mass to the booster and reduces the amount of payload the booster has the ability to lift. By placing all the heavy beefy 'landing' infrastructure on the ground, the rocket can have less dry mass, more fuel capacity, and more payload capacity.
Comment Re:Hm (Score 3, Informative) 69
Yes they do. They made the claim, and now you're repeating the claim. Source it. I never saw the claim so I will continue to call out bullshit and will only retract it once you or the OP provide a source for the claim. That's how it works to make a claim.
Of course it's hardly a perfect service. I'm questioning the claim that it wouldn't work at all. The economics of it I can understand, Starlink relies heavily on its ability for SpaceX to make launches and bring down the cost of launches so it stands to reason that people would have thought that particular part of it was economically infeasible. But that story would have been laid to rest at the first launch.
Who claimed it would never work?
"Ookla reports, based on user-initiated speed tests, were cited by the Federal Communications Commission last month when it rejected Starlink's application to receive $885.51 million in broadband funding that had been tentatively awarded during then-Chairman Ajit Pai's tenure. The FCC said it doubts whether Starlink can provide the grant's required speeds of 100Mbps downloads and 20Mbps uploads." https://arstechnica.com/tech-p...
Comment Slowing down? (Score 2) 176
Accelerating away from Earth is half the trip, when you're approaching your destination you'll need to slow down... How will the vehicle account for flying through it's own exhaust? Falcon 9's get quite sooty from re-entry and landing burns.
Comment Re:Enough space available? (Score 1) 22
That's why they call it 'space'... well, there's a lot of it
