Chronicling Robots Since 2011
No one wanted to go on the record, but everyone shared contradictory experiences with the Trump administration last month. A frontier tech company depends on the government to approve licenses or waivers, such as launching low-Earth orbit satellites or beyond-line-of-sight delivery drones. But what happens if the person or the office you filed with a … Read more
Observing MLK Day, I followed in the footsteps of Katherine Johnson at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Her memory still looms large over the Mission Control room that launched Apollo 11’s successful lunar landing fifty years ago. This historic milestone could not have been achieved without the mathematical genius of the African-American pioneer and … Read more
Space Policy Directive-4: Establishment of the United States Space Force, signed last month by the President, created not just a new division of the Air Force, but a “United States Space Command.” The directive is clear: “Unfettered access to, and freedom to operate in, space and provide vital effects and capabilities to joint and coalition … Read more
While vacationing and experiencing a major family milestone, a hidden news story about a local-born scientist caught my eye. Dr. Avi Loeb, chairman of Harvard University’s astronomy department, controversially proposed that Oumuamua (the mysterious elongated astroid-like object that was discovered in 2017) could be an interstellar alien visitor. The scout from the Vega Galaxy “may be a … Read more