The Information reports that Seattle-based Xnor.ai played a role in the Pentagon’s controversial Project Maven, but that Apple ended Xnor.ai’s involvement in the project after acquiring the startup.
Tag: Military
We don’t know whether Mr. Spock would have cocked an eyebrow over the Starfleet-like U.S. Space Force seal that was revealed by President Donald Trump today, but we’ve found out what Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu would do.
The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency says Boeing is dropping out of its Experimental Spaceplane Program immediately, grounding the XS-1 Phantom Express even though technical tests had shown the hypersonic space plane concept was feasible.
“The detailed engineering activities conducted under the Experimental Spaceplane Program affirmed that no technical showstoppers stand in the way of achieving DARPA’s objectives, and that a system such as XSP would bolster national security,” DARPA said in a statement issued today.
In a follow-up statement, Boeing confirmed that it’s ending its role in the program after a detailed review.
It’s been three months since ownership of the Stratolaunch space venture was transferred from the late Seattle billionaire Paul Allen’s estate to a private equity firm, but the new owners say they’re still pursuing one of the old owner’s dreams: hypersonic flight.
The newly minted U.S. Space Force unveiled its uniform on Jan. 17 — and defended its fashion statement against Twitter criticism that the camouflage color scheme should have been more spacey.
Days after claiming that the catastrophic crash of a Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 plane was caused by a mechanical failure, the Iranian military acknowledged that it erroneously downed the jet with a missile strike, killing all 176 people aboard.
President Donald Trump and other U.S. officials today voiced suspicions that Iranian surface-to-air missiles brought down the Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 jet that crashed in Iran on Jan. 8 amid a volley of attacks.
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Ukrainian Boeing 737 jet crashes in Iran
First photos emerge from site of plane crash near Tehran; there are no indications of survivors – Tasmin pic.twitter.com/LOuyhza0Yj
— BNO News (@BNONews) January 8, 2020
A Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 jet carrying 176 people crashed tonight after taking off from Tehran’s international airport, killing all aboard, Iranian news media reported.
Amid military fanfare, President Donald Trump signed a defense authorization bill into law to create the U.S. Space Force as a sixth branch of the armed forces.
“This is a very big and important moment,” Trump told hundreds of military personnel and VIPs who gathered at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for today’s signing ceremony.
The Space Force is intended to bring together military resources focusing on the high frontier, including potential threats from GPS jammers, anti-satellite weapons, space-based weapons and hypersonic attack vehicles.
Trump said the creation of the Space Force recognizes that the final frontier has evolved into a distinct warfighting domain.
“American superiority in space is absolutely vital,” he said. “We’re leading, but we’re not leading by enough. But very shortly, we’ll be leading by a lot.”
The Government Accountability Office is agreeing with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture that the Air Force needs to amend its rules for deciding who’ll get future contracts for national security space launches.
Today’s GAO decision comes in response to Blue Origin’s pre-award protest over the Air Force’s National Security Space Launch Phase 2 Launch Service Procurement, which was filed in August when Blue Origin and three other companies submitted their bids for future procurements.
The launches covered by the process would be executed between 2022 and 2026, and are sure to bring billions of dollars to the companies that are selected.