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Hearings open a new act in OceanGate sub tragedy

Coast Guard engineers examine Titan sub debris
Coast Guard engineers examine the aft titanium endcap from OceanGate's Titan submersible in October 2023. (NTSB Photo)

The U.S. Coast Guard is beginning two weeks of public hearings into last year’s loss of OceanGate’s Titan submersible and its crew during a dive to the Titanic shipwreck — but even before the start of the hearings, the official in charge of the hearings made clear that there’s lots more investigation to be done.

“The hearing is the first step in publicly showing the proceedings,” Jason Neubauer, chair of the Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation, told reporters today. “We may hold additional proceedings. There could be additional witnesses interviewed. So, I would say it’s hard to give a projection on the end date for the investigation.”

Public hearings are due to run Sept. 16 through 27 in North Charleston, S.C., with the proceedings livestreamed via YouTube. They’ll delve into the causes of Titan’s implosion, which killed the five people on board — including Stockton Rush, the CEO and co-founder of Everett, Wash.-based OceanGate.

The other crew members were veteran Titanic explorer P.H. Nargeolet and three mission specialists who paid OceanGate to participate in the dive: Hamish Harding, a British aviation executive and adventurer, plus Pakistani-born business executive Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleiman.

Soon after Titan’s disappearance on June 18, 2023, OceanGate suspended all exploration and commercial operations, and its website literally went dark. These hearings will mark one of the rare occasions when people who were associated with the company will be speaking publicly about OceanGate’s activities.

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MagniX shows off its future hybrid electric airplane

MagniX CEO with plane destined for hybrid electric conversion
MagniX CEO Reed Macdonald speaks at the unveiling of a test airplane at Boeing Field. (MagniX via Vimeo)

The airplane that Everett, Wash.-based magniX will use to test its hybrid electric propulsion system for a $74.3 million NASA demonstration project is ready to go on the outside, and it’ll soon be ready on the inside as well.

Today magniX and its partners unveiled the De Havilland Dash 7 plane at Seattle’s Boeing Field in preparation for its conversion for NASA’s Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration project, or EPFD. The aircraft now bears the logos of magniX, NASA and Air Tindi, the Canadian regional carrier from which the Dash 7 was acquired.

“There’s a lot of work left to be done, but when you see the airplane, and you see the great livery and what’s behind it, it allows you to think about all of the really important work, all of the really hard work that’s gone on,” said Bob Pearce, NASA’s associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

The plane has already gone through baseline flight tests with its four standard Pratt & Whitney PT6A turbine engines — operating from Moses Lake, Wash., with technical assistance from Seattle-based AeroTEC. Meanwhile, magniX’s 650-watt electric motor has been tested at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio under conditions that simulate altitudes of up to 27,500 feet.

Now the project timeline calls for replacing two of the PT6A engines with magni650 electric motors, one at a time, and installing magniX’s 450-kWh Samson battery packs. Flight tests with the hybrid electric system are due to begin in 2026.

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Lamina1 and Weta work on new territory in the metaverse

Neal Stephenson at tech conference
Science-fiction author Neal Stephenson will play a key role in Lamina1’s Artefact collaboration with Weta Workshop. (Photo via Lamina1)

A digital content platform inspired by Seattle science-fiction author Neal Stephenson’s vision of the metaverse is collaborating with Weta Workshop, the special-effects company best known for its work on “The Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy, to create a whole new online territory for virtual worlds.

Lamina1 says its newly announced project, known as Artefact, will provide a new blueprint for expanding digital content through “immersive experiences that incorporate fan action and input.”

“This is more than just a new virtual world — it’s a new way to build worlds,” Stephenson, who co-founded Lamina1 in 2022, said today in a news release. “It’s a promising new way of looking at what we can offer to both creators and their communities. By collaborating with Weta Workshop, we’re forging a new path in digital worldbuilding. Lamina1’s commitment to a creator-driven economy and open metaverse provides a foundation that ensures long-term value and creative quality.”

Stephenson and the Weta team plan to begin engaging with creators and fans on the Lamina1 platform this fall. Participants will be invited to unravel the lore behind a mysterious set of “Artefacts” that build upon Stephenson’s works. Superfans can take on new roles as creators, using their discoveries to contribute to the expansion of the digital universe.

Lamina1 uses blockchain technology and a digital currency called L1 as part of the infrastructure for its content creation platform. The venture says it has onboarded 65,000 active users over the past two years.

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AI experts look ahead to artificial general intelligence

Sophia the Robot
A robot named Sophia can carry on a conversation and make facial expressions. (Hanson Robotics Photo)

There’s no question that artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming more intelligent, thanks to software platforms including ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Grok. But does that mean AI agents will one day outdo the generalized smarts that distinguish human intelligence? And if so, is that good or bad for humanity? Those were just a couple of the questions raised during this week’s AGI-24 conference in Seattle.

Conference sessions at the University of Washington centered on a concept known as artificial general intelligence, or AGI. Artificial intelligence can already outperform humans on a growing list of specialized tasks, ranging from playing the game of Go to diagnosing some forms of cancer. But humans are still more intelligent than AI agents when it comes to dealing with a wider range of tasks, including tasks they haven’t been trained to do. That’s what AGI is all about.

David Hanson, a roboticist and artist who’s best known for creating a humanoid robot named Sophia, said the questions surrounding human-level intelligence and consciousness are a high priority for his team at Hanson Robotics.

“The goal really is continuously to explore what it means to be intelligent,” he said during an Aug. 16 session. “How can we achieve consciousness? How can we make machines that co-evolve with humans? All of these efforts, while they’re really cool, and I’m very proud of them, they’re all just trying to get the engine to start on this kind of conscious machine that can co-evolve with humans.”

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Judge tosses out $72M jury verdict against Boeing

Zunum 2022 airplane
An artist’s conception shows Zunum Aero’s hybrid-to-electric airplane in flight. (Zunum Photo)

A federal judge in Seattle has sided with Boeing and is throwing out a jury verdict that called for the aerospace giant to pay $72 million to Zunum Aero, a Seattle-area aviation startup it once supported.

In an statement emailed to me after the judge made his ruling, Boeing said it was “grateful for the court’s careful and thorough consideration of all the evidence at trial to reach this decision.”

Zunum took a different view: “We are disappointed by the court’s decision to overturn the jury’s carefully considered and well-supported verdict,” the Bothell, Wash-based company said in an emailed statement. “We intend to appeal the court’s order and to reinstate the jury’s verdict.”

Zunum’s goal was to develop hybrid electric airplanes that it said could reinvigorate regional air transport. In 2017, the company forged a partnership with Boeing, and Boeing made $9 million in loans to Zunum. But the startup wasn’t able to gain traction and ended up suspending operations in 2019.

In its lawsuit, Zunum alleged that Boeing misappropriated its trade secrets and interfered with its efforts to bring in more investment from companies associated with Safran, a different aerospace company. At the end of an eight-day trial in May, a nine-member jury backed most of Zunum’s claims — but after the verdict, District Judge James Robart reviewed the case in response to Boeing’s post-trial challenges.

Robart’s ruling, issued today, sided with Boeing’s challenges. The judge wrote that Zunum didn’t provide sufficient evidence that the pieces of information it shared with Boeing about its technology could truly be considered trade secrets. He also agreed with Boeing that Zunum “failed to provide substantial evidence that Zunum had a valid business expectancy with Safran,” and did not suffer harm due to any interference from Boeing.

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Titanic explorer’s family sues OceanGate, seeking $50M

OceanGate Titan submersible underwater
OceanGate’s Titan submersible and its crew were lost during an expedition to the Titanic. (OceanGate Photo)

The family of Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet is seeking more than $50 million in damages in a lawsuit targeting Everett, Wash.-based OceanGate and other companies. The suit, filed in King County Superior Court, marks the beginning of what’s likely to be a complicated and drawn-out legal battle in the aftermath of last year’s loss of OceanGate’s Titan submersible and its crew.

Nargeolet, a veteran of more than 35 Titanic dives, was one of the five people aboard Titan who died in June 2023 when the sub underwent a catastrophic implosion during its final descent to the Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic. The other victims were British aviation executive Hamish Harding; Pakistani-born business executive Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman; and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was piloting the sub.

In addition to OceanGate, defendants in the suit include Rush’s estate, former OceanGate director of engineering Tony Nissen and three companies said to have participated in Titan’s construction: Mukilteo, Wash.-based Electroimpact, Sedro-Woolley, Wash.-based Janicki Industries and California-based Hydrospace Group.

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First Mode gets specific about its clean-tech layoffs

Opening ceremony for First Mode Seattle factory
First Mode CEO Julian Soles speaks at the February opening of the company's Seattle factory. (First Mode Photo)

Seattle-based First Mode is reporting that 65 of its workers in Washington state are being laid off in a move that follows through on a previously announced plan to trim back operations at the clean-tech company.

The layoffs were cited in a notice filed today with the state’s Employment Security Department. The reported job reductions represent nearly 40% of First Mode’s Washington state workforce in Seattle and Centralia.

First Mode produces powertrain conversion kits that are designed to reduce carbon emissions for mining trucks and other heavyweight vehicles, potentially including railway locomotives.

Back in January, the company said that it would put less emphasis on hydrogen-battery powertrains and more emphasis on hybrid diesel-battery powertrains — and that it would have to reduce its workforce to adjust to changing market conditions.

About 20% of First Mode’s U.S.-based workforce was laid off in January. Last month, First Mode said it would have to make further cuts in preparation for seeking further investment.

“Despite efforts to revisit non-labor costs, significantly reducing recruitment, and terminating most contract labor to avoid headcount reductions, we still are not able to achieve the cost basis required and therefore must propose headcount reductions going forward,” First Mode CEO Julian Soles said in an email that was sent to employees in advance of today’s notice.

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Boeing names its next CEO amid mounting losses

Kelly Ortberg
Kelly Ortberg will become Boeing’s president and CEO. (Credit: Univ. of Iowa Center for Advancement via YouTube)

Opening up a new chapter in its century-long history, Boeing says its next CEO and president will be Kelly Ortberg, a 64-year-old aerospace executive who previously held the CEO post at Rockwell Collins, now a subsidiary of RTX.

Citing an unidentified source, The Seattle Times reported that Ortberg will be based in Seattle, the city where Boeing was founded. That suggests there’s a chance that Boeing’s headquarters will move back to Seattle — 23 years after the base of operations was moved to Chicago, and two years after it was moved again to Arlington, Va.

Ortberg will take the helm on Aug. 8 after a trying five years for the aerospace giant. Fatal crashes of Boeing’s 737 MAX jets in 2018 and 2019 led to a worldwide grounding of the plane, and eventually to the firing of then-CEO Dennis Muilenburg. His successor, David Calhoun, was charged not only with getting the MAX back in service, but also with repairing Boeing’s tarnished image and weathering a new set of supply-chain challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the 737 MAX is flying again, Calhoun’s efforts fell short. A fresh controversy arose this January when a door plug flew off an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX in flight. In May, Calhoun announced his intent to retire.

Today Boeing posted a loss of $1.4 billion for the second quarter, compared with a loss of $149 million a year earlier. Boeing’s losses have added up to more than $25 billion since the start of 2019.

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Stealthy aviation startup is getting ready for takeoff

Jake Armenta and Ian Lee at Antler Portfolio Summit
Outbound Aerospace’s founders, Jake Armenta and Ian Lee, take the stage at the Antler Portfolio Summit. (Photo Courtesy of Jake Armenta)

The founders of Seattle-based Outbound Aerospace want to shake up the aviation industry with a blended-wing airplane design that takes advantage of advances in 3D printing and lightweight materials. And they’ve received a commitment of up to $500,000 to help get their idea off the ground.

Outbound aims to take advantage of the same kind of rapid innovation that propelled SpaceX to its leading role in the launch industry. So, would it be too much of a cliche to call it “the SpaceX of aviation”?

“Everyone says they’re the SpaceX of, you know, ‘Z,’” said Jake Armenta, a former Boeing engineer who’s one of Outbound’s founders and its chief technology officer. “But I really hope that we can harness a lot of that energy in our company.”

Even though Outbound hasn’t yet emerged fully from stealth mode, Armenta has recently been sharing more information about the venture and its vision for the future, thanks to a string of positive developments.

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Clean-tech pioneer First Mode braces for more layoffs

Mining truck at First Mode's proving grounds in Centralia
A hybrid mining truck takes a test drive through First Mode’s Centralia proving grounds. (First Mode via X)

First Mode, a Seattle-based company that’s concentrating on reducing carbon emissions in mining and other heavy industries, has alerted its employees to a significant round of layoffs that’s expected to unfold in early August.

A memo sent out today to U.S. employees doesn’t specify how many will be laid off — and emphasized that “individual determinations are still in process.” But First Mode told me in an email that the layoffs could amount to as much as 50% of the company’s global workforce.

In the memo to employees, chief people officer Mornie Robertson said the total number of impacted workers in the U.S. “will be large enough” to obligate First Mode to provide all U.S. employees with notification under the terms of the WARN Act. That blanket 60-day advance notification accompanied today’s memo.

“Impacted employees will be notified the week of August 5,” Robertson wrote.

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