Category Archives: Space Exploration

The budding space tourism business is looking increasingly like a full-blown industry with something for everyone. Besides high-speed sub-orbital flight packages touted by companies like Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, aspiring space travelers will soon have the option to fly to the edge of Earths atmosphere in a much more relaxed way, without the discomfort of being strapped into a rocket and traveling at supersonic speed.

On Thursday, a startup named Space Perspective, launched by the founders of space exploration company World View Enterprises, unveiled a hot-balloon-like space vessel, called Spaceship Neptune, that aims to carry up to eight passengers at a time to the stratosphere for a six-hour joy ride in the next three to four years.

According to the plan, paying customers will ride in a cabin featuring a bar, a bathroom and huge windows specially designed for sightseeing. The cabin will be lifted by a 650-foot-tall, hydrogen-filled balloon and slowly climb for two hours to an altitude of 100,000 feet (19 miles). It will then hover at the peak for another two hours before descending to splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, where passengers and crew members will be picked up by a recovery ship.

See also: Virgin Galactic Just Lost Another $60 Million. Is Space Tourism Pandemic-Proof?

The two-hour stay at the top is a huge differentiator from competing space packages in the market, including the near-rollout program by Virgin Galactic, which only allow passengers to experience the peak view for a few minutes.

One of the amazing things about the design weve been able to work up is the ability to have events, things like weddings, corporate events. I cant wait to see spiritual leaders flying with political leaders The imagination runs wild, Space Perspectives founder and co-CEO, Taber MacCallum, said in an interview with Space.com on Thursday.

Riding the Spaceship Neptune will also be a lot cheaper than Virgin Galactic. The final price has yet to be determined, but the companys founders estimate ticket prices to fall in the neighborhood of $125,000 per person, about half what Virgin charges. The tradeoff is a much lower altitude; Virgins space plane can fly people to 50 miles above sea level, while Spaceship Neptune can only go up to 30 miles. At that altitude, passengers wont be able to experience total weightless, but the company noted that its still above 99 percent of Earths atmosphere.

When we take all the people that we want to take to the edge of space, we want them to really be able to experience what astronauts talk about, seeing the Earth in space (and) doing it comfortably, gently and accessibly, the startups other co-CEO Jane Poynter said during a teleconference on Thursday.

Space Perspective has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA and leased a facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Orlando as a future launch pad. Test flights carrying science payloads are expected to begin as soon as next year, with crewed tests planned for 2023 or 2024.

The Spaceship Neptune vessel will be regulated by the Federal Aviation Administrations Office of Commercial Spaceflight like other types of spacecraft, the company said.

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This Startup Wants to Fly Humans to Space In a Hot Air Balloon For Weddings - Observer

One result of the SpaceX Crew Dragons successful flight to NASAs International Space Station is that the Trump for President Campaign has taken on space exploration as an issue. The decision has manifested itself in the production of a campaign ad called Make Space Great Again. However, the ad went sideways when it was discovered that it violated NASA regulations against its employees, including astronauts, appearing in commercials. The ad caused several other problems. It was eventually taken down.

The ad was really inspiring stuff. It started, naturally, with JFKs We Choose to Go to the Moon speech along with scenes from the Apollo 11 moon landing. The ad even showed Walter Cronkite weeping with joy on the air when the big moment happens.

The commercial segued to scenes from the flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon. Trump is seen speaking inspiring words about space exploration. Children look up at the heavens in wonder. American flags appear lots of American flags. An astronaut carries the Stars and Stripes on the surface of Mars.

Usually when space becomes an issue in a major American political campaign it is framed in the negative. Mitt RomneyWillard (Mitt) Mitt Romney'The Senate could certainly use a pastor': Georgia Democrat seeks to seize 'moral moment' Republicans brush off Bolton's bombshells Bipartisan Senate group offers bill to strengthen watchdog law after Trump firings MORE infamously mocked Newt GingrichNewton (Newt) Leroy GingrichMORE for proposing a moon base in the 2012 presidential election.Apollo moonwalker Harrison Schmitt was limited to one term as a United States Senator for allegedly spending too much time on space policy and not enough time on the concerns of his state, asking What on Earth has he done for you lately?

The Make Space Great Again ad was perhaps the first time that space had been used as a positive issue in a presidential campaign. It is as if Richard Nixon had run in 1972 touting the Apollo program as his signature accomplishment instead of winding down the moon program.

Clearly Team Trump has some polling data suggesting that space is a winning issue for the president. The idea makes a lot of sense. Between the coronavirus pandemic and the recent civil unrest sparked by the killing of George Floyd, an African-American man, at the hands of a police officer, the flight of the Crew Dragon to the ISS shines as the only positive event to have been on the news lately.

The Crew Dragons flight has everything, combining the glories of NASA space exploration with the pluck and risk taking of SpaceX, whose CEO, Elon MuskElon Reeve MuskWhy the Trump 'Make Space Great Again' campaign ad went sideways Russia should rethink its rejection of lunar commercialization Hillicon Valley: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram remove Trump campaign tribute to George Floyd | Report details new cyber threats to elections | Reddit founder resigns from board to boost black community MORE, is an immigrant from South Africa. The idea of commercial spacecraft servicing NASA started with George W. Bush, and the Commercial Crew program was developed by Barack Obama. But Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpProtesters tear down, burn statue of Confederate general in DC US attorney in NYC who spearheaded probes of Trump allies refuses to leave as DOJ pushes ouster Trump to host 4th of July event despite pleas from lawmakers to cancel MORE was the president who watched the liftoff of the Falcon 9. The image, included in the ad, speaks more than any reminder of the role of Trumps predecessors.

The Make Space Great Again ad would have complicated NASA Administrator Jim BridenstineJames (Jim) Frederick BridenstineWhy the Trump 'Make Space Great Again' campaign ad went sideways Space dominance by way of Texas SpaceX launches first manned space flight from US in nearly a decade MOREs efforts to make space, especially the Artemis return to the moon program, nonpartisan. Democrats may resent Trumps grabbing the glory and the credit for the Crew Dragon mission. NASA depends on Democratic support to gain the funding necessary for landing the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024.

Some congressional Democrats suspect that the 2024 date for Americas return to the moon is politically motivated, to provide a capstone to a hypothetical second Trump term. The ad would tend to validate that suspicion.

On the other hand, the ad applied a great deal of pressure on Joe BidenJoe BidenSusan Rice calls Trump administration 'racist to its core,' says Senate backers belong in 'trash heap of history' Trump mocks Biden event that practiced social distancing Trump to visit Arizona, Wisconsin next week MORE, the former vice president who is running to replace Trump, to develop his own space policy. Biden has already tried to grab his own share of the credit for the Crew Dragon flight. Team Biden has to develop a space policy that is not only distinct from Trumps but also from Obamas. It cannot be a flat rejection of the Artemis program. Otherwise Trump would hammer him for opposing American exceptionalism.

Unfortunately, whatever positive effect the Make Space Great Again would have had was diluted by the social media firestorm generated by the depiction of the Crew Dragon astronauts and their relatives without their knowledge or consent. Karen Nyberg, wife of one of the Crew Dragon astronauts and a former astronaut herself, was particularly offended and said so on Twitter.

Team Trump will doubtless rework the ad and upload a revised version that complies with NASA regulations. They might consider acknowledging the contributions of both the Bush 43 and Obama administrations to the Commercial Crew program. The acknowledgment would demonstrate a rare example of statesmanship and will provide a selling point for Trump as uncharacteristically magnanimous.

Mark Whittington, who writes frequently about space and politics, has published a political study of space exploration entitled Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon? as well as The Moon, Mars and Beyond. He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner. He is published in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Hill, USA Today, the LA Times, and the Washington Post, among other venues.

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Why the Trump 'Make Space Great Again' campaign ad went sideways | TheHill - The Hill

Only 566 people have ever travelled to space. Sixty-five of them, or about 11.5%, were women.

NASA recently proclaimed it will put the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024. Despite nearly 60 years of human spaceflight, women are still in the territory of firsts.

The first woman in space was cosmonaut Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, who orbited Earth 48 times from June 16 to 18, 1963.

Her flight became Cold War propaganda to demonstrate the superiority of communism. At the 1963 World Congress of Women, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev used Tereshkovas voyage to declare the USSR had achieved equality for women.

Women across the world took heart and dreamed they too might travel to space. Ekaterina Ergardt, a Soviet state farm worker, wrote to Tereshkova:

I am eighty years old. I started to live in the years of the beginning of womens struggle for a life of freedom and equality now the road to space is open for women.

Despite this optimism, it was 19 years before another woman was allowed to venture beyond Earth.

In the United States, women were excluded from space by the restriction that astronauts had to be military test pilots a profession barred to them.

While the first American astronauts known as the Mercury 7 were training in the 1960s, aerospace doctor Randy Lovelace recruited 13 women pilots and put them through the same paces as the male astronauts. The Mercury 13 outperformed the men on many tests, particularly in how they handled isolation.

But NASA wasnt convinced. A congressional hearing was held to investigate whether women should qualify to be astronauts. In her testimony, Mercury 13 astronaut candidate Jerrie Cob said:

I find it a little ridiculous when I read in a newspaper that there is a place called Chimp College in New Mexico where they are training chimpanzees for space flight, one a female named Glenda. I think it would be at least as important to let the women undergo this training for space flight.

She was prepared to take the place of a chimp, if that was the only way to get into space.

Historically, even those like Lovelace who believed women should go to space have seen their role as helping men, acting as a civilising influence, or providing sex.

In one sense the first women on the Moon were Playboy playmates, in the form of pictures jokingly included in the Apollo 12 astronauts checklists. Their names were Cynthia Myers, Angela Dorian, Reagan Wilson, and Leslie Bianchini. The womens bodies were likened to the lunar landscape: both the object of male conquest.

In popular culture in the 1960s, women were often associated with magic and emotion rather than science and technology.

The sitcom I Dream of Jeannie depicted the relationship between a US astronaut and a magical djinn or genie, imaginatively named Jeannie. NASA was an advisor for the series, which mirrored real space events. Jeannie represented seductive oriental femininity in opposition to the strait-laced, masculine, all-American astronauts.

(In the similar sitcom Bewitched, the witch Samantha travelled to the Moon for picnics before she renounced her craft to be a regular housewife.)

The message was clear in popular culture: women needed to stay in the kitchen or the boudoir. These sitcoms are still aired around the world.

By the 1970s, the womens movement had made great strides and NASA had to adapt. The first women were admitted to astronaut training in 1978. Not to be outdone, the USSR rushed more women into its own program.

In 1982 Svetlana Savitskaya visited the Salyut 7 space station, becoming the second woman in space and the first to perform a spacewalk. But she wasnt allowed to forget the nature of womens work: when she arrived, her male colleagues presented her with an apron.

The following year, Sally Ride flew as a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Challenger, becoming the first US woman in space. The first American woman to spacewalk was Kathryn Sullivan in 1995.

In the 21st century, there are still barriers to womens equal participation in space. In March 2019 the first all-woman spacewalk was cancelled because there were not enough medium-sized spacesuits. Astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir subsequently accomplished the feat in October 2019.

Discussing the cancellation, NASA administrator Ken Bowersox made clear the ideal astronaut body is still male. He blamed womens smaller average stature, saying they were less able to reach in and do things a little bit more easily.

Is it womens bodies that are the problem, or a space world built for men? What would space technology designed by and for women look like?

There is a massive gender data gap in space. There has been much less research on the effects of microgravity on womens bodies than there has been for men.

However, women in many ways are ideal astronauts. Physical strength and height are not advantages in microgravity.

Women use less food and oxygen, maintain their weight better on restricted diets, and create less waste. In the words of Sally Ride, weightlessness is a great equaliser.

Womens access to space, not just as astronauts but as users and creators of space services like Earth observation and satellite telecommunications, is still far from equal. But there are signs of progress.

One is the Space4Women program run by the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), which aims to ensure the benefits of space reach women and girls and that women and girls play an active and equal role in space science, technology, innovation, and exploration.

As UNOOSA director Simonetta di Pippo has noted, 40% of the targets of the UNs sustainable development goals rely on the use of space science and technology.

NASAs plan to land a woman on the Moon is another positive sign. On her post-orbit world tour in 1964, Valentina Tereshkova expressed her own desire to go to the Moon, but she never made another spaceflight.

Now aged 83, Dr Tereshkova has had a distinguished career in science and politics and remains a sitting member of the Russian parliament. To see a woman set foot on the lunar surface within her lifetime would truly be a ground-breaking moment.

Alice Gorman, Associate Professor in Archaeology and Space Studies, Flinders University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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The future of space may be female - Cosmos

The recent discovery of a 1940s weather balloon radiosonde wreckage has promoted interest in the little-known realm of space archeology. To learn more about this interesting topic and heritage, Design News reached out to two well-known experts in the field: Dr. Beth O'Leary, Anthropology Professor Emeritus at New Mexico State University (NMSU) and, Dr Alice Gorman, Associate Professor, Flinders University, Adelaide SA. What follows is a portion of that interview.

Design News: What is space archeology? What artifacts do you typically seek?

Researcher retrieves instruments from the remains of early V-2 rockets.(Image Source: NASA V2 WSNM)

Beth O'Leary: Archaeology is the study of the relationships between patterns of material culture (e.g., artifacts, sites and features) and patterns of human behavior. We can study material culture at all times and in all places where humans have been. It can be done on the Earth and off the Earth. My work has focused on the archaeological sites on the Moon, especially Tranquility Base, the Apollo 11 first lunar landing site. As archaeologists in this field, our gaze is mostly focused off Earth, looking into space and on other celestial bodies.

Space Archaeology is the study of material cultural that includes all the material culture in the aerospace and aeronautical realms that relate to the development and support of exoatmospheric realms. It is a huge cultural landscape of materials which are on Earth or have originated there and are now off Earth. Examples can be Voyager 1, now in interstellar space; Vanguard a satellite predicted to be in Earth orbit for another 600 years; and Launch Complex 33 at White Sands Missile Range. So it is a huge range or assemblage of mostly technological components including the radiosonde that was found in Cloudcroft.

Alice Gorman: Space archaeologists are interested in all material culture relating to space exploration. Everything in space at the moment - until there is spacecraft made and launched off-Earth - is connected to places on Earth, like launch sites, tracking antennas, research and test facilities. So, there is an enormous amount to be learnt by studying space sites and artifacts on Earth.

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Space Archeologists Uncover Past and Project Future - DesignNews

Space Park Leicester has won 500,000 towards building a new centre dedicated to exploring deep space.

The new Wolfson Deep Space Centre will foster collaboration between business and universities to look into some of the biggest challenges in space exploration - such as powering longer missions without solar power and getting more spacecrafts into low orbit.

The funding has come from the Wolfson Foundation, set up to support education, science & medicine, the arts & humanities and health & disability.

Work is well underway on the 100 million Space Park Leicester, which is going up close to the National Space Centre.

Estimates suggest it could contribute 750 million a year to the economy, lowering the cost of the manufacturer and launch of satellites and a centre for processing the data they provide.

Led by the University of Leicester, it could eventually lead to 2,500 jobs and attract other high tech businesses to the city.

Dr Nigel Bannister, Associate Professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy, said: Missions to explore the planets are expensive, so they dont happen very often.

For example, our knowledge of the ice giants Uranus and Neptune is based on just a few hours of data taken as the Voyager-2 spacecraft flew past in the 1980s, carrying technology developed in the 1970s.

The Wolfson Deep Space Centre will develop new technologies and methods, and adapt existing ones, to enable smaller, lower cost spacecraft to be used in deep space - to expand our exploration of the solar system, to visit planets more often and in ways not possible before, and provide an opportunity for the UK to become a leader in a new generation of space exploration mission.

Professor Richard Ambrosi, Professor of Space Instrumentation and Space Nuclear Power Systems in the Universitys School of Physics and Astronomy, said: The Wolfson Centre has the potential to transform how we access space for scientific missions.

Through our close links with industry, agencies and international partners, it has the potential to open new paths to low earth orbit, the lunar surface and deeper into the solar system.

We are incredibly grateful to the Wolfson Foundation for their recognition of the world-leading research taking place at the University of Leicester.

Their support, along with that of other partners, will enable us to develop innovative technologies and methods to transform the way we explore space in the future.

Paul Ramsbottom, chief executive of the Wolfson Foundation said: The Wolfson Foundation is a charity that funds buildings and equipment that support the highest quality research.

This is a particularly impressive and intriguing research centre - a leader both nationally and internationally.

We are delighted to be involved and to continue our funding in Leicester.

The first stages of Space Park Leicester will open in 2021, and will bring together academia and industry.

Partners include Leicester City Council and the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership.

The new Deep Space Centre will also work with the National Space Centre and National Space Academy partners in Space Park Leicester to support students and teachers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects at GCSE and A-level, inspiring the next new generation of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs.

Grant Bourhill, chief executive of Science Parks and Interim Director Research & Enterprise at the University of Leicester said: Receiving the award from the Wolfson Foundation is a huge boost and adds to the growing high profile names associated with the Space Park.

The Wolfson funds will allow us to increase our reach within space exploration specifically deep space and foster all-important collaborations between businesses and universities. Crucially it will further boost our activities in lowering the cost to access space.

Since 1955 The Wolfson Foundation has awarded almost 900 million (1.9 billion in real terms) to almost 11,000 projects and individuals across the UK.

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New Deep Space Centre will help business and academia work together to explore the universe - BusinessLive

The United States wants to prevent China and Russia from taking control of space and will look to allies for help, according to a new "Defense Space Strategy" unveiled by the Pentagon on Wednesday.

The strategy document was the first since President Donald Trump announced the creation of the new Space Force military arm in December.

Pictures: In a bid to expand military outreach Trump launches US Space Warfare Command

"China and Russia present the greatest strategic threat due to their development, testing and deployment of counter-space capabilities. China and Russia each have weaponized space as a means to reduce the US and allied military effectiveness and challenge our freedom of operation in space," it said.

The strategy stressed that the US would strive to maintain superiority in space, in particular protecting GPS satellites on which the military, as well as the emergency services, transport and even financial services, depend.

But China and Russia are developing tools for jamming and cyberattacks that directly threaten US satellites, such as electromagnetic weapons and anti-satellite missiles, Stephen Kitay, the deputy assistant secretary of defence for space policy, told reporters.

China is investing billions of dollars in space and puts many satellites in orbit. In 2007, Beijing also successfully tested a surface-to-air missile strike against a satellite, according to the Pentagon.

In 2017, Russia launched into orbit what it described as an inspection satellite capable of diagnosing problems with a Russian satellite, Kitay said. But the satellite has not moved since its launch and is a worryingly short distance from an American satellite, he added.

Russia has also planned test launch of its Angara heavy carrier rocket later this year and is pressing ahead with the development of its new intercontinental ballistic missile, the Sarmat. In 2018, President Vladimir Putin boasted that the Sarmat was one of the new Russian weapons that could render NATO defences obsolete.

"We are still ahead of them, but we are absolutely at risk with the pace that they are developing these capabilities," Kitay said. "And these are very serious threats."

A threat to 'be prepared for'

The Pentagon's strategy document stressed that both China and Russia viewed access to outer space as essential to national and military strategy. Both countries, according to the document, consider space important for modern warfare and the use of weapons in space as a significant means of reducing the military effectiveness of the US and its allies in future wars.

The document also put forth the possibility of a nuclear attack in space. Although the absence of an atmosphere would prevent combustion, the detonation of a nuclear weapon would cause a powerful electromagnetic charge that would destroy the electric circuits of all satellites around it, Kitay said. "That is a threat that we have to potentially be prepared for," he added.

The US, which is reviving its space exploration program, recently celebrated its first crewed spacecraft flight in nearly a decade, sending two astronauts to the International Space Station in a privately-built capsule. The strategy document emphasized that the US would "promote burden-sharing with our allies and partners."

The United States' closest intelligence allies, the "Five Eyes" group (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and the US), have been cooperating since 2014 within the Combined Space Operations initiative. France and Germany joined them in February.

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China, Russia present the most immediate, serious threats to US space operations: Pentagon - WION

Clayton Turner received the Career Achievement Award at the 2020 BEYA STEM Conference for his outstanding contributions to the space program, as well as aeronautics and space research during his 30-year career.

Currently, as center director of NASAs Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, Turner leads a diverse group of about 3,400 scientists, researchers, engineers and support staff, who work to make revolutionary improvements to aviation, expand understanding of Earths atmosphere, and develop technology for space exploration. He assumed the directors position in September 2019.

Turner began his career with NASA in 1990 as a design engineer. Over the next 29 years, he served in various roles leading the agencys engineering contributions to successful flight projects, including the Space Shuttle Program Return-to-Flight, the flight test of the Ares 1-X rocket, the flight test of the Orion Launch Abort System, and the entry, descent and landing segment of the Mars Science Laboratory.

I served in the military, worked as a video game and pinball machine technician, and as a recording engineer, Turner said after receiving his Career Achievement Award at the BEYA STEM Conference in February. Along the way I felt like I was doing what I would do for life. What I did not know was that each of those situations was preparing me for a dream career at NASA that I could not even imagine, he said.

Each one of those positions taught me lessons, Turner added. How to function as part of a team, how to be curious and innovative in creating solutions, and how to encourage the best in people as a servant leader.

Turner said that he also learned by the examples of family members and mentors, what it means to be a blessing to someone, how to love enough to be honest, to forgive fully, and to push the reluctant to take on greater challenges.

I encourage you to find your passion, fulfill your dream, and most important be a part of helping someone else to do the same, he urged.

Turner is active in coaching youth sports and promoting career choice. He earned a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Throughout his career, Turner has received many prestigious awards, including the Presidential Rank Award, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal, and the Paul F. Holloway Non-Aerospace Technology Transfer Award. The presenter of the Career Achievement in Government Award at the BEYA STEM Conference in February was the chairman of the NASA Advisory Council General Lester L. Lyles.

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Career Achievement in Aeronautics and Space Research - BlackEngineer.com

Piano legend Rick Wakeman is gearing up to release a new album later this year a progressive rock album.

Its been a while since the piano legend last released an album of this kind, and fans certainly wont be disappointed with The Red Planet.

The new album is inspired, of course, by the planet Mars. Composed over the past three years in Wakemans traditional way of working, namely by sitting at the piano every day to work on ideas for new music and to hone ideas for future live performances, it was during these sessions that Wakeman was inspired to write the rich material for The Red Planet.

He was further spurred on to record the album, having noted that during his 2019 Grumpy Old Rockstar tour in the USA, request after request would come in asking for keyboard orientated prog rock numbers.

The album theme grew out of Wakemans long time fascination with all things connected to space and space exploration. He is proud to count many astronauts as friends and has a long-standing association with NASA and also the STARMUS events that happen biannually.

Rick Wakeman has already recorded a few albums with space connections, the most recent being Out There and previous to that, 2000AD into the Future and No Earthly Connection. Both Out There and 2000AD into the Future have been sent up in space on NASA missions. Thats not to mention his legendary collaboration with David Bowie on Life on Mars.

The Red Planet is an album of which Wakeman is immensely proud. He notes: It has achieved everything I set out to achieve plus so much more.

Rick appeared on the cover of issue 95 ofPianist.

Main image: Rick Wakeman

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Rick Wakeman to release brand-new album based on the planet Mars - Pianist Magazine

Speculation has increased about the future role of the US, globally, amid the domestic social movements and protests the country is experiencing. Some go as far as to suggest the country might face a secession crisis or some kind of implosion.Such claims seem to be highly exaggerated and very unlikely. Indeed, the current situation seems similar in some ways to the unrest of the mid-1960s. Is it a coincidence, or a historical cycle, that the US is beginning a new chapter in space exploration at the same time as the nation is rocked by major protests, just as it was back then?In the late 1960s, the US was still embroiled in the Vietnam War, and sad events such as the Detroit riots and the Orangeburg massacre were happening around the same time as the first moon landing. Now, as SpaceX gets the US back in the space exploration game by sending two astronauts to the International Space Station, the country is once again facing riots and protests.As happened in the 1960s, social unrest and the conquest of space are once again happening at the same time. It might seem like the two things have nothing in common, but they are highly symbolic of the way the US operates as a country. Even when facing severe internal difficulties it continues to advance and face challenges beyond its borders. It seems to be a defining characteristic of the US that it is able to experience extreme pressure while at the same time conquering new frontiers, fight wars and still find a way to push forward.Tensions often seem to rise in the run-up to a presidential election, which is another way in which the current unrest can be compared with events in the 1960s. The Democratic convention of 1968 was overtaken by protests against the Vietnam War, raising tensions and sparking massive protests throughout the country. It also came soon after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., which highlighted issues of poverty and racism, which are again in the spotlight now.The situations of all communities have obviously improved greatly since the 1960s and poverty has been reduced, and so the intensity of the current protests is not comparable to those that took place five decades ago. However, the glare of social media does intensify how the current situation is perceived by a global audience.This quick comparison of then and now serves to indicate that the approach of the US to international issues will not be affected by its current domestic challenges; it is, rather, guided by strategic decision-making. So, whether or not the US decides to withdraw from a region or shift its focus to another, for example, will not be affected by the protests.In the Middle East, it is clear that despite a strong commitment, the US focus has been shifting for more than 15 years. This was not caused by domestic US issues but by a strategic decision to be less dependent on energy from the region, as well as the necessity of refocusing on the challenges in Asia.This provides a small indication that any suggestion the US might break apart or be forced to disengage from the global scene seems to be misplaced, and that domestic tensions will probably ease after Novembers presidential election. There might be even greater domestic instability in the next five months, like there was at the time of the 1968 election, but the US will undoubtedly pull through.Social challenges and evolving social pacts are not the sole preserve of the US. Similar issues seem to be increasingly emerging around the world and might be linked to the global economy. Here, again, we find some similarities with the 1960s.The immediate aftermath of the Second World War marked the emergence of the consumer market, which unleashed growth on a scale never before seen, especially in the US and Europe. It was a first-acquisition market: Households were buying their first fridge, their first TV, their first car and so on. This marked a period of rapid growth, with low unemployment.The mid-1960s marked the beginning of a plateau and slowdown, with a shift toward a replacement market; most households had everything they needed and now were only replacing items that failed (or, in the case of more privileged individuals, buying a second one).This shift had consequences on a social level, as it was an indication that a peak had been reached. It was accelerated by a major geopolitical incident: The oil embargo of the early 1970s. However, the economic slowdown was not caused by the oil crisis, it was caused by the shift in the dynamics of the market that preceded it. The protests of the late 1960s were, in fact, a precursor to this.So have we now reached a similar situation, with the technology market shifting from first acquisition to replacement? It seems as if almost everyone has a tablet, a mobile phone, a flat-screen TV and most other gadgets, after all, so have we reached peak tech growth? And is COVID-19 the 2020 equivalent of the oil shock that pushed the world into stagflation (persistent high inflation, high unemployment and stagnant demand in an economy)?These changes affect not only the US but all big economies, including China, the EU and, ultimately, the global economy. Yet, just as the oil shock of the 1970s paved the way for new political movements and new business sectors, such as the green economy, it seems that COVID-19 has, in a way, opened the door to the next phase for political movements and businesses.It is unclear, however, whether this phase which includes new technology that is mostly being created in the US and China, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, robotics and unmanned vehicles will, like every industrial revolution before it, create new employment opportunities, or be a destroyer of jobs.

The common denominator in every protest happening globally is that people are demanding a new social and economic pact.

Khaled Abou Zahr

It seems that many people feel the latter is more likely as, beyond other considerations, the common denominator in every protest happening globally is that people are demanding a new social and economic pact.This is entwined with particular domestic demands in each individual country, such as the sovereignty of the state in Lebanon and Iraq; the refocusing of resources for the benefit of the people in Iran; or the greater social protection demanded by the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) in France.However at the heart of every protest lies FOLO, or fear of losing out. This is the fear among many people that the door to the pursuit of prosperity is being closed to them. This is the biggest threat to stability, not only in the US but worldwide, as it is motivating both the populist voices of the right and the cancel culture of the left, exacerbated by social media.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point-of-view

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Social challenges and the shifting global role of the US - Arab News

Jasmine Lawrence works withthe Everyday Robots project from Alphabets X moonshot factory. She thinks theres a lot of unanswered ethical questions about how to use robots and how to think of them: Are they slaves or tools? Do they replace or complement people? As a product manager, she said, confronting some of those questions can be frightening, and it brings up the question of bias and the responsibility of the creator. Lawrence said she wants to be held accountable for the good and bad things she builds.

I want to be called out. I want to be yelled at. I want to be challenged. I want to be encouraged to use renewable energy, or I want to hear from people who are allies and advocates for communities that my personal work might be negatively affecting, she said. I will admit that I have blind spots and Id love to see that from every builder, every inventor, every creator, every student, just that ownership that I might hurt someone. I know I didnt try, Im not being intentional, but it just might happen. So theres a lot of soul searching, and theres a lot of actions that we can truly take.

University of Michigan professor and Laboratory For Progress director Chadwick Jenkins said the idea that keeps him up at night is the thought that robotics wont be used to advance humanity, create more jobs, or aid in space exploration but to make cheaper products and reduce human labor needs. He noted that the Voting Rights Act and Moores law are contemporaries, both coming out in 1965.

[W]hat youve seen is both an exponential increase in our computational power as given by Dennard scaling and Moores law, but youve also seen an exponential increase in incarceration, Jenkins pointed out. Michelle Alexander goes through this in The New Jim Crow, but I think Im worried about the future Jim Crow, which is what I worry were building using AI technology and large scale computing.

Lawrence and Jenkins shared their optimism, concerns, and thoughts about next steps on Tuesday evening as part of a panel discussion about race, robotics, and AI put together by the nonprofit Silicon Valley Robotics. The conversation focused on how to improve experiences for Black students in STEM education and how the tech sector can better reflect the diversity found in the United States. Silicon Valley Robotics managing director Andra Keay acted as moderator of the conversation.

Historic protests in recent weeks against institutional racism and the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and other Black people have led to some police reforms and renewed commitments by tech giants. In STEM education, tech, and AI, progress toward equitable diversity has been especially slow, however.

Also on the panel was Maynard Holliday, cofounder of the Defense Innovation Unit, a team helping the Pentagon with emerging technology that was created during the Obama administration. He wants to see executive compensation directly tied to diversity and inclusion metrics and to hold corporate Boards of Directors accountable for poor progress toward diversity.

He also endorses the idea of an algorithmic bill of rights to give people certain inalienable rights when dealing with artificial intelligence. Such a document would ensure transparency and give people the right to know when an algorithm is being used to make a decision about them, the right to redress if an algorithm makes a mistake, and freedom from algorithmic bias. Laws proposed last year, like the Algorithmic Accountability Act and the data privacy law introduced in Congress, would also require bias testing or outlaw algorithmic bias. The idea of a Hippocratic oath for AI researchers has also come up in the past.

Jenkins wants to see academic institutions that allow staff to take sabbatical to work in industry take the diversity records of those businesses into account.

[T]here are lots of university faculty that take leaves and sabbaticals to work at companies that have not had great representation. I can think of just a few examples, like OpenAI or Googles DeepMind. Maybe universities shouldnt offer sabbatical leaves to faculty that are working at those companies, Jenkins said. Thats a placeholder measure, but at the end [of the day] its about how do you affect the funding that is allowing us to pick winners and losers.

Jenkins also endorsed following the guidance in an open letter from blackincomputing.org published earlier this month. The letter says Black people in machine learning know what its like to be treated differently and acknowledges that the structural and institutional racism that has brought the nation to this point, is also rooted in our discipline. The letter is signed by Jenkins, more than 100 other Black people in AI and computing, and more than 100 allies.

We know that in the same way computing can be used to stack the deck against Black people, it can also be used to stack the deck against anyone, the letter reads. We see AI and big data being used to target the historically disadvantaged. The technologies we help create to benefit society are also disrupting Black communities through the proliferation of racial profiling. We see machine learning systems that routinely identify Black people as animals and criminals. Algorithms we develop are used by others to further intergenerational inequality by systematizing segregation into housing, lending, admissions, and hiring practices.

The letter also contains calls to action and demands to uphold existing civil rights law like the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Title IX of the Education Amendments Act, which ensures no exclusion based on gender; and the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. Jenkins believes enforcing those laws could help address a lack of diversity in education.

[A]t a university, our product is our ideas and people, and we are funded by tuition and public funding, so I think we should try to represent that public and the future people better by shaping that economic incentive, Jenkins said.

Jenkins believes incentive structures within organizations must also change to give people a reason to promote diversity that does not place people who are passionate about diversity at a disadvantage.

I know if I care about diversity and equal opportunity, I will have to make a professional sacrifice to provide the mentorship and effort needed to broaden participation in our field, he said.

Socializing with people in positions of privilege within the existing power structure can be an important part of gaining access to funding, hiring, publishing, citations, and other things associated with advantages in the peer review process. If doing diversity work has no economic incentive or doesnt make a person more attractive for things like hiring, promotion, or tenure, then it will move down that stack and well never really address it.

Monroe Kennedy is an assistant professor in mechanical engineering at Stanford University, where he leads the Assistive Robotics Manipulation laboratory (ARM). On the panel, he spoke from the perspective of an educator in academia, asserting that engaging young people is essential for computer scientists.

I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, and only, I think, educators know this: When you look into a childs eyes and you see that moment, you literally could have changed the direction that that person might go, he said after describing an encounter with a young Black student in a classroom. We who do the research in this space, who do the amazing things that we do, we have a profound responsibility to go into these spaces and change the status quo and realize the power that a few words and more importantly, your time has when it comes to making a difference at that level.

He knows that experience from the other side, too. Being told hes good enough to be a professor someday by graduate advisors neither of whom were Black is what led Kennedy to become a professor.I have self-confidence, but its different when the person that you respect and is in that leadership role looks into your eyes and sees that special thing as well, he said.

Reiterating Lawrences remarks, Kennedy and other Black roboticists on the panel also talked about the importance of starting with discovery of your own bias. Nobody, Lawrence said, is immune to bias.

Im not immune to it just because Im a Black woman. Im not bias-free or discrimination- or judgment-free. So I would say, acknowledge them, discover them, challenge yourself, and recognize where you have those areas of growth, she said.

She also joined multiple members of the panel who stressed that the onus of diversity initiatives should not be placed disproportionately on Black employees who, like her, may want to avoid getting labeled by coworkers as a social justice warrior instead of a thoughtful product manager who believes diversity should be a priority.

Making space for me to solve problems or for us to congregate as minorities I just dont see the progress there, and I do feel the fear of alienating my co-workers or seeming like I have any idea how to fix this or that I have everything going on, she said.

Jenkins said hes supportive of people willing to speak publicly on the need for diversity, but said hes heard personally from people who are unwilling to speak up or participate in discussions around diversity without being labeled as angry. I would say that a lot of Black people in engineering, robotics, [and] AI still have trouble coming up and speaking the truth from their perspective. I think a lot of people still feel like there will be a penalty, they will be labeled as angry or uncivil or worse. Ive heard worse terminology come up, Jenkins said.

Tom Williams also spoke on the panel. Williams is White and a professor at the Colorado School of Mines. In an open letter published online earlier this month titled No Justice? No Robots, Williams and other roboticists in Colorado pledged not to create robots of any kind for police.

We have to not just refuse to build robots that actively cause harm, which seems obvious but I would also argue that we should be refusing to build even benign or socially beneficial robots in collaboration with or for the use of police because of what that action would communicate to our community about our moral principles, he said.

If we choose to build robots for or with the police, regardless of how socially beneficial those robots might be, this action does two things. First, it launders the reputation of the institution of policing. And two, it condones the existence and behavior of that institution, which is deeply problematic, Williams said.

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Black roboticists on racism, bias, and building better AI - VentureBeat