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Category Archives: Transhuman News

The Chief’s Thoughts: The Myth of the Libertarian ‘Utopia’ – Being Libertarian

Posted: April 15, 2017 at 5:07 pm

The Chief's Thoughts: The Myth of the Libertarian 'Utopia'
Being Libertarian
It is important for libertarians to consciously and with purpose reject the notion of a 'libertarian utopia,' as it detracts from the substantive practicality of the libertarian political philosophy. I had an extended debate on Facebook recently about ...

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The Chief's Thoughts: The Myth of the Libertarian 'Utopia' - Being Libertarian

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Non-profit Oregon horse ranch turns focus toward human help – CT Post

Posted: at 5:05 pm

Non-profit Oregon horse ranch turns focus toward human help

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) Since 1998, the Butterfly Ranch in Silver Lake, Oregon, has served the communities of northern Lake County trying to save abused, abandoned and neglected animals with the hope of eventually finding them new homes.

Now, the 501c3 nonprofit hopes to turn its attention to rehabilitating humans in need through equine therapy.

A family operation, the 40-acre ranch tucked away northwest of the small rural community in Lake County is a small property with a big heart. It is overseen by Matt and Rachel Wilson with assistance by their daughters.

The Butterfly Ranch has been a new home for many abandoned or neglected animals, specializing in horses for treatment and on-site long-term care, with the hope of providing a second chance at a loving home.

Despite the ever-present demand for this service, the ranch operated at a loss, the majority of its roughly $42,000 estimated annual operating costs coming directly out of the family's private resources.

Throughout its operations, the Wilsons, who are also accomplished musicians and artists, have tried to expand its activities to garner a more rounded interest such as hosting clinics, youth camps and summer arts and music camps. The couple also comprise a popular acoustic folk duo, Wampus Cat, and tour extensively across the West Coast while also hosting an annual Lake County music festival fundraiser The Wildhorse Opry.

Their music act is a symbiotic relationship with the Butterfly Ranch's purpose, each concert an opportunity to educate and fund-raise for the ranch's life-saving operations.

The duo recently released a new music video for their single, "Bathsheba," filmed on location at the Butterfly Ranch, for an upcoming CD release this summer.

HORSE AND RIDER REHABILITATION

Now the Butterfly Ranch plans to take a new direction, modifying its focus as rehabilitation for people through animal-related activities.

Returning to its original mission statement, the ranch hopes to focus its efforts on working with families and individuals who have suffered trauma or are at-risk, pairing them with skill-building opportunities by working directly with horses.

Although neither are certified counselors, Rachel Wilson is working toward a masters in psychology.

Equine therapy has been used effectively in drug rehabilitation programs as a way to focus and recover from mental and physical trauma, a path the Wilsons hope to follow as well.

"We want to work with individuals who may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, have failing marriages or come from broken families and help them reconnect through working with horses," said Rachel Wilson.

"It would also be a skill-building setting, where people with community service requirements or at-risk teens and others who want to get back to nature, can work with wild horses outside of the typical aspects found at a general youth roping school or youth camp. It has great rehab potential, reconnecting and rejuvenating relationships where people depend on equine for therapy."

To achieve this goal, Wilson is preparing grant submissions totaling $2.7 million to construct indoor and outdoor riding facilities complete with barn and lodge to house a fully-operational equine therapy facility.

Wilson hopes that with grant support and sponsorships, the facility could be operational as early as next year. The lodge would also be available for weddings, business conferences, artisan getaways, clinics and other events.

MIXING THE OUTDOORS WITH THERAPY

The ranch hosts an annual summer teepee camp, dubbed Cow Camp Silver Lake, allowing camping grounds in Native American style teepees with therapy trail rides and basic amenities provided. The Wilsons plan to install a solar-powered shower and outdoor arena this year to add to the camping experience.

"We have tried to involve the community in so many different ways," said Wilson. "To be able to share horses, we offered up so many different things that our personal skills could provide. Now we're staying focused on what we love and what we feel we should be doing by providing therapy to people through horses."

Equine therapy has proven effective at various rehabilitation facilities across the country as an alternative to traditional medical detoxification practices. It is purely a mental and motor-skill practice requiring close concentration while establishing a relationship with an animal that cannot otherwise communicate. Rather than verbal skills the connection required with the animal is based on different skills not normally utilized in human relationships.

"There's something very calming about having a conversation with a silent partner, someone that does not verbalize," explained Wilson.

"Working with a horse requires disconnecting from verbal communication, it forces people to be silent and observe. It takes people out of the anxieties of the world and various PTSD triggers, removing the comfort zone and placing a person in new surroundings. It's not based on emotions, but drawing beyond normal behavior."

Wilson noted that the extensive mental focus and symbiotic partnership required to complete specific tasks with a therapeutic equine partner brings on a quietness to a near-meditative state, withdrawing a person from the stress of the normal world and focusing only on the animal. This results in a greater sense of success when tasks are achieved, having a tangible positive impact on human emotions and behavior.

SILENT COMMUNICATION

"Inevitably the animal connects with the person, and they gain a silent confidant that they can grow very attached to, building a trust that may otherwise be broken which has led to that individual's PTSD, pain and inability to communicate," said Wilson.

"That person can now find new ways to trust by connecting with an animal, and a horse will do that every time. They want to have the motivation to accomplish another task, whereas before depression or anger may be so deep that there is a blockage in performing any task. "

Wilson reiterated that they are very careful to match a person with the right horse to create what she calls a very real and spiritual connection between human and animal.

"There is a great power in horses, people gain self-esteem and their emotional core begins to reconstruct with that cornerstone of trust," added Wilson.

"People who have been abused start seeing their ability to assert themselves in a positive healthy way when they have to be a leader. It makes for positive giving and desire to achieve a goal. We can really see in abused neglected and broken souls, especially women and children; give them a horse and they start to soften and self-esteem grows and suddenly they're able to communicate without aggression or fear."

While the Butterfly Ranch's transition to its new direction doesn't mean a complete shutdown of its animal rescue and rehab operations, that will be curtailed going forward somewhat to the extent that current facilities allow.

While grants and sponsors are being pursued, Matt and Rachel intend to focus on music touring more extensively in the near future as a fundraising and education effort toward the re-purposed concept for the nonprofit ranch.

___

Information from: Herald and News, http://www.heraldandnews.com

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Non-profit Oregon horse ranch turns focus toward human help - CT Post

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Elon Musk Just Said That Tesla’s Making An Electric 18-Wheeler and Pickup Truck – Futurism

Posted: at 5:05 pm

In Brief Today, Elon Musk revealed that a host of new vehicles will be coming from Tesla. These next-level forms of transport will reduce environmental costs and significantly improve safety on the road with their AI capabilities. Keep On Trucking

Today, Elon Musk officially confirmed that a seriously next level Tesla semi-truck is coming this September. He also praised the Tesla team for doing an amazing job, and he mentioned a convertible roadster and a pickup truck that should be to market in just18 to 24 months.

This development is really no surprise to many, as rumors and speculations have long suggested that Tesla trucks were on the way. Still, the confirmation reveals that Musk is serious about disrupting the transportationindustry.

Its easy to see why hed be feeling pretty proud of the Tesla team at this point. They company is now the most valuable automaker in the U.S.. But keep in mind, the comparison only goes so far, as Tesla is not just an automaker. Rather, its a one-stop shop for sustainable energy and innovation.

The work they do at the gigafactory goes beyond designing cars. The company is working on energy storage with the Tesla Powerwall. They are working on solar roofs with Panasonic. And this is just the beginning. As explained in their mission statement:

The gigafactory will also produce battery packs intended for use in stationary storage, helping to improve robustness of the electrical grid, reduce energy costs for businesses and residences, and provide a backup supply of power.

In short, Musks vision is to accelerate the worlds transition to sustainable energy. As a result, all of Teslas efforts are focused on developing the company toinnovate new ways to produce and use renewable energy.

To that end, Musk has identified semi trucks as a critical focal point for safety and energy, and rightly so. Heavy-duty semi trucks that are electric will reduce environmental costs while increasing safetyespecially with new AI technologies on board.

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Elon Musk Just Said That Tesla's Making An Electric 18-Wheeler and Pickup Truck - Futurism

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NASA Says Saturn’s Moon Has The Ingredients Necessary For a Habitable Environment – Futurism

Posted: at 5:05 pm

A New Discovery

NASA just releasedevidence that a liquid water ocean that could support life lies beneath the icy surface of Saturns moon Enceladus. The agency reports that the world has many of the ingredients needed for a habitable environment.

Thanks to Cassini, organic chemicalscarbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfurwhich are the basic building blocks of life, were seen spraying forth from the tiger stripe cracks on the cold surface of the moon.

Additionally, in thepaper published in Science, which comes from researchers on theCassini mission, it was revealed that molecular hydrogen, which NASA notes, could potentially provide a chemical energy source for life, is pouring into the ocean onEnceladus viahydrothermal ventson the seafloor.

In an interview with The Washington Post,Peter Girguis, a deep sea biologist at Harvard who is not associated with the research, noted the significance in relation to discovering microbial life: For a microbiologist thinking about energy for microbes, hydrogen is like the gold coin of energy currency. If you had to have one thing, one chemical compound, coming out of a vent that would lead you to think theres energy to support microbial life, hydrogen isat the top of that list.

Confirmation that the chemical energy for life exists within the ocean of a small moon of Saturn is an important milestone in our search for habitable worlds beyond Earth, addedLinda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a NASA press release. We now know that Enceladus has almost all of the ingredients you would need to support life as we know it on Earth, she continued.

To clarify, water, which supports and cradles life on Earth, isabundant in our solar system. As University of Michigan planetary scientist Sushil Atreya told Scientific American, water is necessary for life-as-we-know-it for a number of important reasons: Liquid water acts as a solvent, as a medium and as a catalyst for certain types of proteins, and those are three main things that allow life to flourish.

Indeed, everywhere that we find water on Earth, we find lifeand enough water appears to be on this world, and in the proper conditions, that it seems likely that we will find alien life there.

The way the jets react so responsively to changing stresses on Enceladus suggests they have their origins in a large body of liquid water, Christophe Sotin co-author and Cassini team member said in the NASA release. Liquid water was key to the development of life on Earth, so these discoveries whet the appetite to know whether life exists everywhere water is present (pun, probably, intended).

Although we cant detect life, weve found that theres a food source there for it. It would be like a candy store for microbes, said Hunter Waite, lead author of the Cassini study.

In a statement, Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASAs Science Mission Directorate at Headquarters in Washington, succinctly summarized the significance of the find: This is the closest weve come, so far, to identifying a place with some of the ingredients needed for a habitable environment. These results demonstrate the interconnected nature of NASAs science missions that are getting us closer to answering whether we are indeed alone or not.

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NASA Says Saturn's Moon Has The Ingredients Necessary For a Habitable Environment - Futurism

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Get Ready: Elon Musk Is Releasing Details on His Plan to Unite Our … – Futurism

Posted: at 5:05 pm

Details Coming Monday

A few weeks ago, details leakedthat Elon Musk had backed a brain-computer interface venture founded to allow humans to keep up with the advancements made in machine intelligence. The company Neuralink is still in the earliest stages of development. To that end,we dont know very much about it (at all).

However, we arent entirely in the dark. We know a few things. For example, we know thatthe companys ultimate goal is to develop a device (a brain-computer interface, to be exact) that could be implanted into the brain in order to augment (see: improve) human intelligence. It could allow us to store memories externally, learn new skills and languages in seconds, and bring an end to diseases like Alzheimers. Of course, such work will take time. But Musk hopes to expedite this development through his work.

Shortly after details leaked, Musk confirmed his plan in atweet (he is well known for unveiling ideas and key company details via short Twitter posts). In this same tweet, he also promised more details details which would be coming in April courtesy of the website Wait But Why. Must stated, Long Neuralink piece coming out on Wait But Why in about a week. Difficult to dedicate the time, but existential risk is too high not to.

Today, Wait But Why author, Tim Urban, announced that his36,000-word post (which he affectionately refers to as the 800-pound hippo) is scheduled to be released Monday, April 17.

Urban also wrote an update on his website noting that the full information would soon be here. He stated: The post will be up Monday 4/17. Its long. Im me its shi**y. Just between you and I, we seriously doubt that last part.

In case you werent aware, Musk isnt the only one concerned about the future of humanity. Considering the rate at which AI research is accelerating, the fears seem justifiable. Like Musk, Braintree founder Bryan Johnsons company, Kernal, is currently working on a neuroprosthesis that can mimic, repair, and improve human cognition.

Being able to systematically and intelligently work with our neural code is the most consequential and pressing opportunity in the world today. All that we are, all that we do, all that we become will be a result of our progress, explained Johnson in an interview with Futurism.

Notably, while advancements like those that Johnson and Musk are working on could allow us to merge with machines, they could also allow us to literally program (or reprogram) our neural code, which would allow us to transform ourselves in ways that we cant even imagine.

In short, we could alter our brains and our cognition in order to engineerourselves into the people that we want to be. The experts are ready. The question is, are humans prepared to adopt the technology?

Bryan Johnson is an investor in Futurism; he does not hold a seat on our editorial board or have any editorial review privileges.

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Skype Can Now Translate Your Voice Calls Into 10 Different – Futurism – Futurism

Posted: at 5:05 pm

In Brief Microsoft, through Skype and its other translation services, is making it even easier for people to share information across the globe. They recently added Japanese to the list of ten languages its software can translate in real-time. Breaking Barriers

With the advent of the internet, there are fewer barriers to communication than ever before. Distance has basically become negligible in terms of talking to each other. Ongoing developmentshave continued to make it even easier. Now, in many cases, language is no longer a barrier.

Microsoft and Skype have added another language to it real-time translation service. The software giant announced last week that it is adding Japanese as its tenth language. The other languages are English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, and Russian. The services are available on Skype as well as all Microsoft Translation services, such as Microsoft Translator Live.

Other services offered by Skype allow for similar communicationsbarrier-busting. It also offers text translation of more than 60 languages.

These innovations are not just useful for social or business purposes. More scientists are collaborating across the globe to further our understanding of the world around us and the universe beyond us. Increased functionality from services such as those provided by Microsoft and Skype will allow such collaboration to be even more widely, and readily, available.

The spirit of international collaboration is one of the defining features of the International Space Station. Multiple nations are working together to study space in hopes of unlocking all of its mysteries.cc

Technology has a trend of democratizing the field in which they are applied. For example, SpaceXs recent launch of the first refurbished rockets is going to play an immense part in widening the field in terms of who will be able to launch people and technology into space.

Blockchain technology also has the potential of being a revolutionary step toward breaking down all international barriers. The tech could help to completely root out corruption and allow the world to work together safely, reliably, and with unprecedented transparency.

So whether its direct language translation, cheaper spaceflight, or revolutionary record keeping, technology is one of the greatest tools humanity has to unite us all.

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Skype Can Now Translate Your Voice Calls Into 10 Different - Futurism - Futurism

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Space Station Crew Returns to Earth Safely on Soyuz Capsule – Space.com

Posted: April 13, 2017 at 11:26 pm

Three space fliers have safely touched down on Earth after almost six months aboard the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko all arrived at the station togetherfor Expedition 49/50 mission in October 2016, and they reached solid ground this morning (April 10) at 7:20 a.m. EDT (1120 GMT) in Kazakhstan. They spent 173 days in space during their flight.

"It was a textbook touchdown," NASA spokesperson Rob Navias said during live NASA TV commentary after the landing. "The Soyuz was pulled by its main parachute onto its side, but the crew was quickly extracted and are in good shape."

Those monitoring the launch at Mission Control, and on NASA TV, had "some of the most spectacular video we've ever seen" of the capsule's journey down and landing on the cloudless steppe, Navias said about 14 minutes of footage, from just after the chutes deployed to touchdown.

Kimbrough transferred command of the space station to NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson yesterday (April 9) before the trio left, making her the first woman tocommand the space station twice. (She was also the space station's first female commander, in 2008.)

The Russian Soyuz capsule carrying the International Space Station's Expedition 50 crew lands safely in the steppes of Kazakhstan on April 10, 2017. The capsule returned NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko to Earth after 173 days in space.

After closing the hatch to the Russian Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft near 1 a.m. EDT (0500 GMT) this morning, the three undocked from the station about 3 hours later. Next, the spacecraft fired its main engine for 4.5 minutes starting at 6:28 a.m. EDT (1028 GMT) to slow down by 420 feet (128 meters) per second and finally leave orbit to return to Earth in all, a much shorter journey than their two-day trip up to the station on that spacecraft last year. (The Soyuz can reach the station in as quickly as 6 hours, but on recent launches the arriving crewmembers have been testing features of the upgraded MS-02 spacecraft, and so took the longer route.)

Ryzhikov, who has now completed his first-ever space mission, commanded the Soyuz. Expedition 49/50 marked the second space missions for both Kimbrough and Ryzhikov. The three space travelers shared their ride home with science samples and other cargo along with personal items, according to NASA's space station blog.

Still on board, Whitson, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy won't be alone for long: NASA's Jack Fischer and Russia's Fyodor Yurchikhin are set to launch April 20 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The two were monitoring this landing from the Cosmodrome, Navias said during the broadcast.

A Soyuz space capsule hangs beneath its parachute while returning Expedition 50 crewmembers Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko to Earth in Kazakhstan on April 10, 2017. The landing ended a 173-day mission for the crew.

Kimbrough recently performed two spacewalks one with Pesquet and one with Whitson to prepare the space station to install a second International Docking Adaptor, which will one day let commercial vehicles dock with the space station. Right now, only the Soyuz can bring humans to the station and dock.

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough (left) and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov (center) and Andrey Borisenko (right) are seen seated shortly after landing their Soyuz spacecraft on the steppes of Kazakhstan on April 10, 2017. The trio spent 173 days in space during their Expedition 50 mission.

Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her@SarahExplains.Follow us@Spacedotcom,FacebookandGoogle+. Original article onSpace.com.

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Space Station Crew Returns to Earth Safely on Soyuz Capsule - Space.com

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St Nicolas CE Junior School pupils win International Space Station competition – Newbury Weekly News Group

Posted: at 11:26 pm

PUPILS at St Nicolas CE Junior School were over the moon after winning a competition to have their idea for an experiment run on the International Space Station.

The group of 11 children, dubbed The Kepler Kids, suggested using the stations computers to measure the magnetic force of Earth while in orbit after entering the European Astro PI Challenge.

The idea was shortlisted for the international competition meaning the seven- to 11-year-olds were then asked to write the computer code for the experiment, with the help of a programme provided by boffins at the ESA (European Space Agency).

And, after again impressing the ESA with the written code, their experiment was selected to run on the ISS along with four others from UK schools.

Deputy headteacher at St Nicolas CE Junior School, Kath Burns, said The Kepler Kids (named after the Kepler Space Observatory itself named after 17th-century astronomer Johannes Kepler) had worked exceptionally hard for the competition.

She said: The judges felt that our Mission 2 idea was one of the most original ideas they had seen, and we were congratulated on our amazing work.

It involved using the magnetometer, attached to the Pi, to measure the magnetic force of Earth, while orbiting Earth.

The children have coded the experiment which will run or fly on the International Space Station, by May 15 an achievement that many scientists can only dream of.

Its a unique and amazing prize.

The ESA received 180 entries from across the UK alone. Hopefully, this is the beginning of further achievements for our future top scientists.

The code will be run on the ISS before May 15, under the supervision of ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

The data collected will then be beamed back to the group to analyse at school.

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St Nicolas CE Junior School pupils win International Space Station competition - Newbury Weekly News Group

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UAE to Send Astronauts to International Space Station, Launch National Space Programme – SpaceWatch Middle East (press release) (subscription) (blog)

Posted: at 11:26 pm

H.H. Sheikh Mohamed in Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander (centre left) and H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai (centre right), at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, Dubai. Photograph courtesy of the Dubai Media Office.

Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander, launched on April 12, 2017, the UAE National Space Programme and approved the programmes strategy. The programme, which will be executed by young Emirati cadres, was announced on Wednesday during a visit by Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed to the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).

Crown Prince of Dubai HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs H.H. Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also attended the tour that also included the launch of a satellite manufacturing complex as part of the MBRSC. The move is part of the UAEs ambitious space programme as it aims to reach Mars in 2021 and build the first human settlement on the Red Planet in 2117.

The Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) is set to launch the Hope spacecraft in July 2020 on a seven-month journey to the Red Planet. The UAE National Space Programme also includes a new programme to prepare Emiratis astronauts. Our national space programme is a solid platform to prepare Emirati cadres specialized in aerospace sciences, and qualify future generations that are able to contribute to humanitys knowledge, Mohammed bin Rashid said. We plan to send the first Emirati astronaut to space over the next few years, and starting from today, we are preparing the first Emirati and Arab astronaut to join scientists at the International Space Station.

Sheikh Mohammed said that the UAE space programme is a message to the Arab world that our sons are able to compete on the global level. Our objective is to show the world that we are able to contribute to humanity through quality knowledge and scientific discoveries, he said.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed said that the UAE is making a new national leading achievement every day on all levels thanks to the leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the vision of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid. We are very proud of Emirati youth playing a pivotal role in shaping an ambitious future for their own country and pursuing higher educations in the field of science and knowledge, he said.

Present during the tour were Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, and Minister of State for Defence Affairs, Mohammed Ahmad Al Bowardi, along with senior government officials.

Original published at: https://spacewatchme.com/2017/04/uae-send-astronauts-international-space-station-launch-national-space-programme/

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UAE launches space program to boost colonization of Mars by 2021 – RT

Posted: at 11:26 pm

The UAE has launched an ambitious space program aimed at sending a probe to Mars by 2021 and settling the Red Planet by 2117. The kingdoms rulers see the hi-tech venture as a sign of hope and inspiration for the entire Arab world.

Until recently, only a handful of leading world powers funded and promoted space exploration programs, including the US, Russia, China, Japan and the EU. Other nations, especially those in the Middle East, have long been excluded from global scientific mainstream, but now the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has joined the race.

READ MORE: Well settle Mars by 2117: UAE enters race to put humans on Red Planet (PHOTOS)

On Wednesday, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, prime minister of the UAE and emir of Dubai, and Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, inaugurated the national space program at the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC), local media reported.

Part of the ambitious, far-fetched program is the construction of a first-of-its-kind scientific city that would imitate the atmosphere and other conditions on Mars, including zero gravity, according to Khaleej Times. The new facility is also to include a museum of Mars and specialized laboratories.

The national space program should give boost to the UAEs Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) an ambitious project aimed at making the kingdom the first Arab country to reach Mars by 2021. In February of this year, the UAEs prime minister said that the EMM is also studying the possibility building the first inhabitable human settlement on Mars within the next 100 years, settling the Red Planet by 2117.

Aside from the long-term projects, the UAEs space program will train astronauts from the Emirates and the Arab world for prospective Mars missions.

Our national Space program constitutes a solid ground to create Emirati human resources specialized in space science, and aims to rehabilitate a generation that will be able to add to human knowledge, Sheikh al-Maktoum said at the opening ceremony

He added that the UAE will send its first astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS) within the next few years, becoming the fastest and more capable country to face such a challenge.

The countrys scientists are already working on the Mars Hope, an indigenous spacecraft orbiter which is to study the Red Planets atmosphere and climate. The mission, expected to be launched in the summer of 2020 and reach Mars in seven to nine months, will study how the lower and upper layers of the atmosphere interact with each other, according to the official website.

Major scientific powerhouses are also planning space missions that should reach Mars by 2020. ExoMars, a joint Russia-EU astrobiology project, includes landing a rover on the Martian surface to search for signs of past and present life on the planet. NASAs Mars 2020 is intended to assess its past habitability, as well as seek for accessible geological materials, while the 2020 Chinese Mars mission will demonstrate Beijings technological capacity.

SpaceX, led by exuberant Elon Musk, also wants to send its Dragon 2 capsule to the Red Planet by 2020 to blaze the way for Musks mind-boggling plans to colonize Mars. Musk, an avid entrepreneur and innovator, believes that settling the Red Planet is the best way for the humankind to survive if an asteroid, global warming, or a super volcano destroys civilization.

It is yet unclear if the UAE, an oil-rich but tiny country, can catch up. Some officials have indicated that the space program is more of political than scientific importance.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid al-Maktoum mentioned on several occasions that this mission is not about reaching Mars, the Mars missions project manager, Omran Sharaf, told Gulf News.

Its beyond that Its about taking the whole [Arab] region and making them [Arabs] active in generating knowledge, he said.

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Page 1,901«..10 20..1,9001,9011,902 1,903..1,910 1,920..»

Category Archives: Transhuman News

The Chief’s Thoughts: The Myth of the Libertarian ‘Utopia’ – Being Libertarian

Non-profit Oregon horse ranch turns focus toward human help – CT Post

Elon Musk Just Said That Tesla’s Making An Electric 18-Wheeler and Pickup Truck – Futurism

NASA Says Saturn’s Moon Has The Ingredients Necessary For a Habitable Environment – Futurism

Get Ready: Elon Musk Is Releasing Details on His Plan to Unite Our … – Futurism

Skype Can Now Translate Your Voice Calls Into 10 Different – Futurism – Futurism

Space Station Crew Returns to Earth Safely on Soyuz Capsule – Space.com

St Nicolas CE Junior School pupils win International Space Station competition – Newbury Weekly News Group

UAE to Send Astronauts to International Space Station, Launch National Space Programme – SpaceWatch Middle East (press release) (subscription) (blog)

UAE launches space program to boost colonization of Mars by 2021 – RT

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