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Elon Musk’s SpaceX hired to decommission International Space Station
NASA has contracted Elon Musk’s SpaceX to decommission the International Space Station (ISS) once it has been retired by guiding it into the Pacific Ocean early next decade.
The £668 million ($843m) contract involves creating a vehicle capable of safely de-orbiting the 430-tonne ISS, which has been operational since 2000.
While the ISS remains structurally sound, planning for its disposal is essential to prevent uncontrolled re-entry. NASA’s plan involves using a de-orbit vehicle, a ‘tugboat,’ to ensure that the station burns safely in the atmosphere, targeting Point Nemo, a remote Pacific Ocean location.
The focus will then shift to commercial space stations and the lunar Gateway project — a platform that will orbit the moon.
Heathrow Airport plunged into chaos after a British Airways IT failure
A British Airways (BA) IT failure left passengers stranded at the UK’s busiest airport without their luggage.
The glitch caused flight cancellations, delays, and long queues, with some travellers missing connections and some even suffering panic attacks. Passengers expressed frustration on social media, describing a lack of information and long waits.
A British Airways spokesperson apologised, noting that the issue was resolved and that extra staff had been deployed to return bags quickly. A statement on X (Twitter) from Heathrow Airport’s account said: “Earlier, British Airways experienced a technical issue with their Allocation System; this has now been resolved.”
As of yesterday, flights were departing from Heathrow Airport with an average delay of 19 minutes. Heathrow Airport has confirmed that no other airlines were affected by the IT failure.
TikTok offered the US government a “kill switch” to address data protection concerns
TikTok revealed that the US government was offered a “kill switch” to address data protection and national security concerns.
This switch allowed the government to shut down the platform if it didn’t adhere to specific rules, such as sharing US users’ data with the Chinese government.
This offer was part of TikTok’s effort to prevent a legislative ban unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divested.
TikTok claims the government ceased serious settlement talks after 2022 and ignored their proposals, including the “kill switch” and a draft National Security Agreement.
The US government maintains that divestment is essential for national security. The US Court of Appeals will hear related lawsuits in September.
Amazon is secretly developing an AI chatbot to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT
Business Insider sources reveal that the e-commerce giant is reportedly developing a generative AI chatbot named Metis to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
According to internal documents obtained by the online publication, it will be accessed via a web browser and powered by an advanced AI model called Olympus, an enhanced version of Amazon’s Titan model.
Metis aims to provide smart, conversational answers, share response sources, generate images, and suggest follow-up questions using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).
Amazon claims this technique allows Metis to deliver more up-to-date information than other chatbots. Additionally, Metis will function as an AI agent capable of automating complex tasks.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently said that the company’s AI initiatives were expected to drive the business towards “tens of billions of dollars” in sales over the next few years.
Waymo makes its self-driving taxis available to everyone in San Francisco
The Alphabet-owned autonomous driving tech company has made its self-driving taxis available to everyone in San Francisco.
This marks a significant milestone in Waymo’s operations since the California Public Utilities Commission has granted Waymo permission to operate commercial driverless services 24/7 in the city despite complaints that the self-driving taxis were causing traffic chaos.
Previously, riders had to sign up on a waitlist, but now, anyone can use the service via the Waymo app. This move aims to gain broader public acceptance for autonomous vehicles.
Nearly 300,000 people have signed up for Waymo rides despite some setbacks and scrutiny. The company operates around 300 self-driving taxis in San Francisco, with additional fleets in Phoenix and Los Angeles.
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