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Space engineers now know how to make oxygen on the moon, and they’re working on perfecting the science so that astronauts can live off the lunar base more easily.Lunar soil, or regolith, is filled with valuable materials, like oxygen, as well as metals like iron, titanium, and lithium. And a team at Sierra Space, a private aerospace and space technologies company, is working on extracting it. Doing so, they say, will help astronauts on the moon to breathe, can help provide fuel for future missions, and is an important step for sustaining life on the moon, or other planets. Weve tested everything we can on Earth now, Brant White, a program manager at Sierra Space, told the BBC. The next step is going to the moon. The team tested the technology during an experiment at NASAs Johnson Space Center over the summer. The process involves a box-like machine that can take in soil, or, when on the moon, regolith, and turn it into a thick, sticky substance. Heating a layer of the substance to over 3,002F (1,650C) and adding reactants, allows oxygen-containing molecules to be released.In September, Sierra Space announced it had successfully completed the testing in a press release. The Apollo program took us to the moon to study and learn. Artemis is taking us back to the moon, this time to stay, Tom Vice, CEO of Sierra Space, said at the time.Vice continued, Our company is focused on building the infrastructure necessary to enable continuous human presence on the lunar surface. This sustainable future begins with developing the core technology and systems that create oxygen in that environment, using local natural resources.The team also says they can extract metals from the moon’s core that will help with building structures on the moon. While bringing oxygen and other materials from Earth is possible, White says that’s extraordinarily costly, and therefore the innovation is a meaningful one. It could save billions of dollars from mission costs, White said. While scientists seem to have perfected the technology on Earth, bringing it to the moon will bring about certain challenges due to the lack of gravity. Dr. Paul Burke, a space physicist and aerospace engineer at Johns Hopkins University, who published a paper on the topic last year, told the BBC that the process of extraction, which involves bubbles of oxygen forming in the scorching hot regolith, will be different in a different atmosphere.It is the consistency of, say, honey,” he explained. “It is very, very viscous. Those bubbles arent going to rise as fast and may actually be delayed from detaching from the electrodes. However, Sierra Space says their technology was designed with low gravity in mind.Other scientists are hard at work on how to extract oxygen and other materials from the moon, too, like Palak Patel, a PhD student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is training to become an astronaut herself. Patel came up with her own experimental molten regolith electrolysis system that does the same thing. She told the BBC it also addresses the gravity issue by using a sonicator which uses soundwaves to ensure the bubbles won’t get stuck. Were really looking at it from the standpoint of, Lets try to minimise the number of resupply missions, she said.
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E-Commerce
Threads, Meta’s X and Bluesky rival, is testing ads with certain brands in the United States and Japan, the company said Friday. “We know there will be plenty of feedback about how we should approach ads, and we are making sure they feel like Threads posts youd find relevant and interesting,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a post. He added that the team will be monitoring the test “before scaling it more broadly.” The ads will show a “Sponsored” label as they appear in users’ feeds. Meta launched Threads in 2023 and has been focusing on growing its user base and keeping people logged on. Now that it has more than 300 million monthly active users (with more than 100 million of those using it daily), better monetization efforts appear to be the next step. After all, social media is just one big way to turn eyeballs into revenue. Meta Platforms, parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is likely to share an update about Threads when it reports fourth-quarter 2024 earnings next week. Its stock on Friday afternoon was trading at near record highs. Responses to Mosseri’s post announcing the test revealed frustration from some users. “You put in ads, there will be no reason to stay….” One user wrote. “Ill leave the minute the ads start rolling by. Guaranteed.”
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E-Commerce
With a swath of anti-DEI and other executive orders spilling out of the White House during the first week of Trumps second term, many companies are likewise changing or rolling back their own DEI programs or policies. That list includes Amazon, Boeing, Lowes, McDonalds, and Meta, many in the wake of a 2023 Supreme Court decision striking down certain affirmative action programs (which can be somewhat related to DEI efforts). However, one big companys shareholders are bucking the trend. Costcos shareholders rejected a proposal from a conservative think tank on Thursday, which aimed to persuade the company to roll back or nix its DEI hiring practices. Its a notable rejection, given that many other large companies have been more or less giving in to similar requests or proposals, and that Costco is the worlds third-largest retailer. In effect, its a sizable win for DEI adherents. The proposal was floated by the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), and argued that Costcos DEI policies were harmful to the company and could open it up to lawsuits. With 310,000 employees, Costco likely has at least 200,000 employees who are potentially victims of this type of illegal discrimination because they are white, Asian, male or straight,” reads a statement in support of the change, presented to shareholders prior to the vote. “Accordingly, even if only a fraction of those employees were to file suit, and only some of those prove successful, the cost to Costco could be tens of billions of dollars.” Costcos Board of Directors had recommended that shareholders vote against the proposal, and shareholders agreedthe proposal was voted down by 98% of them. While that was a win for DEI proponents, an uphill battle remains. This week, Trump issued an executive order aimed at terminating DEI policies. Illegal DEI and DEIA policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system, the executive order reads. Hardworking Americans who deserve a shot at the American Dream should not be stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex. So while Costco shareholders may have chalked up a win for DEI proponents in this case, the larger war is still ongoing.
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E-Commerce
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