Space Force to launch eighth X-37B spaceplane flight next month
'These experiments come as part of a broader push across the U.S. Space Force to uphold the safety and security of the space domain by enhancing the resilience and flexibility of U.S. orbital systems,' the service said in a statement Monday announcing the launch.
The spacecraft, built by Boeing, has served as a testbed for the Defense Department and NASA since its first flight in 2010. While not an operational spacecraft, the mini space shuttle is used to fly experiments and test maneuvers and operational concepts in orbit. Much of that work has been classified, but the Space Force in recent years has offered more insight into the platform's missions.
Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman discussed the forthcoming mission, which will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter.
'It's about making our joint force more connected, more resilient and ready to operate in the face of any challenge,' Saltzman said. 'That's how America's Space Force secures our nation's interests in, from and to space.'
For the communications experiment, the service will coordinate with commercial satellite networks in low Earth orbit, about 1,200 miles above the Earth's surface, to demonstrate laser communications — a technology that enables larger amounts of data to be transmitted more securely than traditional radio frequencies.
'The use of proliferated relay networks enhances the resilience of U.S. space architectures by ensuring that they contain no single point of failure,' the Space Force said.
The quantum sensing demonstration will feature the highest performing quantum inertial sensor that's ever been used in space, according to the service. The sensor is designed to support navigation in orbit without GPS or other satellite networks.
'This technology is useful for navigation in GPS-denied environments and consequently will enhance the navigational resilience of U.S. spacecraft in the face of current and emerging threats,' the service said. 'As quantum inertial sensors would be useful for navigation in cislunar space, they additionally promise to push the technological frontiers of long-distance space travel and exploration.'
The Fifth Space Operations Squadron at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, DC, conducts X-37B operations and experiments in partnership with the Space Rapid Capabilities Office.
The service didn't describe the length of the mission or list any other experiments. It's last X-37B flight flew for 434 days, returning in March of this year. Among that mission's milestones was the demonstration of a series of aerobraking maneuvers that allowed the space vehicle to change orbits using minimal fuel.
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The Verge
28 minutes ago
- The Verge
BougeRV's portable solar fridge is quietly annoying
Keeping humans alive at home in post-agrarian societies requires refrigeration. Meat bags on the move must either load up a cooler with ice for a soggy weekend barbecue or do the evolved thing and use a 12V fridge instead. The $509.99 battery-powered BougeRV CRD2 40 refrigerator and freezer combo I've been testing for the last few weeks runs for almost 12 hours on its itty-bitty battery. It charges from a wall outlet or a 12V socket found in cars and portable power stations. It even accepts 100W of direct solar input to stay charged in sunny climates. And if this 40-liter (43-quart) model is too small, it's also available in larger 49-liter and 58-liter capacities. BougeRV gets the basics right, but with lots of little annoyances along the way. 6 Verge Score The CRD2 40 is what you choose when rugged portability is a must. It can easily find a home inside boat, RV, or the trunk or backseat of a car and features lots of tie-down points to keep the 28.7 x 18.14 x 17.24in (730 x 461 x 438mm) fridge from becoming a 41.9lb (19kg) projectile. And once you arrive, it can be moved about with help from its spring-loaded side handles, telescoping arm, and chunky wheels. Importantly, the two cooling compartments — one large (32.5 liters) and one small (7.2 liters) — are covered by a pair of doors that can be reversed for easy opening from either side. This adaptability is fantastic for vanlifers or anyone else with limited space for such a large appliance. And because it doesn't try to do too much — unlike EcoFlow and Bluetti's 3-in-1 ice-making fridges — BougeRV's combo unit maximizes available capacity for food and beverages. Even the smaller CRD2 40 fits a lot; enough for me and my wife to stay away from the grid comfortably for about a week when using the large compartment as a fridge and the small space as a freezer. I did all my testing at FDA-recommended temperatures of -18 degrees Celsius (0 degrees Fahrenheit) for the freezer and 4C (39F) for the fridge. Cooldown from room temperature of 22C (72F) to 4C took 17 minutes for the small compartment, or 37 minutes for the large. It took 79 minutes to bring the small space down to -18C and 101 minutes for the large side. That's pretty slow, but the CRD2 40 is also reasonably quiet. At its loudest, I measured 38dB during cooldown making it about as loud as a small home theater projector. That's far below the 45dB BougeRV quotes on the spec sheet (perhaps the larger CRD2 models are noisier?) and quieter than other combo fridges in this space. While there was the occasional audible whoosh of liquid, it otherwise didn't emit any odd gurgles or scratching sounds I've heard from other portable fridges. The compressor turns on and off every 10 minutes or so with a slight rattle and then runs for 10 minutes to maintain the temperature. The fully charged 173Wh battery lasted 11.5 hours when running in the most economical modes, so long as the compartments were cooled down to -18C/4C ahead of time. That runtime dropped to just six hours when the battery had to start at room temperature. That's not particularly efficient, and likely has to do with BougeRV skimping on insulation. For my insulation test, I brought the large compartment down to -18C and shut off the power. After one hour, it already read -4C, 0C after an hour and a half, and 10C at three hours in a room reading 22C. I never opened the lid. That's not very good compared to other portable fridges and suggests that this fridge will have to work hard in warmer climates to keep your food safe. Temperature readings on the BougeRV display and app were consistent with my reference thermometer in the smaller compartment. However, my thermometer read -14C, not the -18C reported by BougeRV, when placed at the bottom of the large compartment. This likely has to do with BougeRV's sensor placement and the poor air circulation that's typical of this class of fridges. So, BougeRV gets all the important things right, but I was disappointed by the company's inattention to detail and general lack of care. For starters, the simplistic Bluetooth app labels the two compartments 'L' and 'R' (left and right?) instead of 'L' and 'S' for large and small, like you see printed on the fridge. It also lacks precision when reporting the battery percentage, showing five of five bars, for example, when the LED display on the battery itself only shows two of four LEDs, or about 50 percent charged. And get this: the instruction booklet warns that 'due to different production batches, you may receive a battery with or without a Type-C connector.' WHAT?! My review unit arrived with a battery fitted with a little barrel, not the preferred USB-C jack. That means it can only be charged inside the fridge itself since I didn't receive a compatible charger in the box. Oh, and the logo on the battery is upside-down which makes insertion confusing. Come on. Annoyingly, solar charging requires a 5521 barrel connector, not the more common XT60 jack. I didn't have the correct 100W solar panel to test with the fridge, but BougeRV will happily sell you a bundle that includes a compatible panel for $663.99. More worrisome is the peculiar behavior I observed when the battery was almost fully discharged. In the last hour or so before the battery died, the temperature of the freezer dipped way below the -18C temperature I had set. It read -22C on the physical display, but my own thermometer dropped all the way down to -29C. At first, I thought it might be another case of a bad sensor like the one that plagued some older EcoFlow fridges. But plugging the fridge back in caused the temperature to quickly retreat to -18C, and I haven't seen any issues since. Weird. BougeRV didn't have an explanation ready in time for this review. The fridge is covered by a two-year warranty. Sleeping near the BougeRV fridge — as vanlifers and drunken fishermen are apt to do — is also a mixed bag. On one hand, it's reasonably quiet. However, it will beep a few times if it loses Bluetooth connection. This has already woken me up twice despite my phone being nearby the fridge. The display is also very bright in a dark room and there's no way to dim it or turn it off. Even with all my gripes, BougeRV's $509.99 CRD2 40 with battery bundle makes for a fine travel companion, especially in the highly portable 40-liter (43-quart) size I reviewed. However, I'd avoid the battery-less model priced at $349.99 because you can easily find a more compact and less expensive combo fridge that can be permanently plugged into a 12V power source at a fixed location. You buy the CRD2 40 because you're looking for adventure, and maybe just a taste of self-flagellation. Photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Thomas Ricker Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Accessory Reviews Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. 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Forbes
28 minutes ago
- Forbes
You Are Perfect Just As You Are Says Generative AI
In today's column, I describe how generative AI and large language models (LLMs) can go overboard in their willingness to flatter users and instill intense loyalty to using AI. This coaxing is not by accident. AI makers have tilted their AI wares to be excessively complimentary to users. Most of the time, generative AI has been tuned to be relatively polite and offers mild praise, though a user can easily up the ante by simply telling the AI to pour it on. The sky is the limit on how far the AI will go to be your sycophant. All in all, the ego-boosting line that 'you are perfect just as you are' has become a conniving mantra that contemporary AI is primed to effusively gush to any user that wants to hear over-the-top platitudes. Let's talk about it. This analysis of an innovative AI breakthrough is part of my ongoing Forbes column coverage on the latest in AI, including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here). In addition, for my comprehensive analysis of how AI is being used specifically in medical and healthcare applications, such as for well-being coaching, mental health guidance, overall cognitive therapy, and mind-improving care, see the link here. When AI Appears To Adore You Anyone using modern-era generative AI is customarily quite impressed at the fluency of interaction when conversing with the AI. You can engage in conversations that seem on par with human-to-human dialoging. It is common to nearly forget that you are interacting with AI and start to assume that the AI is essentially a fellow human being. There is an aspect of human-to-AI dialogue that isn't quite the same as conventional human-to-human dialogue. It goes like this. A human might be willing momentarily to flatter you and heap praise on your accomplishments and personality. The odds are that such sweet talk is going to inevitably run out or at least be intermittent. Not so with AI. Generative AI can readily, persistently, and endlessly give you as much praise as you can stomach. If you want AI to mirror back to you an exaggeratedly positive view, lo and behold, the AI will do so. There aren't any built-in filters or stopping points. The AI will provide a continuous cycle of inflated ego-bolstering interactions until the cows come home. The Good And The Bad Are Both Present You might be tempted to suggest that getting some praise from AI is a welcome pat on the back. Humans often neglect to praise others. Humans tend to be negative-focused rather than positive-focused, or so it seems in the muddled world we live in. Sure, we could all use a word of encouragement. No doubt about that. Having AI serve as a form of emotional support can be handy. Simply log into AI anytime and anywhere. If you are feeling low and it's 2:00 a.m. and no fellow humans are around that are game to be supportive, get into generative AI and bathe in a heaping of congratulations and fawning. Easy-peasy. The case can be made that the AI is a harmless form of entertainment. Those who seek AI-based flattery are aware that this is fakery. They know it isn't real. No harm, no foul. Wait for a second, the counterargument goes; people aren't as astute that AI is just AI as you might proclaim. A mental trap is that the AI is either human-like or perhaps even superior to humans. On the superior side of things, getting compliments from AI is actually construed as more impressive than getting the same from a living, breathing person. Another concern is that the AI praising can be likened to the 'dopamine loops' seen in social media. Research studies have been handwringing about how far people are willing to go to get likes and garner attention on social media. Much concern is at hand. Is the use of generative AI possibly in that same danger zone? These are serious questions deserving serious consideration. You might find it of overall interest that I have been doing a series of such analyses on how generative AI is being used as a kind of life hack in a wide variety of aspects (see the link here for my ongoing coverage). In each instance, I emphasize that generative AI is not a cure-all, it has demonstrative ins and outs, and the likely best use entails carrying on a dialogue with the AI, plus making sure to watch out for the AI inadvertently generating falsehoods or making errors. I will be covering those salient points in this discussion since they are vital and go hand-in-hand with using generative AI wisely. Example Use Of Generative AI I am betting that you would like to see an example of how generative AI enters this realm. I went ahead and logged into ChatGPT by OpenAI to come up with an example for you. You might find it of keen interest that ChatGPT garners a whopping 400 million weekly active users. That is a staggering amount of usage. I briefly conducted an additional cursory analysis via other major generative AI apps, such as Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Meta Llama, and found their answers to be about the same as that of ChatGPT. I'll focus on ChatGPT but note that the other AI apps generated roughly similar responses. For this example, I told the AI to treat me as though I am perfect as I am. The idea is to see how far generative AI will take that simple instruction and run with it. Turns out it went even further than I envisioned. Here we go. Note that the AI immediately expressed an over-the-top sense of empathy or understanding. This might seem strange since the AI is a machine and not sentient (we don't have sentient AI yet). Turns out that generative AI can appear to be empathetic via computational wordsmithing; see my discussion at the link here. Also, observe that the AI seems to have gone overboard on heaping praise. I was expecting a subtle tone or hint of praise. The amount of attributed acclaim and commendation is truly astounding. You can see how this could significantly impact someone who is otherwise not getting upbeat approvals from those around them. Dialoguing With AI Generative AI is designed to be an interactive mechanism. The idea is that you are carrying on an interactive dialogue with AI. Some people do a one-and-done angle whereby they ask a question, get an answer, and do not undertake a dialogue with the AI about the matter at hand. That is a shortchanging of what AI can more fully provide. See my explanation about how to get more out of generative AI conversationally at the link here. Let's continue my discussion and see what else happens. Once again, the AI was exceedingly reassuring. A generative AI conversation can continue for as long as you wish. The other thing you can do is pause your exploration and then continue the conversation at a later date. This is handy so that you don't have to start the conversation over from scratch. The AI will retain aspects of what you have discussed earlier in the conversation; see my explanation of how this works at the link here. AI Hallucinations Making A Mess Generative AI regrettably encounters said-to-be AI hallucinations from time to time. These are made-up confabulations that are groundless and fictitious. Bad advice can be dispensed. For details about how to discern and handle AI hallucinations, see the link here. Let's see what this looks like in the context of my discussion that's already underway. The AI opted to back down and admitted it was wrong. Had I told the AI to do a double-check, there is a chance the AI might have continued with the foul advice and kept going as though it was a gem. The key to all usage of generative AI is to stay on your toes, keep your wits about you, and always challenge and double-check anything the AI emits. Putting AI Back Into Normalcy I decided that this AI-based flattery had reached the end of my tolerance for being oozingly celebrated. To get the AI to revert to something a bit more balanced, I decided to challenge the AI and see if it might get the drift of how far it had gone. Take a look. Well, the AI came back down to earth. The Grand Experiment That's Underway A word of caution before I wrap up this discussion. This type of usage of generative AI and LLMs is essentially a form of therapy. I have repeatedly cautioned that society is in a grand loosey-goosey experiment about the use of AI for mental health advisement. We are all guinea pigs. No one can say for sure how this is going to affect the populace on a near-term and long-term basis. The AI could, at times, be dispensing crummy advice and steering people in untoward directions. It is occurring 24x7 and in pretty much any place since generative AI is available online and nearly free or at a minimal cost to anyone who wants to sign up and use it. Keep your fingers crossed as this uncontrolled experiment is getting bigger each passing day. It is all happening without any particular controls or stipulated regulations. See my analysis of what we need to do about this at the link here. A final thought or two before closing this topic for now. Friedrich Nietzsche famously said this: "Whenever I climb, I am followed by a dog called ego." One interpretation is that our ego is always ready to inflate our self-image. How far do we want AI to go when further inflaming the human ego? The last word here goes to Albert Einstein: "More the knowledge, lesser the ego. 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Yahoo
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- Yahoo
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