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Jeff Bezos is all set to blast off aboard his aerospace company Blue Origin’s New Shepard launch vehicle for a suborbital flight today (July 20). The space flight will comprise a history-making all-civilian crew. The launch of the 11-minute journey to space is planned from a desert site in West Texas, US. If all goes as planned, New Shepard will blast off at 6:30am CDT (5pm IST) from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One facility located around 20 miles (32km) outside Van Horn in Texas, US. Bezos’ space trip comes nine days after Richard Branson’s space voyage aboard Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity.

Jeff Bezos’ space flight: How to watch live

Blue Origin announced on its Twitter handle that viewers can tune into the live broadcast from the Blue Origin website or its YouTube channel. The livestreaming will start at 6:30am CDT, or 5pm IST for viewers in India. You can also watch the launch below:

New Shepard is a 60-foot-tall (18.3m) and fully autonomous rocket-and-capsule combo that cannot be piloted from inside the spacecraft. The spaceflight company has tweeted an image of the crew after the completion of their training.

Bezos also did a round of televised interviews ahead of the launch. “People keep asking if I’m nervous. I’m not really nervous, I’m excited. I’m curious. I want to know what we’re going to learn,” Bezos said.

Bezos will be joined by his younger brother Mark Bezos, 82-year-old Wally Funk, and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen. Jeff Bezos had reffered to Mark Bezos as his “best friend” on his Instagram post announcing the journey to space. Funk was the first female flight instructor at a US military base and the first woman to become an air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. Daemen became the last member to join the crew as the initial auction winner, whose name had not been made public, dropped out due to unspecified “scheduling conflicts.” According to Blue Origin, his addition means that the flight is set to include the oldest and the youngest person ever to go to space.

Jeff Bezos’ flight comes nine days after the British billionaire businessman Richard Branson travelled to space aboard Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity rocket for its pioneering suborbital flight from New Mexico. Bezos is due to fly higher — 62 miles (100km) for Blue Origin compared to 53 miles (86km) for Virgin Galactic.


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Jasmin Jose is a sub-editor at Gadgets 360. She has directed investigative documentaries, PSAs, and video features covering arts, culture, science, and general news in the past.  She believes in the power of the Internet and is constantly looking out for the next new technology that is going to transform life on earth. When not doing things news, she can be found reading fiction, physics or philosophy, plucking berries, or talking cinema. Write to her at jasminj@ndtv.com or get in
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Aditya L1 Solar Mission Begins Studying Energetic Particles in Solar Wind

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Aditya L1 Solar Mission Begins Studying Energetic Particles in Solar Wind

After India’s solar mission, Aditya L1 began its journey towards Lagrange point 1 following a key manoeuvre, it has started studying energetic particles in the solar wind from space and will continue to do so for the rest of its life, a senior astrophysicist said. The study of the solar wind, the continuous flow of charged particles from the sun which permeates the solar system, will be carried out with the help of a device named Supra Thermal & Energetic Particle Spectrometer (STEPS), a part of the Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX) payload.

“STEPS is now working from space. However, it was not sitting idle earlier. It has started functioning from within the magnetic field of the Earth since September 10 when Aditya was 52,000 kilometres above our planet,” Dr Dibyendu Chakrabarty, professor of Space and Atmospheric Sciences at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) said.
STEPS was developed by the PRL with support from the Space Application Centre (SAC) in Ahmedabad.

“During the travel time of four months (till Aditya L1 reaches its destination), it will study energetic particles in the solar wind. The data will help maintain the health and performance of our space assets in a better way,” Dr Chakrabarty told PTI.

The key aim of STEPS is to study the environment of energetic particles from the spacecraft’s position on the L1 point till it will function, he said. “The data from STEPS in the long term will also help us understand how space weather changes,” the space scientist said.

STEPS comprises six sensors, each observing in different directions and measuring supra-thermal and energetic ions. The data collected during the Earth’s orbits helps scientists to analyse the behaviour of particles surrounding the planet, especially in the presence of its magnetic field.

Aditya-L1, launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on September 2, will go up to the First Lagrangian point, about 1.5 million km from the Earth ISRO on September 18 said on X: “Off to Sun-Earth L1 point! The Trans-Lagrangean Point 1 Insertion (TL1I) manoeuvre is performed successfully. The spacecraft is now on a trajectory that will take it to the Sun-Earth L1 point.” Lagrangian points are where gravitational forces, acting between two objects, balance each other in such a way that the spacecraft can ‘hover’ for a longer period of time.

The L1 point is considered the most significant of the Lagrangian points, for solar observations, which were discovered by mathematician Joseph Louis Lagrange. 


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Elon Musk’s Neuralink Receives Approval to Start Brain Implant Human Trial

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Elon Musk's Neuralink Receives Approval to Start Brain Implant Human Trial

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk‘s brain-chip startup Neuralink said on Tuesday it has received approval from an independent review board to begin recruitment for the first human trial of its brain implant for paralysis patients.

Those with paralysis due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis may qualify for the study, it said but did not reveal how many participants would be enrolled in the trial, which will take about six years to complete.

The study will use a robot to surgically place a brain-computer interface (BCI) implant in a region of the brain that controls the intention to move, Neuralink said, adding that its initial goal is to enable people to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone.

The company, which had earlier hoped to receive approval to implant its device in 10 patients, was negotiating a lower number of patients with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after the agency raised safety concerns, according to current and former employees. It is not known how many patients the FDA ultimately approved.

Musk has grand ambitions for Neuralink, saying it would facilitate speedy surgical insertions of its chip devices to treat conditions like obesity, autism, depression and schizophrenia.

In May, the company said it had received clearance from the FDA for its first-in-human clinical trial when it was already under federal scrutiny for its handling of animal testing.

Even if the BCI device proves to be safe for human use, it would still potentially take more than a decade for the startup to secure commercial use clearance for it, according to experts.

© Thomson Reuters 2023


(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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ISRO’s Aditya-L1 Performs TL1I Manoeuvre, Set to Reach Sun-Earth L1 Point

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Aditya L1 Solar Mission Begins Studying Energetic Particles in Solar Wind

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Tuesday that its maiden solar mission — Aditya-L1 — has performed the Trans-Lagrangean Point 1 Insertion (TL1I) manoeuvre successfully and the spacecraft was now in a trajectory that will take it to the Sun-Earth L1 point. ISRO also informed that it marked the fifth consecutive time that the ISRO had successfully transferred an object on a trajectory toward another celestial body or location in space.

A post on the ISRO official handle on social media platform X read, “Aditya-L1 Mission | Off to Sun-Earth L1 point | The Trans-Lagrangean Point 1 Insertion (TL1I) manoeuvre is performed successfully. The spacecraft is now on a trajectory that will take it to the Sun-Earth L1 point. It will be injected into an orbit around L1 through a manoeuvre after about 110 days. This is the fifth consecutive time ISRO has successfully transferred an object on a trajectory toward another celestial body or location in space.”

Earlier, a launcher carrying the Aditya-L1 spacecraft blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Station at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The primary objectives of India’s maiden solar mission include collecting scientific data and marking another milestone in India’s solar exploration efforts.

The agency had earlier posted on X, “Aditya-L1 Mission: Aditya-L1 has commenced collecting scientific data. The sensors of the STEPS instrument have begun measuring supra-thermal and energetic ions and electrons at distances greater than 50,000 km from Earth. This data helps scientists analyze the behaviour of particles surrounding Earth. The figure displays variations in the energetic particle environment, collected by one of the units.”

The Supra Thermal and Energetic Particle Spectrometer (STEPS) instrument, a part of the Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX) payload, also started its data-gathering operations earlier. 


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