Earlier in October, Amazon announced their long-awaited Astro Robot that can be used for various purposes in homes. This robot can autonomously drive around your room thanks to its precise cameras and obstacle detection sensors. It is practically a home assistant that can help with a couple of simple tasks such as recognizing people and alerting you if someone new is in the house, handling video calls, and even alerting you when someone calls or if you have a reminder. 

During the announcement of this robot, Dave Limp, head of Amazon’s devices and services, said they want their customers to use this robot for multiple tasks more than being an Alexa on wheels. 

We have seen several versions of this concept, including Tesla’s humanoid robot that they released about two months ago. However, is Amazon’s Astro Robot really different from all the versions made by other companies? Let’s take a look at some of its key features.

Features of the Amazon Astro Robot:

• Intelligent motion: This robot has built-in sensors that enable it to drive around your home without colliding with objects. So, you can always have it wherever you need it within the house. 
• Remote operation: The Astro Robot is connected to the internet, so you can control it while you are away from home. This handy security feature enables you to monitor your entire house while you are away. 
• Built-in Alexa: It comes with all the Alexa capabilities. So, you can use it to set reminders, manage shopping lists, receive activity alerts, and many more. 
• 10.1″ HD touchscreen display (1280×800): This can be used to make entries and consume content, such as watching TV shows, showing your music playing lists, shopping lists, and many more. 
• 2 Cameras: It has a 5MP bezel camera and 1080P ultrawide periscope camera with a 1320 field of view. This camera can rise on a built-in arm up to 42″ from the ground for more effective home monitoring. The cameras also have built-in face recognition capabilities that can help users identify news faces in the house. 
• It uses rechargeable Lithium batteries: These batteries support fast charging (full charge in 45 minutes) when using the charger included in the box. 
• Connectivity: It supports WiFi and Bluetooth to communicate with other local devices and connect to the internet. 
• Processors: This robot comes with a couple of processing chips, including a2x Qualcomm QCS605, 1x Qualcomm SDA660, and 1x processor with Amazon AZ1 Neural Edge. 

Amazon’s Astro Robot will be available for purchase for $999 in up to 50 states in the US. However, getting this robot involves a few extra steps. You will have to request an invitation to buy it and answer a couple of questions in their survey form. Amazon will then send you feedback informing you whether your invite was accepted. 

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the hottest regions globally, with an average annual temperature of about 95 Fahrenheit. Unlike some parts of the UAE, temperatures in Dubai regularly surpass the 115 Fahrenheit mark.

Dubai currently receives only 4 inches of rain throughout the year, way below the world average (39 inches). Because of the lackluster rain and hot temperatures, Dubai imports over 80% of its food since no meaningful agriculture can be done. 

But, the UAE government has now invested over $15 million into using artificial methods to induce rainstorms in Dubai to deal with the hot temperatures. 

In the last few weeks, there was a breakthrough in their efforts when meteorological officials released a video of rain over Ras al Khaimah and several other regions in the UAE. Scientists made this possible by using electrical charges from drones that manipulate the cloud and force them to release raindrops. 

This feat brings hope to many other regions worldwide that are facing the challenge of water scarcity and extremely high temperatures. One of the significant caveats in this research was that some tiny raindrops would evaporate due to hot temperatures even before they reached the ground. To overcome this, scientists had to ensure the electricity the drones hit the clouds with is enough to create larger raindrops. 

In his words, the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the U.K. said:

“It’s moving to think that the rainfall technology I saw today, which is still being developed, may someday support countries in water-scarce environments like the UAE.” 

Even though cloud seeding technology is fascinating, there are still concerns about its short and long-term side effects. Some of the unfortunate incidents that happened in the past due to such technology include one when Russia mistakenly dropped a non-powderized block of cement on some homes. 

Heavy flooding is another catastrophic side effect that scientists have identified that we could face due to this kind of technology. 

Eight western states are already using the technology of inducing rain from the clouds in the USA, following Dubai’s footsteps. However, the challenge with this cloud seeding over the years has been determining its effectiveness in the short- and long term. This technology is in its infant stages and still has the potential if it turns out to be cost-effective and viable. 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has finally approved Virgin Galactic, a spaceship company owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, to take passengers for space flights. This approval is a milestone that the likes of Blue Origin and SpaceX are yet to achieve. The FAA approved Virgin Galactic on June 25, 2021, following three test flights finalized on May 22.

In his words, the CEO of Virgin Galactic said, “Today’s approval by the FAA of our full commercial launch license, in conjunction with the success of our May 22 test flight, gives us confidence as we proceed toward our first fully crewed test flight this summer.”

After their approval, Virgin Galactic recently sent Richard Branson on a very short test flight into space, a feat which has been perceived as overwhelmingly positive by some and underwhelmingly passive by others. 

According to Virgin Galactic, the first passenger flight will head into space by the end of 2022, although the exact dates are yet to be communicated. 

In other news, Jeff Bezos has officially announced taking his very first flight into space on July 20. Bezos, also the CEO of Blue Origin, will be heading to space along with his brother and two other passengers. 

Now that The FAA has approved Virgin Galactic, we expect SpaceX and Blue Origin to get the licenses for taking passengers on space flights pretty soon. As of now, Virgin Galactic seems to have won the race of being the first company to send a passenger flight to space. 

Virgin Galactic has sold over 600 tickets, each costing at least $250,000. This ticket is for a suborbital flight where people will get into earth’s orbit and experience a few minutes of weightlessness before coming back to earth. 

According to analysts, those who haven’t got tickets yet may pay up to $500,000 when Virgin Galactic reopens ticket sales later this year. The price for touring space is still very high for ordinary people, but as technology gets cheaper, these prices will gradually reduce.

Before the FAA approved Virgin Galactic, they had to do 3 test flights to ensure their spaceship was safe enough to take passengers into space. However, passengers are governed by an “informed consent” standard in this kind of flight, so they will be required to sign a waiver and be informed of the risks involved. 

This FAA approval is a green light for the space industry, so we expect several spaceship companies to speed up their (via Virgin Galactic) in the coming years.  Analysts expect the spaceship industry to be worth more than $8 Billion by 2030.