White House confirms Tesla is working on an ‘open’ Supercharger network in North America

When Tesla first launched its network of Supercharger stations, it did so with little thought to interoperability, as the company was virtually the only serious EV automaker around at the time. But as other companies have entered the EV market in recent years, demand for charging station access has steadily risen, prompting Tesla to begin opening its existing charger network to third-party EVs. 

In 2021, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the company’s open-access Supercharger pilot program — already in 13 European countries — would soon be coming to the US. A recent White House fact sheet, spotted by InsideEVs, suggests that it could arrive by the end of the year.

“Later this year, Tesla will begin production of new Supercharger equipment that will enable non-Tesla EV drivers in North America to use Tesla Superchargers,” the fact sheet read. To access it, American EV owners will need to download the latest Tesla app and select the “Charge Your Non-Tesla” option from the menu, per the Verge.

Tesla has spend the better part of a year expanding access to its European charger network. However, despite operating in more than a dozen countries, only select stations within each nation are actually available to non-owners. Only in the Netherlands is every Supercharger open-access. To do the same in North America, Tesla will need to install adapters at its stations to get around the company’s proprietary charging plug shape as well as ensure that the Supercharger’s software can securely handshake with the new myriad non-Tesla EVs.  

VW is getting into the EV battery business

With supply chains still in disarray and the war in Ukraine wreaking havoc on EV battery component commodity prices, many forward-thinking automakers are scrambling to secure not only stocks of the valuable metals like cobalt, lithium and nickel that g…

Human Horizons’ next China-only EV will come with a robotic arm and ‘light curtains’

Chinese electric vehicle maker Human Horizons unveiled its second EV model on Wednesday, dubbed the GT HiPhi Z. This four-door grand touring sedan comes packed with gadgets and intelligent systems including the world’s only “vehicle-grade” high-speed r…

NASA reestablishes communications with its wayward CAPSTONE satellite

It’s been a wild few days for NASA’s CAPSTONE mission. Following the lunar satellite’s successful launch from Rocket Lab’s site on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula, ground control lost contact with the spacecraft shortly after it escaped Earth’s gravity well and separated from its Electron rocket carrier on Monday. But after nearly a full day in the dark, NASA announced on Wednesday that its engineers have managed to reopen a line to the 55-pound satellite.

While the situation was concerning, NASA had accounted for just such a possibility. “If needed, the mission has enough fuel to delay the initial post-separation trajectory correction maneuver for several days,” a NASA spokesperson told Space.com on Monday.

Dubbed, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE), this spacecraft had spent nearly a week orbiting the planet in order to build up enough momentum to sling it on a four-month, trans-lunar injection (TLI) route over to the moon. Once the CAPSTONE arrives on November 13th, it will follow the planned Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit of the forthcoming Lunar Gateway in order to verify the stability of the path. 

“Specifically, it will validate the power and propulsion requirements for maintaining its orbit as predicted by NASA’s models, reducing logistical uncertainties,” NASA described in an April blog post. “The orbit will bring CAPSTONE within 1,000 miles of one lunar pole on its near pass and 43,500 miles from the other pole at its peak every seven days, requiring less propulsion capability for spacecraft flying to and from the Moon’s surface than other circular orbits.”

The Gateway, once it launches in 2024, will act as a staging platform first for the larger Artemis mission and lunar colonization efforts, then forays further out into the solar system with an eye on eventually settling Mars. NASA plans to follow this launch with that of the Orion spacecraft — it’s launch window spanning August 23rd to September 6th — which will evaluate the impacts a trans-lunar trip might have on astronaut physiology.

Hitting the Books: How 3D printing helped make cosplay costumes even more accurate

Additive manufacturing is one of the most important technological advances of the 21st century. It’s revolutionized the way we build everything from airplanes and wind turbines to medical implants and nano-machinery — not to mention the tidal wave of c…

FCC clears SpaceX to put its Starlink satellite WiFi in vehicles

SpaceX’s satellite internet service is officially going mobile after the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday authorized the company to provide its Starlink WiFi service to vehicles. SpaceX already offers Starlink home internet, which left beta last October.

“We agree with SpaceX… that the public interest would benefit by granting with conditions their applications,” The FCC wrote in its authorization letter. “Authorizing a new class of terminals for SpaceX’s satellite system will expand the range of broadband capabilities to meet the growing user demands that now require connectivity while on the move, whether driving an RV across the country, moving a freighter from Europe to a U.S. port, or while on a domestic or international flight.”

Starlink had already begun expanding its terrestrial footprint, even before the FCC decision, installing receiver dishes at Tesla Supercharger stations, raising prices and unveiling a $500/month Premium service tier. SpaceX has also recently announced partnerships with Delta and Hawaiian Airlines to potentially offer the service aboard their aircraft. 

SpaceX, and CEO Elon Musk, have also played the hero in recent months by offering an “internet bridge” to volcano-devastated Tonga and providing Starlink terminals to the Ukraine government — a generous offer that was, like most of Musk’s ventures, footed by the American taxpayer. The internet service — more specifically, the massive constellation of microsatellites in Low Earth Orbit that enable it — has also drawn condemnation from astronomers worldwide who argue that the highly-reflective satellites, of which there currently more than 2,200 in orbit and which Musk wants 40,000 more of, are grossly interfering with the operation of ground-based telescopes.

Biden will posthumously award Steve Jobs the Presidential Medal of Freedom

The US government has no higher award with which to honor a civilian’s achievements than the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Handed out at the discretion of the Commander in Chief, the MoF celebrates “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” President Biden announced the first slate of MoF recipients of his administration on Friday, a list that includes former Apple CEO, Steve Jobs.

President Biden’s nominees for this award class number 17. They include luminaries like Olympic-winning gymnast Simone Biles, retired Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, Gold Star Father Khizr Khan, former US Senator John McCain (posthumous), former president of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumka (posthumous), and the most clearly worthy recipient of the group, Denzel Washington. 

The MoF has only been awarded 647 times since it was established by President Kennedy in 1963, and of those, just 26 people have been awarded it “with distinction.” The awards will be presented at the White House on July 7, 2022. 

Boring Company’s underground Loop now runs to the Las Vegas Strip

The walk from the Las Vegas Convention Center to Tacos El Gordo may only be seven-tenths of a mile but under the blazing sun of a Nevada winter, the trip can seem an eternity. Lucky for us Al Pastor enthusiasts, this traditional CES taco trek is now far more convenient as the Boring Company and Resorts World Las Vegas announced the official opening of the latest Loop station at Las Vegas Convention Center. 

This spur off of the Boring Company’s existing Loop network (which runs underneath the North and South halls of the LVCC) connects the convention center directly to a sister station underneath the World Resorts property on the other side of South Las Vegas Blvd. Boring expects the trip between the two to take just a few minutes — assuming nothing goes wrong — and plans to eventually expand the underground vehicle network to more than 55 stops along the Strip. 

“Today marks a monumental moment not only for our resort, but for Las Vegas,” Scott Sibella, president of Resorts World Las Vegas, said in a Thursday press relea. “Our passenger station will make a visit to our resort from the Las Vegas Convention Center easier than ever, and eventually connect us to key destinations throughout the city.”     

The Boring Company began work on the initial $47 million tunnels running under the LVCC back in 2019, completed excavation the following May, and opened for service — because of course it did — on April 20th, 2022. In October, 2021 Las Vegas approved the Boring Company’s plans to expand its Loop network to encompass more than 29 miles of tunnel. That figure grew to 34 miles in June, 2022 to include stations at Harry Reid International Airport and Allegiant Stadium following approval from the Clark County Commissioners. However, despite Boring CEO Elon Musk’s claims of superior passenger capacity — up to 4,400 people every hour! — the system so far has only managed to move around 575 people in that time.

NASA needs help from the private sector to decarbonize the next generation of planes

Air travel remains one of the largest contributors to global warming in the transportation sector, producing 915 million tonnes of CO2 worldwide in 2019, per ATAG. In an effort to usher in a more sustainable era of flight, NASA announced Thursday that it is seeking partners “to develop technologies needed to shape a new generation of lower-emission, single-aisle airliners that passengers could see in airports in the 2030s.” 

NASA is looking to fund the design, building, testing and flying of large-scale demonstrators as part of its new Announcement for Partnership Proposals program. Specifically, the agency seeks to “reduce carbon emissions from aviation and ensure US competitiveness in a high-demand area of aircraft design — single-aisle commercial airliners.”

“In the coming years, global air mobility will continue to grow at a steady pace, and single aisle aircraft will continue to carry the majority of that passenger traffic,” Bob Pearce, NASA associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, said in Thursday’s media release. “Working with industry, NASA intends to seize this opportunity to meet our aggressive environmental goals while fostering continued global leadership of the U.S. aviation industry.”

This effort comes as part of the White House’s US Aviation Climate Action Plan, which itself aims to make make aviation emissions carbon-neutral by 2050. To help reach that deadline, NASA is planning to have these demonstrators ready by the end of the decade so that the lessons learned can be applied to the next generation of single-aisle aircraft coming in the 2030s. NASA plans to select at least one industry partner early next year, granting them funding and access to NASA facilities at Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.