SpaceX Injunction Dissolved; US Can Buy Russian Rockets for Space Launches

As reported by arstechnica: Last week, the United States Court of Federal Claims granted an injunction that prevented US-based companies from purchasing Russian RD-180 rocket engines. That injunction was put in place to give the court time to examine whether or not buying those engines contravened Executive Order 13,661 designed to sanction persons in the Russian government over the ongoing Russian-Ukraine crisis. Yesterday afternoon, however, the same court sided with the US government’s appeal—to the best of the court’s knowledge, the purchase of RD-180 rocket engines doesn't violate the executive order.

The injunction was granted in response to a lawsuit by SpaceX and was specifically targeted at the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Lockheed-Martin and Boeing that manages space launches for the US government. SpaceX argued that it hadn't been allowed to compete for the contracts currently being serviced by the ULA. It also said that the money ULA uses to buy RD-180 engines for the Atlas V launch vehicle benefits Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

Rogozin, SpaceX reasoned, is head of the Russian space program, and the RD-180 engines are manufactured by state-owned company NPO Energomash. Since Rogozin is also on a "Specifically Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List" (due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict), payments made to NPO Energomash were effectively made to Dmitry Rogozin—something that, if true, would be explicitly prohibited by Executive Order 13,661.

The injunction had been granted primarily on the basis of that potential violation rather than on whether or not SpaceX had been unlawfully prevented from bidding on the launch contracts. The US government formally filed a motion to dismiss the injunction on May 6; yesterday’s decision to grant the dismissal hinged on a number of letters filed with that motion, coming from the Departments of State, Commerce, and the Treasury.

When issuing the injunction last week, the court specifically stated that it would consider the opinion of those three departments in determining whether to extend or dissolve the injunction; it has now weighed in, with State and Treasury both saying that Executive Order 13,661 is not being violated and with Commerce deferring to the judgment of State and Treasury:

These letters collectively explain that “to the best of [the relevant Department’s] knowledge, purchases from and payments to NPO Energomash currently do not directly or indirectly contravene Executive Order 13,661.” Ex. A at 2; Ex. C at 2 (same); Ex. B at 1 (explaining that the United States Department of Commerce “defers to the Departments of the Treasury and State regarding whether... Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin... controls NPO Energomash and if so whether that control contravenes Executive Order 13,661”).

Much in the same way that the injunction remained open on its potential dissolution, the dissolution order notes that if any agency of the US government does determine that there might be a chance that the rocket engine purchases are violating the executive order, the injunction might be resurrected:

If the Government receives any indication, however, that purchases from or payment of money to NPO Energomash by ULS, ULA, or the United States Air Force will directly or indirectly contravene Executive Order 13,661, the Government will inform the court immediately.

At this point, whether or not SpaceX was unlawfully barred from competing for the contracts remains an unaddressed issue. It's a pretty good bet that we'll see further legal wrangling from SpaceX on the matter.

London Black Taxis Plan Congestion Chaos to Protest Uber

As reported by BBC News: The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association complains that Uber's drivers are using a smartphone app to calculate fares despite it being illegal for private vehicles to be fitted with taximeters.

Transport for London has declined to intervene, because it disagrees that there has been a breach of the law.

LTDA now plans to force the issue by holding the action in early June.

"Transport for London not enforcing the Private Hire Vehicles Act is dangerous for Londoners," Steve McNamara, LTDA's general secretary, told the BBC.

"I anticipate that the demonstration against TfL's handling of Uber will attract many many thousands of cabs and cause severe chaos, congestion and confusion across the metropolis."
TfL told the association last month that it believed Uber's vehicles were not strictly "equipped" with taximeters since there was not "some sort of connection between the device and the vehicle".

Rather, the app was merely making use of data about the distance travelled and time taken, which was not illegal in itself.

 

The LTDA says it expects many thousand black cab drivers to take part in the protest

LTDA rejects this distinction and is now threatening to seek a judicial review.
"We have seen no evidence to suggest that Uber London Ltd are not fit and proper to hold a London private hire vehicle operator's licence, but no final decisions have been made whilst Uber's operating model is still under investigation," TfL told the BBC.

The dispute marks the latest in a series of clashes between Uber and the established taxi trade.

The firm is also facing restrictions on its operations in Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Sydney and a number of US cities.

Disruptive drive San Francisco-based Uber describes itself as a "pick-up" service that connects those needing a ride with a background-checked private driver, and takes a cut - typically 20% - of the fee.
It now operates in more than 100 cities across 30 countries, including Manchester where it launched this week.

The firm markets its service as offering "cutting-edge safety measures":

• allowing customers to see the name and photo of the driver before they arrive
• letting approved friends follow the journey on a live map
• providing an email of the route the car used, so that a client can ask for a charge to be reviewed if they believe the driver took a roundabout journey

 

The Uber app allows customers to see how many available drivers are nearby

Fees are based upon data gathered by the driver's app and whether "surge pricing" is in effect because of heavy demand.

The five-year-old firm acknowledges that it can prove a disruptive force.

"Competition in my view is always good for the customer because it makes all of us up our game in terms of quality and service," Uber's general manager in London, Jo Bertram, said.
"On the driver side, we offer a much more flexible model that is very different from the old-school private hire industry, that allows them to work as independent business operators however and whenever they choose."

The LTDA said while the taximeter was the focus of its complaint, it had wider objections to the firm.

"Uber, funded by Google, Goldman Sachs and others, has a stated aim of challenging legislation that is not compatible with its business model," said Mr McNamara.

"This is not some philanthropic friendly society, it's an American monster that has no qualms about breaching any and all laws in the pursuit of profit, most of which will never see a penny of tax paid in the UK."

A spokeswoman for Uber said it rejected this characterization of its business.

European battles Other traditional taxi associations are also taking a stand against the firm in Europe:

• In Brussels a complaint resulted in a court setting a 10,000 euro ($13,920; £8,205) fine as the penalty for Uber drivers who continued to pick up customers without the necessary licences
• Berlin's taxi association has won a temporary injunction against the firm, but has chosen not to enforce the action to avoid the risk of having to cover lost fees if the ruling is later overturned
• French operators have convinced their government to propose banning the use of GPS-enabled apps by private car services including Uber. The government had previously made such companies wait 15 minutes before picking up a booking, but the country's Supreme Court ruled the move anti-competitive

 

French taxi drivers have opposed Uber's service in Paris

Uber does, however, have support from the European Commission.

Vice-president Neelie Kroes has said her staff used the service to "stay safe and save taxpayers money", adding that European authorities should help the firm comply with standards rather than trying to ban it.

"We very much welcome her support and her comments," said Ms Bertram.

BMW Unveils the Solar Charging Carport of the Future

As reported by Motor Authority: So you have a new BMW i3 or i8 in your driveway, and you’re loving the freedom the electric-drive capability gives you—but you’d like to be even greener? BMW DesignworksUSA has the answer with its stunningly simple, high-tech solar carport.

It’s still a concept design at this stage, but the bamboo and carbon fiber structure just begs to be built. Supported atop the structure is an array of solar panels that harvest the sun’s energy and store it in you BMW i-vehicle.

In addition to being greener than charging from the grid, the solar energy carport allows the BMW i owner to be more self-sufficient in their energy supply. To harness the energy from the solar panels, a BMW i Wallbox Pro is needed. Once integrated, the carport and Wallbox Pro can then directly charge either the i3 or i8. With the Wallbox Pro’s features, excess solar energy not needed to charge the car can be used by the connected house.
“With the solar carport concept we opted for a holistic approach: not only is the vehicle itself sustainable, but so is its energy supply,” explained Tom Allemann of BMW Designworks USA. “This is therefore an entirely new generation of carports that allows energy to be produced in a simple and transparent way. It renders the overarching theme of lightweight design both visible and palpable.”

BMW’s beautiful, functional solar carport certainly complements the ethos behind the company’s i brand. Here’s hoping BMW decides to offer it as an optional upgrade to i owners in the near future.
 

Should the Feds Drive Smart Cars - Making Use of Telematics?

As reported by the Washington Business Journal: Sure, it’s a little Big Brother. But with telematics, government could save a whole bunch of money — and industry could sell a lot of cool technologies.

Here's what telematics — which combines telecommunications and information processing to send, receive, and store information related to vehicle fleets — would allow agencies to do: monitor not only if its employees are speeding in government-leased cars, but whether they’re doing too many rapid starts or sudden stops, or even idling too much. They’ll be able to see if the employee is riding the brakes. They’ll be able to see whether they’re driving reckless — and even how the employee handled the car right before an accident.

Little creepy? Maybe. But the technology could save the government a lot of money, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report. Fleet managers could essentially provide tips for drivers on being more fuel-efficient, for example. They can take privileges away from those that aren't following the rules of the road and risking car crashes. They could even use data to defend employees against frivolous lawsuits by people claiming a federal worker was at fault in an accident. 

On top of that, agencies could analyze precise utilization rates of vehicles in their fleets and eliminate cars or trucks that don’t get used. They could see the remaining brake pad depth and engine diagnostics (yes, this technology gets that granular) to determine when maintenance is needed.

There are examples of savings already achieved by agencies, in fact. A fleet manager at Idaho National Laboratory reported that telematics data contributed to the decision to eliminate 65 vehicles since fiscal 2011, with an estimated average annual savings of about $390,000.

So then, with telematics offered as an option by the General Services Administration on the vehicles that it leases to agencies, why aren’t more using it? For one thing, certain costs that telematics would save are not their problem. For example, fuel costs are covered by a monthly fee, which is based primarily on miles traveled, so being more fuel-efficient isn’t really on their radar.

At the same time, telematics costs money. How much varies depending on what type of technologies are installed and how.

Some might be installed by the manufacturer, some might be add-on systems, and some might be mobile device applications and programs. Some might provide data via satellite or cellular connections, transmitting on a regular basis or when a vehicle passes a fixed-data download station. (Fixed download stations pose mostly upfront, fixed costs, whereas the cost for a satellite connection is typically levied in ongoing monthly data charges, the GAO noted.) On top of all that, fleets may rent telematic devices for a short period of time to obtain a snapshot of usage data, or may select a long-term contract for ongoing monitoring.


That brings us to the contracting community. The General Services Administration is currently engaged in efforts to secure new contracts for telematics devices for federal employees, and hopes to have them available by the end of fiscal year 2014, according to the GAO. None of the specific vendors bidding for the contracts were noted. As part of that effort, though, the agency is hoping to leverage government’s buying power, as it's been doing a lot lately through its strategic sourcing efforts. Whether there's enough demand is tough to know, given that agencies have only recently begun to pursue the technology in significant quantity.

For Tesla, Another Year Ahead Of Ramping Up Model S Production

As reported by GigaOm:While Tesla needs to look to the future to its next car the Model X, and its plans for a massive battery factory, the electric car company is still solidly concentrating on ramping up manufacturing of its current Model S electric car over the course of this year. In an earnings statement released on Wednesday Tesla said that it made 7,535 Model S cars — a record — for the first quarter of 2014, and plans to make between 8,500 and 9,000 Model S cars in the following quarter.  

In total Tesla wants to deliver 35,000 Model S cars in 2014, with an eventual production rate of 1,000 vehicles per week (it’s currently at 700 per week). While the ramp up in manufacturing might sound like a relatively minor move, the amount of lithium ion battery cells available to Tesla is actually one of the more substantial dampeners on that growth. Tesla says in its shareholder letter that “battery cell supply will constrain development in Q2 but improve in Q3.”

Tesla is looking to ramp up shipments of Model S cars to China and Europe significantly this year. Tesla says China could be one of its largest markets within a few years. Musk said on the earnings call that he was “blown away” by the interest and enthusiasm in Tesla in China, and in three to four years Tesla could manufacture cars in China for the Chinese market. Musk also said they are considering manufacturing locally in Europe, too, for European customers.

Beyond the Model S, Tesla is working on the production design  prototypes for its Model X crossover electric vehicle, and the company says those will be available in Q4 of this year. Tesla also started producing powertrains for the Mercedes B-class this quarter.

For the factory, Musk announced on the call that Tesla has a signed letter of intent with Panasonic as a partner on its battery factory. Tesla CTO JB Straubel said in the call that Tesla and Panasonic have a joint working team focused on exploring mutual topics, answering questions, and making progress on closing the deal on the battery factory. Straubel said that Tesla is heading toward a final agreement with Panasonic later this year.

Tesla could break ground on one of the potential sites for the battery factory as soon as next month. The company will break ground on another potential site shortly after that. Tesla will move the process along on two sites until it chooses one. Musk said on the call that California might be back in the running for the battery factory, but that the time to break ground on the factory in California could take too long due to regulations.

Even though Tesla beat its sales and profit estimates, the company’s shares dropped on the earnings news. Tesla’s stock fell 5.75 percent in after hours trading.

Here were the financial stats for the quarter:

• Revenue: $621 million (up from $562 million in Q1 2013)
• Net loss: $50 million or a $0.40 loss per share (Tesla made a profit of $11.25 million in Q1 2013)
• GAAP gross margin: 25.3 percent
• Tesla set aside a unplanned $2 million reserve for the under body plates it released earlier this year.
• Tesla spent $82 million in R&D expenses for the first quarter.

Google Maps Supports Offline Mobile Mapping

As reported by GigaOm: Google updated its Google Maps apps for both iOS and Android on Tuesday, and with it comes a feature some users have been wanting for a long time — a clear, simple button to save maps offline.

To find the “save map to use offline” button, simply look up a location on either iOS or Android. Scroll to the bottom of the place info sheet; if you’re looking up a restaurant, for instance, the button will be buried underneath user reviews, the user review summary, and other options. While the ability to save maps for times when you won’t have a signal would seem to be a basic feature, the iPhone didn’t get it until last July, and even then users needed to know the secret password-style command “OK maps.”

Aside from offline maps, this update seems to be a big one. On the iPhone, it’s landmark version number 3.0.0, and it comes with a number of new features.

Google Maps now can tell you the best lane to get in on the highway, so you don’t miss an exit. Google has added several filters to its business directory search, including the long-awaited “open now.” There’s also a little bit of Uber integration, and transit directions will now tell you when the last train is coming. Handy!

The update is already available for iOS and will be rolling out to Android phones over the next few days.

The First American Space Lifeboat In 40 Years Is Coming To The ISS

As reported by Electronic Products: NASA’s next generation of American spacecraft will be designed to carry people into low-Earth orbit and also function as a lifeboat for the International Space Station (ISS) for up to seven months. This service hasn't been provided by an American spacecraft since an Apollo command module remained docked to Skylab for three months from 1973 to ’74.

Similar to a lifeboat on a cruise ship, the spacecraft isn't expected to be called into service to quickly evacuate people but it certainly has to be ready to do so just in case.

Currently the lifeboat function of the space station is served by a pair of Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which are docked at all times. Each Soyuz can hold three people, so with two of them docked, there can be six people working on the station at one time.

According to NASA engineers working with companies developing spacecraft in the agency’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP), in order for a spacecraft to be considered a lifeboat, it must provide a shelter for astronauts in case of an issue aboard the station. The ship must also be able to quickly get all of its systems operating and detach from the station for a potential return to Earth.

When it comes to the lifeboat feature, two obstacles that make it difficult for spacecraft designers are power and protection from things outside the spacecraft, such as micrometeoroids. The electricity generated by the space station’s acre of solar arrays is reserved for the station’s systems and science experiments, and the amount of power available for a docked spacecraft isn't much — it's similar to the amount of electricity a refrigerator uses.

Designers also have the challenge of building a spacecraft strong enough to withstand impacts from micrometeoroids, but at the same time they cannot carry armor that’s too heavy to launch.

CCP gave aerospace companies a list of requirements their spacecraft need to meet during NASA’s certification process for use as in-orbit lifeboats. Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corporation and SpaceX are working in partnership with NASA on spacecraft designs that meet these requirements.