NASA Picks Three Private Space Companies to Resupply the ISS

As reported by Engadget: NASA will fund the International Space Station at least through 2024, so keeping the astronauts on it fed and experimenting is a big deal. That's why the nation's top space agency announced new resupply contracts for Orbital ATK and Elon Musk's SpaceX, two major incumbents that were joined by newcomer Sierra Nevada and its resumable, mini-spaceplane. Each company will get at least six resupply missions, but it's "likely" that NASA will buy more than 18 flights — NASA will grant additional missions based on what they and the station's spacefaring crew need at the time.

Speaking of needs, these three companies were chosen in part for their different approaches to transport. Orbital ATK (which used to be known as Orbital Sciences) has its non-recoverable Cygnus capsule, which typically houses waste from the Space Station and burns up in the atmosphere upon re-entry. SpaceX's Dragon capsule can be used to both ferry cargo to the station and bring things back down, though the capsule has to be fished out of the ocean. Then there's Sierra Nevada, whose Dream Chaser shuttle can land on traditional runways — that means samples returning to earth can be offloaded and studied that much sooner. Recovery of cargo could take as little as three hours, though that all depends on whether the Dream Chaser passes its test flights later this year.

US Government Announces $4 Billion Self-Driving Car Program

As reported by Engadget: Turns out we're way closer to our self-driving car future than most of us expected. US Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced at the Detroit Auto Show (pdf) Thursday that the Obama administration will have a national blueprint for autonomous vehicle standards by July. What's more the administration is earmarking $4 billion of the 2017 budget to create a decade-long program that will support and accelerate development of the technology.

"We are on the cusp of a new era in automotive technology with enormous potential to save lives, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and transform mobility for the American people," Secretary Foxx said in a statement.

Currently, each state has individual laws regarding the burgeoning technology. This forces automakers and early adopters like Google to juggle multiple sets of rules and regulations, depending on where in the country the technology is being built. For example, California recently decided that a human "driver" be present at all times should something go wrong. This program should reduce the number of hoops companies have to jump through by creating an overarching, national-level development framework.

DARPA is Developing an Unjammable Communications System

As reported by Engadget: Electronic warfare (EW) techniques -- from killing missiles with microwaves to downing drones with radio interference -- have become an integral part of modern wars. 

This issue is exasperated by the fact that both sides in a conflict must also compete for the finite spread of interference-free wireless spectrum with which they operate their multitude of wireless devices. 

To maintain American fighting superiority over the likes of China and Russia, both of whom are considered "near peers" in terms of EW combat capabilities, DARPA has developed an ultrafast chip to convert analog wireless signals into digital ones in record time.

DARPA's ADC, or analog-to-digital converter, will allow US forces to avoid being jammed by enemy EW methods by processing chunks of the electromagnetic spectrum about 10 times faster than what current-generation alternatives can muster. It takes over 60 billion analog and digital samples -- equivalent to roughly 1 Terabyte of data -- every second. This allows US forces to analyze more data from a larger swath of the spectrum in the same amount of time as current ADCs.

The chip isn't quite ready for the battlefield just yet, however. Its current iteration still draws far too much power to be useful in the field. DARPA is therefore partnering with GlobalFoundries to shrink the processor from its current 32nm fab down to 14nm. That should reduce its power consumption by 50 percent while maintaining its blistering performance. Next, DARPA will tackle managing the massive amounts of data this thing produces.

Pilots Rely Too Much on Automated Tech, DOT Says

As reported by Engadget: While automakers are still in the midst of developing driverless tech for cars, pilots are already relying too much on automated systems. According to the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration isn't even making sure they're properly trained on how to manually fly planes. 

In the audit report published by the agency, it said that "several recent accidents, including the July 2013 crash of Asiana Airlines flight 214" can prove that. Those instances showed that pilots who typically rely on automation can be prone to errors during emergency situations and in any event wherein they have to switch to manual controls.

The report continued:
"As a result, reliance on automation is a growing concern among industry experts, who have also questioned whether pilots are provided enough training and experience to maintain manual flying proficiency."

Advancements in technology contribute to "diminished manual flying skills," the DOT said, which is dangerous as studies show pilots overestimate their ability to navigate a plane in manual mode. To ensure the safety of passengers, the agency wants the FAA to develop guidelines airlines can use to train and evaluate their pilots. Plus, it believes the FAA should conjure up standards on how to determine if they've received sufficient training to be able to fly planes on their own.

Google Maps Will Soon Work Out Where You’re Going by Itself

As reported by The Verge: Google is adding a new feature to Maps for Android that could make its navigation software even smarter. Called "Driving Mode," the new Maps mode will take into account your history and current location to try and determine your destination. The app will then suggest info about your route like travel times and traffic conditions, according to Android Police. It appears to be similar to the algorithmic suggestions offered up in Google Now cards, yet tailored for getting around by car and even when you already know how to get there. You'll be able to launch Driving Mode with an app icon shortcut or through Maps' in-app sidebar.

Google Maps version 9.19, the one with Driving Mode, is in the process of being pushed to the Play Store and may not be widely available for some time. You can install the version manually, but figuring out how to activate the feature is proving difficult. Android Police managed to get it up and running on two devices without figuring out how to replicate the process on a third. While we can hope Google's general release will fix the issue, we might be waiting until a later version to try out the fully featured Driving Mode.

SpaceX to Attempt Another Rocket Landing Sunday

As reported by Space.com: SpaceX is planning to try another epic rocket landing during a satellite launch Sunday (Jan. 17), according to media reports.

The private spaceflight company aims to bring the first stage of its two-stageFalcon 9 rocket back for a soft touchdown on an uncrewed ship in the Pacific Ocean during Sunday's launch of the Jason-3 Earth-observation satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The news was first reported by space journalist Charles Lurio via Twitter, and subsequently confirmed by NBC News.

SpaceX has already pulled off a rocket landing; a Falcon 9 first stage touched down at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Dec. 21 during the launch of 11 spacecraft for satellite-communications company Orbcomm. The milestone marked the first time a booster had ever landed softly during an orbital liftoff. (Blue Origin, a company headed byAmazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, landed its New Shepard rocket during a suborbital test flight this past November.)

SpaceX has attemped a Falcon 9 sea landing twice before, once in January 2015 and again in April of that year. Both times, the rocket stage hit its target but came in too hard, toppling and exploding on the ship's deck.

These touchdown attempts are part of SpaceX's efforts to develop fully and rapidly reusable rockets,  technology that company founder and CEO Elon Musk says could cut the cost of spaceflight by a factor of 100. Such dramatic price reductions could, in turn, make Mars colonization economically feasible, Musk has said.

The Jason-3 satellite is designed to measure variations in global sea level extremely precisely, allowing researchers to a get a better understanding of the ongoing effects of climate change. The spacecraft's observations will add to a dataset that has been accruing since the 1992 launch of the TOPEX/Poseidon mission.

The Jason-3 mission is a joint effort involving the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the European climate-satellite organization EUMETSAT, the French space agency CNES and NASA.

Ford Puts Its Driverless Cars on the Snowy Streets of Michigan

As reported by NBC News: Ford is getting a head start on making their autonomous cars feel at home in the snow, a condition that can be tricky for driverless vehicle systems. The winter weather coats the ground, covering up lane markers, signs and other features the cars use to navigate the road — and, of course, it's slippery.

"In the real world you don't always have perfect sunny weather," said Ford's director of autonomous vehicles and controls, Randy Visintainer, in a video put out by the company.

Until now, testing has largely been done under good conditions in sunny states like California, Nevada and Texas. Google's driverless cars only recently encountered rain, and had to be outfitted with tiny wipers for their sensors.

Related: Self-Driving Google Cars Keep Rain Off Sensors With Tiny Wipers

Ford / YouTube

"It's important to test in weather like snow," Visintainer said, "but also to let the public know we are looking at these conditions."

Ford's cars memorize the positions of signs and other landmarks, allowing them to locate themselves to within a centimeter in places the system has mapped.

Related: Welcome to MCity: GM, Honda, Others Fund Fake City for Driverless Cars

The company's cars are cruising around MCity, a fake couple of city blocks built by the University of Michigan specifically for testing autonomous vehicles.