SpaceX on Friday received a $733 million contract for eight launches from the U.S. Space Force as a part of an ongoing program geared toward fostering competition amongst providers of services that launch rockets into orbit.

The award includes seven launches for the Space Development Agency and one for the National Reconnaissance Office, all of which is able to happen using Falcon 9 and can occur no sooner than 2026.

The massive recent contract is a component of the U.S. Space Systems Command (SSC) program and has the catchy name “National Security Space Launch, Phase 3, Runway 1.” Last yr, the third round of contracts was divided into two lanes: Lane 1, for lower-risk missions and low-Earth orbits; and runway 2 for missions with heavy payloads and more demanding orbits.

The Space Force chosen SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and (in some way, although they have not yet reached orbit) Blue Origin, to compete for Lane 1 launches earlier this summer. The Space Force acknowledged on the time that the sphere of winners was small, but intended to cope with that by allowing corporations to bid annually on Lane 1. The next opportunity to affix Lane 1, which has a complete expected value of $5.6 billion over five years, can have place later in 2024.

In a press release announcing the contract, Lt. Col. Douglas Downs, SSC’s procurement leader for space launch procurement, said the force expects “increasing competition and diversity” with the flexibility to amass recent suppliers.

The award period for Stage 3 Track 1 awards runs from fiscal yr 2025 through fiscal yr 2029, with an option for a five-year extension. The Space Force expects to award a minimum of 30 missions during this era. SpaceX’s victory this time could appear a foregone conclusion, but with recent rocket launch corporations and vehicles coming online over the subsequent few years, competition could soon heat up.

VCs are spending huge amounts of cash on AI startups – especially those run by big names in tech – which is why SandboxAQ is reaching out again, regardless that it raised a whopping $500 million in early 2023.

According to reports, the corporate spun off from Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is trying to boost one other round that can value it at $5 billion. sources tell Bloomberg. The most up-to-date $500 million round, accomplished in February 2023, had backers equivalent to Breyer Capital, T. Rowe Price Funds and Marc Benioff, Reuters was reported then. PitchBook estimated its valuation after this round at $4 billion.

SandboxAQ began as Alphabet’s moonshot AI quantum computing unit, led by Jack Hidary, also often known as a longtime X Prize board member. In March 2022, it was spun off from Alphabet and transformed into an independent startup, with Hidary as CEO. Billionaire and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt became the startup’s president.

His mission is a veritable alphabet soup of buzzwords: working on the intersection of quantum computing and artificial intelligence. But he isn’t constructing a quantum computer, although his software should in the future work with them, Hidary said in a recent episode of the show Podcast by Peter H. Diamandis. Instead, it creates software based on quantum physics that may model molecules and predict their behavior. Google is still there works on a quantum computer part, but Hidary says SandboxAQ already has a variety of partnerships in the sector of quantum computing.

The startup has a large and somewhat wild portfolio of products within the fields of life sciences, materials science, navigation, encryption and cybersecurity.

Does not work with the AI ​​generative chatbot variant AI ChatGPT. Instead of predicting language, it uses large-scale artificial intelligence modeling techniques on equations. Or as Hidary explained: “Instead of a world of large language models, we have now entered a world of large quantitative models, LQM. LQM is about starting with equations to generate data. …It is the most efficient and accurate way to generate data.”

To this end, it already has a list of impressive development contracts. For example, it is working to increase the lifetime of lithium-ion batteries in collaboration with battery company Novonix; has a contract with the United States Air Force to develop magnetic navigation systems that don’t depend on GPS; is also working with a variety of US hospitals on a man-made intelligence-based “magnetocardiography system” – a recent variety of medical device for cardiac imaging, amongst other things.

So this AI chooses larger hurdles than writing term papers or creating fake videos.

Interestingly, there are some indications that SandboxAQ could change into considered one of the AI ​​corporations that VCs are desperate to back. Many investors all year long established special purpose vehicles (SPV) for company shares. As we have now previously reported, such special purpose vehicles have change into a popular financial tool because so many investors want to amass shares in well-known artificial intelligence startups.

SandboxAQ didn’t immediately reply to our request for comment.

The top U.S. auto safety regulator has launched a brand new investigation into Tesla’s “fully autonomous driving (supervised)” software after 4 reported crashes in low visibility conditions – including one which killed a pedestrian.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Defect Investigation. announced On Friday, it tests the driving force assistance system to see if it will probably “detect and respond appropriately to low visibility conditions on the road,” reminiscent of “sun glare, fog or airborne dust.” The agency also desires to know whether every other accidents aside from those reported have occurred under such conditions.

The investigation comes just per week after Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled his company’s “CyberCab” prototype, a two-seater automobile that he says will function a robotaxi after years of unfulfilled guarantees. During the event, Musk also stated that Tesla’s Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV would have the option to operate unattended in California and Texas sooner or later in 2025, though he provided no details on how that may occur.

In April, NHTSA ended an almost three-year study of Autopilot, Tesla’s less powerful driver-assistance software, after investigating nearly 500 crashes during which the system was energetic. The agency determined that 13 of those crashes were fatal. At the identical time it closed its investigation, NHTSA opened a brand new investigation right into a recall patch issued by Tesla to handle Autopilot problems.

Tesla’s software also poses other legal threats. The Department of Justice is investigating Tesla’s claims about driver-assist features, and the California Department of Motor Vehicles has accused Tesla of overstating the software’s capabilities.

The company is also facing a variety of lawsuits related to autopilot failures. He solved some of the famous cases that was to go to court earlier this 12 months. The company has said previously that it makes drivers aware that they need to consistently monitor Full Autopilot and Autopilot and be able to take control at a moment’s notice.

The recent investigation announced on Friday clearly identifies 4 accidents during which the fully autonomous driving system (supervised) was energetic, all of which occurred between November 2023 and May 2024.

The November 2023 accident occurred in Rimrock, Arizona. The incident involved a Model Y, which hit and killed a pedestrian. Another crash occurred in January 2024 in Nipton, California, where a Model 3 collided with one other automobile on a highway during a sandstorm. In March 2024, a Model 3 collided with one other automobile on a highway in Red Mills, Virginia in cloudy weather. In May 2024, a Model 3 crashed right into a stationary object on a rural road in Collinsville, Ohio, in fog. NHTSA noted that somebody was injured within the May 2024 accident.

The NHTSA Defect Investigation Team divides its investigation into 4 levels: defect report, initial assessment, recall inquiry, and technical evaluation. The agency classified this recent investigation as a preliminary assessment. NHTSA typically tries to finish this sort of study inside eight months.