Information Technology

This patent describes a neat solution to carrying multiple peripherals together with a laptop, in particular carrying both a mouse and a wireless modem (3G 'dongle'). This is very simply achieved by incorporating the wireless modem within a USB mouse.

SeaLaunch

A problem-free space mission that is a landmark for commercial spaceflight ended at 15.42 UTC today when the Dragon capsule slipped into the Pacific Ocean, 80 kilometres off Baja California. Dragon, made by SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, is the first commercial spacecraft ever to have docked with the International Space Station (ISS).

Flight and cabin crew may soon have the sort of Internet connectivity that ground-based workers take for granted in their offices, thanks to antennae and equipment miniaturisation by Thrane & Thrane.

Speaking at the launch event at No 10, the Chancellor George Osborne said: “This new investment from Intel is great news for the UK economy."

SpaceX has successfully launched the first private mission with the International Space Station, lifting off from Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida at 03:44 local.

International cooperation is crucial to missions beyond Earth orbit, affirmed a panel of space agency leaders on 22 May.

Space exploration may have a new direction. In the 1960s, humans did the exploring but since the last moon landing in 1972, NASA's only explorers beyond low Earth orbit have been semi-autonomous robots. Now the agency is pondering a third approach, sending astronauts who would remain in orbit around alien worlds and explore via robotic rovers.

Hopes that a new breed of commercial drones can be easily integrated into civilian airspace have been dashed after it was revealed that the loss of the technology likely to make it all possible - automatic GPS navigation between waypoints - led to a fatal accident last week.

Three astronauts have been successfully launched into orbit aboard a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The astronauts, one American and two Russians, will dock with the International Space Station (ISS) on 16 May.