VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Luxembourg has proposed to tap the mineral-rich asteroids orbiting between Earth and Mars for minerals that are scarce in our planet. Its deputy prime minister, Etienne Schneider, has already announced the roll-out of the initiative named SpaceResources.lu, which will be set up with the help of its US and European commercial partners.

Previously, an experiment team of a space gardening project called Veggie has also succeeded planting consumable lettuce. The flower bloom is a remarkable step forward to a more advanced technique and choice of plants to grow in space. The project was established because NASA seeks to learn how astronauts can grow their own food in space to sustain long-term space journey.

Amazon is currently working on its Prime Air drones, which will revolutionize the concept of online shopping completely. These drones have an in-built sense-and-avoid technology that allows them to reach their destinations unharmed, and deliver online orders within an unbelievable 30 minutes.

Researchers in NASA is moving one step further to introduce a hybrid airplane technology in concluding its ERA project. The airplane will be able to fly on both fossil fuel and electricity, similar to hybrid car technology.

United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture (JV) between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, is entering into miniature satellites segment. ULA is planning to launch a CubeSat carrier by mid 2017. ULA will explore business potential in launching small satellites for earth imaging, weather forecasting, internet relays, etc.

American billionaire, Robert Bass, established Aerion in 2004. The company with engineering support from Airbus will formally launch the AS2 program next year. Currently, the Reno,based company is searching for manufacturing facility to start building its Aerion supersonic jet. This will become new supersonic jet after Concorde retirement in 2003.

The U.S. space agency NASA claimed that the mass gain for Antarctic ice is greater than the loss suffered from melting. The latest study of NASA doesn't deny that ice mass in Antarctica is melting at an increased rate as a result of global warming but suggests ice mass gains outweigh the losses.

A task force charged with recommending rules for registering recreational drones or unmanned aerial vehicles convenes this Tuesday. The group composed of more than 20 people will be holding meetings until November 5.

Microsoft announces that the company will start its US tour for the HoloLens starting this October. The HoloLens which was first introduced to the audience back in January this year saw users will have the ability to incorporate hologram with the real world unlike the virtual reality program.

NASA is gearing up the Orion heat shield for its first space mission, the EM-1, in 2018. The new heat shield must survive extreme temperatures upon its travel to space.

As part of its objective to promote industrial and business activity, Florida County has offered incentives to Blue Origin to make and launch rockets near NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Blue Origin has been promoted by billionaire Jeff Bezos, founder and Chief Executive of Amazon.com. The space center is coming up in Brevard County.

FAA reported that there had been almost 700 close encounters between drones and planes. Drones have no permissions to soar the sky of more than 400 feet off the ground or within the five miles of any airport, but on the day of August 15, drones messed with air traffic in the Unites States, dozens of them.

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies had agreed to work with Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum and engineering design company, Aecom, to build Elon Musk's vision; the Hyperloop tube.

For $1,500, NASA is challenging programmers and UI designers to create a smartwatch app interface intended to be used by astronauts at the International Space Station. The contest will end on September 9.

NASA astronauts KJell Lindgren from the United States, Kimiya Yui from Japan and Oleg Kononenko from Russia had headed off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a five-month mission to the International Space Station.