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Assessment: Kyle Abraham’s Calm Management of Our bodies and House

Review: Kyle Abraham’s Calm Control of Bodies and Space

Not only does snow fall, but snow falls on a calm sea. In its first moments, When We Fell, Kyle Abraham’s new dance film for the New York City Ballet, sets its tone: muted, tuned to melting subtleties.

In interviews, Abraham said that for this film – which will be available on the company’s website and YouTube channel until April 22 – he was aware of the more flamboyant aspects of The Runaway, his 2018 hit for City Ballet , has avoided. He has said that he was instead influenced by the environment in which the new work was done: during a February “bubble” residence in the Hudson Valley, where the silence of the quarantine was heightened by snow.

All of this is evident in the 16-minute work, which includes piano pieces by Morton Feldman and Nico Muhly as replacements for Jason Moran. But because this dance had to be a movie, Abraham’s most important decision may have been to choose a co-director, cinematographer Ryan Marie Helfant. “When We Fell”, shot in 16 mm black and white, is one of the most beautiful dance films of the pandemic.

After the snow and the sea, it positions the dancers in the lobby of the home theater of the City Ballet in Lincoln Center, making use of the clarity and elegance of the place, the geometric floor designs and the balcony work. Unlike many recent dance films, this body establishes and maintains in relation to the space around it. When it comes to a different point of view, the processing is calm, musical and coherent. Even shifts as ostentatious and potentially disoriented as switching between side and top views are absorbed into the calm rhythm of the film.

The most noticeable moment is a transition, a quick assembly of architectural details. This is significant as Abraham’s choreography is also focused on details. As in “The Runaway”, Abraham skillfully combines ballet with other influences, from Merce Cunningham to club dance. But the mixing here is more relaxed, less proving something. Elements that could be rich in contrast, arabesques or body scrolls, are all delivered on the same plane without emphasis – each snowflake registers itself before it merges with the water.

This also applies to the diversity of the eight-person cast: a racial mixture that still cannot be accepted in this or any other ballet company is obvious, but is not emphasized, as is the lack of ballet hierarchies. The main dancers Lauren Lovette and Taylor Stanley (Abraham’s city ballet muse, star of “The Runaway” and the short film “Ces noms que nous portons”) get the final pas de deux, in which some ballet gender conventions are neglected with beautiful certainty . But the soloist Claire Kretzschmar and the corps members India Bradley and Christopher Grant shine equally.

Even one apprentice, KJ Takahashi, stands out in a number of twists that are typical of this work: there is bravado without breaking the contemplative surface, and the tension holds the dullness in check. This is when the dancers have moved onto the stage of the theater and the music – Moran’s “All Hammers and Chains” – is at its wildest. Glissandi chains bubble over low hammer blows. Even so, the dance remains calm.

“When we fell”

Until April 22nd, nycballet.com.

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NASA Industrial LEO Locations challenge for personal house stations

NASA Commercial LEO Destinations project for private space stations

SpaceX’s crew Dragon Endeavor was docked with the International Space Station on July 1, 2020.

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration brought astronauts aboard the International Space Station for two decades last year. However, as the floating research laboratory ages, the space agency is turning to private companies to build and deploy new free-flying habitats in near-earth orbit.

Last week NASA presented the Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) project. In the fourth quarter of 2021, a total of up to four companies are expected to receive up to $ 400 million to begin developing private space stations.

The agency is keen to replicate the success of its Commercial Cargo and Commercial Crew programs. In these programs, three companies took over NASA to send cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station.

NASA’s LEO commercial director Phil McAlister said he views the domain of low-earth orbit as three main activities: “cargo transportation, crew transportation, and destinations.” NASA has transferred responsibility for the two earlier activities to private companies. The agency pays SpaceX and Northrop Grumman to ship cargo spacecraft to the ISS and SpaceX and Boeing to launch astronauts. McAlister stressed that NASA had previously taken full ownership of all three activities.

“If it stayed that way, our near-earth orbit efforts would always be limited by the size of NASA’s budget,” McAlister said in a briefing Tuesday. “By bringing the private sector into these areas and into these areas as a supplier and user, you expand the pot and you have more people in low orbit.”

NASA will open the International Space Station to tourists with the first mission in 2020.

Stocktrek Pictures | Getty Images

NASA’s potential cost savings as a space station user, rather than as an owner and operator, is a major motivator for the CLD program. The International Space Station costs NASA about $ 4 billion a year to operate. In addition, it cost a total of $ 150 billion to develop and build the ISS, with NASA taking most of that bill, while Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada each contributed.

NASA estimated last year that the commercial crew program alone saved the agency between $ 20 billion and $ 30 billion while funding the development of two, not just one, spacecraft. While Boeing has not yet completed development testing and has suffered a prolonged setback after the Starliner capsule’s initial launch failed due to multiple anomalies in December 2019, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is now operationally flying NASA astronauts.

Another motivator for starting the CLD program is the aging hardware of the ISS, as much of the space station’s core structures were made in the 1990s and the final print structure was added in 2011. Last year Russian cosmonauts were working to fix a small air leak in a room in a station module.

“The ISS is an amazing system, but unfortunately it won’t last forever,” said McAlister. “An unrecoverable anomaly can occur at any time.”

NASA sees the CLD program as a way to get multiple companies to develop and build new habitats over the next few years so that the agency has an overlap period before the ISS retires. McAlister noted that in addition to the CLD program, NASA awarded space specialist Axiom Space a $ 140 million contract to build modules to expand the ISS. When the ISS retires, Axiom plans to take its modules down and convert them into a free-flying space station.

“We’re making progress there and we’re really excited about it,” said McAlister. “We want to have competition in the utility sector, so that’s what we do [CLD]. It has always been part of our plan to have both modules installed and free leaflets. “

An Axiom spokesman said in a statement to CNBC that the company “broadly supports NASA’s vision of a multifaceted economy in LEO”.

“We are raising private funding to design and develop our world’s first commercial target to demonstrate that true commercial leadership can advance the LEO economy. Building the Axiom Station as an extension of the International Space Station will expand the work that at station in the near future and at best allow a timely and seamless transition when the ISS reaches the end of its life, “said Axiom.

A NASA list of organizations registered for the briefing revealed a wide variety of aerospace companies including: Airbus US, Blue Origin, Boeing, Collins Aerospace, Firefly Aerospace, General Dynamics, Ispace, Lockheed Martin, Moog, Nanoracks , Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Redwire Space, RUAG Space, Sierra Nevada Corporation, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Orbit, Voyager Space Holdings, and York Space Systems.

One of these companies has already announced that it will soon announce its plan for a free-flying space station. Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announced that it will host a virtual press conference on March 31st to unveil the design of the “SNC Space Station”.

NASA will release a final announcement for CLD proposals in May. The first phase of the promotional awards is expected between October and December. NASA’s Johnson Space Center will manage the CLD program through its commercial LEO development office.

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Jeff Bezos excursions Relativity Area headquarters with Tim Ellis

Jeff Bezos tours Relativity Space headquarters with Tim Ellis

The row of two-story 3D printer bays is located at the company’s headquarters.

Relativity space

The founders of two private rocket construction companies met today – one, the richest person in the world; the other, the head of a company that pushes the boundaries of manufacturing.

Jeff Bezos visited relativity space’s shiny new “factory of the future” on Friday, a person familiar with the visit told CNBC to tour the Long Beach, Calif. Facility with CEO Tim Ellis. Relativity moved from its previous headquarters in Inglewood to the new facility last summer.

The nature of the visit to Relativity’s headquarters was unclear.

Ellis previously worked as a propulsion engineer at Bezos’ space company Blue Origin – and was blamed for doing the process of 3D printing metal rocket parts in-house. Ellis left Blue Origin in 2015 to start Relativity with Jordan Noone, a college classmate and former SpaceX propulsion engineer.

Relativity declined CNBC’s request for comment on Bezos’ visit, while Blue Origin did not respond to requests for comment.

The factory floor of Relativity’s new headquarters in Long Beach, California.

Relativity space

The theory of relativity has focused on the 3D printing approach, using huge printers and metallurgy developed in-house to build 95% of the parts of its rockets. Ellis points out that 3D printing drastically reduces the complexity of his missiles, but also makes them faster to build and modify. According to Relativity, the simpler process will be able to convert raw materials into a rocket on the launchpad in less than 60 days.

The company’s first rocket, Terran 1, is expected to launch for the first time later this year. Terran 1 costs 12 million US dollars per launch and is designed to transport around 1,250 kilograms into low-earth orbit. This puts Terran 1 in the “medium lift” segment of the US launch market between Electron from Rocket Lab and Falcon 9 from SpaceX in terms of both price and performance.

Relativity is also working on a second, larger rocket called the Terran R, which aims to rival SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in both launchability and reusability. Terran R is the first of several new initiatives that Ellis is expected to introduce in the coming year. The company has raised more than $ 680 million since it was founded five years ago.

Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon, speaks in Washington, DC on September 19, 2019.

Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

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Satellite tv for pc imagery specialist BlackSky newest house SPAC going public

Satellite imagery specialist BlackSky latest space SPAC going public

An artist rendering of the company’s global satellites in orbit.

Black sky

Seattle-based satellite imagery specialist BlackSky is the newest space company to be publicly traded soon. The company announced a SPAC deal on Thursday.

BlackSky merges with the special purpose vehicle company Osprey Technology. BlackSky will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BKSY when the deal closes, which is expected in July.

“This transaction fully funds our growth plans and accelerates our vision of delivering a ‘first-to-know’ advantage to our customers. This is a major turning point for our industry as commercial and government users need access to real-time information on the changes that is most important to them, ”said Brian O’Toole, CEO of BlackSky, in a statement.

Ospreys SPAC is currently trading under the ticker SFTW. Osprey is led by investors Edward Cohen and Jonathan Cohen together with David DiDomenico from JANA Partners. Shares rose up to 37% on the Thursday before trading.

BlackSky expects to generate around $ 450 million in cash income from the deal, including $ 180 million in a PIPE round with investors like Tiger Global, Mithril Capital (Ajay Royan and Peter Thiel’s investment firm) and Hedosophia ( British investor Ian) Osborne) and Senator Investment Group.

The merger is expected to be worth $ 1.5 billion, based on the value of the PIPE, according to the press release.

The company plans to use the funds to further achieve its goal of having a network of 30 imaging satellites taking pictures every 30 minutes from anywhere on the planet. To date, BlackSky has five satellites in operation, and plans to launch nine more satellites into orbit later this year. The company’s vertically integrated LeoStella joint venture with the Franco-Italian manufacturer Thales Alenia Space is building the BlackSky satellites.

A pair of BlackSky Global satellites in the LeoStella manufacturing facility.

Black sky

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Silicon Valley’s Secure House – The New York Occasions

Silicon Valley’s Safe Space - The New York Times

More than 7,500 people signed a petition urging The Times not to publish his name, including many prominent figures in the tech industry. “The petitioners gave his full name on The Times and said” would seriously damage public discourse by preventing private individuals from blogging their thoughts. “On the Internet, many in Silicon Valley believe that everyone has the right not only to say what they want, but also to say it anonymously.

In this context, I spoke to Manoel Horta Ribeiro, a computer scientist who deals with social networks at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. He was concerned that Slate Star Codex, like other communities, was allowing extremist views to invade the influential tech world. “A community like this gives marginalized groups a voice,” he said. “It provides a platform for people who hold more extreme views.”

But for Kelsey Piper and many others, the main problem was the name and attachment of the man, professionally and legally known as Scott Siskind, to his influential and controversial writings as Scott Alexander. Ms. Piper, who is herself a journalist for the news site Vox, said she disagreed with everything he wrote, but she also felt that his blog was wrongly painted as an upsurge in radical views. She feared his views could not be reduced to a single newspaper story.

I assured her that my goal was to report with rigor and fairness on the blog and the rationalists. However, she felt that it might be unfair to discuss both critics and supporters. What I had to do, she said, was to somehow statistically prove which side was right.

When I asked OpenAI’s Mr. Altman if talking on sites like Slate Star Codex could lead people to toxic beliefs, he said he had “some empathy” for those concerns. But he added, “People need a forum to discuss ideas.”

In August, Mr. Siskind restored his old blog posts on the Internet. And two weeks ago he restarted his blog about Substack, a company with ties to Andreessen Horowitz and Y Combinator. He gave the blog a new title: Astral Codex Ten. He hinted that Substack paid him $ 250,000 for a year on the platform. And he stated that the company would give him the protection he needed.

In his first post, Mr. Siskind shared his full name.

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Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit blasts satellites into house from 747

Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit blasts satellites into space from 747

Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit with a missile under the wing of a modified Boeing 747 aircraft launches July 10, 2019 in Mojave, California, in a major drop test of its high altitude satellite launch system.

Mike Blake | Reuters

Virgin Orbit, the rocket company founded by billionaire Richard Branson, successfully launched its first satellites with its novel air launch system.

The California-based company said 10 mini-satellites had been launched into space by the same rocket launched from the wing of an old Boeing 747 jumbo jet as it flew over the Pacific.

The jet, nicknamed Cosmic Girl, took off from Mojave Air and Space Port at around 10:50 a.m. PST on Sunday. Almost 60 minutes later, the LauncherOne missile dropped it approximately 50 miles south of the Channel Islands in California at an altitude of 35,000 feet.

When released, the rocket engine ignited and launched LauncherOne into space. About two hours later, 10 shoe box-sized satellites developed by universities and selected by NASA were deployed at an altitude of 500 km. The satellites are used for space exploration purposes.

“A new gateway to space has just been opened,” said Dan Hart, CEO of Virgin Orbit, in a statement. “That LauncherOne successfully entered orbit today is testament to the talent, precision, drive and ingenuity of this team.”

The successful launch came after Virgin Orbit attempted to launch a rocket in May last year. The company diagnosed the failure of a high pressure fuel line in the engine, which shut down the rocket shortly after launch.

“Virgin Orbit achieved what many thought was impossible. It was so inspiring to see our specially customized Virgin Atlantic 747, Cosmic Girl, launch the LauncherOne rocket into orbit,” Branson said in a statement.

“This great flight is the culmination of many years of hard work and will also unleash a whole new generation of innovators on their way into orbit.”

Thanks to Virgin Orbit’s launch technology, the company can theoretically launch rockets from almost anywhere on earth at short notice. There are plans to launch missile-bearing 747s from Cornwall, England, for example.

Branson hopes to take advantage of the growing demand for small, relatively cheap satellites. He’s not the only billionaire involved in the space race. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla’s Elon Musk are also building spaceships to capitalize on the fast-growing industry.

Virgin Orbit describes itself as a “dedicated launch service for commercial and government-built small satellites”.

The company is planning the official transition to commercial service for its next mission, adding that it has already booked later launches from clients such as the US Space Force and the UK Royal Air Force, as well as companies like Swarm Technologies, Italy’s SITAEL. and Denmark’s GomSpace.

Virgin Orbit is a spin-off from Branson’s space tourism company Virgin Galactic. Virgin Orbit is a completely separate company and is privately owned by Branson’s multinational conglomerate Virgin Group.

The speculation about how much Virgin Orbit has invested so far has varied widely. Estimates range from $ 400 million to $ 500 million and even over $ 700 million.

In an interview with CNBC in October, Hart declined to comment on how much Virgin Orbit has spent to date, but said it was “discussions” about further investments, with the company about $ 150 million in new Strive for capital.

Investors include Branson’s Virgin Group and Mubadala Investment Company – the United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth fund, which also has a significant stake in Virgin Galactic.

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Astra Rocket 3.2 reaches house after launch from Alaska

Astra Rocket 3.2 reaches space after launch from Alaska

Astra launches Rocket 3.1 on September 12, 2020 in Kodiak, Alaska.

John Kraus | Astra

San Francisco-based startup Astra was the youngest U.S. rocket builder to hit space on Tuesday with the successful launch of its Rocket 3.2 vehicle from Kodiak, Alaska.

The missile was about to enter orbit, and Astra CEO Chris Kemp told reporters after launch that the vehicle had reached the target altitude of 390 kilometers but was “only half a kilometer per second short” of the target orbit speed.

“This has far exceeded our team’s expectations,” said Kemp.

Astra shared images captured by the rocket on the edge of space. The rocket carried no satellites or other payloads as the launch was a demonstration mission.

Astra was founded just over four years ago in October 2016. Headquartered in Alameda, California, Astra has raised approximately $ 100 million to date from investors including Advance (the investment arm of the family of late billionaire SI Newhouse), ACME Capital, Airbus, Ventures, Canaan Partners and Salesforce founder Marc Benioff .

The company’s missile is about 40 feet tall, making it a small launch vehicle category. These small rockets have become increasingly popular due to the increase in the number of small satellites and spacecraft, often the size of a mailbox or washing machine, in search of trips into orbit. The Astra rocket is said to be able to carry up to 100 kilograms into orbit.

Currently, the small rocket business is dominated by Rocket Lab, which has launched 16 missions with its 60-foot electron rocket to put up to 300 kilograms into low-earth orbit. Elon Musk’s SpaceX also often contains small satellites as “ridesharing” facilities on its much larger Falcon 9 rocket, which is 230 feet high and can carry up to 22,800 kilograms into orbit.

Along with SpaceX and Rocket Lab, Astra is the third US company to have started privately developing a satellite launch system and successfully reaching space since the turn of the century.

Astras Rocket 3.0 during launch preparations in Kodiak, Alaska.

Astra / John Kraus

As the name suggests, Rocket 3.2 is the latest in Astra’s work developing his vehicle. Rocket 3.0 was destroyed on the launch pad due to a valve problem in March while the company was preparing it for launch.

Rocket 3.1 successfully launched on September 11th, but failed to get out of the atmosphere. The missile’s engines fired for about 30 seconds before a problem with its guidance system caused the engines to shut down and the missile to fall back to Earth. Chris Kemp, CEO of Astra, said after Rocket 3.1 launched he expected it to be the first of three flights before the company hits orbit.

Astra uses a very small team of local staff to launch its missiles and sends about half a dozen people to Alaska to prepare for launch.

The company has customer contracts for a few dozen launches once it begins commercial service. A single customer can purchase a dedicated Astra launch for around $ 2.5 million. That makes its rockets competitive against other companies that offer small rocket trips into space, as Rocket Labs Electron costs about $ 7 million.

Kemp said that Astra will be flying payloads in the upcoming Rocket 3.3 launch, which the company expects early next year.

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