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SEATTLE: Spaceflight Inc, the global launch services provider, today announced it signed an agreement with SAB Launch Services S.r.l. (SAB LS) to fly its Sherpa® orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs) on Arianespace Vega missions. The agreement extends Spaceflight launch capacity on European missions managed by Arianespace for Spaceflight’s OTV-based services on launches starting as soon as next year. The companies are also partnering to offer customers access to shared integration and storage facilities across the U.S. and Europe.
“We continue to see growing customer interest in launches that can deliver a variety of payload types and sizes to specific orbital destinations,” said Curt Blake, CEO and president of Spaceflight. “Our proven propulsive OTVs allow us to provide unprecedented flexibility and in-space transportation services. We’re excited to build on our already strong relationship with SAB and expand the Spaceflight portfolio of launch partners to include Vega for our family of Sherpa vehicles.”
Italy-based SAB is part of SAB Group and provides launch services on European launchers, including Vega and Vega C multi-payload missions. (AP)
SEATTLE: Spaceflight Inc, the global launch services provider, today announced it shipped the fully integrated Sherpa-LTC orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) and customer payload to Cape Canaveral to launch aboard an upcoming Starlink mission scheduled for next month. The high-thrust propulsive Sherpa will deploy from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 targeting a 310-kilometer circular orbit, before igniting and transporting an undisclosed customer payload, booked through Astro Digital, to a 1,000-kilometer circular orbit.
Sherpa-LTC features a bi-propellant, green propulsion subsystem utilizing Benchmark Space Systems’ new Polaris propulsion technology. The revolutionary OTV provides a low-cost, rapid orbital transfer for many sizes of small spacecraft.
“Sherpa-LTC’s transportation capabilities coupled with the reliability and consistency of Starlink missions create an ideal solution for the customer’s unique mission needs,” said Curt Blake, CEO and president of Spaceflight. “Our OTV eliminates the barriers that make it more challenging for spacecraft to access uncommon orbits in LEO and beyond. We’re eager to continue to provide innovative, cost-effective, and dependable in-space transportation services for our customers and partners like Astro Digital.” (AP)
AUSTIN, Texas: Slingshot Aerospace, Inc, a company building space simulation and analytics products to accelerate space sustainability, today announced that the company has acquired Numerica’s Space Domain Awareness (SDA) division and UK-based Seradata. Numerica’s SDA division includes the world’s first and only commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) to geosynchronous orbit (GEO) daytime and nighttime optical sensor network for satellite tracking. Seradata brings the company’s industry-leading SpaceTrak satellite and launch database into Slingshot’s portfolio and establishes the company’s footprint in the UK/European market.
Both of these acquisitions fasttrack Slingshot’s ability to drive the space economy towards sustainability by providing satellite and launch operators with the most robust and authoritative space situational awareness (SSA) and space traffic coordination solutions available. (AP)
FT LAUDERDALE, Fla: Ubicquia, Inc. a company dedicated to making intelligent infrastructure platforms that are simple to deploy and monitor, has announced the launch of two UbiHub® platforms. The UbiHub AP6 is a triband Wi-Fi 6 Access Point that gives communities the ability to enable public Wi-Fi. The platform integrates PoE that makes it easy to support third-party equipment including cameras and license plate readers. The UbiHub AP/AI has the same features and functionality of the AP6, and also integrates dual 4K cameras, directional microphones, a neural AI processor for street analytics and 15 days of video storage. UbiHub is compatible with more than 360 million streetlights worldwide and can be installed in seconds, plugging into the existing streetlight photocell socket. By integrating multiple functions into one easy-to-install platform, the UbiHub is a smart city workhorse that reduces the total cost of ownership by 42 percent when compared to conventional multi-vendor solutions, according to Northeast Group.
“Our UbiHub is the ‘Swiss Army Knife’ of intelligent infrastructure for cities and utilities,” said Ian Aaron, CEO, Ubicquia. “Whether you need to scale the deployment of cameras and license plate readers across multiple vendors or simply expand broadband in commercial areas and parks, UbiHub is the only multi-function product in the market that installs in seconds and delivers data in minutes.” (AP)
NEW YORK: Perfect Corp, the artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) beauty and fashion tech solutions provider, today introduced AI Virtual Background Changer as the newest AIpowered solution helping brands to create hyper-engaged consumer shopping experiences. Perfect Corp.’s newest SaaS solution uses powerful AI segmentation technology to create fully immersive branded virtual environments through AI and AR technologies, enhancing the virtual try-on experience and inviting consumers to connect with brands in a whole new way.
The best-in-class foreground and background segmentation technology uses real-time, jitter-free tracking to place customers in interactive branded environments, transporting shoppers to any location or environment with a tap. The live background solution allows brands to create both static (online experience) and animated (in-store experience) designs, unleashing another creative way to interact with shoppers. This immersive digital experience is compatible with virtual makeup, earrings, and glasses try-on, with more categories to be added in the near future. The fully customizable tool offers unlimited aesthetics, allowing brands to tailor the digital environment to match their physical store or individual brand vision, be that seasonal, product-specific, or to celebrate a trending moment. (AP)
SAN JOSE, Calif: NETGEAR®, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTGR), the provider of award-winning connected products designed to simplify and improve people’s lives, today announced a partnership with SuperRare, the pioneering marketplace for unique NFT artwork. NETGEAR will join the SuperRare DAO to help develop a licensing and royalty model for displaying NFTs on digital displays. The licensing model, which supports the showcasing of curated SuperRare collections on the Meural platform, strengthens a vision both companies share to create new ways to interact with digital art, culture and collections.
The acquisition of $RARE tokens and participation in the SuperRare DAO signals the start of a new era for NETGEAR and a doubling down on its commitment to creating a new model for digital art. Its involvement in the SuperRare DAO is designed to shape the future of decentralized curation, community organizing and artist empowerment. (AP)
NEW YORK: The stylized action romp “Bullet Train,” starring Brad Pitt, arrived with a $30.1 million opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, as the last big movie of Hollywood’s summer recovery landed in theaters.
The “Bullet Train” debut for Sony Pictures was solid but unspectacular for a movie that cost $90 million to make and was propelled by Pitt’s substantial star power. Even if it holds well in coming weeks, movie theaters have no major studio releases on the horizon for the rest of August, and few sure things to look forward to in early fall.
While late summer is always a quiet period in theaters, it will be especially so this year - and likely to sap some of the momentum stirred by “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Jurassic World: Dominion,” “Minions: The Rise of Gru” and others. After a comeback season that pushed the box office close to pre-pandemic levels, it’s about to get pretty quiet in cinemas.
“It’s definitely going to be quieter, like the calm after the storm,” said Paul Dergarabedian,
senior media analyst for data firm Comscore. “But that doesn’t mean there’s not going to be great movies out there and perhaps the good will generated by some of those films might be enough to buoy the box office until we get into the blockbuster corridor with ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ and ‘Avatar 2’ down the road. We have to expect that we’re not going to be able to keep up the pace we had this summer.”
As the last big summer movie to leave the station, “Bullet Train” hopes to keep riding for the coming weeks. That would be in line with the playbook of some other original, August-released summer movies like “Free Guy” and “Crazy Rich Asians.” Directed by David Leitch (“Atomic Blonde,” “Deadpool 2”), “Bullet Train” gathers a number of assassins (co-stars include Aaron TaylorJohnson and Brian Tyree Henry)
together on a speeding train running from Tokyo to Kyoto.
As one of the few original wouldbe summer blockbusters without big-name intellectual property behind it, the R-rated “Bullet Train” might have come into the weekend with more momentum if reviews had been stronger. With a low 54% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, “Bullet Train” was only slightly better received by audiences, who gave the film a B+ CinemaScore. The film added $32.4 million in overseas box office.
The weekend’s other new wide release, “Easter Sunday,” struggled to catch on. The Universal Pictures comedy, starring comic Jo Koy as an actor attending his family’s Easter Sunday celebration, won praise for its Filipino representation but drew even worse reviews than “Bullet Train.” It opened with $5.3 million in ticket sales.
Instead, “Bullet Train” was trailed by a number of holdovers, including Warner Bros.’ “DC League of Pets.” The animated release grossed $11.2 million in its and Thunder,” for the Walt Disney second week of release. Co., came in fourth with $7.6
Jordan Peele’s “Nope,” the million in its fifth weekend. It’s Universal sci-fi horror release, now up to $316.1 million, making continued to perform well, earning it the highest grossing Thor movie $8.5 million in its third weekend. domestically. With $699 million With $98 million in tickets sold, globally, “Love and Thunder” “Nope” will soon surpass $100 is less likely to catch the $854 million at the domestic box office. million worldwide haul of 2017’s
Taika Waititi’s “Thor: Love “Thor: Ragnarok.” (AP)