NASA’s SPHEREx observatory is now in space for a two year year mission to create a 3D map of the entire celestial sky. The telescope left the ground on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from a launch pad in California, four years after NASA announced that a SpaceX flight will launch the mission, along with NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) microsatellites. SPHEREx separated from SpaceX’s vehicle at 12AM Eastern time on March 12 and will remain in low Earth orbit, where it will maintain a position relative to the sun that will remain the same throughout the year.

Every 98-minute orbit the observatory makes will allow it to view a 360-degree strip of the sky in both optical as well as near-infrared light. The telescope can capture more 360-degree strips as the Earth moves around the sun, enabling it to map the entire celestial sky within six months. SPHEREx was designed to image the entire sky every six months in two years, with its goal being to create a 3D map of over 450 million galaxies. The telescope will also image and gather information on over 100 million stars in the Milky Way.

SPHEREx’s map is bound to be colorful: It will separate infrared light emitted by the stars and galaxies into 102 individual colors using a technique called spectroscopy. NASA likens it to the “way a prism splits sunlight into a rainbow.” The agency says observing the objects in different colors will reveal various properties about them, such as their composition. For galaxies, their colors could help scientists determine their distance from our planet. The data SPHEREx provides will give scientists information about what happened right after the Big Bang and could provide evidence of cosmic inflation, or the rapid expansion of the early universe. SPHEREx will shed its telescope lens’ protective cover in four days and will start its science operations in a little over a month once its temperature has cooled down. 

Meanwhile, the four PUNCH satellites, which will also take on a Sun-synchronous orbit, will map the sun’s corona by taking polarized white-light images of the celestial object. It will gather data to help us better understand how the corona turns into solar wind, which could lead to accurate predictions of space weather events affecting spacecraft orbiting the Earth. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-spherex-space-telescope-launched-into-orbit-by-a-spacex-falcon-9-rocket-055518752.html?src=rss

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: There’s a power crunch looming as AI and cloud providers ramp up data center construction. But a new report suggests that a solution lies beneath their foundations. Advanced geothermal power could supply nearly two-thirds of new data center demand by 2030, according to an analysis by the Rhodium Group. The additions would quadruple the amount of geothermal power capacity in the U.S. — from 4 gigawatts to about 16 gigawatts — while costing the same or less than what data center operators pay today. In the western U.S., where geothermal resources are more plentiful, the technology could provide 100% of new data center demand. Phoenix, for example, could add 3.8 gigawatts of data center capacity without building a single new conventional power plant.

Geothermal resources have enormous potential to provide consistent power. Historically, geothermal power plants have been limited to places where Earth’s heat seeps close to the surface. But advanced geothermal techniques could unlock 90 gigawatts of clean power in the U.S. alone, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. […] Because geothermal power has very low running costs, its price is competitive with data centers’ energy costs today, the Rhodium report said. When data centers are sited similarly to how they are today, a process that typically takes into account proximity to fiber optics and major metro areas, geothermal power costs just over $75 per megawatt hour. But when developers account for geothermal potential in their siting, the costs drop significantly, down to around $50 per megawatt hour.

The report assumes that new generating capacity would be “behind the meter,” which is what experts call power plants that are hooked up directly to a customer, bypassing the grid. Wait times for new power plants to connect to the grid can stretch on for years. As a result, behind the meter arrangements have become more appealing for data center operators who are scrambling to build new capacity.

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Sphere Entertainment Co, the company behind the Las Vegas Sphere, said they are considering opening scaled-down versions of the immersive venue in other cities. AV Magazine reports: While this has been been feasible for its high-profile residencies such as U2, the Eagles, Dead & Company and Anyma, smaller venues could attract a broader range of artists who might not have the budget or demand to fill the flagship Las Vegas location. By scaling down the size while retaining the signature technology, Sphere Entertainment Co can offer a similar spectacle at a more sustainable cost for artists and spectators.

The possibility of mini-Spheres follows news that a full-scale venue will open in the UAE as a result of a partnership between Sphere Entertainment Co and the Department of Culture and Tourism — Abu Dhabi. Beyond concerts, the Las Vegas Sphere has proven successful with immersive films such as V-U2: An Immersive Concert Film and the Sphere Expeience featuring Darren Aronofsky’s Postcard from Earth, which In January passed 1,000 screenings. “As we enter a new fiscal year, we see significant opportunities to drive our Sphere business forward in Las Vegas and beyond,” said Dolan. “We believe we are on a path toward realizing our vision for this next-generation medium and generating long-term shareholder value.”

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The franchise’s first animated, feature-length theatrical release The Day the Earth Blew Up finally opens this Friday.

MojoKid writes: AMD just launched its latest flagship desktop processors, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D. Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a 16-core/32-thread, dual-CCD part with a base clock of 4.3GHz and a max boost clock of 5.7GHz. There’s also 96MB of second-gen 3D V-Cache on board. Standard Ryzen 9000 series processors feature 32MB of L3 cache per compute die, but with the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, one compute die is outfitted with an additional 96MB of 3D V-Cache, bringing the total L3 up to 128MB (144MB total cache). The CCD outfitted with 3D V-Cache operates at more conservative voltages and frequencies, but the bare compute die is unencumbered.

The Ryzen 9 9950X3D turns out to be a high-performance, no-compromise desktop processor. Its complement of 3D V-Cache provides tangible benefits in gaming, and AMD’s continued work on the platform’s firmware and driver software ensures that even with the Ryzen 9 9950X3D’s asymmetrical CCD configuration, performance is strong across the board. At $699, it’s not cheap but its a great CPU for gaming and content creation, and one of the most powerful standard desktop CPUs money can buy currently.

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With all the announcements from automakers planning for more gasoline and hybrid cars in their future lineups, you’d think that electric vehicles had stopped selling. While that might be increasingly true for Tesla, everyone else is more than picking up the slack. According to analysts at Rho Motion, global EV sales are up 30 percent this year already. Even here in the US, EV sales were still up 28 percent compared to 2024, despite particularly EV-unfriendly headwinds.

Getting ahead of those unfriendly winds may actually be driving the sales bump in the US, where EV sales only grew by less than 8 percent last year, for contrast. “American drivers bought 30 percent more electric vehicles than they had by this time last year, making use of the final months of IRA tax breaks before the incentives are expected to be pulled later this year,” said Charles Lester, Rho Motion data manager.

With the expected loss of government incentives and the prospect of new tariffs that will add tens of thousands of dollars to new car prices, now is probably a good time to buy an EV if you think you’re going to want or need one.

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As Disney looks to stage a diminished premiere for its latest live-action adaptation, it marks the end of a long and winding road of the studio’s similarly long-and-winding lack of confidence in the film.

Microsoft is ending support of its Remote Desktop app for Windows on May 27th. From a report: If you use the Remote Desktop app to connect to Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, or Microsoft Dev Box machines then you’ll have to transition to the Windows app instead.

The new Windows app, which launched in September, includes multimonitor support, dynamic display resolutions, and easy access to cloud PCs and virtual desktops. Microsoft says “connections to Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, and Microsoft Dev Box via the Remote Desktop app from the Microsoft Store will be blocked after May 27th, 2025.”

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A new chapter has begun for two of the world’s most popular preprint platforms, bioRxiv and medRxiv, with the launch of a non-profit organization that will manage them, their co-founders announced today. From a report: The servers allow researchers to share manuscripts for free before peer review and have become an integral part of publishing biology and medical research. Until now, they had been managed by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in New York. The new organization, named openRxiv, will have a board of directors and a scientific and medical advisory board. It is supported by a fresh US$16-million grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), the projects’ main financial backer.

“It’s just exciting to see this key piece of infrastructure really get the attention that it deserves as a dedicated initiative,” says Katie Corker, executive director of ASAPbio, a scientist-driven non-profit organization, which is based in San Francisco, California. Preprints are “the backbone of the scientific publishing ecosystem, maybe especially at the current moment, when there’s a lot of worries about who has control of information.”

The launch of openRxiv “reflects a maturation of the projects,” which started as an experiment at CSHL, says Richard Sever, a co-founder of both servers and chief science and strategy officer at openRxiv. It has “become so important that they should have their own organization running them, which is focused on the long-term sustainability of the servers, as opposed to being a side project within a big research institution,” says Sever.

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Papa Roach’s ‘Last Resort’ will get you motivated to watch Devil May Cry come April.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Washington Post: An Amazon-backed self-driving taxi failed to meet vehicle safety standardsbecause it lacks basics like a brake pedal and rearview mirrors, according to a report by federal inspectors that raises questions about the industry’s plans to put a new generation of autonomous vehicles on U.S. roads. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report was produced as part of a review last year of an unusual vehicle by Amazon subsidiary Zoox that, without a steering wheel or other human controls, has no way for a person to drive. Zoox has asserted that the vehicle’s technology, backed by artificial intelligence, complies with the agency’s standards. But the NHTSA report documents “apparent noncompliances” with eight safety rules.

The contents of the previously undisclosed review suggest that rules written when autonomous vehicles were the stuff of futuristic musings pose a legal impediment to the industry’s ambitions, even as plans for self-driving vehicles accelerate. Zoox has a small pilot fleet on the roads in California and Nevada and says it has completed thousands of trips carrying employees and guests. It is finalizing plans to launch public service in Las Vegas this year. […] By documenting the apparent noncompliances of the Zoox, NHTSA could be setting the table for a recall, under agency procedures. It is unclear whether the Trump administration will attempt a change in course. The agency said it remains in discussion with Zoox and was “considering all options.”

Zoox could have sought an exemption from the safety rules, but NHTSA has never granted one to an autonomous passenger vehicle. Instead, the company self-certified that its vehicle complied with the rules as it raced to be the first company to put a purpose-built robotaxi on the road and claim a share of what could become a multi trillion-dollar market. Zoox’s vehicle bears little resemblance to a normal car. The plan is for customers to summon a ride using an app, much like a regular ride-hailing vehicle, getting in through bus-like doors and sitting facing one another. The vehicle navigates itself, seeing the world through a set of cameras and laser-based sensors. It largely relies on its own abilities to drive, but the company says teams of remote operators can seize control to help handle unusual situations. Passengers can call for assistance via a touch screen and open the doors using an emergency release. “We will continue to support transportation technology innovation while maintaining the safety of America’s roads,” NHTSA said in a statement.

“Our recent discussions with NHTSA are about mirrors, windshield wipers, a defroster, and a foot-activated brake pedal — equipment that makes sense for vehicles with human drivers, but not for the Zoox purpose-built robotaxi,” Zoox said in a statement. “Our purpose-built design means that the robotaxi can never be operated by a human driver, and our AI driver doesn’t rely on this equipment to view the world.”

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“The future of podcasting shouldn’t be locked behind walled gardens,” writes the team at Pocket Casts. To push that point forward, Pocket Casts, owned by the company behind WordPress, Automattic Inc., has made its web player free to everyone.

Previously available only to logged-in Pocket Casts users paying $4 per month, Pocket Casts now offers nearly any public-facing podcast feed for streaming, along with controls like playback speed and playlist queueing. If you create an account, you can also sync your playback progress, manage your queue, bookmark episode moments, and save your subscription list and listening preferences. The free access also applies to its clients for Windows and Mac.

“Podcasting is one of the last open corners of the internet, and we’re here to keep it that way,” Pocket Cast’s blog post reads. For those not fully tuned into the podcasting market, this and other statements in the post—like sharing “without needing a specific platform’s approval” and that “podcasts belong to the people, not corporations”—are largely shots at Spotify, and to a much lesser extent other streaming services, that have sought to wrap podcasting’s originally open and RSS-based nature inside proprietary markets and formats.

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Chrono Trigger is an icon for many reasons, but the Dragon Ball creator’s vision of its time-travel universe has helped it endure for the last 3 decades.