All posts tagged: haul

New York to Paris in 30 mins? How to achieve Elon Musk’s vision of rockets replacing long haul

New York to Paris in 30 mins? How to achieve Elon Musk’s vision of rockets replacing long haul

Published by skeptic

Of all the things that Donald Trump’s return as US president could mean, one is that Elon Musk’s plan to use Starship rockets for long-distance flights on Earth could move forward. Dubbed Starship Earth to Earth, this would see passengers transported by rocket between cities. They would briefly leave the planet’s atmosphere during the journey before flying back down to reach their destination. Musk claims it will be possible to travel to anywhere on Earth within an hour. His rocket company, SpaceX, has given examples such as New York to Paris in 30 minutes and London to Hong Kong in 34 minutes. In response to a post about it on his X platform, Musk responded: “This is now possible.” Unlike previous governments, this Trump administration appears focused on reducing regulatory barriers hindering technological progress in all areas. This could make it easier for Musk to rapidly push towards realising this futuristic travel option. But what hurdles must be overcome first? On whether Musk is right about the technical feasibility, the answer is “sort of”. The …

Four arrested after £40m cocaine haul found in van in Yorkshire pub car park | UK news

Four arrested after £40m cocaine haul found in van in Yorkshire pub car park | UK news

Published by skeptic

Four men have been arrested after £40m worth of cocaine was found in the back of a van in a Yorkshire village pub car park. About 500kg of the drug was discovered in a Vauxhall Vivaro in the car park of the Stags Head Inn in Lelley, East Yorkshire, the National Crime Agency said. It is believed that the drugs had been transferred from a larger vessel sailing off the coast of Hull to shore using a rigid-hulled inflatable boat a few hours before. The boat was abandoned at Easington Beach, the NCA added. The beach is about 18 miles from the pub, where the drugs – with an estimated street value of about £40m – were found. A 22-year-old from Argyll, a 32-year-old from Oban and a 24-year-old from Campbeltown, all in Scotland, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to import class A drugs at about 8.30am on Saturday 4 May in Lelley, as well as a 39-year-old from Colombia, the NCA added. Alan French, the senior investigating officer, said: “This was a significant …

Four men arrested after £40m cocaine haul found in van in East Yorkshire village pub car park | UK News

Four men arrested after £40m cocaine haul found in van in East Yorkshire village pub car park | UK News

Published by Sam

Four men have been arrested after half a tonne of cocaine worth £40m was found in a van in the car park of a village pub. The National Crime Agency said the drugs are believed to have been brought to shore in a rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) after being transferred from a larger vessel off the Hull coast. Officers found the RHIB abandoned at Easington Beach, around 18 miles from the Stags Head Inn in Lelley, East Yorkshire, where around 500kg of cocaine was discovered in the back of a Vauxhall Vivaro in the pub’s car park. The NCA said the drugs have a potential street value of £40m and would have been sold around the UK. A 22-year-old from Argyll, a 32-year-old from Oban and a 24-year-old from Campbeltown, all in Scotland, were arrested at 8.30am on Saturday in Lelley, as well as a 39-year-old from Colombia. Senior investigating officer Alan French said: “This was a significant amount of cocaine and its seizure will be a sizeable blow to the organised crime group which …

Surrey’s former Australia international Dan Worrall presses England claim with five-wicket haul

Surrey’s former Australia international Dan Worrall presses England claim with five-wicket haul

Published by skeptic

“There’s still at least 300 overs for me to bowl [this season] before that’s even considered,” said Worrall after leading his Surrey team-mates off the field. “The way the rules are, it’s three years since being a local player in England, so I suppose that would be next April. I’m ready to go if I’m required, but I’ve learned in my time that as soon as you think that far ahead, you’re kidding yourself. “When I started at Surrey I did so with the mindset that I had sort of another full career ahead of me. And I always had an ambition to play in England as an Englishman and have a career in England.” Surrey picked up the final five Hampshire wickets they required for the victory at the Kia Oval which, with Essex drawing a a rain-affected game at Durham, means Essex and Surrey both have 71 points after four matches. Four of Worrall’s five second innings wickets fell to fine catches by Ollie Pope at second slip. The England vice-captain held six …

Cocaine haul worth £450m found hidden in banana shipment in largest-ever class A drugs bust | UK News

Cocaine haul worth £450m found hidden in banana shipment in largest-ever class A drugs bust | UK News

Published by Sam

A shipment of £450m worth of cocaine has been seized at Southampton Port in a “huge hit” to crime cartels. It’s the largest-ever seizure of a haul of class A drugs in the UK, with National Crime Agency (NCA) and Border Force officers finding 5.7 tonnes in a container carrying bananas from South America on 8 February. This far eclipses the previous record of 3.7 tonnes discovered at the same port in 2022 and 3.2 tonnes found on board the tugboat MV Hamal in Scotland in 2015. The 2015 haul was estimated at a value of £512m because of a difference in cocaine prices experienced in Scotland at that time. “This record-breaking seizure will represent a huge hit to the international organised crime cartels involved, denying them massive profits,” NCA director Chris Farrimond said. “While the destination for the consignment was continental Europe in this case, I have no doubt that a significant proportion would have ended up back here in the UK, being peddled by UK criminal gangs.” Officers are now working to identify …

NASA reveals its total asteroid haul from ambitious space mission

NASA reveals its total asteroid haul from ambitious space mission

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After months struggling to open NASA’s asteroid sample canister, agency scientists finally know how much dust and rock its spacecraft brought back to Earth. Despite earlier estimates that it scooped about a cup of material from Bennu, an ancient space rock the length of the Empire State Building, the total weight of the sample is 4.29 ounces — around half a cup. Still, that amounts to the largest asteroid sample ever collected in space and double the mission’s goal. “An amazing sample from asteroid #Bennu!” the Japanese space agency JAXA said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The JAXA & NASA teams are exchanging part of the Bennu and #Ryugu samples to enable the first comparative studies between asteroids in our Solar System!” SEE ALSO: NASA needed help with a mission. The Vatican came to the rescue. Tweet may have been deleted NASA’s $800 million OSIRIS-Rex mission, short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security Regolith Explorer, launched a robotic spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2016. The spacecraft completed its 4-billion-mile flight when …

SafeAI builds first-ever electric, autonomous Caterpillar haul truck

SafeAI builds first-ever electric, autonomous Caterpillar haul truck

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The autonomous mining experts at SafeAI have collaborated with Japanese Obayashi Corp. to build a first-of-its-kind, self-driving battery electric haul truck, paving the way for other companies to upgrade their existing equipment assets to reach their sustainability goals. It’s important to note here that this really might be a “first-of-its-kind” conversion. While autonomous drive and electrification upfits have been implemented independently, the companies claim that is the first time an articulated haul truck has been successfully retrofitted with both technologies. Obayashi sacrificed one of its Caterpillar 725 articulated haul trucks to the project, which was converted to electric drive and fitted with SafeAI’s latest autonomous technology. The program hopes to encourage fleet managers to consider retrofitting the assets they already own for electric operation instead of sending them off to a scrap yard. And they can do so, the companies claim, in a way that’s more affordable and environmentally friendly than buying new electric equipment. Lowering the initial cost barrier to electrification is just one of the project’s goals, however. SafeAI and Obayashi are also …

Think EVs can’t pull? This electric truck can haul 100 tons!

Think EVs can’t pull? This electric truck can haul 100 tons!

Published by skeptic

Conventional Cat 777 shown; via Caterpillar. Heavy equipment giant Caterpillar will work with aggregates producer CRH to put its 70- to 100-ton battery electric off-highway mining trucks to the test — marking the first time a truck like this has been evaluated by the aggregate industry. In addition to ensuring that the next-generation electric trucks from Caterpillar can address safety, performance, operational, and compliance needs of CRH’s $20 billion aggregates business, the test will support CRH’s stated goal to remove greenhouse gas emissions from its operations by 2050 by proving out the utility of more sustainable battery-electric equipment. “At CRH, we recognize that collaboration and innovation are critical to delivering our industry-leading decarbonization targets and achieving our ambition of net-zero by 2050,” Scott Parson, CRH president said, in a statement. “Through this partnership with Caterpillar, we will advance the use of sustainable equipment in our operations and build on our shared commitment to a low-carbon future.” For their part, Caterpillar executives also expressed excitement about the new collaboration. “When it comes to sustainability, the quarry and …

The Lions have one playoff win since 1957. That haul may grow soon enough | NFL

The Lions have one playoff win since 1957. That haul may grow soon enough | NFL

Published by skeptic

It wasn’t a winner-takes-all game on Sunday, but the Detroit Lions had to approach it as if it was. Yes, they would have remained in the driver’s seat to win the NFC South even with a Christmas Eve loss to the Minnesota Vikings, but these Lions knew that there was no upside in letting Minnesota stay alive in the division race for another week. The Vikings, to their credit, did not make it easy for the Lions. Minnesota briefly took a 21-17 lead early in the third quarter before Detroit quarterback Jared Goff found Amon-Ra St Brown for a touchdown that put them up front. On the point after attempt, however, the Vikings managed to successfully block Michael Badgely’s kick for an extra point. This seemed like a minor detail at the time, especially after Jahmyr Gibbs ran in for the touchdown that increased Detroit’s lead to nine points. Then things got rather wobbly for the Lions. First, the Vikings cut the lead down to six with a field goal. In the game’s final drive, …