Star Wars-style giant space lasers powered by artificial intelligence are the latest plan to help rid low-earth orbit of dangerous space junk.
Space Systems Operations Research Laboratory at West Virginia University, in a project part-funded by Nasa, say they plan a network of these mega-blasters to destroy flying debris and improve safety.
The hope is the AI could make its own decisions on which bits of junk to blast, by calculating multiple variable trajectories, so the random flying objects pose less risk of collision.
Britain’s bracing for a battering by Storm Babet, with the Met Office issuing a rare red ‘danger to life’ weather warning.
The storm’s forecast to bring 70mph gusts and over a month’s worth of rain to the British Isles on Thursday.
Privacy campaigners call it an “unjustified expansion of state surveillance”, but now London’s Metropolitan police is using controversial facial recognition technology to catch shoplifters, by cross-referencing images from shop CCTV cameras through the force’s databases.
The software’s proved highly divisive over accuracy and racial bias, but the Met’s pressing ahead with the pilot scheme in a bid to snare 30 of the capital’s worst shop thieves, although no arrests have yet been made.
Plus, prostate cancer drug hope, shocking data on patients catching Covid in hospital, NYC’s disposable vapes eco scourge and mystery of 4,000 ‘treasure map’ rock.
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