{"id":283309,"date":"2025-11-14T21:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T21:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/283309\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T21:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T21:04:09","slug":"jeff-bezos-blue-origin-launched-a-nasa-mars-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/283309\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin Launched A NASA Mars Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this week\u2019s edition of The Prototype, we look at Blue Origin\u2019s successful Mars mission, learning new languages from AI, why voting is good for you, and more. To get The Prototype in your inbox, sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket lifts off from launch pad 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying NASA’s ESCAPADE mission to Mars.<\/p>\n

NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Jeff Bezos-founded space company Blue Origin launched<\/a> its New Glenn rocket\u2014which it plans to use for missions to the Moon and beyond\u2014for the second time. The company also successfully landed the rocket\u2019s booster back on Earth so it can be re-used. The success ramps up the company\u2019s rivalry with Elon Musk\u2019s space company, as the New Glenn can carry twice the payload of SpaceX\u2019s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket. <\/p>\n

On board the rocket were two NASA spacecraft<\/a> designed by L.A.-based Rocket Lab called the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers\u2014Escapade for short. The two spacecraft will explore how radiation from the Sun impacts the magnetic environment of the red planet, which scientists hypothesize is why Mars\u2019 atmosphere was slowly stripped away. <\/p>\n

This is unusual timing for a Mars mission, but one that NASA hopes could open up more exploration opportunities. Typically, spacecraft are launched to Mars every 26 months or so, when the two planets are optimally aligned to keep the trip as short as possible (about nine months). But right now the two planets are much further apart. The Escapade spacecraft are testing a different trajectory, which will use Earth\u2019s gravity as a slingshot to speed up the journey. If successful, it could pave the way for travel to Mars virtually anytime instead of waiting to go every two years. <\/p>\n

This Startup Is Racing Duolingo To Replace Human Language Tutors With AI<\/p>\n

On a trip to Seoul in 2018, Connor Zwick drove past what looked like normal skyscrapers. But he soon learned they were filled with classrooms, dedicated to teaching English, and ads for such classes were plastered across taxi tops and billboards. It hit him: The biggest market for his then-nascent language learning app Speak was here, not in Silicon Valley, where his headquarters were located. \u201cEnglish language learning there was like an obsession,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThere was such latent demand.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the language training on offer was often ineffective. Students spent hours learning the basics from textbooks and pre-recorded videos, overseen by instructors who lacked fluency. The antiquated methods emphasized learning grammar and vocabulary over actually speaking out loud. \u201cEverything was so academic and there was this fear of making mistakes,\u201d Zwick said.<\/p>\n

For Zwick, Seoul\u2019s bustling downtown and its endless demand for English language instruction was both inspiration and opportunity\u2014to build a true AI tutor that could replace the human language tutor and offer a judgement-free space for learners to make and correct mistakes while speaking another language. The promise: \u201cNo one\u2019s going to know if you said something embarrassing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Today, Speak has a voice-based AI coach that role plays scenarios like ordering drinks at a restaurant, asking for directions to a tourist spot or making small talk with a classmate to help practice speaking a new language in real world situations. Built primarily on OpenAI\u2019s models, the goal is to encourage users to practice enunciating commonly used words and phrases out loud. Learners can also create their own situations from scratch by prompting its AI software. Features like leaderboards and streaks that track daily usage help with consistency. And it\u2019s not just for English-learners. Speak offers its role plays and lesson plans for five other languages: Korean, Spanish, Japanese, French and Italian.<\/p>\n

Today some 15 million people have downloaded Speak to practice conversing with its interactive AI tutor and become more fluent and confident speaking in a foreign tongue. That traction has helped the $1 billion-valued startup reach a recent milestone\u2014the San Francisco-based company announced this week that it has more than $100 million in annualized revenue. <\/p>\n

Read more at Forbes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK: LIGHTSPEED AI<\/p>\n

Underpinning all of modern AI is a type of mathematics called tensor operations, which today are carried out on GPUs and other types of chips. That puts a fundamental limitation on AI\u2019s speed, as electricity travels along the copper in the chips at less than 1% of the speed of light. That may soon change. Researchers at Finland\u2019s Aalto University successfully performed<\/a> tensor operations using light waves\u2014which opens up the potential for optical chips that could perform AI functions significantly faster than conventional ones. <\/p>\n

WHAT ELSE I WROTE THIS WEEK<\/p>\n

In my other newsletter, InnovationRx, Amy Feldman and I looked at<\/a> what the deal to reopen the government means for Obamacare subsidies, diagnostic company BillionToOne\u2019s IPO, China\u2019s biotech power couple and Lilly\u2019s latest gene therapy deal.<\/p>\n

SCIENCE AND TECH TIDBITS <\/p>\n

Research advocates are asking Congress to reconsider proposed legislation that would enact a sweeping ban<\/a> on federal funding for collaborations with Chinese scientists. <\/p>\n

IonQ will deploy a dedicated quantum computer and network at the University of Chicago as part of an agreement<\/a> that includes funding for research to develop new quantum technologies. <\/p>\n

Biotech startup Gate Bioscience raised a $65 million investment round<\/a> to develop medicine for diseases like Alzheimer\u2019s or diabetes by building \u201cmolecular gates\u201d that trap harmful proteins in cells. <\/p>\n

Scientists figured out why the human body rejects gene-edited pig organs and developed a method that may stop it<\/a>, which could make this type of transplant more viable for patients who need it. <\/p>\n

Congress released new documents from Jeffrey Epstein that include significant correspondence<\/a> with prominent scientists and researchers such as astronomer Lawrence Krauss and linguistics researcher Noam Chomsky. <\/p>\n

PRO SCIENCE TIP: WANT TO LIVE LONGER? VOTE!<\/p>\n

Doing your civic duty by voting can help you lead a longer life, according to a new study<\/a>, which examined electoral participation in Finland\u2019s parliamentary elections by those ages 30 and up. They found that not voting was associated with a 73% higher risk of death in the intervening years for men and 63% for women. This association was stronger than any other known risk factor, though the study wasn\u2019t equipped to prove cause and effect. However, it is known that social participation and ties with other people do directly impact health, and the researchers suggest<\/a> that voting encourages people to involve themselves in their community in other ways, too, ratcheting up the health benefits. <\/p>\n

WHAT\u2019S ENTERTAINING ME THIS WEEK<\/p>\n

I\u2019m about halfway through the book Impossible Histories by Hal Johnson<\/a>, which explores how small changes in history might have had big ripple effects on the course of events. There\u2019s no shortage of books like this, to be sure\u2014I devour both fictional and non-fictional takes on alternate history on the regular\u2014but what makes this book stand out is Johnson\u2019s incredibly breezy writing, which is a joy to read. Not to mention that he mostly deviates from obvious questions like \u201cWhat if the South won the Civil War?\u201d in favor of more interesting questions like \u201cWhat if Freud had been obsessed with a different Sophocles play about killing your dad and marrying your mom?\u201d (Yes, Sophocles did this more than once.) If you\u2019re an alternate history junkie like me, give it a read. <\/p>\n

MORE FROM FORBES ForbesHere\u2019s Everything We Know About Trump\u2019s Financial Ties To Saudi ArabiaBy Dan Alexander<\/a>ForbesWhat The End Of The Penny Means For ConsumersBy Kelly Phillips Erb<\/a>ForbesHow To Love The Planet And Make MoneyBy William Baldwin<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In this week\u2019s edition of The Prototype, we look at Blue Origin\u2019s successful Mars mission, learning new languages…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[62,7992,6086,49,48,30164,90,2523,307,128764,66,6888,4629],"class_list":["post-283309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ai","tag-biotech","tag-blue-origin","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-collagen","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-language","tag-nasa","tag-pig-kidney","tag-science","tag-spacex","tag-speak"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}