Technologies

SpaceX Falcon Heavy May Launch NASA Psyche Mission to Metal Asteroid Next Week

By some estimates, the asteroid could be more valuable than the entire world economy.

NASA has been planning and waiting for years to launch a new spacecraft to explore the bizarrely metal-rich asteroid Psyche. After a delay of a full year, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket may finally loft the craft to space as soon as Oct. 5.

A software glitch caused launch delays in 2022, forcing mission planners to wait until this year, after the launch window expired last October.

The asteroid target is officially named 16 Psyche. It’s shaped like a potato, with a diameter of 173 miles (280 kilometers) at its widest point. The exact composition of the asteroid is a subject of some debate, but NASA says it may be up to 60% iron-nickel metals. This is such an unusually high proportion that some scientists speculate Psyche may be a leftover chunk from an ancient planet’s core.

NASA has no plans to mine the asteroid, but data returned by the mission could help us get a more accurate idea of its potential value. Some estimates have put the figure as high as a mind-blowing 10,000 quadrillion dollars.

NASA and other scientists connected to the mission say they’re more interested in using the trip to Psyche to learn about what Earth’s core might be like, since it’s so close yet so inaccessible.

Psyche isn’t a near-Earth asteroid. It orbits far away, between Mars and Jupiter, and it’ll take the Psyche spacecraft six years to travel the 2.5 billion miles (4 billion kilometers) it needs to cover to reach its heavy metal target.

Along the way, the spacecraft will be testing advanced laser communications technology in deep space for the first time. The optical communications system could be capable of data transmission rates 10 to 100 times higher than current radio systems, perhaps even enabling streaming video. The experiment could lay the foundation for a future interplanetary broadband network when astronauts venture to Mars.

As of last week, NASA said the Psyche spacecraft had completed testing and is fully fueled and ready to launch. The agency and SpaceX are targeting a launch at 10:34 a.m. EDT (7:34 a.m. PDT) on Thursday, Oct. 5, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In case of other delays, there are other opportunities for launch in the current window up until Oct. 25.

The launch will be streamed by NASA and SpaceX.

Technologies

Verum Messenger: Don’t follow the future. Define it

In a world where information defines influence, Verum Messenger is building a new architecture of digital communication — intelligent, secure, and ready for tomorrow. Here, technology serves not limitations, but possibilities.

Not being part of change. Leading it. Verum Messenger — the future that speaks first.

Technologies

Verum Finance: Stop Spending Months Opening a Bank Account

Stop spending months trying to open a bank account.

Document submissions.
Checks.
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And all of that — just for a regular card.

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❌ No European residency permit required
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❌ No piles of documents

Open it — and use it.

The future of finance and communication is already here.
Verum — when freedom matters more than banking rules.

Technologies

Google races to put Gemini at the center of Android before Apple’s AI reboot

Google is using its latest Android rollout to position Gemini as the AI layer across phones, Chrome, laptops and cars.

Google is using its latest Android rollout to make Gemini less of a chatbot and more of an operating layer across the phone, browser, car and laptop, just weeks before Apple is expected to show its own Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence reboot at WWDC.
Ahead of its Google I/O developer conference next week, the company previewed a number of Android updates, including AI-powered app automation, a smarter version of Chrome on Android, new tools for creators, a redesigned Android Auto experience, and a sweeping set of new security features.
Alphabet is counting on Gemini to help Google compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the market for artificial intelligence models and services, while also serving as the AI backbone across its expansive portfolio of products, including Android. Meanwhile, Gemini is powering part of Apple’s new AI strategy, giving Google a role in the iPhone maker’s reset even as it races to prove its own version of personal AI on the phone is further along.
Sameer Samat, who oversees Google’s Android ecosystem, told CNBC that Google is rebuilding parts of Android around Gemini Intelligence to help users complete everyday tasks more easily.
“We’re transitioning from an operating system to an intelligence system,” he said.
As part of Tuesday’s announcements. Google said Gemini Intelligence will be able to move across apps, understand what’s on the screen and complete tasks that would normally require a user to jump between multiple services. That means Android is moving beyond the traditional assistant model, where users ask a question and get an answer, and acting more like an agent.
For instance, Google says Gemini can pull relevant information from Gmail, build shopping carts and book reservations. Samat gave the example of asking Gemini to look at the guest list for a barbecue, build a menu, add ingredients to an Instacart list and return for approval before checkout.
A big concern surrounding agentic AI involves software taking action on a user’s behalf without permissions. Samat said Gemini will come back to the user before completing a transaction, adding, “the human is always in the loop.”
Four months after announcing its Gemini deal with Google, Apple is under pressure to show a more capable version of Apple Intelligence, which has been a relative laggard on the market. Apple has long framed privacy, hardware integration and control of the user experience as its advantages.
Google’s Android push is designed to show it can bring AI deeper into the device experience while still giving users control over what Gemini can see, where it can act and when it needs confirmation.
The app automation features will roll out in waves, starting with the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer, before expanding across more Android devices, including watches, cars, glasses and laptops later this year.
The company is also redesigning Android Auto around Gemini, turning the car into another major surface for its assistant. Android Auto is in more than 250 million cars, and Google says the new release includes its biggest maps update in a decade and Gemini-powered help with tasks like ordering dinner while driving.
Alphabet’s AI strategy has been embraced by Wall Street, which has pushed the company’s stock price up more than 140% in the past year, compared to Apple’s roughly 40% gain. Investors now want to see how Gemini can become more central to the products people use every day.
WATCH: Alphabet briefly tops Nvidia after report of $200 billion Anthropic cloud deal