Nixel's blog

India on Monday dramatically scrapped the launch of a rocket that was aiming to land a probe on the Moon less than one hour before blast-off because of a "technical" problem. India wants the Chandrayaan-2 - or Moon Chariot 2 - mission to make it only the fourth country after Russia, the United States and China to land a craft on the lunar surface. Countdown at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre was halted 56 minutes and 24 seconds before the planned liftoff at 2:51 am (2121 GMT Sunday). "A technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system at T-56 minute," the India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Twitter. "As a measure of abundant precaution, #Chandrayaan2 launch has been called off for today. Revised launch date will be announced later." Screenshot from Twitter Officials at the space centre on an island off the coast of Andhra Pradesh state said the problem was in the launch vehicle system. ISRO announced on...

                     #NIXEL'S Blog As the China-U.S. trade conflict turns into a competition over tech supremacy, the industry is laying bare how the supply chains of companies on both sides and their investments are interdependent.  The U.S. restrictions on Huawei have hit the Chinese telecom giant and its U.S. employees hard, as it plans to lay off about 850 people in its research labs across the United States. The urgency to maintain global cooperation was further demonstrated by U.S. chipmakers intensively lobbying President Donald Trump to get the ban revoked, asserting that sanctions would make U.S. companies seem like unreliable partners.  The Semiconductor Industry Association, a trade group representing chipmakers such as Intel and Qualcomm, had sent a letter to Trump stating that the sanctions could hurt the U.S.’ economic and national security as China can just source much of the tech components from chip...

                             #NIXEL'S Blog Boeing 737 MAX planes still fail to get the nod of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to resume operation, given the extended time for fixing software problems and completing other steps. Several government and industry officials said that Boeing still needs to respond to all the safety concerns raised by U.S. regulators. Boeing 737 MAX is now expected to be operating again by January 2020, the  Wall Street Journal  reported Sunday. Boeing leaders and international aviation regulators have been analyzing issues covering emergency recovery procedures and some suspect electronic components. Some of those assessments are further complicated because they also include earlier 737 models, according to the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, the American Airlines Group said Sunday that it will keep the MAX planes off its schedule until this November, wh...

                                   #NIXEL's blog 00:20 French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday announced the creation of a new national military space force command that will eventually be part of his country's air force. The declaration, made on the eve of France's Bastille Day national celebrations that feature a military parade down the Champs-Elysees in Paris, mirrors an initiative in the U.S. championed by President Donald Trump. "To assure the development and the reinforcement of our capacities in space, a high command for space will be created in September," Macron told military brass gathered for a traditional pre-Bastille Day reception. He called the renewed military focus on space a "true national security issue." "The new spatial and military doctrine that has been proposed to me by the (defense) ministry, which I have approved, will allow us to ensu...

                        #Nixel's blog China's e-commerce giant Alibaba and tech leader Tencent are among the world's 10 most valuable brands, a report showed Tuesday. Alibaba, growing in brand value by 16 percent year-on-year to 131.2 billion U.S. dollars and moving up two places to No. 7, has overtaken Tencent for the first time to become the most valuable Chinese brand, according to the 2019 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report released by global communication services provider WPP and brand consultancy Kantar Millward Brown. Tencent, the Shenzhen-based firm known for its hugely popular multi-functional app WeChat, ranked No. 8 on the list, dropping three places as compared with the previous year after its brand value declined 27 percent to 130.9 billion U.S. dollars. Tencent exhibition hall in Global Health Expo of Boao Forum for Asia, June 12, 2019. /VCG Photo Amazon, with its brand...

                              #Nixel's blog U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to Polish President Andrzej Duda on Wednesday that he will deploy 1,000 additional U.S. troops to Poland.  Trump announced the increased troop deployment at a joint news conference with Duda in the White House Rose Garden shortly after the two leaders signed a joint declaration affirming defense cooperation and watched a U.S.-made F-35 fighter jet fly overhead. Poland will provide "basing and infrastructure to support military presence of about 1,000 American troops," at no cost to the United States, Trump said. Duda, who is considering naming the U.S. installation in Poland as "Fort Trump," said the new influx of troops was needed because of what he described as Moscow's "past aggression" against Poland and to help solidify his country's ties to the West. U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and Poland's Pre...