Latest news with #conflictzones
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
This Plane Is Bigger than a 747. It Can Fly for Months on Its Own.
Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: Flying on solar power isn't easy, but the U.S.-based startup Skydweller Aero thinks they may have a winning design. Called the Skydweller, this autonomous drone sports a 236-foot wingspan laden with 17,000 individual solar cells, and is capable of flying for at least three months without stopping, thanks to its quadruple redundant flight software and 1,400 pounds of batteries on board. This isn't a play at cross-country sustainable flight—Skydweller Vero sees their aircraft as primarily a spy tool for loitering over conflict zones or other areas of interest. Decarbonizing various forms of human transportation has been a relatively straightforward process. Lithium-ion batteries packed inside electric cars deliver mileage per charge similar to gasoline-powered cars, and electric trains have been around for nearly 150 years. Flying, on the other hand, has been a bit more difficult. Turns out you need a lot of energy to keep things running in mid-air, and that can be quite the engineering challenge. It's a difficulty that's been thoroughly explored by solar-powered electric planes like Solar Impulse, which completed a piloted round-the-world flight back in 2016. And now, a new kind of a solar plane—called the Skydweller—is following in its footsteps. Although more of a drone than a plane (since it's designed to be autonomous), the Skydweller—built by the U.S. tech startup Skydweller Aero—contains 17,000 individual solar cells placed across its gargantuan 236-foot wingspan, which is wider than a Boeing 747 tip-to-tip. Of course, seeing as it has no human cargo, it's also 160 times lighter (thanks to its carbon fiber construction), and can carry only 2.5 metric tons at max capacity. In April 2024, Skydweller successful performed its first unmanned test flight at Stennis International Airport in Mississippi. 'This is a true, world-changing first in the aerospace industry,' Skydweller Aero CEO Robert Miller said in a press statement at the time. 'We are applying cutting-edge, 21st-century materials science, artificial intelligence, and software development to an industry that has spent more than 100 years building piloted, combustion-based aircraft.' While it sounds a bit like the main character from some schlocky Star Wars ripoff, the name is an apt one, as Skydweller isn't designed with human passengers in mind. Instead, Skydweller Aero sees its aircraft primarily as a surveillance machine, circling the sky and providing much-needed eyes over conflict zones or other areas of interest. Powered by the Sun, the company estimates that it can stay airborne for at least three months at a time—if not longer. To survive those long nights when the Sun isn't shining, the aircraft is equipped with 1,400 pounds of batteries, and it also drops to lower elevations, descending from its typical operating range of between 25,000 and 35,000 feet down to between 5,000 and 10,000 feet. Of course, power is only part of the issue—the Skydweller's aviation software also has to continuously run without error. According to Skydweller's website, the aircraft's vehicle management system maintains quadruple redundancy by using 'advanced self-healing algorithms within the VMS' to autonomously shut down, fix, and resurrect while the drone is in flight. The U.S. military has invested in a variety of surveillance balloons and blimps in the recent past. The Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS), first requested in the late 90s, was meant to fulfill a similar role, but was effectively cancelled in 2017. Recently, the U.S. Army has worked with the private company Aerostar to develop spy balloons capable of staying aloft for a month (and were last seen not over a warzone, but instead the city of Tucszon, Arizona near the U.S.-Mexico border). No doubt the Skydweller would add another tool to that surveillance arsenal. Whether that's a good or bad thing remains to be seen. You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
Fast Company
26-06-2025
- General
- Fast Company
Summer reminds us: Play is essential
At my house, there's an ongoing countdown—my three daughters are eagerly ticking off the days until school's out. They're dreaming about camp, late nights outside, and long days filled with play. As a mom, I love their excitement and I know how important this time is for their health and physical development. I'm reminded at work that play shouldn't be viewed as a luxury, but an essential. At UNICEF, we know health, education, and protection from harm are foundational rights for every child. But it may be surprising how important play is in that equation. Research shows that when children have time and space to play, they're not only happier—they're healthier, more focused in school, and more likely to thrive long term. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that doctors actually prescribe play, recognizing its impact on brain development and emotional well-being. Create spaces for children to be children The lack of access to safe play areas, particularly children living in conflict zones, puts them at a disadvantage. To address this issue, UNICEF promotes physical activity and creates safe environments dedicated to play to ensure the health and well-being of children around the world. Conflict and disasters are not only disorienting and traumatizing, but they often uproot children from their homes and rob them of opportunities to just be kids. In emergencies, UNICEF responds with medicine and humanitarian supplies, and works to set up child-friendly spaces too. A child-friendly space allows children in crisis to focus on being kids. Play creates a sense of desperately needed normalcy and goes a long way toward minimizing the effects of trauma. Often when faced with a crisis, children are cut off from school. In these instances, a UNICEF child-friendly space will also serve as a temporary classroom or informal learning space. For many children who might never find their way back to school, these child-friendly spaces continue to offer basic education to keep those children learning. Play isn't a privilege, it's a child's right When kids engage in play, they experiment with invention, boost creativity, enhance language and critical thinking abilities, and forge friendships. These skills are critical as they get older, and the lessons learned from play translate to the workforce. The benefits reaped from play are so important that, last year, the United Nations established a day focused solely to the power of play. On June 11, International Day of Play was dedicated to celebrating the power of play and its central role in a child's development. In addition to acknowledging the importance of play, UNICEF and other organizations are leveraging this moment as a call to action for governments, businesses, and other stakeholders to scale up services that promote play, enable access to preschool and learning through play for three- to six-year-olds, and ensure every child has access to safe, inclusive, and well-maintained play areas. What starts on the playground also shapes the future Play is more than just fun—it's how children build the skills they'll carry into adulthood. Through play, kids learn to solve problems, collaborate, think creatively, and build confidence—skills they'll need not just in school, but as the workforce of tomorrow. That's why play doesn't lose its value as we grow older. At work, my team carries big responsibilities, but I've seen how making space for play—even in small ways—strengthens our ability to connect, think differently, and lead with resilience. Play in the workplace isn't frivolous—it's foundational. So now, as summer begins and our kids head into long days of play, we'd do well to remember: What starts on the playground doesn't stay there. It shapes how we grow, how we work, and the kind of world we want to build.
The Independent
20-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Stunning map shows the lengths pilots go through to avoid conflict zones
A stunning map of current global flight routes has shown the lengths pilots have to go through to avoid conflict zones. As the Russia-Ukraine war rages on and the Israel-Iran conflict intensifies, the world has become more chaotic, and so has its airspace. A live flight tracking map from Flightradar24 showed planes bustling in western Europe and most of Asia. But there are startling holes in the map, which happen to be where the world's major conflicts are currently taking place. Ukraine had no planes in its airspace, and there were very few planes flying over Russia late Friday afternoon, according to Flightradar24's map. Some Middle Eastern countries, including Israel, Iran and the surrounding nations of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Kuwait, also had no flights coming in or out based on the map. The lack of air travel can be linked to the air strikes Russia and Ukraine as well as Israel and Iran have been launching against each other in respective conflicts. It's been more than three years since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The missile and drone strikes and their counterattacks have been non-stop. Earlier this week, Russia launched an overnight attack on Kyiv, killing 28 people and injuring over 100 more, The Associated Press reported, citing local officials. Israel had already been at war with Hamas when it struck Iran's nuclear facilities and hit military targets in the region last Friday. The attacks killed several of Tehran's top military leaders and leading nuclear scientists, and Iran subsequently launched heavy retaliatory strikes against Israel. Besides man-made conflict, natural disasters can also make the jobs of pilots more difficult. 'Airspace closures have become quite common,' Singapore -based aviation consultant Brendan Sobie told CNN. 'It's almost like the new normal for airlines to have to navigate this kind of thing.'
Arab News
18-06-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Firms led by US military veterans deliver aid in Africa and Gaza, alarming humanitarian groups
SOUTH SUDAN: Swooping low over the banks of a Nile River tributary, an aid flight run by retired American military officers released a stream of food-stuffed sacks over a town emptied by fighting in South Sudan, a country wracked by conflict. Last week's air drop was the latest in a controversial development: private contracting firms led by former US intelligence officers and military veterans delivering aid to some of the world's deadliest conflict zones, in operations organized with governments that are combatants in the conflicts. The moves are roiling the global aid community, which warns of a more militarized, politicized and profit-seeking trend that could allow governments or combatants to use life-saving aid to control hungry civilian populations and advance war aims. In South Sudan and Gaza, two for-profit US companies led by American national security veterans are delivering aid in operations backed by the South Sudanese and Israeli governments. The American contractors say they're putting their security, logistics and intelligence skills to work in relief operations. Fogbow, the US company that carried out last week's air drops over South Sudan, says it aims to be a 'humanitarian' force. 'We've worked for careers, collectively, in conflict zones. And we know how to essentially make very difficult situations work,' said Fogbow President Michael Mulroy, a retired CIA officer and former senior defense official in the first Trump administration, speaking on the airport tarmac in Juba, South Sudan's capital. But the UN and many leading non-profit groups say US contracting firms are stepping into aid distribution with little transparency or humanitarian experience, and, crucially, without commitment to humanitarian principles of neutrality and operational independence in war zones. 'What we've learned over the years of successes and failures is there's a difference between a logistics operation and a security operation, and a humanitarian operation,' said Scott Paul, a director at Oxfam America. ''Truck and chuck' doesn't help people,' Paul said. 'It puts people at risk.' 'We don't want to replace any entity' Fogbow took journalists up in a cargo plane to watch their team drop 16 tons of beans, corn and salt for South Sudan's Upper Nile state town of Nasir. Residents fled homes there after fighting erupted in March between the government and opposition groups. Mulroy acknowledged the controversy over Fogbow's aid drops, which he said were paid for by the South Sudanese government. But, he maintained: 'We don't want to replace any entity' in aid work. Shared roots in Gaza and US intelligence Fogbow was in the spotlight last year for its proposal to use barges to bring aid to Gaza, where Israeli restrictions were blocking overland deliveries. The United States focused instead on a US military effort to land aid via a temporary pier. Since then, Fogbow has carried out aid drops in Sudan and South Sudan, east African nations where wars have created some of the world's gravest humanitarian crises. Fogbow says ex-humanitarian officials are also involved, including former UN World Food Program head David Beasley, who is a senior adviser. Operating in Gaza, meanwhile, Safe Reach Solutions, led by a former CIA officer and other retired US security officers, has partnered with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed nonprofit that Israel says is the linchpin of a new aid system to wrest control from the UN, which Israel says has been infiltrated by Hamas, and other humanitarian groups. Starting in late May, the American-led operation in Gaza has distributed food at fixed sites in southern Gaza, in line with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stated plan to use aid to concentrate the territory's more than 2 million people in the south, freeing Israel to fight Hamas elsewhere. Aid workers fear it's a step toward another of Netanyahu's public goals, removing Palestinians from Gaza in 'voluntary' migrations. Since then, several hundred Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more wounded in near daily shootings as they tried to reach aid sites, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Witnesses say Israeli troops regularly fire heavy barrages toward the crowds in an attempt to control them. The Israeli military has denied firing on civilians. It says it fired warning shots in several instances, and fired directly at a few 'suspects' who ignored warnings and approached its forces. It's unclear who is funding the new operation in Gaza. No donor has come forward, and the US says it's not funding it. In response to criticism over its Gaza aid deliveries, Safe Reach Solutions said it has former aid workers on its team with 'decades of experience in the world's most complex environments' who bring 'expertise to the table, along with logisticians and other experts.' South Sudan's people ask: Who's getting our aid drops? Last week's air drop over South Sudan went without incident, despite fighting nearby. A white cross marked the drop zone. Only a few people could be seen. Fogbow contractors said there were more newly returned townspeople on previous drops. Fogbow acknowledges glitches in mastering aid drops, including one last year in Sudan's South Kordofan region that ended up with too-thinly-wrapped grain sacks split open on the ground. After gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has struggled to emerge from a civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people. Rights groups say its government is one of the world's most corrupt, and until now has invested little in quelling the dire humanitarian crisis. South Sudan said it engaged Fogbow for air drops partly because of the Trump administration's deep cuts in US Agency for International Development funding. Humanitarian Minister Albino Akol Atak said the drops will expand to help people in need throughout the country. But two South Sudanese groups question the government's motives. 'We don't want to see a humanitarian space being abused by military actors ... under the cover of a food drop,' said Edmund Yakani, head of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, a local civil society group. Asked about suspicions the aid drops were helping South Sudan's military aims, Fogbow's Mulroy said the group has worked with the UN World Food Program to make sure 'this aid is going to civilians.' 'If it wasn't going to civilians, we would hope that we would get that feedback, and we would cease and desist,' Mulroy said. In a statement, WFP country director Mary-Ellen McGroarty said: 'WFP is not involved in the planning, targeting or distribution of food air-dropped' by Fogbow on behalf of South Sudan's government, citing humanitarian principles. A 'business-driven model' Longtime humanitarian leaders and analysts are troubled by what they see as a teaming up of warring governments and for-profit contractors in aid distribution. When one side in a conflict decides where and how aid is handed out, and who gets it, 'it will always result in some communities getting preferential treatment,' said Jan Egeland, executive director of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Sometimes, that set-up will advance strategic aims, as with Netanyahu's plans to move Gaza's civilians south, Egeland said. The involvement of soldiers and security workers, he added, can make it too 'intimidating' for some in need to even try to get aid. Until now, Western donors always understood those risks, Egeland said. But pointing to the Trump administration's backing of the new aid system in Gaza, he asked: 'Why does the US ... want to support what they have resisted with every other war zone for two generations?' Mark Millar, who has advised the UN and Britain on humanitarian matters in South Sudan and elsewhere, said involving private military contractors risks undermining the distinction between humanitarian assistance and armed conflict. Private military contractors 'have even less sympathy for a humanitarian perspective that complicates their business-driven model,' he said. 'And once let loose, they seem to be even less accountable.'
Bloomberg
11-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Swiss Senate Eases Arms Export Rules Amid Industry Struggles
Switzerland's senate approved proposals to loosen strict controls on exports of war materials, a move that could help its increasingly isolated defense industry. On Wednesday, the upper house backed reinstating the government with powers to permit passing on Swiss-made arms to conflict zones. The bill would also exempt a list of 25 countries, mostly NATO members, from having to ask for permission in the first place. It still needs approval in the lower house.
