Nasa chooses SpaceX to build Moon lander
By Paul Rincon
This vehicle will carry the next man and the first woman down to the lunar surface under the space agency's Artemis programme.
Another goal of the programme will be to land the first person of colour on the Moon.
The lander is based on SpaceX's Starship craft, which is being tested at a site in southern Texas.
SpaceX was competing against a joint bid from traditional aerospace giants and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, as well as Alabama-based Dynetics. The total value of the contract awarded to Musk's company is $2.89bn.
"With this award, Nasa and our partners will complete the first crewed demonstration mission to the surface of the Moon in the 21st century as the agency takes a step forward for women's equality and long-term deep space exploration," said Kathy Lueders,
Elon Musk has been developing the Starship design for years. Resembling the rocketships from the golden age of science fiction, it is a crucial component of the entrepreneur's long-term plans for settling humans on Mars.
For now, though, it will serve as the lander that ferries astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface.
With a spacious cabin and two airlocks, allowing astronauts to exit the craft for moonwalks, it's a far cry from the cramped, spindly lunar module (LM) that carried 12 men to the surface under the US Apollo programme between 1969 and 1972.
In recent times, Nasa has chosen more than one company when procuring space transport services, giving it options if one of them fails to deliver.
But Nasa has received only $850m of the $3.3bn it requested from Congress to build the Moon lander. In a statement, Ms Lueders said that "while it remains the agency's desire to preserve a competitive environment at this stage of the HLS program", its current budget precluded it from selecting two companies, as it was expected to.
Cost is believed to have been a major factor; SpaceX's bid was the lowest of the three competitors "by a wide margin".
Ms Lueders explained: "I made a determination that it would be in the agency's best interests to make an initial, conditional selection of SpaceX."
The decision has caused a stir in Congress. Nasa is undergoing a transition of power following Joe Biden's election as President. It is being run by an interim administrator, and Mr Biden's pick to run the agency - former senator and astronaut Bill Nelson - will appear at his confirmation hearing next week.
"I am disappointed that the acting Nasa leadership decided to make such a consequential award prior to the arrival of a new permanent Nasa administrator and deputy administrator," said congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, the democrat chair of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
"The decision to make the award today also comes despite the obvious need for a re-baselining of Nasa's lunar exploration program, which has no realistic chance of returning US astronauts to the Moon by 2024."
Nasa is targeting the Moon's South Polar region for the first landing with astronauts since 1972. This area holds abundant deposits of water-ice, which could be turned into rocket fuel and breathable air to support a future lunar base.
But touching down here also presents challenges, because the angle of the Sun casts long shadows that obscure surface features as the craft comes down to land.
Engineers will need to navigate the problem as they refine their plans for the first Artemis landing.
SpaceX had been in a run-off against the National Team - consisting of Blue Origin (founded by Bezos), Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper - and defence contractor Dynetics.
It represents another milestone for the 19-year-old company founded by Musk, which initially had to overcome widespread scepticism about its plans to bring down the costs of spaceflight. SpaceX almost ran out of money, but was kept going by a fortuitous contract award from Nasa in 2008.
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How to Trade Commodities Online…
What is commodity trading? Is commodity trading profitable? How
can you trade commodities online? Are you searching for answers?
Commodities are an indispensable part of our lives. From the
food, we consume to the oil we utilize in our vehicles. But, have you ever
thought about trading these basic commodities in the market? Yes, the Commodity
market is one of the largest markets across the globe. It excels the list when
it comes to assets that can make you rich or double your profit. But, the majority
of you do not know how to trade commodities online.
In this article, we will explain each point in detail. We will
wrap up the article by providing you the top broker's names who can push you
towards success and boost your trading standards. Before reaching this point,
we must look into the definition of a commodity and what commodity trading
refers to?
What are commodities?
A commodity refers to raw material or everyday items which is
used for generating more complex items. One can see commodities as building
blocks of the economy. Examples include sugar, gold, oil, copper, etc. The
major factor differentiating goods from the commodity is that latter has
interchangeability and is standardized in nature. It reflects two equal units
of the similar commodity will be identical irrespective of the place they were
produced. For instance, one ounce of silver mined in Australia will be
equivalent to one ounce of silver mined in Brazil.
What is commodity trading?
Traders or people have been trading commodities for thousands of
years. The only difference between modern commodity trading and conventional
commodities trading is that people traded them physically in the past.
Currently, trading occurs with the broker such as T1markets, HFTrading, etc. or
on an exchange such as Chicago Mercantile Exchange or London Metal Exchange. To
trade commodities online, you require an online trading account and
ultra-modern trading platform that paves the way for the market and
assets.
Trading with the broker is safe and simple. It provides globally
accepted MetaTrader 4, which has several advantages. These include more than
350 assets, a customized trading environment, multiple time frames, regular
price alerts, latest market news, more than 60 analytical tools, lightning-fast
speed, and trading on one click.
Reasons to trade commodities online
You must be wondering why traders are so interested in trading
commodities online? What makes commodities a good investment? The answer lies
in the following advantages listed below:
1) Short selling commodities
As commodities are traded online via CFDs, traders have the
right to sell them instead of just purchasing them. It means that the value
does not require to surge for traders to make gains. Moreover, unlike the stock
market in the commodity market, there is no uptick rule.
2) High returns on investment and high liquidity
There are some goods, such as oil, gold which are relatively
more volatile in comparison to others as numerous factors guide their prices.
These factors include the economy's political conditions, financial status,
climate, demand and supply of the commodity, and price variation due to new
export and import rules or policies. Just because of these reasons, commodities
can take short-term trading positions and can be very attractive.
3) Suitable for diversifying your trading portfolio
Diversification of a trading portfolio is essential in trade. It
is very well said that never keep all eggs in the same bucket. Diversifications
mitigate the risk involved with trades. Commodities are an excellent way to
diversify a portfolio. For instance, if you have spent on indices and stocks,
analysts will always recommend adding any commodity (as per your wish) to your
trading portfolio and trading them concurrently. It will help you when the
stock market crashes suddenly or indices fall in value.
4) Safe investment tool
Whenever financial market price goes down, analysts advise
people to invest in commodities as they are considered a safe investment tool
at the time of sudden shock. The demand for essential items such as gold, oil,
and corn always remains high. Trading commodity futures have shown tremendous
results at the time of economic slowdown and market crash.
How to trade commodities online?
1) Opt for an online trading account: You require to open an
online trading account to start trading. If you are a neophyte, you can opt for
a demo trading account to practice trade with virtual cash for a limited time.
2) Choose a financial market and asset for trading: Firstly,
choose the commodity market option and then select the asset you wish to trade
CFDs or spread bet on.
3) Choose to sell or buy commodities: If you think that prices
are supposed to surge in the future, go long on your trade. On the other hand,
if you think that price is supposed to decline, you may choose to go short on
position.
4) Enter a trade size: Choose how many CFDs or units you wish to
trade or decide the spread betting or the amount per point movement. Keep in
mind that in CFD trading, a single trade value can change based on the
financial tool you have selected to trade.
5) Apply risk management: Financial risks are inevitable.
They can land you in several problems, or you can even lose entire capital if
not taken care of. Thus, including risk management strategies in your plan is
essential.
6) Monitor your trade: Once you have placed a trade, it requires
continuous monitoring if you are day trading commodities. You must do this
delicately as losses can even exceed your available balance or deposit.
7) Close the trading position: If you have set the stop-loss
order, the trade will automatically close when the price reaches the set level.
However, if you are trading without a stop-loss order, you need to do this when
the price falls manually.
Top brokers to trade commodities online
Some trusted and top brokerage firm offering exceptional service
at affordable fee include:
1) HFTrading
2) T1markets
3) PrimeFin
The Bottom Line
If you are looking for the right opportunity in the financial
market or a reward-generating instrument, you can choose to trade commodities
online. It is one of the excellent methods to earn massive amounts from
financial market trading. For this, you require a little bit of homework before
entering the market.
Frequently asked questions
1) What is a commodity?
A commodity refers to raw material or everyday items which is
used for generating more complex items. One can see commodities as building
blocks of the economy. Examples include sugar, gold, oil, copper, etc.
2) What are the channels to trade commodities?
You can trade commodities with a broker such as T1markets or
with an exchange. But, a larger number of traders prefer trading with a
reliable and trusted broker over exchanges.
3) What are the advantages of trading commodities?
The advantages of commodity trading, including short selling,
provide high returns over investments, highly liquid, suitable for diversifying
the trading portfolio
, considered the safest
instrument at times of economic slows down or market crash.
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5 Shoes That Every Women Should Have in Her Collection
There are plenty of shoes for
women in market, you can't have all of them. But, there are a few shoes that
are really cool and you should have in you closet, here are 5 of them.
Women always want to buy those
pairs of clothes which are the latest and are capable enough to catch immediate
attention. And when it comes to shoes, then more attention needs to be provided
because they need to be worn on the lowest part of your body. At present, you
may have a lot of pairs of footwear in your wardrobe but there are only a few
usable pairs that get a chance to travel outside of your closet. The rest of
the pairs are just increasing the decoration of your wardrobe.
Now here you don’t understand
exactly which pairs of shoes you need to keep with yourself and which ones
should be discarded. And to solve this issue, today we have come up with the
list of top five shoes that every woman should have in her collection. So,
let’s have a quick look on these:
Nude Pump Heels:
These nude shade pump heels are
designed for every woman irrespective of their age. They are considered the
most versatile pair of shoes for women as they can be easily worn with many
different outfits. And because of this reason, they have placed on the number
one rank in this category. The nude shade pump heels are certainly different
which are capable enough to give you a classic look when you wear them either
in an office environment or in a high-profile evening gathering.
Further, the nude pump heels can
even be paired up with your casual attires which update your overall look in
these clothes. Apart from this, the nude shade pump heels are highly
appreciated by women who are working in official culture as these versatile
heels make your professional look even more stylish and brighter as well. The
one thing which you absolutely need to consider is choosing the perfect nude
shade for yourself that should be beautifully complementing your skin
tone.
Sneakers Shoes:
There are many women who love to
flaunt their style in high heels while there are others who simply choose to
wear flat shoes. So, for those women, we have come up with a recommendation of
wearing white sneakers which are a perfect companion for your street style
look. These sneakers are continuously on one of the top footwear trends for the
past few years as they are appreciated by mostly every kind of woman whether
they love to wear simple or stylish as well.
So, you must have a cool pair of
white sneakers which you can simply team up with almost anything you like to
wear on a casual basis. Apart from giving you a cool style, sneakers are the
most comfortable footwear that won’t hurt your feet at all when you walk around
while stepping your feet into these shoes.
Ballet Flat Shoes:
When there is a matter of
comfort and style then nothing can be recommended better than these perfect
ballerina flats. These ballet flat shoes have become women’s everyday new
choice because of their versatility. So, if you haven’t got your pair of
ballerina flat shoes yet then go get it now. In this category of flat shoes,
you are going to get so many different varieties as in colors, shapes, and size
so you can pick one or more pairs as per your preference.
Now, if we talk about today,
then the latest design which is getting huge popularity in the footwear market
is the black flats with bow. This pair of flats look
super cute and feminine as well. Here it’s not only about the look of these
cute black flats with a bow, but they are also getting popular because of the
comfort level that they provide to your feet when you wear them.
Women’s Flat Sandals:
Flat Sandals are another pair of
footwear that you can certainly add to your must have a category. They are
mostly available to you in the market on a seasonal basis. For example, you are
going to get them easily in summer as well as in spring. This is because the
flat sandals are wide open from the toe as well as the ankle side of your feet.
So, you cannot wear them in the winters, rainy, and fall seasons as well.
But in the summer and spring
season, your feet certainly look for these kinds of pairs that could let them
breathe easily. And if this is the case then what can be better than these flat
sandals which look cute and stylish as well. You can easily wear these open
flat sandals while wandering around your streets and even at your amazing beach
parties.
Ankle Strap Heels:
When you are looking for
something sleeker and sexier as well then we would like to recommend picking a
pair of ankle strap heels. These pairs of heels are often underrated but they
are worth to be considered. The ankle strap heels could be your timeless pair
of shoes which you can simply carry with almost everything as they are self
elegant enough to look astonishing with any pair of clothes.
These ankle strap heels can be
beautifully worn by you in your summer parties as they are wide open from
almost everywhere. So, they are extremely comfortable to be worn in the hot
summer season because they allow your feet to breathe in the high
temperature.
Conclusion:
Here in this content, we have
provided the list of top five shoes for every woman which they must have in
their collection. So
, check out this amazing
list and choose any of these pairs of shoes instantly whenever you need to go
out and flaunt your style.
post
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