SpaceX Crew Dragon docks with ISS to reach stranded astronauts
A pair of astronauts stranded for more than nine months on the International Space Station were a step closer to returning home Sunday after a replacement crew docked with the orbital outpost.The astronauts were shown on live TV embracing and hugging their counterparts in zero gravity on the space station shortly after their SpaceX Crew Dragon arrived at 0545 GMT.Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been stuck aboard the ISS since June after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed voyage suffered propulsion issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth.William said it was a “wonderful day” and “great to see our friends arrive,” speaking shortly after her colleges emerged onto the orbital lab.Footage posted online by NASA astronaut Don Pettit showed the Crew Dragon vehicle approaching the ISS as it orbited the Earth.The NASA duo’s Starliner had returned to Earth empty, without experiencing further major issues — leaving them stuck for nine months after what was meant to have been a days-long roundtrip.Their prolonged stay was significantly longer than the standard ISS rotation for astronauts of roughly six months. But it is much shorter than the US space record of 371 days set by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio aboard the ISS in 2023, or the world record held by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 continuous days aboard the Mir space station.Still, the unexpected nature of their stint away from their families — they had to receive additional clothing and personal care items because they hadn’t packed enough — garnered interest and sympathy around the world.Wilmore and Williams will now begin preparing for departure and their ocean splashdown off the Florida coast, no sooner than March 19.Along with the pair, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will also be aboard the returning Dragon capsule.The replacement Crew-10 team had blasted off Friday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The team consists of NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Russia’s Kirill Peskov. During their mission, the new crew will conduct a range of scientific experiments, including flammability tests for future spacecraft designs and research into the effects of space on the human body.
China’s Baidu releases new AI model to compete with DeepSeek
Chinese internet search giant Baidu released a new artificial intelligence reasoning model Sunday and made its AI chatbot services free to consumers as ferocious competition grips the sector.Technology companies in China have been scrambling to release improved AI platforms since start-up DeepSeek shocked its rivals with its open source and highly cost-efficient model in January.In a post on WeChat, Baidu announced the launch of its latest X1 reasoning model — which the company claims performs similarly to DeepSeek’s but for lower cost — and a new foundation model, Ernie 4.5.Baidu also made its AI chatbot Ernie Bot free for individual users more than two weeks ahead of schedule. Previously, users had to pay a subscription to access the company’s latest AI models via Ernie Bot.Ernie 4.5 “outperforms” US-based OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 model in “multiple benchmarks”, while Ernie X1 features “enhanced capabilities in understanding, planning, reflection, and evolution”, Baidu said.The Beijing-based company was one of China’s first to roll out a generative AI platform publicly, in 2023, but rival chatbots from companies such as TikTok owner ByteDance and Moonshot AI have since gained more users.Baidu faces stiff competition in the consumer-facing AI sector where startup DeepSeek shook up the industry at home and abroad with a model that performed comparably to competitors such as US-made ChatGPT, but cost much less to develop.Since then, Chinese companies and local government agencies have rushed to incorporate DeepSeek’s open-source model into their work, while other technology companies have been playing catch-up.Baidu itself has integrated DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning model into its search engine.In February, WeChat owner Tencent released a new AI model that it claimed answers queries faster than DeepSeek, even as it incorporated its rival’s technology into its messaging platform.The same month, Alibaba, which has partnered with Apple to develop AI for the US company’s phones in China, said it would invest 380 billion yuan ($52 billion) in AI and cloud computing over the next three years.Alibaba this month also released a new version of its AI assistant app powered by its open-source Qwen reasoning model.Baidu has also announced plans to follow DeepSeek’s lead by making its Ernie AI models open-source from June 30.
In Nigeria, tech workers and farmers bring AI to the fieldsSun, 16 Mar 2025 06:35:09 GMT
With a few taps on his phone, Dandam Nangor knows exactly what temperature his greenhouse is at, when to water his crops and even the pH of the soil.Backed by artificial intelligence, it’s all designed to make growing his peppers easier — and perhaps usher in a sort of agriculture 2.0 in Nigeria, where millions …
In Nigeria, tech workers and farmers bring AI to the fieldsSun, 16 Mar 2025 06:35:09 GMT Read More »