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General Discussion / Horizon Aircraft Completes Hover Testing Of Cavorite X5 VTOL Prototype

« on: January 07, 2023, 07:51:34 pm »

Horizon Aircraft has completed its first hover test with its prototype Cavorite X5 aircraft. This test proved that the aircraft can not only hover but that it can hover with reduced lift as a testament to its safety. The test reportedly exceeded company expectations putting the product ahead of schedule. The company anticipates that this new aircraft will become a key player in the future eVTOL market.

eVTOL test flight
On January 4th, the Canadian aviation company announced the successful completion of the test flight. The test yielded great results for the company as it met or exceeded current expectations in every category. During the trial, the aircraft proved that it could hover with only 65% power. The operators also turned off 20% of the fans. The aircraft performed admirably during both tests, proving its redundancy and ability to remain safe despite technical malfunctions.
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The manufacturer has shared its confidence in the aircraft. Throughout various tests, it has proven capable of all it has been designed to do. The CEO of Horizon Aircraft, Brandon Robinson, shared the test's success. Robinson stated,

"this aircraft has exceeded expectations during initial hover testing. It is extremely stable, is capable of full hover at only 65% power, and has hovered with 20% of its fans purposely disabled in order to test system redundancy. This is a large-scale aircraft, with a 22-foot wingspan, over 15 feet in length, and capable of speeds over 175 mph. It continues to yield valuable data that is constantly improving our full-scale design."

Next-generation aircraft
The Cavorite X5 is one of several eVTOL aircraft being designed and tested worldwide. Its low drag configuration makes this aircraft unique from other eVTOL aircraft. The aircraft is designed to fly at higher speeds exceeding 175 mph. While other eVTOL aircraft are designed to operate with reduced drag and at higher speeds, the Cavorite X5 exceeds in this area. Horizon Aircraft has stated that the aircraft is designed to primarily operate like an airplane.
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It claims that the airplane-like design is safer and more streamline. This allows it to shed drag and be more appealing as it appears less radical than other eVTOL designs. The manufacturer claims that it will likely receive approval easier than similar aircraft designs due to its parallel nature to existing airplanes. Another unique feature that Horizon expects will boost the aircraft's success is that it will be powered by a hybrid-electric system that can recharge itself during flights. This will significantly extend the battery's runtime, expanding the aircraft's range. This self-charging system will also add a layer of redundancy to promote flight safety.



While this test flight was successful, the company still has a long way to go before the aircraft can be pushed into full-scale production and service. The aircraft will undergo further testing early this year at the ACE Climatic Wind Tunnel near Toronto, Canada. Should all tests go well, the aircraft's final development and testing will occur before it can be certified. Horizon Aircraft has assured the public that while the Cavorite X5 may not be the first eVTOL aircraft to hit the market, it will undoubtedly be one of the best.
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What do you think of this successful hover test? Let us know in the comments below.

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General Discussion / Zero-Covid to economic recovery: What to watch in China in 2023

« on: January 03, 2023, 04:24:42 am »

Hong Kong -- After a tumultuous end to a momentous and challenging year, China heads into 2023 with a great deal of uncertainty – and potentially a glimpse of light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.

The chaos unleashed by leader Xi Jinping’s abrupt and ill-prepared exit from zero-Covid is spilling over into the new year, as large swathes of the country face an unprecedented Covid wave.

But the haphazard reopening also offers a glimmer of hope for many: after three years of stifling Covid restrictions and self-imposed global isolation, life in China may finally return to normal as the nation joins the rest of the world in learning to live with the virus.

“We have now entered a new phase of Covid response where tough challenges remain,” Xi said in a nationally televised New Year’s Eve speech. “Everyone is holding on with great fortitude, and the light of hope is right in front of us. Let’s make an extra effort to pull through, as perseverance and solidarity mean victory.”

Xi had previously staked his political legitimacy on zero-Covid. Now, as his costly strategy gets dismantled in an abrupt U-turn following nationwide protests against it, many are left questioning his wisdom. The protests, which in some places saw rare demands for Xi and the Communist Party to “step down,” may have ended, but the overriding sense of frustration has yet to dissipate.

His New Year speech comes as China’s lockdown-battered economy faces more immediate strain from a spiraling outbreak that has hit factories and businesses, ahead of what is likely to be a long and complicated road to economic recovery.
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Its tightly-sealed borders are gradually opening up, and Chinese tourists are eager to explore the world again, but some countries appear cautious to receive them, imposing new requirements for a negative Covid test before travel. And just how quickly – or keenly – global visitors will return to China is another question.

Xi, who recently reemerged on the world stage after securing a third term in power, has signaled he hopes to mend frayed relations with the West, but his nationalist agenda and “no-limits friendship” with Russia is likely to complicate matters.

As 2023 begins, CNN takes a look at what to watch in China in the year ahead.

Covid spread and the New Year travel rush

The most urgent and daunting task facing China in the new year is how to handle the fallout from its botched exit from zero-Covid, amid an outbreak that threatens to claim hundreds of thousands of lives and undermine the credibility of Xi and his Communist Party.

The sudden lifting of restrictions last month led to an explosion of cases, with little preparation in place to deal with the surging numbers of patients and deaths.
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The country’s fragile heath system is scrambling to cope: fever and cold medicines are hard to find, hospitals are overwhelmed, doctors and nurses are stretched to the limit, while crematoriums are struggling to keep up with an influx of bodies.

And experts warn the worst is yet to come. While some major metropolises like Beijing may have seen the peak of the outbreak, less-developed cities and the vast rural hinterland are still bracing for more infections.

As the travel rush for the Lunar New Year – the most important festival for family reunion in China – begins this week, hundreds of millions of people are expected to return to their hometowns from big cities, bringing the virus to the vulnerable countryside where vaccination rates are lower and medical resources even scarcer.

The outlook is grim. Some studies estimate the death toll could be in excess of a million, if China fails to roll out booster shots and antiviral drugs fast enough.

The government has launched a booster campaign for the elderly, but many remain reluctant to take it due to concerns about side effects. Fighting vaccine hesitancy will require significant time and effort, when the country’s medical workers are already stretched thin.

Economic strain and recovery

Beijing’s Covid restrictions have put China out of sync with the rest of the world. Three years of lockdowns and border curbs have disrupted supply chains, damaged international businesses, and hurt flows of trade and investment between China and other countries.

As China joins the rest of the world in living with Covid, the implications for the global economy are potentially huge.

Any uptick in China’s growth will provide a vital boost to economies that rely on Chinese demand. There will be more international travel and production. But rising demand will also drive up prices of energy and raw materials, putting upward pressure on global inflation.

“In the short run, I believe China’s economy is likely to experience chaos rather than progress for a simple reason: China is poorly prepared to deal with Covid,” said Bo Zhuang, senior sovereign analyst at Loomis, Sayles & Company, an investment firm based in Boston.

Analysts from Capital Economics expect China’s economy to contract by 0.8% in the first quarter of 2023, before rebounding in the second quarter.

Other experts also expect the economy to recover after March. In a recent research report, HSBC economists projected a 0.5% contraction in the first quarter, but 5% growth for 2023.

Reopening to the world

Despite all this uncertainty, Chinese citizens are celebrating the partial reopening of the border after the end of quarantine for international arrivals and the resumption of outbound travel.

Though some residents voiced concern online about the rapid loosening of restrictions during the outbreak, many more are eagerly planning trips abroad – travel websites recorded massive spikes in traffic within minutes of the announcement on December 26.

Several Chinese nationals overseas told CNN they had been unable or unwilling to return home for the last few years while the lengthy quarantine was still in place. That stretch meant major life moments missed and spent apart: graduations, weddings, childbirths, deaths.

Some countries have offered a warm welcome back, with foreign embassies and tourism departments posting invitations to Chinese travelers on Chinese social media sites. But others are more cautious, with many countries imposing new testing requirements for travelers coming from China and its territories.

Officials from these countries have pointed to the risk of new variants emerging from China’s outbreak – though numerous health experts have criticized the targeted travel restrictions as scientifically ineffective and alarmist, with the risk of inciting further racism and xenophobia.

Ties with the West and Russia

As China emerges from its self-imposed isolation, all eyes are on whether it will be able to repair its reputation and relations that soured during the pandemic.

China’s ties with the West and many of its neighbors plummeted significantly over the origins of the coronavirus, trade, territorial claims, Beijing’s human rights record and its close partnership with Russia despite the devastating war in Ukraine.

The lack of top-level face-to-face diplomacy certainly didn’t help, neither did the freeze on in-person exchanges among policy advisers, business groups and the wider public.

At the G20 and APEC summits, Xi signaled his willingness to repair relations with the United States and its allies in a flurry of bilateral meetings.


Communication lines are back open and more high-level exchanges are in the pipeline – with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, French President Emmanuel Macron, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Italy’s newly elected Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni all expected to visit Beijing this year.

But Xi also made clear his ambition to push back at American influence in the region, and there is no illusion that the world’s two superpowers will be able to work out their fundamental differences and cast aside their intensifying rivalry.

In the new year, tensions may again flare over Taiwan, technological containment, as well as China’s support for Russia – which Xi underlined during a virtual meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 30.

Both leaders expressed a message of unity, with Xi saying the two countries should “strengthen strategic coordination” and “inject more stability into the world,” according to Chinese state media Xinhua.

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China is “ready to work” with Russia to “stand against hegemonism and power politics,” and to oppose unilateralism, protectionism and “bullying,” said Xi. Putin, meanwhile, invited Xi to visit Moscow in the spring of 2023.

Beijing has long refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or even refer to it as such. It has instead decried Western sanctions and amplified Kremlin talking points blaming the US and NATO for the conflict.

As Russia suffered humiliating military setbacks in Ukraine in recent months, Chinese state media appeared to have somewhat dialed back its pro-Russia rhetoric, while Xi has agreed to oppose the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine in meetings with Western leaders.

But few experts believe China will distance itself from Russia, with several telling CNN the two countries’ mutual reliance and geopolitical alignment remains strong – including their shared vision for a “new world order.”

“(The war) has been a nuisance for China this past year and has affected China’s interest in Europe,” said Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center. “But the damage is not significant enough that China will abandon Russia.”

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General Discussion / A fake baby bump shows the limits of US chip sanctions on China

« on: December 25, 2022, 05:37:45 am »

Guards on the Zhuhai border between Macau and mainland China recently intercepted a woman wearing a fake baby bump.

In many parts of the world authorities would expect to find drugs in such an appendage. But this one contained 202 processors and nine smartphones.

Chip smuggling into China is booming, creating a lucrative black market that could threaten the effectiveness of US export curbs introduced this year.

The main objective of the US measures is to prevent China from accessing high-end chips for military purposes. The latest controls are comprehensive enough to significantly slow the progress of China’s military and technological development. สล็อตออนไลน์

Yet just 1 per cent of global chip demand is from governments, including for military use. The overwhelming majority are destined for consumer products. Even accounting for the chips designed for communication or machinery purposes that may be diverted for military use, a tiny proportion of imported chips are critical for military purposes.

Most chips needed for military use are based on older technology. Radars, for example, only need so-called 65nm process technology, which was developed two decades ago. Older automotive chips can be repurposed for most of those that go into aircraft, drones, and missiles, and they can be made at home by China’s local chipmakers. A fraction of the chips needed for military devices are the high-end variety that China needs to bring in from overseas. เว็บเล่นสล็อตถูกกฎหมาย

The country imported $350bn worth of chips a year before the US export controls were implemented, amounting to 50bn units each month.

The sheer amount of chips traded and the comprehensive scope of the US ban mean there are not many options for China to find a workaround.

But historically, countries under sanctions have always adapted, for example by importing goods through foreign affiliates of local companies or setting up shell companies to acquire products, then smuggling them into the country. สมัครเล่นสล็อต

Russia and North Korea have for decades evaded sanctions on devices much bigger than chips, such as thermal imaging devices. Smugglers hide them among shipments of non-controlled products, using fake companies, addresses and shipping labels to cover their tracks.

China has a vast black market, initially established to help people evade high import taxes on foreign goods, that can facilitate this. Its scale and efficiency has been proved in industries as varied as Swiss luxury watches, Korean cosmetics and refined oil.

The global chip shortage since 2020 had already fuelled a black market for chips, along with significant mark-ups. After the US move, with chips fetching prices up to 500 times their original level, there is even more incentive to smuggle them.

China has no hope of entirely circumventing the ban through clandestine trade. But nor should the US fool itself that it can completely cut off Chinese access to its technology.

Relatively few chips are needed to keep China’s military advancement on track. The illicit trade raises the possibility that US sanctions will cost more than they achieve.

An analogy can be drawn between chips and drugs that extends beyond small size, high value and the scope for transporting them in a fake baby bump.

In both cases, prohibition reduces supply, increases prices and fosters criminality. Contraband US technology will still dribble into China in the same way that South American cocaine trickles into the US.

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General Discussion / Elon Musk could lose world’s richest person

« on: December 11, 2022, 06:32:36 am »

Tesla has lost nearly half its market value since its founder, Elon Musk, bid for Twitter in April, reducing his net worth by about $70bn and putting his title as world’s richest person at risk.

Shares in the electric car company traded at $340.79 on 13 April, the day before Twitter revealed in a securities filing that the billionaire had made a hostile bid to buy the social media company for $43.4bn. Since then the Tesla share price has plunged by 49% to $173.44 (£141.29), also due to concerns around disruptions at one of its factories in Shanghai. เกมไพ่เสือมังกร

The Tesla boss has sold $20bn of Tesla shares since April to fund the buyout. He now owns 445m shares, according to Reuters, and the share price decline has reduced the value of that holding, from $151bn to $77bn.


This means his claim to be the planet’s wealthiest person is under threat, with France’s Bernard Arnault, chief executive of the luxury group LVMH, snapping at his heels. On Wednesday, share movements meant Arnault briefly took top spot.
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Musk has said of his Twitter takeover: “Having a public platform that is massively trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilisation.”

However, Tesla shareholders worry about how he is dividing his time between the social media site and his many other ventures such as the rocket company SpaceX, and that running Twitter is too much of a distraction.
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Adding to those concerns, Musk’s bankers are considering replacing some of the $13bn high-interest debt that he used to buy the platform in October with margin loans backed by Tesla stock, Bloomberg reported.

However, the billionaire tweeted: “When there are macroeconomic risks, it is generally wise to avoid using margin loans on any company, as stocks may move in ways that are decoupled from their long-term potential.”

He is under pressure to turn around Twitter, which was already struggling before he bought it, making a $221m net loss last year.

Since the acquisition, Musk has fired about half of Twitter’s workforce, roughly 3,700 employees, while hundreds more subsequently resigned. The company faces a number of lawsuits over the sackings and other issues. This week it also came under investigation by city officials in San Francisco after a complaint that the company allegedly converted rooms in its headquarters to sleeping quarters.