A company illustration shows astronauts staring at a fleet of conceptual lunar rovers. Image: Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin and General Motors Co. have teamed up to develop the next generation of lunar vehicles to transport astronauts on the surface of the moon, fundamentally evolving and expanding humanity’s deep-space exploration footprint.
NASA’s Artemis programme is sending humans back to the moon where they will explore and conduct scientific experiments using a variety of rovers. NASA sought industry approaches to develop a Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) that will enable astronauts to explore the lunar surface farther than ever before. The LTV is the first of many types of surface mobility vehicles needed for NASA’s Artemis programme.
To support NASA’s mission, Lockheed Martin and General Motors will develop a vehicle that may allow astronauts to explore the lunar surface in an unprecedented fashion and support discovery in places where humans have never gone before.
Lockheed Martin will lead the team by leveraging its more than 50-year-history of working with NASA on deep-space human and robotic spacecraft, such as NASA’s Orion exploration-class spaceship for Artemis and numerous Mars and planetary spacecraft.
Speaking about the partnership, Rick Ambrose, executive vice president, Lockheed Martin Space, said: “This alliance brings together powerhouse innovation from both companies to make a transformative class of vehicles. Surface mobility is critical to enable and sustain long-term exploration of the lunar surface. These next-generation rovers will dramatically extend the range of astronauts as they perform high-priority science investigation on the Moon that will ultimately impact humanity’s understanding of our place in the solar system.”
GM has a history of working with NASA and manufactured the inertial guidance and navigation systems for the entire Apollo Moon programme. GM also helped develop the electric Apollo LRV that was used on Apollos 15-17 missions.
Alan Wexler, senior vice president of Innovation and Growth at General Motors, added: “General Motors made history by applying advanced technologies and engineering to support the Lunar Rover Vehicle that the Apollo 15 astronauts drove on the Moon. Working together with Lockheed Martin and their deep-space exploration expertise, we plan to support American astronauts on the Moon once again.”
Unlike the Apollo rovers that only travelled 4.7 miles (7.6 kilometres) from the landing site, the next-generation lunar vehicles are being designed to traverse significantly farther distances to support the first excursions of the Moon’s south pole, where it is cold and dark with more rugged terrain.
Autonomous, self-driving systems will allow the rovers to prepare for human landings, provide commercial payload services, and enhance the range and utility of scientific payloads and experiments.
Cinema Akil, Dubai’s independent cinema has announced that it will screen award-winning documentaries from Palestine, Ireland and Romania.
Palestinian documentary Ghost Hunting, directed by Raed Andoni, will screen from May 28 – June 5. The movie won the Glasshütte Original Documentary Award at Berlin International Film Festival in 2017.
Directed by Radu Ciorniciuc, the Romanian documentary Acasa, My Home develops in the Bucharest Delta, where a family of nine children and their parents are chased out and forced to adapt to life in the big city. The film has received 20 awards and 36 other nominations across the world. It will screen from June 3-18.
The last screening of the Irish documentary Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan is on May 27. Filmmaker Julien Temple dives deep into the life of Shane MacGowan, the tortured vocalist best known as the lead singer and songwriter of the Pogues, who famously combined traditional Irish music with the visceral energy of punk rock. Features unseen archival footage from the band and MacGowan’s family, as well as animation from legendary illustrator Ralph Steadman.
In today’s dynamically shifting media market, our customers need to engage with global audiences that can no longer be reached through one or two platforms. It is not enough to just up output level – productions must scale vertically and horizontally across formats, versions, language, device types and platforms to meet an increasingly diverse audience footprint. Added to this, broadcasters and content producers around the globe must balance the spiralling demand for content with rising production costs.
As the consumer has embraced on-demand content and TV technology has followed suit, many of the broadcast functions that were only really viable as highly specialised hardware can now be delivered as software-only implementations.
With benefits like scale, reach and flexibility, having a cloud strategy is no longer debatable, it is essential. One of the most critical gains from a cloud approach is eliminating the need to maintain significant infrastructure assets, such as equipment rooms, racks of servers and complex networking designs. In turn, customers are free to focus on their core line of business – creating and delivering stunning content. Flexible, cloud-based environments that use virtualisation go one step further, offering a viable alternative geared towards on-demand and OPEX-focused models.
The potential to lower CAPEX, boost efficiencies and scale operations meant cloud and SaaS adoption was firmly in the TV industry’s sights even before the pandemic hit. Covid-19 has accelerated the move towards cloud-based infrastructures and workflows, with uptake gaining momentum.
Traditionally, the TV industry has run on purpose-built systems specifically created to handle video, with the ‘as-a-service’ consumption model mainly used for tasks such as playout and other content distribution processes – but that was already changing before 2020. Data from the 2018 Devoncroft Media and Entertainment Cloud Adoption Index projected that cloud usage across the sector would rise by 88% between 2016 and 2021. The pandemic and its restrictions have only served to speed up a process already underway – what many in the industry thought was three to five years away is now becoming a reality.
This was certainly the case for Los Angeles-based live entertainment and media company De Tune. As most in-person live events were put on hold in 2020, De Tune needed to support completely virtual live event broadcasts, and carried this out by leveraging the cloud. The De Tune team opted for a cloud-native production platform to create a master control room (MCR) in the cloud with full redundancy, accessible anywhere globally to support a series of live online events.
Furthermore, Discovery’s multi-sports brand Eurosport, in undertaking a major technology transformation to provide ‘true cloud’ architecture supporting playout across the network’s sports broadcasts, chose cloud-based playout technology as the key component. These are just some of the examples of cloud integration in the media production chain today.
The need to produce more content to feed growing consumer demand, and the need to distribute multiple versions of that content to a broader range of affiliates and platforms, is a perfect storm that the move to the cloud addresses very effectively. Delivering greater volumes of content more efficiently is a major driving force behind the industry’s transition to more flexible and scalable IP-based infrastructures and workflows. It opens up new ways of working, such as remote and distributed production.
Over the last two years, we have seen an ongoing shift towards technologies and workflows designed to enable better remote production and achieve more while limiting or even reducing costs. This shift includes the widespread adoption of IP as a replacement for SDI and more use of software rather than dedicated hardware, to reduce cost and enable more automation.
Sectors like IT have been cloud-centric for several years, but tapping the cloud for TV is trickier. In the IT world, when an application takes an extra couple of seconds to carry out a process, the end user does not really notice. In broadcast, two seconds of black screen during a live sporting event, or out-of-sync audio, is just unacceptable.
The biggest challenge of the cloud is that it fundamentally needs IP-based workloads and the transition to IP in the TV world is very much ongoing. Although many key standards have been defined, many industry segments are still only partway through the journey. Added to this scenario, some of the most difficult technical issues that ensure the cloud’s capacity to deliver the same experience as on-site production have only recently been solved.
Delivering mission-critical solutions that overcome issues such as audio synchronisation and acceptable end-to-end latency – all within a user-friendly operator environment – are just some of the specific challenges that customers are looking to overcome. As a result, early pioneers are starting to make their transition.
Some argue that throwing everything into the cloud is the solution as cloud-based models become a more common feature of the production landscape. However, this doesn’t always make sense financially or operationally. Remote production via the cloud is certainly an application with many advantages, including more flexibility and the ability to scale up (and down) quickly within an OPEX model. However, it may not always be financially sensible; existing investment in broadcast TV technology runs into the hundreds of billions, and broadcasters can continue to sweat these assets for a significant amount of time. Specific processes are still more efficient, faster and cheaper, and provide larger capacity via local, highly specialised hardware.
I believe that cloud adoption in broadcast will be focused around three key areas: playout, production and live. In the cloud, common technologies can be used to support applications previously seen as having very little in common. Playout has the lowest technical challenge today. It has been the industry starting point, however, with its high utilisation of the underlying infrastructure. The economic value gained by moving playout into the cloud is optimised in applications where different renditions of a common program are required for simultaneous distribution, or when other encoding methods and quality can be exploited as ‘plug and play’ services based on cost-optimised delivery to consumers.
Live is the most demanding of all applications and requires the lowest latency, the highest simultaneous signal counts and the highest number of operators to capture and create the program. Large sporting events, for example, require significant coordination of these resources. In addition, people should be empowered to carry out their workflow using traditional control surfaces, while also being able to adopt new methods of controlling content creation.
Chuck Meyer is Technology Fellow at Grass Valley
Transitioning live production to the cloud is a real game-changer for the industry. It offers the opportunity to optimise the number and location of any resource group and exploit the cloud for scale and elasticity, to fit the requirement of a given production.
Amazon and MGM have announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Amazon will acquire MGM for a purchase price of $8.45bn. MGM has nearly a century of filmmaking history and the acquisition is seen as complementing the work of Amazon Studios, which has primarily focused on producing TV show programming. Amazon will help preserve MGM’s heritage and catalogue of films, and provide customers with access to these existing works.
Speaking about the acquisition, Mike Hopkins, Senior Vice President of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, said: “MGM has a vast catalogue with more than 4,000 films—12 Angry Men, Basic Instinct, Creed, James Bond, Legally Blonde, Moonstruck, Poltergeist, Raging Bull, Robocop, Rocky, Silence of the Lambs, Stargate, Thelma & Louise, Tomb Raider, The Magnificent Seven, The Pink Panther, The Thomas Crown Affair, and many other icons—as well as 17,000 TV shows—including Fargo, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Vikings—that have collectively won more than 180 Academy Awards and 100 Emmys. The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of IP in the deep catalogue that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM’s talented team. It’s very exciting and provides so many opportunities for high-quality storytelling.”
Kevin Ulrich, Chairman of the Board of Directors of MGM, added: “It has been an honour to have been a part of the incredible transformation of Metro Goldwyn Mayer. To get here took immensely talented people with a true belief in one vision. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank the MGM team who have helped us arrive at this historic day. I am very proud that MGM’s Lion, which has long evoked the Golden Age of Hollywood, will continue its storied history, and the idea born from the creation of United Artists lives on in a way the founders originally intended, driven by the talent and their vision. The opportunity to align MGM’s storied history with Amazon is an inspiring combination.”
Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt has been granted the UAE Golden Visa.
“Honoured to have received a golden visa for the UAE in the presence of Major General Mohamed Ahmed Al Marri, Director General of @GDRFADUBAI,” he wrote on Instagram. “Thanking him along with the @uaegov for the honour. Also grateful to Mr Hamad Obaidalla, COO of @flydubai for his support.”
Dutt joins a host of other global stars to be awarded the golden visa, including footballer Ronaldinho and Egyptian rapper and actor Mohamed Ramadan.
He has been residing in the UAE after receiving treatment for cancer in Dubai last year.
Dutt is the first Indian mainstream actor to have received the UAE golden visa.
The golden visa grants the recipient a 10-year residency in the UAE, and is awarded as a recognition of a person’s contribution to a number of categories, including culture and art.
Spacetoon Pictures, which distributes animation movies in MENA, has announced that it is bringing the Japanese anime Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet to cinemas on May 27.
The movie had successfully made it to the top three highest opening weekends since the pandemic in Japan and topped the China box office in its first two days, moving The Fellowship of the Ring from the forefront.
The story is set in Japan while preparing to commemorate the World Sports Games (WSG), the world’s biggest sports games, hosted in Tokyo. The Hyperlinear bullet train will begin operation to coincide with the WSG’s opening ceremony. As the world watches, disaster suddenly strikes the host venue, where the sponsors of the games are gathered. A crisis unfolds as several industry leaders are kidnapped in quick succession. That’s when Conan starts his investigations, while Shuichi Aki is helping him from behind the scenes.
The movie is set to be released in the original Japanese version with Arabic and English subtitles and the Arabic dubbed version. Spacetoon Pictures has worked on localising and dubbing the movie into Arabic with a group of Arab voice actors, who are known for dubbing the Detective Conan anime series since its first run on Spacetoon TV in the early 2000s.
Commenting on the release, Kamel Weiss, Strategic Business Development Director at Spacetoon, said: “We’re so thrilled to bring Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet to the Middle East region, hoping to continue the series of successes this movie has created so far in each country it debuted in. We always work on delivering new experiences to anime fans in MENA by bringing the top anime movies to the cinemas.”
Additionally, the movie prequel; Detective Conan: The Scarlet Alibi has been available online on Spacetoon Go since May 7.
Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet will be available in movie theatres across UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Iraq on May 27, in both Japanese and Arabic dubbed versions.
In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) and mobility service provider Global Eagle, has rebranded as Anuvu, reflecting its focus on next-generation passenger and guest connected experiences in the air and at sea.
Josh Marks, Chief Executive Officer of Global Eagle, said: Our recent sale to new owners and their investment in our business provides a unique opportunity to align our brand with our vision. We recently divested our non-mobility businesses to focus on mobility markets including airlines, cruise lines, yachts, energy transportation and government. Since we formed as a SPAC over a decade ago, we have operated under the Global Eagle brand as we acquired companies serving airlines and maritime markets. Now, as one company aligned around passenger entertainment and connectivity, we introduce you to Anuvu, our take on a new view. Our new brand honours our extensive history but keeps the future in focus. This is more than a name change; our new brand and fresh visual identity highlight the innovative perspective we deliver to the mobility markets we serve. We continue to invest in technology that meets our customers performance and value requirements today, while providing a future roadmap with curated content, cloud-based content operations, and multi-platform broadband satellite networks. Now more than ever, our clients seek a partner that will support them as passenger and guest expectations accelerate post-pandemic.
Marks concluded: Anuvu represents the evolution in our business and showcases our innovation and future-proof solutions for customers, as our worldwide team meets their content and connectivity needs with inventiveness and flexibility.
Viasat Inc. has announced that Evan Dixon has been promoted to the role of President of Viasat’s Global Fixed Broadband business and Craig Miller advances from Government Systems’ Chief Technology Officer to now lead the segment as President.
Speaking about the appointment, Rick Baldridge, President and Chief Executive Officer at Viasat, said: “Both Evan and Craig have extensive track records of success and have built reputations for executing well on significant programmes. The Viasat management team is confident in the abilities and experience both Evan and Craig will bring to their expanded roles, and will help drive key Viasat global initiatives, especially as we prepare for the imminent launch of our ViaSat-3 constellation.”
Evan Dixon is responsible for the Company’s fixed broadband services business in the US and globally, which includes Viasat’s residential and business internet service as well as its Community Internet offering. Evan has been instrumental in growing Viasat’s fixed consumer broadband business, which serves hundreds of thousands of subscribers across the US and key countries in Latin America, Europe and Africa.
Evan joined Viasat in 2015, as Deputy CEO and Chief Marketing Officer of Euro Broadband Infrastructure Sàrl, a subsidiary of Viasat. In March 2018, he was appointed Vice President and General Manager of Viasat Europe, and in March 2020, he was appointed the Vice President of Viasat’s Global Fixed Broadband business. Evan previously held senior management positions at DIRECTV and AT&T Inc.
Baldridge added: “Evan has tremendous insight and expertise in bringing customer-focused connected solutions to market. His experience over the past six years at Viasat spans a global business landscape, which will further help Viasat expand outside the US.”
Craig Miller is responsible for leading the Company’s global defence business, which exceeds $1bn in annual revenues by delivering cost-effective solutions to challenging defence requirements in satellite networks, tactical data links, information assurance and cybersecurity. Craig assumes the position from Ken Peterman, who has stepped into an advisory role working with Viasat President and CEO, Rick Baldridge.
Craig joined Viasat in 1995, and has held numerous technology, business and strategic leadership roles. Prior to serving as President of Government Systems, he was the segment’s Chief Technology Officer where he was responsible for establishing and communicating the technical strategy and roadmaps for a diverse portfolio of defence products and services: including satellite communications, tactical networks, information assurance, cyber/network security and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
Baldridge commented: “We thank Ken for his leadership over the past eight years, and I look forward to working with him in his new role. Craig will now build upon our Government Systems’ successeswith an increased focus on emerging technologies and delivering new customer-centric capabilities and business models that will augment and complement our existing franchises in tactical data links, satellite networks and cybersecurity.”
Marvel has released a trailer for its superhero film Eternals starring Syrian refugee-turned-actor Zain Al-Rafeea alongside a star-studded cast that includes Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie and Richard Madden.
Al-Rafeea, who gained prominence for his role in Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki’s critically-acclaimed Capernaum, appears for a couple of seconds in the two-minute-long trailer for the Chloe Zhao-directed movie about an immortal alien race.
The film centres on an immortal alien race who have secretly lived on Earth for more than 7,000 years and are reunited to protect humanity from an evil threat. While the Eternalsmay not be as recognisable as other superheroes in the Marvel Universe, there’s certainly no shortage of star power in the film.
While the trailer gives away little to no details on the plot, if the clip is anything to go by, Al-Rafeea stars as a villager who comes across the Eternals when they arrive to Earth.
Rumours of Al-Rafeea joining the cast of the film first surfaced in 2019 after Hayek uploaded a picture of herself with the former Syrian refugee and “Eternals” co-star Lia Mchugh on Instagram.
“Hanging with the Eternals’ youth,” Hayek, who plays the leader of the Eternals, Ajak, captioned the Instagram post.
Eternals is set for theatrical release on November 5, 2021.
Extreme E has joined forces with video game development and entertainment company One Earth Rising to create HighVoltage, a new channel on Twitch.tv – the live streaming platform for gamers.
Hosted daily, the Twitch.tv streaming channel will be home to the video games and competitions while highlighting #racefortheplanet – the channel’s purpose-driven message. The channel will host a variety of Extreme E behind the scenes content plus weekly contests.
Speaking about the partnership, Ali Russell, Chief Marketing Officer at Extreme E, said: “A big thank you to One Earth Rising for its support in getting this channel off the ground. As a championship, we are targeting a younger audience, many of whom are engaged in platforms like Twitch.tv, so for Extreme E to have its own channel, HighVoltage, to engage with the demographic is fantastic. We hope to bring engaging content and games all in a bid to support the biggest race of our time, for our planet, which is sadly suffering from the effects of the climate crisis.”
Justin Bovington, Chief Marketing Officer at One Earth Rising, added: “We are delighted to have worked with Extreme E to create the HighVoltage channel on Twitch.tv to continue its momentum throughout Season one. The #racefortheplanet is so important and one we all need to join to build a better future. We hope this channel will bring people together in an engaging and entertaining way through a mix of content including games, interviews and conversation.”
HighVoltage will host regular competitions and giveaways, provide access to exclusive themed game servers for subscribers and followers to engage its community by not just conversing, but also involving them in playing games together while focussing on the #racefortheplanet.
Extreme E’s inaugural event– the Desert X Prix – took place in Saudi Arabia earlier this month highlighting the effects of desertification. Its next event – the Ocean X Prix – takes place from May 29-30 in Senegal and will focus on ocean health and issues surrounding rising sea level and plastic pollution.
Following Senegal, the series will continue to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland (28-29 August), Pará, Brazil (23-24 October) and Tierra del Fuego, Argentina (11-12 December).
In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) and mobility service provider Global Eagle, has rebranded as Anuvu, reflecting its focus on next-generation passenger and guest connected experiences in the air and at sea.
Viasat Inc. has announced that Evan Dixon has been promoted to the role of President of Viasat’s Global Fixed Broadband business and Craig Miller advances from Government Systems’ Chief Technology Officer to now lead the segment as President.
