Reuters Science News Summary
Following is a summary of current science news briefs.
Hydrogen-powered flying vehicle touted as Southern California traffic tonic
Developers of a multi-rotor hover craft billed as the first flying vehicle to be powered by hydrogen fuel cells unveiled a full-scale model on Wednesday in Southern California, in a show-and-tell that raised some eyebrows but never left the ground. A mockup of the futuristic aircraft, dubbed "Skai" by its inventors, was put on exhibit for investors, the news media and other invited guests outside the BMW Group's Designworks studio in Newbury Park, a suburb north of Los Angeles.
From sky farms to lab-grown shrimp, Singapore eyes food future
Singapore, the tiny Southeast Asian city-state, is an unlikely place for a farming revolution. With tiered fish farms, vegetable plots atop office buildings and lab-grown shrimp, the island aims to beef up its own food production and rely less on imports to feed its 5.6 million people.
Exclusive: Space firm founded by billionaire Paul Allen closing operations - sources
Stratolaunch Systems Corporation, the space company founded by late billionaire and Microsoft Corp co-founder Paul Allen, is closing operations, cutting short ambitious plans to challenge traditional aerospace companies in a new "space race," four people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The company, a unit of Allen's privately held investment vehicle Vulcan Inc, had been developing a portfolio of launch vehicles including the world's largest airplane by wingspan to launch satellites and eventually humans into space.
Russia says U.S. military curbs on space cooperation are unfair competition
Russia accused the United States of trying to unfairly grab market share in the space services industry on Friday after the U.S. military imposed restrictions on space launch cooperation with Moscow. The U.S. Department of Defense on Friday banned contracts for Russian commercial satellite services if they were deemed to pose an unacceptable cyber security risk, a document on the U.S. government's Federal Register showed.
