Vikramaditya

Welcome back, to our website, today we’re going to explore the top 10 threats to humans from artificial intelligence. As technology continues to advance, the potential for artificial intelligence to impact our lives in both positive and negative ways becomes increasingly relevant. From job displacement to privacy concerns, the rise of AI has the potential to bring about significant changes to society. So, let’s get started and explore the top 10 threats to humans from artificial intelligence.

Starting off our list at number 10, we have job displacement. As AI becomes more advanced, it will have the ability to automate many tasks that are currently performed by humans. This could lead to large-scale job loss, particularly in industries where manual labor is prevalent.

Coming in at number 9, we have privacy concerns. As AI becomes more integrated into our lives, it will have access to an increasing amount of personal data. This data can be used to create detailed profiles of individuals, which can be used for targeted advertising, or even more nefarious purposes.

At number 8, we have the risk of AI becoming uncontrollable. As AI becomes more advanced, it will have the ability to learn and adapt on its own. This has the potential to lead to the creation of AI systems that are difficult or impossible to control, which could lead to unintended consequences.

Number 7 on our list is the risk of AI being used for malicious purposes. As AI becomes more advanced, it will have the ability to carry out complex tasks, including hacking and cyber attacks. This could lead to significant security risks for individuals and organizations.

Coming in at number 6, we have the risk of AI being used for military purposes. As AI becomes more advanced, it will have the ability to control drones, tanks, and other military equipment. This could lead to the development of autonomous weapons, which could be used in warfare without human intervention.

At number 5, we have the risk of AI being used to control and manipulate individuals. As AI becomes more advanced, it will have the ability to use personal data to influence individuals’ beliefs and behaviors. This could lead to the development of AI systems that are used for propaganda and psychological warfare.

Number 4 on our list is the risk of AI being used to create biased and unfair systems. As AI becomes more advanced, it will have the ability to make decisions that affect individuals and groups. This could lead to the development of AI systems that are biased and unfair, particularly towards marginalized groups.

Coming in at number 3, we have the risk of AI creating a digital divide. As AI becomes more advanced, it will have the ability to create a divide between those who have access to it and those who do not. This could lead to a widening gap between the rich and the poor, as well as between developed and developing countries.

At number 2, we have the risk of AI creating a loss of autonomy. As AI becomes more advanced, it will have the ability to make decisions on our behalf. This could lead to a loss of autonomy, as individuals become increasingly reliant on AI systems to make decisions for them.

And finally, at number 1, we have the risk of AI creating a loss of empathy. As AI becomes more advanced, it will have the ability to interact with humans in increasingly human-like ways. This could lead to a loss of empathy, as individuals become less able to understand and relate to the emotions and experiences of others.

That concludes our list of the top 10 threats to humans from artificial intelligence. As technology continues to advance, it’s important to be aware of the potential impact that AI can have on our lives. While AI has the potential to bring about significant benefits, it’s also important to consider the potential risks and negative impacts. It’s important to develop and implement responsible AI practices and policies that address these potential threats and mitigate their impact on society. As always, thank you for watching, and we’ll see you in the next video.

Vikramaditya

In this article, we’ll be discussing the top 10 most advanced AI projects currently underway. From healthcare to transportation, these projects are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with artificial intelligence and shaping the future of technology.

Google’s DeepMind: DeepMind is an AI research lab that’s been acquired by Google. They’re working on a number of cutting-edge AI projects, including AlphaGo, a computer program that defeated the world champion at the game Go.

IBM’s Watson: IBM’s Watson is an AI platform that’s being used in a variety of industries, including healthcare and finance. It’s able to analyze large amounts of data and make predictions based on that data.

Baidu’s Apollo: Baidu, the Chinese search giant, has developed an open-source platform for autonomous vehicles called Apollo. The platform provides a full set of software, hardware, and data services for autonomous vehicles, and has been adopted by more than 150 partners.

OpenAI’s GPT-3: OpenAI is a research lab that’s working on developing AI that’s safe and beneficial for humanity. One of their most impressive projects is GPT-3, a language model that can generate human-like text.

Facebook’s DeepFace: Facebook has been working on a number of AI projects, including DeepFace, a facial recognition system that can identify people in photos with near-human accuracy.

Microsoft’s Cortana: Microsoft’s Cortana is a digital assistant that uses natural language processing to understand and respond to voice commands. It’s available on Windows, Xbox, and other platforms.

Amazon’s Alexa: Amazon’s Alexa is a digital assistant that’s built into the Amazon Echo and other devices. It can control smart home devices, play music, and more.

NVIDIA’s Self-Driving Cars: NVIDIA is a leader in developing technology for self-driving cars. They’ve developed a platform called Drive that can be used to train and test autonomous vehicles.

DeepMind’s AlphaStar: DeepMind’s AlphaStar is a program that defeated professional players of the video game Starcraft II. The program is able to analyze large amounts of data and make decisions in real-time, making it a powerful tool for AI research.

Google’s Duplex: Google’s Duplex is a technology that can carry out natural-sounding conversations with humans. It’s been used for tasks such as making restaurant reservations and scheduling appointments.

These are just a few examples of the many advanced AI projects currently underway. As we continue to see breakthroughs in AI technology, it’s clear that this field will play an increasingly important role in shaping our future.

Saurabh Singh
Ukraine, which was part of the Russian empire for centuries before becoming a Soviet republic, won independence as the USSR broke up in 1991. The ongoing crisis stems from the protracted Russo-Ukrainian War that began in early 2014. It began with protests in the capital city of Kyiv in November 2013 against Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to reject a deal for greater economic integration with the European Union. After a violent crackdown by state security forces unintentionally drew an even greater number of protesters and escalated the conflict, President Yanukovych fled the country in February 2014.

• In March and April 2021, Russia started to mass thousands of military personnel and equipment near its border with Ukraine, representing the highest force mobilization since the country’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. This triggered an international crisis and generated concerns over a potential invasion. Satellite imagery showed movements of armor, missiles, and other heavy weaponry. The troops were partially removed by June. The crisis was renewed in October and November 2021, when over 100,000 Russian troops were again massed near the border by December.

• In mid-December 2021, the Russian foreign ministry issued a set of demands which included a ban on Ukraine entering the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and a reduction of NATO troops and military equipment in Eastern Europe for its military forces to be withdrawn. The United States and other NATO allies rejected these demands and have warned Russia of retaliation if Ukraine is invaded, including economic sanctions, and another assistance was deployed to Ukraine, including small arms and\ other defensive weaponry.

• In early February, Joe Biden, US President ordered nearly three thousand U.S. troops to border NATO countries Poland and Romania. The Biden administration has said the deployment is intended to be temporary and that U.S. troops will not enter Ukraine. Satellite imagery showed the largest deployment of Russian troops to its border with Belarus since the end of the Cold War.

• The conflict in Ukraine risks further deterioration of U.S.-Russia relations and greater escalation if Russia expands its presence in Ukraine or into NATO countries. Russia’s actions have raised wider concerns about its intentions elsewhere in Eastern Europe, and a Russian incursion into a NATO country would solicit a response from the United States as a NATO ally. The conflict has heightened tensions in Russia’s relations with both the United States and Europe, complicating the prospects for cooperation elsewhere including on issues of terrorism, arms control, and a political solution in Syria.

• In the latest developments, Russian news agencies said that the forces are returning to the bases “after completing their tasks”. After the pullout, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, “February 15 will go down in history as the day Western war propaganda failed,” she wrote. Ms. Zakharova further said that the West has been “shamed and destroyed without firing a single shot”. It was not immediately clear how many units were involved and what impact the withdrawals would have on the overall number of troops surrounding Ukraine, but it was the first announcement of a Russian drawdown in weeks. The development comes hours after fresh satellite images released by Maxar technologies showed massive troop build-up near Ukraine’s borders, which spurred fears of an invasion.

• Russia said it sent forces to Belarus and other neighbouring countries for military exercises, but the western powers widely believed that the troops were meant to attack Ukraine, which has shown overtures to join West-backed NATO.

• As the news of Russian troops leaving for their bases spread, it brought relief in oil markets. The price of the oil had reached its highest level since 2014. But British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss earlier told that words are easy, but the only thing she will believe is “when they move the troops away from the border”.

• The West-led resistance to Mr Putin’s push has warned of sanctions against the Kremlin if Russian troops enter Ukraine. These sanctions will impact key companies in Russia’s important energy, defence and financial sectors. However, some experts have warned of retaliation from Russia, like cutting of oil supply etc.

• As far as diplomatic efforts are concerned, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is holding a meeting with Mr. Putin in Moscow to dissuade the Russian leader from attacking his ex-Soviet neighbour. French President Emmanuel Macron met Mr. Putin last week and told him that “sincere dialogue” is incompatible with escalation. The Kremlin, meanwhile, is insisting that NATO must give assurance that Ukraine will never be admitted as a member and roll back its presence in eastern European countries. The Kremlin, meanwhile, is insisting that NATO must give assurance that Ukraine will never be admitted as a member and roll back its presence in eastern European countries.

• US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed in a call late Monday that “a crucial window for diplomacy” will remain open. The Indian embassy, meanwhile, advised students and Indian nationals in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv to leave the country temporarily.

Saurabh Singh
Tesla, Inc. is an American electric vehicle and clean energy company based in Austin, Texas.Founded in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning as Tesla Motors, the company’s name is a tribute to inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla.Elon Musk became the largest shareholder of the company and its chairman. He has served as CEO since 2008. According to Musk, the purpose of Tesla is to help expedite the move to sustainable transport and energy, obtained through electric vehicles and solar power.
Tesla designs and manufactures electric cars, battery energy storage from home to grid-scale, solar panels and solar roof tiles, and related products and services. Tesla is one of the world’s most valuable companies and remains the world’s most valuable automaker with a market capitalization of nearly US$1 trillion. The company had the most worldwide sales of battery electric vehicles and plug-in electric vehicles, capturing 23% of the battery-electric (purely electric) market and 16% of the plug-in market (which includes plug-in hybrids) in 2020. Through its subsidiary Tesla Energy, the company develops and is a major installer of photovoltaic systems in the United States. Tesla Energy is also one of the largest global suppliers of Battery Energy Storage Systems, with 3.99 gigawatt-hours (GWh) installed in 2021.

• Tesla’s business model is different from that of most automobile manufacturing companies because it owns the entire supply chain from manufacturing to distribution. This strategy is driven by the ultimate goal of lowering manufacturing costs and costs of goods sold, thereby assuring the business’ sustainability. Under the leadership of Musk, Tesla entered the market with the sporty Roadster. When it introduced its Model S sedan in June 2012, it stopped producing the Roadster. Tesla began delivering its first SUV, the Model X, in September 2015. The first Model 3 deliveries kicked off in July 2017 as Tesla’s entry into the category of affordable cars. In 2020, its base model started at $36,200. It is worth noting that Tesla’s supply chain management strategy focuses on a long-term growth strategy involving production, inventory management, and distribution.

• Tesla sells directly to consumers. It has created an international network of company-owned showrooms and galleries, mostly in urban centers. By owning the sales channel, Tesla believes it can gain an advantage in the speed of its product development. More importantly, it creates a better customer buying experience. Unlike car dealerships, Tesla showrooms have no potential conflicts of interest. Customers deal only with Tesla-employed sales and service staff. Including the showrooms, Service Plus centers (a combination of retail and service center), and service facilities, Tesla has 438 locations around the world as of the end of 2021. Tesla has also made use of Internet sales—consumers can customize and purchase a Tesla online.

• Tesla also produces a fully electric Semi Truck. The truck boasts an energy consumption of less than 2kWh per mile. The company claims it can go 400 miles on a 30-minute charge now, and it’s working on stretching that to more than 600 miles in the future. UPS was among the companies that put in pre-orders for the truck, introduced in 2019. Tesla’s latest model is a supercharged version of the original Roadster, which the company claims is the “quickest car in the world,” capable of going 0-60 in 1.9 seconds. Deliveries of the new Roadster are expected in 2023, with a base price of $200,000.

• The part of Tesla’s mission is “to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport.” To that end, Tesla sells powertrain systems and components to other auto manufacturers. In April 2015, it introduced a line of home batteries, called the Powerwall, that serve as energy storage systems in homes or businesses. They are meant to connect with a solar energy system and can be used as backup power when power is interrupted or peak demand is high. Tesla also sells solar panels and full solar roofing, which is a roof made up of solar panels that still looks like a roof.

• Tesla has created its own network of “supercharger stations” where drivers can charge their Tesla vehicles in about 30 minutes for free. The purpose, of course, is to speed up the rate of adoption of electric cars by making it cheaper and easier to keep them running. In 2012, Tesla began building a network of 480-volt fast-charging Supercharger stations. As of November 2020, Tesla operates over 20,000 Superchargers in over 2,100 stations worldwide. The Supercharger is a proprietary direct current (DC) technology that provides up to 250 kilowatts (kW) of power. All Tesla cars except the first generation Roadster come standard with hardware to charge at Superchargers. The navigation software in Tesla cars can recommend the fastest route for long-distance travel, incorporating charging stops.

• Tesla generally allows its competitors to license its technology, stating that it wants to help its competitors accelerate the world’s use of sustainable energy. Licensing agreements include provisions whereby the recipient agrees not to file patent suits against Tesla, or to copy its designs directly. Tesla retains control of its other intellectual property, such as trademarks and trade secrets to prevent direct copying of its technology.

• Tesla’s nonconventional supply chain management strategy to cut operation costs and successfully deliver a reliable and affordable product rests on a short term goal of product acceptance and a long term strategy for growth and profitability. In 2006, Musk asserted that “The strategy of Tesla is to enter at the high end of the market, where customers are prepared to pay a premium, and then drive down market as fast as possible to higher unit volume and lower prices with each successive model”.

• In June 2021, became the first electric car to sell 1 million units globally. Tesla’s global sales were 936,222 cars in 2021, an 87% increase over the previous year, and cumulative sales totaled 2.3 million cars at the end of 2021. In October 2021, Tesla’s market capitalization reached $1 trillion, the sixth company to do so in U.S. history.

• Tesla did not invent the electric car or even the luxury electric car. But Tesla did invent a successful business model for bringing compelling electric cars to the market. Part of the strategy was building a network of charging stations to solve one of the greatest obstacles facing the adoption of electric vehicles: refueling on long trips. Tesla’s unique business model, which includes keeping control over sales and service, is one reason its stock has soared since its initial public offering.

• Amidst what appears to be an ongoing stalemate between Tesla and India, reports have recently emerged suggesting that the country is willing to consider the EV maker’s request for import tax cuts. That is, at least, if Tesla would be open to purchasing $500 million worth of domestic auto components from India.Despite the challenges that Tesla has faced so far in its attempt to enter India, the EV maker has made some considerable progress over the past year. Over 2021, the company received homologation certificates for seven of its car models, and Supercharger stalls have also been shipped to the country.

Saurabh Singh

Starship is a fully-reusable and super heavy-lift launch vehicle in development by SpaceX. Both of its stages – Super Heavy booster and Starship spacecraft – use liquid oxygen and liquid methane as propellant. Starship’s main features are its very high payload mass capability and low potential operating cost. A tanker variant spacecraft is planned that will refuel other Starships in orbit, increasing the 100 t (220,000 lb) transport range to higher energy orbits and destinations, including the Moon and Mars. The earliest Starship variant will deploy satellites, while later variants will also serve space tourists, or be optimised for lunar landings. Starship’s potentially low cost is key in enabling SpaceX’s Mars ambitions as well as making point-to-point rocket travel on Earth possible.

• SpaceX explained the planned trajectory of the first orbital flight of the Starship system in a report sent to the Federal Communications Commission. The rocket is planned to launch from Starbase, then Super Heavy will separate and perform a soft water landing around 30 km (20 mi) from the Texan shoreline. The spacecraft will continue flying with its ground track passing through the Straits of Florida, and then softly land in the Pacific Ocean around 100 km (60 mi) northwest of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands. The whole spaceflight will last ninety minutes.

• Starship may enable the launching of larger space telescopes, such as the Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission that can directly image planets outside the Solar System. Some planetary science researchers incorporate Starship into their research, citing low launch cost and high capacity.

• An analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think-tank wrote possible military-use cases of Starship. One of them is the deployment of military satellites, replacing ones destroyed by anti-satellite weapons. Another is the launch of many reconnaissance satellites to fill gaps if larger satellites in a higher orbit were destroyed.WaleedAbdalati, a former NASA Chief Scientist, stated the rocket may enable recovery of space debris, which are defunct artificial objects in space.

• As it ascends from the launch pad, the combined Starship system will begin to pitch over towards the intended orbit. When the upper stage separates in space, Super Heavy flips over while falling back towards Earth. As it descends, Super Heavy will deploy steel structures called “grid fins”, shaped a bit like potato waffles, from the sides of the booster. These will help steer the rocket stage back towards its launch pad so it can be flown again.

• SpaceX has an ambitious plan to then catch the falling booster using its launch tower.This tower provides engineers and crew members with access to the spacecraft and rocket while they are sitting on the pad before launch. A pair of steel arms will extend out from the launch tower. The grid fins will then take the load as the spent booster falls onto these arms. The tower has been dubbed “Mechazilla” because of its resemblance to a creature from the Godzilla movies.

• For long-haul trips to Mars and back – which could take up to nine months each way -Elon Musk is looking to install around 40 cabins in the payload area near the front of the upper stage. “You could conceivably have five or six people per cabin, if you really wanted to crowd people in. But I think mostly we would expect to see two or three people per cabin, and so nominally about 100 people per flight to Mars,” Musk said.

• The payload bay would also host common areas, storage space, a galley and a shelter where people could gather to shield from solar storms, where the Sun belches out harmful charged particles into space. Starship will also play a key role in Nasa’s Artemis programme, which aims to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon. In April 2021, the US space agency awarded SpaceX with a $2.89bn contract to develop Starship into a lander capable of delivering astronauts to the lunar surface this decade.

• The version tailored for Artemis flights would not possess the heat shield or flaps that are necessary for a return journey to Earth. Instead, the Starship Human Landing System would remain in space after its initial launch from Earth, so that it could eventually be used for multiple trips between lunar orbit and the Moon’s surface. The uncrewed, or cargo, version of Starship features a payload bay that opens up like the mouth of a crocodile. This would allow it to be used for launching satellites.

• SpaceX says the huge payload capacity opens up possibilities for new types of robotic science mission, including telescopes larger than the James Webb observatory – the forthcoming successor to Hubble. The system could also be used for space tourism: Elon Musk has promised a trip around the Moon in 2023 to the Japanese online retail billionaire YusakuMaezawa. It could also carry out high-speed journeys between different destinations on Earth.Musk says that Starship could eventually carry people to destinations in the “greater Solar System”, including gas giants such as Jupiter. But this remains a long-term objective.

• In the last few years, SpaceX has tested various prototypes of the upper stage at its Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.The company started off in 2019 with a 39m-tall “test article” called Starhopper – which bore a passing resemblance to a water tower – and flew it to 150m above ground.The first prototype to feature a nosecone and flaps – Starship serial number (SN8) – flew to an altitude of 12.5km in December 2020. It belly flopped back to Earth, giving SpaceX valuable engineering data about the final part of the vehicle’s return from space. However, SN8 approached the landing pad a little too fast and hard, causing it to crumple and explode. Three more test articles exploded before Starship SN15 achieved success with a soft landing in May 2021. SpaceX plans to launch Starship on Super Heavy for its first orbital test flight in 2022.

Saurabh Singh

Amazon.com, Inc. is an American multinational technology company which focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as “one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world”, and is one of the world’s most valuable brands. Amazon has grown to become one of the largest companies in the world, both in terms of sales and market capitalization. But, with such great size, comes a set of unique risks. The biggest risks of investing in Amazon.com, Inc. stock are increasing competition, profit potential uncertainty, revenue growth uncertainty, speculative valuation and share price volatility. Amazon has indeed delivered high revenue growth since going public in 1997, making investors optimistic about future performance. This growth has also caused investors to overlook the company’s unwillingness to generate sustained net profits.

• Competition is the most salient operational risk faced by Amazon. The general merchandise retail industry is highly competitive and includes formidable competitors such as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Costco Wholesale Corporation and Target Corporation. Specialty retailers such as Staples, Inc., Best Buy Co., Inc., Home Depot, Inc. and Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. have gained traction as physical showrooms and category specialists. All of these major retailers have invested heavily in online sales channels in response to evolving consumer tastes. The build-out of well-regarded retail e-commerce sites threatens to challenge Amazon’s supremacy in the market. These developments remain mere threats, however, as Amazon still holds more than 40% of the highly fragmented online retail market as of 2019.

• Amazon’s rapid ascent has prompted other retailers to forge strategies specifically crafted to combat the online giant’s influence. Staples and Best Buy occasionally offer promotions and price matching explicitly matching or beating Amazon’s prices and promotions. Competitive pricing not only erodes Amazon’s advantage in the market, but it also leads to narrower margins across the board for market participants. ShopRunner offers an alternative to Amazon Prime, and many retailers have partnered with the shipping service. Services of this type cause Amazon’s economic moat to narrow, threatening pricing power and volumes.

• Amazon operates with very narrow profit margins and was not able to sustained net profits during the early to mid-2010s, where it posted net losses in FY 2012 and FY 2014. Prior to 2019, the highest full-year net margin reported by the company was 3.7%, which was achieved back in 2009. Competitive pricing ensures Amazon’s gross margins stay within a small range of modest values. Amazon’s management is committed to infrastructure expansion and growing investments in research and development, necessitating high operating expenses. For 2019, Amazon’s profit margin rose to a record high, of just over 4%.

• Investors have been comfortable eschewing profits to fuel future growth, but bearish observers are skeptical the company has the pricing power to generate the returns necessary to justify the ongoing investments in expansion. For some investors, these concerns are validated by Amazon’s past investments in failed projects such as an abandoned foray into the smartphone market. For Amazon to be an attractive investment opportunity, the company must return to profitability and grow rapidly in the midst of an increasingly competitive market. This is a significant risk to the bull thesis.

• Amazon has delivered strong growth performance over the past decade, with annualized revenue growth metrics rarely falling below 20% and sometimes approaching 40%. This achievement has stoked bullish investor sentiment and aggressive analyst estimates. Nonetheless, growth has decelerated on average over the 2010s, with Amazon’s revenue for the twelve months ending September 30, 2019 posting a 20.14% increase year-over-year. Several factors have contributed to this trend. Rapid growth is typically difficult to sustain as the base level rises each year, meaning a larger nominal expansion is required to drive a constant growth rate.

• Intensifying price competition in both retail and Web services also has an impact on sales growth rates. Despite a substantial shift to online sales channels, e-commerce still makes just around 12% of the total retail market. This may indicate a natural ceiling to the amount of business that can be done without brick and mortar locations, and this impairs Amazon’s potential upside. The entire bull narrative for Amazon is based on the assumption the company will continue delivering rapid growth. If revenue growth slows too much, then the investments that have driven high operating expense levels will prove fruitless. If revenue and earnings do not exhibit sustained high rates of expansion in the future, Amazon’s valuation will prove to be unjustified. Slowing revenue growth is a risk that investors should monitor.

• The valuation of Amazon shares poses investment risk. At nearly $3,000 a share as of July 2020, Amazon is a highly speculative investment with a market cap over $1 trillion and a trailing P/E ratio of 138x earnings. If a person were to assume Amazon will meet the highest analyst estimates two years from now and then grow 28% each year over a five-year period, the market price still implies nearly 10% annual growth over the long-term. This is not an impossible outcome, but investors are assuming very favorable performance over a long, difficult-to-forecast interval. There are likely and plausible outcomes that involve less-stellar results. Speculation is common for unprofitable growth companies with an uncertain medium term, but this fact does not reduce the risk of unmet expectations.

• High share price volatility is a consequence of this speculation. Amazon’s beta of 1.32 indicates share prices are positively correlated to the wider equity market and move up and down at a higher magnitude than the market. Shareholders are therefore subject to increased market risk, as a wide-spread downturn disproportionately impacts high beta stocks such as Amazon.

• Amazon employs a multi-level e-commerce strategy. Amazon started by focusing on business-to-consumer relationships between itself and its customers and business-to-business relationships between itself and its suppliers and then moved to facilitate customer-to-customer with the Amazon marketplace which acts as an intermediary to facilitate transactions. The company lets anyone sell nearly anything using its platform. In addition to an affiliate program that lets anyone post Amazon links and earn a commission on click-through sales, there is now a program that lets those affiliates build entire websites based on Amazon’s platform.

• Some other large e-commerce sellers use Amazon to sell their products in addition to selling them through their websites. The sales are processed through Amazon.com and end up at individual sellers for processing and order fulfillment and Amazon leases space for these retailers. Small sellers of used and new goods go to Amazon Marketplace to offer goods at a fixed price. Amazon also will benefit from massive investments made in fulfillment centers last year. He also expects revenue growth to accelerate in advertising and its third-party sales business, in addition to its cloud computing business.

Saurabh Singh
The International Space Station (ISS) is a modular space station in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which scientific research is conducted in astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, physics, and other fields. The ISS is suited for testing the spacecraft systems and equipment required for possible future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. As per NASA, space station weighs about a million pounds on earth. It is of same size as an American football field. The space craft can support a crew of six people, along with visitors. It comprises of laboratory modules from United States, Japan, Russia, and Europe.

• ISS has been orbiting Earth at a speed of around 8 km/second, for more than two decades. International crew of astronauts and cosmonauts onboard have been conducting ground-breaking scientific investigations that have opened doors for deep space exploration.The ISS was originally intended to be a laboratory, observatory, and factory while providing transportation, maintenance, and a low Earth orbit staging base for possible future missions to the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. However, not all of the uses envisioned in the initial memorandum of understanding between NASA and Roscosmos have been realised. In the 2010 United States National Space Policy, the ISS was given additional roles of serving commercial, diplomatic, and educational purposes.

• The ISS, about the size of an American football field, orbits the Earth about once 90 minutes, and has been continuously occupied by astronauts since November 2000. Last September, a Russian official warned that small cracks had been discovered on the space station that could worsen over time and raised concerns about ageing equipment and the risk of “irreparable failures”. The space station was originally intended to operate for just 15 years, but NASA said in a report that “there is high confidence that ISS life can be further extended through 2030” through some analyses of its viability are still being conducted.

• According to the Outer Space Treaty, the United States and Russia are legally responsible for all modules they have launched. Several possible disposal options were considered: Natural orbital decay with random reentry (as with Skylab), boosting the station to a higher altitude (which would delay reentry), and a controlled targeted de-orbit to a remote ocean area. In late 2010, the preferred plan was to use a slightly modified Progress spacecraft to de-orbit the ISS. This plan was seen as the simplest, cheapest and with the highest margin.

• OPSEK was previously intended to be constructed of modules from the Russian Orbital Segment after the ISS is decommissioned. The modules under consideration for removal from the current ISS included the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (Nauka), launched in July 2021, and the other new Russian modules that are proposed to be attached to Nauka. These newly launched modules would still be well within their useful lives in 2024.

• At the end of 2011, the Exploration Gateway Platform concept also proposed using leftover USOS hardware and Zvezda 2 as a refueling depot and service station located at one of the Earth-Moon Lagrange points. However, the entire USOS was not designed for disassembly and will be discarded. In February 2015, Roscosmos announced that it would remain a part of the ISS programme until 2024. Nine months earlier—in response to US sanctions against Russia over the annexation of Crimea—Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin had stated that Russia would reject a US request to prolong the orbiting station’s use beyond 2020, and would only supply rocket engines to the US for non-military satellite launches.

• On 28 March 2015, Russian sources announced that Roscosmos and NASA had agreed to collaborate on the development of a replacement for the current ISS. Igor Komarov, the head of Russia’s Roscosmos, made the announcement with NASA administrator Charles Bolden at his side. In a statement provided to SpaceNews on 28 March, NASA spokesman David Weaver said the agency appreciated the Russian commitment to extending the ISS, but did not confirm any plans for a future space station.

• On 30 September 2015, Boeing’s contract with NASA as prime contractor for the ISS was extended to 30 September 2020. Part of Boeing’s services under the contract will relate to extending the station’s primary structural hardware past 2020 to the end of 2028. There have also been suggestions that the station could be converted to commercial operations after it is retired by government entities.

• In July 2018, the Space Frontier Act of 2018 was intended to extend operations of the ISS to 2030. This bill was unanimously approved in the Senate, but failed to pass in the U.S. House. In September 2018, the Leading Human Spaceflight Act was introduced with the intent to extend operations of the ISS to 2030, and was confirmed in December 2018. In January 2022, NASA announced a planned date of January 2031 to de-orbit the ISS and direct any remnants into a remote area of the South Pacific Ocean.

• The ISS has been described as the most expensive single item ever constructed. As of 2010, the total cost was US$150 billion. This includes NASA’s budget of $58.7 billion ($89.73 billion in 2021 dollars) for the station from 1985 to 2015, Russia’s $12 billion, Europe’s $5 billion, Japan’s $5 billion, Canada’s $2 billion, and the cost of 36 shuttle flights to build the station, estimated at $1.4 billion each, or $50.4 billion in total. Assuming 20,000 person-days of use from 2000 to 2015 by two- to six-person crews, each person-day would cost $7.5 million, less than half the inflation-adjusted $19.6 million ($5.5 million before inflation) per person-day of Skylab.

• Mission control will first lower its altitude and it will start its descent into ‘South Pacific Oceanic Uninhabited Area (SPOUA)’, in an area called Point Nemo. Operators of ISS will perform ISS re-entry burn and provide the final push to lower ISS. Point Nemo is a sort of space cemetery, where decommissioned space debris are often brought to rest. It is located at a distance of 2,700 km from any land. The place has been named after a character in Jules Verne’s novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea. ISS will be replaced by one or more commercially-owned and commercially-operated space platforms.