China successfully sent the 52nd and 53rd satellites of its domestically developed BeiDou Navigation Satellite System （BDS）-the last two medium Earth orbit （MEO） satellites for the BDS-3 constellation（星座）－into space on Monday, marking the completion of the global navigation system's core constellation deployment（部署）and this year's BDS satellite launch campaign.

Launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan Province, on board a Long March-3B carrier rocket with an Expedition-1 upper stage, the two satellites were injected into planned orbits after more than three hours' flight.

Since the first BDS-3 satellite was launched on November 5, 2017, China has conducted 18 BDS satellite launch missions, successfully sending 30 into their planned orbit, setting a national record for highest mission frequency and success rate.

In-orbit tests will be carried out before the two MEO satellites are commissioned（正式委托）.By then the core constellation for the Chinese global navigation satellite system will be successfully completed.

Wang Ping, chief designer of the BDS-3 system, said that the hybrid constellation design, in which three groups of satellites-the Inclined Geo Synchronous Orbit （IGSO）, MEO and geosynchronous Earth orbit （GEO）-work in concert in different orbits, was an exclusive BDS innovation and a world first. “Existing global navigation satellite systems, such as the US GPS and Russia's GLONASS, only have a MEO satellite constellation, ” said Wang.

The MEO satellites, in orbit 20, 000 kilometers above Earth, are a special type of satellite providing global service, while the IGSO and GEO satellites, in an orbit 360, 000 kilometers above Earth, mainly enhance regional service quality, according to Wang. That explained why completion of the MEO constellation was significant, marking the completion of the core network for BDS-3, meaning a stable BDS-3 global coverage without weak points has been carried out.

Feedback shows that the BDS service quality was already comparable to GPS since the end of 2018, and after completing BDS-3, “We will be as good as any GNSS, ” Wang said.

Transhumanism, first coined in 1957 by biologist Julian Huxley, meant “man remaining man, but going beyond himself by realizing new possibilities of and for his human nature.” Generally speaking, transhumanism in its modern meaning implies that human beings can be enhanced by the means of science to the extent when they rise above biological limitations and capabilities programmed by nature.

There are numerous areas which, according to transhumanists, require enhancement. In particular, transhumanists work on such problems as overcoming the physical boundaries of the human body. Starting with aging, which they believe to be rather a disease than a natural process, and ending up with replacing organs with their artificial ones. All kinds of nanotechnologies for repairing damaged organs; nerve stimulants and drugs to alter mood and eliminate negative emotions; brain implants and implanted technologies to allow interconnectivity between multiple human beings and to advance intelligence. Some of the technologies transhumanists plan to employ to push the boundaries of humanity are available already. For example, gene therapy allowing to cure or stop certain diseases that were considered terminal; CRISPRi or SHARP-2 methods, which were discovered not so long ago, have already proved to be efficient in treating a number of complicated medical conditions. Virtual reality, another technology from science-fiction movies of the late 1980s, has become not so virtual either, after all. VR device can be easily purchased from online stores, and the prices are affordable. So far, it has been mostly used for games and education, but in the future, the range of its useful applications will definitely broaden.

About a hundred years ago, the idea of flying in the skies seemed absurd, until Wilbur and Orville Wright proved this assumption wrong. Who knows, perhaps in a couple of decades the concepts listed here, no matter how fantastic they look now, will become reality. Moral aspects and the price humanity will have to pay for such advancements are a different subject.

In the basement of a landmark 27-story tower in Stockholm, Petterson is hoping to sow the seeds of an indoor urban farming revolution. He is the chief executive of Plantagon, a new urban farming factory, set to kick off operations in the basement of an office block in the Swedish capital.

He is by no means the first enthusiast for indoor farming, which has become increasingly fashionable in recent years. Claims for the practice of growing food in basements range from feeding people in desert environments to transforming the negative environmental effects of monoculture farming.

Plantagon's early promises reflect this new optimism. Petterson calls the farm's approach "agritechture": the combination of agriculture, technology and architecture hoping to revolutionize how we live and eat.

The term may be new, but the concept isn't. Indoor farming is made possible by agricultural technologies such as hydroponics (growing plants without soil) and aeroponics (in which plants are grown in air over containers). Food can be produced without direct sunlight or soil.

Plantagon plans to grow high-value foods in a pumice-like material rather than soil. Water for the plants is measured precisely. It will also dehumidify (除湿) the air and reuse any extra water to ensure zero waste. Compared with conventional agriculture, it will need much less water to produce the same amount of crops.

Energy is also a key issue for indoor urban farms, which have to create artificial sunlight. Although advances in the efficiency of LED lights have helped bring down energy consumption in recent years, plants use only about 1 percent of the artificial light produced. This leads to a great waste of energy, most of which disappears as heat. The basement farm will capture around 70 percent of this wasted heat and pipe it into the heating system of the office block above. Oxygen produced by the plants will be sent to office workers via the building's air conditioners.