Technology

NASA Invites Media to Watch Agency’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge Final Phase

Published

2 years ago

June 7, 2024

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., June 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — NASA will announce the winners of the final phase of its Break the Ice Lunar Challenge on Wednesday, June 12 at Alabama A&M University’s (AAMU) Agribition Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The challenge aims to develop new technologies that could support a sustained human presence on the Moon by the end of the decade.

Media and the public are invited to watch the six finalists test their robots in live competitions. Opening remarks from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center leadership in Huntsville will begin at 8 a.m. CDT on Tuesday, June 11. Teams will compete from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day during the two-day event, with the winner announcement at 5 p.m. in a ceremony on June 12 at the Agribition Center.

Media interested in covering the event should confirm their attendance with Jonathan Deal by 3 p.m. Monday, June 10, at jonathan.e.deal@nasa.gov.

Each team will focus on mastering two components during the two-day event: excavation and transportation. Six identically sized concrete slabs, measuring about 300 cubic feet, will be placed inside the arena for the finalists’ robots to dig. The slabs will have qualities like the icy regolith found in permanently shadowed craters at the Moon’s South Pole. A gravity-offloading crane system will apply the counterweights on the excavating robots to simulate the one-sixth gravity experienced on the Moon.

Each team will have one hour to dig as much material as possible or until they reach the payload capacity of their excavation robot. Up to three top-performing teams can test their solution inside one of NASA Marshall’s thermal vacuum chambers, which can simulate the temperature and vacuum conditions at the lunar South Pole.

Outside the Agribition Center, challenge teams will take turns on a custom-built track outfitted with slopes, boulders, pebbles, rocks, and gravel to simulate the lunar surface. This volatile surface will stretch approximately 300 meters and include several twists and turns for more intermediate handling. Each team will get one hour on the track to deliver a payload and return to the starting point. Times, distances, and pitfalls will be recorded independently.

After this event, the first-place winner will receive $1 million, and the second-place winner will receive $500,000.

The awards ceremony will be livestreamed on Marshall YouTube and NASA Prize Facebook.

Since 2020, competitors have worked to design, build, and test icy regolith excavation and transportation technologies for near-term lunar missions that address key operational elements and environmental constraints. The six finalists who succeeded in Phase 2: Level 2 of the challenge were announced in December 2023.

On Earth, the mission architectures developed in this challenge aim to help guide machine design and operation concepts for future mining and excavation operations and equipment for decades.

Located a few miles east of the AAMU campus, the Agribition (“agriculture” plus “exhibition”) Center is managed by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System with support from AAMU and its College of Agricultural, Life, and Natural Sciences.

The Break the Ice Lunar Challenge is a NASA Centennial Challenge led by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center, supported by NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Centennial Challenges are part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program led by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and managed at NASA Marshall. Ensemble Consultancy supports the management of competitors for this challenge.

Learn more about Break the Ice.

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SOURCE NASA

Technology

Elementix and Lightning Docs Announce Reporting Partnership to Deliver Industry-Comprehensive Data on Business-Purpose Lending

Published

51 minutes ago

October 27, 2026

Each company’s monthly report will draw on shared recorded transaction data and loan-level document data, giving lenders, brokers, and investors a more complete view of current bridge, fix-and-flip, construction, and DSCR lending.

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Elementix, a leading provider of aggregated data on business-purpose lending, and Lightning Docs, the premier loan document automation platform for private lenders, Non-QM lenders, credit unions, and law firms, today announced a data-sharing partnership to strengthen reporting on the business-purpose lending market.

The partnership brings together two complementary datasets. Elementix aggregates recorded real estate transactions nationwide, including mortgages, deeds, satisfactions, assignments, and preforeclosure filings, providing a comprehensive picture of lender activity, loan volume, and market share. Lightning Docs captures loan-level terms at the point of document generation, including interest rates, loan amounts, and loan structures, from a document automation platform used by 60% of the nation’s top 50 private lenders. Combined, the two sources produce a level of coverage and detail that has been unprecedented in the private lending space.

“Private lending has long been an opaque industry, with limited data on interest rates, loan amounts, geographic trends, and other metrics that are vital to running a profitable operation,” said Nema Daghbandan, CEO of Lightning Docs. “Lightning Docs set the standard for monthly private lending market reporting, and this partnership raises it. By pairing our loan-level data with Elementix’s transaction data, we are delivering reporting with the scale, precision, and depth the market has been missing, and providing lenders, brokers, and investors a clearer view of the industry than they have ever had before.”

Each report, delivered at a regular monthly cadence, will cover bridge, fix-and-flip, ground-up construction, and DSCR loans, with aggregated data on interest rates, loan amounts, loan volume, lender activity, geographic trends at the state and regional level. All data will be aggregated and anonymized, with no borrower- or lender-specific loan terms disclosed.

“Managing risk in private lending starts with understanding the borrower and the broader market, yet lenders often have to make decisions with incomplete information. Elementix was built to help lenders understand that risk through public record data, and partnering with Lightning Docs adds the loan-level detail that completes the picture. Together, we’re helping lenders better understand market conditions and bring that context into how they assess and manage risk,” said Cameron Kelliher, founder and CEO of Elementix.

The first joint report is scheduled for release in November 2026. Reports will be published on the Lightning Docs and Elementix websites and distributed to subscribers of both companies.

About Elementix
Elementix is the borrower intelligence platform for private lenders. It helps lenders identify active investors, verify experience for better credit decisions, and reach decision-makers with leading contact data accuracy. For more information, visit www.elementix.com.

About Lightning Docs
Initially developed by nationally recognized private lending attorneys, Lightning Docs is the industry’s leading automated loan document software for lenders who make business-purpose loans. The platform instantly produces attorney-grade, compliant loan documents across all 50 states. It covers every business-purpose loan type, including short-term bridge and fix-and-flip loans, 30-year DSCR rental loans, ground-up construction, and complex modifications. Lightning Docs is the official loan document software of the American Association of Private Lenders®. More than 60% of the nation’s top 50 private lenders use it, along with many of the country’s largest Non-QM lenders. Since 2018, lenders have originated more than $100 billion using Lightning Docs. For more information, visit www.lightningdocs.ai.

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SOURCE Lightning Docs LLC

Technology

Therap Services Enhances Therap Connect with Personalized Sleep Insights for Human Services Providers

Published

51 minutes ago

October 27, 2026

TORRINGTON, Conn., Oct. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Therap Services, the national leader in HIPAA-compliant electronic documentation solutions for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD), Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS), and Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) industries, has introduced advanced Personalized Sleep Insights to its Therap Connect platform. This enhancement integrates ambient room monitoring with sleep tracking data to help care teams understand and optimize environmental factors affecting the sleep quality of individuals.

Understanding Environmental Factors for Better Rest

Tracking overnight sleep patterns is vital for maintaining physical health, emotional well-being, and individual safety. The updated Therap Connect module introduces a ‘Personalized Sleep Insights’ feature that evaluates three months of historical data from Withings sleep monitors and Watchdog room sensors. By evaluating sleep start times alongside ambient room temperature and humidity, the system highlights optimal environmental conditions to support healthier sleep habits and proactive care planning.

Streamlined Platform Workflows and Daily Tracking

Designed for ease of use, this update helps teams manage daily monitoring more efficiently. Staff can quickly review overnight alerts directly on dashboard views, manage notification settings in one place, and conveniently copy form details with a single click. These practical updates save time on routine administrative tasks, allowing care managers and staff to focus on monitoring health parameters.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Does Therap Connect offer sleep tracking capabilities?

Yes. Therap Services provides integrated sleep and health tracking through Therap Connect, combining continuous sensor data with daily documentation tools.

How do Personalized Sleep Insights in Therap Services help human services providers?

It analyzes sleep schedules, room temperature, and humidity data to identify optimal sleep environments, helping care teams make data-informed adjustments to support health outcomes.

Does Therap Connect require extra software for sleep tracking?

No. Therap Connect operates through its own dedicated, secure web-based portal, allowing teams to access environmental and sleep tracking insights natively without installing third-party software.

For more information about Therap Connect, please visit: https://www.therapconnect.net/

About Therap Services

Therap Services provides HIPAA-compliant software for documentation, communication, reporting, EVV, and billing.

Learn more: https://www.therapservices.net/

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SOURCE Therap Services

Technology

Meet Providi: One Company Behind Cerbo and OptiMantra

Published

51 minutes ago

October 27, 2026

The new name reflects a long-term commitment to the cash-pay personalized care market, where Cerbo and OptiMantra keep their brands and together serve nearly 7,000 clinics.

ATLANTA, Oct. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Providi launched today as the corporate brand of the company behind Cerbo and OptiMantra, two long-standing products in the cash-pay personalized care market. The companies combined in 2025, backed by a growth investment from Mainsail Partners. Cerbo and OptiMantra will continue as product brands within Providi.

Together, the two providers of electronic health record (EHR) and practice management products support nearly 7,000 clinics. These include functional, integrative, longevity, wellness, direct primary care, concierge, med spa and behavioral health practices. Both have served the market since 2011.

The name Providi combines “provi,” for the provider at the center of every practice, with “vidi,” Latin for “I saw.” It stands for a company that starts with the provider and can see where personalized care is going.

Providi’s mission is to empower personalized care providers to deliver better patient outcomes and create thriving practices. That mission is already shaping the product roadmap. With the Cerbo and OptiMantra teams building together, new capabilities reach providers faster, and AI Scribe is the first example. Available now, Cerbo AI Scribe captures visit notes automatically, so providers spend less time charting between visits or after hours. OptiMantra AI Scribe, built on lessons from the Cerbo launch, is coming to OptiMantra providers soon.

“Personalized care providers built this market one practice at a time, each one designed around the time, attention and care they believe every patient deserves,” said Jeff Hindman, CEO of Providi. “Cerbo and OptiMantra have each earned the trust of thousands of practices, and Providi exists to amplify that work. Coming together as one company accelerates the innovation we can bring to market and enables us to invest more in both products. Our focus remains giving the providers already running our products and the new providers entering the market the technology they need to succeed.”

Providers can expect to log in to the same Cerbo and OptiMantra products, reach out to the same reps and receive support, onboarding and product updates the same way they do today. They will start to see the Providi name at combined events and in company communications, and they’ll feel it in their products: two teams sharing what they learn, active investment in both products and new capabilities reaching their practices sooner.

About Providi

Providi is the company behind Cerbo and OptiMantra, two electronic health record (EHR) and practice management products serving the cash-pay personalized care market. Together, Cerbo and OptiMantra support nearly 7,000 clinics in functional, integrative, longevity, wellness, direct primary care, concierge, med spa and behavioral health. Providi is committed to meeting the specialty workflow needs of these practices and continues to invest in both products to help providers achieve better patient outcomes, grow their practices and operate more efficiently. For more information, visit providico.com.

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SOURCE Providi