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Maple Grove company set to launch agro-tech with SpaceX
An array of 10 satellites will use remote sensing technology, gathering real time data and high resolution images.
MAPLE GROVE, Minn. — When it comes to farming, the Minnesota roots for Dave Gebhardt run deep.
As a child, he and his family had a farm in Illinois before moving their operation to Minnesota in the 70s.
“My three brothers… my dad, and then my grandpa and grandma,” Gebhardt said. “My grandpa and grandma were immigrants from Germany. My three brothers are still farming in southern Minnesota today.”
While he may not have his hands in the dirt anymore, as the CEO of EarthDaily Agro, he hasn’t lost that connection.
For years, his team has been hard at work on satellite technology specifically designed for agriculture. It’s set to launch on SpaceX next year.
“It’s basically a bus or a spacecraft, and hanging underneath it are several different types of sensors that give us all that different type of data that we use for our algorithms,” Gebhardt explained.
An array of 10 satellites operating in a sun synchronous orbit will use remote sensing technology, as they gather real time data and high resolution images of Earth every day.
It will provide a new level of insight for farmers, helping them to make important decisions for the health of their farm.
Having access to data like that can make or break an operation as farmers continue to deal with global challenges.
“We’ve got issues going on around the world with Russia and the availability of fertilizer,” Gebhardt said. “So when you have scarcity or high costs, it’s really important to use those resources wisely.”
Matthieu Hyrien is the head of engineering on the project. He says the tech used isn’t new, but the advancements they are making on it could be a game changer.
“A farmer could be able to know about the problem in his fields before he can see them,” Gebhardt said. “So you know farmers with big farms, they can’t really see all of the fields. They can’t really see inside the fields… and we can measure all of that daily.”
He says it could change the way we look at feeding the globe.
“In 10 years, we will have so many years of data behind us and we’ll be able to model and to really understand what is at risk in terms of food supply chain,” Gebhardt said.
From the cornfields to constellations, Gebhardt says he’s more than happy to see those farming roots planted as a kid in Minnesota bear fruit.
“I never thought…with my background and where I came from, I’d be talking with you about things that we’re going to be launching into space,” Gebhardt said. “It’s almost kind of like a dream come true.”
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The crash happened when a Suburban pulling a trailer failed to stop at a stop sign, Minnesota State Patrol said.
WAUKENABO, Minn. — Two people from Minnetonka died in a crash Friday in Aitkin County while others, including children, were hurt.
According to Minnesota State Patrol, it happened at the intersection of Highway 169 and Grove Street/County Road 3 in Waukenabo Township at approximately 5:15 p.m.
A Suburban pulling a trailer was driving east on County Road 3 but did not stop at the stop sign at Highway 169, authorities said. The vehicle was struck by a northbound GMC Yukon. Two other vehicles were struck in the crash, but the people in those two cars were not injured.
In the Suburban, the driver sustained life-threatening injuries, according to State Patrol. Elizabeth Jane Baldwin, 61, of Minnetonka, and Marlo Dean Baldwin, 92, of Minnetonka, both died. Officials said the driver of the vehicle, a 61-year-old from Minnetonka, has life-threatening injuries.
There were six people in the Yukon when the crash occurred. The 44-year-old driver, as well as passengers ages 18, 14, and 11, sustained what officials described as life-threatening injuries. The other two passengers have non-life-threatening injuries.
Alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the crash, but officials said Elizabeth Jane Baldwin had not been wearing a seatbelt.
Among those at the start line this year will be Alex Vigil.
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Pixar’s second installment of the movie features characters we’ve already met — Joy, Sadness and Anger — and gives them a new roommate named Anxiety.
MINNEAPOLIS — Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” universe plays out inside the mind of the movie’s adolescent protagonist, Riley.
She plays a kid from Minnesota whose family uproots her life by moving to San Francisco. But did you know that what plays out in Riley’s mind actually comes from the mind of a real-life Minnesotan?
“You are one of us!” said Breaking the News anchor Jana Shortal.
“Yes, I am!” said Burnsville native and the movie’s creator and director, Kelsey Mann.
Mann was chosen for the role by ANOTHER Minnesotan — Pete Docter, the man behind the original movie, “Inside Out.”
“I don’t know if Pete asked me to do this movie because I was from Minnesota and he was from Minnesota … I just think it worked out that way,” Mann said.
How two guys from the south metro made a pair of Pixar movies that would change the game is a hell of a story that began with Docter in 2015.
“He [Docter] was just trying to tell a fun story — an emotional, fun story — and didn’t realize how much it would help give kids a vocabulary to talk about things they were feeling because they are feeling those emotions, but they’re really hard to talk about,” Mann said.
Some parents, counselors and teachers might even tell you it did more good for kids than just entertain them. It unlocked their emotions and begged for what Mann set out to create at the beginning of 2020.
“That part was fun, particularly fun,” he said. “I think the daunting part was following up a film that everyone really loved.”
But Mann knew what he wanted to do with the movie’s follow-up, “Inside Out 2.”
“Diving into Riley’s adolescence … that was just fun,” he said.
This time around, Riley is 13, hitting puberty and facing all of what, and who, comes with it. The franchise’s second installment features characters we’ve already met — Joy, Sadness and Anger — and gives them a new roommate named Anxiety.
“I think that’s what’s fun about the ‘Inside Out’ world: You can take something we all know and give it a face,” Mann said. “We can give anxiety a name and a face.”
The film follows Riley’s emotions fighting it out for control of her life. Joy wants Riley to stay young and hold on only to joy, while anxiety is hell-bent on taking over Riley over at the age of 13 because as a lot of us know, that’s when anxiety often moves in.
“I always pitched it as a takeover movie, like an emotional takeover,” Mann said. “Anxiety can kind of feel like that; it can take over and kind of shove your other emotions to the side and repress them.”
For a kids’ movie, it’s hard to watch this animation play out, even when an adult has the keys to decide.
“I’m making a movie about anxiety and I still have to remind myself to have my anxiety take a seat,” Mann said.
All of our individual anxieties have a place in this world.
“The whole movie honestly is about acceptance. Both acceptance of anxiety being there and also of your own flaws,” said Mann.
Even for our kids, we have to remember that this is life.
Anxiety will come for them; it does for us all.
The “Inside Out” world just shows them it’s so.
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