Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.

Tesla Shares of the electric vehicle company jumped more than 1% to a new all-time high ahead of Tesla's inclusion in the S&P 500. The stock will be added to the benchmark index before the opening bell on Monday based on Friday's closing prices. There is likely to be high volume and volatile trading into Friday's close.

Moderna Shares of the biotechnology company fell more than 4% as investors took profits after a key panel advised the Food and Drug Administration to grant the company's coronavirus vaccine emergency use authorization. Despite investors' move to take profits on Friday, Moderna shares have more than doubled in value over the last six months as it became clear its vaccine could be approved for widespread use

FedEx Shares of the shipping company slipped more than 4% after FedEx failed to give 2021 guidance during its quarterly update. The company did, however, beat top and bottom line estimates during the second quarter, earning an adjusted $4.83 per share on $20.56 billion in revenue. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv expected $4.01 per share and $19.46 billion in revenue.

Scholastic Shares of the publishing company slipped more than 10% after Scholastic missed top and bottom line estimates in the fiscal second quarter. The company also did not provide a 2021 outlook, citing ongoing uncertainty around the impact of Covid-19 on schooling.

Kohl's & Macy's Shares of both Macy's and Kohl's rose in midday trading after Jefferies upgraded both stocks to a buy rating. While Kohl's stock rose 2.2% and Macy's added 2.7%, analyst Stephanie Wissink said both should endure business pressure from Covid-19 and rebound into 2021. She likes Kohl's "attractive" cash flow, yield and buyback program and doesn't see Macy's suffering the permanent earnings and sales losses other brokerages have assumed.

Airbnb Shares of Airbnb jumped 5% after Susquehanna initiated coverage on the newly public company with a positive rating. The Wall Street firm said Airbnb created the short-term rental market and is the clear leader in the space. The strong brand enables the company to generate a significant majority of its traffic directly, which is "unparalleled" in the online travel sector, Susquehanna said.

United States Steel United States Steel saw its stock drop 5.2% in midday trading after management said it expects a fourth-quarter per-share loss of 85 cents, worse than the 60-cent loss expected, according to a FactSet consensus estimate. Despite the underwhelming EPS outlook, the company said it expects better demand for flat rolled steel in 2021 and is already seeing better performance in December.

Palantir Technologies Shares of Palantir fell nearly 3% after Credit Suisse downgraded the big data analytics company to underperform from neutral due to valuation concerns. Palantir went public via a direct listing at $10 per share on Sept. 30. The stock has more than doubled since its IPO, last trading around $26.50 per share.

Winnebago Industries The recreational vehicle maker's stock popped 8% following a big earnings beat. Winnebago earned an adjusted $1.69 per share for its fiscal first quarter, well above the consensus estimate of 98 cents, according to Refinitiv.Revenue also came in above estimates. The company cited strong demand and interest in outdoor activities into the new year.

- CNBC's Yun Li and Thomas Franck contributed reporting.

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Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Tesla, FedEx, Airbnb, Winnebago & more - CNBC

Charley Pride played music. William Norwood performed live-saving surgeries. Rosemary Shinohara worked long nights at the newsroom, picked blueberries, ran triathlons, and read mystery novels. Veronica Gutierrez, age 29, liked puzzles.

They all died of COVID-19, their deaths reported this week amid a tragic and unprecedented surge in infections and fatalities across the US. The US recorded nearly 18,000 COVID-19 deaths in the last seven days alone.

Wednesday marked the deadliest day in the pandemic so far, with close to 3,500 reported deaths. That's more American deaths from a single catastrophe than on any other day in the past 100 years, including 9/11, Pearl Harbor, and D-Day.

Below are the names, faces, and a small peak into the lives of just a few Americans whose deaths were reported this week.

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These are 20 of the 18,000 people who died of COVID-19 in the US this week - Business Insider - Business Insider

FedEx will use Boeing 767 aircraft, like the one pictured here, to deliver COVID-19 vaccines.

Air cargo is vital to our lives. Planes swiftly deliver our food and mail, goods we buy online (like the laptop I'm writing this on) and flowers we order for Mother's Day. Approximately 35% of world trade travels in airplanes, according to the International Air Transport Association, accounting for $6 trillion worth of goods.

It's also critical to public health. Air cargo carriers will be at the forefront of distributing the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines around the planet. Transporting vaccines by air isn't new -- that's how flu vaccines get distributed every year -- but the significance and scope of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution is unmatched. Pfizer alone expects to produce up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and 1.3 billion in 2021, and they'll all need to get somewhere.

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Familiar giants like UPS, DHL and FedEx will play a big role in the process, but so will passenger airlines with cargo operations, like American, United and Delta. Here's what they're doing to prepare to keep the vaccines safe and carry them to you.

Just keep in mind that even though vaccines are now being administered, the coronavirus pandemic is raging on, with almost 74 million cases and 1.65 million deaths around the world to date. Social distancing and mask wearing are still absolutely essential for fighting the spread of the virus and protecting the health of you and others. And they'll remain that way for many months, even after you're vaccinated.

Pfizer's vaccine, just approved for use by the FDA on Friday, needs to be stored at a temperature of minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 degrees Celsius). Cargo that must be kept extremely cold typically can be transported in "active" containers with built-in temperature controls (like a portable freezer) or "passive" containers that are cooled with dry ice. Either way, all containers used to ship the vaccines will have temperature recorders to ensure vaccine safety.

The advantage of passive containers is that they're lighter, making them more portable, and they don't require a power source. Intending to distribute its vaccine as fast as possible, Pfizer went with the passive option by designing its own containers (according to The Wall Street Journal, the containers are the size of a suitcase).

Airlines have more options for vaccines that don't need to be kept as cold, likeModerna's(which still needs FDA approval). United Airlines, for example, says that with 15 different cargo container options, "we can support a variety of temperature needs whether ambient, cool or frozen."

Delta employees offload vaccines from an aircraft.

UPS says it will monitor all shipments from a new dedicated command center. The facility will be staffed around the clock and will collect data from the temperature recorders in shipping containers. Each UPS package also will have a tag identifying it as a vaccine shipment. The company built its own dry ice manufacturing facility at its hub in Louisville, Kentucky, with a capacity of more than 24,000 pounds each day.

Other carriers will monitor shipments as well. American Airlines will do so from its Cargo Control Center at its headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, and Delta Airlines will have a "Vaccine Control Tower" with centralized monitoring and customer reporting.

Cargo containers are loaded into a United Airlines Boeing 777 at San Francisco International Airport in 2018.

It depends on the carrier and the available aircraft it has in its fleet. But generally a bigger plane is better, since it can fit more shipments. United Airlines says one of its Boeing 777-200s, one of the largest aircraft in its fleet, has the ability to carry more than a million doses of vaccine. American also operates the 777, while Delta's largest airliner is the comparatively sizedAirbus A350.

With largely wide-body fleets includingBoeing's 777, 767 and 747; the Airbus A300; and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, FedEx and UPS will be able to move large quantities of doses as well.

Now playing: Watch this: How United Airlines prepares a Boeing 777 between flights

2:33

Yes. Though it depends on the route flown, United and American will use both all-cargo and passenger flights. The vaccines will be stored below the passenger cabin in the cargo hold.

A FedEx employee handles dry ice for a shipment.

Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide, the same molecule humans and animals breathe out. As long as it's handled properly, it'll keep everything from food to medicines cold for long periods without posing much of a health risk (that is, unless you touch it with bare hands).

The bigger danger is if dry ice warms above minus 78.5 degrees Celsius ( minus 109.3 degrees Fahrenheit). At that point it will sublimate, meaning it turns directly to an odorless and colorless gas, skipping the liquid state. Carbon dioxide is harmful when we breathe it in. A small amount can cause a loss of cognitive function, fatigue or unconsciousness (not ideal conditions for a pilot), and too much can lead to a coma or even asphyxiation.

Because those dangers are compounded in an enclosed space like an airplane, the Federal Aviation Administration on Dec. 10 issued a Safety Alert for Operators advising carriers to do the following (among other things):

American monitors flights from its operations control center in Fort Worth, Texas.

Given that the FAA manages the nation's air traffic control system, it'll have a big role. In an email to CNET, an agency spokeswoman said this:

"The FAA will handle flights carrying COVID-19 vaccines the same way we handled flights carrying personal protective equipment in the spring of 2020. Airlines will provide lists of flights carrying COVID-19 vaccines to the FAA's Command Center, which will alert air traffic facilities in the field that these are priority flights. The Command Center will closely track the flights along their routes to ensure they are given priority to the degree possible."

The FAA also issued an advisory for airports handling vaccine flights, with points like giving priority access to ground vehicles collecting the vaccine, and it relaxed rules on how much dry ice airlines can carry on their flights. (Even passengers can carry a small amount in checked baggage.) United said it can now carry 15,000 pounds of dry ice per flight -- five times more than normally permitted, and FedEx will be able to transport approximately 500,000 dry ice shipments a month.

Vaccines ready for shipment at a UPS facility.

Once a vaccine shipment arrives at an outbound shipping facility, airlines will need to keep it cold. This temperature-controlled cargo infrastructure already exists, though some companies will be expanding their network to meet demand.

FedEx says it's added more than 10 secure cold storage facilities over the past three years and now has more than 90 in North and South Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe. The company also added ultracold freezers, and expanded freezer and refrigerator capacity at some locations.

UPS has invested in a "freezer farm" in Louisville for ultracold storage and will supply portable freezers for vaccine dosing sites where dry ice isn't available.

American will use its existing temperature-controlled facilities at airports in Philadelphia, Miami, Dallas, London, Chicago and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Delta will rely on cold storage at airports in Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

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COVID-19 vaccine is flying high and on dry ice to reach you - CNET

5G has started a new wireless war.

For the wireless industry, 2020 was notable not just because of the coronavirus pandemic, but because it marked the true beginning of the 5G era. While the actual networks still have a long way to go to fully live up to the hype, they did usher in at least one welcome change: a renewed competition between wireless carriers.

At the beginning of the year, Verizon was well established as the largest carrier in America, AT&T was in second place and T-Mobile was pushing hard to get its merger with Sprint approved. On the network front, T-Mobile was leading with a nationwide low-band 5G network that didn't offer much compared to 4G LTE, Verizon was focused on a millimeter-wave rollout that offered much faster speeds but only worked on certain city blocks, and AT&T was dabbling with both.

As we march to the end of the year, the industry has flipped. Verizon is still the biggest carrier, but its nationwide 5G network is still smaller than T-Mobile's, which has taken the pole position in the US 5G race. Thanks to the approval of its Sprint merger in April, T-Mobile not only surpassed AT&T as the second-largest carrier, but it is also well underway with the rollout of a faster midband 5G network which offers significantly faster speeds than low-band 5G with much better coverage than the higher-frequency millimeter wave. AT&T, meanwhile, has fallen to third and has become one of the most aggressive carriers when it comes to promotions, particularly with iPhone 12 deals that offer heavy discounts to both new and existing customers.

The radical shift underscores the topsy-turvy nature of the wireless world, which also had to deal with another curveball from the coronavirus and a global pandemic that kept people from being on the go and actually using those upgraded networks. That competitive nature should continue on to 2021, when the battle over dominance in 5G and consumers is expected to intensify.

Read more: 5G will start to live up to its hype in 2021 -- for real this time

Over the last decade, Verizon dominated 4G LTE from the get-go, when it was the first major carrier to roll out the network technology. But the rise of 5G has Big Red trailing T-Mobile.

Thanks to its Sprint merger, T-Mobile has opened a wide lead. It has the largest low-band 5G network, covering 270 million people today, and its faster midband network -- something that Verizon can't catch up to right away -- is expected to reach 100 million people by the end of this year.

T-Mobile's president of technology, Neville Ray, said he is targeting a nationwide midband network covering 200 million people by the end of 2021, offering much higher speeds compared to the low-band 5G now used for nationwide coverage. Ray expects average speeds over the midband network to be between 300 to 400Mbps, with peak speeds "north of 1Gbps."

T-Mobile will continue to expand its low-band and midband network coverage as well as its millimeter-wave offering, though the latter may not arrive in a real way until the second half of next year. T-Mobile currently has millimeter-wave 5G in parts of just seven cities.

"For us, it's all about delivering the best 5G mobility experience that anybody's going to see, you know, in 2021 and beyond," Ray says. "We've made a tremendous start on that in 2020."

Discover the latest news and best reviews in smartphones and carriers from CNET's mobile experts.

T-Mobile also was the first of the major US carriers to launch a standalone 5G network that isn't tied to any existing 4G LTE technology. These networks offer better coverage and lower latency. AT&T is starting its deployment this year, and Verizon expects to launch its own standalone 5G network in 2021.

The lower latency should allow for improvements in applications such as augmented reality and gaming, Frank Boulben, Verizon's senior vice president of marketing and products, tells CNET. "Those are the types of applications that will be largely improved with a standalone 5G core versus a 4G core."

In the interim, Verizon announced on Thursday that it had exceeded its goal of 60 millimeter-wave cities in 2020 (officially hitting 61) and has expanded its low-band 5G network to cover 230 million people.

It plans to continue to expand both its low-band footprint and its millimeter-wave offering next year, though Kyle Malady, Verizon's chief technology officer, says not to expect another wave of 60 new millimeter-wave cities in 2021. "You won't see 60," he says, "but you'll see just growth in the cities that we've already deployed."

Millimeter-wave has been Verizon's 5G focus, and the company is keenly aware of its limitations -- particularly when it comes to working indoors. Malady says that the company is working with a variety of partners to help bring the signal indoors and has been working with retailers, including Apple Stores, and factories to test how the technology performs inside.

Improvements are also coming for its low-band performance, with Malady already planning some "optimizations" in the first quarter of 2021.

For AT&T, the focus for 2021 will not be on speed but on improving its latency, or the responsiveness of its network, including scaling out the standalone 5G network offering.

"If I look at our typical speed across the network, we're actually pretty pleased," Gordon Mansfield, AT&T vice president for converged access & device technology, tells CNET. "The next thing is starting to improve that latency for that immersive experience."

The company is targeting a latency of under 20 milliseconds for "the majority of the population" and then continuing to "further improve it." It offers a low-band 5G network that covers 225 million people and has a millimeter-wave offering (what it calls 5G Plus) available in parts of 36 cities.

2020 started with four major carriers, but Sprint is now a part of T-Mobile.

Given the existing state of 5G, the improvements can't come soon enough.

When asked to ascribe letter grades to the carriers for the 2020 performances, Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart says they are "all over the place."

"In terms of marketing, Verizon gets an A," he says. "They've convinced people they have something that they don't, which is a great 5G network in places where it's usable."

Like rival low-band networks from T-Mobile and AT&T, Verizon's nationwide low-band 5G network isn't radically different from 4G LTE connections, something CNET tested in the New York area this past month. "Even though, in some cases, AT&T and Verizon have very fast 4G networks, you're not going to see an improvement on that with 5G," says Greengart, until both carriers get more wireless airwaves known as spectrum.

A Federal Communications Commission auction for more midband spectrum, known as the C-Band, is now underway, and Verizon and AT&T are both expected to be active bidders. Craig Moffett, an analyst at MoffettNathanson, wrote in a Dec. 8 research note that Verizon is "widely expected to be the most aggressive player," adding that his firm expects the telecom giant to spend "$16.25 billion on C-Band in 2021."

But getting that spectrum and putting it to use will take time. "Given the expected auction timeline and spectrum clearing deadlines," Moffett writes, "Verizon and other buyers will not be able to access even the first tranche of C-Band spectrum for 12-18 months after the auction is completed."

Good coverage from this spectrum is "two or three years out," Greengart says.

Verizon's updated 5G Home router and receiver.

The expansion of 5G should also open up a new front in the wireless carrier battles: home broadband. T-Mobile and Verizon have been very open about plans to expand into home internet service, and each has already begun dabbling in the space.

T-Mobile offers a 4G LTE-based home internet product, while Verizon offers both a 4G LTE based product and, in 12 cities where it already has millimeter-wave 5G, a 5G Home service that connects to that faster network.

Verizon's 5G Home service offers average download speeds of 300 Mbps for either $50 or $70 per month (depending on if you have the right Verizon wireless plan), and Malady says to expect Verizon to continue to expand where it offers 5G Home to more cities in 2021. He adds that it is possible the 4G LTE home broadband will expand next year as it continues to add more capacity to its network. In addition to the C-Band auction, Verizon spent $1.9 billion acquiring some additional midband spectrum this summer, which it has already begun putting to use.

T-Mobile will have a 5G home broadband device that Ray says will be "plug and play" and arrive in the first quarter of 2021. The carrier charges $50 for its existing 4G LTE product, though Ray would not disclose how much the 5G offering would cost. The launch of the 5G home internet product will also not be nationwide, instead, T-Mobile will be focusing on areas that don't have strong home internet options.

"There's a lot of places where people's access to broadband is pretty, pretty goddamn awful today," Ray says. "And I wish we could fix all of that overnight but we will make a start on that as a company, you know, in 2021, and that's the benefit that's coming with 5G and the capacity that we can build and we deliver out in the marketplace."

Although AT&T has largely stayed away from offering a home internet service over its cellular network, preferring to instead focus on its wired internet.

"We actually have very good fiber penetration and if fiber to the home is available, it is a superior performance advantage than anything we can do wirelessly," Mansfield says. The company plans more fiber buildouts in 2021.

In a home internet market that for many has long struggled to offer competition, 2021 should be a doozy. In addition to the wireless carriers, new entrants include SpaceX, Elon Musk's space company, which has been launching low-Earth orbit satellites into space throughout 2020 with the goal of eventually providing home internet access.

The company reportedly plans to expand its "Better than Nothing" beta service, which offers broadband internet for $99 per month (plus a $499 upfront cost for a terminal), to more people in 2021. Other companies are looking at LEOs for providing home internet, including Amazon with its Project Kuiper program.

Boost Mobile is Dish's current wireless offering.

Lurking in the background of all of this is Dish. The satellite TV provider has spent years, and billions of dollars, accumulating valuable wireless spectrum with the promise that it would eventually turn on a mobile network.

As part of the T-Mobile-Sprint merger, Dish acquired Sprint's prepaid wireless brand, Boost Mobile, and gained the ability to use T-Mobile's network for seven years while it built out its own network. While the company has made announcements about vendors and the progress it is making developing the pieces needed for a 5G network, it has yet to turn on the service.

In court last year as part of the hearings to get the T-Mobile-Sprint merger approved, Dish co-founder Charlie Ergen talked about how his company's pricing would be lower than where the market was and said his company would have a 5G network operational in one city by the end of 2020. While Boost Mobile has experimented with cheaper rate plans, a publicly accessible Dish 5G city has yet to happen.

Dish is testing a 5G network in Cheyenne, Wyoming, that is taking advantage of a new technology known as O-RAN, which will make up the core of its future wireless network, according to a person familiar with the company's thinking. The person added that the radios it needs should arrive in the second half of 2021 which is when the company will go live with its first 5G cities. It is unclear where these cities are located or how many Dish will launch in 2021.

When asked in court if the company can be trusted to build out a 5G network, Ergen cited potential fines and lost spectrum, saying that "it'd be financial suicide" if the company failed to meet the guidelines and that Dish is "not suicidal."

Yet industry watchers remain skeptical of Dish's motives.

"I believe they are going to start building something in a few in a handful of locations so that they can say that they're doing something," said Greengart. But, he cautions, "they are using brand new technology which introduces its own delays and they don't necessarily have the capital to do a full rollout."

"I am not expecting any meaningful coverage for a 5G Dish network in 2021," he continues. "Maybe they'll build it in one city. Maybe."

Originally posted here:
The carrier battle over 5G will only escalate in 2021 - CNET

From an office in Singapore, Lim Kim Hai has waited out the COVID-19 pandemic orchestrating the biggest shake-up of Australias aviation industry in at least two decades.

Country airline Regional Express (Rex) launching flights between capital cities may spell an end to the Qantas-Virgin duopoly, but it seemed impossible to Lim as recently as February this year.

That was when Virgin again cut the size of its budget arm Tigerair, prompting a boardroom discussion at Rex about whether that opened a gap in the market it could fill.

We looked at it very quickly and said no, explains Lim, who is Rexs executive chairman and its largest shareholder. Even if Tiger goes away, theres not enough room. You may take the small space that Tigers occupying but then theres no more space to grow.

Lim Kim Hais audacious plan to take on Qantas and Virgin was hatched from an office in Singapore.

But like many things, COVID-19 has changed everything. This week the Civil Aviation Safety Authority approved Rex to start flying Boeing 737 jets around Australia. Tickets are on sale for its first passenger service between Sydney and Melbourne on March 1 next year.

Peter Harbison, from the aviation consultancy CAPA Centre for Aviation, says Rexs move is likely to be one of the most significant shake-ups to the domestic airline market since Qantas launched 100 years ago.

People will say, oh theres only room for two airlines in Australia and look at what happened to the other ones that tried to start up, he says. But this is different. In terms of likely lasting significance ... this is the biggest change to the market, ever.

Already there are signs of a fierce battle brewing. Virgins boss Jayne Hrdlicka has predicted it will never have been cheaper to travel in Australia as her airline (now owned by US private equity giant Bain Capital after COVID-19 pushed it into bankruptcy in April) and Qantas fight to maintain their market share against the new challenger.

And the stakes are high for Rex, which currently flies a fleet of 60 Saab 340 turboprop aircraft to 59 regional and remote destinations.

Its a very bold move and Im actually, personally, quite scared because everything that [weve] built up over the past 18 years could be brought down, he says in a rare interview from his office in Singapore, where he is based.

In an airline anything is possible: we have all the know-how and efficiency but there are things we cannot control.

While many people have learnt how to work remotely during COVID-19, the 63-year-old Lim has overseen Rex from his base in Singapore for the past 17 years, normally visiting here four times a year.

The pandemic has meant he has not been in Australia since March, and the entire launch of jet services has been coordinated via countless emails and video conferences with his executives.

Rex itself was born out the collapse of Ansett in 2001, when a group of investors salvaged and merged two of its regional subsidiaries, Hazelton and Kendell Airlines.

Lim was one of the major backers but the former defence engineer and underwater warfare specialist, had no airline experience. Despite that he ended up in charge of the now ASX-listed group after it ran into financial strife months after its 2002 launch.

A mock up of a Boeing 737 in Rex livery.

The next chapter in Rexs history was sparked by another airline collapse when the long-struggling Virgin went into voluntary administration in April after the pandemic forced it and other airlines around the world to ground their fleets.

The pandemic threatened Rex too, but it was propped up by government subsidies intended to keep vital air links to rural and regional destinations open. (That Rex faired so well through the pandemic and is now muscling onto their own turf has infuriated Qantas and Virgin).

You can see theres a three-player market for two years, three years, five years. But what weve seen in the past is the first time another crisis comes along... they end up reverting back to a duopoly.

Very soon after [Virgins collapse] we started thinking of the space that opened up, Lim says.

That is when we said if we can find a backer we think this will work. Especially since everyone else is suffering, we think this can work.

Launching what is essentially a new airline at the peak of a pandemic and industry crisis might sound foolish, but it is the pandemic that gave Lim the confidence to attempt what he previously thought impossible.

Before COVID, Australia was facing a pilot shortage. Now, Qantas and Virgin have laid off hundreds whom Rex is employing on lower wages. There were no peak-hour landing slots at Australias major airports; now theyre sitting empty. And there is a glut of jets that aircraft leasing companies are desperate to get off the tarmac. Lim says Rex has rented Boeing 737s that Virgin used to fly, but hes paying half the price.

Theres never been a better time to start an airline than today, he says.

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Rex will launch in March with three Boeing 737s flying nine return Sydney-Melbourne services daily, which will give it about a 10 per cent market share on that route based on pre-COVID traffic.

Two more jets will enter service by Easter, opening flights to Brisbane by mid-year. Rex plans to have up to 10 aircraft and flights to other capital cities by the end of 2021.

Lim says that if everything goes well, he thinks Rex can add a new plane to its fleet every six weeks over the next three or four weeks, ending up with about 40 jets flying on the countrys 10 busiest routes. If Rex fills all those seats, it will have around 30 per cent of the national aviation market - which is what Virgin had before COVID-19.

Rexs pitch to win customers is Qantas service for Jetstar prices - something Lim says it can do because of its lower cost-base courtesy of those cheap aircraft, lower wages and the fact launching jet services adds relatively little to its existing operational overheads. Rex estimates its cost base will be about 35 per cent lower than Virgin before its collapse and 20 per cent lower than Jetstars.

That sets up two possible outcomes, he says: either Rex will win customers and market share with its superior value product, or Qantas and Virgin will try to crush Rex with cheap airfares and capacity.

If they behave in a rational, commercial manner, then we think that within a year we will be profitable, he says. Of course they may choose not to do so.

However Lim says Qantas has been weakened by COVID and needs to repair its balance sheet while Virgins new owner Bain will want a quick return on its investment in the now trimmed-down airline, meaning they will be reluctant to revisit the 2012-2014 capacity and airfare war that devastated both their finances.

Secondly, Lim believes he will be protected by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The federal government ordered it in June to closely monitor airlines for anti-competitive behaviour and ensure Qantas did not squash a relaunched Virgin or any airline that tried to replace it.

With a market value of just $224 million, Rex is a minnow compared to the $9 billion Qantas and Virgin, now backed by the $US105 billion Bain Capital.

Jayne Hrdlicka, CEO of Virgin Australia, is predicting ultra-cheap airfares next year.Credit:Attila Csaszar

But it now has the backing of another private equity giant, the $US40 billion PAG Asia Capital. Its issued Rex with up to $150 million of convertible notes to fund its launch plans. Based on Rexs current equity that can be swapped for up to a 47 per cent stake in the company.

Existing investors appear to be on board, with Rexs shares trading almost 80 per cent higher today than they were a year ago. (Lim himself owns 17 per cent of the company. Altogether, 33 per cent is held by Lim, his business partner and Rex director Lee Thian Soo and their wives).

CAPAs Harbison says the availability of slots at Sydney Airport due to the pandemic is crucial for Rex. Thats always been the thing that has killed startups in Australia, he says. Tigerair suffered that fate after its launch in 2007 (Virgin took it over five years later), while Virgin itself only survived because Ansett collapsed.

Harbison cautions though that things will get tougher for Rex as it grows larger and the aviation market recovers from COVID-19. Unless you really do some serious damage to Virgin, hed be wiser not to get too ambitious, he says, noting that if Rex were to gain a 30 per cent market share as Lim suggests then it would be bye-bye Virgin.

Credit Suisse aviation analyst Paul Butler says that if Rexs cost base really is as low as it says, then it has a reasonable chance of being successful. That will end the calm Qantas and Virgin have enjoyed since their airfare truce in 2015 and could lead to a showdown with Virgin.

Theres some big investments on the table from Bain - theyve put a significant amount of capital into Virgin. Rex is potentially at a much better cost position than Virgin and theres got to be some question marks about whether a three-player market is sustainable, Butler says.

You can see theres a three-player market for two years, three years, five years. But what weve seen in the past is the first time another crisis comes along... they end up reverting back to a duopoly.

Things appear to be heating up already. Along with Virgins Hrdlicka predicting ultra-cheap fares next year, Qantas budget arm Jetstar says it will have more planes flying around Australia in March than it did pre-COVID as its international destinations remain shut off.

And Rex this week accused Qantas of anti-competitive and unconscionable behaviour by flooding the regional airline market with flights after the larger carrier said it would launch services on seven new regional routes.

There have been bumps for Rex too. This week the Australian Securities and Investments Commission banned it from using exemptions for reduced disclosure in fundraising documents for one year as punishment for a continuous disclosure breach. That came after Rexs deputy chairman, the ex-Nationals MP John Sharp, told a journalist about its capital city launch plans - and the $200 million in new equity needed to fund it - before Rex told the market.

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Business reporter at The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.

Originally posted here:
From turboprops to third force: Rexs bold move to shake up Australian aviation - Sydney Morning Herald

MSI is very well-known for their gaming products for the PC market, from motherboards, accessories, and right up to gaming laptops and desktops. The company was one of the first to focus almost exclusively on their gaming lineup, and that focus has made them very successful in that market. In the laptop space, MSIs gaming lineup are some of the best systems around, even if they do often come with a price premium. But, while the gaming market has been strong even throughout some PC sales slowdowns, MSI is again dipping their toes in a wider market. The MSI Prestige series of laptops abstain from the gaming nomenclature, design, and marketing. The Prestige series targets a much more traditional Ultrabook buyer, with a thin, light design, quality materials, and less RGB.

The MSI Prestige 14 Evo, as the name suggests, is a 14-inch laptop which offers the modern design touches of an aluminum chassis, with thin display bezels, packing plenty of notebook into a smaller footprint. The 16 mm thick design weighs in at just 1.29 Kg, or 2.84 lbs, making it very portable for a 14-inch device.

Powering the MSI Prestige 14 Evo is Intels latest Tiger Lake platform, and specifically, the Core i7-1185G7. The new 11th generation Core platform is Intels second gen built on the 10 nm process dubbed Superfin, and brings not only an updated CPU microarchitecture, but also is the first shipping SoC to feature Intels latest Xe graphics platform. The new Willow Cove microarchitecture brings some IPC improvements over Sunny Cove found in the 10th gen Ice Lake SoC, but being based on an updated 10 nm process also allows for much higher CPU frequencies, which now scale to 4.8 GHz peak, compared to just 3.9 GHz peak a year ago. Ian did a deep dive on the new Tiger Lake platform based on an Intel reference design laptop, so be sure to check into that for a more comprehensive review on the SoC itself.

Intels Evo platform is a proper branding of what was formerly known as Project Athena, and MSI has worked with Intel to properly implement the Evo requirements on the Prestige 14. The Evo platform requires certain responsiveness levels, instant wake support, fast charging of at least four hours from 30 minutes of charging, Intels Wi-Fi 6 network adapter, Thunderbolt 4, and at least nine hours of battery life. The reasoning for Evo is that customers who purchase Evo branded laptops will get a minimum experience level, which is always a good goal.

MSI has come through on all of the Evo requirements, with not only the latest gen Core i7, but multiple Thunderbolt 4 ports, instant wake, and of course the Intel Wi-Fi 6 adapter which has been easily the best wireless NIC on the PC since it was launched. MSI has also included PCIe 4 storage, thanks to the Phison PS5016-E16 based SSD, with MSI offering 512 GB and 1 TB choices. MSI will also be offering a model with an NVIDIA GTX 1650 Max-Q dGPU if you need more GPU grunt.

MSI has been one of the strongest players in the gaming laptop market for some time, but with the Prestige series, they are up against some stiff competition in the Ultrabook market. To succeed, MSI will need to combine style and performance. It is a target they have often achieved with their gaming lineup, so lets dig in and see how the MSI Prestige 14 Evo can handle itself in a very crowded market.

MSIs Prestige 14 Evo eschews the gaming styling of most of the MSI laptop brand, and to that effect, MSI has replaced their well-known dragon logo with a stylized version of MSI. The result is an edgy look to the logo, but thanks to the subtle coloring, it does well to blend in on first glance. MSI is offering the Prestige 14 Evo in both a Pure White and Carbon Gray color scheme, with the review unit being the latter. The Pure White does look great in images, although the white display bezels do somewhat amplify their presence. In a likely purposeful attempt, the Carbon Gray looks pretty similar to most other Ultrabooks on the market. Subtlety is clearly one of the design cues.

Opening the laptop up brings about one of the most obvious design elements. MSI has chosen to implement a display hinge which lifts the rear of the laptop up 5 maximum. They ostensibly suggest this is for an improved typing experience, but as with other laptops that do this, the ergonomics of a forward tilted keyboard are not great. Some people may prefer a better view of the keyboard, but for your wrists, this isnt the best design. What it does likely help is cooling though, as it would ensure the bottom of the laptop isnt hard-pressed into anything to block airflow. And, MSI has done a good job on stability when open, unlike some other laptops that also use a tilt-hinge. The rubber feet on the display do a nice job holding the laptop in place.

MSI advertises the Prestige 14 as having Ultra-thin bezels which is pretty much expected on a new laptop design. However, the bezels are nowhere near as thin as some of the competition, especially on the top and bottom. The top bezel is large enough to house both a normal webcam as well as IR for Windows Hello login, but the webcam is unfortunately only 720p despite the fairly large top bezel providing plenty of room. The bottom bezel is quite large, and there is a lot of wasted space that could have been used to provide a taller display as is also popping up in some of the competition. The 16:9 aspect ratio of the display, while still the industry standard, is not the only game in town anymore with several competing designs offering 16:10 or 3:2 aspect ratios.

Moving on to the keyboard, MSIs gaming lineup generally offers some of the best keyboards in the business, with MSI usually tapping SteelSeries to provide the keyboards on their gaming lineup, but that is not the case here. The Prestige sticks with a white backlit keyboard, offering three levels of brightness, and the keys offer 1.5 mm of travel, which is pretty respectable for a thin and light device. The key feel does leave a lot to be desired though, with not a lot of feedback on the keys, and the chicklet design doesnt offer any sculpting of the key caps either. The keyboard layout is also very untraditional, with some odd choices in key position which may take a bit to get used to. The Fn key, as an example, shares a half-key with the right Ctrl key. The benefit of this choice is that you can press Fn and Ctrl with one finger, which does work great. The non-standard layout takes a bit to get used to, but the full-size arrow keys and navigation keys on the right do make up for it. Overall, the keyboard is good, but not great.

MSIs trackpad choice is also definitely non-standard, with the Prestige 14 offering an ultra-wide trackpad. The trackpad also features an integrated fingerprint reader built-in to the top left, allowing owners the luxury of having multiple biometric choices for login. The trackpad is a glass unit, and in testing proved to be accurate and smooth. The extra width did not get in the way of typing either. It works very well.

As far as expandability, MSI offers a good selection of ports. The right side of the laptop offers a single USB Type-A connector for USB 2.0, along with a micro SD card slot and headset jack. The left side features two Thunderbolt 4 ports, with the charging also being done over the Type-C connector. Keeping a single USB Type-A port is appreciated, as many people still have and use the older style connector, and offering two Thunderbolt 4 ports allows the laptop to be charged while still accessing the other port for expansion. Some laptop designers go all-in on Type-C, and while it is definitely the future, dongles are not always appreciated, so its great to see MSI continue to offer both choices.

Overall, MSI has crafted a respectable design in the Prestige 14, but there is not the wow factor of some other laptops in the same price range. It feels a bit bland, despite it offering quality materials. It features a thin and light design, but it is not the thinnest or lightest. It offers thin display bezels, but not the thinnest display bezels. It offers a good keyboard and trackpad, but not the best. This Prestige 14 is a very even-keel design. Some flash may help it stick out a bit.

Excerpt from:
The MSI Prestige 14 Evo Review: Testing The Waters Of Tiger Lake - AnandTech

Indias talented young batsman Shubman Gill is quite excited to be in Australia with the national team which is his first trip Down Under. Gill is a part of the Indian ODI and Test squads and would be looking to stake his claim on the big stage.

Gill spoke about the upcoming series against Australia in chat with his IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The video of the conversation was posted by KKRs official Twitter handle.

"I am really looking forward to Australia because this is my first trip. As a kid growing up, I always watched the matches between India and Australia. I am really excited," said the star opener.

The 21-yar-old was KKRs highest run-scorer in the recently concluded IPL 2020 and the national selectors acknowledged his performance by selecting him for Indias tour of Australia. Gill scored 440 runs from 14 innings at a decent average of 33.80 and a strike-rate of 117.96.

"The fact that a lot of my friends are travelling with the team, so it will be fun and exciting. I have not really set any personal goals, but I am really looking forward to the tour," the right-hander added.

Gill is widely considered as a bright future prospect for the Indian team with many former cricketers and fans calling him Indias next big thing.

While many might not know about it, Gill has already made his ODI debut having played two games against New Zealand last year, although he could only manage 16 runs from those two innings.

This time, however, he has a fantastic opportunity to cement his spot in the Indian side with regular limited overs opener Rohit Sharma being rested. It is widely being speculated that it will either be Gill or Mayank Agarwal, who will open the Indian innings alongside Shikhar Dhawan.

See more here:
Australia vs India: Don`t have any personal goals, says the talented Shubman Gill - Zee News

Patels Copperfield looks like an Asian masquerading as Charles Dickens English hero born to a privileged mother(Morfydd Clark, who later in the film show up with incestuous bizarreness as David Copperfields love interest). There is no explanation at all as to why Davids mother is unmistakably Caucasian while the son looks as brown as the toast she enjoys at her breakfast every morning.Much later David has a Caucasian friend James whos played by Aneurin Barnard and his mother is a Black woman played by Nikki Amuka-Bird! Jamess mother has an important role in the impressionable David life.When they are together I could only see the films producers trying to please as many communities and countries as possible. This is Gone With The Wind with blizzards blowing away physical credibility.

It was very hard for me to concentrate on the characters function in the sprawling Victorian coming-of-age saga when the director was way too taken up with converting Charles Dickens epic novel into a cauldron of cultural cosmopolitanism. Lets look beyond colour and race by all means. But not at the cost of a films credibility!

This version of David Copperfield displays a distinctive atmospheric flavour, but little else. The characters are stifled by their cinematic creators insouciance, a creative aggression that takes Dickens book by the horns, if you know what I mean . The film is crisp in tone and cockily non-literary on flavour. Though the novel is here blissfully dismantled , the essence of the original and much of the story and characters remain.

There is a fine supporting cast of British/English actors bustling around in their eye-catching costumes trying to look as eccentrically Victorian as wine forgotten in a sailors cellar.

Yes. Dickens novel has travelled far and wide. It has now reached a place where the author would find it hard to recognize his hero. Dev Patels David Coopperfield is a very enthusiastic performance. It is also very brown.

Image Source: Instagram/aneurin.b , IMDb, youtube/searchlightspictures

They say the best things in life are free! Indias favourite music channels 9XM, 9X Jalwa, 9X Jhakaas & 9X Tashan are available Free-To-Air. Make a request for these channels from your Cable, DTH or HITS operator.

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The Personal History Of David Copperfield Review: Dev Patels Performance As The Title Character Of Dickens' Classic Is Very Enthusiastic - SpotboyE

Bhavana Acharya

At a time when stock markets have charged ahead and worry about volatility is in the air, most conservative or moderate risk investors are told to turn to hybrid funds. The equity-debt blend helps keep returns afloat across equity and debt market cycles, goes the understanding.

Within hybrid funds, though, there are six categories. Each is distinct from the other in its performance potential and risk level. All hybrid funds dont automatically suit all investors or all time-frames. Heres how the hybrid fund categories compare on key performance metrics.

The hybrid categories considered here are as follows: arbitrage, equity savings, conservative hybrid, balanced advantage, and aggressive hybrid. Multi-asset allocation funds have been skipped though they are hybrid funds, there are very few funds in this category to identify category trends; these funds also need a much longer timeframe for performance assessment and as it is new category, we do not have such a long track record.

Losses and volatility

Hybrid funds can be used primarily for two reasons:

-to give better returns than debt without going after pure equity. This is mostly for the more aggressive investors who want more mileage from their investments.

-to give some exposure to equity without the attendant risk. This is more for moderate and conservative investors, who dont want to miss better returns but cant take the risk that comes from pure equity.

Either way, whats key here is the risk containment. That can be measured by the occurrences of losses, the depth of such losses, and how volatile returns can be. So, consider the past three years, since it covers different equity market cycles. The table below shows the worst return each category has delivered on an average, for different time-frames within this three-year period.

Based on rolling return for each period from Nov.2017 to Nov 2020

As you can see, arbitrage funds are the best at keeping losses in check. The category that slips the most during corrections is the aggressive hybrid category. Stretching this period farther back to five years also sees hybrid aggressive funds fare similarly; the categorys worst average one-year performance was a 22.6 percent loss.

Now, consider the frequency at which such losses occur. The table below shows the proportion of times each category slipped into losses, on an average, for different time-frames. This time, were going further back to 2015.

Based on rolling return for each period from Nov.2015 to Nov 2020

The sharp sell-off in March-April this year sent many equity savings and balanced advantage funds tumbling. For many equity savings funds, this swift correction accounted for much of the periods where shorter-term returns slipped into losses. This goes to show that even in categories where equity exposure is low, a quick and steep stock market fall can wipe out a chunk of the gains.

Volatility in returns tracks the same trend. Aggressive hybrid funds are by far the most volatile, followed by balanced advantage funds. Conservative hybrid and equity savings funds are similar in terms of volatility while conservative hybrid funds are predominantly debt, bond prices do react to interest rate changes or expectations and there will be volatility to that extent. This apart, where conservative hybrid funds adopt duration to book gains on yield rallies, volatility can see a spike.

Portfolios and risks

So what explains the differences in loss probabilities and volatility within each category? The answer lies in how much each category holds in equity, derivatives, and debt. In their derivative calls, funds primarily take the opposite position in the futures market on the stocks in their portfolio (they also take other mispricing opportunities, all collectively termed as arbitrage).

This serves to negate equity risk; the more a fund takes these derivative calls, the less equity it has thats left open to market movements. Its this open or unhedged equity that influences losses, volatility as well as returns.

Arbitrage funds hedge the entire equity exposure, which makes them the lowest risk hybrid funds. And therefore, they do not show loss instances beyond any one-month period. Aggressive hybrid funds dont hedge at all, except in rare cases. The extent to which they fall is thus the highest among hybrid funds. And given that these funds also dip into mid-cap and small-cap stocks, periods such as 2018 and 2019 saw these funds slide more than some large-cap equity funds.

The table below shows how the unhedged equity has been over the past 12 months, other than arbitrage funds. The same trend will hold for earlier periods as well.

Conservative hybrid funds are the lowest on equity exposure. Given SEBIs rules, these funds cannot go above 25 percent in open equity. On an average, in the past year, these funds have held 21 percent in equity. But on the flip side, with no restrictions on debt, some conservative hybrid funds have significant credit risk. More, their changing debt strategy also lends to uncertainty.

Balanced advantage funds are free to change allocations based on market conditions, unlike equity savings funds which need to define their exposure to equity, debt and derivatives in their mandate. The category, therefore, sports wide differences in their equity, derivative and debt holdings as well as the manner in which these change over the months.

Performance across time-frames

On the other hand, when markets rally or over the long term, funds with a bigger open equity exposure will deliver better. On a rolling three-year return in the past eight-year period, the average return for aggressive hybrid funds was 9 percent. The best return in this period was a good 20.1 percent. Thats far above balanced advantage funds, where the maximum return was 16.2 percent.

However, in categories such as arbitrage or even equity savings, returns will be similar whether long-term or short. Arbitrage funds are very similar to liquid funds in terms of return; they do not gain from equity market movement. Equity savings funds have low equity allocations, which caps how much returns can rise even in prolonged market rallies.

The table below shows the average returns for one-year, two-year and three-year periods for each category based on rolling returns since 2017.

How to know which category to use

Two factors help determine whether hybrid funds will work for you and which one to go for timeframe and risk appetite. Another factor that can play a role is your need for tax efficiency.

For a very short-term horizon of six months to one year, arbitrage funds can be used by those who seek tax efficiency, as an add-on to debt holdings. No other hybrid category fits.

For timeframes of 1-3 years, equity savings funds can similarly be used by those in the higher tax-brackets. These funds offer a better return profile than arbitrage funds. As with arbitrage, use them along with debt funds. High-risk investors can allocate more to these funds, while conservative investors need to keep exposure limited.

You can also use conservative hybrid funds for 2-year holdings and longer, but fund selection needs care. These funds can change debt strategies, take on duration risk, or credit risk. You may inadvertently have a riskier fund than the timeframe calls for. Balanced advantage funds work for a 2-3 year horizon but only by aggressive investors, when used along with pure debt funds.

For a 3-5 year timeframe, balanced advantage funds fit well as they do not fall as much as hybrid aggressive funds do, while being better on returns than equity savings or conservative hybrid funds. Exposure can be decided based on risk level.

Very long-term portfolios can use any category. But note that arbitrage and equity savings funds would be lower-returning than debt funds. Balanced advantage funds can partly replace debt funds for very aggressive investors who do not prefer debt funds. Aggressive hybrid funds can be used for equity exposure, but note that it may be easier to maintain an asset allocation using pure equity and pure debt funds.

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How to choose the right hybrid fund based on your investment horizon - Moneycontrol.com

Conscientiousness, defined as "wishing to do what is right, especially to do one's work or duty well and thoroughly," has emerged as the key trait requirement for astronauts that will live and work on the surface of Mars millions of miles from Earth, according to a new study.

This trait was identified as more important than honesty, humility, emotionality, extroversion, openness and agreeableness.

"Conscientiousness, an individual personality trait, can be thought of as a pooled team-resource," said Julia McMenamin, the study's first author and a doctoral student in psychology at Western University in Canada, in a statement. "The more conscientiousness a team is, the better they will likely be at accomplishing tasks."

Conversely, traits like "social loafing," or the habit of a team member putting in less effort than when they work solo, are undesirable in a potential Marstronaut. Traits that seem counterproductive and negative behaviors are likely to cause more trouble and disruptions in a team environment.

The researchers consider these traits and behavior "non-negotiable" for long-duration spaceflight crews.

A careful focus on crew selection, emphasizing effective communication and very detailed work and planning processes, could help avoid any negative factors.

Some of the same things identified in the study could be used to help people coping with isolation during the pandemic as well.

Currently, NASA is targeting the 2030s for the first human mission to Mars. Depending on the alignment of Mars and Earth for launch and landing and the duration of the mission on the Martian surface, this crew could spend five years together -- not including training together beforehand.

To test what this crew dynamic might be like ahead of a real mission, researchers studied a team of five "astronauts" during an exercise analogous to a Mars mission. This event was hosted by the Austrian Space Forum in Oman in 2018. The Dhofar region of Oman is a good analog for the Martian environment in terms of isolation and extreme conditions.

McMenamin was joined by Natalie Allen, a professor of psychology at Western Univeristy, and Ottawa-based space exploration company Mission Control Space Services Chief Science Officer Melissa Battler for the study.

The AMADEE-18 analog space mission lasted for four weeks. Five astronauts, including four men and one woman between the ages of 28 to 38, lived in a simulated Mars environment.

Before, during and after the mission, the astronauts filled out surveys addressing the performance of their team and any team conflicts as well as their stress levels.

At the end of the mission, the astronauts rated themselves and each teammate. They also answered questions about their behavior in their respective roles and identified any counterproductive behaviors, including social loafing.

This particular team worked well together as a team, but the researchers were not surprised because they had prepared for their "mission." The team was also supported by field and mission control teams.

The team members were also familiar with each other before the mission began. All of these factors can be identified in examples of positive teamwork on Earth, the researchers said.

"How familiar team members are with one another has been shown to help teams work better together likely because it provides team members with knowledge about each other and helps them communicate better and more efficiently," McMenamin said.

Stress is a common negative factor that can influence team performance on Earth and in space. It's distracting, increases anxiety, causes cooperative difficulty, increases task overload and contributes to destructive emotions.

"Anyone who has worked on a team knows conflict amongst team members can harm team performance and make for a negative experience. When people argue about how to get things done, or get into personal disagreements, there is less time and energy left for completing tasks," McMenamin said.

"What's interesting is that there are different types of conflict, and so long as interpersonal issues and arguments about how to go about accomplishing tasks are avoided, differences in views and opinions might actually improve team performance likely because this allows for the team to benefit from each member's knowledge and perspective."

Given that this particular analog mission only lasted for about a month, the researchers are interested to know how things might play out over the course of a long-duration mission.

"Major issues caused by psychological distress and interpersonal problems don't tend to show up until months or even years spent in an isolated, confined, and extreme environment, which highlights the need for longer-duration simulations," McMenamin said.

Being a good team player has almost always been part of the astronaut playbook, going back to the days of the Apollo missions.

Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino spoke to CNN in September about the Netflix series "Away," which focuses on an international crew leading the first human mission to Mars. Massimino served as a consultant for the show.

The show crew was most interested in hearing about the human side of being an astronaut, Massimino said. For example, they asked him about the emotional aspects of leaving your family behind on Earth, the camaraderie between the crew and "what it's like in your heart and soul, rather than the process," he said.

Massimino, who flew on multiple missions during the Shuttle era, told them that "the Earth looks like heaven. It makes you realize we're so lucky to be here."

Regarding the teamwork aspect of spaceflight, "we really do love each other as astronauts," Massimino said. "It's like a hybrid between a family member and a friend. You really do care about each other. And there were seven of us on the Shuttle crew. We became like a family, having all of these experiences in training and spaceflight. They're extraordinary and there is not anything I wouldn't do for these people."

Massimino was selected to be an astronaut in 1996. When asked about the traits that would be important for astronauts going to Mars, he said he feels that the selection process would be similar to the way NASA chooses astronaut candidates now for long-term spaceflight on the International Space Station.

"We're looking for people who would be good candidates for long-duration spaceflight that get along, personalities that would let things roll. If things go wrong, you make mistakes because you're not perfect, you need to be able to roll with it. They should be able to contribute and be a good positive crew member, not only for their crewmates, but the people helping them back on Earth."

One of the most important aspects that helps the crew's morale and performance is a connection to Earth and the people they care about on it -- something that will be increasingly more difficult as a spacecraft leaves Earth for Mars, causing communication delays.

People tend to think of astronauts as superheroes, Massimino said.

"But we're really just regular people who care about each other and have really awesome jobs."

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Astronauts on a Mars mission will need to be 'conscientious' to work well together - CNN