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Russian spacecraft forced to dodge debris from blown up satellite
Russia blew up its own satellite late last year in an anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) test, generating a large amount of space debris.
The destroyed satellite was the Kosmos 1408 satellite, which was blown up by a Russian ASAT missile on November 15th, 2021. The ASAT test generated 1,500 trackable pieces of space debris, along with estimated hundreds of thousands of pieces too small to track.
The debris has spread between 300 kilometers (186.4 miles) and 1,000 kilometers (621.3 miles) above Earth, endangering low-Earth orbit satellites, including the International Space Station (ISS) and Tiangong, China's space station.
Continue reading: Russian spacecraft forced to dodge debris from blown up satellite (full post)
Atom laser that can run forever built by physicists after breakthrough
A study on the atom laser titled "Continuous Bose-Einstein condensation" has been published in the journal Nature.
Conventional lasers produce a coherent wave of light, meaning all of the light vibrates in a synchronized fashion. As described by the wave-particle duality from quantum mechanics, the behavior of particles like atoms can be described with the classical understanding of both particles and waves. Therefore, lasers can also be built from atoms, naturally dubbed 'atom lasers.'
A Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) is when matter particles, like atoms, condense into a coherent wave, synchronized like a light in a typical laser. However, this can typically only occur at temperatures roughly a millionth of a degree warmer than absolute zero, making most BECs short-lived. Now, physicists from the University of Amsterdam have devised a process to sustain BECs, and produce a continual atom laser.
Continue reading: Atom laser that can run forever built by physicists after breakthrough (full post)
Stolen gas sold for cheap after men hacked pumps using mobile app
Virginia Beach Police Department (VBPD) officers have apprehended two men responsible for illegally accessing gas pumps and selling the gasoline for cheap.
Officers responded to suspicious activity at a closed Citgo gas station, where several vehicles and people had gathered and were pumping gasoline. Their investigation revealed that individuals used devices to allow them to pump gas of their own accord and sell it to others at a discounted rate.
The suspects responsible, by the names of Rashane Griffith and Devon Drumgoole, both from Norfolk, were charged with Grand Larceny, Conspiracy, and Possession of Burglary Tools. They advertised their operation on social media to potential customers, allowing them to come and purchase gas through a smartphone application.
Continue reading: Stolen gas sold for cheap after men hacked pumps using mobile app (full post)
Canadian govt. agrees to share UFO information the U.S. govt.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has committed to sharing information regarding unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) with the United States.
Larry Maguire, a member of parliament (MP) in Canada, questioned Canada's Natural Resources department during a meeting, about the safety of Canada's nuclear facilities and the potential threat posed by UAP, also known as unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Maguire later received a letter from the Natural Resources department informing him of their commitment to sharing information on UAP issues with its United States counterpart.
Continue reading: Canadian govt. agrees to share UFO information the U.S. govt. (full post)
Diablo Immortal has made $20 million in 2 weeks, and that's not a lot
Diablo Immortal has made an estimated $20 million+ in total worldwide market revenues excluding China, new data from AppMagic reveals.
Blizzard's wildly controversial free-to-play Diablo game has hit the ground running with tens of millions in revenues in its first half-month period. If this revenue doesn't sound like a lot, it's because it really isn't, not compared to mobile's biggest players at least.
Heavy-hitters typically make hundreds of millions of dollars in earnings every month; SensorTower reports that Honor of Kings made $268 million in May 2022, followed by PUBG Mobile with $206 million worldwide revenues.
Continue reading: Diablo Immortal has made $20 million in 2 weeks, and that's not a lot (full post)
Fastest-growing black hole ever observed devours one Earth per second
A study on the black hole titled "Discovery of the most luminous quasar of the last 9 Gyr" has been submitted for publication in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.
An international team led by astronomers from the Australian National University (ANU) has discovered a black hole growing faster than any other black hole in the last nine billion years. This black hole consumes an amount of mass equivalent to one Earth per second.
The black hole has a mass equivalent to three billion times that of our Sun and shines with 7,000 times more light than all of the light coming from the Milky Way, resulting in an apparent magnitude of 14.5, which measures how bright an object appears to an observer on Earth. Similarly sized black holes have been observed to stop growing at such fast rates billions of years ago.
Continue reading: Fastest-growing black hole ever observed devours one Earth per second (full post)
Iconic Voyager spacecraft are powering down for good after 45 years
Voyager 1 and 2 were launched into space on September 5th, 1977, and August 20th, 1977, respectively.
Both Voyager spacecraft have identical designs, and both have reached interstellar space, the first human-made objects to do so. Almost 45 years later, they are still in service, returning data to Earth from beyond the solar system. This makes the Voyager spacecraft the longest-lasting spacecraft in history after initially only being designed for a four-year mission.
Continue reading: Iconic Voyager spacecraft are powering down for good after 45 years (full post)
$300 million Russian oligarch superyacht flies American flag into USA
A $300 million superyacht known as the Amadea has been spotted cruising into Hawaii flying the American flag after being seized by US authorities.
US authorities seized the Amadea after a month-long legal battle in Fiji over its ownership, where the US claimed that sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleyman Kerimov was the true owner of the vessel. Kerimov, a Russian billionaire, oligarch, and politician, has close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and has following the nation's invasion of Ukraine, Kerimov and many other Russian oligarchs were slapped with sanctions from the United States and other countries that followed.
As a result of the sanctions, assets such as the Amadea are being seized by US authorities. In Kerimov's instance, his sanctions stretch back to 2018 over his involvement in Russia's invasion of Crimea. Joe Biden's national security advisor was recorded saying on Thursday this week that when a vessel like this is seized, the federal government are the ones paying for its upkeep, which means that some people are being paid to maintain the luxurious Russian superyachts "on behalf of the United States government".
Continue reading: $300 million Russian oligarch superyacht flies American flag into USA (full post)
Meta to launch avatar clothing store on Facebook next week
Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Meta is releasing a new online clothing store for avatars where users will be able to purchase outfits.
Zuckerberg, along with Instagram's vice president of fashion partnerships, Eva Chen, took to Instagram Live to announce "Meta Avatar Store" is coming to Facebook next week and will allow users to explore a virtual store across Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. Users will be able to purchase digital clothes for their avatars, and it will feature notable brands of clothing such as Prada, Balenciaga, and Thom Browne. According to TechCrunch, the price for these outfits has yet to be revealed.
Continue reading: Meta to launch avatar clothing store on Facebook next week (full post)
Elon Musk praises new Tesla factory for hitting a milestone week
Tesla has expanded its EV manufacturing to Germany, and now that construction on its new production facility has completed, it's rolling out new cars.
The Tesla Germany factory, or to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Giga Berlin is capable of producing 500,000 vehicles each year, as well as 50 GWh of batteries. The new factory opened in March this year, and as of reports at the end of May, approximately 3,500 employees are working there, with there being an employment capacity of 12,000. Notably, the factory is about 300 hectares and is pushing to expand its domain by an additional 100 hectares per a recent application.
Now, Elon Musk has taken to his Twitter account to praise the efforts being made at Giga Berlin as the factory produced 1,000 Model Y vehicles in the span of a week. A Tesla and Elon Musk enthusiast replied to the Twitter post by Tesla with a graph he made that is tracking the weekly Model Y deliveries in Norway. The graph shows that on the week of June 06, Tesla made about 180 Model Y's, and the following week it delivered about 420.
Continue reading: Elon Musk praises new Tesla factory for hitting a milestone week (full post)
Elon Musk 'free speech absolutist' fires staff over criticizing letter
Elon Musk described himself on Twitter on March 5 as a "free speech absolutist", and has now reportedly fired several employees for being involved in an internal letter that criticized him.
The New York Times has reported that an internal letter was circling SpaceX that criticized the company's CEO and founder and said that SpaceX needs to separate itself from Musk's personal brand. The letter was seen by Reuters and headed "an open letter to the Executives of SpaceX" and demanded that "hold all leadership equally accountable to making SpaceX a great place to work for everyone" and "define and uniformly respond to all forms of unacceptable behavior".
SpaceX executives discovered the letter and have fired at least five employees involved with it, according to The New York Times, which states it communicated with three of the fired employees. Notably, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell wrote via email that the company recently investigated its creation and "terminated a number of employees involved".
Continue reading: Elon Musk 'free speech absolutist' fires staff over criticizing letter (full post)
Instagram moves to adopt new TikTok-style feed with new testing
Meta has been very public about its push to create a product that directly competes with Byte Dance's hit app TikTok.
A leaked internal meme from Meta revealed that Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta executives want to roll out several changes to Facebook to make the application more like TikTok. The redesign overhaul would concentrate on Facebook's main feed section and change it, so the feed shows content from pages, users, and people that the account isn't following. The memo described this algorithm change as "Discovery Engine".
Now, Instagram is testing a new TikTok-style redesign of its main feed, which Mark Zuckerberg shared on his personal Instagram account story, where he wrote, "We want to make it easier to discover content and connect with friends." Adding that Instagram is currently working on full-screen photos appearing in the feed and that some individuals will start seeing "this test soon". It seems that Meta as a whole is pivoting towards a more TikTok-style user interface.
Continue reading: Instagram moves to adopt new TikTok-style feed with new testing (full post)
North Korea nuclear threat heats up after new satellite images release
A project focused on recording the activities of North Korea has found that the nation is preparing for a nuclear test.
Beyond Parallel, partnered with the Center for Strategic and International Security (CSIS), has released a batch of new satellite images of North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site. The images were taken from Airbus Pleiades neo satellites on June 14, 2022, and show work being completed on Tunnel No.3, which Beyond Parallel state means the nation is "ready for an oft-speculated seventh nuclear test."
Notably, one of the images in the batch show construction being done on a new tunnel - Tunnel No.4. The authors note that the construction of the new tunnel suggests that North Korea is making a large effort to increase its nuclear testing capabilities and is an "effort to reenable it for potential future testing". The authors of the report write, "The timing of a seventh nuclear test now rests solely within the hands of Kim Jong-un."
Continue reading: North Korea nuclear threat heats up after new satellite images release (full post)
Ominous test footage shows an AI-operated robot tank destroying cars
The new Type-X Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) has been developed by Estonian company Milrem Robotics and the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace.
The autonomous, robotic tank was first unveiled in June 2021 and has now completed the first test firing of its Protector Remote Turret. It is equipped with a Bushmaster 30 mm cannon, one of the many payloads the Type-X can use, such as 50 mm cannons, anti-tank missiles, and even a tethered drone. The tank can reach a top speed of 80 kilometers (49.7 miles) per hour on sealed roads,
Milrem and Kongsberg have partnered to develop the Nordic Robotic Wingman (NRW), which Type-X will serve as the base platform for creating RCVs for supporting larger, manned tanks and infantry vehicles. The artificial intelligence system governing the Type-X has multiple functions, including following, waypoint navigation, and obstacle detection.
Continue reading: Ominous test footage shows an AI-operated robot tank destroying cars (full post)
Starfield makes humorous reference to Morrowind and Oblivion
Starfield's starting traits pays homage to one of the most notorious mechanics in Morrowind.
While re-watching the Starfield gameplay reveal trailer, I noticed something quite humorous: The new space odyssey makes a direct reference to something that all Morrowind (and Obliion) players spent a lot of time doing. I'm talking about spamming the jump button, of course.
Starfield's Serpent's Embrace trait rewards you for constantly grav-jumping, and also takes something away if you stop: "You grew up worshipping the Great Serpent. Grav jumping provides a temporary boost to health and endurance, but health and endurance are lowered if you don't continue jumping regularly--like an addiction," the trait reads.
Continue reading: Starfield makes humorous reference to Morrowind and Oblivion (full post)
Convicted felon Anna Sorkin launches NFT project while in custody
Russian-born Anna Sorokin is a convicted scammer that stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from banks, friends, and businesses while posing as a German heiress known as Anna Delvey.
The name "Anna Delvey" made headlines around the world when she was convicted of her crimes and then was shot into stardom when Netflix made a dedicated mini-series called "Inventing Anna" on the events of her life and her exploits. The show was one of Netflix's best series' and has caused Sorokin to develop a fan base that sends mail to her, with some fans even proposing to her.
Now Sorokin is in an ICE detention center as she appeals to being deported for violating her VISA agreement. NBC sat down with Sorokin for an exclusive interview where she expressed that she is reinventing herself and wants to move away from this "scammer persona", which she believes "has been pushed upon me by the prosecution and by the following media and by the Netflix show, but I'm trying to move away from that definitely."
Continue reading: Convicted felon Anna Sorkin launches NFT project while in custody (full post)
Facebook is being sent patient information from hospital websites
Facebook has been busted for receiving sensitive medical information from hospital websites, raising the question if the social media giant has broken federal law.
Ars Technica, partnered with The Markup, a non-profit that focuses on data-driven journalism and the impacts of technology throughout society, investigated the websites of the top 100 hospitals across the United States and found that 33 of them featured a tracker called the Meta Pixel. This tracker is designed to send Facebook a packet of data whenever an individual clicks the "Schedule Online Now" button.
An example of what this packet of data can contain is the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center website, where the Meta Pixel will send Facebook a data packet that contains the doctor's name, and the search term the team used to identify the patient, which was "pregnancy termination".
Continue reading: Facebook is being sent patient information from hospital websites (full post)
Asteroid worth up to $700 quintillion mapped in highest resolution yet
A study on the asteroid titled "The Heterogeneous Surface of Asteroid (16) Psyche" has been published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.
The 16 Psyche asteroid is scheduled to be visited by a NASA probe that will launch later in 2022. The spacecraft will visit the asteroid belt occupying the region between Mars and Jupiter, comprising remnants from the solar system's formation. One such remnant is the 16 Psyche asteroid, thought to be the core of an ancient planet, which contains a large number of valuable metals, producing an estimated value of as high as $700 quintillion.
Before the NASA probe is launched and reaches the asteroid to begin an almost two-year-long mission orbiting and analyzing it, researchers from MIT have mapped 16 Psyche in the highest resolution yet, coming in at roughly 20 miles (32.1 kilometers) per pixel. They combined signals from radio antennas at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile before running hundreds of simulations to determine the surface composition.
Continue reading: Asteroid worth up to $700 quintillion mapped in highest resolution yet (full post)
NASA is concerned its launchpads may be destroyed by SpaceX's Starship
A senior official from NASA has told Reuters it is concerned about damage to its launch infrastructure.
The primary home for Starship is at SpaceX's Starbase facility, located in Boca Chica, Texas. Both Starship and the facility have been the subject of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) environmental assessment that was recently finalized. While the assessment was underway for the first half of 2022 and earlier, SpaceX constructed an orbital launchpad for Starship in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
At the same facilities in Cape Canaveral exists Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. From here, SpaceX launches its Crew Dragon capsule, which ferries astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA. As it is the only launchpad approved for Crew Dragon, NASA wants SpaceX that Starship poses no risk to the pad as a result of some catastrophic incident such as an explosion.
Continue reading: NASA is concerned its launchpads may be destroyed by SpaceX's Starship (full post)
Elon Musk hit with $258 billion lawsuit for racketeering Dogecoin
Elon Musk along with his two companies SpaceX and Tesla have been hit with a lawsuit that totals a staggering $258 billion.
The lawsuit has been filed by Keith Johnson, who claims that Musk, SpaceX and Tesla were involved in a racketeering scheme that manipulated the price of the Dogecoin, and promote the coin as a legitimate investment. "Defendants falsely and deceptively claim that Dogecoin is a legitimate investment when it has no value at all," the lawsuit reads. Notably, Johnson is going for class-action status on the suit and has intended to represent other investors who also believe that they have been illegally impacted by Musk.
Musk has been very public about his support of Dogecoin, which was originally created in 2013 as a "meme coin". Musk's support of the cryptocurrency brought major attention to the project, and between 2020 and 2021, its price pumped after Musk posted about it on Twitter. The attention brought to Dogecoin has secured it the 11th place on the charts for the highest market cap cryptocurrency, and when the project was at its highest value, it sported a $88 billion market cap.
Continue reading: Elon Musk hit with $258 billion lawsuit for racketeering Dogecoin (full post)





















