Science, Space, Health & Robotics News - Page 385

All the latest Science, Space, Health & Robotics news with plenty of coverage on space launches, discoveries, rockets & plenty more - Page 385.

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China lunar rover finds weird 'gel-like' thing on far side of the moon

Anthony Garreffa | Sep 3, 2019 7:28 PM CDT

China has found something bizarre and very strange on the far side of the moon, with its Yutu-2 rover discovering a tiny crater on the moon with material of an unusual color and consistency.

China lunar rover finds weird 'gel-like' thing on far side of the moon

The discovery was discussed in a new paper published by Chiense researchers, on Chinese-language site Our Space. The discovery was pretty much by accident, with the Yutu-2 rover scheduled for power down during the lunar night in late-July but then something strange was spotted.

The team spotted a crater near the Yutu-2 on its image preview of the "strange-looking substance", which led the team to scanning it with the Yutu-2's optical and near-infrared spectrometer. Still, they had no idea what they were looking at apart from reporting the material is "gel-like" and isn't a color that is seen on the lunar surface.

Continue reading: China lunar rover finds weird 'gel-like' thing on far side of the moon (full post)

Deepfake VOICE used to trick manager into $243,000 transfer

Anthony Garreffa | Sep 2, 2019 7:31 PM CDT

If you thought deepfake foolery only happened in video form, then you would be wrong -- some fraudsters have slammed a manager for $243,000 in something called vishing (voice phishing).

Deepfake VOICE used to trick manager into $243,000 transfer

This method involves using fake voice technology, with the Wall Street Journal reporting a case of voice fraud in which the company was caught with its pants down over $243,000.

Criminals used commercially available voice-generating AI software that tricked the CEO of a UK-based energy firm into thinking "he was speaking on the phone with his boss". The CEO heard the voice, thinking it was his boss and not thinking anything suspicious -- requesting him to transfer $243,000 urgently for an order with a Hungarian supplier.

Continue reading: Deepfake VOICE used to trick manager into $243,000 transfer (full post)

Trump revives Space Command to protect US interests in space

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 29, 2019 10:42 PM CDT

President Trump and Vice President Pence have announced that US Space Command is back and operational, after a lengthy 17-year hiatus the Cold War-era division of the Air Force is back.

Trump revives Space Command to protect US interests in space

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that the US Space Command will "ensure the protection of America's interests in space", but the new Space Command isn't the same, and shouldn't be confused with Space Force. Space Force is the 6th branch of military that President Trump is hoping to build, which will focus on Air Force operations where no one can hear you scream.

Trump said at the event itself: "The dangers to our country constantly evolve. Now, those who wish to harm the United States, who seek to challenge us in the ultimate high ground of space, it's going to be a whole different ballgame".

Continue reading: Trump revives Space Command to protect US interests in space (full post)

Astronomers created what alien astronomers would see if they saw Earth

Jak Connor | Aug 29, 2019 3:04 AM CDT

Humans will forever be on this discovery chase of finding life outside of our own planet, and to do that we must invent the instruments that will make it much easier to detect potential life on other planets. Astronomers from the McGill University have just taken that step in the right direction.

Astronomers created what alien astronomers would see if they saw Earth

These two McGill University students, Evelyn Macdonald and her supervisor Prof. Nicolas Cowan have devised a "fingerprint" for Earth. Both of the astronomers have used over a decade of observations of Earth's atmosphere which has been taken by SCISAT satellite that is currently monitoring the planet. With this data the astronomers constructed a transit spectrum of Earth, or a"fingerprint" containing information about Earth's atmosphere in infrared light.

Better known as a "bio-signature", the "fingerprint" also contains information about our ozone and methane levels which scientists expect to be the basic building blocks of life. Prof. Cowan said "A handful of researchers have tried to simulate Earth's transit spectrum, but this is the first empirical infrared transit spectrum of Earth. This is what alien astronomers would see if they observed a transit of Earth."

Continue reading: Astronomers created what alien astronomers would see if they saw Earth (full post)

DARPA is on the hunt for MASSIVE underground tunnels for experiments

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 28, 2019 10:45 PM CDT

DARPA is on the look out for a new underground military tunnel or base, putting out a request for university-owned or commercially managed underground urban tunnels.

DARPA is on the hunt for MASSIVE underground tunnels for experiments

Why? Well, for research and experimentation purposes of course. DARPA is desperate, posting the request on August 20 and saying it wants responses by August 30 by 5PM ET. I guess the world might be ending on September 1, eh?

DARPA said that their ideal space would be a "human-made underground environment spanning several city blocks w/ complex layout & multiple stories, including atriums, tunnels & stairwells. Spaces that are currently closed off from pedestrians or can be temporarily used for testing are of interest".

Continue reading: DARPA is on the hunt for MASSIVE underground tunnels for experiments (full post)

KFC's plant-based meat-free nuggets sell out in under 5 hours

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 28, 2019 7:31 PM CDT

KFC offered up its plant-based meat-free chicken nuggets collaborating with Beyond Meats for its Beyond Fried Chicken test, exclusive to one of its stores in Atlanta -- well, that 'chicken' sold out in 5 hours flat.

KFC's plant-based meat-free nuggets sell out in under 5 hours

Interestingly, KFC said it sold as much of the meat-free chicken it did in those 5 hours than it sells popcorn chicken in a week. KFC said it would be looking at the results of its meat-free chicken sales and reception, but didn't indicate whether we'd see a bigger test or nationwide rollout.

With its popularity, KFC would be silly to not continue this trial at least -- it seems popular. Beyond Meat also gets a bunch of that limelight, and now they have headlines of selling out their meat-free chicken at Kentucky Fried Chicken of all places.

Continue reading: KFC's plant-based meat-free nuggets sell out in under 5 hours (full post)

NASA's Deep Space Atomic Clock is the ultimate cosmic timer & measurer

Jak Connor | Aug 28, 2019 3:09 AM CDT

NASA launched their Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC) back in June and now the clock is starting its orbit around Earth. NASA will be testing DSAC for over a year.

NASA's Deep Space Atomic Clock is the ultimate cosmic timer & measurer

What is an atomic clock? Well, a traditional clock counts its seconds based on a ticking pendulum, an atomic clock measures the distance between objects by timing how long it takes for a single to travel to the object and make it back to the clock. NASA goal in mind is that having an atomic clock out in space will allow for future space missions to have pinpoint accuracy without the need of transmitting the signal back down to Earth.

Currently, a spacecraft sends and receives signals to Earth, which then people on Earth use to pinpoint its location. This process can take several minutes and sometimes even hours. A spacecraft with its own atomic clock would not have to deal with this transfer time and would be able to calculate what it needs to aboard the ship. With NASA's orbital atomic clock now floating around Earth, spacecrafts can also travel much longer distances as the signal no longer needs to reach Earth's surface. NASA will be conducting a one-year test on this atomic clock.

Continue reading: NASA's Deep Space Atomic Clock is the ultimate cosmic timer & measurer (full post)

SpaceX's Starhopper aces 150 meter test flight after recent failure

Jak Connor | Aug 28, 2019 2:06 AM CDT

The SpaceX team are currently celebrating the successful test launch of the human-transporting Starship vehicle, the Starhopper.

SpaceX's Starhopper aces 150 meter test flight after recent failure

The Starhopper is designed to carry humans to different locations on Mars' surface when we arrive there, and today SpaceX has successfully achieved a 150 meter high flight test. The Starhopper lifted off just after 6pm EDT and flew sideways in the air and touched down at a separate landing pad. The flight lasted for just 57 seconds.

SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk took to Twitter to congratulate his team on their achievement, saying "Congrats SpaceX team!!" The Starhopper ship uses one Raptor engine, for a comparison - the 100-passenger 'Starship' rocket that SpaceX is developing has six Raptor Engines and the 'Super Heavy' will have 35. Yesterday SpaceX had to cancel the Starhopper's test flight due to a engine malfunction, its great to see fixes were made in such a short time. Congratulations SpaceX!

Continue reading: SpaceX's Starhopper aces 150 meter test flight after recent failure (full post)

NASA Chief does a Jerry from Rick and Morty, says 'Pluto is a planet'

Jak Connor | Aug 28, 2019 1:04 AM CDT

If you are a fan of science and space, then you should definitely check out Rick and Morty. An episode in the series tackles the debate of whether or not Pluto should gain its planetary status back or remain as a dwarf-planet.

NASA Chief does a Jerry from Rick and Morty, says 'Pluto is a planet'

NASA's Chief Administrator believes that Pluto should re-gain its planetary status and be looked at as if it's a planet. He says "Just so you know, in my view Pluto is a planet and you can write that the NASA Administrator declared Pluto a planet once again, I'm sticking by that, its the way I learned it, I'm committed to it."

Pluto lost its planetary status a little over a decade ago when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) conducted a vote towards whether or not Pluto met the planetary criteria. For a space body to be considered a planet it must orbit the sun, have an almost round shape and "clear its orbital neighborhood". The 2006 vote on Pluto remaining a planet fell short due to it not meeting the last part in the criteria.

Continue reading: NASA Chief does a Jerry from Rick and Morty, says 'Pluto is a planet' (full post)

SpaceX's Starhopper engine failure causes mission abort at last second

Jak Connor | Aug 27, 2019 9:03 AM CDT

SpaceX's Starhopper vehicle was scheduled to conduct its test run today when it had to be canceled due to one of the engines on the hopper malfunctioning.

Starhopper is the single engine version of the SpaceX Starship and is the craft Musk and his team designed to eventually take people around the Moon and Mars. According to the team, the hopper's 150 meter test flight and landing was aborted due to one of the gines on the hopper not igniting. Elon Musk Tweeted and said "Igniters need to be inspected. We will try again tomorrow same time."

Musk then followed up with another tweet explaining the malfunction in more detail, saying "Raptor uses dual redundant torch igniters. Better long-term, but more finicky in development. Appears to be a wiring/connector issue " Another flight schedule hasn't been booked as of yet as the SpaceX team is currently evaluating what is needed to be done before a test flight can commence.

Continue reading: SpaceX's Starhopper engine failure causes mission abort at last second (full post)