NASA Partners with Private Companies to Return to the Moon

NASA has invited nine companies to bid on delivery services to the moon as part of its greater Moon to Mars mission. The new commercial partners, announced Thursday at a Washington, D.C. press conference, will compete for Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contracts that the space agency says could total $2.6 billion over the next 10 years. Technical feasibility, price, and schedule will determine which companies are chosen to deliver science and technology payloads to the moon for NASA, with missions potentially flying as early as next year.

The initial payloads only need to weigh at least 22 pounds, Geek Wire reports, but NASA plans to eventually fly shipments as much as several tons for lunar development. The space program has also reportedly floated the idea of selling tourists tickets to space. In announcing the commercial partners, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said the move “marks tangible progress in America’s return to the Moon’s surface to stay.”



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Uber Gets Hacked, Then Pays Hackers.

Uber users have to allow the company to have access to a lot of person information: names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, credit card info, ride information -- including locations. The app needs this information for ridesharing to work. However hackers were able to access and download information from 57 million users. What did Uber do when they found out? Nothing. Rather than announce the hack, the previous CEO of Uber kept the hack quiet. They were able to contact the hackers and paid them off to delete the data they stole. There is no evidence whether or not the hackers did this.

Hackers have stolen personal data for 57 million Uber customers and drivers, the ride-hailing company said Tuesday. The stolen information includes names, home addresses, mobile phone numbers and emails of 50 million people who have used Uber around the world. The breach also exposed the driver's licenses and other information for roughly 7 million drivers for the company, including 600,000 in the U.S. No Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, birth dates or trip location data were taken, Uber said, adding that it hasn't seen evidence of fraud related to the breach. The company said it is monitoring affected accounts for signs of misuse.

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NASA's Insight Probe to Mars Lands Successfully

NASA has studied the surface of Mars with various rovers, some small and some big. It is currently studying the atmosphere of Mars with the MAVEN satellite which is orbiting the Red Planet. Now NASA is going to study the interior of Mars with the landing yesterday of Insight. This probe will not move around the surface of Mars; in fact it's job is to stay incredibly still. All the while the probe will perform numerous tasks to learn more about the planet and how it may have formed.



NASA’s InSight lander completed its seven-month interplanetary journey of nearly 500 million kilometers in dramatic style on Monday, slamming into the Martian atmosphere at a speed of nearly 20,000 kilometers per hour. Only six-and-a-half harrowing minutes later, after ejecting its heatshield, deploying a supersonic parachute and firing retrorockets, its speed had dramatically slowed to a jogging pace after traversing the 130 kilometers between Mars’s upper atmosphere and the planet’s arid surface.



Credits:
https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8392/nasa-insight-lander-arrives-on-martian-surface/?site=insight

Using Lunar and Martian Dust to 3D print.

Replacing parts on a lunar base could pose a major challenge, since resupplying missions will likely be massively expensive and time consuming. That’s why a group of scientists led by the European Space Agency are exploring ways to 3D print anything from screws to coins using artificial lunar regolith — a simulation, essentially, of moon dust.

The scientists partnered with Austrian company Lithoz to develop a 3D printing technology that first mixes the regolith with a special kind of glue that hardens when exposed to light. Then they 3D print it into a particular shape and bake it inside an oven — similarly to how ceramics are hardened inside a kiln. “If one needs to print tools or machinery parts to replace broken parts on a lunar base, precision in the dimensions and shape of the printed items will be vital,” says Advenit Makya, an ESA engineer working on the project in an ESA blog post.

sdfsa



Credits:
https://futurism.com/scientists-europe-3d-printing-fake-moon-dust-regolith-objects

Beethoven's 5th

Two Monte Vista High Students build a Wildfire Sensor

Using artificial intelligence and their own smarts, two Cupertino teens are working on identifying and predicting areas in a forest that are ripe for wildfires, with the hopes of providing early warnings to fire agencies. The Smart Wildfire Sensor device by the Monta Vista High School seniors has gotten the attention of Google, and the students have submitted it to Cal Fire for review.

The device uses a camera to take photos in a forest — the students often went to Rancho San Antonio nearby, and sometimes Big Basin Redwood State Park, Sanjana said. Using Google’s TensorFlow machine-learning system, which can process a massive amount of images, the device can then determine the moisture content of the dead fuel — consisting of dead branches and fallen leaves — in a forest. If the moisture content is low, that forest is susceptible to wildfire. The device would then use a wide area network connection to contact fire authorities, the students said



Credits:
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/11/15/silicon-valley-teens-create-smart-wildfire-sensor-get-googles-attention/

Google "Simplifies" Search Data Results

Google is giving users access to data controls from directly within its most-used product: Search. Starting on November 1st, users be able to review and delete their recent Search activity, get quick access to relevant privacy controls in their Google Account, and be able to learn more about how Search works with their data. These options will be available from within Search on desktop and mobile, and in the Google app for iOS and Android in the coming weeks. Thousands of engineers and product specialists spend countless hours here at Google’s sprawling complex and its offices worldwide trying to solve search’s most complex problem: language.

Google is simplifying that process in a big way. Instead of hitting up your account, you’ll be able to see your history every time you search for something. Once you search for a term in Chrome, you’ll be able to manage your entire search history without leaving the browser or interrupting what you were doing. Google is rolling out this change in Chrome and other desktop and mobile browsers today, and will be pushing the change to the Google app on iOS and Android “in the moving weeks.” And Google also promises to expand the feature to Maps in 2019, as well as “many other Google products.”



Credits:  https://www.engadget.com/2018/10/24/google-search-data-controls-security/

Using Fire Senors to Report Wildfires

During California’s record drought conditions of 2014, FIRESafe MARIN, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), and Marin County Fire Department collaborated on the installation of a high-tech, remote wildfire detection system on four critical peaks in Marin county. FIRESafe MARIN donated the $207,000 system, funded through a partnership with PG&E, installing the special cameras, support software, servers, and panoramic monitoring displays in the Emergency Command Center in Woodacre, where dispatchers will have access to the system 24-hours a day during fire season. The effort is part of an ongoing partnership between PG&E and private, public and community organizations to prevent additional fires from sparking during the California wildfire season, which typically reaches its peak in late fall.

The remote fire detection system will enable Marin County Fire Department to monitor and detect wildfires around the clock, covering a larger land area than is currently visible from the two fire lookouts at Mt. Tamalpais and Mt. Barnabe. The system will be installed October 20-22, 2014, with cameras and networking equipment at the Gardner Fire Lookout on Mt. Tamalpais’ East Peak, the Dickson Fire Lookout on Mt. Barnabe near Lagunitas, Big Rock Ridge, and Point Reyes Hill. The system will be operable immediately, providing for enhanced fire protection for residents and businesses during the critical period late in the 2014 fire season. The ForestWatch® camera system, developed by EnviroVision Solutions of Roseburg, Oregon, and South Africa, will help with early fire detection, mapping the exact location of wildfires, and providing GIS information to fire personnel responding to early reports of fires.

Credits:
http://www.firesafemarin.org/about/news/entry/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88:forestwatch-remote-fire-detection-cameras&catid=2&Itemid=468

Quantum Accelerometer Tracks without GPS

GPS technology is so ubiquitous now that it can be hard to remember a day when you couldn’t just take out your phone and find out exactly where you are in the world. However, that’s actually a very recent development and one that could be denied to us in the future. GPS relies on a network of satellites that could be damaged, blocked, or destroyed. You also can’t get a good GPS lock when you’re underground or around tall buildings. There may be an alternative, though. Imperial College London and engineering firm M Squared have developed a new “quantum accelerometer” that can provide precise locations without any external system.

The quantum accelerometer from Imperial College London could solve that problem because it’s stupendously accurate. While the device is nominally portable, it’s not exactly compact or simple to use. Quantum mechanics tells us that all matter has a wave property, but that’s very difficult to observe in daily life. Ultra-cool atoms display their wave properties more prominently, and that’s the key to the quantum accelerometer. S0, the accelerometer knows when it moves with a high degree of accuracy, and it, therefore, knows where it is at all times based on where it started. Currently, the system measures movement on a single axis, but it should be possible to scale the design up to measure all three axes and three rotational directions for full navigation.



Credits:
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/280443-quantum-accelerometer-tracks-location-without-gps

Bike Riding Robot

The ‘primer v2’ robot by masahiko yamaguchi rides a bicycle using the same techniques that a human does. Developed by japanese roboticist Masahiko Yamaguchi, this robotic bicyclist may be the world’s first to ride its miniature fixed gear bike in exactly the same manner as a human: cycling on the pedals, maintaining its own balance via steering, and braking by dragging his feet along the ground. In these attributes, ‘primer v2’ advances beyond the previous version which could ride a bicycle but was affixed to the pedals and handlebars. ‘primer v2’ was demoed at the Rex international robot exhibition in tokyo.

Yamaguchi utilized a mass produced two-legged robot which he modified with special joints. A gyroscope records the tilt of the robot’s body, which is then used to calculate how far to turn the handlebars in order to remain balanced. A backpack worn by ‘primer v2’ contains a control unit assembled by yamaguchi himself to ensure high processing speed. Designed as an exploration of the possibility of technology to mimic human skills, the project interestingly draws attention to the complexity of the mental processes involved in what we find to be relatively simple actions. For example, although we think nothing of lowering our feet in order to manually stop a bicycle, in reality in order to brake properly, the angle between the ground and the leg and hip as well as the current velocity must all be taken into account.



Credits:
https://www.designboom.com/technology/bicycle-riding-robot/

NASA's Dawn Mission Ends

After 11 years in space, the Dawn spacecraft has run out of fuel, and the mission is over. The craft was sent to visit the two largest objects in the main asteroid belt. At the end of the last of the mission, it’s been in orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres, where it will remain for decades. On it's voyage, the spacecraft achieved many firsts along the way. In 2011, when Dawn arrived at Vesta, the second largest world in the main asteroid belt, the spacecraft became the first to orbit a body in the region between Mars and Jupiter. In 2015, when Dawn went into orbit around Ceres, a dwarf planet that is also the largest world in the asteroid belt, the mission became the first to visit a dwarf planet and go into orbit around two destinations beyond Earth.


The data Dawn beamed back to Earth from its four science experiments enabled scientists to compare two planet-like worlds that evolved very differently. Among its accomplishments, Dawn showed how important location was to the way objects in the early solar system formed and evolved. Dawn also reinforced the idea that dwarf planets could have hosted oceans over a significant part of their history – and potentially still do. Dawn’s data sets will be deeply mined by scientists working on how planets grow and differentiate, and when and where life could have formed in our solar system. Ceres and Vesta are important to the study of distant planetary systems, too, as they provide a glimpse of the conditions that may exist around young stars.

Credits:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-dawn-mission-to-asteroid-belt-comes-to-end

DHS Deploy Sensors to Protect Electronic Voting

As early voters head to the polls for the midterm elections, the federal government is stepping up cyber security. "The 2018 midterm elections remain a potential target for state and non-state actors and we remain prepared to respond," said Matthew Masterson, senior cybersecurity advisor for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. DHS is rolling out a new federal cyber attach detection system, called ALBERT Sensors, designed to detect hackers before they get into the election system. Every county in Florida now has an ALBERT, which alerts officials to suspicious computer IP addresses that are trying to get into the election system.

“In Seminole county we call it building a cyber mote around our office, but every county in Florida has this similar cyber mote blocking against any cyber intrusion that shouldn’t be happening,” said Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Mike Ertel. According to a recent Pew Research Center Poll, 67 percent said it’s “somehwhat” or “very” likely that Russia or som other foreign agency is trying to influence voting. Just 8 percent of respondents were confident in the election system. The ALBERT sensors aren’t 100-percent effective. The system’s only capable of blocking known threats that it’s programmed to identify.

Credits:
http://www.fox35orlando.com/news/local-news/feds-step-up-cybersecurity-ahead-of-midterms

Chevy Releases Electronic Dragster

GM made a fun surprise announcement at this past week’s Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) trade show: an all-electric Chevrolet Camaro concept with 700 horsepower meant to bust out a quarter mile run in about nine seconds. And unlike EV performance cars like the NIO EP9 or the upcoming second-generation Tesla Roadster, which are purpose-built, the Camaro concept appears to be a beautiful, cobbled-together Frankenstein’s monster of a car. The car, dubbed the eCOPO Concept (after the original COPO Camaro special order performance models from the late 1960s) looks like any other modern Camaro from the outside, even in electric blue paint. Inside is much different. For instance, the eCOPO is powered by a combination of BorgWarner electric motors, which are the same ones used in these Daimler electric trucks.

The motors draw power from an 800-volt battery pack, which is twice as much as you’d find in a Chevy Bolt. But the eCOPO doesn’t use a “skateboard” style battery pack that takes up the whole floor of the car, which is pretty much the standard for EVs these days. Instead, the pack is split into four 200-volt modules that are tucked into different spots around the car’s frame: two sit in the rear-seat area, and two are in the trunk, with one over the rear axle and one taking up the spot where the spare tire usually goes. GM says distributing the mass of the batteries like this helps improve performance on a drag strip, as it gives the car a 56 percent rear weight bias, which helps on launch. But it also shows how much of a sort of clever workaround effort this was on the part of Hancock and Lane, an electric drag racing team that helped Chevy build the car.



Credits:
https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/4/18057110/chevy-electric-camaro-ecopo-ev-drag-racing

NASA Parachute Test Breaks Record

NASA is preparing technology for use on its Mars 2020 rover mission, due to land on the Red Planet in February 2021 — and it's breaking world records along the way. Landing on Mars is notoriously challenging because of the planet's thin atmosphere, which makes it difficult to slow down a spacecraft enough to land gently on its surface. In order to land their heaviest yet rover on Mars, NASA had to redesign an existing landing-parachute design — the same one that protected the Curiosity rover — with even stronger materials, including the Kevlar traditionally found in bulletproof vests.

Last month, the 180-pound parachute, plus a camera designed to watch it deploy, was launched on a sounding rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The agency conducted its final test of its new parachute in September as part of its Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment (ASPIRE) project. The results are in and the parachute has been approved for the 2020 launch. During the test, the parachute deployed completely in just four-tenths of a second, the fastest inflation of such a large parachute, according to NASA. That will mark the end of the parachute tests, but not the end of Mars 2020 preparations.

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Credits:
https://www.space.com/42282-mars-2020-parachute-test-breaks-world-record.html