Viper will scour the moon for the location and concentration of ice that could help deliver the first global water resource maps of the Moon. It will also inform future landing sites for astronaut Artemis missions and help discover where and how water can be harvested. NASA officials said last year that VIPER would help astronauts “live off the land a little” rather than having to bring up their own supplies....
Much like how a sailboat uses the wind to move forward, solar sails use the pressure exerted by sunlight to propel a vehicle through space. Large sails made up of reflective material like Mylar capture the momentum of the Sun’s photons. The photons bounce off the sail, sending it in the opposite direction. Also: NASA’s Mars lander is running out of power. Here’s what happens next However, as NASA points out, existing solar sail designs rely on very large and very thin sails....
On 13th June, Hubble automatically placed all of its science instruments on standby as a security measure following the failure of the telescope’s payload computer – one of the central systems that controls and coordinates the instruments onboard the spacecraft, and transmits science and engineering data to the ground. SEE: An IT pro’s guide to robotic process automation (free PDF) (TechRepublic) This means that for the past month, Hubble’s instruments have been offline and the telescope hasn’t been taking in any data....
Voyager 1 launched in September 1977 and is now the farthest spacecraft from Earth, traveling in space at about 14.5 billion miles (23.3 billion kilometers) away. It would take light about 20 hours to travel from the spacecraft. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is investigating a glitch in the system data the interstellar explorer is collecting. Readouts from the probe’s attitude articulation and control system (AACS) “don’t reflect what’s actually happening onboard”, according to JPL....
The SLS rocket survived relatively unscathed during its exposure to Hurricane Nicole, a Category 1 storm that swept through Florida’s West Palm Beach area on Friday. NASA has a two-hour launch window at 1:04 a.m. EST Wednesday. The countdown clock will begin at 1:54 a.m. Monday, it said. Rather than roll the SLS back on the nine-hour journey to the Vehicle Assembly Building, NASA opted to tie it down at the launch pad....
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first year climbed 254% to AU$1.5 billion, while a steady AU$1.7 billion in depreciation and amortisation gave the company an 85% improvement in EBIT from AU$1.28 billion loss to a AU$193 million loss. Following AU$752 million in finance costs, and an AU$88 million tax benefit, NBN posted a net loss of AU$857 million, a 59% improvement on last year’s figures....
The Accointing Crypto Tax Software (Pro Plan) provides everything you need in order to easily file your crypto taxes yourself, and new users can currently get it at 60% off. Its Trader Plan and base software are also available for the same discount. Accointing allows you to track, manage, and report all of your cryptocurrency transactions in just one place. The platform features more than 300 integrations that you can access on both your desktop and mobile devices....
The Aluminum Band is designed for the bigger of Apple’s smartwatch designs, with the product page listing 45mm/49mm as the sizes it’s compatible with. That said, it’s compatible with any Apple Watch model within that size range, not just Apple’s newest Watch models. Also: Trouble sticking to your New Year’s resolution to be more active? Try this Actually, at the bottom of the page, Nomad lists the band as compatible with 42mm and 44mm Apple Watch sizes....
Nothing says its newest earbuds, the Ear Stick, are not the successor to the Ear 1, but instead, usher in a separate accessory in a different form factor. What remains, however, is the company’s fashion-forward mindset. Debuting as a part of designer Chet Lo’s SS23 runway during London Fashion Week, Nothing’s Ear Stick, inspired by a cosmetic classic – lipstick – are more than just a tech gadget, they’re a fashion statement....
The Finite Group incident response team confirmed with ZDNet that when the incident occurred, business operations were not disrupted. “Our security monitoring systems identified and closed down the threat quickly,” they said. “Since then, remedial works have been undertaken and the business has been fully operational.” The company’s incident response team added it has been reviewing what data was stolen due to the incident. “Following conclusion of this investigation, we will take steps to immediately contact any impacted stakeholders/individuals in accordance with our privacy obligations....
The pilot will be jointly operated by NSW Health and NSW Police and entails a seven-day home-based quarantine program for around 175 people. It will be run across a four-week period and commence sometime this month. The app will use geolocation and face recognition technology to monitor whether a person is complying with the state’s quarantine rules. It will also provide people with a testing schedule and symptom checker....
UPDATE: OpenSSL dodges a security bullet So we should all be concerned that Mark Cox, a Red Hat Distinguished Software Engineer and the Apache Software Foundation (ASF)’s VP of Security, this week tweeted, “OpenSSL 3.0.7 update to fix Critical CVE out next Tuesday 1300-1700UTC.” How bad is “Critical”? According to OpenSSL, an issue of critical severity affects common configurations and is also likely exploitable. It’s likely to be abused to disclose server memory contents, and potentially reveal user details, and could be easily exploited remotely to compromise server private keys or execute code execute remotely....
Avoiding this sort of technological tunnel vision is one reason I regularly switch between Android and iOS for my primary mobile device. Earlier in 2021, I realized I had been using an iPhone for nearly two years (with a fairly recent iPhone 12 upgrade) and was overdue for a check-in with the latest Android device. Google’s introduction of two new Pixel phones in mid-October was the perfect excuse to switch back....
There are also two larger and more expansive options in the range: the $299.95 Poly Sync 40 for flexible-working spaces and huddle rooms, and the $599.95 Poly Sync 60, which is designed for conference rooms. According to Poly’s website, the Sync 10 is ideal for “remote enterprise professionals with a dedicated home office”, while the Sync 20 is better suited to “Flexible enterprise professionals who split time between corporate office, home office, and travel”....
This shift to virtual has meant that speakers have had to adapt to the new conditions. Whether you’re a business executive speaking to a regional sales meeting, or an industry leader addressing an association conference, or a professional keynote speaker delivering a talk for a major corporation, the game has changed. Alfred Poor is helping these people adjust to those changes. I’ve known him for more than a decade. Long-time ZDNet readers may remember when I sat down with Alfred back in 2012 to discuss HDTV buying strategies....
The Scout uses high-powered LEDs to reflect of the lenses of spy cameras, phones, or CCTV. If the Scout detects a camera, you’ll see a pinpoint of bright red light when you look through its aperture. The device is battery-powered and comes with two AA batteries, offering enough juice for over a year of regular use. And since it’s small and weighs so little, you can take it everywhere you go....
The report sent Qualcomm shares up 3% in late trading. CEO Cristiano Amon remarked that “in addition to leading the 5G transition,” Qualcomm is “on pace to deliver $10 billion of annual revenues across RF front-end, IoT and Automotive as our business continues to diversify.” Added Amon, “Our solutions are fueling the connected intelligent edge that is enabling the cloud economy, and we are seeing unprecedented demand for our technologies as the pace of digital transformation accelerates....
Chemists at BMW, for instance, have been using quantum chemistry to simulate electrode reactions in hydrogen fuel cells, with the ultimate aim of designing catalytic converters that aren’t based on platinum. Meanwhile, the oil and gas company TotalEnergies has used quantum chemistry to model metal-organic frameworks for carbon capture – an important part of the industry’s response to climate change. To tackle their respective challenges, both BMW and TotalEnergies worked with Quantinuum; the quantum computing company formed just about six months ago when Honeywell Quantum Solutions merged with Cambridge Quantum....
One explanation for this caution is that quantum computing remains at a nascent stage of development. Quantum is difficult to understand, and even harder to put into practice. Analyst Forrester suggests we are years away from widespread business use in the real world. What’s more, the researcher says this slow pace of advancement might even dissuade some enterprises from attempting to use the technology. The inherent difficulty of quantum computers could lead to interest tapering off....
A report by cybersecurity researchers at Trend Micro warns that ransomware is “a concerning and rapidly evolving threat to ICS endpoints globally” with a significant rise in activity during the past year. The motive behind ransomware attacks is simple – making money. Cyber criminals know that by hitting the industrial control systems used to operate factories and manufacturing environments, which rely on constant uptime, they have a good chance of getting paid....
