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takyon writes:

Rocket Mining System Could Blast Ice from Lunar Craters

A mix of dust, rocks, and significant concentrations of water ice can be found inside permanently shaded lunar craters at the Moon's south pole. If that water ice can be extracted, it can be turned into breathable oxygen, rocket fuel, or water for thirsty astronauts. The extraction and purification of this dirty lunar ice is not an easy problem, and NASA is interested in creative solutions that can scale. The agency has launched a competition to solve this lunar ice mining challenge, and one of competitors thinks they can do it with a big robot, some powerful vacuums, and a rocket engine used like a drilling system. (It's what they call, brace yourself, their Resource Ore Concentrator using Kinetic Energy Targeted Mining—ROCKET M.)

This method disrupts lunar soil with a series of rocket plumes that fluidize ice regolith by exposing it to direct convective heating. It utilizes a 100 lbf rocket engine under a pressurized dome to enable deep cratering more than 2 meters below the lunar surface. During this process, ejecta from multiple rocket firings blasts up into the dome and gets funneled through a vacuum-like system that separates ice particles from the remaining dust and transports it into storage containers.

Unlike traditional mechanical excavators, the rocket mining approach would allow us to access frozen volatiles around boulders, breccia, basalt, and other obstacles. And most importantly, it's scalable and cost effective. Our system doesn't require heavy machinery or ongoing maintenance. The stored water can be electrolyzed as needed into oxygen and hydrogen utilizing solar energy to continue powering the rocket engine for more than 5 years of water excavation! This system would also allow us to rapidly excavate desiccated regolith layers that can be collected and used to develop additively manufactured structures.

[...] The Phase 1 winners are scheduled to be announced on August 13.

Original Submission

DannyB writes:

Windows 11 Look Inspired by KDE Plasma and GNOME?

The images of the upcoming Windows 11 Operating system from Microsoft resemble a mixture of our beloved KDE Plasma and GNOME. How much they are similar? We try to find out.

There's a saying which I remember – 'Good artists copy. Great artists steal'. I don't know the design team behind Windows 11, but it seems they are pretty good inspired by the Linux desktops. If you look at the Windows OS look over the years – from Windows XP to 7 to 10 – there is not much changed in terms of look and feel. Until now.

Windows OS have typically 5 to 7 years of life iterations with a new release. If you think about the options of customization Windows gives you, that remained the same over the years. Even the overall desktop experience in terms of Start Menu position, width, color – all remained constant.

But with the new look of Windows 11 – this is changing. Let me walk you through some of the screenshots I had a look at and how cunningly it is similar to the popular Linux desktop environments such as KDE Plasma and GNOME.

If Windows 11 really looks like KDE Plasma and GNOME, is this to have a more uniform UI when Windows Subsystem for Linux offers Linux GUI apps with an integrated seamless way for users to install Linux GUI apps?

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Just how do spiders walk straight up—and even upside-down across—so many different types of surfaces? Answering this question could open up new opportunities for creating powerful, yet reversible, bioinspired adhesives. Scientists have been working to better understand spider feet for the past several decades. Now, a new study in Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering is the first to show that the characteristics of the hair-like structures that form the adhesive feet of one species—the wandering spider Cupiennius salei—are more variable than previously thought.

"When we started the experiments, we expected to find a specific angle of best adhesion and similar adhesive properties for all of the individual attachment hairs," says the group leader of the study, Dr. Clemens Schaber of the University of Kiel in Germany. "But surprisingly, the adhesion forces largely differed between the individual hairs, e.g. one hair adhered best at a low angle with the substrate while the other one performed best close to perpendicular."

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/18/tech/estonia-cyber-security-lessons-intl-cmd/index.html

(CNN)When people like the German Chancellor Angela Merkel or the King of Belgium want to learn more about cybersecurity, they go to Estonia.

The Baltic country runs on the internet. From filing taxes and voting, to registering the birth of a new baby, nearly everything a person might want or need from the government can be done online. It's an approach that's incredibly convenient for Estonia's 1.3 million people -- but it also requires high level of cybersecurity.

Luckily for its residents, Estonia is punching way above its weight when it comes to online safety. It regularly places on top of security rankings. Its capital city of Tallinn is home to NATO's cyber defense hub, the Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. When it took up the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council last year, it made cybersecurity one of the policy priorities.

"Estonia digitized a lot sooner than other countries, it was focusing on things like online schooling and online government services and it took a more proactive approach to technology," said Esther Naylor, a international security research analyst at Chatham House.

"And it recognized that it needs to be a secure country in order for citizens to want to use online systems and for businesses to want to do business in Estonia ... and I think that this is why Estonia's approach is often heralded as the model approach," she added.

upstart writes:

Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ widespread in top makeup brands, study finds:

[...] The products that most frequently contain high levels of fluorine include waterproof mascara (82% of brands tested), foundations (63%) and liquid lipstick (62%).

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of about 9,000 compounds used to make products such as food packaging, clothing and carpeting water and stain resistant. They are often dubbed “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down and have been found to accumulate in humans.

The chemicals are linked at certain levels to cancer, birth defects, liver disease, thyroid disease, decreased immunity, hormone disruption, and a range of other serious health problems.

Original Submission

Anti-aristarchus writes:

From China, where all the new science seems to be occuring, reported in Gizmodo.

Giant rhinos are among the largest mammals to have ever walked this great Earth, and a newly discovered species that lived in northwest China some 25 million years ago is revealing just how magnificent these creatures were.

Gigantism is a biological trait typically associated with dinosaurs, but natural selection has produced some fairly huge mammals as well. In fact, the largest animal of all time, the blue whale, is a mammal. In terms of large terrestrial mammals, Steppe mammoths were pretty big, as were giant ground sloths, but giant rhinos were likely the biggest.

Several genera of giant rhinos are known, among them Paraceratherium. These extinct hornless rhinos lived primarily in Asia, with fossils spread throughout China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan. The evolutionary history of giant rhinos is a bit vague, however, and paleontologists have struggled to discern their exact proportions owing to an abundance of incomplete fossils. What is clear, however, is that these mammals were very large.

This group can now claim a new member, Paraceratherium linxiaense, as reported in a study published today in Communications Biology. Paleontologist Tao Deng, from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, led the research.

Size?

An Anonymous Coward writes:

WSJ: What Keeps People From Using Password Managers?

No pay wall: https://archive.is/HCtcT

Many of us are vulnerable to hackers and eager to secure our online accounts, but lots of us also refuse to use an obvious solution: password managers.

Why? Our research has found that the typical reassurances and promises about password managers just don’t work. Fortunately, our research also suggests there are strategies that can persuade people to get past the psychological barriers and keep their data safe.

[...] In a study I conducted with my Ph.D. student Norah Alkaldi, we found that the two most common methods of persuasion were ineffective in getting people to adopt password managers. The first is the “push” approach—the idea that by showing people the dangers of using simple passwords, recording passwords on their computer or using the same passwords at different sites, we would push them to adopt a safer approach. Users, we found, don’t respond to the push strategy.

[...] The other, “pull,” approach—focusing on the positives of password managers—didn’t deliver any better results.

[...] We discovered two types of “mooring factors” that keep people from changing their behavior.

[...] First, there was the effort required to enter all your passwords into the password manager.

[...] People also fear they will lose all their passwords if they forget their master password.

Original Submission

Eratosthenes writes:

'Great Dimming' of Betelgeuse star is solved

[...] Two ideas were dominant. Perhaps there was a large cool spot on the surface of the star, because red supergiants like Betelgeuse are known to have very large convective cells that can cause hot spots and cold spots. Or maybe there was a cloud of dust forming right in front of the star as viewed from Earth.

The explanation turns out to be "a bit of both", says colleague Emily Cannon from KU (Katholieke Universiteit) Leuven in Belgium.

"Our overall idea is that there was a cool spot on the star which, because of the local drop in temperature, then caused gas ejected previously to condense into dust," she told BBC News.

Also at Ars Technica, c|net, and CNN.

Journal Reference:
M. Montargès, E. Cannon, E. Lagadec, et al. A dusty veil shading Betelgeuse during its Great Dimming. Nature, 2021; 594 (7863): 365 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03546-8

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

World Bank slams bitcoin, declines to help El Salvador's cryptocurrency plan:

Last week, El Salvador's government passed a law to accept bitcoin as legal tender alongside the US dollar. The country receives $6 billion in remittances per year—nearly a quarter of its gross domestic product—and the hope is that bitcoin's lower transaction costs could boost that amount by a few percentage points.

The move was first proposed by the country's president, Nayib Bukele, who said he hoped that in addition to facilitating lower remittance fees, the bitcoin plan would attract investment and provide an avenue for savings for residents, about 70 percent of whom are unbanked. (What Bukele didn't say, but what Bloomberg has reported, is that he and members of his political party have owned bitcoin for years.)

Original Submission

MostCynical writes:

Channel 9 Australia and the Guardian are reporting major outages of several banks in Australia.

Outages are being reported by CBA, NAB, ANZ, Westpac and St George customers, according to DownDetector.

Virgin Australia has also been affected by the outage.

Twitter users are suggesting that Hosting and CDN provider Akamai is the company experiencing the issues and outages this afternoon. This is a global problem, of course the timezone makes it worst for us.

There is no official word from any impacted banks as to the root cause.

Additional coverage at Reuters and the BBC

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/06/apples-tim-cook-sideloading-is-not-in-the-best-interests-of-the-user/

Apple has been under a mountain of scrutiny lately from legislators, developers, judges, and users. Amidst all that, CEO Tim Cook sat with publication Brut. to discuss Apple's strategy and policies. The short [29m58s] but wide-ranging interview offered some insight into where Apple plans to go in the future.

As is so common when Tim Cook speaks publicly, privacy was a major focus. His response to a question about its importance was the same one we've heard from him many times, "We see it as a basic human right, a fundamental human right," noting that Apple has been focused on privacy for a long time.

[...] But beyond regulations strictly centered on privacy, he wasn't as effusive. "As I look at the tech regulations that's being discussed, I think there are good parts of it and then I think there are parts of it that are not in the best interests of the user," he said.

As an example of the latter, he said that "the current DMA[*] language that is being discussed would force sideloading on the iPhone." He added:

[*] DMA: Digital Markets Act on Wikipedia.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

China space station: Shenzhou-12 delivers first crew to Tianhe module

China has launched three astronauts into orbit to begin occupation of the country's new space station.

The three men - Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo - are to spend three months aboard the Tianhe module some 380km (236 miles) above the Earth.

It will be China's longest crewed space mission to date and the first in nearly five years.

The crew successfully docked with the space station just over seven hours after the launch.

China, Russia reveal roadmap for international moon base

Russia and China unveiled a roadmap for a joint International Lunar Research Station Wednesday to guide collaboration and development of the project.

Chinese and Russian space officials revealed the plans June 16 at the Global Space Exploration (GLEX) conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, stating that the ILRS has received the interest of a number of countries and organizations.

Also at Washington Post.

Previously: Rocket in Place to Send 3 Crew to Chinese Space Station

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/06/ddos-fugitive-commander-x-arrested-in-mexico-extradited-to-us/

A decade after Chris "Commander X" Doyon skipped out on a federal hacking charge and fled the country, the long arm of US law enforcement this week stretched out its hand and plucked him from Mexico City, where he had claimed political asylum. Doyon now faces all of the original charges for coordinating a 2010 High Orbit Ion Cannon (HOIC) DDoS attack on servers belonging to Santa Cruz, California, plus a serious new charge for jumping bail. This has been a surprising turn of events for the homeless hacktivist, who spent his years first in Canada and then in Mexico issuing press releases, hanging out on Twitter, writing a self-published memoir, appearing in documentaries, and meeting up with journalists like me—all without apparent response from the US government.

All that changed on June 11, when Doyon was arrested by Mexican police. This was confirmed by a press release from the US Attorney for the Northern District of California, where Santa Cruz is located, though no details were provided.

(...) The original DDoS incident in Santa Cruz was relatively minor. It was triggered by a new law affecting the homeless community of which Doyon was a part, and it affected Santa Cruz servers for just 30 minutes. The government claimed only a few thousand dollars in damages for investigation and remediation, but the amount was just enough to clear the $5,000 threshold of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, making the DDoS a federal crime.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Aging NASA Hubble Space Telescope hustles to survive latest technical glitch:

The Hubble Space Telescope has spent over three decades scanning the cosmos, bringing us glorious images and data from our universe. The spacecraft is showing its age. The Hubble team is now troubleshooting a problem with the telescope's payload computer -- a piece of hardware built in the 1980s -- that controls its science instruments.

The computer issue cropped up on Sunday. "After analyzing the data, the Hubble operations team is investigating whether a degrading memory module led to the computer halt," NASA said in a statement on Wednesday. Hubble is a joint project from NASA and the European Space Agency.

"After the halt occurred on Sunday, the main computer stopped receiving a 'keep alive' signal, which is a standard handshake between the payload and main spacecraft computers to indicate all is well," NASA said. "The main computer then automatically placed all science instruments in a safe mode configuration."

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Nasty Linux systemd root level security bug revealed and patched:

This obnoxious Linux systemd bug has been fixed, which means if you're running most recent Linux distributions, you'll need to patch it now.

The good news is the seven-year-old security bug in Linux systemd's polkit, used in many Linux distros, has been patched. The bad news is that it was ever there in the first place. Polkit, which systemd uses in place of sudo, enables unauthorized users to run privileged processes they'd otherwise couldn't run. It turned out that you could also abuse polkit to get root access to a system. 

The power to grab root privileges is the ultimate evil in Unix and Linux systems. Kevin Backhouse, a member of the GitHub Security Lab, found the polkit security hole in the course of his duties. He revealed it to the polkit maintainers and Red Hat's security team. Then, when a fix was released on June 3, 2021, it was publicly disclosed as CVE-2021-3560.