SoylentNews

takyon writes:

NASA wants to buy SLS rockets at half price, fly them into the 2050s

NASA has asked the US aerospace industry how it would go about "maximizing the long-term efficiency and sustainability" of the Space Launch System rocket and its associated ground systems.

[...] In its request NASA says it would like to fly the SLS rocket for "30 years or more" as a national capability. Moreover, the agency wants the rocket to become a "sustainable and affordable system for moving humans and large cargo payloads to cislunar and deep-space destinations."

[...] Among the rocket's chief architects was then-Florida Senator Bill Nelson, who steered billions of dollars to Kennedy Space Center in his home state for upgraded ground systems equipment to support the rocket. Back in 2011, he proudly said the rocket would be delivered on time and on budget.

"This rocket is coming in at the cost of... not only what we estimated in the NASA Authorization act, but less," Nelson said at the time. "The cost of the rocket over a five- to six-year period in the NASA authorization bill was to be no more than $11.5 billion. This costs $10 billion for the rocket." Later, he went further, saying, "If we can't do a rocket for $11.5 billion, we ought to close up shop."

After more than 10 years, and more than $30 billion spent on the rocket and its ground systems, NASA has not closed up shop. Rather, Nelson has ascended to become the space agency's administrator.

Previously:

*SPOILER* (click to show) *SPOILER* (click to hide)

Artemis Program Requires More Cash to Reach Moon by 2024; SLS Could Cost 1,000x More Than Starship
NASA OIG: Tell Congress that Moon Rocket is Over Budget and Behind Schedule
NASA Spent a Decade and Nearly $1 Billion for a Single Launch Tower
NASA Will Pay a Staggering $146 Million for Each SLS Rocket Engine
Charlie Bolden Says the Quiet Part Out Loud: SLS Rocket Will Go Away
NASA Lays out $28 Billion Plan to Return Astronauts to the Moon in 2024
NASA SLS Megarocket Shortage Causes Tug-of-war Between Moon Missions, Europa Exploration
SLS: Nasa 'Megarocket' Assembly Begins in Florida
NASA's Europa Clipper has been Liberated from the Space Launch System
After a Decade, NASA's Big Rocket Fails its First Real Test
NASA's Massive Artemis Moon Rocket Set for Second Hot Fire Test Today 1500 EDT (1900 UTC)
NASA Has Begun a Study of the SLS Rocket's Affordability [Updated]
COVID-19 Pandemic Estimated to Cost NASA $3 Billion

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Neutrino result heralds new chapter in physics:

Current theories suggest that, shortly after the Big Bang, there were equal amounts of matter and its shadowy mirror-image anti-matter. However, when matter collides with anti-matter, they violently annihilate each other, releasing energy. If there were equal amounts in the early Universe, they should have cancelled each other out.

Instead, most of the Universe today is made of matter, with much smaller amounts of anti-matter.

Some scientists believe that, contained within the neutrino's flavour-changing, is the cosmic sleight-of-hand that enabled some matter to survive after the Big Bang and create the planets, stars and galaxies that make up the Universe.

In the 1990s, an experiment called the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector experiment at the US Department for Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico saw the production of more electron neutrinos than could be explained by the three-neutrino flavour-flipping theory. That result was confirmed by a separate experiment in 2002.

Physicists proposed the existence of a fourth flavour called the sterile neutrino. They believed this form of the particle could explain the over-production of electron neutrinos and, crucially, give an insight into why the particles change flavour.

chromas writes:

Microsoft now rolling out Windows 11 to more eligible devices:

Microsoft is now rolling out the Windows 11 upgrade to more eligible Windows devices as part of a phased rollout designed to deliver a smooth upgrade experience.

"The availability of Windows 11 has been increased and we are leveraging our latest generation machine learning model to offer the upgrade to an expanded set of eligible devices," Microsoft said in an update to the Windows health dashboard.

[...] Windows 10 users can upgrade to Windows 11 via Windows Update as long as their computers come with compatible hardware.

To install Windows 11 on eligible devices, they also need to run Windows 10 2004 and later and have installed at least the September 2021 updates.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

New product: Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W on sale now at $15

Priced at $15, Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W uses the same Broadcom BCM2710A1 SoC die as the launch version of Raspberry Pi 3, with Arm cores slightly down-clocked to 1GHz, bundled into a single space-saving package alongside 512MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM. The exact performance uplift over Zero varies across workloads, but for multi-threaded sysbench it is almost exactly five times faster.

[...] Next to the large RP3A0 package, you'll find a large metal shield can, which covers the wireless circuitry on the board and protects it from external interference. Like all Raspberry Pi products since 3B+, Zero 2 W has FCC modular certification, which reduces the compliance workload involved in incorporating it into an end product.

The VideoCore IV GPU is unchanged, as is the 512 MB RAM capacity of the original Zero. The wireless chipset may be improved slightly from its new design, and Bluetooth 4.2 is supported. A 5V/2.5A power supply is recommended.

Also at CNX Software and The Register.

Related: Radxa Zero: Raspberry Pi Zero W on Steroids

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Is the air we're breathing reducing sperm counts? Scientists think so:

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have shown how air pollution reduces sperm count in mice, by causing inflammation in the brain.

[...] The whole team of researchers, composed of Ying, Lianglin Qiu, Minjie Chen, Xiaoke Wang and Sufang Chen, tested healthy mice and mice bred without a marker of inflammation in the brain called Inhibitor Kappa B Kinase 2, or IKK2.

Exposing both healthy and IKK2 mutant mice to polluted air, they observed the effects and then tested their sperm counts.

The outcome was clear: the mice bred without the IKK2 inflammation marker in their neurons did not see any reduction in their sperm counts, unlike the healthy mice.

As a second step in the study, the researchers then removed IKK2 markers from specific neurons in order to determine more precisely how air pollution was leading to lower sperm counts.

They found that one specific kind of neuron typically associated with the sleep cycle and obesity was responsible for the reduced sperm count due to air pollution.

These neurons are typically found in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain which controls hunger, thirst, and sex drive.

The hypothalamus also works with the brain’s pituitary gland, which makes hormones that communicate directly with reproductive organs.

Journal Reference:
Lianglin Qiu, Minjie Chen, Xiaoke Wang, et al. PM2.5 Exposure of Mice during Spermatogenesis: A Role of Inhibitor κB Kinase 2 in Pro-Opiomelanocortin Neurons, Environmental Health Perspectives (DOI: https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/EHP8868)

Original Submission

dalek writes:

As expected, the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) recommended to amend the emergency use authorization for Comirnaty, Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, for use by children of ages 5 to 11. The vote was 17-0 with one committee member abstaining. The committee was concerned about the possible side effect of myocarditis in children and the lack of data about its frequency. However, the committee decided the benefits from vaccination outweighed possible safety risks. This is based on a clinical trial involving 2,268 children, of which two-thirds were given the vaccine while the other third was given a placebo. During the clinical trial, 16 children who received the placebo developed COVID-19 compared with three children who were vaccined and became symptomatic with COVID-19, which is an efficacy of 91% at preventing symptomatic COVID-19.

Some committee members expressed concern that the clinical trial was too small to properly quantify the risks of myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart. Children will receive two doses spaced three weeks apart, each containing 10 micrograms of mRNA, which is a third of the dosage given to adults. Here is the briefing document submitted to VRBPAC by Pfizer containing results of the clinical trials of Comirnaty in young children. The document specifically notes that myocarditis is associated with COVID-19 in children:

takyon writes:

Intel 12th Gen Core Alder Lake for Desktops: Top SKUs Only, Coming November 4th

The first things we'll go into are the new CPUs that Intel is announcing today: the overclockable models of Intel 12th Gen Core. As with previous launches, we have Core i9, Core i7, and Core i5, with the key highlights including new support for DDR5, PCIe Gen 5, new overclocking features, and a change in how Intel is promoting its Thermal Design Power (TDP).[*]

Each processor has a number of performance cores (P-cores) and efficiency cores (E-cores). The P-cores have SMT, whereas the E-cores do not, so we're dealing with non-standard numbers of total threads. Inside the system, the P-core threads, E-core threads, and SMT threads are categorized for performance and efficiency, which we'll get to later in the article. But with a new hybrid design also comes with new ways to showcase frequencies, and each set of cores will have its own base frequency and turbo frequency. The way power is marketed and used has also changed, designed to be clearer.

All processors will come with 16 lanes of PCIe 5.0 from the processor, and an additional 4 lanes of PCIe 4.0 for storage. Memory support is listed as both DDR5-4800 and DDR4-3200, although systems will only support one or the other, for a maximum of 128 GB. The K processors also feature 32 EUs of Intel's Xe-LP graphics, designated as UHD Graphics 770. Prices will start at $264 for the base Core i5 model, up to $589 for the top Core i9 model.

[*] This is the table:

gsomlo writes:

Missing hiker ignored calls from rescuers because it was an unknown number:

Lake County Search and Rescue [(LCSAR)] says it got a report last week that a hiker hadn't returned from a hike on Mount Elbert. The hiker had set out at 9 a.m. on October 18 and wasn't back at 8 p.m., LCSAR said in a post on its Facebook page.

Rescuers tried to call the person's cell phone multiple times, but weren't able to reach them.

Five LCSAR team members looked for the hiker in areas where people tend to get lost, but called off the search at 3 a.m. A three-person search team checked another area at 7 a.m.

They got a call at about 9:30 a.m. that the hiker, who was not identified, had returned to where they were staying.

The hiker had no idea that rescuers were looking for them, the post said.

"One notable take-away is that the subject ignored repeated phone calls from us because they didn't recognize the number," LCSAR wrote. "If you're overdue according to your itinerary, and you start getting repeated calls from an unknown number, please answer the phone; it may be a SAR team trying to confirm you're safe!"

Umm, ok, but why not leave a message if the callee doesn't answer? :)

Original Submission

DannyB writes:

From SparkFun, A Patent Troll Backs Off:

We scared them off... this time.

You can read our first post about this troll and other forms of extortion here.

Lesson #1) Find an attorney that’s as pissed about this as you are. [...] I had emailed the EFF on a Hail Mary and to my surprise, got a response! EFF

Lesson #2) Fight like hell. Every time a company settles it just funds the trolls to wreak more havoc.

[...] A good attorney will be able to dig up all sorts of patents that pre-date the troll’s patent. Here is our counterclaim response and affirmative defense to the original lawsuit. Things of note in the affirmative defense is the provenance of the patent ownership in Counterclaim 3: Failure to Mark.

[...] Things of note: Altair Logix was formed June 12, 2018, or three months after the patent expired on February 27th, 2018. Patents are really screwed up investment vehicles that change value over time. In this case, Jason, smelling potential money, purchased an expired patent ‘434 from Huawei and then formed a shell company to start suing people.

From the link in the article text above, here is a bit more about what it is about:

Sal is basically saying, "Hey there. We noticed you have a website. We have patents that deal with websites. We’ve managed to (supposedly) shake-down Foot Locker and Northern Tool. You should probably call us to discuss this.”

Original Submission

upstart writes:

A breakdown in communication: Mitochondria of diabetic patients can’t keep time:

Almost all cells regulate their biological processes over a 24-hour period, otherwise called a cell's circadian rhythm. To do so, cells use a biological clock that cycles different genes on and off throughout the day and night. Scientists already know that our metabolic health can suffer when our biological clock breaks down, due to shift work or sleep disorders, for example. However, it's unclear how exactly the biological clock of people with type 2 diabetes differs from healthy people.

Now a team of international scientists has shown that the skeletal muscle in people with type 2 diabetes has a different circadian rhythm. They argue that this might arise because of a communication breakdown between a cell's time keeping molecules and mitochondria, which produce chemical energy for cells.

[...] Some of the most widely used pharmacological treatments for type 2 diabetes affect mitochondria, meaning that they may work differently depending on the time of day they are taken. As a result, these findings highlight the importance of considering cellular rhythms when prescribing treatments for type 2 diabetes.

Journal Reference:
Brendan M. Gabriel, Ali Altıntaş, Jonathon A. B. Smith, et aj. Disrupted circadian oscillations in type 2 diabetes are linked to altered rhythmic mitochondrial metabolism in skeletal muscle, Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abi9654)

Original Submission

AnonTechie writes:

NASA is planning an interstellar mission that could last more than 100 years:

When the famous Voyager twin spacecraft left Earth in the 1970s, their mission was originally meant to last only five years. Although they’re 14 billion and 11 billion miles, respectively, away from Earth, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are continuing to provide invaluable scientific data.

However, the Voyager twins can’t go on forever. Scientists estimate that the last instruments onboard the spacecraft will shut down by 2031 at the latest, if some malfunction doesn’t happen before then. This is why NASA wants a replacement — and this time, this new interstellar mission will be designed to run for a long time from the get-go. In fact, scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) who have been tasked with designing the new mission, believe this Voyager successor could function for more than a century.

The new project, known as the Interstellar Probe, could launch sometime in the 2030s. It’s meant to travel faster and farther than any man made object has and probably ever will in the foreseeable future. While still in the solar system, the plan is for the spacecraft to visit one or more of the 130 known dwarf planets in the outer reaches of the solar system. There are some clues that some of these icy worlds may have formed as ocean worlds.

AnonTechie writes:

Sandia Labs shows advanced wayfinding tech could finally become compact and fieldable:

Sandia Labs shows advanced wayfinding tech could finally become compact, fieldable

For over a year, the avocado-sized vacuum chamber has contained a cloud of atoms at the right conditions for precise navigational measurements. It is the first device that is small, energy-efficient and reliable enough to potentially move quantum sensors — sensors that use quantum mechanics to outperform conventional technologies — from the lab into commercial use, said Sandia National Laboratories scientist Peter Schwindt.

Sandia developed the chamber as a core technology for future navigation systems that don’t rely on GPS satellites, he said. It was described earlier this year in the journal AVS Quantum Science.

Countless devices around the world use GPS for wayfinding. It’s possible because atomic clocks, which are known for extremely accurate timekeeping, hold the network of satellites perfectly in sync.

But GPS signals can be jammed or spoofed, potentially disabling navigation systems on commercial and military vehicles alike, Schwindt said.

So instead of relying on satellites, Schwindt said future vehicles might keep track of their own position. They could do that with on-board devices as accurate as atomic clocks, but that measure acceleration and rotation by shining lasers into small clouds of rubidium gas like the one Sandia has contained.

Also at phys.org

Journal Reference:
Bethany J. Little, Gregory W. Hoth, Justin Christensen, et al. A passively pumped vacuum package sustaining cold atoms for more than 200 days, AVS Quantum Science (DOI: 10.1116/5.0053885)

Original Submission

DannyB writes:

SpaceX needs to tame toilet trouble before weekend launch:

The company and NASA want to make sure the toilet leaks won’t compromise the capsule launching early Sunday from Kennedy Space Center or another one that’s been parked at the International Space Station since April.

During SpaceX’s first private flight last month, a tube came unglued, spilling urine onto fans and beneath the floor, said William Gerstenmaier, a SpaceX vice president who used to work for NASA. The same problem was recently discovered inside the Dragon capsule at the space station, he told reporters Monday night.

As a permanent fix, SpaceX has welded on the urine-flushing tube that's inside the company's newest capsule, named Endurance by its U.S.-German crew. NASA isn't quite finished reviewing the last-minute fix.

SpaceX To Launch On Halloween If It Tames Toilet Trouble:

[...] As for the Dragon capsule in orbit, less urine pooled beneath the floor panels than the one that carried a billionaire and three others on a three-day flight, Gerstenmaier said. That’s because the NASA-led crew only spent a day living in it before arriving at the space station.

SpaceX is conducting tests to make sure the spilled liquid didn’t weaken the orbiting capsule during the past six months, Gerstenmaier said. Any structural damage could endanger astronauts during their flight back to Earth next month. The final tests should be completed later this week, he noted.

A project to make the space toilet from Iron, Carbon and Aluminum could be called project FeCAl.

See also:
SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endurance arrives at rocket hangar in awesome photos

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

FCC kicks China Telecom Americas out of US, cites Chinese government control:

The Federal Communications Commission today voted to block China Telecom Americas from the US market, saying that the "US subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned enterprise" is "subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government." The telco "is highly likely to be forced to comply with Chinese government requests without sufficient legal procedures subject to independent judicial oversight," the FCC said.

The vote was 4-0 with both Democrats and both Republicans approving the order to revoke and terminate China Telecom's Section 214 authority to operate in the US. The FCC said its order "directs China Telecom Americas to discontinue any domestic or international services that it provides pursuant to its Section 214 authority within sixty days following the release of the order."

Original Submission

looorg writes:

Followup for the previous story about facial recognition for pupils in school to get their food.

Nine schools in North Ayrshire have paused use of facial recognition technology days after introducing it, following UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) inquiries.

[...] Separately, Prof Fraser Sampson, biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner for England and Wales, told the BBC that he expected public services contemplating the use of facial recognition to think carefully before "deciding to use a measure as obviously intrusive as facial recognition".

[...] On Friday, North Ayrshire Council tweeted that it had decided to temporarily pause the facial recognition system in secondary schools, having received a number of inquiries about the technology.

I guess there was a bit of a big brother backlash after it became known and the project is now on pause. Or they won't use the entire system but just the fingerprint part, not fingerprint and face scan.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-59037346

Original Submission