Tag Archives: team

Discover NASA’s Artemis II Moon Mission Astronauts: Meet the Team Leading Our Lunar Exploration

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Three highly skilled NASA astronauts are embarking on an exciting mission into space. Reed Wiseman, a former Navy officer who transitioned to astronaut status in 2009, brings significant experience, having spent six months aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in 2014.

Reed Wiseman and daughters.
Provided by Reid Wiseman

Since the passing of his wife in 2020, Wiseman has taken on the challenging role of raising two children as a single parent. He acknowledges the stress that comes with being an astronaut, noting that the thrill of the mission is often tempered by the sacrifices it demands from their families.

“I’m a dedicated single father to two daughters,” he shared with NBC’s “TODAY” during a candid interview with fellow crew members. “While it might be easier to relax on the couch with a football game, the reality is that we have four individuals ready to undertake extraordinary and groundbreaking explorations in our civilization.”

Wiseman expressed hope that the outcomes of this monumental mission will validate the sacrifices made by the families of the crew.

“We often look toward the moon and proudly state, ‘We’ve been there.’ However, for this generation—both current and future, known as the Artemis generation—they will look at the moon and proudly declare, ‘We are there,'” he emphasized.

A pendant featuring Jeremy Hansen’s family birthstones accompanied by the engraving “Moon and Back”.
Provided by Jeremy Hansen

Each astronaut will carry personal tokens on their historic flights around the moon. Wiseman and Koch will carry letters from their families, while Grover plans to bring a Bible, wedding ring, and a cherished heirloom for his daughters. Hansen will carry a moon pendant featuring his family’s birthstone and the phrase “Moon and Back.” These items serve as meaningful mementos and ways for the astronauts to connect their families to the journey.

Koch, a veteran of profound space missions, holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, having spent a remarkable 328 days on the ISS in 2019. Alongside fellow astronaut Jessica Meir, she made history with NASA’s first all-female spacewalk.

Christina Koch with her husband and dog.
Provided by: Christina Koch

Koch expressed her contentment about not participating in another significant milestone, stating her excitement for her colleagues who are set to leave footprints on the lunar surface.

“I’m genuinely thrilled to see familiar faces taking steps toward walking on the moon. However, if that is not my destiny, I am completely at peace with it,” Koch mentioned, noting NASA has yet to assign a crew for the Artemis III mission.

Victor Glover with his family.
Provided by: Victor Glover

In a similar vein, Grover previously participated in a historic flight, flying the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to the ISS in 2020. Glover, a former U.S. Navy captain and test pilot, was transitioned from his position in the U.S. Senate when he was selected for NASA’s astronaut program in 2013. Grover and his wife are parents to four children.

Hansen, marking his spaceflight debut, is set to become the first Canadian to explore lunar terrain. A graduate of the Canadian Space Agency’s astronaut program in 2009, he previously served as a fighter pilot and colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces.

With three children, Hansen highlighted the camaraderie that has developed among the crew, remarking that they’ve formed a familial bond through years of intense training together.

Jeremy Hansen with his family.
Provided by Jeremy Hansen

The upcoming Artemis II launch will be only the second deployment of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket paired with the Orion capsule. The inaugural launch, Artemis I, conducted an unmanned mission that circled the moon over three years ago.

Wiseman, Koch, Grover, and Hansen view this mission as a crucial stepping stone towards the Artemis III ambition, which aims to land four astronauts near the moon’s polar regions in 2027. Throughout their mission, the crew will practice docking procedures in Earth orbit, conduct scientific experiments, and evaluate various systems inside the Orion capsule, serving as a trial run for a forthcoming lunar landing.

“To us, achieving success is synonymous with landing on the moon during Artemis III,” Koch stated. “Success is always Artemis 100. Everything we do is centered around that.”

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Unusual Events on the Moon: Our Team is Left Scratching Their Heads

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A recent study by NASA has uncovered an unexpected and curious fact about the moon’s deep interior.

Utilizing data from the Grail Spacecraft, researchers found that the side of the moon facing Earth is “bending” more than the far side, indicating a remarkably unstable internal structure between the two hemispheres.

“We have long believed the moon to be spherically symmetrical deep down, so encountering clear evidence to the contrary was both surprising and challenging,” said Dr. Ryan Park, the study’s lead author and head of the Solar System Dynamics Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as reported by BBC Science Focus.

Published in Nature, the study reveals that the moon visible from Earth deforms more significantly under the gravitational influence of Earth than on its far side, measured using ultra-precision gravity techniques.

This finding relies on a metric known as the “Love number,” which quantifies the extent to which a celestial body deforms due to tidal forces. After nearly a decade of intricate calculations involving millions of parameters, the team found that the Love number was approximately 72% greater than what would be expected for a symmetrically spherical moon.

“When we first calculated higher Love numbers than anticipated, our team was genuinely perplexed,” Park noted. However, the calculations confirmed it: the moon exhibits instability both internally and externally.

These views of the near and far side of the moon are compiled from observations by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. -NASA/JPL-Caltech

The cause? The mantle on the near side is warmer and less rigid compared to the far side, attributed to radioactive heating early in the moon’s history.

This phenomenon is likely due to ancient geological activities. The near side contains a significantly higher concentration of radioactive materials, including up to 10 times more thorium. These elements emit heat as they decay.

Billion years ago, this heat led to the formation of pockets of partially melted rock, sparking massive volcanic eruptions. These eruptions resurfaced the near side with dark plains known as “Mare,” while the far side remained rugged and cratered.

This study generates the most comprehensive gravity map of the moon to date. Future missions, such as NASA’s Artemis program, aim to enhance navigation on the lunar surface and aid in developing lunar navigation systems.

Looking to other regions of the solar system, Park plans to apply a similar methodology to investigate the metal-rich asteroid Psyche and the icy moons of Jupiter, particularly Europa.

“The most astonishing aspect was how pronounced the asymmetry was,” Park added. “This compelled us to examine the intricacies of the moon’s thermal and structural evolution, ultimately yielding new insights into how the moon—and potentially other celestial bodies—develop internal disparities over billions of years.”

Read more:

About our experts

Ryan Park is the supervisor of the Solar System Dynamics Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. His research has been featured in prestigious journals, including Science, Journal of Astrophysics, and Nature.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Introducing the New England Team Dedicated to Seal Conservation

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Block Island, Rhode Island – The enigmatic aquarium animal rescue team is busier than ever.

With binoculars in hand, Program Manager Sarah Curran surveys the coastline, facing an increasing problem on Block Island.

When fishing gear, litter, or balloons entangle a gray seal’s neck, these marine mammals, which can weigh over 800 pounds, may suffer serious injuries or even death as the restraints tighten.

Thus far this year, Connecticut nonprofits have reported 20 tangled gray seals, surpassing the usual count recorded by Mystic each year.

Curran affectionately dubbed one of the seals “anxiety.”

Intertwined stickers.
Mysterious aquarium

NBC News has been granted rare access to follow Mystic’s collaboration with the Atlantic Marine Conservation Association and the Brock Island Maritime Institute, which recently formed.

Curran and her team navigated around a group of seal pups basking at the water’s edge. They skillfully separated the entangled pups and dashed on bright red boards to capture them with precision and speed.

Once a pup was secured, the team worked quickly to attach a tracker for research and freed it from the fishing net constricting its neck.

“We can release stickers today and avoid the need to transport them to the clinic for rehabilitation,” said Curran, who leads the effort. “The sooner you can intervene, the better the chances of recovery.”

This team previously photographed a seal pup stuck with a plastic object in downtown New Haven, Connecticut, in February. The pup, with its big eyes and gentle whine, captured the public’s heart and even received the name “Chappy” through a voting contest.

Unfortunately, Chappy’s story didn’t have a happy ending. In a statement online, Mystic reported that pieces of plastic were found in his stomach, highlighting the dangers that marine debris, particularly plastic, poses to marine life.

Some estimates indicate that plastic pollution claims the lives of over 100,000 marine mammals annually.

“The number of animals interacting with human debris in their early months of life is quite alarming,” Curran stated.

In this ongoing battle, Mystic remains undeterred.

The team celebrated as the seals returned to the sea, now freed from the constraining nets.

“It’s a special moment to give these animals a second chance at life,” Curran remarked. “It’s truly rewarding to witness.”

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Podcast Picks of the Week: Everything You Need to Know About Donald Trump’s New Top Team

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This week’s picks

Legacy: Charles Dickens
Wondery, weekly episodes
This week, we recommend listening to the fascinating stories of Charles Dickens, the Godfather of Christmas. Afua Hirsch’s latest podcast subject and Peter Frankopan’s biographical series shed light on both the successes and struggles of this Victorian novelist. Despite his literary achievements and social impact, Dickens faced financial difficulties, rumored scandals, and publisher disputes. Holly Richardson

Dateline: Deadly Mirage
2 episodes per week, widely available
Discover the chilling tale of how a supposed “happiest place” in California turned into a crime scene. With thorough investigative reporting, Dateline uncovers the shocking events leading up to the tragic murders in this gripping six-part series. Hannah Verdier

Afua Hirsch, one half of the Legacy Podcast. Photo: Cheese Scientist/Alamy

promenade
Wide range of weekly episodes available
Step into the world of short, evocative audio pieces with Promenade. Explore diverse narratives, from encounters with Paul McCartney’s barber to intimate reflections by Louise O’Neill, in this third season of captivating storytelling. HV

Watch Dogs: The Truth
Audible, all episodes now available
Immerse yourself in a thrilling audio drama featuring AI, government surveillance, and audience interaction. Join the stellar cast, including Russell Tovey and Freema Agyemang, as you navigate a world of fake news and civil liberties at stake. HV

President Trump’s conditions
Wide range of weekly episodes available
Stay informed about the latest political developments with this NPR podcast, delving into the intricacies of power dynamics and pressing issues in the new administration. From abortion rights to campaign strategies, get a comprehensive look at the issues shaping our world today. HV

There’s a podcast for that

Pod Poetry…George Mpanga, better known as Poet George. Photo: Suki Dhanda/Observer

Rachel Aroesti select the top five experimental podcastsfrom personal poetry to unconventional interview formats.

internal organs
Explore a unique audio zine format with “Offal,” a podcast that challenges traditional podcast delivery. Dive into a mix of eerie apocalypse dramas, cultural satire, and haunting soundscapes created by feeding AI scripts. Expect a captivating blend of horror, sketch comedy, and immersive storytelling.

Have you listened to George’s podcast?
Immerse yourself in the enchanting world of poetry with George the Poet’s thought-provoking series. Through rhyming couplets and evocative soundscapes, George delves into profound topics like black trauma in pop culture and personal reflections on identity and ambition. HV

11th
Experience a dynamic podcast series that surprises you with each new episode. From anthologies to unique audio experiences, “11th” offers a diverse range of content, including personal stories, audio dramas, and intriguing explorations that keep listeners engaged.

everything is alive
Delve into the world of inanimate objects with “Everything is Alive,” a heartwarming and humorous podcast that brings everyday items to life. Through quirky interviews and imaginative storytelling, this podcast offers a fresh perspective on the world around us.

80,000 steps
Embark on a unique listening experience with “80,000 Steps,” an immersive podcast that can only be accessed through a specialized pedometer app. This series unfolds compelling immigrant and refugee narratives against the backdrop of a walking journey, inspired by personal stories of resilience and exploration.

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More about this…

Challengers is one of the films that the podcast Ordinary Unhappiness studies using psychoanalytic theory. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Photo

Explore thought-provoking podcasts that delve into psychoanalytic studies, lost music, cultural influences, and personal stories. Ammar Kalia presents the top picks to stimulate your mind and spark new insights.

name drop
Dive into the impact of names with engaging storytelling that highlights the significance of personal names and their societal implications. Discover the power and complexities behind names in a captivating series that explores identity and self-expression.

Have you heard of this?
Uncover hidden music gems and untold stories in the vast landscape of the music industry. Delve into the rich history of music with immersive storytelling and investigative journalism that reveals overlooked artists and musical legacies.

complete english
Reimagine British cuisine and its sociocultural significance with Chef Louis Bassett’s illuminating podcast. Explore the evolution of British culinary traditions, from historical influences to contemporary food trends, in a series that invites you to savor the complexities of British gastronomy.

What on earth is my job?
Embark on a journey through diverse career experiences with candid narratives of everyday work life. From quirky job roles to personal anecdotes, this podcast offers a light-hearted look at the joys and challenges of different professions.

ordinary misfortune
Explore the depths of pop culture and politics through a psychoanalytic lens with “Ordinary Unhappiness.” Delve into the subconscious influences that shape media consumption and societal trends in this compelling podcast that analyzes cultural phenomena with depth and insight.

Why not try it…

  • intersectionExperience the intersection of men’s and women’s soccer in a captivating podcast by former England captain Steph Houghton and Arsenal hero Ian Wright.

  • best idea everUncover the fascinating stories behind game-changing innovations, from Happy Meals to Jacuzzis, in this intriguing podcast series.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Tim Walz and AOC team up for epic soccer showdown on Twitch to win over young male voters

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Vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced on Sunday that they will be playing American football as part of their efforts to secure votes from young people, just nine days before the White House election. The game was streamed live on Twitch.

Ocasio-Cortez and Walz will compete in the latest Madden game series as Democrats aim to regain control of the House of Representatives, maintain a Senate majority, and challenge Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election. They also emphasized the importance of Kamala Harris’s victory.

“While we may not all share the same beliefs, defeating Trump this year is our main priority,” said Ocasio-Cortez.

Ocasio-Cortez criticized President Trump as an authoritarian ruler and a facist supported by special interests who are exacerbating the ongoing climate crisis. She also condemned the billionaire owners of the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post for not allowing their editorial teams to endorse Harris over Trump.

During the broadcast, Ocasio-Cortez also called out comedian Tony Hinchcliffe for making derogatory comments about Puerto Rico at a Trump rally.

Ocasio-Cortez and Walz decided to play Madden together a few weeks ago, as Walz had previous experience with the game and had worked as a football coach.

Following a recent NBC news investigation, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is leading Donald Trump among young male registered voters.

Despite their lead, Democrats have historically struggled with public opinion during past election cycles. The Trump campaign recently criticized the former president during a three-hour appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, which primarily attracts young male viewers.

Sunday’s event with Ocasio-Cortez followed her initial appearance on Twitch, which was one of the platform’s most-watched events at the time.

Harris’s campaign strategy also focuses on targeting young people, with ads on sports gambling platforms such as DraftKings and Yahoo Sports.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Thom Yorke and Julianne Moore team up with AI to connect with creative minds

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Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus, actor Julianne Moore, Radiohead singer Thom Yorke and others have expressed concerns to artificial intelligence companies regarding the unauthorized use of their work, stating that it poses a “serious and unwarranted threat” to artists’ livelihoods. They are part of a group of 10,500 individuals who have signed a statement from the creative industry as a warning.

This issue arises amidst a legal dispute between creative professionals and technology companies over the use of copyrighted material to train AI models like ChatGPT. The argument being made is that using intellectual property without permission is a violation of copyright and artists’ rights.

The statement emphasizes the detrimental impact of unauthorized use of creative works on the livelihood of creators and advocates against allowing it. Notable individuals across literature, music, film, theater, and television have lent their support to this cause.

The statement was organized by British composer and former AI executive Ed Newton Rex, who highlighted the significant concern for individuals dependent on their creative endeavors for a living.

Newton-Rex outlined the key resources required by generative AI companies to build AI models, emphasizing the need for obtaining training data legally and not exploiting copyrighted content without proper permissions.

He also criticized the notion of calling copyright material “training data,” stating that it devalues the creative effort put into writing, art, music, and other forms of artistic expression.

The statement resonates with creators who have faced legal battles with AI companies over copyright infringement, including prominent writers and music industry entities.

Newton-Rex further cautioned against proposals for an “opt-out” system for content scraping in the UK, citing potential harm to creators who may not be aware of such mechanisms.

He suggested that an opt-in system would be more equitable for creators, rather than placing the burden of opting out on individuals undergoing AI training.

The statement received support from various organizations and companies in the creative sector, highlighting the collective concern over copyright issues in the digital age.

Overall, the statement and its signatories underscore the need for careful consideration of copyright laws and fair treatment of creators in the evolving landscape of AI technology.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Hubble Space Telescope and New Horizons team up to study Uranus

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In a new study, astronomers compared high-resolution images of Uranus from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope with more distant views from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. Their results could serve as “ground truth” observations to use as a baseline for interpreting exoplanet direct imaging data from future observatories.

In this image, two three-dimensional shapes of Uranus (top) are compared to the actual views of Uranus from Hubble (bottom left) and New Horizons (bottom right). Image credits: NASA/ESA/STScI/Samantha Hasler, MIT/Amy Simon, NASA-GSFC/New Horizons Planetary Science Theme Team/Joseph DePasquale, STScI/Joseph Olmsted, STScI.

Direct imaging of exoplanets is an important technique for understanding their potential habitability and provides new clues to the origin and formation of our own solar system.

Astronomers use both direct imaging and spectroscopy to collect light from observed planets and compare their brightness at different wavelengths.

However, exoplanets are notoriously difficult to image because they are so far away.

Their images are just pinpoints, so they aren’t as detailed as our close-up view of the world around the sun.

Astronomers can also directly image exoplanets only in “partial phase,” when only part of the planet is illuminated by its star as seen from Earth.

Uranus was an ideal target as a test to understand future long-range observations of exoplanets by other telescopes for several reasons.

First, many known exoplanets are gas giants with similar properties. Also, at the time of the observation, New Horizons was on the far side of Uranus, 10.5 billion kilometers (6.5 billion miles) away, and was able to study the twilight crescent moon. This is not possible from Earth.

At that distance, New Horizons’ view of the planet was just a few pixels wide of its color camera (Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera).

Meanwhile, Hubble’s high resolution allowed it to see atmospheric features such as clouds and storms on the dayside of the gas world from its low orbit, 2.7 billion kilometers (1.7 billion miles) from Uranus. .

Samantha Hassler, an astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said: “We expected Uranus to look different depending on the observation filter, but New Horizons data taken from different perspectives actually show that Uranus looks different than expected.'' It turned out to be much darker than that.”

The gas giant planets in our solar system have dynamic and variable atmospheres with changing cloud cover. How common is this in exoplanets?

Knowing the details of what Uranus’ clouds looked like from Hubble will allow researchers to test what they can interpret from New Horizons’ data.

In the case of Uranus, both Hubble and New Horizons observed that the brightness does not change as the planet rotates. This indicates that the cloud characteristics are not changing due to the rotation of the planet.

But the significance of New Horizons’ detection has to do with how the planet reflects light at a different phase than what Hubble and other observatories on or near Earth can see.

New Horizons showed that exoplanets can be dimmer than predicted at partial and high phase angles, and that their atmospheres reflect light differently at partial phase.

“The groundbreaking New Horizons study of Uranus from a vantage point that cannot be observed by any other means adds to the mission’s treasure trove of new scientific knowledge and, like many other data sets obtained on the mission, will Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of New Horizons and Research Scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, said:

“NASA’s next Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to launch by 2027, will use a coronagraph to block out starlight and directly observe gas giant exoplanets,” Hassler said. Ta.

“NASA’s Habitable World Observatory, in its early planning stages, will be the first telescope specifically designed to search for biosignatures in the atmospheres of rocky Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars. .”

“Studying how known benchmarks like Uranus appear in distant images will help us have more solid expectations as we prepare for these future missions. And it will help our It’s critical to success.”

Scientists are result this week’s DPS56Annual Meeting of the Planetary Science Division of the American Astronomical Society.

_____

S. Hassler others. 2024. Observations of Uranus at high phase angles by New Horizons Ralph/MVIC. DPS56

This article has been adapted from the original release by NASA.

Source: www.sci.news

Review: Team Asobi’s 3D Platformer Astro Bot Showcases Brilliant Ideas, Achieving Masterpiece Status

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circleTo mention that Astro Bot brings back memories of Super Mario Galaxy is a high compliment. It’s not because it’s a copy, but rather due to the abundance of new ideas that positions this game as one of Nintendo’s top 3D platformers. Traveling around a small galaxy filled with asteroid-style levels, from bathhouses to diorama-sized jungle temples to rainy islands. Each level is brimming with innovative one-shot concepts, like frog boxing gloves, backpack monkeys, and a time-stopping clock that freezes giant speeding darts for you to navigate around. The creativity of this development team truly shines in this game.

Team Asobi, known for producing Rescue Mission for PSVR and the short game Astro’s Playroom packaged with the PS5 at launch, now presents a full-length game with bonus difficulty levels that serve as a stimulating challenge for fans of 3D platforming. The game is incredibly enjoyable and distinct thanks to the lovable blue-and-white robot and its quirky friends, many of whom are dressed as characters from obscure PlayStation worlds. The meticulous attention to detail in these robots, from their movements, expressions, dance sequences, to their tiny pleas for help when in distress, exudes personality.

In Astro’s Playroom, you explore levels inspired by the speed of the SSD and the graphic processing unit’s visual flair, housed within the PlayStation 5 itself. The visual design of the environments is tech-themed, featuring trees made of tangled wires and computer-chip-like patterns decorating every surface. Astro Bot maintains a similar aesthetic while extending beyond it.

In this adventure, your PS5 acts as a robot mothership that crash-lands on a desert planet, dispersing numerous robots across the galaxy. As the lone surviving robot, you journey into each level aboard a rescue ship shaped like your PS5 controller to reunite your allies and reconstruct your robotic crew back home.




An astrobot riding a PS5 controller-shaped ship. Photo: Sony/Team Asobi

At the conclusion of each planetary cluster, a boss reminiscent of a slapstick cartoon is encountered, guarding a section of your spaceship. You then engage in cleaning and reassembling that section using a massive robotic arm, strategically pulling triggers and tilting the controller to clear away debris, cut ice chunks, and align pieces. This interactive process is incredibly fun and tactile, emphasizing the unique and sometimes eccentric aspects of the PS5 controller. Various features of the controller, from the small microphone to the touchpad, are ingeniously utilized in Astro Bot’s gameplay. The protagonist searches for weak spots along walls, clinging to his ship as you navigate through space by tilting the controller like a steering wheel.

The developers’ profound understanding of the PlayStation 5 is evident. Whether constructing a bridge with 100 robots on-screen, witnessing landscapes shattering into tiny fragments, or careening down a waterslide accompanied by inflatable balls, the gameplay is seamless and responsive. Whether testing if a log floats by slicing it with Astro’s jetpack or feeling the impact of each action through vibrations in the controller, every detail is finely tuned. Astro’s movements, jumps, and maneuvers are flawless, showcasing the level of precision in the game. This attention to detail sets this game apart, offering players a luxurious experience akin to five-star service.




The Astro Bot puts Frog’s boxing gloves to good use. Photo: Sony/Team Asobi

Another aspect I appreciate about Astro Bot is its suitability for playing with children. While lacking two-player co-op, it functions well as a game to pass the controller among players. My 7-year-old enjoyed watching me play, while my 5-year-old explored safe areas of levels and handed me the controller when faced with challenges.

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Some planets in Astro Bot feature hub areas resembling enclosed playgrounds where players can engage in activities like kicking a ball, battling harmless enemies, jumping into pools, and taking on acrobatic challenges. My kids found the setting charming and dynamic, with references to classic PlayStation games like Uncharted, God of War, and Ape Escape scattered throughout.

Astro Bot, akin to Astro’s Playroom, pays homage to PlayStation’s history and design while expanding beyond a mere tech demo to establish itself as one of the top platform games in recent memory. It truly stands out as one of the finest platform games I’ve had the pleasure of playing. Until now There have been many games I’ve experienced, but being a 90s kid, I’ve played my fair share. The PlayStation hasn’t seen a captivating family game since LittleBigPlanet, and Astro Bot carries on that tradition of playful humor.

Astro Bot is set to release on September 6th, priced at £54.99.

Source: www.theguardian.com

“Hackers from UK and US team up to take down Rockbit criminal organization” – Cybercrime

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Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) seized control of international ransomware group LockBit’s “command and control” infrastructure on Tuesday in a major law enforcement operation. The NCA plans to reuse its technology to expose the group’s activities to the world.

The joint operation by the NCA, FBI, Europol, and an international coalition of law enforcement agencies was revealed in a post on Rockbit’s own website. The post stated, “This site is currently under the control of the UK National Crime Agency, working closely with the FBI and international law enforcement agency Operation Kronos.”

Two people associated with LockBit were arrested in Poland and Ukraine, and two defendants believed to be related to the company were arrested and charged in the United States. Two more names have been released, but the Russian nationals are still at large. Authorities also froze more than 200 cryptocurrency accounts associated with the criminal organization.

According to the NCA, the disruption to LockBit operations is much more extensive than initially revealed. The agency not only seized control of the public website but also controlled Rockbit’s primary administrative environment, the management, and deployment of the hacking techniques it used to extort companies and individuals around the world. They also took control of the enabling infrastructure.

“Through close collaboration, we hacked the hackers. We took control of the infrastructure, seized the source code, and obtained keys to help victims decrypt their systems,” said NCA Director General Graham Biggar.

“As of today, LockBit is locked out. We have undermined the ability of a group that relied on secrecy and anonymity, and most importantly its credibility.”

The organization pioneered the ‘ransomware-as-a-service’ model, outsourcing the actual target selection and attack to a network of semi-independent ‘affiliates’, providing the tools and infrastructure, and paying ransom fees in return.

While ransomware typically works by encrypting data on an infected machine and demanding payment for the decryption key, LockBit copies the stolen data and releases it publicly if the fee is not paid. They threatened to do so and promised to delete the copies once the ransom was received.

However, the NCA said that promise was false. Some of the data found on LockBit’s systems belonged to victims who paid the ransom.

Home Secretary James Cleverley said: “The NCA’s world-class expertise has delivered a huge blow to those behind the world’s most prolific ransomware.”

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“The criminals operating LockBit are sophisticated and highly organized, but they have not escaped the clutches of UK law enforcement and our international partners.”

The “Hackback” campaign has also recovered over 1,000 decryption keys intended for victims of LockBit’s attacks, and plans to contact victims to assist them in recovering their encrypted data.

In a blog post last month, Ciaran Martin, former director of the National Cyber Security Center, said: Announcement of involvement of Russian hackers Cybercrime undermines many common law enforcement tactics. “Impose costs where you can. There are things you can do to harass and harass cybercriminals,” he warned. “But as long as Russian safe havens exist, this will not be a strategic solution.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

Harvard team makes significant strides in error correction technology

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Quantum computing has advanced significantly with a new platform from Harvard University that is capable of dynamic reconfiguration and can demonstrate low error rates in two-qubit entangled gates. This breakthrough, highlighted in a recent Nature paper, represents a major advance in overcoming the challenges of quantum error correction and places Harvard’s technology alongside other leading quantum computing methods. Masu. This research, in collaboration with MIT and others, represents an important step toward scalable, error-correcting quantum computing. Credit: SciTechDaily.com

A method developed by a team at Harvard University to reduce errors addresses a critical hurdle in scaling up technology.

Quantum computing technology has the potential to achieve unprecedented speed and efficiency, vastly exceeding the capabilities of even the most advanced supercomputers currently available. However, this innovative technology has not been widely scaled or commercialized, primarily due to inherent limitations in error correction. Quantum computers, unlike classical computers, cannot correct errors by copying encoded data over and over again. Scientists had to find another way.

Now, a new paper Nature depicting Harvard University quantum computing A potential platform to solve a long-standing problem known as quantum error correction.

The Harvard team is led by quantum optics expert Mikhail Lukin, Joshua and Beth Friedman Professor of Physics and co-director of the Harvard Quantum Initiative. The research reported in Nature was a collaboration between Harvard University. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston-based QuEra Computing. George Busmer Leverett Professor of Physics and Marcus Greiner’s group also participated.

Unique Harvard Platform

The Harvard University platform, an effort over the past several years, is built on an array of very cold rubidium atoms captured by a laser.Each atom They act as bits (called “qubits” in the quantum world) that can perform extremely fast calculations.

The team’s main innovation is configuring a “neutral atomic array” so that the layout can be dynamically changed by moving and connecting atoms during calculations. This is called “entanglement” in physics terms. 2 Operations that entangle pairs of atoms called qubit logic gates are units of computing power.

Running complex algorithms on a quantum computer requires many gates. However, these gating operations are known to be error-prone, and the accumulation of errors renders the algorithm useless.

In a new paper, the team reports near-perfect performance of the two-qubit entanglement gate with extremely low error rates. For the first time, they demonstrated the ability to entangle atoms with an error rate of less than 0.5 percent. In terms of operational quality, this puts the performance of the company’s technology on par with other major types of quantum computing platforms, such as superconducting qubits and trapped ion qubits.

Benefits and future prospects

However, Harvard’s approach has significant advantages over these competitors due to its large system size, efficient qubit control, and the ability to dynamically reconfigure the atomic layout.

“We demonstrate that the physical errors of this platform are low enough that we can actually imagine large-scale error correction devices based on neutral atoms,” said lead author and Harvard University Griffin School of Arts and Sciences. student Simon Evered said. group. “Currently, our error rates are low enough that if we group atoms into logical qubits (information is stored non-locally between the constituent atoms), we can Errors can be even lower than individual atoms.”

The Harvard team’s progress was tracked by former Harvard graduate student and current princeton university, former Harvard University postdoctoral fellow Manuel Endres, now at the California Institute of Technology. Taken together, these advances lay the foundation for quantum error correction algorithms and large-scale quantum computing. All of this means that quantum computing on neutral atomic arrays is reaching its full potential.

“These contributions open the door to very special opportunities in scalable quantum computing, and truly exciting times ahead for the field as a whole,” Lukin said.

Reference: “High-fidelity parallel entanglement gates on neutral atom quantum computers” Simon J. Evered, Dolev Bluvstein, Marcin Kalinowski, Sepehr Ebadi, Tom Manovitz, Hengyun Zhou, Sophie H. Li, Alexandra A. Geim, Tout T Wang, Nishad Maskara, Harry Levine, Julia Semeghini, Markus Greiner, Vladan Vretić, Mikhail D. Lukin, October 11, 2023. Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06481-y

This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Quantum Systems Accelerator Center. Ultracold Atom Center. National Science Foundation. Army Research Office Interdisciplinary University Research Initiative.And thatDARPAOptimization with a noisy intermediate-scale quantum device program.

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Cruise to pay fine, TuSimple exits US market, TC Transpo team welcomes new reporter

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The Station

The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Just sign up here and click on “The Station” to have our newsletter delivered to your inbox every weekend. Subscribe for free. Welcome to The Station. It is the central hub for all past, present, and future means of moving people and goods from point A to point B. Hello everyone! I’m back from Chevrolet Blazer EV Press drive. Sometimes I have an idea. However, you’ll have to wait until later this week to read about it. There is one important news item that former TC contributor turned InsideEVs editor Patrick George collected during his press days that he would like to point out to you. Remember how GM I messed up my Chevy Volt and Volt EUV and after a few months I was like, “Never mind!” Are you going to bring it back to the new Ultium platform? Good. Well, we now know when it’s coming back. It will be EUV only. The small original Bolt EV is over and done with. I wonder how this will ultimately affect GM’s subsidiary Cruise, which uses a self-driving version of the Bolt. That is, if cruises resume operations in 2024. Let me share some more important items. I’m a regular at stocks podcast With TC+ Editor Alex Wilhelm and Senior Reporter Mary Ann Azevedo. You can listen to the latest episode here. And finally, we’re excited to share this: We’ve adopted Sean O’Kane As a senior reporter covering all aspects of transportation. Mr. O’Kane comes from Bloomberg via The Verge, and I can’t say enough about his investigative and storytelling abilities. He will share his email next week once he officially starts work. Please welcome him! Want to contact us with a tip, comment, or complaint? Email Kirsten at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or Rebecca at rebecca.techcrunch@gmail.com. Send your notes to tips@techcrunch.com. If you wish to remain anonymous, Click here to contact us; this includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps. This week’s sale Automakers love to talk about software-defined vehicles. But that doesn’t mean automakers eager to bring sophisticated digital platforms to their vehicles have actually realized this software-defined future. One startup is taking advantage of that demand. cubic telecomhas developed a networking system that makes it easy to connect vehicles (and other devices) to mobile networks, and has received €473 million ($513 million) from . Softbank Corp.. The deal sees SoftBank Corp. (not Vision Fund or SoftBank Group) take a 51% stake in the Dublin-based startup, valued at 927 million euros ($1 billion). Become strong. As editor Ingrid Lunden writes, this effectively makes Cubic Telecom a consolidated subsidiary of SoftBank. Barry Napier will remain CEO and become a member of the Board of Directors. Daichi Nozaki, SoftBank’s senior vice president of global business, and two other SoftBank-appointed people (names yet to be determined) will join the board, with the remaining three seats held by CARIAD (Volkswagen Group) and others. It will be occupied by Cubic Telecom’s existing investors, including Qualcomm. Another interesting note: Cubic Telecom participated in TechCrunch’s first Startup Battlefield in 2007. Other sales that caught our attention this week… AM battery, a lithium-ion dry electrode technology startup, has raised $30 million in a Series B round led by Toyota Ventures. Other new investors include Porsche Ventures, Asahi Kasei, RA Capital Management – ​​Planetary Health, Wilson Sonsini, and Industry Ventures. Existing investors Anzu Partners, TDK Ventures, Creative Ventures, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, Foothill Ventures, and Zeon Ventures also participated. generac power systems Made a minority investment in Wallbox, an EV charging and energy management company. The undisclosed minority investment includes an additional seat on Wallbox’s board of directors and a global commercial agreement to deliver next-generation energy management systems to Generac’s residential and commercial customers. Foreteryx, which builds verification and verification solutions for testing driver assistance and autonomous vehicle systems, has raised $42 million and closed its Series C for $85 million. The entire round was led by Israel’s VC 83North, with Singapore’s Temasek and Isuzu joined by Woven Capital (Toyota’s venture fund), Nvidia, Artofin, and previous backers MoreTech, Nationwide, Volvo Group VC, Jump Capital, Next Gear Invested with Ventures and OurCrowd. The first close of this Series C was in May of this year for $43 million. stuartis a Paris-based last-mile delivery platform founded in 2015 and acquired by Munich-based private equity holding company Mutares. Terms were not disclosed. Notable reads and other trivia self-driving car of Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, American Chamber of Commerce, Alliance for Automotive Innovation sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, imploring the Department of Transportation to: Supports AV development Otherwise, we risk losing our competitiveness against China. cruise The company faces fines and sanctions for failing to disclose details of an Oct. 2 incident, specifically an incident in which one of its vehicles dragged a pedestrian 20 feet, according to a California Public Utilities Commission ruling. It is said that there is a possibility of facing. The agency ordered Cruz to appear at a Feb. 6 hearing to defend himself against the charges against him. Ganesh Venkataramananwho led Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer project for the past five years. I left the company. For those unfamiliar, the Dojo supercomputer is considered a key technology supporting self-driving car efforts. kodiak robotics introduced a self-driving car that resulted from a $50 million, two-year contract signed by the U.S. Department of Defense, and more specifically the U.S. Army. If you thought it was a semi-truck, you were wrong. No, it’s a Ford F-150 pickup truck that the startup has outfitted with its own software and sensor stack. The Department of Defense uses this vehicle to test autonomous surveillance and reconnaissance missions in off-road terrain, diverse operating conditions, and GPS-challenged environments. torque robotics and uber freight We are building strategic partnerships. Under the agreement, Torc will use data from Uber Freight’s logistics network to help refine autonomous freight network design and expansion strategies. This includes learning which lanes are best for deployment and how to prioritize lane deployment and various operational design areas. Use self-driving trucks to balance supply and demand across your supply chain. There was a time when there were developers of self-driving trucks. TuSimple Not to mention investments and partnerships, it attracted a lot of attention. Those days are over, at least in the United States. The publicly traded company plans to lay off most of its U.S. employees and sell its U.S. assets as it exits the country for Asia. Approximately 150 people, or 75% of the U.S. workforce, will be laid off. The remaining 50 employees will help TuSimple scale down its U.S. operations, including asset sales, and support the company’s transition to the Asia-Pacific region. electric car, charging, battery scoutis a spin-off company of the VW Group aimed at selling EVs for North America, and is currently developing pickup trucks and SUVs.some New details revealed Ahead of its scheduled debut in Q3 2024. Stellantis Partnering with battery replacement startup enough to test the technology in a Fiat 500e city car. The companies will launch the first phase in Madrid, where 100 vehicles from Stellantis’ Free2move car-sharing service will be retrofitted to accept Ampoule’s modular batteries. TC reporter Tim de Chant thinks battery swapping could work well in vehicles, but are consumers ready for the technology? Speaking of that, fiat 500e, the compact EV will be in North American showrooms in the first quarter of 2024, starting with a production red model in collaboration with the AIDS prevention organization co-founded by U2’s Bono. TC reporter Hari Weber calls the Fiat 500e the anti-Cybertruck. Will Americans buy it? Another Stellantis item. The automaker will temporarily reduce one shift at its Detroit assembly plant, which produces Jeep sport utility vehicles, due to California emissions regulations. What kind of relationship is there?Stellantis sent a petition It opposes the California Framework Agreement signed in 2019 with four automakers (BMW, Ford, Honda, and Volkswagen). Stellantis says framework companies can use gross EV sales to comply with state emissions regulations, while other OEMs can only use sales generated in states that comply with CARB regulations. claims. As a result, Stellantis, which includes the Jeep brand, has an excess inventory of plug-in hybrids in California. Therefore, production will be reduced. Tesla’s The lowest-priced vehicles, rear-wheel-drive Model 3s, will no longer receive the full $7,500 federal tax credit starting next year. Tesla isn’t the only company…


Source: techcrunch.com

NASA’s Webb and Hubble team up to capture the most vivid image of the universe

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This panchromatic view of galaxy cluster MACS0416 was created by combining infrared observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope with visible-light data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Jose M. Diego (IFCA), Jordan CJ D’Silva (UWA), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Jake Summers (ASU), Rogier Windhorst (ASU), Haojing Yan ( University of Missouri)https://chat.openai.com/c/de5c3def-7d31-49b0-bd44-3d61675a3ae5

The result is a vivid landscape of the galaxy and more than a dozen newly discovered time-changing objects.

When the two flagship observatories come together, they reveal a wealth of new details that are only possible through their combined power. Webb and Hubble collaborated on studying MACS0416, a galaxy cluster about 4.3 billion light-years from Earth. Combining these data yields a prismatic panorama of blue and red. These colors provide clues to the galaxy’s distance. While the images themselves are surprising, researchers are already using these observations to fuel new scientific discoveries, such as identifying gravitationally expanded supernovae and ordinary stars.

This side-by-side comparison of galaxy cluster MACS0416 seen in optical light from the Hubble Space Telescope (left) and infrared light from the James Webb Space Telescope (right) reveals different details. Both images show hundreds of galaxies, but the Webb image shows galaxies that are invisible or only barely visible in the Hubble image. This is because Webb’s infrared vision can detect galaxies that are too far away or covered in dust to be seen by Hubble. (Light from distant galaxies is redshifted due to the expansion of the universe.) Webb’s total exposure time was about 22 hours, while the exposure time of the Hubble image was his 122 hours. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

NASA’s Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope combine to create the most colorful view of the universe. NASA’s james webb space telescope and hubble space telescope They teamed up to study a vast galaxy cluster known as MACS0416. The resulting panchromatic images combine visible and infrared light to assemble one of the most comprehensive views of the universe ever captured. MACS0416, located approximately 4.3 billion light-years from Earth, is a pair of colliding galaxy clusters that will eventually merge to form an even larger cluster. Details revealed by the combination of stretching and contraction forces

This image reveals a wealth of detail only possible by combining the power of both space telescopes. This includes an abundance of galaxies outside the cluster and a scattering of light sources that change over time, possibly due to gravitational lensing (distortion and amplification of light from distant background sources). It is.

The galaxy cluster was the first in a series of unprecedented cosmic views into ultra-deep space from an ambitious joint Hubble program called Frontier Fields, launched in 2014. Hubble pioneered the search for some of the faintest and youngest galaxies ever detected. Webb’s infrared vision greatly enhances this deep observation by going even deeper into the early universe with its infrared vision.

This image of galaxy cluster MACS0416 highlights gravitational lensing background galaxies that existed about 3 billion years after the Big Bang. The galaxy contains an ephemeral object that the scientific team has named Mothra, whose brightness changes over time. Mothra is a star that is magnified at least 4,000 times. The researchers believe that Mothra is magnified not only by the gravity of the galaxy cluster MACS 0416, but also by an object known as a millilens, which weighs about the same as the globular cluster. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Jose M. Diego (IFCA), Jordan CJ D’Silva (UWA), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Jake Summers (ASU), Rogier Windhorst (ASU), Haojing Yan ( University of Missouri)

Roger Windhorst of Arizona State University, principal investigator of the PEARLS program (Extragalactic Field for Reionization and Lensing Science), which carried out the Webb observations, said: “We are looking at objects that are farther away and fainter. “By doing so, we are building on Hubble’s legacy.”Understand image color and scientific goals

To create the images, the shortest wavelengths of light were generally color-coded as blue, the longest wavelengths as red, and the intermediate wavelengths as green. The wide range of wavelengths from 0.4 to 5 microns provides particularly vivid galactic landscapes.

These colors provide clues to the galaxy’s distance. The bluest galaxies, as most commonly detected by Hubble, are relatively nearby and often exhibit intense star formation, while the redder galaxies, as detected by Webb, tend to be more distant. Some galaxies appear very red because they contain large amounts of cosmic dust that tends to absorb bluer-colored starlight.

“Until we combine the Webb data with the Hubble data, we won’t get the full picture,” Windhorst said.Scientific discoveries and the “Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster”

New Webb observations contribute to this aesthetic view, but they were taken for a specific scientific purpose. The research team combined his three epochs, each conducted a few weeks apart, with his fourth epoch by the CANUCS (Canadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey) research team. The goal was to search for objects that change in brightness observed over time, known as transients.

They identified 14 such transients across the visual field. Twelve of these transients are located in three galaxies that are highly magnified by gravitational lensing, and may be individual stars or star systems that are temporarily highly magnified. The remaining two transients are in more moderately expanded background galaxies and may be supernovae.

“We call MACS 0416 the Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster, both because it is so colorful and because of the flashing lights found within it. Transients are seen everywhere. ” said Haojing Yang of the University of Missouri-Columbia, lead author of a paper describing the scientific results.

Among the transients the team identified, one in particular stood out. It is located in a galaxy that existed about 3 billion years after the Big Bang and has been magnified by at least 4,000 times. The research team nicknamed the system “Mothra” for its “monstrous nature” of being extremely bright and highly magnified. It joins another lensed star that researchers previously identified and named “Godzilla.” (Godzilla and Mothra are both giant monsters known as kaiju in Japanese movies.)

Interestingly, Mothra can also be seen in Hubble observations taken nine years ago. This is unusual because zooming in on stars this much requires a very specific alignment between the foreground galaxy cluster and the background stars. The mutual motion of stars and star clusters should eventually dissolve the alignment.

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Jose M. Diego (IFCA), Jordan CJ D’Silva (UWA), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Jake Summers (ASU), Rogier Windhorst (ASU), Haojing Yan ( University of Missouri)”

Source: scitechdaily.com