Watch NASA’s Mars rocket tests in 360-degree video

NASA will eventually use the Space Launch System to send humans to Mars — it might even carry a crew the very first time it launches. Unfortunately the world’s most powerful rocket is a tad behind schedule (it was originally supposed to launch this year) and over budget. However, NASA has released an interesting 360-degree video of a hot-fire test of the main RS-25 engine, one of four shown above. From one vantage point, you’re standing in a place you really wouldn’t want to be in person — near the flame trench directly behind the 512,000-pound-thrust rocket.

The liquid-fueled RS-25 is an updated version of the Space Shuttle’s main engines (not the side-mounted boosters) that, in total, will pump out about a quarter of the SLS’s 8.8 million pounds of thrust. When the rocket is launched, the motors will fire non-stop for about 8.5 minutes, powering the Orion capsule into orbit and well, well beyond. The RS-25 pumps out hot gases at 13 times the speed of sound, and at one camera position near the flame trench, “the extreme force of smoke and water literally covers the camera,” NASA says. Watch, and try not to duck.

Source: NASA (YouTube)

Study says Fukushima region is safe enough for people to return

Fukushima’s ill-fated nuclear power plant may still be so dangerous that it kills robots, but residents are trickling back as officials decide that radiation levels are safe in some areas. But are they safe enough that you’d never have to worry about long-term effects? According to two researchers, the answer is yes. They’ve published a study indicating that the cesium radiation levels in Date, 37 miles away from the Fukushima plant, have dropped so quickly (60 percent just between 2011 and 2013) that residents shouldn’t suffer any harm. In fact, they may be safer than usual. The median lifetime radiation dose (18 millisieverts) should be less than what you typically receive just by living on Earth.

The team determined the levels by translating airborne radiation data to what you could expect on the ground, and then estimating how those levels will fall over the next 70 years. This info also helped reveal that active decontamination efforts weren’t directly responsible for the decrease. While it might have been helpful in some cases, the scientists believe the radiation drop largely stems from natural causes like rain, snow and the decay of the cesium itself.

This doesn’t mean that every area is the same. Date sits in a gray area where there was no formal evacuation despite radiation worries. While there are much closer towns (such as Namie) that will be given the all-clear at the end of March, they won’t necessarily exhibit similar results. Towns like Tomioka still have strong radiation levels that rule out a return in the near future, and there’s only so much science can do to reassure people who want to stay away just as a precaution.

Even so, the work might be helpful if there’s ever another nuclear incident, whether it’s in Japan or beyond. The researchers tell Science that their methods could help estimate lifetime doses and give responders an idea of how to conduct their decontamination plans. You’d know just when it was truly safe to return to a given town using aerial tests.

Via: Science

Source: ArXiv.org

Artist runs an electronic sound exhibit using his own blood

Russian artist Vtol is no stranger to making sounds with unusual technology, but one of his latest projects might top them all. He recently created Until I Die, an electronic sound installation powered by himself — namely, his blood. His creation uses vital fluid as an electrolyte that, when combined with metals like aluminum and copper, results in direct current batteries. The project isn’t about to compete with the battery in your phone (five batteries manage a capacity of just 1,000mAh), but that’s enough to power a synth module and speaker for roughly 8 hours.

The effort involved in collecting the blood was as much a science experiment as the art itself. Vtol extracted just under 1.2 gallons of blood over the course of 18 months, and had to fill all but the very last sample with preservatives to prevent the fluid from going bad.

As to why the artist would go to all this trouble? He describes it as a “symbolic act” where his life-giving fluid can power a device that’s a figurative “extension of myself.” It also parallels decades-old Russian philosophy and scientific concepts, where blood transfusion was seen as a metaphysical act — you’re literally sharing yourself with others. While it’s safe to say that you won’t be seeing any blood-powered electronics on store shelves, the installation is a clear (if slightly grotesque) reminder that your body really is full of energy.

Via: Creators

Source: Vtol

Intel Security releases MacBook scanner for CIA Vault 7 rootkits

Why it matters to you

Intel Security is the latest tech firm to release an update to combat against the exposed CIA hacking techniques.

We’re just a few days removed from the WikiLeaks publication, Vault 7, that outlined many of the supposed hacking tools at the disposal of the CIA. It has left tech firms scrambling for fixes and has raised questions over what products and services are most at risk, especially as the dust and sensationalism settles around just what kind of powers the CIA wielded with these so-called cyber weapons.

Intel Security, in response, has released a new tool for making sure your MacBook isn’t vulnerable to one of the many exposed techniques. According to the tranche of documents, the CIA had developed an EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) rootkit for MacBooks. The rootkit, called DarkMatter, would replace the BIOS on a MacBook and run malicious code. Rootkits are pretty advanced pieces of malware, designed to avoid detection.

Inter Security, which will be rebranded under the McAfee name once again soon, published the scanner to help users identify if they are affected. The scanner is a module for CHIPSEC, Intel’s framework for analyzing PC security.

More: WikiLeaks releases documents chronicling the CIA’s hacking weapons

“EFI firmware malware is a new frontier for stealth and persistent attacks that may be used by sophisticated adversaries to penetrate and persist within organizations and national infrastructure for a very long time. Use open-source CHIPSEC to defend from this threat and stay safe,” said the company.

The update from Intel comes just a couple of days after Apple issued a note to users stating that it has resolved many of the bugs and vulnerabilities that had emerged from the CIA document dump. Intel’s move will provide another fix to the wide array of issues that have cropped up since WikiLeaks published the data.

The whistleblower organization added later in the week that it would not publish details about the CIA’s zero-days — bugs that have yet to be discovered by the software’s developers — until it has alerted the developers to patch the bug, thus providing at least a little more protection for users.

Wandering satellites and space debris can now be found by a giant NASA antenna

Why it matters to you

NASA and other space agencies lose satellites and other space debris all the time, but now, they may be able to find them.

Sometimes, you lose your keys. Sometimes, you can’t find your car. And just sometimes, NASA can’t figure out where one of its satellites went. We’ve all had instances of absent-mindedness, and luckily for us, we’ve developed solutions. For us terrestrial beings, it may come in the form of Tile, while for those dealing with slightly loftier problems, there’s a new radar technique that is helping NASA find lost lunar spacecraft.

While it may read as something of a joke, there’s not much funny about losing millions of dollars of space equipment. But alas, it’s something that happens relatively often. And when a satellite does go astray, it can be quite difficult to find. Indeed, NASA has called the process of recovering “derelict spacecraft and space debris in Earth’s orbit” a “technological challenge.”

And if these pieces of space junk are orbiting the moon, it’s even more difficult, as the light reflected off our nearest neighbor makes it nearly impossible for optical telescopes to conduct thorough searches. But now, it would seem that “a new technological application of interplanetary radar” from a Pasadena, California-based team may serve as a solution.

More: Not-so-hidden figures: Lego confirms development of ‘Women of NASA’ minifigures

“We have been able to detect NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter [LRO] and the Indian Space Research Organization’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft in lunar orbit with ground-based radar,” said Marina Brozovic, a radar scientist at JPL and principal investigator for the test project in a press release. “Finding LRO was relatively easy, as we were working with the mission’s navigators and had precise orbit data where it was located. Finding India’s Chandrayaan-1 required a bit more detective work because the last contact with the spacecraft was in August of 2009.”

Finding the Chandrayaan-1 took some background knowledge. For example, the team knew that the spacecraft was in polar orbit around the moon, which meant that it would always cross above the lunar poles on each orbit. So on a precise date over the summer, the NASA team pointed a 230-foot antenna located at NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California at the moon, sending a powerful beam of microwaves in that direction. And lo and behold, the radar picked up a signal.

Finding Chandrayaan-1 may just be the first in a series of recovery missions NASA can take on. “Working together, the large radar antennas at Goldstone, Arecibo and Green Bank demonstrated that they can detect and track even small spacecraft in lunar orbit,” the space agency said. “Ground-based radars could possibly play a part in future robotic and human missions to the moon, both for a collisional hazard assessment tool and as a safety mechanism for spacecraft that encounter navigation or communication issues.”

So don’t worry, friends. Not all the space debris that wanders off is lost. Not anymore.

Levi’s and Google have finally unveiled their connected Commuter jacket

Why it matters to you

It’s been two years since Google and Levi’s first announced a partnership to bring us smart clothing, and now it’s finally happening.

Why have a wearable on your wrist when you can have it all over your torso? Two years after first teasing us with its line of connected clothing, Google and Levi’s have put us out of our misery. The first piece to come out of Project Jacquard is the Commuter Trucker jacket, and as a reward for waiting so long, you’ll have to pay $350 for the garment.

The key to the Commuter is the fabric of the jacket’s left sleeve. While technically powered by a rechargeable tag that’s found on the inside of the sleeve, the very material of the jacket is itself smart. Indeed, its comprised of a conductive yarn that could theoretically be woven into any fabric, and as a result, any sort of clothing. From there, you could just touch your clothing as you would a touchscreen in order to activate certain functionalities, like playing music.

More: Hard shell buying guide: How to choose the best jacket

As it stands, Google is trying to figure out how third-party developers can contribute to the platform, which means that for the time being, the Commuter will only be able to manipulate the core functionality of your smartphone, like answering the phone, reading texts, or managing your Calendar and figuring out Maps. And because this is a Google product, it probably won’t work so well with your iPhone.

“It was a long road but what’s really impressive, is the entire journey, we stayed true to our vision and what we wanted to achieve,” Ivan Poupyrev, project lead for Project Jacquard at Google, told Mashable. “This jacket is going to be sold as a piece of apparel, that was always the vision from the very beginning.”

But not only is it a good piece of clothing, but it also solves what Levi’s believes to be a very present need — a wearable that is functional and not dangerous.

“When you go to dinner and see your people at their meals looking at their screen, or when you see cyclists accessing their screens for navigation and putting themselves at risk … to me, that really was the reason to do it, ” said Paul Dillinger, Levi’s global product innovation head, at a SXSW discussion on connectivity this past Saturday.

So whether you want it for its aesthetic appeal or technical prowess, just be prepared for spend a pretty penny on this connected jacket.

Detroit Electric’s EV business gets a $1.8 billion jumpstart

Do you remember Detroit Electric? You’re forgiven if you don’t — the American automaker vowed to make electric sports cars exciting back in 2013, but a combination of production delays (it delivered its first car in 2016) and Tesla’s rapid rise largely robbed it of its thunder. However, it’s about to get another shot at glory. Detroit Electric has unveiled a $1.8 billion joint venture with Chinese electric company Far East Smarter Energy that should kickstart its plans. The alliance will initially help ramp up production of the SP:01 sports car by the end of 2017, and pour $370 million into expanding Detroit Electric’s European operations over the next 4 years.

However, it’s the longer term plans that are more likely to raise eyebrows. The two companies are planning both an all-encompassing new facility (both design and production) and hope to develop an electric SUV that could be ready for production as soon as 2018. A third vehicle would launch in 2020. Suffice it to say that this is aggressive, if not optimistic. Even a fast-moving company like Tesla takes years to get an EV ready, let alone a relative newcomer that has yet to make a big splash with its first model.

However, the joint venture is nothing to sneeze at. That’s a lot of money for a young car company, and a Chinese partner could help Detroit Electric succeed in that country’s increasingly hot EV market. Detroit Electric is getting the kind of financial nudge that many fledgling car builders only dream of. The tricky part is spending that money wisely to avoid the troubles that some of its rivals face.

Source: Autoblog

‘Breath of the Wild’ creators explain how they bucked tradition

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild isn’t just the series’ best game in years, it’s also unlike any title in the series — it’s an open-world experience where you’re free to find your own solutions to challenges. But just how did Nintendo manage to pull off such a radical change in direction? Don’t worry — it’s happy to explain. The Game Developers Conference has posted a talk from Nintendo’s Hidemaro Fujibayashi, Satoru Takizawa and Takuhiro Dota that describes how the Breath of the Wild team broke from the highly linear experiences of past Zelda games. It’s a textbook example of how to make a good open-world game regardless of the genre.

A lot of it comes from turning previous obstacles into new opportunities. Walls and mountains are no longer barriers, they’re opportunities for player freedom — you can climb or glide to your heart’s content. Nintendo also embraced a “multiplicative” approach to gameplay where physics and chemistry allow for intuitive (and seemingly endless) solutions, such as fanning a bomb to propel it or cutting down a tree to cross a gap. And instead of relying on canned puzzles with only one right answer, the game hands you situations and goals that leave the approach up to you.

Even the decision to support the Switch added some freedom, Nintendo says, by letting you play how and where you like.

It’s a lengthy discussion, but worth watching if you’re interested in what makes Breath of the Wild tick. The talk is also insightful if you’re interested in some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of the game’s creation. It reveals that the game originally existed as a pseudo-2D prototype (to test its underlying concepts), that the team initially brainstormed wild ideas for their next Zelda game, and that the cell-drawn yet detailed look is a purposeful balance between playability and helpful realism. Even if you have no intention of playing the game, this might just give you newfound appreciation for the effort that goes into a blockbuster release like this.

Source: GDC (YouTube)

A closer look at the Meta 2 AR headset

We were impressed with the Meta 2 augmented reality headset last year, even though we were just looking at prototype hardware. Now, the company is shipping out the final version of the Meta 2 to developers, which includes some useful upgrades. Most importantly, it now sports memory foam around the headset to make it easier to wear for hours at a time.

Meta has also been working hard on building out its custom operating system, as well as figuring out how to develop a new language of gestures for augmented reality. I had a chance to test out the shipping version of the Meta 2 at SXSW, and while it’s still not perfect, it’s the best AR experience I’ve seen yet.

Yes, it looks a bit awkward — especially with its large curved screen jutting out from the front — but the Meta 2 fit comfortably on my head. It’s a lot more stable than Microsoft’s HoloLens, mostly because there’s actually some support on top of your head, instead of just relying on a single band around the sides of your noggin. The Meta 2’s weight felt evenly distributed, and it was clear from the start that adding memory foam was a good move. It felt well cushioned around the sides of my head, which is where headsets usually end up feeling fatiguing if they’re not padded properly.

The Meta 2 also feels like a more complete AR experience, compared to the HoloLens. The big reason for that? It features a wide 90-degree field of view, whereas the HoloLens only offers a thin 30-degree FOV. That means images from the Meta 2 fill up much more of your vision, rather than just offering a sliver of augmented vision. Of course, the Meta 2 also has to be connected to a computer, while Microsoft’s headset is completely wireless. Personally though, I’d rather have a better AR image than a portable headset.

I went through a brief Meta 2 demonstration which showed off different aspects of the human brain. The image was very clear, thanks to the headset’s sharp 2,550 by 1,440 pixel resolution, and it did a decent job of letting me walk around the projected AR brain. There were points where the image started stuttering a bit, either because I blocked a sensor or the headset had trouble mapping the area around the room. The headset also had some issues recognizing when I was trying to interact with some AR components. I also got a quick glimpse at an AR presentation with the Meta 2, and while it felt a bit gimmicky, it could be a useful way to spice things up beyond a mere Powerpoint.

Sound is the biggest problem with the Meta 2 right now. It features four speakers, but they all sounded very tinny. Ryan Pamplin, Meta’s VP of sales and partnerships, says the company is currently working on improving the sound quality with some software tweaks. But to my ears, Meta might need to look into entirely new speakers, especially since it’ll be tough to wear normal headphones together with the headset.

There’s not much you can do with the Meta 2 right now, but the company hopes that’ll change as developers get their hands on units this year. And at this point, the Meta 2 serves as an effective monitor replacement. Pamplin and his team are already using the headset full-time at their desks, and the company is in the process of doing the same across more groups.

The Meta 2 is available for pre-order now for $949, and the company plans to fulfill all of its pre-orders in the coming months. If you’re interested in the headset though, you’d better get an order in soon. Pamplin says the Meta 2 will be “substantially more expensive” once it becomes widely available.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from SXSW 2017.

The Levi’s Commuter smart jacket has a ton of promise

Google’s mission with its Advanced Technology and Products group is to create innovations like Project Jacquard, which can turn objects into interactive, gesture-controlled surfaces. With the Levi’s Commuter jacket, introduced in 2016, the technology comes to life through a conductive fabric and a Bluetooth device that attaches to the garment. The connected area consists of 15 threads on the left sleeve, just visible enough for you to know where to touch to trigger actions from a paired smartphone.

You can, for example, brush your fingers on the jacket to find out what time it is, or swipe to play, pause or skip a track while you’re listening to music. There’s a companion Android app, called Project Jacquard, that lets you select what you want each gesture to bring up — and the UI is mostly drag and drop, making it extremely easy to set up. Levi’s says it’s working to add support for additional gestures later on, which could enable more ways for you to interact with its first smart jacket.

Battery life, meanwhile, we’re told is about two days, and the Bluetooth device can be easily unclipped and charged via USB. Aside from the Jacquard part of it and the black cuff, the new Commuter looks like any other piece from Levi’s’ line of denim jackets, meaning there aren’t really any trade-offs in terms of comfort and style. You can even throw it in the washing machine without a worry, so long as the cuff isn’t attached to the sleeve. In other words, no one would know you’re wearing a jacket with a sci-fi twist to it.

Levi’s is bringing the Google-powered Commuter to stores this fall for $350, and the company says it plans to use the technology in more ways eventually. Jacquard jeans, anyone?

Click here to catch up on the latest news from SXSW 2017.