This is a video demonstration of the bicycle-based Star Destroyer costume father Andrew Guy built for his son Aidan. He says it took several months of planning and construction to have ready for Halloween, and includes a hidden speaker that blasts ‘The Imperial March.’ Very nice. Although how Aidan is supposed to make it to anybody’s front porch in that thing is beyond me, but I suspect it involves a lot of homeowners yelling about their flowerbeds. Or — OR — the invention of curbside trick-or-treating. Think about how many more houses you could hit if people were just waiting at the end of their driveways with candy and you didn’t have to waste time making your way to their door! *crunches the numbers* I would be seven pounds heavier right now.
Keep going for the full video while I just give Aidan all my candy, go back inside, and turn my porch light off.
Thanks to J-Mart, who was clearly been marting before K even thought about getting into the business.
An alleged hacking conspiracy targeted designs for a turbofan engine similar to this one.
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday unsealed charges that accused two Chinese government intelligence officers and eight alleged co-conspirators of conducting sustained computer intrusions into 13 companies in an attempt to steal designs for a turbofan engine used in commercial jetliners.
A 21-page indictment filed in US District Court in the Southern District of California said the Jiangsu Province Ministry of State Security, an arm of the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of State Security, directed the five-year campaign. According to the indictment, between January 2010 to May 2015, the team allegedly used a wide range of methods to break into the computer networks of companies involved in aerospace and turbine manufacturing and Internet and technology services. Their primary goal was stealing data that would allow a Chinese government-owned company to design its own jetliner. With the exception of Capstone Turbines, a Los Angeles-based gas turbine maker, other targeted companies weren’t identified by name and were referred to only as companies A through L.
“Members of the conspiracy targeted, among other things, data and information related to a turbofan engine used in commercial jetliners,” prosecutors wrote in the superseding indictment. “At the time of the intrusions, a Chinese state-owned aerospace company was working to develop a comparable engine for use in commercial aircraft manufactured in China and elsewhere.” The indictment continued:
The turbofan engine targeted by members of the conspiracy was being developed through a partnership between Company I and an aerospace company based in the US. As described herein, members of the conspiracy hacked Company I and other companies that manufactured parts for the turbofan engine, including Companies A, F, and G, to steal sensitive data from these companies that could be used by Chinese entities to build the same or similar engine without incurring substantial research and development expenses.
The alleged conspirators combined a variety of hacking techniques to mount a highly effective campaign. According to the indictment, they registered “doppelganger” domain names such as capstonetrubine.com that closely resembled the legitimate domain names of aerospace companies. In other cases, prosecutors said, the defendants infected the websites of real companies. They then allegedly turned the malicious domains into watering holes by sending spear phishing emails that directed targets to visit the doppelganger or infected websites. When targets complied, they were infected.
Schooled by the Syrian Electronic Army
In August 2013, one named defendant sent another a news article that explained how a hacking group calling itself the Syrian Electronic Army hacked an Australian domain registrar in a bid to facilitate other hacks. (While the indictment doesn’t provide specifics, the incident almost certainly involved the group’s reported
, the nytimes.com Australia-based domain registrar.) In early December 2013, prosecutors said, members of the conspiracy used the same tactic to hack the Australian registrar again, this time to hijack domain names of one of the targeted technology companies.
Besides using spear phishing, watering holes, malware, and domain hijackings, prosecutors said, the defendants also recruited employees of some of the targeted companies to infect corporate networks and provide intelligence about investigations. One of the defendants, Gu Gen, was a Chinese infrastructure and security manager working in a targeted French aerospace manufacturer’s office in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. In January 2014, conspiracy members allegedly infected a laptop in Gu’s company with malware, dubbed Sakula, which communicated with the domain ns24.dnsdojo.com. A month later, US law enforcement authorities discovered the infection and notified French authorities.
“The French are asking Little Gu [Company I’s IT manager] to inspect the record: ns24.dnsdojo.com,” a Chinese intelligence officer allegedly said in a text to one of the defendants, according to the indictment. “Does it concern you guys?” Several hours later, prosecutors said, a member of the conspiracy deleted the domain name ns24.dnsdojo.com in an attempt to keep the conspiracy from coming to light.
The indictment is the third time since September that federal prosecutors have named Chinese intelligence officers as defendants in criminal hacks against US companies.
“This is just the beginning,” John C. Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a release. “Together with our federal partners, we will redouble our efforts to safeguard America’s ingenuity and investment.”
WASHINGTON — Alphabet Inc’s Waymo unit on Tuesday became the first company to receive a permit from the state of California to test driverless vehicles without a backup driver in the front seat, the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles said.
California said Waymo can use about three dozen test vehicles without drivers behind the wheel in Santa Clara County. About 60 companies have permits in the state to test self-driving cars with a backup driver, including most major automakers and Apple. As part of winning approval, Waymo must continuously monitor the status of test vehicles and provide two-way communication with passengers, carry at least $5 million in insurance and notify local communities.
Waymo’s permit includes day and night testing on city streets, rural roads and highways with posted speed limits of up to 65 miles per hour. The company said its vehicles can safely handle fog and light rain, and testing in those conditions is allowed.
“California has been working toward this milestone for several years, and we will continue to keep the public’s safety in mind as this technology evolves,” said Jean Shiomoto, California’s Department of Motor Vehicles director, in a statement.
The company said it will begin driverless testing on city streets in Silicon Valley and expand to other areas after it notifies local communities. The company will begin tests with Waymo employees and eventually “create opportunities for members of the public to experience this technology, as we’ve done in Arizona with our early rider program.”
In Arizona, Waymo has been conducting some testing of vehicles without backup drivers and has said it plans to launch a commercial self-driving ride hailing service in the state by the end of 2018.
If you can’t bring more customers to your pizza oven, bring more pizza ovens to your customers. That seems to be the idea behind Pizza Hut’s Pie Pro, a
, “We are pretty obsessed with improving the customer experience. The more we can get closer to their homes or the point of delivery, the better and hotter the product will be.”
Now, it’s important to note that the word autonomy is being bandied about in stories covering this pizza truck, which makes sense since the two companies are indeed
. That’s referring to the process of heating up a pizza; the Toyota Tundra that forms the basis of the machine is driven by a human being. It is a zero-emission vehicle, though. It’s gasoline-burning engine was yanked and replaced with the guts of a
car, so the only thing emitted from this truck’s tailpipe is water.
As for the pizzas in the bed, those are stored in a refrigerator until needed, at which time a robotic arm will transfer a pie from the cooler to ventless conveyer oven.
, the entire process takes six to seven minutes, and it all takes place right at the customer’s home to ensure the pizza is as hot and fresh as possible.
There’s not timetable as to when you might see an pickup-mounted automated pizza oven on a public road near you. We wouldn’t hold our breath. That said, food delivery is one arena where self-driven vehicles could potentially make a splash.
The biggest airplane ever built, which will tote a variety of satellite-launching rockets into the sky, just got a step closer to flight.
Stratolaunch Systems, which was established in 2011 by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, got the giant plane up to 90 mph (145 km/h) during “medium-speed taxi testing” at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port earlier this month.
Stratolaunch’s dual-fuselage plane features a wingspan of 385 feet (117 meters) — greater than the length of a football field, including the two end zones. The vehicle is designed to haul satellite-carrying rockets up to an altitude of about 35,000 feet (10,700 m), at which point the launchers will drop away and power their payloads up to orbit.
Stratolaunch Systems’ airplane, the biggest aircraft ever built, performed a “medium-speed taxi test” at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port in October 2018.
Credit: Stratolaunch Systems via Twitter
This air-launch strategy will enable satellites to be lofted relatively cheaply and frequently, and with a great deal of flexibility, company representatives have said.
A variety of different rockets will eventually fly between the two fuselages, if all goes according to plan. For example, Stratolaunch plans to begin using the Pegasus rocket, which debuted in 1990 and has more than 40 flights under its belt, for the company’s first operational missions in 2020.
Pegasus can haul about 815 lbs. (370 kilograms) to low-Earth orbit. Stratolaunch is also developing two more powerful rockets, known as the Medium Launch Vehicle (MLV) and the MLV-Heavy, which will be able to loft about 7,500 lbs. (3,400 kg) and 13,200 lbs. (6,000 kg), respectively. The MLV’s first flight is targeted for 2022, whereas the MLV-Heavy is still in early development, company representatives said.
Stratolaunch is also working on a fully reusable space plane that could carry satellites or people. This vehicle is in the design-study phase.
Stratolaunch isn’t the only company working to launch space missions from the air. Virgin Orbit recently mated its LauncherOne rocket and Cosmic Girl mothership for the first time (on the ground), and Virgin Galactic is performing rocket-fired test flights of its six-passenger SpaceShipTwo suborbital space liner.
SpaceShipTwo launches from the belly of a plane called WhiteKnightTwo.
Mike Wall’s book about the search for alien life, “Out There,” will be published on Nov. 13 by Grand Central Publishing. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us @Spacedotcom or Facebook. Originally published on Space.com.
Artist’s depiction of the Parker Solar Probe. Image: NASA
NASA’s historic mission to “touch the Sun” just reached two important milestones: It now holds the record for the closest approach to the Sun by a human-built object—and also the record for the fastest spacecraft ever sent into space.
Launched on August 12, 2018, the Parker Solar Probe is now entering into the first stages of its mission.
At 1:04 pm ET on October 29, the spacecraft got closer than 42.7 million kilometers (26.55 million miles) from the Sun’s surface—a new record for a human-built object. The old record was held by the German-American Helios 2 spacecraft, which achieved the feat in April 1976. From here on in, every inch closer that the probe gets to the Sun will be a new distance record, with a closest approach of 6.16 million kilometers (3.83 million miles) expected in 2024.
“It’s been just 78 days since Parker Solar Probe launched, and we’ve now come closer to our star than any other spacecraft in history,” Parker Solar Probe Project Manager Andy Driesman said in a NASA statement. “It’s a proud moment for the team, though we remain focused on our first solar encounter.”
Less than 10 hours later, the probe set yet another record. Attaining and then surpassing a speed of 246,960 kilometers per hour (153,454 miles per hour), the Parker probe became the fastest-ever human-built object relative to the Sun. The previous record was also held by the Helios 2 mission. By 2024, the spacecraft is expected reach speeds in excess of 692,000 kilometers per hour (430,000 miles per hour, or 0.0006 percent the speed of light).
To calculate the speed and distance of the Parker Solar Probe, the space agency utilizes its Deep Space Network, or DSN. NASA explains:
The DSN sends a signal to the spacecraft, which then retransmits it back to the DSN, allowing the team to determine the spacecraft’s speed and position based on the timing and characteristics of the signal. Parker Solar Probe’s speed and position were calculated using DSN measurements made on Oct. 24, and the team used that information along with known orbital forces to calculate the spacecraft’s speed and position from that point on.
At its current distance to the Sun, the probe requires 150 days to make a complete orbit. It will achieve the first of 26 perihelion events (the point closest to the Sun) on November 6, 2018. Over the next six years, the probe’s orbital length will gradually shrink, allowing it to get closer to the Sun. As it gets nearer to the star’s surface, the probe will face formidable heat and radiation, which it will fend off with a maneuverable shield always pointed toward the flaming ball of fire at the center of our Solar System.
The Parker Solar Probe’s onboard sensors will take measurements, providing unprecedented new data for scientists. By learning more about the Sun, we will have a better understanding of how it affects Earth and other planets, and possibly improve our space weather forecasting. Knowing how and when the Sun produces massive solar storms, for example, could go a long way in reducing damage on Earth.
DJI has revealed that one of its drone products is having issues that are causing some to plummet from the sky.
The company released a warning on Friday:
DJI is aware of a small number of reports involving drones in the Matrice 200 series that have lost power mid-flight. Flight safety and product reliability are top priorities. Our engineers are thoroughly reviewing each customer case and working to address this matter urgently.
The release came on the same day that the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority posted a safety notice, stating that a few incidents were reported in which DJI Matrice 200 lost power even though the drones still had sufficient battery charge, resulting “in the aircraft falling directly to the ground due to the immediate loss of lift with the remote pilot unable to control its subsequent flight path.”
We’ve reached out to DJI for comment and to clarify what it means by a “small number of reports” of drones dropping out of the sky. We’ll update when we hear back.
The DJI release about the falling drones states that their drones “are tested for thousands of hours” and the majority of users have “minimal disruption.” The company says it is “looking to implement additional safeguards” and recommends that customers update their firmware for their drones and batteries through the DJI app or DJI Assistant 2 software.
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