The Planetary Society will announce a $50,000 prize for "Asteroid Tagging Designs" tomorrow at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. In the Apophis Mission Design Competition, you are invited to submit designs for a mission to intercept and "tag" a potentially hazardous asteroid headed towards Earth.
Image: old-school asteroid vanquishment technology from Atari -- Link. These death rays were very powerful in 1976, but do not work as effectively on contemporary space matter, hence the contest.
Snip from announcement:
Apophis is a near-Earth object (NEO), which will come closer to Earth in 2029 than the orbit of our geostationary satellites. On that pass, the asteroid will be gravitationally perturbed to an unknown orbit, one that that may have the slim possibility of hitting Earth in 2036. Very precise tracking may be needed to determine the probability of such a collision. Such precise tracking may require "tagging" the asteroid, perhaps with a beacon -- a transponder or reflector -- or some other method. Exactly how an asteroid could best be tagged is not yet known, nor is it obvious, which is why The Planetary Society is holding a competition.
Link.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has denied an application by the Chinese telecommunications provider China Mobile to provide services in the U.S. over concerns about national security and risks to law enforcement.
A 13-year-old boy is wrongly accused of sexual harassment, then railroaded by zealous school administrators. Abused by the system and shunned by real-life friends, he finds new ones—on Reddit and 4chan. What Happened After My 13-Year-Old Son Joined the Alt-Right. Those online pals were happy to explain that all girls lie—especially about rape. And they […]
Jim Browning got a look into a Kolkata call center via one of the scammers’ insecure machines: “You’re looking at the webcam of a scammer named Deva ██████. He’s currently uploading the phone numbers of people who will be his next potential victims. All are numbers of people who have previously fallen victim to a […]
Plastic straws are on their way out. Big cities and entire states have realized this, and more are sure to join Seattle, California and a growing number of others in curbing the use of single-serve straws in the months and years to come. The thing is, there’s already 175 billion of them going into our […]
For those who use a virtual private network, it’s typically a trade-off: Security and anonymity at the price of connection speed. Luckily, there are a few sturdy VPNs that are starting to crack that problem, and TigerVPN’s solution is one of the most complete. First of all, the security is sound – as it should […]
There’s a number of benefits to bamboo fiber in general, and Bamboo Comfort sheets in particular. To start with, it actually repels moisture, which reduces the number of allergens in your bed. These same hypoallergenic properties make a dream to sleep on since it will stay cool and breathable through the night. In the morning, […]