Did The Sun Torch Geminid Meteor Shower’s Parent Body? | Video: http://www.technewsdaily.com/15739-did-the-sun-torch-geminid-meteor-shower-s-parent-body-video.html

The peak of the shower (possibly hundreds of meteors per hour) occurs on December 13th and 14th. Astronomers are at odds as where the meteors comes from and some are speculating that it may be debris from a Sun-scorched space rock.

(Credit: technewsdaily)

| Video:  http://www.technewsdaily.com/15738-polar-ice-melt-causes-sea-level-rise-satellites-find-video.html

Sifting data from 11 satellites, experts have determined that nearly a 1/2 inch (11mm) of sea level rise can be attributed to melting of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica since 1992 . This accounts for 20% of sea level rise during that period.  (Credit:  Technewsdaily)

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Sea-level Rise from Polar Ice Melt Finally Quantified

Melting of polar ice sheets has added 11mm to global sea levels over the past two decades, according to the most definitive assessment so far.
More than 20 polar research teams have combined forces to produce estimates of the state of the ice in Greenland and Antarctica in a paper in Science.
Until now different measurement means have produced a wide range of estimates with large uncertainties.(Credit: http://news.sudanvisiondaily.com/details.html?rsnpid=216730)

(Credit: http://news.sudanvisiondaily.com/details.html?rsnpid=216772)

North Korea ‘Installs Long-range Rocket at Launch Site’

North Korea has begun installing a rocket at its Sohae launch pad ahead of a planned launch this month, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reports.
The North’s state news media say the launch is an attempt to put an observation satellite into space, between 10 and 22 December.  It is expected to take scientists several days to assemble the three-stage rocket at the Sohae station.

korea1Activity at North Korean Launch CenterCredit: DigitalGlobe via Getty ImagesSohae Launch Facility, North Korea, Nov. 26, 2012: This satellite image of the Sohae Launch Facility on Nov. 26, 2012 shows a marked increase in activity at North Korea’s Sohae (West Sea) Satellite Launch Station. This activity is consistent with launch preparations as witnessed prior to the failed April 13, 2012 launch of the Unha 3 (i.e., Universe or Galaxy 3) space launch vehicle (SLV) carrying the Kwangmyongsong 3 (i.e., Bright Lodestar 3). Given the observed level of activity noted of a new tent, trucks, people and portable fuel/oxidizer tanks, should North Korea desire, it could possibly conduct its fifth satellite launch event during the next three weeks (e.g., by mid-December 2012).

(Credit:  Analytical Graphics, Inc.= http://www.space.com/15129-images-north-korea-rocket-missile-program.html)

North Korea’s Unha-3 Rocket (Infographic)Credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com ContributorIn April, North Korea is expected to attempt to orbit its first Earth satellite.

North Korea’s Missile Site Map Credit: Karl Tate/SPACE.com North Korea’s missile launch site is located at Tongchang-ri.

North Korea Rocket Launch: Video Animation Credit: Analytical Graphics, Inc.This still from an Analytical Graphics, Inc., video animation depicts North Korea’s Unha-3 rocket and Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite in the last leg of a potential orbital launch in April 2012.

 

Proton Rocket Hoisted Into Launch Position Credit: Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos)A Russian Proton rocket is hoisted into launch position for the Aug. 17 launch of the new Express AM4 communications satellite from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Russian Cargo Ship Dazzles in Launch to Space Station Credit: Russian Federal Space AgencyA dazzling view of the Oct. 14, 2009 (Eastern Time) launch of the Progress 35 cargo ship to the International Space Station was provided live via the Russian Federal Space Agency.

Russia Launches Three New Glonass Navigation Satellites Credit: Federal Space Agency.A Russian Proton M rocket stands poised to launch three Glonass navigation satellites on Dec. 22, 2008. Liftoff occurred as planned on Dec. 25 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

New Asian Communications Satellite Launches to Space Credit: ILS.An International Launch Services Proton rocket launches the AsiaSat 5 satellite from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on Aug. 11, 2009.

Security

$700 Hack Threatens Millions of Yahoo Mail Users

by Ben Weitzenkorn, Staff Writer, Security, TechNewsDaily

November 26 2012 02:51 PM ET

CREDIT: Lyao / Shutterstock.comView full size image

A new exploit being sold for $700 may put tens of millions of Yahoo Mail users at risk.

Once victims click on a malicious email link, the exploit allows an attacker to steal and replace tracking cookies, while remotely controlling the victims’ browsing sessions.

“After the victim clicks the link, he will be redirected to the email page again,” a demonstration video for the hack explained. “And you can redirect him to wherever you want.”

According to Yahoo, fixing the exploit won’t be nearly as difficult as finding it. That’s because it’s an XSS flaw set off by a URL, a hole that can easily be patched, but hard to locate.

The Case Against Robots With License to Kill

TechNewsDaily Staff

November 26 2012 12:20 PM ET

A fully armed MQ-9 Reaper taxis down a runway in Southwest Asia. The Reaper’s primary mission is as a persistent hunter-killer against emerging targets. CREDIT: U.S. Air Force | Staff Sgt. Brian FergusonView full size image

Battlefield drones and robots capable of choosing their targets and firing without any human oversight won’t arrive for a few decades, experts say. But a new Human Rights Watch report calls for an international ban on fully autonomous “killer robots” before they ever become a part of military arsenals around the world.

The thousands of drones and robots that the U.S. military already has deployed alongside troops are all controlled remotely by human operators, who can take responsibility if the machines accidentally injure or kill civilians. Fully autonomous robots capable of choosing targets and firing weapons on their own may come online within the next 20 or 30 years, if not sooner.

“Giving machines the power to decide who lives and dies on the battlefield would take technology too far,” said Steve Goose, the Arms Division director at Human Rights Watch. “Human control of robotic warfare is essential to minimizing civilian deaths and injuries.”

“Fully autonomous weapons” operating without oversight won’t have the artificial intelligence, human judgment or empathy necessary to distinguish between armed soldiers and cowering civilians in murky battlefield conditions, Human Rights Watch says. Its joint report with Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic argues robots could never follow rules of international humanitarian law. [5 Reasons to Fear Robots]

The report released on Nov. 19 suggests the following to stop the “killer robots” future:

• Ban development, production and use of fully autonomous weapons through an international agreement.
• Adopt national laws to ban the creation and use of fully autonomous weapons.
• Keep watch on technologies and components that could lead to fully autonomous weapons.
• Make a professional code of conduct to oversee research and development of autonomous robotic weapons.

The report also highlights concerns about the possible use of fully autonomous robots by dictators to brutally suppress their civilian populations, and about the easier decision to go to war when leaders aren’t worried about troop casualties.

Robots may lack human empathy, but history already has shown that human soldiers are capable of committing the world’s worst atrocities despite their supposed humanity. Ronald Arkin, a robotics researcher at Georgia Tech, even has argued that fully autonomous robots could make the battlefield safer: They wouldn’t fall prey to the fatigue that can result in misidentifying targets, or to the anger that could lead to sadistic abuse of prisoners and civilians.

The U.S. military spends about $6 billion each year on developing and deploying thousands of drones and robots. Its huge arsenal includes ground robots rolling or walking along under direct human control, Reaper drones that can fly parts of their mission without human control, and robot boats capable of firing missiles.

Automatic defense weapons such as the U.S. Navy’s Phalanx turret can fire thousands of rounds at incoming missiles without a human order and with only the barest human supervision. Israel’s “Iron Dome” defense detects incoming threats and asks human operators to make a split-second decision on whether to give the command to fire missiles that can intercept enemy rockets and artillery shells.

Both Israel and South Korea also have deployed robot sentry turrets that could, in theory, operate on automatic mode.

“Fixing it is easy,” Ramses Martinez, Yahoo director of security, told computer security writer Brian Krebs. “Once we figure out the offending URL, we can have new code deployed in a few hours.”

The exploit is being sold by an Egyptian hacker who goes by “TheHell” and who’s taken measures to make sure the patch happens later, rather than sooner.

“While I offer it here for $700. Will sell only to trusted people cuz I don’t want it to be patched soon!” TheHell wrote. What’s more, “you don’t need to bypass IE or Chrome xss filter,” he explained

Krebs pointed out that if Yahoo paid hackers to report bugs to the company, it might have been worth TheHell’s while to turn it in rather than selling it to criminals. If the vulnerability had been Google’s, for example, Google would have purchased it for $1,337.

When opening emails, users should approach links with skepticism and be especially wary of any links that come from unexpected or unknown sources.

The Open Web Security Project lists XSS flaws like this among its Top 10 Application Security Risks.

A flying-saucer-like aircraft is towed down US 77 in Cowley County, Kansas.
CREDIT: Local ABC7

“>

Related articles

• N Korea ‘preparing launch site’ (bbc.co.uk)
• Russia, China urge North Korea to drop rocket launch plan (news.yahoo.com)
• Russia urges North Korea not to launch rocket – Reuters (reuters.com)
• Russia urges N Korea to scrap rocket launch (abc.net.au)

As highlighted by North Korea Tech website:

The simulation lacks of the most recent theories on the precise launch path, such as a slight dog-leg turn in the trajectory of the satellite when the third stage separates, but that’s not too important.

Take a look and you’ll have a good feel for the path of the rocket and how the first and second stages will drop into the ocean.

As already explained, the rocket will be tracked by Japanese Aegis destroyers dispatched under the air cover provided by Japanese F-15J, that will have to take care of Russian and Chinese spyplanes.

Related articles

• Japan worried about Russian and Chinese intelligence-gathering planes during North Korean missile launch (theaviationist.com)
• North Korea’s Missile Launch Begins (gizmodo.com.au)
• Photos of North Korea’s newest rocket (security.blogs.cnn.com)

This still from an Analytical Graphics, Inc., video animation depicts North Korea‘s Unha-3 rocket and Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite in the last leg of a potential orbital launch in April 2012.
CREDIT: Analytical Graphics, Inc.View full size image

North Korea has launched its long-range rocket but the US, Japan and South Korea say it failed shortly after take-off and fell into the sea. There has been no word yet from Pyongyang on the launch.

North Korea says the aim of the rocket is to launch a satellite but critics say the launch constituted a disguised test of long-range missile technology banned under UN resolutions.

As the world watches and waits to see if North Korea will continue in its bid to launch a long-range rocket despite international warnings, a new video animation reveals just how the space test could occur.

The new video, released late Wednesday (April 11) by the analytical firm Analytical Graphics Inc., covers North Korea’s planned Unha-3 rocket launch, showing the flight trajectory from a point just after liftoff through the separation of its satellite payload.

“AGI has used its software to produce a video demonstrating the launch and its possible path, tracking assets and landing zones,” AGI officials wrote in a media alert.

North Korean space officials have said the Unha-3 rocket will launch a new Earth-observing satellite sometime between April 12 and April 16 to honor the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea. Critics of the launch, which include the United States, Japan and South Korea, claim the launch is a cover for a missile test that violates United Nations Security Council resolutions. [Images: North Korea's Rocket and Missile Program]

According to AGI’s video animation of the Unha-3 rocket launch, the three-stage booster will blast off from the new North Korean launch site near the northwest village of Tongchang-ri, which corresponds with official statements from North Korea and Western observers. The rocket will then head in a southerly direction and drop its first stage in the Yellow Sea well to the west of South Korea, where officials have said they would shoot down any parts of the Unha-3 territory that threatened to fall on South Korean territory.

The next stage of the Unha-3 rocket would likely fall just to the east of the Philippines after the booster’s third stage and payload — the Earth-monitoring satellite Kwangmyongsong-3 — separates and heads towards orbit, the AGI animation shows.

Is North Korea’s Unha-3 rocket launch really a space mission or a missile test?

Satellite! North Korea should be welcomed into the group of space powers.
Missile Test!

The Unha-3 rocket mission is a thinly veiled effort to test weapons.

Undecided: North Korea’s trademark secrecy makes it too unclear to call.
View Results Share This

If the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite reaches its intended polar orbit, its trajectory would carry it over a major stretch of Australia after the spacecraft separates from the Unha-3 rocket, according to the AGI depiction.

North Korea’s Unha-3 rocket appears to be a liquid-fueled rocket that stands about 100 feet (30 meters) tall. The Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite, meanwhile, is a boxy, solar-powered spacecraft, according to videos and images in media reports, as well as the AGI video.

Exactly which day of the current window North Korea will launch the Unha-3 rocket is not yet certain, though the country’s space organization did begin fueling the rocket for liftoff on Wednesday, suggesting a potential launch attempt in upcoming days, according to press reports.

Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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