It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Gaza humanitarian crisis could develop into famine, WFP says
Reuters Tue, October 29, 2024 FILE PHOTO: Palestinians gather to receive aid, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip
GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. World Food Programmed called on Tuesday for immediate action to avert famine in the Gaza Strip, warning that the humanitarian crisis there could soon worsen amid what it said were severe restrictions on aid flows.
A global monitor warned this month that the whole of the Palestinian enclave remained at risk of famine, with Israeli military operations adding to concerns and hampering humanitarian access.
"Now, as the situation in northern Gaza continues to deteriorate, the likelihood of a larger group being impacted by famine will surely increase unless conditions on the ground improve," said WFP, the United Nations' food agency.
WFP said that it had approximately 94,000 tonnes of food standing by in Egypt and Jordan that could feed 1 million people for four months, but that could not bring it into Gaza because too few entry points were open and others were not safe enough.
Since Israel seized the Rafah crossing with Egypt in May - months after it began its offensive in Gaza following the Ham as-led attack on Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023 - all routes into Gaza have been controlled by Israel.
"Restrictions on humanitarian aid coming into Gaza are severe," WFP said, adding that only 5,000 tonnes had entered the Gaza Strip this month.
Other constraints that needed to be addressed to improve aid flows in Gaza include approval of trucks and truck drivers and delays at check points, it said.
(Reporting by Emma Farge, Editing by Friederike Heine and Timothy Heritage)
Humanitarian crisis in Gaza could escalate to famine
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The U.N. World Food Programme warned Tuesday the humanitarian crisis in Gaza could soon turn into a famine if restrictions on aid continue.
This comes after Israel passed two laws Monday that could stop a key U.N. agency from entering the area.
“We are deeply troubled by this legislation,” said Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department. “It poses risks for millions of Palestinians who rely on UNRWA for essential services.”
UNRWA provides food, water, health care and education to refugees amid the Israel-Hamas war, and Miller said no other agency can currently take over.
“The work is absolutely critical and irreplaceable in Gaza right now,” he said.
The Israeli laws will not take effect for months, but Miller said the U.S. could take action against its ally.
“There could be consequences under U.S. law and U.S. policy for the implementation of this legislation,” he said.
UNRWA called the new laws unprecedented.
“We are the backbone of the aid operation,” said John Fowler, a spokesperson for UNRWA. “That’s not just us saying that. All other agencies from the U.N. rely completely on our logistical platforms, our thousands of staff to be able to do their work.”
However, Israel accuses UNRWA of being “a terrorist front” for Hamas, saying some of its staff participated in the Oct. 7 attack and even more have militant ties.
“These are not aid workers,” said Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. “These are savages who have seized UNRWA Gaza and transformed it into a Hamas chapter. These heinous criminal scandals can no longer be swept under the rug.”
UNRWA fired nine workers after an investigation but denies it knowingly helps armed groups. The U.S. and other allies temporarily paused funding to the agency over the allegations.
What dream job? Gen Z and millennials are being forced to confront a difficult job market.
Jennifer Sor Tue, October 29, 2024
DNY
Gen Z and millennials are increasingly turning away from their dream careers.
Graduates are adjusting their expectations of what a career may hold, labor experts say.
Gen Z and millennials entering the job market or in the early stages of their careers are facing a much tougher job market than in recent years, and many are adjusting their expectations for a dream career as the hiring landscape worsens.
While the job market has looked pretty robust in recent months, there are now signs that tighter economic conditions engineered by the Federal Reserve are set to make things much tougher for anyone looking to get hired. The unemployment rate rose to 3.9% last month, the highest level in two years, while wage growth slowed, according to the February nonfarm payroll report published on Friday.
But job-seeking was already turning way bleaker for fresh graduates and America's youngest workers before the latest data, and the younger demographic is usually the first to feel the blow of a weakening job market.
Layoff announcements — which often impact more junior workers first — rose 410% year-over-year in February, according to data from the career coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the worst February recorded since 2009.
That already looks to be showing up in the unemployment numbers. The jobless rate for 20- to 24-year-olds surged to 7.2% in January, compared to just 3.2% for workers over 25, per the latest jobs data.
One in three 2023 college graduates say they don't believe they have the skills to land a full-time offer, according to a survey from the job listings site Handshake. Meanwhile, 74% of Gen Zers and millennials are worried about their job security — significantly higher than the overall population, where just 47% say they're concerned about job stability, according to a study last year by McKinsey & Company.
"It remains a strong labor market, but not quite as tight as it was a few years ago," Harry Holzer, a Georgetown professor and the former chief economist of the Labor Department, told Business Insider. "So young people are going to feel that before anyone else."
That was the case for Natasha Bernfeld, a 32-year-old former HR professional who was out of work for 11 months after getting laid off in November 2022.
Much of those 11 months were spent battling a constant wave of rejection, she says, despite the fact that she was job searching around 40 hours a week and had already had five years of experience in her chosen field. She estimates that she's applied to over 200 jobs, even applying to some companies twice.
"It was defeating," Bernfeld told Business Insider in an interview. "We didn't plan for me to be unemployed."
Despair about the ailing job market looks most acute among recent graduates, or students quickly approaching their graduation dates. Larry Jackson, senior associate director at Berkeley Career Engagement, says he's seen a 25% increase in students coming in for career help compared to before the pandemic. Alumni visits, meanwhile, are up 30%. Dimming outlook
Recent graduates appear to be managing their expectations for what a career may hold.
Nearly three-quarters of 2023 graduates said the most important thing was stability from an employer, according to Handshake.
On the flip side, enrollment in liberal arts programs — an area of academics often tarred as impractical in the job market — dropped 17% from 2018 to 2023. That's compared to computer and information sciences, for which enrollment has soared 34% since 2019.
Only 44% of workers under 30 said they were "very satisfied" with their job, according to a 2023 Pew Research study. Just 39% said they were fulfilled at least most of the time.
According to Emily Bianchi, an Emory University psychologist, college graduates entering the job market during a recession tend to report lower levels of grandiosity and self-adulation when it comes to their career aspirations well beyond their post-grad years.
"Recessions tend to be particularly hard on young adults. They tend to be the last to get hired, the first to get fired," Bianchi said. "It's hard to keep a perception that you're special and unique and the world owes you everything when it's really told to you again and again: it really doesn't."
Bernfeld, who originally aspired to be an actor, says she gave up on that dream years ago.
"That was my dream since I was a kid. But I also knew I wasn't making enough money to live in my teeny shoebox of an apartment in New York to really do it," she said. "I didn't want to act enough to live in my car for it."
The job market boomed during the pandemic, with the unemployment rate going from 6.4% at the beginning of 2021 to 3.5% at the end of 2022. It hovered at historic lows through last year, finally notching an uptick to two-year highs in the latest payroll report.
Tougher times may be ahead, Georgetown's Holzer said. The hiring frenzy was another symptom of an economy thrown out of whack by pandemic distortions and massive monetary and fiscal stimulus that led to sky-high inflation, which are all conditions the Federal Reserve is now trying to reverse.
And there are no signs that millennials or Gen Zers will feel better about the job market anytime soon, especially if their expectations were set by the 2021 labor boom, according to André Dua, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company.
"It's not in the same environment of plenty that it seemed just a few years ago," Dua said.
Correction: March 11, 2024 — an earlier version of this article misstated Larry Jackson's title and his organization. He is a senior associate director at Berkley Career Engagement. The article also misspelled the name of the job listing service cited. It is Handshake, not Handshakes.
This story was originally published in March 2024.
Russia, North Korea, and Iran—a trio Dimon previously labeled as an "evil axis"—as well as China, are actively working together to "dismantle" the systems set up by the allies following World War II such as NATO, he added.
"And they're talking about doing it now," he said in a recording obtained by Fortune. "They're not talking about waiting 20 years. And so the risk of this is extraordinary if you read history."
Referencing a Washington Post article, Dimon continued, "World War III has already begun. You already have battles on the ground being coordinated in multiple countries."
"Mistakes happen," he added. "Look at how we tripped into World War II. When Czechoslovakia was split up—sounds a little like Ukraine—that was the end of it. Until they invaded Poland.
"We shan't be naive. What we should be thinking about is we can't take the chance this will resolve itself. We have to make sure that we are involved in doing the right things to get it resolved properly."
Luckily for those watching the news with a sense of impending doom, Dimon did have some faith that all-out war isn't a foregone conclusion.
"It may diminish over time," the Wall Street veteran added. There may be "armistices struck" in the likes of Ukraine and the Middle East.
Of course, the man who runs America's biggest bank with a military tactic called the “OODA loop”—analyzing potential scenarios from every standpoint—isn't betting on the situation improving.
Dimon, who was paid $36 million for his work in 2023, takes his concerns to the board of the financial giant.
"I talk about the risk to us if those things go south," Dimon said. "We run scenarios that would shock you. I don't even want to mention them." Nuclear concern outweighs climate change
Dimon also placed the nuclear threat out of Russia—and indeed any potential adversary—at the top of the list of concerns.
"We've never had a situation where a man [Putin] is threatening nuclear blackmail. That: 'If your military starts to win, we're rolling out the nuclear weapons' type of thing," said Dimon.
"It's not climate change, it's nuclear proliferation," he doubled down. "We've got to be very careful about what we're trying to accomplish in the next couple of years."
If the spread of nuclear powers continues, "it's just a matter of time before these things are going off in major cities around the world," Dimon said. "I think we have to just have clarity and subordinate a lot of things to make sure this ends up right."
World’s first nuclear radiation-detecting chip can fit on phones and drones
Interesting Engineering Mon, October 28, 2024
A state-owned nuclear company in China has announced that it is beginning to mass produce a world-first chip that can detect radiation.
The announcement adds to the long list of semiconductor related breakthroughs that have come from the Asian country in the past few years.
The claim of beginning mass production of chips that can detect X-ray and gamma radiation have come from the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). According to a report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the claim was made by the company in a statement released on its official WeChat channel. Detecting radiation with chip
According to the SCMP report, CNNC has claimed that its homegrown chip can “measure dose rates of X- and gamma-ray radiation ranging from 100 nanoSievert per hour to 10 milliSievert per hour.”
The Chinese firm also claims that it can be used for a broad number of applications, ranging from monitoring radiation doses in all types of settings – such as nuclear-related workplaces like reactors, weapon plants, and more.
Further, it can also be used in the nature and other places with proximity to radiation zones to keep a tab on the rise or fall of levels.
To put things into perspective, a normal flight on a commercial plane can lead to a typical dose rate of roughly 3,000 nanoSievert per hour. On the other hand, in nature it is around 60 to 200 nanoSievert per hour.
One of the important features of the chip is that it is quite small in size - measuring just 15 mm by 15 mm by 3 mm - as per the Chinese firm. At the same time, the small size does not hinder its performance or its abilities – and CNNC says that it can be compared to a Geiger-Muller counter for efficiency. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KUuUh8uaLo
More uses of nuclear energy-detecting chip
The small size will enable the chip to be placed inside smartphones or even attached to unmanned aerial vehicles or ground drones. The phones, or drones, can then be used as smart devices for measuring radiation at the desired places, the company stated.
The chip can function on extremely low power - one milliwatt – and it can detect energies from 50 kiloelectron volt to 2 mega electron-volt.
CNNC also states that the whole development of the chip - right from designing to testing, and now the mass production – has been carried out in its factories, by its own team of engineers.
This is also a significant development as the US had been sanctioning companies from supplying semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China and Chinese firms.
Earlier this year, analysts had predicted that China might be able to overtake the United States in important sectors such as semiconductors, electric vehicles, quantum computing, nuclear power, and material science.
Analysts at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a think tank based in Washington, had come to this conclusion after closely following the progress and innovation capability made by 44 Chinese firms.
For a long time, China had been considered a copycat in innovation and there is a good reason for this. However, in recent years, a lot has changed. China became the second-largest economy, and the Chinese government and companies heavily invested in research and development of high-value technologies.
All of this has resulted in China’s rising dominance in several key areas. For instance, the number of nuclear reactors China developed in the last 10 years is more than what the US deployed in the last 30 years. Chinese state-owned nuclear company claims breakthrough with radiation detection chip
South China Morning Post Mon, October 28, 2024
A Chinese state-owned nuclear company said it has started mass production of the world's first chip that can detect X-ray and gamma radiation, in the latest sign of China's unrelenting efforts to seek semiconductor technology breakthroughs.
The state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said in a statement on its official WeChat channel that the self-developed chip can measure dose rates of X- and gamma-ray radiation ranging from 100 nanoSievert per hour to 10 milliSievert per hour. The typical dose rate of radiation exposure when flying on a commercial aeroplane, for instance, is around 3,000 nanoSievert per hour, while that of exposure to natural background is around 60 to 200 nanoSievert per hour.
CNNC said the proposed applications were "broad", as customers can use the chip to monitor radiation doses in various scenarios including nuclear-related workplaces, personnel and environmental settings, after adapting the circuit based on instructions in the manual.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
It can also be integrated into smartphones and drones as a radiation sensor, which could then be used as smart devices with a radiation detection function, according to CNNC.
The core module of a small modular reactor (SMR) developed by CNNC. Photo: CCTV alt=The core module of a small modular reactor (SMR) developed by CNNC. Photo: CCTV>
The chip's sensitivity is comparable to a Geiger-Muller counter widely used in environmental measurement, despite its small size of 15mm by 15mm by 3mm, according to CNNC.
It can detect energies from 50 kiloelectron volt to 2 mega electron-volt, and has extremely low power consumption of one milliwatt.
The US sanctioned CNNC said its team was involved in the whole development process, from chip design and tape-out to packaging and testing, and has now outsourced mass production to "authorised factories".
The development comes as China continues to push for self-reliance in technology, especially in semiconductors, amid an intensifying tech war with the US, which has sought to curb China's high-tech access over national security concerns.
Earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated the importance of science and technology in China's modernisation, and the need for self-reliance.
"High-tech development cannot be begged for; we must accelerate the realisation of high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement," state news agency Xinhua quoted Xi as saying during his visit to the southeastern high-tech hub of Hefei.
China warns of deep-sea spying devices, underwater 'lighthouses' that guide foreign submarines
Mon, October 28, 2024
By Joe Cash
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Ministry of State Security said on Tuesday that it had retrieved spying devices both on the ocean surface and in the depths of the sea, including underwater "lighthouses" that could guide the transit of foreign submarines.
The ministry said it had uncovered devices that had been hidden on the ocean floor and were sending back information that could "pre-set the field for battle," in an article on its official WeChat account, China's most popular social media app.
Recent sea and air confrontations in the South China Sea between China and the Philippines over competing territorial claims in the highly strategic waterway have raised the risk of an escalation that could eventually involve the U.S., which is treaty-bound to defend the Philippines if it is attacked.
China has also recently staged war games around Taiwan in which it simulated attacks and deployment of ships and aircraft, drawing condemnation from the democratically governed island's government and the United States.
"National security forces have seized a variety of special technical devices used for spying on marine information and data, hidden in the vastness of the sea," the state security ministry said, without specifying where the devices were found.
"Some act as 'secret agents,' drifting and floating with the waves, monitoring the situation in our territorial waters in real time. Some act as underwater 'lighthouses,' indicating the direction for foreign submarines that have invaded our waters."
China claims sovereignty over nearly all the South China Sea, including areas claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Beijing has also said it will never renounce the use of force over Taiwan, which rejects China's sovereignty claims and says only the island's people can decide their future.
A submarine arms race is intensifying between China and the United States and its allies, analysts say, with Beijing on track to have a new generation of nuclear-powered and -armed submarines in operation by the end of the decade.
"Facing a serious and complicated covert struggle for deep-sea security and the real threat of foreign espionage and intelligence agencies... (the ministry) will firmly defend China's sovereignty, security and development interests and contribute to the construction of a strong maritime nation," the ministry said.
(Reporting by Joe Cash; Editing by Michael Perry)
Remember the ‘alien’ signal sent by Mars orbiter? It’s just been decoded
Vishwam Sankaran Wed 30 October 2024
A simulated “alien” signal sent by a Nasa orbiter circling Mars has finally been cracked after months by a father-daughter duo, revealing the cosmic coded message.
Nasa collaborated with SETI Institute and media artist Daniela de Paulis on a project to simulate sending an alien message to Earth to observe how humans might interpret such an otherworldly code.
The “alien” message was developed with a small group of astronomers and computer scientists, with support from the European Space Agency.
The encoded message was beamed from Nasa’s ExoMars orbiter circling the Red Planet in May 2023, and the SETI Institute invited the public to decipher it.
Over several months, thousands of people attempted to decipher the alien code, sharing ideas on online forums.
The message consisted of cryptic white dots arranged in five clusters against a black background.
After running simulations “for hours and days on end”, a father-daughter duo Ken and Keli Chaffin have finally cracked the code – but what it conveys is still up for debate and discussion. ‘Alien’ signal decoded (Ken and Keli Chaffin via ESA)
They found that “blocks” interpreted from the signal have 1, 6, 7 or 8 “pixels” representing the atomic number of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.
The duo successfully found that the “alien” message contained in the ExoMars signals symbolised amino acid molecules, which are protein building blocks.
They described the message as symbolising cell formation, the European Space Agency noted in a blog post.
“My decoded message is a simple image with 5 amino acids displayed in a universal (hopefully) organic molecular diagram notation and a few single pixel points that appear between the clusters and molecular diagrams,” the father wrote, sharing an image of his discovery.
Now that the message has been decoded, the project’s next step is to interpret it and determine what it was meant to convey – an interpretation that remains open.
“Could this sign of extraterrestrial intelligence be a recipe for destruction or a peaceful message? Are we ready for a first contact with an alien civilisation?” the ESA noted, adding that people can contribute their ideas online.
Participants are also required to include a description of the method they used to interpret the message so that it can be replicated and verified.
Faster space communication with record-sensitive receiver
Chalmers University of Technology
image:
In the new communication system from researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, a weak optical signal (red) from the spacecraft's transmitter can be amplified noise-free when it encounters two so-called pump waves (blue and green) of different frequencies in a receiver on Earth. Thanks to the researchers' noise-free amplifiers in the receiver, the signal is kept undisturbed and the reception on Earth becomes record-sensitive, which in turn paves the way for a more error-free and faster data transmission in space in the future.
Credit: Chalmers University of Technology | Rasmus Larsson
In space exploration, long-distance optical links can now be used to transmit images, films and data from space probes to Earth using light. But in order for the signals to reach all the way and not be disturbed along the way, hypersensitive receivers and noise-free amplifiers are required. Now, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, have created a system that, with a silent amplifier and record-sensitive receiver, paves the way for faster and improved space communication.
Space communication systems are increasingly based on optical laser beams rather than radio waves, as the signal loss has been shown to be less when light is used to carry information over very long distances. But even information carried by light loses its power during the journey, and optical systems for space communication therefore require extremely sensitive receivers capable of sensing signals that have been greatly weakened before they finally reach Earth. The Chalmers researchers' concept for optical space communication opens up new communication opportunities – and discoveries – in space.
"We can demonstrate a new system for optical communication with a receiver that is more sensitive than has been demonstrated previously at high data rates. This means that you can get a faster and more error-free transfer of information over very long distances, for example when you want to send high-resolution images or videos from the Moon or Mars to Earth," says Peter Andrekson, Professor of Photonics at Chalmers and one of the lead authors of the study, which was recently published in the scientific journal Optica.
Silent amplifier with simplified transmitter improves communication
The researchers' communication system uses an optical amplifier in the receiver that amplifies the signal with the least possible noise so that its information can be recycled. Just like the glow of a flashlight, the light from the transmitter widens and weakens with distance. Without amplification, the signal is so weak after the space flight that it is drowned out by the electronic noise of the receiver. After twenty years of struggling with disturbing noise that impaired the signals, the research team at Chalmers was able to demonstrate a noise-free optical amplifier a few years ago. But until now, the silent amplifier has not been able to be used practically in optical communication links, as it has placed completely new, significantly more complex, demands on both transmitter and receiver.
Due to the limited resources and minimal space on board a space probe, it is important that the transmitter is as simple as possible. By allowing the receiver on Earth to generate two of the three light frequencies needed for noise-free amplification, and at the same time allowing the transmitter to generate only one frequency, the Chalmers researchers were able to implement the noise-free amplifier in an optical communication system for the first time. The results show an outstanding sensitivity, while complexity at the transmitter is modest.
"This phase-sensitive optical amplifier does not, in principle, generate any extra noise, which contributes to a more sensitive receiver and that error-free data transmission is achieved even when the power of the signal is lower. By generating two extra waves of different frequencies in the receiver, rather than as previously done in the transmitter, a conventional laser transmitter with one wave can now be used to implement the amplifier. Our simplification of the transmitter means that already existing optical transmitters on board satellites and probes could be used together with the noise-free amplifier in a receiver on Earth," says Rasmus Larsson, Postdoctoral Researcher in Photonics at Chalmers and one of the lead authors of the study.
Can solve problematic bottleneck
The progress means that the researchers' silent amplifiers can eventually be used in practice in communication links between space and Earth. The system is thus poised to contribute in solving a well-known bottleneck problem among space agencies today.
NASA talks about 'the science return bottleneck', and here the speed of the collection of scientific data from space to Earth is a factor that constitutes an obstacle in the chain. We believe that our system is an important step forward towards a practical solution that can resolve this bottleneck," says Peter Andrekson.
The next step for the researchers is to test the optical communication system with the implemented amplifier during field studies on Earth, and later also in communication links between a satellite and Earth.
The development of the technology has been done at Chalmers University of Technology and the research has been funded by the Swedish Research Council.
For more information, please contact:
Rasmus Larsson, Postdoctoral Researcher, Division of Photonics, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology rasmus.larsson@chalmers.se
Peter Andrekson, Professor, Division of Photonics, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology peter.andrekson@chalmers.se, +46 31 772 16 06
The contact persons both speak English and Swedish. They are available for live and pre-recorded interviews. At Chalmers, we have podcast studios and broadcast filming equipment on site and would be able to assist a request for a television, radio or podcast interview.
Illustration caption: In the new communication system from researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, a weak optical signal (red) from the spacecraft's transmitter can be amplified noise-free when it encounters two so-called pump waves (blue and green) of different frequencies in a receiver on Earth. Thanks to the researchers' noise-free amplifiers in the receiver, the signal is kept undisturbed and the reception on Earth becomes record-sensitive, which in turn paves the way for a more error-free and faster data transmission in space in the future.
Illustration credit: Chalmers University of Technology | Rasmus Larsson
Ultralow-noise preamplified optical receiver using conventional single-wavelength transmission
Article Publication Date
28-Oct-2024
COI Statement
The authors declare no competing interests.
As Musk seeks to launch tens of thousands of Starlink satellites, space researchers urge caution
Noah Haggerty Tue, October 29, 2024 A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink satellites launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in January. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
More than 100 space researchers signed a letter urging the federal government to perform an environmental review before allowing SpaceX to continue launching thousands of satellites for its internet service, Starlink.
The Federal Communications Commission has licensed Elon Musk's company to launch nearly 12,000 satellites into space — more than double the number of non-SpaceX satellites orbiting Earth. SpaceX is asking the FCC to allow it to launch over 20,000 more.
While the FCC evaluates the potential harms of satellite constellations, it currently exempts almost all telecommunications projects — including satellites — from facing formal environmental reviews. The researchers' letter, released on Thursday, argues that much has changed since the rule was created almost four decades ago.
"This is a new technology," said Lucas Gutterman, the director of the Designed to Last Campaign at Public Interest Research Groups, or PIRG, which organized the letter. "It could have benefits for the public and that's great, but the benefits need to be weighed against the potential harms, and the way you do that is with an environmental review."
Gutterman said PIRG has heard back from the FCC and is excited to meet with the agency to discuss the group's concerns.
The Starlink constellation provides internet coverage across the globe, especially to rural communities and countries without reliable cell tower service. The service has provided internet access to Ukrainian soldiers, hurricane victims and commercial flight passengers.
SpaceX's satellites are designed to have a roughly five-year lifespan, after which SpaceX ground controllers will deorbit the satellites, let them burn up in Earth's atmosphere and launch replacements. This injection of metals and other compounds into the upper atmosphere from the incineration of the spent satellites has the potential to disturb the delicate balance of elements and molecules in the air, the letter argues.
"The industry has moved faster than regulators can act and faster than the public has really been aware," Gutterman said. "The results aren't in — we just don't actually have the data on what effects this new technology could have."
In a 2022 report, the Government Accountability Office — a nonpartisan federal agency tasked with saving taxpayer money and increasing government efficiency — recommended the FCC review whether the satellite constellations normally have significant environmental impacts. The FCC agreed with the findings.
The space researchers who signed the letter not only study the effects of satellites and rocket launches on the atmosphere but also rely on clear skies for their observations.
As satellites whiz past the field of view of telescopes, they leave streaks in astronomers' images. To compensate, scientists have had to frequently retake images and develop more sophisticated computer programs to remove the streaks.
"Picture an open book. Then picture a big marker streak across the page," said David Jewitt, a distinguished professor of astronomy at UCLA who signed the letter. "That's what they do."
Jewitt first heard about the letter while dealing with satellite streaks on his observations from a telescope in Spain.
"It was so obvious that the number of satellite trails is just way, way up since I started doing astronomy," he said. "People want to use space for good purposes. Communication is a good purpose. ... So, there has to be some moderation between the effective use of space and its effects on our view of the night sky."
Environmental review of satellite mega-constellations would be a first step along a path of much-needed space policy reform, Gutterman said.
Currently, there is limited international cooperation in regulation of satellite constellations, and within the United States, oversight of different aspects of their life cycles — from launch to orbit to decommissioning — is handled by separate agencies.
Setting clear international standards and streamlining the process in the U.S. would be a win-win for concerned scientists and the space industry, Gutterman said.
It's not the first time Starlink has run into pushback from the public and government officials. After the first few batches of satellites were launched in 2019, astronomers around the world raised concerns about the satellites' reflectivity. In response, SpaceX began applying a coating to the satellites to make them less shiny.
And earlier this month, the California Coastal Commission rejected a SpaceX plan to increase the number of rocket launches from Vandenburg Space Force Base to 50 a year, on the grounds that SpaceX was increasingly using the launches for its Starlink satellites instead of for military missions.
NASA Backs Proposal to Orbit Starlink Satellites Closer to Earth
PC Mag Tue, October 29, 2024
SpaceX has received support from NASA in its proposal to orbit satellites about 200 kilometers closer to Earth.
SpaceX wants permission to orbit its cellular Starlink satellites 340 to 360 kilometers around Earth, the benefits of reduced latency for an upcoming direct-to-cell Starlink service. The issue is that SpaceX wants to potentially orbit thousands of Starlink satellites below the International Space Station, which circles the Earth between altitudes of 360 to 470 km.
In 2022, NASA the proliferation of Starlink satellites as a potential obstacle to sending missions to the International Space Station. But in a Tuesday letter to the FCC, the space agency said it has been working with SpaceX on a "visiting vehicle study" to assess whether low-orbiting satellites can operate below the space station in 300km orbits.
"Given the progress made and the continued positive collaboration between SpaceX and NASA, NASA supports FCC action that would allow SpaceX to initially operate 400 satellites continuously in the 300 km orbital shells,” the agency added. “This support reflects the ongoing cooperation between both parties to ensure safe and effective satellite operations.”
But for now, it looks like NASA only wants to let SpaceX orbit the satellites closer to Earth on a trial basis. Its letter alludes to granting the company a “Special Temporary Authority” to orbit the cellular Starlink satellites in the 300km orbits for 60 days, which SpaceX requested in May.
“Upon completion of the visiting vehicle study, NASA will coordinate any change on the number of satellites it endorses in the 300 km orbital shells,” the space agency added in the letter.
Still, the NASA letter is a win in SpaceX’s efforts to upgrade the Starlink network by lowering the satellites' orbits, which could raise opposition from rival companies, in addition to . Earlier this month, the company also made a with the FCC to operate nearly 30,000 second-generation Starlink satellites, including in the 340-360km orbit range.
SpaceX launching 20 Starlink internet satellites from California on Oct. 30 Mike Wall Mon, October 28, 2024 A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 22 Starlink satellites to orbit from Florida on June 23, 2024. | Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX plans to launch another batch of its Starlink internet satellites from California early on Wednesday (Oct. 30).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 20 Starlink spacecraft, including 13 with direct-to-cell (DTC) capability, is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base today, during a nearly hour-long window that opens at 7:07 a.m. ET (1207 GMT; 4:07 a.m. local California time).
SpaceX will stream the launch live via X, beginning about five minutes before liftoff.
If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9's first stage will come back to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff. It will touch down on the drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You," which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
It will be the 14th launch and landing for this particular booster and its 11th Starlink mission overall, according to a SpaceX mission description.
The Falcon 9's upper stage will haul the Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO), where they'll be deployed about an hour after liftoff.
SpaceX has already launched more than 100 Falcon 9 missions in 2024, about two-thirds of them devoted to building out the Starlink megaconstellation.
The company currently operates more than 6,400 Starlink spacecraft in LEO, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell. About 250 of them are DTC satellites.
Editor's note: This post was updated on Oct. 29 to reflect the most current launch window provided by SpaceX.
Let There Be Broadband: SpaceX Lights Up Starlink in US National Radio Quiet Zone
PC Mag Mon, October 28, 2024
SpaceX's Starlink is now rolling out to thousands of residents living in the "National Radio Quiet Zone" in Virginia and West Virginia, where wireless signals are restricted.
The access arrives following a three-year effort between SpaceX and US scientists to prevent Starlink from disrupting local radio telescopes, which is why the quiet zone exists.
"Based on these results, SpaceX will begin a one-year assessment period to offer residential satellite internet service to 99.5% of residents within the NRQZ starting October 25,” the Green Bank Observatory said on Friday.
The radio quiet zone around the observatory restricts cellular and Wi-Fi signals, although many residents do have Wi-Fi and fiber-based broadband.
The quiet zone is needed to help radio telescopes detect the faintest signals from deep space. SpaceX has refrained from beaming Starlink internet to the area because the radio signals from its satellites could disrupt or even damage the “eye” of the radio telescopes.
In August, SpaceX said it was ready to start rolling out Starlink access to users in the radio quiet zones around the Green Bank Observatory and another telescope in New Mexico. To prevent interference, the company developed a system that can quickly steer satellite beams away from the radio telescopes as they pass overhead
As a result, Starlink is now live in 42 of the 46 cell areas around the Green Bank Observatory’s telescopes; previously, the satellite internet access was unavailable across all 46 sites.
“This collaboration will allow residents to access high-quality, high-speed internet, and also expand opportunities for improved communication, like those needed by emergency services and first responders,” says Green Bank Observatory Director Jim Jackson. During the one-year-period, SpaceX and the observatory will monitor and try to resolve any interference issues.
A growing number of counties in the area have called for the dissolution of the National Radio Quiet Zone, citing the danger of people not having access to emergency services.
"This is still keeping a portion of Pendleton and Pocahontas Counties in the dark ages of communications systems,” Pendleton County Emergency Services Coordinator Rick Gillespie told West Virginia's WOWK-TV.
In an email, Gillespie also told PCMag that the Roam version of Starlink had actually been available across 100% of the quiet zone for the past two years. But after SpaceX announced its agreement with the Green Bank Observatory, about 0.5% of the quiet zone has lost the Starlink access, he said.
"This means that a large section of southeastern Pendleton County and an even larger section of northern Pocahontas will NOT be able to utilize Starlink," he added in a statement. "Those areas ARE the 0.5% exclusion zone. In many cases, Starlink was the only Internet provider option residents and emergency responders had. This is unacceptable."
In response, Gillespie has been urging representatives of the National Radio Quiet Zone to loosen the radio restrictions, enabling wireless communications for local public safety services. "Throughout this process, any adjustments to the NRQZ regulations have been made without our involvement. These restrictions continue to escalate without our input, which must cease," he added.
We've reached out to the Green Bank Observatory and SpaceX for comment, and we'll update the story if we hear back. Florida's Space Coast breaks record for most launches in a year
Matt Trezza Mon, October 28, 2024
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - With the launch of a SpaceX rocket on Saturday, the Space Coast hit a major milestone, with 73 launches this year.
The Falcon Nine carried 22 Starlink satellites into orbit. At Jetty Park, Mary Harris said her son works for Blue Origin, and she never gets tired of watching the rockets go up.
"I still like to catch the night ones, because they're really nice, I like them."
Saturday’s record-breaking mission capped off a very busy week in space news. NASA’s crew of eight members returned to Earth on Friday, after a nearly eight-month mission. The SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico just before 3:30 a.m., EST. The three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut spent 235 days in space, the longest of any human SpaceX mission.
"It wasn’t that long ago when we were happy to have 20 launches a year. We’re doing four to five times that now. It’s almost surreal now," said Don Platt, Associate Professor of Space Systems at Florida Tech.
On Wednesday, SpaceX launched another Falcon Nine mission that carried 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. KSC officials said that after some infrastructure upgrades, they aimed to host five commercial human space flight companies on-site by next year.
"It is the vision that we laid out back in 2014 with the Kennedy Space Center master plan," said Tom Engler, Center Planning & Development Director for the Kennedy Space Center.
With two more months to go in the year, there are still plenty more launches expected. Launch 74 is set for Wednesday. Jerry Eller, a Merritt Island resident, said the space industry has the potential to bring more people together.
Artemis 2 astronauts train for emergencies with Orion spacecraft ahead of 2025 moon launch (photos)
Elizabeth Howell Mon, October 28, 2024 Artemis 2 astronaut Christina Koch, of NASA, poses at the opening of an Orion spacecraft mockup. | Credit: Lockheed Martin
In case of emergency on Earth, open the spacecraft door.
The four Artemis 2 astronauts recently practiced a key contingency operation as they continue to prepare for their moon mission: opening the side hatch of their Orion spacecraft.
If all goes well during Artemis 2's planned September 2025 launch and round-the-moon mission, of course, the astronauts will keep all doors firmly shut. Conducting the first human lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972, however, requires a strict focus on safety — just in case.
NASA and the CSA announced the four astronauts in April 2023 for what was then supposed to be a December 2024 liftoff. The mission was delayed in January 2024 due to several critical engineering issues, particularly longstanding examinations of irregularities in the heat shield. two people peering at an open spacecraft door that has a lot of gears and mechanics on it
But the mission is a developmental one, the crew continues to emphasize, meaning that getting the hardware and crew safely ready must override any expectation of a firm schedule.
If all goes well with the launch, the astronauts will not touch the hatches, as the ground systems team at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center will secure the crew inside, NASA officials said in a statement on Wednesday (Oct. 23). During splashdown, recovery teams in the Pacific Ocean (including folks from both NASA and the U.S. Navy) will open the hatch. jeremy hansen standing at an open spacecraft door while two people stand nearby him
The side hatch mockup — which crew members trained on with Orion spacecraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado — normally swings open using manual gearboxes. But in an emergency, the release mechanism has pyrotechnic (explosive) devices that "release the latch pins on the hatch instantaneously, allowing the hatch to open quickly," NASA stated.
Artemis 2 is the first crewed mission of NASA's Artemis program, which aims to establish a permanent human presence on and around the moon in the next decade or so. An uncrewed mission, Artemis 1, flew to lunar orbit and back in 2022. Humans will first land on the moon again with Artemis 3, which will fly in 2026 or so using SpaceX's Starship spacecraft to touch down.
NASA provides an update on Artemis III moon mission
Mel Holt,Brittany Caldwell Mon, October 28, 2024
NASA wants to land astronauts near an unexplored region of the moon.
The agency believes the lunar South Pole may hold valuable resources, like water.
These potential landing sites are still subject to change based on science potential, launch window availability, and even lighting conditions. Still, the target location will remain in the South Pole region.
At the Kennedy Space Center, teams continue to work toward a 2025 Artemis III Mission.
NASA’s first crewed mission around the moon in more than five decades.
The agency’s SLS rocket will launch NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Kristina Koch along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a roughly 10-day mission aboard an Orion spacecraft.
NASA just released this updated map with nine potential landing regions near the lunar South Pole for the Artemis II Mission.
“They’ve never sent any astronauts before to the South Pole,” said Dr. Ken Kremer of Space Up Close. “So this (is) brand new going to bring us just tremendous science on the state of the moon today and the history of the solar system, as well as being able to live off the land because we don’t have to bring all those supplies from the Earth, which is very expensive.”
NASA identifies nine possible landing regions for Artemis III moon mission
Mon, October 28, 2024
Nine candidate lunar landing regions, which NASA revealed Monday in a photo of the moon, include Peak near Cabeus B; Haworth; Malapert Massif; Mons Mouton Plateau; Mons Mouton; Nobile Rim 1; Nobile Rim 2; de Gerlache Rim 2 and Slater Plain. Image courtesy of NASA
Oct. 28 (UPI) -- NASA has identified nine possible landing sites for its Artemis III mission in 2026 that will return astronauts to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, the space agency announced Monday.
"Artemis will return humanity to the moon and visit unexplored areas. NASA's selection of these regions shows our commitment to landing crew safely near the lunar south pole, where they will help uncover new scientific discoveries and learn to live on the lunar surface," said Lakiesha Hawkins, assistant deputy associate administrator, Moon to Mars Program.
The nine landing regions, which NASA released in a photo Monday and were assessed for their "science value and mission availability" near the moon's south pole, include Peak near Cabeus B; Haworth; Malapert Massif; Mons Mouton Plateau; Mons Mouton; Nobile Rim 1; Nobile Rim 2; de Gerlache Rim 2 and Slater Plain.
Scientists and engineers analyzed the nine regions -- using data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter -- to determine terrain, lighting and communication capabilities with Earth.
NASA's Artemis III mission is targeting a crewed landing in September 2026 near the moon's south pole, which NASA Administrator Bill Nelson called a "different moon" from the 1969 Apollo mission with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
Scientists and engineers analyzed the nine regions for a possible future moon landing by using data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA's Artemis III mission is targeting a crewed landing in September 2026 near the moon's south pole. File Photo by Tannen Maury/UPIMore
"The south pole is pockmarked with deep craters and because of the angle of the sun coming in -- most of those craters are in total darkness. It lessens the amount of area we can land on and utilize," Nelson said last year.
The lunar south pole has never been explored by a crewed mission and contains permanently shadowed areas that could preserve resources, including water, according to NASA.
"The moon's south pole is a completely different environment than where we landed during the Apollo missions," said Sarah Noble, Artemis lunar science lead at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
"It offers access to some of the moon's oldest terrain, as well as cold, shadowed regions that may contain water and other compounds. Any of these landing regions will enable us to do amazing science and make new discoveries," Noble added.
NASA will work to narrow down its lunar landing site choices for Artemis III, once it identifies the mission's target launch dates. Those dates will determine orbital paths and surface environment conditions, according to Jacob Bleacher, NASA's chief exploration scientist.
"Finding the right locations for this historic moment begins with identifying safe places for this first landing," Bleacher said, "and then trying to match that with opportunities for science from this new place on the moon."
NASA identifies 9 possible landing spots for 2026 mission returning humans to the moon
Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY Updated Tue, October 29, 2024
NASA plans to bring humankind back to the moon, but it first needs to figure out exactly where to land.
The space agency has outlined nine potential lunar landing sites for its Artemis III mission, the agency's first planned return to the moon in over five decades. The mission, set for 2026, intends to land near the lunar south pole, where astronauts will visit unexplored areas, according to NASA.
The nine regions selected are areas where crew can safely land to help uncover new discoveries and better grasp how to live on the lunar surface, according to NASA. The agency has not determined a priority ranking for the selected regions.
For the selection process, experts considered terrain suitability, launch window availability, lighting conditions, science potential and communication capabilities with Earth, among other factors. NASA officials also considered the combined trajectory capabilities of its Space Launch System rocket, the Orion spacecraft and Starship Human Landing System.
"The Moon’s South Pole is a completely different environment than where we landed during the Apollo missions," Artemis lunar science lead Sarah Noble said in a statement. "It offers access to some of the Moon’s oldest terrain, as well as cold, shadowed regions that may contain water and other compounds. Any of these landing regions will enable us to do amazing science and make new discoveries." What are the 9 lunar landing spots?
NASA has selected nine potential landing regions, each with its diverse geological characteristics and flexibility for mission landing. Each spot is in the lunar South Pole, which has never been explored in a crewed mission and features permanently shadowed areas that can preserve resources like water.
The following lunar sites have been considered:
The moon is pictured in this image on Dec. 6, 2006.
Peak near Cabeus B
Haworth
Malapert Massif
Mons Mouton Plateau
Mons Mouton
Nobile Rim 1
Nobile Rim 2
de Gerlache Rim 2
Slater Plain When was the last human visit to the moon?
The last human to land on the moon was on Dec. 19, 1972, during NASA's Apollo 17 mission.
The astronauts on that mission were the last to visit the moon and the last to travel more than 400 miles from the Earth, according to the National Space Air and Space Museum.
Humankind first touched down on the moon on July 20, 1969, on the Apollo 11 mission, in which Neil Armstrong became the first man to step foot on the moon.
Artemis III, which will send two astronauts to the surface of the moon, is scheduled for September 2026. Artemis II, which will send astronauts around the moon, is slated for September 2025.
