NASA’s Grand Challenge: Stop Asteroids from Destroying Earth

An artist’s illustration of a large asteroid headed for Earth.
CREDIT: ESA

Perhaps NASA will be able to get more budget if they reinvent themselves as part of the Defense world – in this case, the defense of the entire planet!  This story from Space.com [link].

NASA’s Grand Challenge: Stop Asteroids from Destroying Earth

by Clara Moskowitz, SPACE.com Assistant Managing Editor

Date: 18 June 2013 Time: 01:35 PM ET

There may be killer asteroids headed for Earth, and NASA has decided to do something about it. The space agency announced a new “Grand Challenge” today (June 18) to find all dangerous space rocks and figure out how to stop them from destroying Earth.

New Apple TV Software Coming

In my home, we love Apple TV.  We have one of the wonderful little boxes on every TV set in the house, and use Apple TV to manage almost all of the video watching for the family (other than live sports).  We have an extensive collection of digital movies and old TV shows on our iTunes server, which each TV accesses via Apple TV.  Now that the new cable boxes are finally allowing video export, I regularly record TV on the cable box and export it to the Apple TV just to be able to use the significantly easier user interface to find and watch TV.

NASA Selects 2013 Astronaut Candidate Class

Source: NASA

NASA issued a press release today announcing eight new astronauts.  Read the press lease [here] or continue after the break.

“Kill Switch” – Another Dumb Government Idea

Prosecutors from New York City and San Francisco met with four large smartphone vendors on June 13 in a meeting that was billed ahead of time as “brainstorming to find solutions to the epidemic of smartphone thefts.”

There is no question that smartphone theft is a major law enforcement issue.  According to the FCC, smartphone theft accounts for 30 to 40 percent of all robberies nationwide.  A working group has been formed to work on the problem, co-chaired by New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon.  See an excellent article on the general issue from the New York Times here.

Chinese Astronauts Dock at Space Station

Yesterday, I posted about three Chinese astronauts launching successfully.  Today, the news is that they have successfully docked with the Chinese space station.  Here is the story from Space.com (link).

Three Chinese Astronauts Dock to Nation’s Space Station

by Miriam Kramer, SPACE.com Staff Writer

Date: 13 June 2013 Time: 2:16 p.m. ET.

A Chinese space capsule carrying a crew of three docked with the nation’s orbiting space module today (June 13), two days after launch.

Tatooine-Like Alien Planets Could Host Life

Very interesting news today about a planets in a solar system with binary suns – which exist in the “goldilocks zone” where temperature is not too hot and not too cold for life.  From Space.com (link):

Tatooine-Like Alien Planets Could Host Life

by Miriam Kramer, SPACE.com Staff Writer

Date: 13 June 2013 Time: 06:00 AM ET

 

Luke Skywalker would be proud. Planets like Skywalker’s fictional home of Tatooine in the “Star Wars” movie series might have more potential for habitability than planets in other systems, research suggests.

China Buying VC-Backed CleanTech Startups

Just creating new technologies is not enough to build a long-term strong economy.  Strong businesses that can generate good jobs and an increasing standard of living is needed.  That is what makes the sale of innovation-rich companies to Chinese companies somewhat troubling for the long-term health of the US economy.  From GigaOM (link):

Chinese firms continue to scoop up VC-backed cleantech startups for cheap

by Katie Fehrenbacher

SUMMARY:VC-backed LED startup Luminus Devices has been sold off to a Chinese lighting company. Following in the footsteps of solar, electric cars, and batteries, LED technology is now also getting bought up by Chinese players.