Lifeboat Foundation

As an international relations scholar who studies space law and policy, I have come to realize what most people do not fully appreciate: Dealing with space debris is as much a national security issue as it is a technical one.

Considering the debris circling the Earth as just an obstacle in the path of human missions is naive. As outer space activities are deeply rooted in the geopolitics down on Earth, the hidden challenge posed by the debris is the militarization of space technologies meant to clean it up.

To be clear, space debris poses considerable risks; however, to understand those risks, I should explain what it is and how it is formed. The term “space debris” refers to defunct human-made objects, relics left over from activities dating back to the early days of the space age. Over time that definition has expanded to include big and small things like discarded boosters, retired satellites, leftover bits and pieces from spacecraft, screwdrivers, tools, nuts and bolts, shards, lost gloves, and even flecks of paint.

Continue reading “The Hidden Danger of Cleaning Up Our Space Junk” »

Location data beamed from GPS satellites are used by smartphones, car navigation systems, the microchip in your dog’s neck and guided missiles — and all those satellites are controlled by the U.S. Air Force. That makes the Chinese government uncomfortable, so it’s developing an alternative that a U.S. security analyst calls one of the largest space programs the country has undertaken.

The Beidou Navigation System will be accessible worldwide by 2020.

Following recent trends in state-of-the-art developments, from cryptocurrencies and universal basic income to biohacking and the surveillance state, transhumanism has been moved into the limelight of political discourse to reshape humanity’s future.

Andrew Vladimirov, Information security specialist, biohacker and one of the original members of the Transhumanist Party UK, spoke in-depth with Sputnik about the rise of transhumanism and its implications.

Scientists are planning to create a network in the Chicago area tapping the principles of quantum physics. The idea is to prove that quantum physics could provide the basis for an unhackable internet.

This, they say, could have wide-ranging impact on communications, computing and national security.

The quantum network development, supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), will stretch between the DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Acceleratory Laboratory, a connection that is said will be the longest in the world to send secure information using quantum physics.

Continue reading “Scientists to create ‘truly unhackable’ network based on quantum physics” »

T-Mobile will carry the new OnePlus 6T, the first time a phone from the popular Chinese manufacturer has been offered by a U.S. wireless provider.

The 6T launches exclusively on T-Mobile starting Thursday, the company said during an unveiling event in New York City. But the company is offering an early sale at its Times Square store in New York City starting at 5 p.m. Eastern today.

Continue reading “T-Mobile becomes 1st U.S. wireless company to carry the new 6T ‘superphone’ from China’s OnePlus” »

Whether it’s left there or right here… the tactics and destination look pretty much the same to me…

China is the world leader in facial recognition technology. Discover how the country is using it to develop a vast hyper-surveillance system able to monitor and target its ethnic minorities, including the Muslim Uighur population.

Continue reading “China: facial recognition and state control | The Economist” »

The genome editing system CRISPR has become a hugely important tool in medical research, and could ultimately have a significant impact in fields such as agriculture, bioenergy, and food security.

A future ‘quantum internet’ could find use long before it reaches technological maturity, a team of physicists predicts.

Such a network, which exploits the unique effects of quantum physics, would be fundamentally different to the classical Internet we use today, and research groups worldwide are already working on its early stages of development. The first stages promise virtually unbreakable privacy and security in communications; a more mature network could include a range of applications for science and beyond that aren’t possible with classical systems, including quantum sensors that can detect gravitational waves.

By some estimates, only 1,000 or so researchers can claim to understand the technology. Finding more could become a national security issue.