Lifeboat Foundation

Astronomers have discovered a mysterious new class of objects at the heart of the Milky Way, unlike anything else found previously in our galaxy. The objects “look like gas but behave like stars,” according to senior researcher Andrea Ghez, as they start off small and compact but are stretched to a larger size when they approach the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy.

The researchers believe these objects could teach us about the evolution of stars and what happens to celestial bodies in environments of extreme gravity.

Continue reading “Astronomers Discover Stretchy Objects Unlike Anything Else in Our Galaxy” »

Thanks to the Contingency Operations program, the military is able to utilize the first GPS III satellite without the next-generation ground segment being built for it. The second GPS III satellite was launched in April, and a third launch is slated for later this year. (Airman 1st Class Dalton Williams/Air Force)

Since the explosion of student debt following the Great Recession, annual repayment rates, or the amount of existing balances lowered, have been just 3%, Moody’s said. Just 51% of borrowers who took out loans from 2010-12 have made any progress at all in paying down their debt.

“While in the past, higher enrollment and rising tuition were the main drivers of growing student loan balances, more recently, slow repayments have become the primary driver,” Jody Shenn, senior analyst at Moody’s, and others said in the report. “Over the next few years, the combination of slow repayments and elevated, if no longer growing, levels of new borrowing will likely fuel further increases in outstanding debt.”

There are multiple reasons why the debt levels are not going down.

SpaceX will sacrifice a Falcon 9 rocket Sunday in a fiery test a minute-and-a-half after liftoff from Florida’s Space Coast to prove the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft can safely push astronauts away from a failing launch vehicle, simulating a daring maneuver that would only be attempted on a piloted mission during an in-flight emergency.

The launch escape demonstration could be a spectacle for local residents, rocket fans and enthusiasts along the Space Coast, assuming clear skies and good visibility, according to SpaceX.

Continue reading “SpaceX will trigger an intentional rocket failure to prove crew capsule’s safety” »

An AI assistant with empathy could be exactly what’s needed to provide emotional support for astronauts on deep-space missions to Mars.

NASA’s working with startups like Akin to develop human-like AI systems that could one day play a critical role in supporting astronauts in space.

Lexus has revealed a series of lunar mobility concepts.

What if a stranger could snap your picture on the sidewalk then use an app to quickly discover your name and address? A startup called Clearview AI has made that possible.

It may not be long before you’ll have to forget about walking down the street anonymously, says a New York Times report.

Several Greek government websites fell prey to cyber-attacks on Friday evening, forcing some of them to shut down entirely for security reasons, after access to them became problematic.

Among those attacked by hackers were the websites of the Greek Parliament, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Athens Stock Exchange, the National Intelligence Service (EYP) and the Finance Ministry.

A Turkish group named” Phoenix’s Helmets” (Anka Neferler Tim) posted a post on Facebook claiming responsibility for the attacks, in order to respond, as they said, to Athens’ threats against Turkey.

It’s been a lousy week for Windows users: first, the NSA curveball crypto vulnerability and now confirmation of a zero-day vulnerability that’s being actively exploited with no fix yet.

Hot on the heels of National Security Agency (NSA) and Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warnings for Windows 10 users to update urgently as news of the curveball crypto vulnerability broke, here we are again. The CISA has published a new warning for Windows users as Microsoft confirms a critical zero-day vulnerability is being actively exploited, and there’s no fix available at the time of writing.