donald-trump – Ken May

NASA tests small nuclear reactor that could power a habitat on Mars

Everyone from Elon Musk to Donald Trump wants to send a manned mission to Mars in the not too distant future, but there are quite a few problems that need to be solved before we can achieve that goal. A major one is the issue of energy. Long-term stays on Mars, or anywhere else for that matter, will require lots of energy, as will the trip back to Earth. However, loading a rocket up with all of the necessary fuel won’t work — we would need too much. So a way to create fuel on the go is a must and researchers at NASA, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Department of Energy announced today that they’ve conducted successful tests of a system that can do just that. Kilopower is a small nuclear reactor that can generate a reliable power supply. Versions range from 1 kilowatt — enough to power a basic toaster — to ten kilowatts and Kilopower project researchers said in a Space.com article that around four or five of the latter would be needed to power a habitat on Mars . “Kilopower’s compact size and robustness allows us to deliver multiple units on a single lander to the surface that provides tens of kilowatts of power, ” Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, said during a press conference today. Testing of the Kilopower system has gone smoothly so far and in March, the team plans to conduct a full-power test. To hear more about how Kilopower works, check out the video below. Via: Reuters

US government names North Korea as the source of WannaCry

Donald Trump’s homeland security adviser, Tom Bossert, said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that “after careful investigation, the U.S. today publicly attributes the massive ” WannaCry ” cyberattack to North Korea.” Coming during increasing tensions between the two countries over nuclear threats and Twitter outbursts, Bossert said this attribution is based on evidence and agrees with the findings from the UK and Microsoft. In the op-ed we did not see traces of the evidence used to link the May attack to the “Lazarus Group” (also blamed for the Sony Pictures hacking incident ) and North Korea, but the White House will reportedly follow up Tuesday with a more formal statement. While some, like Microsoft , have blamed the US government for stockpiling vulnerabilities — the WannaCry attack used an exploit based on technology apparently stolen from the NSA — the op-ed says: Stopping malicious behavior like this starts with accountability. It also requires governments and businesses to cooperate to mitigate cyber risk and increase the cost to hackers. The U.S. must lead this effort, rallying allies and responsible tech companies throughout the free world to increase the security and resilience of the internet. Bossert also called the attack reckless, while Reuters cites a “senior administration official” who declined to comment on whether or not the US believes it was a deliberate attack or accidental. So what happens now? According to the piece, the Trump administration “will continue to use our maximum pressure strategy to curb Pyongyang’s ability to mount attacks, cyber or otherwise.” Source: Wall Street Journal

You can stream songs from Wu-Tang Clan’s ultra-rare album

Whatever you think of the outcome of the US election , it’s providing a surprise for music fans. You see, Martin Shkreli (the infamous pharma exec who jacked up prices on an HIV/AIDS pill) bought the Wu-Tang Clan’s one-copy album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin and said he’d release it if Donald Trump won the presidency. Well, he honored that promise… sort of. After word of Trump’s win got out, Shkreli livestreamed both the intro to Wu-Tang’s album and one of its tracks . These weren’t intended as permanent copies, but this is the internet — listeners ripped the video feed and put the tunes on other sites. They’re not album-quality recordings, of course, but this might be the only chance you get at listening to this exceptionally rare composition. Don’t expect Shkreli to livestream more cuts, let alone put high-quality copies online. As he explained , he genuinely wasn’t expecting Trump to pull ahead. If he ever wants to formally release Once Upon a Time , he’ll need to get permission from RZA , Method Man and crew to distribute it to the public. The original agreement prevented the buyer from publicly releasing material for 88 years. We wouldn’t completely rule that out, but it seems unlikely. The whole mystique of the album revolves around its exclusivity, and it wouldn’t be very special if you only had to wait a year to find out whether or not it justifies its multi-million dollar selling price. Via: The Daily Dot , Pitchfork Source: Scarey Pros (YouTube) , Mitsuba Marui (YouTube)

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You can stream songs from Wu-Tang Clan’s ultra-rare album