probe
Latest
The Big Picture: Rosetta gets up close and personal with a comet
Thought the Rosetta probe's earlier comet snapshots were special? They don't have a patch on its latest photo session. The ESA spacecraft went on its first dedicated close flyby of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko this weekend, and the images it captured have revealed a whole new level of detail. The picture you see above was taken a mere 5.5 miles above the comet's surface, and shows how the landscape varies wildly over short distances. You'll see everything from relatively smooth plains to fractured hills in a span of just 0.8 miles -- unlike a planet, there's no significant gravity (or many other factors, for that matter) to shape the terrain. Be sure to savor this imagery while you can, by the way. Rosetta's next goal is to get a long-range shot from 158 miles out, so you won't be getting more close-ups any time soon. [Image credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM]
Google must offer more to end EU antitrust case
A few months back, it looked like that Google was set to avoid fines from the European Commission stemming from a multi-year probe into the outfit burying rival ads in search results. With new "arguments and data," the competition said it isn't satisfied with those concessions, and Reuters reports that the search giant will have to pony up more in order to close the case. If you'll recall, Google had agreed to give Bing, Yahoo and others equal visibility rather than face a $5 million fine, but after those companies weren't happy with the proposal and submitted new claims, the Commission wants a revised offer. In response to an ad by publishers on the other side, executive chairman Eric Schmidt posted a letter on Financial Times over the weekend. Saying that it was built "to show results that answer the user's queries directly," Schmidt maintained that the company doesn't promote its own stuff "at the expense of our competitors." [Photo credit: Getty Images]
Prototype NASA robot will burrow through sheets of alien ice
When it came to life on Mars, NASA might have struck out, but it's got a good feeling about Europa. The agency is working on a probe designed to scan its vast oceans for signs of alien life, but there's a problem, namely the thick layer of ice that covers the moon's surface. That's where VALKYRIE comes in, a torpedo-shaped robot that'll suck up water, warm it and fire it back into the ice to quickly and easily drill through the layer. Once the hardware reaches its destination, it'll release a swarm of smaller 'bots that'll map the geography and hunt for alien microbes. There's still a few issues to work out with the gear, like the fact that it can't properly change course while tunneling, which would be pretty essential if it were to come across a rock or other blockage. Then again, given that we won't be ready to launch a mission to Jupiter's moon until the early 2020's, NASA's got some time to fix the problems.
Revived NASA space probe might not go back to work after all
Remember the once-dormant ISEE-3 probe that was roused from its 27 year slumber earlier this week? Errm, turns out it's not doing so great. Despite a crowdfunding campaign that raised over $150,000 to bring it back to active duty and a recent successful spin using its aging thrusters, further attempts to move the craft have ended in disappointment.
Retired NASA probe brought back to life after 27 years drifting in space
The last time ISEE-3 fired its engines, Madonna was moving up the charts, the stock market was booming and President Reagan was busily denying that he'd secretly sold weapons to Iran. After that final gasp from its thrusters, in February 1987, the International Sun-Earth Explorer probe would have drifted into permanent retirement -- if a $150,000 crowdfunded project hadn't come along to save it at the last minute. That project has just scored it first big success, by remotely reawakening the 36-year-old craft's engines and altering its course in order to make it easier to communicate with. Keith Cowing, who's co-leading the private group in charge of the resurrection, blogged that it was "all in all, a very good day." If the next steps go equally well, the idea is to reconfigure ISEE-3's onboard computers and sensors so that they can be used for a bit of citizen science during remaining two-month, four million-mile journey back to earth.
Facebook pokes the EU to help push through its WhatsApp purchase
Facebook's $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp is a done deal in the US, but in Europe, it still has a few more hoops to jump through. In a bid to move things along, the Wall Street Journal reports that the social networking giant is taking the unusual step of actively seeking an investigation into the deal by the European Commission. As it stands, the company will be probed by regulators across Europe, but if the Commission gets involved, Facebook would no longer need to gain approval from each European member state. That could possibly push the deal through a little bit faster. Facebook's decision to go direct likely stems from opposition it currently faces from European carriers, which are worried that the social network would dominate the text and photo messaging market (read: kill SMS revenues). For the Commission to get involved, Facebook needs proof that it's already under review in at least three EU countries. It isn't clear if that's the case, but if it is, a Facebook-owned WhatsApp would likely become a reality a lot sooner than is currently expected.
Several states join the Justice Department in probe of Comcast and Time Warner Cable merger
The future of Comcast's plans to bring Time Warner Cable's subscribers under its umbrella are still very much up in the air. The Senate is planning hearings about the merger later this month and now several states are joining the Justice Department (DOJ) in its probe of the buyout. The attorneys general in Florida, Indiana and other states are working with the DOJ to determine if the deal would violate antitrust laws. Each state is also looking at how the combination of two of the biggest cable providers in the US would effect local markets. While it's not unusual for states to join the federal government in antitrust investigations, it does give the DOJ additional resources to work with. At the moment the exact number of states joining the probe is unknown, but we're sure all will be revealed in time.
EVE Evolved: Rubicon 1.1's new deployables
Of all the major changes to EVE Online in the past few years, it's the introduction of personal deployable structures that has had me most excited. I've always been of the opinion that a true sandbox should let individual players and larger organisations build their own personal empires in empty wilderness. If it were up to me, everything from mining and manufacturing to research in EVE would take place in destructible structures and possibly even player-built deadspace dungeons. The Rubicon expansion took an important first step toward this brand of sandbox-style gameplay with the introduction of several new personal deployable structures, including an item hangar and refitting service that can be deployed anywhere in space. Four more structures were initially planned for the Rubicon 1.1 point release to expand the game's tactical possibilities, and this week two of those structures were confirmed. The Mobile micro Jump Unit is a game-changing strategic device that allows players any nearby players to jump their ships 100km forward, and the highly requested Mobile Scan Inhibitor physically hides nearby ships from probes and the directional scanner. Players on the test server have also discovered overview filter options for Mobile Jump Disruptor and Mobile Decoy Unit deployable structures, but developers were unable to confirm whether these would be part of Rubicon 1.1 or even if they'd definitely make it into the game. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look into the tactical possibilities of the Mobile Micro Jump Unit and Mobile Scan Inhibitor and why some players have reservations about these game-changing strategic structures.
NASA ends Deep Impact comet-hunting mission after eight years
After more than eight years, NASA's comet-hunting Deep Impact mission has come to an abrupt close. The agency has stopped trying to communicate with the mission probe after losing contact on August 8th. It's not clear what went wrong, but NASA suspects that it may have lost orientation control, guaranteeing that the Deep Impact vehicle would lose power and freeze. It's going out on a good note, however. Like NASA's Mars rovers, Deep Impact easily outlasted its intended lifespan -- after successfully intercepting the comet Tempel 1 in 2005, it went on to study three more comets as well as numerous exoplanets. We'll miss the probe's continued research, but its legacy should live on through other projects.
EVE Fanfest 2013 day two: World of Darkness, Odyssey, and EVE Virtual Reality with the Oculus Rift
EVE Online's tenth anniversary Fanfest promised to be its biggest yet, with over 1,400 players packed into Iceland's Harpa convention centre to find out the latest on EVE Online, DUST 514, and World of Darkness. The first day focused mainly on DUST and its link with the EVE universe, but today the focus largely switched back to internet spaceships. There were plenty of roundtable discussions, and the CSM and Alliance panels were as awesome as ever, but it was the EVE Keynote that really blew the crowd away. The day got off to a good start with the highly anticipated World of Darkness talk. Most fans were probably expecting to see more airy game design ideas and another shiny trailer, but this year CCP just came out and put all its cards on the table. We saw that the game is still firmly in pre-production, with much of the previous work going into developing the engine and cool content creation tools and shaders. While I was initially disappointed at the lack of gameplay progress or shiny cinematics, I found this approach of being open and direct with fans very refreshing. As I told WoD art director Thomas Holt, honest beats shiny every time. Read on for a full run-down of the EVE reveals from the second day of EVE's tenth anniversary Fanfest, including in-depth details of the Odyssey expansion's features.
AGU study says Voyager 1 has reached interstellar space, but NASA remains skeptical
It would be an understatement to say there's been a long build-up to the moment when Voyager 1 ventures into interstellar space: scientists thought the probe was on the edge back in 2010, and we've been waiting for the official milestone ever since. Researchers contributing to an American Geophysical Union journal now believe that the spacecraft may have crossed that symbolic border months ago. Measurements from August 25th onwards show a steep drop in the detected volume of cosmic rays from the heliosphere, just as the extrasolar rays are picking up. Spectrum measurements from the period also mirror those of interstellar regions. On the surface, the clues strongly imply that Voyager 1 has passed the limit of our solar system's influence. NASA, however, disputes the claims -- the agency notes that its vehicle is still traveling the magnetic highway, and it won't have officially escaped the surly bonds of the Sun until the magnetic fields shift. We won't break out the champagne and party streamers, then, but the dispute underscores just how close we are to having another human-made object roaming the galaxy.
NASA and Lockheed Martin finish MAVEN probe, hope to study Mars' upper skies
Us humans are surprisingly familiar with Mars' surface, yet we haven't studied its higher altitudes -- an odd discrepancy when the sky plays as much of a role as the soil in determining the planet's climate. We'll get a better balance in our research now that NASA and Lockheed Martin have finished constructing the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution probe, or MAVEN. The robot craft will learn how quickly the Martian atmosphere is escaping into space and give us a better idea of how the planet's arid landscape came to be. Lockheed Martin still needs to conduct space simulation tests and ship MAVEN to the Kennedy Space Center, but the ship should launch in November and deliver results roughly a year later; that's a quick turnaround for a probe that could answer riddles spanning millions of years.
Visualized: Cassini probe gets a glimpse of Saturn's shadow
The Cassini space probe has collected quite a few memories of Saturn in its eight years, swinging by the planet's moons and even listening to lighting storms. Even so, we're being treated to an uncommon sight today: the dark side of Saturn. A newly processed set of 60 images, originally taken in October, shows what the gas giant is like from near the center of its shadow. The slightly trippy color scheme stems from a mix of visible, near-infrared and violet light in the collage. Sitting in the darkness allows for more than just pretty pictures, as well -- it reveals details about Saturn's atmosphere and rings that would otherwise be obscured by sunlight. Just be sure to etch this mosaic in your memory. The last time Cassini had an opportunity for this kind of snapshot was in 2006, which rules out any quick retakes.
Carriers face big surge in cellphone surveillance requests, raise a few alarm bells
Color us unsurprised that US law enforcers would push hard for surveillance access. Congressman Ed Markey has published a new report on requests to cellular carriers that shows a recent rush of demand for information, including last year. The rates vary sharply, but T-Mobile has seen a yearly hike of 12 to 16 percent, while Verizon has seen its own grown 15 percent -- and Sprint took nearly twice as many surveillance requests as AT&T or Verizon in 2011, despite its smaller size. Markey's concern is that police and other investigators are casting too wide a net and sweeping up innocent customers through widescale requests, potentially violating their privacy in the process. Whether or not cell tower dumps and other broad fishing attempts are problems, carriers have been quick to point out that they have huge teams in place to deal with police requests and cling steadfastly to requiring a warrant when the law demands it. Needless to say, there are a few groups that strongly disagree with that last claim.
Court upholds EU antitrust decision against Microsoft, reduces fine slightly to $1.07 billion
Europe's second-highest court has finally denied Microsoft's 2008 appeal of its 899 million euro ($1.35 billion) EU antitrust fine, while reducing the award to 860 million euros ($1.07 billion). If you can't remember that far back, Redmond was hit with the penalty for delaying information about its operating system to rival companies, impeding their progress in competing with the software giant. It's not known if a further appeal is possible, but we suspect that the company won't give up if it's got any options -- it's not exactly pocket change we're talking about.
Rumored FTC probe could delay Facebook / Instagram deal, Toaster filter will have to wait
If you were hoping that Facebook's buyout of Instagram would wrap up quickly and let you directly integrate your heavily filtered photos into Timeline, you might be disappointed. Citing the ever-present "people familiar with the matter," the FT believes the Federal Trade Commission is orchestrating a competition probe. These kinds of investigations are common for most deals over $66 million -- we suspect the $1 billion Instagram pact qualifies -- but could add six months to a year to Facebook's originally planned spring closure date. The deal is still expected to go through, and you can keep tilt-shifting your photos to death in the meantime; just don't expect those shots to blanket friends' Facebook walls anytime soon.
NASA's GRAIL spacecraft begin the process of staring way too hard at the moon
NASA's overall initiatives may be throttled, but the Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft haven't heard of any such limitations. These guys have officially started their collection mission, orbiting the moon for the next 80-some-odd days in order to obtain a high-resolution map of the lunar gravitational field. Why? Humans told 'em too, of course. Outside of the conventional knee-jerk response, scientists are also hoping to grok more about the moon's "internal structure and composition," and perhaps even get a better understanding of how "Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed and evolved." Cleverly, the GRAIL mission's twin machines are named Ebb and Flow (thanks to a group of youngsters in Bozeman, Montana), and while it's not being made public, we wouldn't be shocked to hear that the whole thing is being covertly funded by Sir Richard Branson. The moon is totally the next hot real estate market, right?
Russian space probe crashes in Pacific Ocean, fish reportedly startled
On the plus side, the fish needed additional space probe parts. On Sunday night, fragments of Russia's Phobos-Grunt probe landed in the Pacific Ocean 1,250 kilometers to the west of Wellington Island in southern Chile around 17:45 GMT. The probe, which experienced a failure with its launch rocket machinery on November 8, had become marooned in Earth's orbit, destined to crash back home. The cause of the incident remains unknown and stands as the latest in a series of gaffes by the Russian space program, including an impact in Siberia by a supply ship bound for the International Space Station and the loss of three navigation satellites in the past year. It's unknown whether the probe was carrying any radioactive alien materials, but stay tuned to Engadget for your up-to-the-second guide on how to fight the Cloverfield monster in the year to come.
Phobos-Grunt Mars probe to die a fiery death in the next two weeks
Russia's latest attempt to visit the Red Planet has, unfortunately, gone as well as its previous attempts, which is to say... poorly. We've been tracking the satellite, named Phobos-Grunt, since its successful liftoff, failure to leave earth orbit, abandonment, and now, destruction. Estimates indicate that Phobos-Grunt will reenter our atmosphere sometime between January 6th and the 19th, when it'll break into pieces and meet its end as a flaming ball of interplanetary fail. One consolation for the Ruskies: $165 million down the tubes is a lot less than, say, $1.2 billion.
Justice Department antitrust division probing Verizon cable spectrum deals
Looks like AT&T isn't the only major carrier having issues with the guv'ment lately. Remember that 20MHz AWS spectrum that Verizon got from Cox Communications for a cool $315 million this month? How's about that juicy spectrum Big Red scored from Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House for $3.6 billion? Well, it turns out those deals are raising an eyebrow or two over at the Justice Department, which just launched an investigation into the matter. A spokesperson for the department confirmed the probe with Bloomberg News but declined to provide further details. A source familiar with the investigation, however, says the antitrust division is involved. Apparently, there's concern that the deal puts too much control of the airwaves in the hands of Verizon. For its part, Verizon declined to comment, saying it has yet to receive information about the investigation.
