martin

NASA indicated on Tuesday that it plans on moving forward with its deep space exploration goals by announcing plans for a 2014 unmanned flight test of its Orion spacecraft.

In a release, the U.S. space agency said that it would add the new flight test to its existing contract to build the Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle (MPCV) with Lockheed Martin Space Systems. NASA said it expects to conduct the new test in early 2014.

According to NASA, the flight test will "fly two orbits to a high-apogee, with a high-energy re-entry through Earth's atmosphere. Orion will make … Read more

Some people think of Steve Martin as a very funny man with silver hair.

I think of him as a man with stunningly sad eyes who writes books about people with troubled love lives. I am sure they aren't autobiographical in any way.

So it will be interesting to see just how autobiographical his new book will be, as it will be a collection of his tweets--and the replies he gets to them.

Naturally, he announced this fine project on Twitter: "Due to absolutely no demand, soon I'm publishing a book of my tweets. Many of your … Read more

It's not often that I handle a ton of anything but I recently took delivery of 2 tons of wood pellets for home heating. Pellets aren't perfect but I see them as one of the ways consumers can diversify their energy sources and "go green" on a personal level.

The pellets, which are compressed sawdust, come in 40-pound bags stacked about 5 feet high on wood pallets. Those 2 tons, stashed in my garage until the cold weather hits, will cover the bulk of my household heating needs for the coming season.

It happened to be … Read more

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--A powerful United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket roared to life today and launched NASA's solar-powered Juno space probe on a five-year voyage to Jupiter, the first step in a $1.1 billion mission to look for clues about the origins of the solar system in the hidden heart of its largest planet.

"What we're really going after are some of the most fundamental questions of our solar system--how Jupiter formed, how it evolved, what really happened early in the solar system that eventually led to all of us and the terrestrial planets," said Scott Bolton, the principal investigator. "These are really basic questions: who are we, where did we come from, how did we get here?

"We're kind of going after this recipe of how planets are made. We're getting the ingredients of Jupiter, we're going to understand what the structure is like inside, how was it built, and that will give us guidance as to what happened in that early time that eventually led to us."

The towering 197-foot-tall Atlas 5, equipped with five solid-fuel strap-on boosters for extra power, ignited with a ground-shaking roar at 12:25 p.m. EDT, generating 2.5 million pounds of thrust and instantly pushing the spacecraft away from launch complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It was only the second launch of a five strap-on Atlas 5, the most powerful version offered by United Launch Alliance.

Liftoff was delayed 51 minutes to resolve two technical issues and to make sure a boat that strayed into the launch danger zone cleared the area.

Climbing away atop a brilliant plume of fiery exhaust, the rocket accelerated through the sound barrier 34 seconds after liftoff, arcing away to the east and putting on a spectacular lunchtime show for tourists and area residents. The strap-on boosters burned out and peeled off about a minute later and the first stage shut down and fell away as planned four and a half minutes after launch.

The rocket's hydrogen-fueled Centaur upper stage then carried out a six-minute burn to boost the spacecraft into a temporary parking orbit. A second nine-minute Centaur firing 31 minutes later accelerated Juno to 25,000 mph, or 7 miles per second--interplanetary escape velocity--and three minutes later, the 4-ton spacecraft separated from the Centaur to fly on its own.… Read more

If you've heard about residential LED lightbulbs, you probably know that they're energy-efficient, last a long time, and are pricier than other lightbulb technologies.

I've been using LED lights in my home for several months now, and overall the transition has been good. As you consider your lighting options, here a few things that you might not know about LEDs.

LEDs are cooler. When you're running fans or an air conditioner this summer, having burning-hot incandescent bulbs just makes it harder to manage the heat. LEDs run much cooler than incandescent bulbs and significantly cooler than … Read more

With $527,000, you could buy a one-bedroom condo in Manhattan's West Village, a Girard-Perregaux Cat's Eye Tourbillon Haute Joaillerie watch, or an 82-foot Multiplast Fast Express yacht. But you might also consider an Aston Martin V12 Zagato, a limited-production run car designed to commemorate the 1960 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato.

Aston Martin designed the V12 Zagato to commemorate the 1960 DB4 GT Zagato, a version of the DB4 modified at Italy's Zagato factory. The V12 Zagato was built on the V12 Vantage platform. Its body is comprised of carbon fiber and aluminum. The car boasts a 0 to 62 mph time of 4.2 seconds and a top speed of 190 mph.

Initially, Aston Martin entered two V12 Zagatos in the 24-hour Nurburgring endurance race, which both cars finished. The model garnered enough interest from the public that Aston Martin announced a limited run, just 150 of the hand-built cars. … Read more

Cyberattacks from Anonymous and LulzSec and breaches against everyone from Sony to Lockheed Martin turned the second quarter into "one of the worst on record," according to a new report from Panda Security.

Released this week, Panda's second-quarter report (PDF) examined the security landscape from April to June and highlighted a string of alarming incidents.

Pointing to the attacks by Anonymous and LulzSec against the likes of Sony, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Spanish police, and several government sites, Panda said that the line between "hacktivism" and criminal behavor has gotten fuzzier.

Panda clearly questioned the methods of the new breed of hackers, saying that Anonymous calls its actions "peaceful protests," even though such actions are illegal. Also mincing no words with LulzSec, Panda said that "if you took the most irresponsible and brainless members of Anonymous and put them all together, they would be considered the most refined gentlemen compared to LulzSec."

Though LulzSec recently announced that it would be ending its attacks, the group urged other hackers to carry on the fight via operation Anti-Security, or AntiSec.… Read more

The U.S. is creating a virtual version of the Internet--this one designed as a testbed to help the nation hone its defenses against cyberattacks, according to Reuters and other sources.

Known as the National Cyber Range, the virtual testbed would be set up by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the same agency that kicked off the Internet itself more than 40 years ago. The new simulated mini-Internet would give Washington the opportunity to carry out virtual cyberwarfare games as a way of testing different scenarios and technologies in response to cyberattacks.

To work on the initial development … Read more

Following recent cyberattacks against several defense contractors, in which hackers breached security using stolen SecurID keys, SecurID maker RSA is promising to replace the tokens for customers concerned about the vulnerabilty of their network data.

In an open letter to all SecurID customers, RSA Executive Chairman Art Coviello acknowledged that the likely motive behind the March theft of SecurID token information was to obtain defense secrets and related intellectual property. RSA specifically warned customers at the time that the theft could breach their security.

In late May, defense contractor Lockheed Martin revealed that it had been attacked by intruders who … Read more