177278707
submission
AmiMoJo writes:
Right now there are more than 9,000 satellites circumnavigating overhead, keeping track of weather, facilitating communications, aiding navigation and monitoring the Earth. By 2040, there could be more than 60,000. A new study shows that the emissions from expired satellites, as they fall to Earth and burn up, will be significant in future years, with implications for ozone hole recovery and climate.
Satellites need to be replaced after about five years. Most old satellites are disposed of by reducing their altitude and letting them burn up as they fall, releasing pollution into Earth’s atmosphere such as aerosolised aluminium. To understand the impact of these growing emissions from expired satellites, researchers simulated the effects associated with an annual release of 10,000 tonnes of aluminium oxide by 2040 (the amount estimated to be released from disposal of 3,000 satellites a year, assuming a fleet of 60,000 satellites).
The results, which are published in Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, show that the re-entry material will accumulate at high latitudes and could result in temperature anomalies of up to 1.5C in the middle to upper atmosphere, reduction of wind speeds and ozone depletion, which could jeopardise ozone hole recovery. Other metals including titanium, lithium, iron and copper will also be released and their impact is yet to be modelled.
177234241
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AmiMoJo writes:
Chinese tech company Leapting has successfully completed its first commercial deployment of photovoltaic (PV) modules with an AI-driven solar module mounting robot in Australia. The Chinese company was tasked with supporting the installation of French Neoen’s (EPA:NEOEN) 350-MW/440-MWp Culcairn Solar Farm in New South Wales’ Riverina region. Shanghai-based Leapting said this week that its intelligent robot has installed almost 10,000 modules at an “efficient, safe, and stable” pace that has “significantly” reduced the original construction timeline.
Litian Intelligent was deployed at the Australian project site in early February. The machine has a 2.5-metre-high robotic arm sitting on a self-guided, self-propelled crawler. Equipped with a navigation system, and visual recognition technology, it can lift and mount PV panels weighing up to 30 kilograms. By replacing labour-intensive manual operations, the robot shortens the module installation cycle by 25%, while the installation efficiency increases three to five times as compared to manual labour and is easily adapted to complex environments, Leapting says.
177134655
submission
AmiMoJo writes:
China will let scientists from six countries, including the US, examine the rocks it collected from the Moon — a scientific collaboration that comes as the two countries remain locked in a bitter trade war.
Two Nasa-funded US institutions have been granted access to the lunar samples collected by the Chang'e-5 mission in 2020, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on Thursday.
CNSA chief Shan Zhongde said that the samples were "a shared treasure for all humanity," local media reported.
Chinese researchers have not been able to access Nasa's Moon samples because of restrictions imposed by US lawmakers on the space agency's collaboration with China.
Under the 2011 law, Nasa is banned from collaboration with China or any Chinese-owned companies unless it is specifically authorised by Congress.
But John Logsdon, the former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, told BBC Newshour that the latest exchange of Moon rocks have "very little to do with politics".
While there are controls on space technology, the examination of lunar samples had "nothing of military significance", he said.
"It's international cooperation in science which is the norm."
177061115
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AmiMoJo writes:
An awkward-looking, spherical satellite the size of a grapefruit launched in March 1958, and was boosted into a high elliptical orbit. The satellite, named Vanguard-1, was a test of launch capabilities during the early days of the historic space age. Other satellites of its time have reentered through Earth’s atmosphere, burning up in a fiery death, but Vanguard-1 is still in orbit, silently zooming through the void of space. A team of researchers and engineers want to retrieve the satellite for closer inspection and are currently working to find a way to bring Vanguard-1 home.
Vanguard-1 is the second U.S. satellite launched to space. Conceived by the Naval Research Laboratory in 1955, it was designed to test the launch capabilities of a three-stage launch vehicle and the effects of the harsh space environment on a satellite. Today, it remains as the oldest artificial object orbiting Earth. A team of researchers and engineers from Virginia-based consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton have put together a proposal on how to retrieve the satellite from space, bringing it back to Earth to study how its equipment has fared over the years, according to a report by Space.com. The team’s proposal is detailed in a study published in the Aerospace Research Center earlier this year.
177019461
submission
AmiMoJo writes:
China has halted exports of seven critical rare earth elements to the United States, a move that threatens to disrupt supply chains across key American industries, including automotive, semiconductor, and aerospace sectors. China’s Ministry of Commerce recently added seven rare earth elements—including dysprosium, terbium, and lutetium—to its restricted export list. These elements are essential for manufacturing high-performance magnets used in electric vehicles, advanced weaponry, and consumer electronics.
Additionally: US chipmakers outsourcing manufacturing will escape China's tariffs
U.S. chipmakers that outsource manufacturing will be exempt from China's retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports, according to a notice by the main Chinese semiconductor association on Friday.
Given the highly specialized and multi-country nature of chip supply chains, there was uncertainty within the industry about how tariffs would be applied to chip imports.
"For all integrated circuits, whether packaged or unpackaged, the declared country of origin for import customs purchases is the location of the wafer fabrication plant," the state-backed China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA), which represents the country's largest chip companies, said in an "urgent notice" on its WeChat account.
For U.S. chip designers such as Qualcomm and AMD that outsource manufacturing to Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC 2330.TW, Chinese customs authorities will classify these chips' place of origin as Taiwan, according to EETop, an information platform and forum for Chinese chipmakers.
This means China-based companies importing such chips will not be forced to pay China's retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports, EETop said on its WeChat account.
https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Ftechno...
176951323
submission
AmiMoJo writes:
The Shenzhen 8K UHD Video Industry Cooperation Alliance, a group made up of more than 50 Chinese companies, just released a new wired media communication standard called the General Purpose Media Interface or GPMI. This standard was developed to support 8K and reduce the number of cables required to stream data and power from one device to another. According to HKEPC, the GPMI cable comes in two flavors — a Type-B that seems to have a proprietary connector and a Type-C that is compatible with the USB-C standard.
Because 8K has four times the number of pixels of 4K and 16 times more pixels than 1080p resolution, it means that GPMI is built to carry a lot more data than other current standards. There are other variables that can impact required bandwidth, of course, such as color depth and refresh rate. The GPMI Type-C connector is set to have a maximum bandwidth of 96 Gbps and deliver 240 watts of power. This is more than double the 40 Gbps data limit of USB4 and Thunderbolt 4, allowing you to transmit more data on the cable. However, it has the same power limit as that of the latest USB Type-C connector using the Extended Power Range (EPR) standard. GPMI Type-B beats all other cables, though, with its maximum bandwidth of 192 Gbps and power delivery of up to 480 watts.
176787301
submission
AmiMoJo writes:
Slashdot Japan was launched on May 28, 2001. On 2025/03/31, it will finally close. Since starting the site separated from the main Slashdot one, and eventually rebranded as "Surado", which was it's Japanese nickname.
Last year the site stopped posting new stories, and was subsequently unable to find a buyer. In a final story announcing the end, many users expressed their sadness and gratitude for all the years of service.
176776569
submission
AmiMoJo writes:
Clean-energy technologies made up more than 10% of China’s economy in 2024 for the first time ever, with sales and investments worth 13.6tn yuan ($1.9tn). Clean-energy sectors drove a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2024 and have overtaken real-estate sales in value. The new sector-by-sector analysis for Carbon Brief, based on official figures, industry data and analyst reports, shows the growing role of clean technology in China’s economy – particularly the so-called “new three” industries, namely, solar, electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries.
176770753
submission
AmiMoJo writes:
Google has agreed to pay $28m (£21.5m) to settle a lawsuit that claimed white and Asian employees were given better pay and career opportunities than workers from other ethnic backgrounds, a law firm representing claimants says.
The technology giant confirmed it had "reached a resolution" but rejected the allegations made against it.
The case filed in 2021 by former Google employee, Ana Cantu, said workers from Hispanic, Latino, Native American and other backgrounds started on lower salaries and job levels than their white and Asian counterparts.
The settlement has been given preliminary approval by Judge Charles Adams of the Santa Clara County Superior Court in California.
The case brought by Ms Cantu against Google relied on a leaked internal document, which allegedly showed that employees from some ethnic backgrounds reported lower compensation for similar work.
The practice of basing starting pay and job level on prior salaries reinforced historical race and ethnicity-based disparities, according to Ms Cantu's lawyers.
The class action lawsuit was filed for at least 6,632 people who were employed by Google between 15 February 2018 and 31 December 2024, according to Reuters news agency.
176711541
submission
AmiMoJo writes:
An experiment is underway in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that could change how communities generate and distribute power in the future. The city, with voters' strong support, is launching its own sustainable energy utility. This new utility won't replace DTE Energy, the local investor-owned power company, or even use DTE's wires. Instead, Ann Arbor will slowly build out a whole new modern power system, starting with installing rooftop solar and battery storage and reducing energy usage in individual homes and businesses whose owners opt in. The city then plans to expand by connecting homes and neighborhoods into microgrids and by using community solar and networked geothermal to allow broader access to clean energy. If it works as planned, a sustainable energy utility like this could quickly build the clean energy grid of the future by shedding outdated infrastructure while creating a reliable, clean and resilient model.
176711531
submission
AmiMoJo writes:
A groundbreaking study conducted at a massive solar installation in the Talatan Desert reveals that solar panels don’t just harness the sun’s power—they alter soil conditions, encourage vegetation growth, and reshape the local climate. These findings could change how we think about the relationship between renewable energy and the environment. A team of researchers from Xi’an University of Technology studied the Gonghe Photovoltaic Park in China’s Qinghai Province, a one-gigawatt solar farm covering vast stretches of desert. Their goal? To determine how the installation affected its surroundings. Using the DPSIR model—a framework used by environmental scientists to analyze ecological changes—the team examined 57 environmental indicators, including soil composition, temperature, humidity, and biodiversity. What they found defies expectations: instead of harming the fragile desert ecosystem, the solar panels were actually revitalizing it.
176676163
submission
AmiMoJo writes:
The US installed 50 gigawatts (GW) of new solar capacity in 2024, the largest single year of new capacity added to the grid by any energy technology in over two decades. That’s enough to power 8.5 million households.
According to the US Solar Market Insight 2024 Year in Review report released today by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, solar and storage account for 84% of all new electric generating capacity added to the grid last year.
In addition to historic deployment, surging US solar manufacturing emerged as a landmark economic story in 2024. Domestic solar module production tripled last year, and at full capacity, US factories can now produce enough to meet nearly all demand for solar panels in the US. Solar cell manufacturing also resumed in 2024, strengthening the US energy supply chain.
176666967
submission
AmiMoJo writes:
In September 2023, KrebsOnSecurity published findings from security researchers who concluded that a series of six-figure cyberheists across dozens of victims resulted from thieves cracking master passwords stolen from the password manager service LastPass in 2022. In a court filing this week, U.S. federal agents investigating a spectacular $150 million cryptocurrency heist said they had reached the same conclusion.
On March 6, federal prosecutors in northern California said they seized approximately $24 million worth of cryptocurrencies that were clawed back following a $150 million cyberheist on Jan. 30, 2024. The complaint refers to the person robbed only as “Victim-1,” but according to blockchain security researcher ZachXBT the theft was perpetrated against Chris Larsen, the co-founder of the cryptocurrency platform Ripple.
ZachXBT was the first to report on the heist, of which approximately $24 million was frozen by the feds before it could be withdrawn. This week’s action by the government merely allows investigators to officially seize the frozen funds.
But there is an important conclusion in this seizure document: It basically says the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI agree with the findings of the LastPass breach story published here in September 2023. That piece quoted security researchers who said they were witnessing six-figure crypto heists several times each month that they believed all appeared to be the result of crooks cracking master passwords for the password vaults stolen from LastPass in 2022.
176627695
submission
AmiMoJo writes:
China plans to issue guidance to encourage the use of open-source RISC-V chips nationwide for the first time, two sources briefed on the matter said, as Beijing accelerates efforts to curb the country's dependence on Western-owned technology.
The policy guidance on boosting the use of RISC-V chips could be released as soon as this month, although the final date could change, the sources said.
It is being drafted jointly by eight government bodies, including the Cyberspace Administration of China, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the China National Intellectual Property Administration, they added.
176611625
submission
AmiMoJo writes:
Zenob has announced that Europe’s largest battery site, located in Blackhillock, Scotland, has begun commercial operations today. The Blackhillock site is launching in two phases. Phase 1 comprises of 200MW which is going live today and will be followed by a further 100MW in 2026, making a total of 300MW/600MWh. The total capacity of the site is the equivalent of powering >3.1 million homes, substantially more than all the households in Scotland, for two hours.
