This NASA ‘lunar backpack’ will help Artemis astronauts explore the moon – Space.com

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As future Artemis astronauts explore the moon, a new high-tech backpack will assist their mapping as they step into the unknown.

NASA does have high-definition lunar maps of the surface, from orbit, to assist in landing activities. But ground surveys of the moon will need a helping hand to assist astronauts with selecting rocks for samples and putting them in their geological context.

To do so, NASA has invented the Kinematic Navigationand Cartography Knapsack (KNaCK). The backpack will use lidar, or light detection and ranging laser light, to generate centimeter-level 3D maps of the moon's surface as Artemis program astronauts do their activities. Lidar will especially be a benefit even in low lighting conditions such as what astronauts will encounter near the south pole, their planned landing zone.

"The sensor is a surveying tool for both navigation and science mapping," KNAcK project leader Michael Zenetti stated of the backpack in a NASA statement. Zanetti is a planetary scientist at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

KNAcK's work not only places local features into a larger geologic context, but also will assist with astronaut safety, he said. With no GPS within range to map features, the backpack will show actual distances to landmarks, which was something that bedeviled astronauts during the Apollo surface missions of the 1960s and 1970s.

The backpack can even mark features for astronauts to return to later, much like geocachers do for fun using GPS satellites on Earth.

Related: NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission explained in photos

KNaCK, in consultation with vendor Aeva Inc. of Mountain View, California, has been field-tested on Earth. Projects it has worked on include mapping dunes near NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and exploring an ancient volcanic crater at Kilbourne Hole, New Mexico.

Zanetti says the backpack still has developmental issues to address, however, before it takes off for moon missions. The rig will need to be smaller and less massive yet than its current mass of 40 pounds (18 kg), and the electronics are not quite strong enough to withstand solar radiation nor lunar gravity conditions.

The aim is to eventually make the backpack about the size of a soda can, Zanetti said, for a more flexible set of deployments. Astronauts could place it on the side of their helmets, or stack it onto a rover, as they do their excursions.

While a new field test is planned at Kilbourne Hole in late April, NASA has not yet disclosed when the backpack would be ready for lunar missions. The first lunar landing excursion, Artemis 3, will take place in 2025 or 2026, NASA has said.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter@howellspace. Follow us on Twitter@Spacedotcomand onFacebook.

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This NASA 'lunar backpack' will help Artemis astronauts explore the moon - Space.com

SpaceX capsule returns to Earth with first all-private space station crew Spaceflight Now – Spaceflight Now

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SpaceXs Dragon Endeavour spacecraft splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean Monday to end Axioms Ax-1 mission. Credit: SpaceX

A SpaceX crew capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Georgia Monday with a retired NASA astronaut and three wealthy businessmen, closing out an extended 17-day mission on the first fully commercial, non-government visit to the International Space Station.

Protected by a thermal shield, the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft plunged back into the atmosphere and withstood a scorching hot re-entry over the southeastern United States. Two drogue parachutes opened up, and then four main chutes unfurled to slow the capsule for a relatively gentle splashdown at 1:06 p.m. EDT (1706 GMT) Monday in rolling seas northeast of Jacksonville, Florida.

The splashdown capped 17 days in orbit for the four-man crew, led by commander Michael Lpez-Alegra, a retired NASA astronaut and now an employee of Axiom Space, the Houston-based company that managed the mission.

Lpez-Alegra was joined on the flight by Larry Connor, an investor and accomplished aerobatic pilot from Ohio, Canadian businessman Mark Pathy, and Israeli entrepreneur Eytan Stibbe, who became the second person from Israel to fly in space. Connor, Pathy, and Stibbe paid for their rides to orbit.

Dragon, SpaceX, we see splashdown and mains (parachutes) cut, radioed Sarah Gillis, SpaceXs crew operations resource engineer, from the companys mission control center in Hawthorne, California.

We concur, repliedLpez-Alegra, who returned from his fifth mission to space, totaling 275 days in orbit. He has now launched on three different types of vehicles NASAs space shuttle, Russias Soyuz spacecraft, and SpaceXs Dragon ferry ship.

On behalf of the entire SpaceX team, welcome back to planet Earth, Gillis said. The Axiom 1 mission marks the beginning of a new paradigm for human spaceflight. We hope you enjoyed the extra few days in space and thanks for choosing to fly SpaceX.

Lpez-Alegra said the crew was feeling well as the capsule bobbed in the Atlantic Ocean. After teams on fast boats secured the parachutes and inspected the Dragon capsule, SpaceXs recovery ship Megan, named for NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, pulled alongside the spacecraft and lifted it from the sea.

The recovery team then opened the hatch and helped each crew member from the spacecraft. All four stood and smiled, flashing a thumbs-up and walking albeit wobbly and with assistance to a medical evaluation room on the recovery ship.

While readjusting to gravity, private astronauts were expected to fly by helicopter back to shore, then travel to Orlando for more medical checks and to meet their families.

Axiom contracted with NASA and SpaceX for the all-private crew mission to the space station. NASA charged Axiom a daily rate for access to the stations life support system, communications network, and other equipment. NASA is paying some of that back to Axiom in exchange for the return of government freezers and experiment specimens on the Dragon spacecraft.

Axiom paid SpaceX for the ride to and from the station on the Dragon spacecraft, and the launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center.

The arrangement is the first of its kind. Previous visits by private astronauts, or space tourists, to the space station occurred on government-led missions on Russian Soyuz spaceships. Before Axioms flight, 11 people had traveled to the space station as paying passengers on Soyuz missions, but they all flew with a government cosmonaut commander.

More Axiom missions are planned to the station in the next few years, leading up to delivery of the companys own commercial module to the orbiting complex. That module will eventually detach from the International Space Station and become the centerpiece for Axioms privately-owned multi-element outpost in low Earth orbit.

Without those two partners, none of this would be possible, said Derek Hassmann, Axioms operations director, referring to NASA And SpaceX. So just an amazing first step thats leading up to our launch and activation of the Axiom station with the first module being planned for 2024.

I would say, overall, this has been just an amazing success, Hassmann told reporters Monday afternoon. The crew performed beyond expectations. The ground teams were tremendous.

The re-entry and splashdown Monday came about 16 hours after SpaceXs Dragon Endeavour spacecraft undocked from the space station. The capsule backed away from the complex at 9:10 p.m. EDT Sunday (0110 GMT Monday).

The Axiom mission, known as Ax-1, was supposed to last 10 days, with the crew spending eight days at the space station. The mission was extended one day because of timing conflict between the planned undocking of the Ax-1 mission and a previously-scheduled Russian spacewalk.

Then persistent high winds in all seven SpaceXs splashdown zones near Florida kept the crew aloft through last week and the weekend. Mission managers were finally satisfied that conditions would be favorable for a return Monday, and they cleared Ax-1 to depart the station Sunday night.

During their time on the International Space Station, the Ax-1 astronauts brought the crew complement on the research lab up to 11 people, including five Americans, three Russians, one German, one Canadian, and one Israeli occupant. The Ax-1 crewspent the bonus time in orbit finishing up experiments and participating in more outreach events that didnt fit into the original flight plan, Hassmann said.

Despite nearly doubling their stay at the space staton, the paying passengers didnt rack up any late checkout fees.

The contact between Axiom and NASA included an equitable balance to cover potential delays in the undocking and return of the Ax-1 mission, said Stephanie Schierholz, a NASA spokesperson.

Knowing that International Space Station mission objectives like the recently conducted Russian spacewalk or weather challenges could result in a delayed undock, NASA negotiated the contract with a strategy that does not require reimbursement for additional undock delays, Schierholz said in a written statement.

There were no additional costs for any parties based on the extension of the mission, Hassmann said.

Axiom has not disclosed the price Connor, Pathy, and Stibbe paid for their flight to the space station. But NASAs inspector general has said a seat on a Dragon mission costs roughly $55 million.

The Ax-1 crew members trained for the mission in Houston and at SpaceXs headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

The first private astronaut mission is a harbinger of a transition from government-led spaceflight operations in low Earth orbit to a future generation of commercial space stations. NASA wants to help steer the space industry through the transition by providing the International Space Station as a testbed for markets that must be developed before companies can take launch and operate a revenue-earning destination in orbit.

A major goal for the U.S. space agency is to rely on commercial industry to develop the next orbiting outpost to replace the International Space Station. The Biden administration recently signaled it will support an extension of station operations though 2030, but by then the research labs oldest elements will have been in space 32 years, more than twice their original design lives.

The fraught relationship between the United States and Russia, the two largest ISS partners, in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine has also raised concerns about a replacement for the International Space Station.

Aside from Axiom, several other companies have plans to develop commercial space stations. In December, NASA selected Blue Origin, Nanoracks, and Northrop Grumman to advance their concepts for a commercial habitat and research facility in low Earth orbit.

Those companies are developing concepts for a standalone station, while Axiom will initially focus on a commercial add-on to the ISS.

The Ax-1 mission was a stepping stone toward that goal.

During their time in space, the Ax-1 crew worked with 26 science payloads and technology demonstration experiments, according to Hassmann. They also conducted more than 30 public outreach events in multiple languages.

The experiments on Ax-1 included investigations into self-assembling technology for future satellites and space habitats, the study cancer stem cells, and the test of a new Japanese air purification device. The crew members also served as experiment subjects for scientists to study how spaceflight affects the human body.

Connor partnered with Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic on research looking at heart health and brain and spinal tissue. Pathy worked with the Montreal Childrens Hospital, Canadian research universities, and the Royal Canadian Geographic Society on technology demonstrations, a sleep study and chronic pain experiment, an eye health investigation, and Earth observations.

Stibbe worked with the Israel Space Agency, the Israeli Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology, and the Ramon Foundation, an organization established to honor the memory of Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut who died on the space shuttle Columbia in 2003. He alsocarried with him fragments from Ilan Ramons diary that survived the searing heat of re-entry after the fatal breakup of the shuttle Columbia over Texas in 2003.

The end of the Ax-1 mission clears the way for SpaceX to launch the next crew flight to the space station. Three NASA astronauts and a European Space Agency mission specialist are ready for liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center at 3:52 a.m. EDT (0752 GMT) Wednesday.

The four-person crew will ride a Falcon 9 rocket and SpaceXs Dragon Freedom spacecraft into orbit to begin NASAs Crew-4 mission. The expedition on the space station is scheduled to last approximately five months.

The launch of the Crew-4 mission was delayed to await the return of the Ax-1 mission. The Dragon Endeavour spaceship was docked to the same port needed for arrival of the Dragon Freedom capsule.

SpaceX engineers will analyze data from the Ax-1 mission to ensure there were no issues that might affect the launch of the Crew-4 flight Wednesday. Managers planned to meet for a launch readiness review early Thursday to formally give the go-ahead for liftoff of the Crew-4 mission.

The Ax-1 mission was SpaceXs sixth launch to carry people since a Dragon test flight took off in May 2020 with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, ending a nearly nine-year gap in launching astronauts into orbit from U.S. soil.

NASA invested billions of dollars in helping SpaceX develop the human-rated Dragon spacecraft. SpaceX put up its own private funding in a cost-sharing arrangement with the federal government.

Benji Reed, senior director of SpaceXs human spaceflight programs, said Monday the companys fleet of four Crew Dragon spaceships could accommodate up to six astronaut missions per year.

Half a dozen crew flights per year would be great, or more, Reed said. AndIthink we can get to a place where we can sustain that. If theres a market for it, we can definitely do that.

Each Dragon capsule has four seats.In the long-term, SpaceX wants to retire the Falcon 9 and Dragon fleets in favor of the next-generation fully reusable Starship rocket, which could carry many more passengers into space. When asked Monday, Reed offered no estimate on when the Starship might be ready to fly people.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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SpaceX capsule returns to Earth with first all-private space station crew Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

Live coverage: Four astronauts launch from Kennedy Space Center Spaceflight Now – Spaceflight Now

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Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on NASAs Crew-4 mission. The Crew-4 mission is carrying astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, Samantha Cristoforetti, and Jessica Watkins to the International Space Station. Follow us onTwitter.

Four astronauts strapped into their seats on SpaceXs Dragon Freedom spacecraft and rode a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit early Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, beginning a 16-hour chase of the International Space Station. Liftoff from pad 39A occurred at 3:52 a.m. EDT (0752 GMT).

Kjell Lindgren, a veteran of 141 days in orbit on a previous flight, commands the Crew-4 mission to the space station. Pilot Bob Hines and mission specialist Jessica Watkins, both spaceflight rookies, are joining Lindgren on the mission. European Space Agency astronaut rounds out the crew.

With the successful launch Wednesday, the four-person crew began a mission lasting nearly five months at the space station, performing experiments and maintenance, conducting spacewalks, and continuing nearly 22 years of continuous human presence on the orbiting outpost.

The mission marks the seventh launch of astronauts by SpaceX since the first Dragon flight to carry people. It is SpaceXs fourth operational crew rotation flight for NASA under a multibillion-dollar contract.

The astronauts have spent the last week at the Kennedy Space Center undergoing final training and flight preps, and spending time with family before their multi-month expedition off the planet.

I plan to take a very long luxurious shower on that last day before launch, said Cristoforetti, an Italian-born flier poised for her second trip to space.

The Crew-4 astronauts are scheduled to arrive at the station for docking at 8:15 p.m. EDT Wednesday (0015 GMT Thursday).

Lindgren, Hines, Cristoforetti and Watkins will receive briefings from the four astronauts they are replacing on the station.

The flight plan calls for handover of at least five days between the new Crew-4 astronauts and the outgoing Crew-3 astronauts, who are tentatively scheduled to depart the station around May 4, targeting a splashdown off the coast of Florida around May 5, wrapping up their nearly six-month mission.

Commander Raja Chari, pilot Tom Marshburn, and mission specialists Matthias Maurer and Kayla Barron launched on the Crew-3 mission last November. They will ride SpaceXs Dragon Endurance spacecraft back to Earth, leaving the Crew-4 astronauts at the station with three Russian cosmonaut crewmates.

The Dragon Freedom spacecraft is the fourth, and likely last, human-rated vehicle to join SpaceXs fleet of reusable Dragon capsules. It joins Dragon Endeavour, Dragon Resilience, and Dragon Endurance in the companys inventory.

The Crew-4 mission launched on a Falcon 9 booster tail number B0167 flown on three previous missions. The booster stage launched for the first time last June 3 on a cargo mission to the space station, then flew again Nov. 10 with the Crew-3 mission. Most recently, the booster launched Dec. 18 with the Turksat 5B communications satellite.

There was a 90% chance of acceptable weather at the Kennedy Space Center for liftoff Wednesday morning, and a low-to-moderate risk of bad conditions along the Falcon 9s ascent corridor heading northeast over the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX monitors conditions downrange to ensure weather and sea states would be safe for a splashdown of the Dragon spacecraft in the event of an in-flight abort caused by a rocket failure.

The rockets first stage landed on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas parked in the Atlantic Ocean about 340 miles (545 kilometers) downrange from the launch pad.

Read our mission preview story for details on the Crew-4 launch.

ROCKET:Falcon 9 (B1067.4)

PAYLOAD:Crew Dragon Freedom on the Crew-4 mission

LAUNCH SITE:LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

LAUNCH DATE: April 27, 2022

LAUNCH TIME: 3:52:55a.m. EDT (0752:55 GMT)

LAUNCH WINDOW:Instantaneous

WEATHER FORECAST: 90% probability of acceptable weather

BOOSTER RECOVERY:A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship

LAUNCH AZIMUTH:Northeast

TARGET ORBIT:Approximately 130 miles by 143 miles (210 by 230 kilometers); Inclination of 51.6 degrees to the equator

DOCKING AT ISS:8:15p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 27 (0015 GMT on Thursday, April 28)

LANDING DATE:September 2022

LAUNCH TIMELINE:

MISSION STATS:

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Live coverage: Four astronauts launch from Kennedy Space Center Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market Analysis Report 2022-2032 – Increasing Usage of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Components & Increasing…

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Dublin, April 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --The "Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market - A Comprehensive Launch Market Assessment: Focus on End User, Satellite Mass, Platform Type, Propulsion Type, Service Type, and Country - Analysis and Forecast, 2022-2032" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global small launch vehicle market is expected to reach $4,624.0 million by 2032, with a CAGR of 13.34% during the forecast period 2022-2032.

After 2014, the SLV market witnessed exponential growth due to an increase in the number of SLV manufacturers and launch service providers. The increasing number of satellite constellations for applications such as communication, technology development, Earth observation, and remote sensing is expected to be the major driving factor for SLV market growth.

As of February 2022, there were 17 operational small-lift launch vehicles and 99 small launch vehicles under development.

Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Industry Overview

The use of small satellites for several applications such as Earth observation, communication, and space exploration is expected to drive the growth of the SLV market.

Several programs such as Airborne Launch Assist Space Access (ALASA) are organized for developing an affordable method for launching small satellites. In addition, with rigorous testing of new technologies and research and development work, ALASA is expected to introduce small launch systems to provide more reasonable, routine, and reliable access to space in less than $1 million per launch.

Market SegmentationGlobal Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market by Satellite Mass

Satellite mass is a prominent market segment. The 501-2,200 Kg satellite mass segment has the highest market share and is estimated to grow over the forecast years due to the rise in the number of small satellite constellations from various key manufacturers such as SpaceX, Amazon, Cloud Constellation, Urthecast, and ISRO.

Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market by Platform Type

The land platform has the highest market penetration in the global SLV market during the forecast period 2022-2032. The market growth is due to cost-effective launch and high success rate.

Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market by Propulsion Type

Solid propulsion technology is expected to have the highest market penetration in the global small launch vehicle market during the forecast period 2022-2032. This is due to the high demand for solid propellant rockets, which are much easier to store and handle during launch.

Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market by End-User

The commercial end user is anticipated to witness huge growth over the forecast period. It had a significant market share in 2021 due to the increasing demand for commercial applications such as remote sensing, Earth observation and navigation, surveillance, and satellite internet. The satellite internet constellation is a major project in this segment.

Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market by Service Type

The pre-launch services segment had a significant market share in 2021 and is estimated to hold significant market share over the forecast period due to an increase in the number of commercial launches per year.

Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market by Region

In 2021, the contribution of Asia-Pacific held the highest share of the global small launch vehicle market. The region is anticipated to hold a significant share in the global market by the end of 2032.

The majority of the market growth in the Asia-Pacific region is contributed by the market in China owing to the presence of key market players such as China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and Galactic Energy (Beijing) Space Technology Co., LTD. CASC and Galactic accounted for more than 30 successful SLV launches per year.

Key Market Players and Competition Synopsis

The companies profiled in the report have been selected post-in-depth interviews with experts and understanding details around companies such as product portfolios, annual revenues, market penetration, research and development initiatives, and domestic and international presence in the small launch vehicle market.

Some key players in the global small launch vehicle (SLV) market include Arianespace, Astra Space, Inc., Northrop Grumman, Rocket Lab USA, Inc., ABL Space Systems, Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace Inc., China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), and Interorbital Systems among others.

Recent Developments in Global Small Launch Vehicle Market

Key Topics Covered:

1 Markets1.1 Industry Outlook1.1.1 Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market: An Overview1.1.2 Launch Vehicle Mapping with Satellite/Payload, Orbit, and Launch Site1.1.3 Global Small Satellite Industry Scenario: Business Opportunity for SLV Market1.1.4 Trends: Current and Future1.1.4.1 Cost Advantage in Reusable Launch Vehicle1.1.4.2 Propulsion System1.1.4.3 Modernization in Structure Composition of Small Launch Vehicle (SLV)1.1.5 Spaceports: Capability Analysis1.1.6 Start-Up and Investment Landscape1.1.6.1 Key Start-Ups in the Ecosystem1.1.6.2 Funding Analysis1.1.7 Supply Chain Analysis1.2 Business Dynamics1.2.1 Business Drivers1.2.1.1 Increasing Usage of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Components1.2.1.2 Growing Demand for Small Satellites and Constellations in LEO1.2.1.3 Increasing Cooperation among Space Agencies for Space Missions1.2.2 Business Challenges1.2.2.1 Absence of Efficient and Reliable Micro-Propulsion Systems1.2.2.2 High Cost Associated with Space Launch Vehicles1.2.3 Business Opportunities1.2.3.1 Increasing Developments in Low-Cost Launching Sites1.2.3.2 Emerging Startups in SLV Manufacturing1.2.3.3 Advancements in 3D Printing Technology for Space Industry1.2.4 Key Business Development1.2.5 Partnerships, Collaborations, Agreements, and Contracts1.2.6 Mergers & Acquisitions

2 Application2.1 Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market (by End User)2.1.1 Market Overview2.1.1.1 Demand Analysis of the Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market (by End User)2.1.2 Academic2.1.3 Commercial2.1.4 Government2.1.5 Military and Defense2.1.6 Non-Profit Organization

3 Products3.1 Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market (by Satellite Mass)3.1.1 Market Overview3.1.1.1 Demand Analysis of the Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market (by Satellite Mass)3.1.2 0-500 Kg3.1.3 501-2,200 Kg3.2 Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market (by Platform Type)3.2.1 Market Overview3.2.1.1 Demand Analysis of the Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market (by Platform Type)3.2.2 Land3.2.3 Air3.2.4 Sea3.2.5 Balloon3.3 Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market (by Propulsion Type)3.3.1 Market Overview3.3.1.1 Demand Analysis of the Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market (by Propulsion Type)3.3.2 Solid3.3.3 Liquid3.3.4 Hybrid3.4 Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market (by Service Type)3.4.1 Market Overview3.4.1.1 Demand Analysis of the Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market (by Service Type)3.4.2 Pre-Launch Service3.4.2.1 Demand Analysis of the Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market (Pre-Launch Service, by Service Type)3.4.3 Post-Launch Service3.4.3.1 Demand Analysis of the Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market (Post-Launch Service, by Service Type)3.5 Product and Pricing Analysis3.5.1 Launch Vehicle Manufacturing3.5.2 Satellite Launch Services3.5.3 Payload Manufacturing and Deployment Cost Analysis

4 Region4.1 Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market (by Region)4.2 North America4.2.1 Market4.2.1.1 Key Small Launch Vehicle Manufacturers and Launch Service Providers in North America4.2.1.2 Business Drivers4.2.1.3 Business Challenges4.2.2 Application4.2.2.1 North America Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market (by End User)4.2.3 Product4.2.3.1 North America Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market (by Satellite Mass)4.2.4 North America (by Country)4.3 Europe4.4 Asia-Pacific4.5 Rest-of-the-World

5 Market - Competitive Benchmarking & Company Profiles5.1 Competitive Benchmarking5.2 Market Share Analysis5.3 Key Market Players

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/nfqwab

Media Contact:

Research and MarketsLaura Wood, Senior Manager[emailprotected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

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Global Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) Market Analysis Report 2022-2032 - Increasing Usage of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Components & Increasing...

Key Components of DNA and RNA Found in Three Meteorites – Sci-News.com

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Using state-of-the-art analytical techniques, researchers have detected diverse suites of nucleobases including canonical base pairs (e.g., adenine-uracil, guanine-cytosine, adenine-thymine) and some non-canonical ones (e.g., isoguanine-isocytosine and xanthine-2,4-diaminopyrimidine) in three carbonaceous meteorites: the Murchison, Murray, and Tagish Lake meteorites.

Conceptual image of meteoroids delivering nucleobases to ancient Earth. The nucleobases are represented by structural diagrams with hydrogen atoms as white spheres, carbon as black, nitrogen as blue and oxygen as red. Image credit: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center / CI Lab / Dan Gallagher.

Two types of chemical building blocks, or nucleobases, are needed to form DNA and RNA.

These are the pyrimidines, which include cytosine, uracil and thymine, and the purines, for example guanine and adenine.

Thus far, only purine nucleobases and uracil have been identified in meteorites.

However, Hokkaido Universitys Dr. Yasuhiro Oba and colleagues identified the final two nucleobases that have eluded scientists.

I wonder why purines and pyrimidines are exceptional in that they do not show structural diversity in carbonaceous meteorites unlike other classes of organic compounds such as amino acids and hydrocarbons, Dr. Oba said.

Since purines and pyrimidines can be synthesized in extraterrestrial environments, as has been demonstrated by our own study, one would expect to find a wide diversity of these organic molecules in meteorites.

We now have evidence that the complete set of nucleobases used in life today could have been available on Earth when life emerged, added Dr. Danny Glavin, a researcher at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center.

The newly-discovered pair of nucleobases, cytosine and thymine, have been elusive in previous analyses likely because of their more delicate structure, which may have degraded when scientists previously extracted samples.

In the earlier experiments, scientists created something of a meteorite tea, placing grains of meteorite in a hot bath to let the molecules on the sample extract into the solution and then analyzed the molecular makeup of the extraterrestrial broth.

We study these water extracts since they contain the good stuff, ancient organic molecules that could have been key building blocks for the origin of life on Earth, Dr. Glavin said.

Because of how delicate these two nucleobases are, the study authors were initially skeptical to see them in the samples.

But two factors may have contributed to the new discovery: first, they used cool water to extract the compounds instead of hot formic acid which is very reactive and could have destroyed these fragile molecules in previous samples. Second, more sensitive analytics were employed that could pick up on smaller amounts of these molecules.

The finding doesnt provide a smoking gun as to whether life on Earth got an assist from space or came about exclusively in the prebiotic soup in the planets infancy.

But completing the set of nucleobases that make up life today, in addition to other molecules found in the sample, gives scientists who are trying to understand the beginning of life more compounds to experiment with in the lab.

This is adding more and more pieces; meteorites have been found to have sugars and bases now, said Dr. Jason Dworkin, a researcher at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center.

Its exciting to see progress in the making of the fundamental molecules of biology from space.

The results were published in the journal Nature Communications.

_____

Y. Oba et al. 2022. Identifying the wide diversity of extraterrestrial purine and pyrimidine nucleobases in carbonaceous meteorites. Nat Commun 13, 2008; doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29612-x

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SKYTRAC’s Iridium Certus SATCOM Terminal Selected By The Exploration Company For Their Nyx Space Capsule SatNews – SatNews

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SKYTRAC Systems Ltd. (SKYTRAC) has announced that the The Exploration Company, a European developer, manufacturer, and operator of modular and reusable orbital vehicles, has selected SKYTRACs Iridium Certus, mid-band, SATCOM terminal for data transmission from their space capsule to the ground.

Nyx, The Exploration Companys space capsule, is a modular, reusable, and on-orbit, refuellable, orbital vehicle that carries cargo and, in the future, potentially even humans. Nyx is designed for missions such as orbiting the Earth for three to six months and landing on the Moon with re-entry capability.

A subscale re-entry demonstrator of Nyx will be launched into space on the maiden flight of the new Ariane 6 rocket later this year. Once in orbit, the space capsule will detach and begin re-entry back towards Earth.

The Exploration Company has selected SKYTRACs DLS-100, cutting-edge data link transceivers, to be installed onboard this capsule demonstrator. Capable of real-time command and control, telemetry streaming, and photo/video transmission the DLS-100 will enable 22 Kbps uplink speeds through the Iridium NEXT satellite constellation.

The ruggedized DLS-100 is optimized for Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) and weighs only 26.2 oz (742.8 g), making it the ideal data link system for a suite of platforms, including a space capsule. As the space capsule is an unrecoverable technology demonstrator, upon collecting and transmitting data, the capsule will impact the ocean.

Starting at an altitude of 360 miles, the space capsule will collect a large amount of data from systems and sensors which will be transmitted over the Iridium satellite network to the ground from SKYTRACs DLS-100, said Thomas Nussmann, Lead Avionics and Power at The Exploration Company. SKYTRACs ruggedized data link will provide the low latency, global, and reliable satellite connectivity the capsule requires to conduct this demonstration successfully.

SKYTRAC is excited to be part of The Exploration Companys mission to democratize space exploration with their innovative Nyx space capsule, said Jeff Sherwood, Director of Business Development at SKYTRAC. We are proud that our DLS-100 can extend beyond traditional aviation applications to provide these global connectivity services to space-based applications.

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SKYTRAC's Iridium Certus SATCOM Terminal Selected By The Exploration Company For Their Nyx Space Capsule SatNews - SatNews

Elon Musk Likes Twitter, But Space Exploration Is His Real Love, As Seen In Netflix Doc Return To Space – Deadline

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Elon Musks successful takeover bid for Twitter has raised concerns about his plans for the social media platform, because of his political views. Historically those views have teetered left and right, but tend to gravitate towards libertarian. His anti-union stance as CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla has displeased liberals, even if they constitute his best automotive customers.

Objections to The Boring Company, his venture that proposes to build underground transportation networks beneath cities, fall not on ideological grounds but practical ones: some civil engineers just call it pie in the sky.

But there is one skyward thrust of Musks sci-tech empire that attracts almost universal praise the aerospace enterprise SpaceX. The Netflix documentary Return to Space, directed by Oscar winners Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, chronicles the companys development of a recyclable rocket and its collaboration with NASA to get this country back into human space exploration.

Space is his best look, Vasarhelyi says of Musk, tacitly acknowledging his controversial profile that includes expressing doubts about Covid vaccine mandates and hanging out with pal Joe Rogan, the podcaster who has admitted to past use of racist language. If we were doing just an Elon Musk documentary Im sure we would have spent a lot of time going into that. But it wasnt really about that.

The films primary focus is on the first crewed mission for SpaceX in 2020, which aimed to send NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station. NASA hadnt put any astronauts into space since the last Shuttle flight in 2011. Vasarhelyi and Chin secured remarkable access to document the process, including the crew preparing for the mission and then the blastoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which propelled the companys Crew Dragon space capsule into orbit. And to Musk himself as the launch neared and the rocket took off.

In Return to Space, Musk appears intimately engaged in the details of the SpaceX-NASA mission not surprising, given that he is not only the CEO of SpaceX, but also its chief engineer. He hovers in the background at times, in a black sports coat, or inserts himself occasionally to inquire about technical points or to receive updates on the weather forecast before launch. Theres a faint resemblance to Hugo Drax of Moonraker, if only because of the common space theme and both characters immense wealth.

Elon Musks Crash Course: New York Times Documentary Set At FX

There was reason for Musk to feel comfortable with the filmmakers.

We had friends in common with Elon. We had spent some time together with him [previously], Vasarhelyi notes. SpaceX [access] was a thing, but the real kind of achievement, in many ways, was that NASA access because theyre just so notoriously, I dont know, controlling They ended up making the kind of accommodations that they normally never make.

The directors were permitted to use footage that Behnken and Hurley shot themselves. And they spent considerable time with then-NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine.

I think we got lucky with Bridenstine because he was the first civilian administrator [of NASA], Vasarhelyi says. He let us shadow him. I think he understood the value of this type of storytelling.

The filmmakers sprinkle some wonderful human touches throughout, including Bridenstines fondness for a certain kind of caffeine-powered soda.

We could always curry favor with him by bringing him Mountain Dew, Vasarhelyi shares. Like, who knew?

Musk founded SpaceX in 2002. Many at the time scoffed at the idea of a commercial outfit manufacturing rockets for NASA use, including no less a figure than Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. Critics may have felt they had correctly foreseen the folly of SpaceX when the companys early efforts to create the Falcon rocket ended in spectacular explosions. But that was part of the process.

SpaceX really came at it with this basically new school startup mentality where it was, Fail fast and fail early and learn from your failures, Chin explains. Its kind of fast and furious compared to how people traditionally approached work and development in space travel.

Musk and his aeronautical engineers came up with other innovations besides the rocket itself; they also developed an escape system allowing astronauts in their capsule to separate from the booster rocket, in case of catastrophe after liftoff.

The inherent risk of space flight unites Return to Space with the earlier work of Chin and Vasarhelyi. In The Rescue, they documented the perilous effort to save children trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand; the Academy Award-winning Free Solo tracked climber Alex Honnold as he attempted to ascend Yosemites El Capitan granite rock face without aid of ropes. The rescuers who saved the Thai kids soberly assessed whether their intended plans could work; Honnold choreographed every inch of his climb to lessen the chance of a fatal plunge.

Its a familiar space or terrain for us to examine the process of risk assessment and calculation and mitigation. The heart of any high stakes situation is there is the stakes of the mission, but theres also the stakes of life and death, Chin observes. You have to have a true passion and belief in what youre doing when youre in that situation where you are calculating life and death risks. And thats really interesting to us because thats a look into why people do what they do, and then it also looks at the process.

The mission with Behnken and Hurley came off without a hitch. Earlier this month, SpaceX again in collaboration with NASA launched a former NASA astronaut and three paying customers to the ISS.

The mission is the first to go to the space station on which all of the passengers are private citizens, and it is the first time that NASA has collaborated in arranging a space tourism visit, The New York Times reported on April 8. The flight marked a pivotal moment in efforts to spur space travel by commercial enterprises, NASA officials said.

(If Musk had one eye on the launch, the other was on Twitter. On April 4 it was revealed he had bought a 9 percent stake in the company. On April 9, a day after the latest SpaceX blastoff, he announced he would not seek a seat on Twitters board. Then on April 14 he offered $43 billion to buy Twitter; today a deal was announced that would see him acquire the company for $44 billion).

At one point in Return to Space, Musk sports a t-shirt emblazoned with the words, Occupy Mars. He has articulated an outsized vision not only for SpaceX but for the human race. That would include a return to Earths only natural satellite, most recently visited by Apollo astronauts in late 1972.

Its been now almost half a century since humans were last on the moon. Thats too long, we need to get back there and have a permanent base on the moon, Musk said last April. And then build a city on Mars to become a spacefaring civilization, a multi-planet species.

Vasarhelyi remarks, [Musk] truly believes in these ideas of consciousness, civilization and thinking about these questions.

But as for setting up house on the Red Planet, Vasarhelyi, for one, counts herself out.

I think life on Mars, the filmmaker says, sounds incredibly unpleasant.

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Elon Musk Likes Twitter, But Space Exploration Is His Real Love, As Seen In Netflix Doc Return To Space - Deadline

Refugees and Rwanda: Tories outsource the migrant crisis ‘anywhere but here’ – Socialist Appeal

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The Tories recently unveiled a pay-for-processing programme, in which those seeking asylum in the UK will be sent to one of the poorest countries in the world: Rwanda.

The focus of the plan is to ship those arriving at the walls of Fortress Britain thousands of miles away either to voluntarily resettle in Rwanda or another third country, or to return home.

This attempt to exclude asylum seekers using cynical political doublespeak about rescue and security concerns, however, has spectacularly backfired.

Boris Johnson may cry crocodile tears over the barbaric trade in human misery. But many are realising that it is the capitalist system he represents that is responsible for creating the conditions in which barbarism and misery thrives.

The Tory Prime Minister assures us that the scheme will offer safe refuge for the oppressed and vulnerable, with ample opportunities to work in Rwanda. Those mishandled by traffickers in Europe will instead arrive in one of the worlds safest nations.

If we were to indulge in the Tories dubious lies, we would be led to believe that Rwanda is a land flowing with milk and honey.

Any criticisms of the programme run the risk of stereotyping, we are told. And yet in dolling up this scheme, Johnson and co. have happily rolled out all the usual trite and tasteless caricatures about those fleeing war zones taking advantage of the asylum system.

The repressive nature of the Rwandan government is both well-known and well-documented.

There are serious concerns over Rwandas human rights record, states the associate director of the Institute for Public Policy, for example, including reports of arbitrary detention, torture and degrading treatment, and political imprisonment.

In 2018, Rwandan police even murdered eleven refugees from Congo who had demonstrated against reductions to their food aid. With reductions in aid to Rwanda now causing concern for the UN, a perfect storm is being prepared for those first captured then catapulted all the way to East Africa.

With such treatment now the norm, it is not ruled out that those deported to Rwanda would likely treat it as a transit country, in hope of finding better prospects elsewhere. In other words, this will not deter trafficking at all, but will instead deepen existing problems.

But why should this concern the Tories, motivated as they are by the slogan anywhere but here?

The Tories have proven themselves entirely unable to handle the migrant crisis in any meaningful way. Instead, they have opportunistically used refugees to score cheap political points, and as a convenient distraction to mounting problems at home.

Outsourcing the problem abroad, therefore, has become an attractive means of keeping this cascading crisis out of sight, out of mind.

Liberal commentators claim that this policy stems simply from the evilness of the Tories; or is a consequence of Britain leaving the European Union. In fact, it is directly borrowed and inspired by the playbook of other imperialist countries.

The proposal being suggested resembles a much vaguer one struck between Denmark and Rwanda last year. Similarly, countries such as Australia have been courted for counsel on the logistics of their rigorous offshore detention policy.

Those bemoaning that the Tories latest proposal is a Brexiteer wet dream, meanwhile, should remember the dodgy dealings that exist between Italy and Libya.

Since 2017, with the tacit support of the EU, these countries have agreed to return those crossing the Mediterranean to detention centres in Libya a country mired in conflict as a result of intervention by Western imperialism.

The truth is that the migrant crisis cannot be solved on a capitalist basis, as it is this profit-driven system that is responsible for war, poverty, and the mass displacement of peoples in the first place.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has since doubled down on the proposal, describing the groundbreaking deal as the act of a humanitarian nation.

As is always the case with such hypocrites, criticisms of human rights violations by despots and autocrats go out the window whenever a business deal is to be made.

Patels remarks are clearly there to provoke; another round of fire in the Tories so-called culture war, designed to distract from the governments crimes, whip up hysteria, and appease frothing Conservative backbenchers and supporters.

The Tory Home Secretary probably anticipated hostility to her plan from NGOs, the Labour Party, and the Church. Something that was not foreseen, however, was backlash from within the Home Office itself, with civil servants threatening strike action against Patels one-way ticket to Rwanda proposal.

Socialist Appeal spoke to a PCS member at the Home Office, who described the situation as following:

Its apparent to all Home Office employees that this is just another Windrush waiting to happen. Concerns raised from staff to seniors at our all staff call about the plan being racist, inhumane, and cruel were dismissed outright. Essentially we were told to follow ministerial direction and go full steam ahead.

This worker, who wishes to remain anonymous, continued:

The governments attempts to wrap this plan in humanitarian language about stopping the traffickers who risk people's lives sending them on small boats across the Channel have rung hollow. And the government should expect more resistance to come.

This demonstrates how the Tories culture war is once again backfiring, creating fractures within the capitalist state itself.

With civil servants considering mutinying against the Home Offices racist, reactionary policies, it seems that this rotten Tory government may finally be getting its just deserts.

This is indicative of the times we are living through. Johnson, Patel, and co. may try to distract from the crises they and the working class face back home, but the problems nevertheless continue to pile up for this criminal government.

There is no point in hand-wringing over how nasty the Tories are, as the liberals do. Nor should we waste time appealing to the better nature of the more sensible wing of the Conservative Party, as Starmer and the rest of the establishment attempt.

It is the capitalist system that is responsible for displacing millions; for destroying the lives and livelihoods of ordinary people across the planet.

And it is the representatives of this system who erect borders, and who treat the most oppressed and vulnerable as short change in pursuit of their narrow interests.

We must plainly lay the blame at their door. This means organising to channel the anger and indignation against this latest despicable manoeuvre into a movement capable of bringing down the Tories, bringing down the borders, and bringing down capitalism.

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Refugees and Rwanda: Tories outsource the migrant crisis 'anywhere but here' - Socialist Appeal

Forget Rwanda. Here’s an ingenious new solution to the migrant crisis – The Telegraph

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The Governments plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda has drawn three major criticisms. First, that its inhumane. Second, that it will be eye-wateringly expensive. And third, that it still wont deter large numbers of desperate migrants from risking their lives in the attempt to sail from France to England.

Still, theres no need for Boris Johnson to fret. Salvation is at hand. Because a reader of this column Mr Tony Monks of Chichester has emailed me to suggest an alternative policy that, in his view, avoids all three of these pitfalls.

Mr Monks argues that the main reason so many asylum seekers try to reach Britain is that they can speak at least some English. After all, its the most widely spoken language in the world far more widely spoken than any other European tongue.

Therefore, he says, the solution is simple. We should spend our international aid budget teaching everyone in the Middle East and other volatile parts of the world to speak fluent French. Then, if the inhabitants ever end up fleeing their homelands, theyll all settle happily in France, rather than risk the perilous journey across the Channel.

Priti Patel has said that this crisis requires a bold and innovative solution, and Mr Monkss suggestion certainly satisfies those criteria. All the same, I think its important to bear in mind the biggest reason why English is so widely spoken.

Its not simply because, hundreds of years ago, Britain colonised so many countries. After all, the Empire is now a distant memory. No, the main reason that people all over the world learn English these days is because thats the language America speaks. And no country on Earth has greater cultural influence than America.

To prevent so many desperate asylum seekers from trying to sail to Britain, therefore, we need to stop America speaking English. And the only way to do that is for Britain to conquer America, so that we can force all its inhabitants to speak French instead.

Conquering the US may not sound an easy task, but in recent years the American public seems to have developed an almost neurotic terror of getting involved in military conflict, so our prospects of success may be greater than we think. I suggest we invade sometime in the afternoon, while President Biden is having his nap.

At the age of 49, Liam Gallagher has admitted that he suffers from arthritis and that nurses have advised him to have a double hip replacement. The former Oasis frontman, however, has refused because he believes that, for a rocknroll star like him, a hip op carries too much stigma. In other words: hes worried that it would make people think hes old and past-it.

Nonsense. Once upon a time, a rock singer might well have been mocked for having a hip op. But not these days. We now live in a world where Sir Paul McCartney has been booked to headline Glastonbury the week after his 80th birthday. Clearly, ageism in rock is a thing of the past.

Go back to the 1980s, when Mr Gallagher was growing up, and it was a very different picture. In those days, rock was a young mans game with anyone over 35 viewed as a drooling geriatric. When George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty formed The Traveling Wilburys in 1988, journalists referred to them as elder statesmen, veterans, grand old men of rock. Yet Petty was only 37 and all the other members, bar Orbison, were years younger than Liam Gallagher is now.

The following year, 1989, the rock magazine Q ran a cover feature on the Rolling Stones, satirically headlined: Lock Up Your Grandmothers! At the time, Mick Jagger was only 46.

The Stones singer was a common target of age-related ridicule. In 1990, when Morrissey was a fresh-faced young man of 31, he wrote a song that began: Oh you silly old man, you silly old man, youre making a fool of yourself, so get off the stage. Rock journalists were certain that he was singing about Jagger.

At any rate, it seems Morrissey no longer believes that older performers should step aside. This summer hes been booked to play a series of concerts in Las Vegas, at the age of 63.

Even Jagger himself used to shudder at the concept of the ageing rock star. In June 1975, when he was 31, he told People magazine: Id rather be dead than sing Satisfaction when Im 45.

On July 27 this year, however, hell sing it at a 62,000-capacity stadium in Germany the day after he turns 79.

Jeremy Corbyns views on the Russian invasion of Ukraine remain a subject of intrigue. In an interview this week, the former Labour leader was asked whether he admires Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

I dont know, replied Mr Corbyn curtly. Ive never met him.

It seems a curious rule to live by: that you can only decide whether you admire someone after youve met them. What makes it all the more curious is that, in 2018, Mr Corbyn told the BBC that the person he most admired was the proto-feminist writer and thinker Mary Wollstonecraft. Who, as historians will confirm, was born on April 27, 1759.

Since Mr Corbyn is only able to decide whether he admires someone after he has met them, this suggests that, rather than dying in the year 1797 as scholars have always believed, Mrs Wollstonecraft is alive and well today.

If so, on Wednesday next week she will be celebrating her 263rd birthday. I do hope she has invited her old friend and admirer Mr Corbyn to the party.

'Way of the World' is a twice-weekly satirical look at the headlines while aiming to mock the absurdities of the modern world. It is published at 7am every Tuesday and Saturday

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Forget Rwanda. Here's an ingenious new solution to the migrant crisis - The Telegraph

Arizona sheriff tears into Biden on border crisis: ‘Intellectual avoidance and willful neglect’ – Fox News

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NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Arizona Sheriff Mark Dannels ripped the Biden administration Tuesday on "America's Newsroom" for his handling of the migrant crisis at the southern border leaving the U.S. vulnerable to more crime.

TEXAS GOV. ABBOTT BLAMES BIDEN MISHANDLING BORDER FOR NATIONAL GUARDSMAN'S DEATH

SHERIFF MARK DANNELS: Well, both Sen. Mark Kelly and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of my state have come out against the Biden administration and pressuring him to save 42 because there's no action plan, Dana. So I commend both my senators on that and others. This should not be a political issue or a partisan issue. This should be a public safety issue for all America, something this president and this administration has failed to recognize in their intellectual avoidance and willful neglect on our southwest border is become the largest, largest gateway for the crime scene here in this country. It's amazing what we're seeing down here.

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Arizona sheriff tears into Biden on border crisis: 'Intellectual avoidance and willful neglect' - Fox News

A deeper look at hacking groups and malware targeting Ukraine – The Record by Recorded Future

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Ukraines main cybersecurity incident response team released a list on Friday of the five most persistent hacking groups and malware families attacking Ukraines critical infrastructure.

According to the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA), the country has recorded 802 cyberattacks since Russia invaded the country earlier this year. That compares to just 362 documented attacks during the same time last year, CERT-UA said. Here are the groups and malware behind some of the biggest attacks:

Who: A threat actor notorious for targeting Ukraine since 2014 and backed by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). Prior to 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine attributed around 5,000 cyberattacks to Armageddon and were able to identify five members of the group and trace the malware to Russian hacking platforms. The group has used a number of tactics over the years including Outlook macros, EvilGnome backdoor, planted malware, and exposed vulnerabilities. Despite Ukrainian efforts to thwart the group over the years, Armageddon has remained aggressive.

What: In April, CERT-UA attributed a number of phishing emails to Armageddon which were sent to Ukrainian organizations and other European government agencies. The emails lured recipients by using the subject line, Information on war criminals of the Russian Federation, which provided a downloadable file. When the file was opened, a PowerShell script would run and infect the device.

In March a similar phishing email was sent to Latvian government officials with a file containing war information which allowed the malware to download. Most recently, on April 20, the group was linked to new variants of the Backdoor.Pterodo malware payload. Armageddon has used this payload in the past, however, by constantly creating new variants they are able to quickly shift to a new one after the previous one is detected and blocked. Although their tactics are not the most complex, their ability to remain persistent in efforts against Ukraine has made them a notable threat.

Who: According to research published by Mandiant, UNC1151 is a Belarus-aligned hacking group who has been active since 2016. The group has previously targeted government agencies and private organizations in Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Germany also attacking Belarusian dissidents and journalists. Historically, UNC1151 has stolen victim credentials through registered credential theft domains that spoof legitimate websites. UNC1151 has also been linked to the Ghostwriter campaign based on research that suggests UNC1151 provided them with technical support and findings that show similarities in their narratives. Due to the fact that the group has never targeted Russia and based on the relationship between Belarus and Russia, UNC1151 has been tied to Russian operations.

What: Since Russia invaded Ukraine the group has remained aggressive through a variety of attacks. In January the group was linked to the defacement of multiple Ukrainian government websites which displayed a message claiming that personal data was made public. On February 25, CERT-UA warned the public of spearphishing campaigns targeting the email and facebook accounts of Ukrainian military personnel. The group was able to gain access to messages and were able to use the contacts of the accounts to send out more emails. On March 7, CERT-UA found the state organizations of Ukraine had devices infected with MicroBackdoor a malicious program executed by UNC1151.

Who: APT28 (also referred to as Fancy Bear) is backed by Russias military intelligence service (GRU). According to Mandiant research, the group has conducted cyberespionage operations that align with the interests of the Russian government since 2007, however, the government ties were not confirmed until December, 2016 after an analysis by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI. ATP28 has been involved in a number of cyberattacks in which they have stolen highly sensitive information including; the conflict in Syria, NATO-Ukraine relations, the European Union refugee and migrant crisis, the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics Russian athlete doping scandal, public accusations regarding Russian state-sponsored hacking, and the 2016 U.S. presidential election, according to a report by Mandiant.

What: ATP28 was linked to the cyberattack on US satellite communications provider Viasat. The attackers gained access to Viasats KA-SAT network in Ukraine on February 24, leaving many Ukrainians without internet access. Although ATP28s involvement in the attack has not been confirmed, SentinelOne has alluded to their involvement based on the similarities between the AcidRain malware used in the Viasat attack and a VPNFilter malware used in the 2018 disruption of hundreds of thousands of routers which the FBI confirmed. On April 6, Microsoft obtained a court order granting the company permission to take control of seven domains used by APT28 to conduct their attacks.

Who: Russian hacktivists and threat actors everywhere have been using the AgentTesla and XLoader malwares for some time, according to Check Point Research. AgentTesla has been around since 2014, according to security firm TitanHQ, and is used as a program to steal passwords. It has grown in popularity as customers can pay subscription fees ranging from $15 to $69. XLoader is another malware that was rebranded in 2020 from the previous name, Formbook. XLoader targets Windows and Mac devices through phishing emails and can collect passwords and screenshots, log keystrokes, and plant malicious files for a fee of $49 on the dark web.

What: On March 9, CERT-UA released findings showing a mass-distributed malicious email thread that used the topic line, letter of approval of cash security, which was sent to a variety of Ukrainian state organizations. The email contained a file attachment which downloaded and ran the XLoader malware. Once infected, authentication data from the device was collected and sent back to the hackers. Other phishing campaigns have been linked to AgentTesla including emails sent to Ukrainian citizens containing files with the IcedID malware which operates as a banking trojan to steal credentials.

Who: Russian hacktivists and cyber spies use GrimPlant and GraphSteel which function as downloaders and droppers and fall under the umbrella term Elephant Framework tools that are written in the same language and are used to target government organizations through phishing attacks. Threat analysis firm, Intezer, details this framework and provides an in-depth analysis of the malwares. GrimPlant is not overly sophisticated and grants attackers remote control of PowerShell commands, while GraphSteel is used to exfiltrate sensitive data.

What: On March 11, CERT-UA revealed that coordinating entities had received emails regarding instructions to increase security protocol. The email contained a link which provided a critical updates download through a 60MB file. After further investigation, they found that the file prompted a chain of other downloads including the GrimPlant and GraphSteel backdoors. Hackers were then able to steal sensitive information.

On March 28, CERT-UA disclosed another phishing campaign that planted GrimPlant and GraphSteel on the devices of government officials using the subject Wage arrears. The attached document contained accurate information, however, the file also downloaded a program that ran both GrimPlant and GraphSteel. CERT-UA released a statement earlier this month alerting the public of the latest phishing email which downloaded GrimPlant and GraphSteel through an attachment labeled, Aid request COVID-19-04_5_22.xls.

Emma Vail is an editorial intern for The Record. She is currently studying anthropology and women, gender, and sexuality at Northeastern University. After creating her own blog in 2018, she decided to pursue journalism and further her experience by joining the team.

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A deeper look at hacking groups and malware targeting Ukraine - The Record by Recorded Future

Czech Republic and CEB sign a grant of almost 400000 to facilitate early integration of refugees from Ukraine – Czechia – ReliefWeb

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Prague The Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), Carlo Monticelli, and Vt Rakuan, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and Minister of the Interior, today signed a 399,899 grant agreement to assist early integration of refugees from Ukraine.

Coming from CEBs Migrant and Refugee Fund (MRF), the grant will help the Refugee Facilities Administration of the Czech Ministry of the Interior to finance the provision of accommodation, information, employment, health, legal and social services. It will also fund Czech language text books for Ukrainian refugees as part of a programme financed by the Czech Republic and by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) of the European Union.

The ongoing influx of displaced persons from Ukraine is causing an unprecedented burden on the social systems of receiving countries, said CEB Governor Carlo Monticelli. The grant agreement we signed today with the Czech Republic confirms our continued support to our member states to allow a swift response to urgent needs emerging on the ground.

The Czech Republic has so far granted temporary protection status to more than 300,000 Ukrainian citizens, most of them children, women and the elderly. In case of prolonged conflict in Ukraine, it is estimated that this number could reach 500,000, or about 5% of the total population of the country.

The increasing refugee flow is putting a strain on the Czech social system, which currently has to rely on its own resources to deal with this unprecedented situation. The existing integration centres no longer have spare capacity.

The grant from the Council of Europe Development Bank is an important signal that the situation in the Czech Republic and the assistance we provide is seen and appreciated abroad, said Vt Rakuan, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and Minister of the Interior. We are thankful for the help received from the Bank. We are providing accommodation and access to social welfare for all, so the Refugee Facilities Administration of the Ministry of the Interior will utilise this help to the maximum extent.

The CEB and the Czech Ministry of Finance are currently working to finalise a 200 million loan, as well as potentially additional 200 million, to co-finance the costs defined in the Czech governments strategic priorities to deal with the refugee crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.

CEBs response to Ukraine refugee crisis

The CEB was the first MDB to disburse grants to provide immediate assistance to refugees from Ukraine. It has so far approved almost 2.8 million in grants from its Migrant and Refugee Fund (MRF) to the offices of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in CEB member countries that are recording substantial refugee inflows from Ukraine Hungary, Republic of Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovak Republic. This funding is used to provide safe transport, shelter, medical care, counselling, and data collection/registration of refugees.

In addition, the CEB has recently issued a 1 billion seven-year Social Inclusion Bond (SIB), whose proceeds could be used, in part or in full, by the CEB member countries to support long-term needs of refugees and their host communities.

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Czech Republic and CEB sign a grant of almost 400000 to facilitate early integration of refugees from Ukraine - Czechia - ReliefWeb

Remember #Kony2012? Were still living in its offensive, outdated view of Africa – The Guardian

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Some 10 years ago, the world was momentarily transfixed by a 30-minute film soundtracked by a heady mix of Nine Inch Nails and EDM, featuring shots of Adolf Hitler, crying children, and bodies lying in the road. It was called Kony 2012 and it was meant to save a country that had not asked to be saved.

The inspiration for the film had come a decade earlier, when an all-white group of US filmmakers had met a teenager called Jacob while travelling in northern Uganda. Jacob was on the run from a rebel group, the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), headed by a man called Joseph Kony. Jacob told the filmmakers how he had been brutalised by Konys rebels, and they were understandably so moved that they set out to do something about it. They created the charity Invisible Children to highlight the plight of kids such as Jacob whose suffering they considered invisible because Americans knew nothing about it.

You can almost forgive the filmmakers naivety about the African continent. A decade earlier, Tony Blair had declared the state of Africa to be a scar on the conscience of the world. Before that, in the 1980s, a whole genre of celebrity-fronted campaigns had emerged that saw famous faces sent to Africa to fix something. The most infamous was Bob Geldofs Live Aid and the earlier Band Aid song Do They Know Its Christmas?, which can still be heard in Britain every December. The song claimed that across the totality of Africa the only water flowing / is the bitter sting of tears and that the greatest gift theyll get this year is life.

The Kony 2012 filmmakers had spent years trying to get the west to intervene in Uganda to capture Kony. They were failing in the task and urgently needed a new tactic. Kony 2012 was their solution they would use public guilt to spur the US government into action. The result was a film packed with many of the tropes we had come to expect from African aid films: images of ubiquitous suffering, warlords in military uniform, starved children hopelessly wandering the night. Darkness was a heavy theme throughout the film: where light appeared, it was not in Uganda, but in the US.

The aim of the film, as narrated by filmmaker Jason Russell, was remarkably simple: to make Kony a household name in America and around the world. To do that, the charity proposed we all buy $30 action kits, each one filled with posters, bracelets and stickers, which the organisers hoped would blanket the planet in Konys likeness, leading to his inevitable arrest. In just over a week, 30 million people had watched Kony 2012; #StopKony trended on social media for three days. At the time it was the most viral video in YouTube history.

Why was it so widely shared? Perhaps because it played to the simple narrative of a failed Africa that the world had come to know and embrace. Successfully convincing viewers across the world to act required leaning heavily on peoples existing biases about the continent. It was easy to trust that a man had walked freely through this chaotic jungle for 20 years, murdering young children, because that was just the sort of thing that happened in Africa.

But for all the inspiration and horror Kony 2012 caused, it was also met by fury from critics. The white saviour supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evening, the Nigerian essayist Teju Cole tweeted in the days following the films release.

Much of the film was criticised for being misleading for instance, Joseph Kony wasnt actually in Uganda at the time and, in the words of Ugandan journalist Rosebell Kagumire, for furthering a narrative of Africans being totally unable to help themselves. The analysis was also judged to be several years out of date, grossly overstating the then size and reach of the LRA, which had dwindled in the years leading up to the films release.

There were other questions raised about the charitys funding and expenditure most of which was at the time spent in the US, as opposed to funding projects on the ground. The criticisms from the continent were so intense that it derailed the entire campaign, and Invisible Children was moved to release an FAQ going into so much more detail about Konys whereabouts and the wider civil war. Yet the damage was done: in the same spring that Kony 2012 was released, Lonely Planet declared Uganda its top country to visit that year, a recognition that was quickly drowned out; its surely not just coincidence that Uganda suffered its biggest drop in tourism revenue for more than 10 years in 2012.

The question now, 10 years later, is has anything really changed since Kony 2012 to challenge the way the west sees Africa?

Just look at the newsreader who declared, shocked, that the victims of the appalling migrant crisis in Ukraine were prosperous, middle-class people. These are not obviously refugees trying to get away from the Middle East or north Africa. They look like any European family that youd live next door to. Look also to the past two years in which articles warning that the pandemic would lead to mass fatalities in Africa were followed by pieces questioning with a sense of bemusement as to why that hadnt happened. And look, too, at news stories and reports talking about vaccine uptake in Africa when the picture is very different in specific countries. As with every other region in the world, the responses across the continent varied; in fact, South Africa has been a world leader in the detection of Covid-19 variants.

As I tour my book, Africa Is Not a Country, Im consistently asked how the west should approach how to fix Africas problems, and my response is always to first stop looking at Africa as a problem. If we fail to do so, we are in danger of another decade passing without having shifted the worlds perception of the second-largest continent on the planet.

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Remember #Kony2012? Were still living in its offensive, outdated view of Africa - The Guardian

Venice Biennale Artists Want to Blow Up the Art System. But for Power-Brokers Around Town, That System Was in Full Flower – artnet News

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The crema of the art-industry crop descended on the Most Serene Republic of Venice last week after three tumultuous years away. Suffice to say, the world has transformed dramatically since Cecilia Alemani was named curator of this most prestigious art show, and the vibe shift left many wondering how the Biennale would meet our collective moment.

But isnt this the eternal Biennale quandary? How much should the real world penetrate the ivy-covered walls of the Giardini? And why, for that matter, are we still dealing with nation-state pavilions at all? What about countries with dismal human-rights recordsshould they be here toasting with us? Should we acknowledge the migrant crisis playing out in the same waters that pass through these opulent little canals?

These are urgent questions that are not easily answered. Yet this year, the national pavilions seemed to be somewhat united in a desire to tear themselves downor, at least, to create some new conceptual ground zero to work from. In the Giardini, the cunning German artist Maria Eichhorn literally chipped away at her countrys Nazi-built architecture to reveal the smaller bones of a pavilion that had been covered up and revamped by Hitlers government. She had previously attempted to slice the building into pieces and relocate it somewhere elseto the surprise of no one, this was not permitted by Biennale brass.

Maria Eichhorn, Relocating a Structure, the German pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale 2022. Maria Eichhorn / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022, photo: Jens Ziehe.

If dismantling the very foundation of the Biennale was on one artists agenda, others looked to partially raze or improve things. Spaniard Ignasi Aballs subtle pavilion, called Correccin (Correction), saw the entire buildings walls shift by an angle of exactly 10 degrees in a sly critique of its squished, off-kilter placement in relation to its neighbors, Belgium and the Netherlands. (Though it did not seem entirely politicaland some found it parodical of contemporary artit was nevertheless a disorienting, punk gesture). And at Latifa Echakhchs Swiss pavilion, the place looked like there had been a house fire before anyone got there, leaving VIPs crunching around on and ash in the dark. Meanwhile, Tomo Savic-Gecans Croatia pavilion rejected the confines of a physical space entirely, staging many so-subtle-as-to-be-almost-invisible performances in other countries pavilions three to five times a day instead.

Very clearly, one can sense artists frustration with being containedby worn definitions, old structures, and dusty categories. In Alemanis central exhibition The Milk of Dreams, there was a similar desire to break freeand the New York-based curator buttoned each section with historical proof that artists have been pushing this agenda for decades, despite many of them being excluded from the canon or choosing to operate outside the mainstream.

In contrast to Alemanis expansive vision, the national pavilions, by way of their very structure, inevitably have to reflect a more old-fashioned, inflexible view of the world. To critique this, Estonia took over the Dutch pavilion with a gentler kind of destruction, planting greenery in a Jumanji-esque re-wilding. Ukraine, one of the many nations that dont fit into the Giardinis world map, was urgently given a special show in a pop-uppiazzaby the main food and drink station; it was still being installed as Met director Max Hollein, Castellos Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, and globe-trotting curator Hans Ulrich Obrist darted around on Tuesday.

The Romania Pavilion. Adina Pintilie, You Are Another MeA Cathedral of the Body (2022). Courtesy the artist. Exhibition photographer: Clelia Cadamuro.

Just out of sight from the Piazza Ucraina stands the Russian pavilion, shuttered after its team withdrew in light of the recent attack on Ukraine. (They rightlysaid there is no place for art when civilians are dying under the fire of missiles, hiding in shelters, and when Russian protesters are getting silenced.)It inevitably became the backdrop for artistic interventions, and these were, unsettlingly and ironically, swiftly silenced: artists who staged anti-Putin performances there were quickly stopped by Italian riot police.

At the other end of the spectrum, one saw a smattering of celebrities in attendance, from Vincent Cassel andJulianne Moore to Catherine Deneuve in a vibe that was more Cannes than Coachella (all those people are understandably at that event, which overlaps).At least a few fewer parties were held, with Pinaults major palazzo bash and Victor Pinchuks Future Generation Art Prize soire swapped, respectively, for a lush dinner and somber press conference with a video message from Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Yet one could hardly call this Biennale austerefashion labels like Gucci and Chanel swooped in to hold their own splashy events instead. There was a bit of joy, too, with a rumored wedding of two Ukrainian artists exhibiting in Venice officiated by none other than Nan Goldin, who was showing in the main exhibition.

Even for the glitterati, Ukraine remained a preeiminent issue: In another bejeweled evening celebration, auctioneer Simon de Pury presided over an auction and dinner to benefit Ukraine relief, which raised over one million. The early 20th century folk artistMaria Prymachenko, whose work came under threat in the ongoing war, achieved a new record with a 110,000 ($118,000) sale. A work donated by Ukrainian artist Alina Zamanova, Day 31 of War(2022),fetched 35,000 ($37,500).

Mikolaj Sekutowicz speaks during the Charity Gala for Ukraine at Scuola Grande Di San Rocco on April 21, 2022 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images)

Where the topic of land war was not being dealt with, the body was the battleground. Austria and Brazil were among the countries that opted in for Instagram-ready installations featuring goofily large body parts, while melanie bonajos Dutch pavilion celebrated the naked form and asked viewers to snuggle up on cushions. (I guess one could say we needed that closeness after so much remoteness and alienationthough the urgency probably depends on whether or not you had to get a COVID test for your return trip.)

The body as a theme appeared with more rigor at the Romanian pavilion, where film director Adina Pintilie offered an unabashed look at intimacy, grappling with how we connect to each other and our own bodies viaa multi-channel installation called You Are Another Me A Cathedral of the Body.

Despite all this, overspaghetti al nero during the unseasonably chilly evenings, discussions ofthe national pavilions were frequently eclipsed by excitement over megadealer-produced palazzo shows. It is the worlds longest art fair, quipped one art critic as we sipped wine during Paula Regos presentation at Victoria Miros Venetian outpost, perfectly timed to the artists inclusion in the main exhibition.

Installation view Gallerie dellAccademia Anish Kapoor. Photo: Attilio Maranzano.

Despite the Biennales decision to remove gallery namesfrom the main exhibition wall labels in a bid to push back on the market, every heavyweight was present with its biggest star elsewhere (and those galleries that contributed cash to Alemanis show had their names listed online as a consolation prize).

Some of these shows were indeed worth the hype: Marlene Dumass poignant exhibition at Franois Pinaults Palazzo Grassi squeezed the spirit in a way those national pavilions did not. In the bustling tourist checkpoint of Piazza San Marco, an encyclopedic Louise Nevelson survey provided an authoritative look at her storied art practice, whichfitting to the mood of the yearinvolved breaking things apart and putting them back together again. The show marked 60 years since the late artist represented the U.S. at the Venice Biennale.

Inside, Pace founder Arne Glimcher leaned against a window chatting with a friend; outside, a group of Venetian teenagers wearing T-shirts with the letters of Nevelsons name staged a delightfully odd promotional campaign in the rain. (I watched as they tried, giggling, to get into formationthey seemed happy about the paid gig despite being wet.)

Venetian teenagers promoting the Louise Nevelson show. Photo: Artnet News

While the official Venice Biennale was majority female, the collateral events were a far more conservative lineup of blue-chip male favorites. Seemingly every big gallery was rushing to make up for lost time with collectors over the past two-plus years.

Gagosian may have had nary an artist in Alemanis main show, but no matter: Georg Baselitz, Anselm Kiefer, and Katharina Grosse all had solo projects around town. Outside the Giardini and Arsenale, everything felt very much business as usual, with Anish Kapoors neoliberal patented color show and an Ugo Rondinone exhibition organized by a consortium of galleries. There was also a major presentation Hermann Nitschwhose death last week did not halt his dinner partyand shows of Joseph Beuys and Bruce Nauman, among other long-ago-anointed boldface names.

So, while the Biennale itself succeeded in offering an erudite alternative to the male-dominated art world, the exhibitions everywhere else tipped the scale right back to the status quo. Can the Biennale really change without being put through the chopper? I certainly hope so, because I want to come backand I dont want anything to be burned down. But I recognize that, in any case, it is incumbent upon the best artists to try.

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Venice Biennale Artists Want to Blow Up the Art System. But for Power-Brokers Around Town, That System Was in Full Flower - artnet News

Texas National Guard soldier feared dead after trying to save migrant – New York Post

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A Texas National Guard soldier was feared dead Friday after attempting to rescue illegal migrants from a river along the border of Mexico.

A Texas Army National Guard Soldier assigned to Operation Lone Star has gone missing along the river during a mission related incident, Friday April 22, 2022 in Eagle Pass, Texas. The Soldier has not been found, a statement from the department read.

We are aware of reports of a fatality, although those reports are inaccurate. The Texas Military Department, Texas DPS and Border Patrol are working rapidly to find the Soldier. More details will be released as they become available.

Sources have toldFox Newsthat a body of a migrant was recovered and that officials are treating the search for the soldier as a drowning using dive teams in the river.Fox reported that his radio and body armor removed before he went into the water were found nearby.

Theguardsmanhad jumped into the river to save a migrant woman.

Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerbertold theWashingtonExaminerthat the incident happened at around 8:30amCentral Time.

The National Guard soldiers saw a group of immigrants crossing, and one of them, a lady it appeared that she was drowning, Schmerber said. The National Guardsman jumped into the river and tried to rescue,andhe never came out. So they called us and said, Were still looking for him.'

The sheriff added that the migrant woman is safe and in custody.

Video footage shared by the Daily Caller last week showed several of them being swept away by the Rio Grande, reportedly calling out for help.

The incident comes as migration levels along the southern border soar, having reached more than 221,000 in March the most in a single month since Biden took office, during which there has been an increasing surge.

Last months encounters along the border marked a huge spike from February, which only reported 164,973 stops.

Previously, the highest number of encounters in a single month under President Biden was last July, when 213,593 encounters were reported.

Local and state officials are worried illegal migrant levels will continue to get worse in the coming weeks, as border states brace for the administration to officially spike the Trump-era Title 42 policy which has allowed border officials to quickly expel migrants without hearing asylum claims due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

On April 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the order would be lifted on May 23.

With the order only in place for just four more weeks, groups made up of dozens of migrants are already attempting to cross the border.

Earlier this month, border agents rounded up four separate large groups totaling 754 people including 356 adults and 123 unaccompanied children.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are urging the Biden administration to keep Title 42 in place, citing the anticipated surge of migrants as well as the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar indicated on Thursday that lifting the policy will not only hurt the local communities, but the Democratic party as a whole headed into the fall midterm elections.

This is not good for Democrats in November. You know, in talking with some of my Republican colleagues, theyre saying We cant believe the White House is giving us this narrative. We cant believe that theyre hurting Democrat candidates for the November election, he told Fox News digital.

And you know this, you look at the polls. The Republican voters are not happy by whats happening at the border. The Democratic voters are not happy. And if you look at the independent voters, theyre not happy about this decision. So who are we trying to please?

To combat the expected surge and protest the administrations immigration policies, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has begun to bus dozens of migrants from his state to Washington D.C.

As of Wednesday, the Republican had sent more than 150 volunteer migrants to the nations capital.

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Texas National Guard soldier feared dead after trying to save migrant - New York Post

These Three Migrants Were Rescued at Sea. Then They Were Charged With Terrorism. – The New Republic

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If theyre found guilty, private vessels will be less likely to help stranded people at sea for fear of being prosecuted themselves.

The case of the El Hiblu 3, as the young men are now known, could have far-reaching effects on other migrants, advocates and researchers say: If theyre found guilty, private vessels will be less likely to help stranded people at sea for fear of being prosecuted themselvesas in the case of Claus-Peter Reisch, the captain of a Dutch vessel with Mission Lifeline, a nongovernmental organization active in migrant rescues. In 2018, the boat was held at sea for a week after rescuing 234 migrants. Malta eventually allowed its entry into port, only to confiscate the boat and charge the captain.

Although the norms are sometimes clear, its not clear who they apply to, said Erik Rsg, who teaches at the Department of Private Law at the University of Oslo. I think the new thing is that the same acts that were thought earlier as being acts of passion and helping migrants in need, they are now criminalized.

Meanwhile, migrants in Malta, which has come to rely on them for labor, can face brutal work conditions. During my visit, the name Jaiteh Lamin often came up. A 32-year-old migrant from Gambia, Jaiteh fell two stories from a construction site where he was working without a permit. He was seriously injured. In an attempt to cover up the accident, Jaitehs boss, a local contractor, took him to a rural road and left him. A passerby found him crying for help and saying that he thought he was going to die.

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These Three Migrants Were Rescued at Sea. Then They Were Charged With Terrorism. - The New Republic

Ukraines Refugee Crisis and the (B)ordering of Europe – Hindustan Times

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Russias ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the resulting humanitarian crisis has seen an unprecedented movement of nearly four million refugees beyond the borders to neighbouring countries. What has also been unprecedented has been the show of solidarity in Europe towards the unfolding refugee crisis. For instance, the European Council unanimously activated the Temporary Protection Directive, invoked for the first time since the 1990s, that provides for three years of residency in European Union (EU) countries, complete with rights to the labour market, housing, medical assistance and education for children.

The European Commission also announced 3.4 billion in recovery funds in late March to help host countries meet the costs of the influx of refugees. The Polish parliament passed a Special Law in March that granted refugees from Ukraine the right to legally stay in Poland for 18 months. Ukraines neighbours in eastern Europe have taken in hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers. The numbers speak for themselves with Poland hosting 2,337,000 refugees followed by Romania (609,000), Slovakia (281,000), Hungary (365,000) and Moldova (387,000) by the end of March.

On the face of it, this appears to be a shot in the arm for EUs dysfunctional refugee policy, giving it a sense of purpose and solidarity. For sure, it ticks several political boxes for Europe: From presenting a unified front against Russia and seeking to strengthen regional stability to salvaging its own image as a normative actor with influence to shape the discourse on rights and responsibilities. But this seemingly golden moment of solidarity has a dark side to it. What has been problematic is that this show of solidarity is based on an implicit notion of the Ukrainian as the good refugee. The feel good narrative of Europes response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis conceals entrenched hierarchies of protection that are aimed at keeping out the outsider (read non-European).

Cultural and economic considerations have dovetailed to produce a highly opaque process of separating the good refugee from the bad ones. For instance, Bulgarian prime minister Kiril Petkov offered refuge to 25,000 Ukrainian refugees by noting that These people are intelligent, they are educated people...This is not the refugee wave we have been used to, people we were not sure about their identity, people with unclear pasts, who could have been even terrorists...

Media reports have also replayed many racist stereotypes uncritically. The facetious tone of many of these comments have been unapologetically partisan. For instance, one senior journalist noted, Ukraine is a European country. Its people watch Netflix and have Instagram accounts, vote in free election and read uncensored newspapers.

Similarly, a senior war correspondent commented that Ukraine isnt a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is relatively civilised, relatively European. The open welcome extended to the Ukrainian refugee is a far cry from the Syrian refugee crisis of 2011 that had seen bitter divisions within the EU over the issue of burden-sharing. Fortress Europe appears to be experiencing a we are all in this together moment in the face of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine with an unprecedented show of solidarity towards asylum seekers. For sure, it ticks several political boxes for Europe: From presenting a unified front against Russia and seeking to strengthen regional stability to salvaging its own image as a normative actor with an incentive to shape the discourse on rights and responsibilities. But this seemingly golden moment of solidarity has a dark side to it. It paradoxically speaks of Europes abdication of, and not adherence to, universal refugee protection norms. The feel good narrative also conceals entrenched hierarchies of protection that are aimed at keeping out the outsider (read non-European).

Justifying its decision to deny protection to those coming from Syria, Polands deputy prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, noted that it would completely change our culture and radically lower the level of safety in our country.

Similarly, Hungary refused to accept refugees from non-EU countries referring to them as Muslim invaders. In such hyper-securitised narratives, the figure of the migrant stands at the centre of a white Eurocentric discourse reduced to being an enduring racialised caricature.

These biases also came to the fore during the current crisis, when non-white refugees trying to cross over into neighbouring countries were subjected to racial discrimination. As scholar Andrew Geddes notes, these serve also to accentuate a participatory deficit that is especially marked for people from immigrant and ethnic minority groups in Union Member States.

What is also worrying is that the polarising rhetoric is being matched by measures on the ground that are resulting in stricter migration and border controls. For instance, 12 member-States have demanded that the EU should finance the construction of border walls, calling it an effective border measure that serves the interest of the whole EU, not just member-States of first arrival.

The rising anti-immigrant sentiment also speaks of the increasing influence conservative groups such as the European Peoples Party wield within the European Parliament, which have lobbied hard for prioritising stringent border protection measures. The EU Parliament also approved in 2021 two funds, namely the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and the Integrated Border Management Fund at a cost of Euro 16 billion aimed at boosting national capacities to manage migration flows. Besides this, the EU also tripled border management funds to Latvia, Poland and Lithuania in November 2021 to over $200 million to deter illegal border crossings. It has also been severely critiqued for being complicit in several illegal pushback operations have been carried out across its external borders. For instance, Croatias pushback operation codenamed Koridor was partially funded by the EU.

These pushback operations escalated during the pandemic with EU states reportedly pushing back at least 40,000 asylum seekers from Europes borders. Similarly, Europes infamous hotspot system involves protracted periods of confinement of asylum seekers. These agreements are turning neighbouring countries into Europes new border guards.

Many of these far-reaching changes are changing the notion of the border in fundamental ways, with enormous consequences for the rights of the vulnerable. The border no longer remains a mere location but becomes delocalised, resulting in a spatially expansive notion that extends far beyond Europes physical frontiers. This can be seen in Europes moves towards externalisation of border controls to third countries, which are aimed at ensuring that asylum seekers do not get a chance to reach Europes borders. To operationalise this, the EU has provided millions of euros to third countries towards ramping up border management, training law enforcement and border officials and expanded surveillance measures. For instance, the EU has fully funded the construction of five refugee camps on the Aegean islands with motion-detection algorithms, drones and thermal cameras.

It has also entered into controversial externalisation deals with Libya, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Rwanda, Belarus and Turkey. These raise troubling ethical choices for the EU, converting pariahs into migration partners Its 2016 deportation deal with Turkey was decried as a stain on EUs rights record for its total disregard of norms of local integration and voluntary return. Similarly, Denmarks 2021 agreement with Rwanda seeks neither consent nor ensures required guarantees for the asylum seekers. In a hardening of its asylum policy, Denmark also withdrew refugee protection status to Syrian refugees being hosted in the country. There are grave concerns over how migrants will be treated in Turkey, which already hosts more than four million refugees. Cultural bordering, once yoked to the idea of the nation, can end up becoming a DIY calibrator of social rankings and labels. The recent Przemysl incident which saw the violent targeting of non-white refugees in Poland is a case in point of a growing incidence of hate crimes that tap into histories of prejudice along racial, religious, caste, class and gender lines. The securitisation of the refugee also has grave gendered implications. Scholar Victoria Cannings study shows of how violence has become part and parcel of the British asylum system contributing to the re-traumatisation of women. If Europe chooses to peddle the good refugee/bad refugee categorisation, it will only end up swelling the ranks of the stateless in the region. Reducing the refugee narrative to a single-issue debate fixated only on the security dimension would ironically end up creating an even more intractable security nightmare for Europe.

Europes response to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine in fact exemplifies the crisis at the heart of its refugee policy. Europe may be experiencing we are all in this together moment in the face of Russias actions in Ukraine. But as cultural bordering continues to corrode and wipe out valuable social capital, we all fall down could well be the lived reality that awaits Europe. The allegorical warning that Edgar Allan Poe sounded in The Masque of the Red Death may be closer to the bone than many in Europe may care to acknowledge. Set against the grim backdrop of the black plague, it warns of the futility of trying to keep social worlds apart.

(The piece has been authored by Nimmi Kurian, Centre for Policy Research)

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Ukraines Refugee Crisis and the (B)ordering of Europe - Hindustan Times

Podcast: Cyber Mercenaries and the digital wild west" – GZERO Media

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Listen: The concept of mercenaries, hired soldiers and specialists working privately to fight a nations battles, is nearly as old as war itself.

In our fourth episode of Patching the System, were discussing the threat cyber mercenaries pose to individuals, governments, and the private sector. Well examine how spyware used to track criminal and terrorist activity around the world has been abused by bad actors in cyber space who are hacking and spying activists, journalists, and even government officials. And well talk about whats being done to stop it.

Our participants are:

GZEROs special podcast series Patching the System, produced in partnership with Microsoft as part of the award-winning Global Stage series, highlights the work of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, a public commitment from over 150 global technology companies dedicated to creating a safer cyber world for all of us.

Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.

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Podcast: Cyber Mercenaries and the digital wild west" - GZERO Media

Myanmars Covid Crisis Needs Thai Cooperation for Cross-Border Vaccine Aid – The Irrawaddy

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Analysis

Refugees from Myanmar carry food boxes donated by well-wishers in Thailand to share at a camp on the Moei River on the Thai border in January 2022. / The Irrawaddy

By Tom Fawthrop 27 April 2022

Since lasts years military coup, Myanmars campaign against COVID-19 has been in disarray.

The health system has all but collapsed with thousands of medical staff in hiding and others languishing behind bars for their involvement in the civil disobedience movement.

Thai epidemiologist Dr Vit Suwanvanichkij, who has long experience of regional health problems, is deeply worried by the chronic lack of information coming out of Myanmar. There is little or no reporting of the COVID-19 virus and its variants. Given the collapse of Burmas health system and its very limited capacity to test or do genomic surveillance, we have no idea and neither does anyone else know what is going on.

What we do know is that the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 inside the country has even worse implications for thousands huddled in displacement camps.

Half of Kayah State has been displaced since the coup with little or no access to official health services. Around 800,000 have been displaced nationwide.

The conditions for the displaced create a serious danger of viral replication on a massive scale and that means evolution and virus mutation, according to Dr Vit, who says there is an ongoing danger of Myanmar becoming a super-spreader.

The case for cross-border intervention

As long as the military regime remains in power, the enfeebled state-controlled health sector, now increasingly staffed by military personnel, will always lack the capacity and neutrality to carry out an effective vaccination and COVID-19 surveillance.

However, most western aid and vaccines are still dispatched to Yangon where distribution is at the mercy of military authorization and distribution permits.

The need for the international aid community to make a serious effort to diversify humanitarian aid corridors with alternative routes from Thailand and India is surely beyond dispute, whatever the practical and political constraints.

The predominant response from Thai military authorities to the war in Myanmar has been to tighten border controls and deny all NGOs and the UNHCR access to refugees. Officially there is no Thai approval of cross-border aid and thousands fleeing have been pushed back across the river.

The Thai government is so immersed in orthodox measures in tackling border security that it has failed to grasp that no amount of conventional security can stop a virus spreading across an international frontier.

UN rapporteur Tom Andrews said: Covid does not respect nationalities or borders or ideologies or political parties. Covid is an equal opportunities killer.

Beyond Myanmars borders, Thailand, China, India and Bangladesh could all be exposed to a super-spreader state unless there is decisive UN-endorsed cross-border humanitarian intervention.

So far Thailand has not made any specific preparation for a spillover from Myanmar. According to Dr Thira Wora Woratanarat, an epidemiologist at Chulalongkorn Universitys Faculty of Medicine: I do not think there is any focus from the Thai authorities to care about the lack of vaccination inside Myanmar.

If it is obvious the disease is going to be uncontrollable in the area, cross-border medical aid is essential. This may be a good opportunity for the Thai government if it decides to use this channel to provide benefits for both countries in respect of pandemic control. Education, as well as medical services and supplies, could be a good intervention.

China, which has a 2,000km border with Myanmar, has been proactive, dispatching Chinese Red Cross teams to administer free vaccinations in Kachin and Shan states.

The Kachin Independence Organisation said 10,000 people were vaccinated at its Laiza headquarters last year. China has also promised to supply half a million doses to the Taang National Liberation Army during 2022.

Would Thailand back cross-border vaccine distribution routes?

Thailands refusal to allow cross-border aid and restrictions on humanitarian aid distribution by NGOs is partly based on sovereignty and national security concerns.

However, Relief International, a US-based NGO, says international humanitarian law, which normally requires a countrys consent for cross-border assistance, does not apply in cases of humanitarian emergency.

The NGO said countries cannot arbitrarily withhold consent for aid where it is clearly necessary and where efforts are clearly humanitarian in nature.

The UN General Assembly has refused to recognize the junta as Myanmars legitimate government. Hence the Thai authorities have no legal obligation to seek consent from the military regime.

This indicates that the real obstacles and objections coming from the Thai side are not based on law but rather belong to the domain of diplomacy and politics.

Aseans abysmal failure to engage with the National Unity Government (NUG) and Thailands fears of further waves of refugees are the main factors governing current border governance.

International NGOs have stressed many times since the coup the need to upscale cross-border aid using mechanisms already in place which date back to previous refugee influxes in the 1990s.

There is already a credible aid partner inside Karen State. The Karen National Union (KNU) and NUGs task force is a joint effort between the civilian health ministry and the ethnic armed organizations health agency, formed in July 2021.

Padoh Mahn Mahn, a KNU spokesman, said: We have asked the Thai authorities for cross-border permission [for vaccinations]. But we still have to overcome many challenges.

The NUGs shadow health minister, Dr Zaw Wai Soe, led the ousted democratic governments coronavirus efforts and is doing the same job underground.

What needs to be done?

In the middle of a pandemic, advocates of cross-border aid argue health security should take priority over normal border-control regulations and sovereignty concerns for the sake of common good and mutual medical benefit.

Humanitarian aid worker Johny Adhikari of the charity Metta asked: If China can so easily deliver enough vaccines to Shan State, what is stopping Thailand facilitating a similar cross-border vaccination drive into vaccine-starved Karen State? His charity is a major aid distribution agency for migrant workers and refugees.

The KNUs Padah Mahn Mahn told The Irrawaddy: We carried out 1,500 vaccinations in March this year [of] over 100,000 people in Hpapun district of Karen State. We need many more vaccine donations. But many donors like the Gavi vaccine alliance have declined the NUGs request for help.

Covax and Gavi are linked to World Health Organization initiatives designed to support access to vaccines for the poorer countries and have miserably failed to provide equal access to COVID-19 vaccines. Western governments hoarded most of the vaccines produced in the US and Europe during 2021.

Phil Robertson from Human Rights Watch Asia is not surprised about donor reticence.

Without some willingness by Thailand to change its policy on cross-border assistance, its not surprising that both donor governments and INGOs are pessimistic about providing such assistance, he said.

There have been private talks between the Thai foreign minister and the UNHCR about preparing for a deepening crisis in Myanmar and a major influx of refugees in 2022 but there has been no information shared with NGOs on the border.

The clear pathway for a breakthrough with the Thai authorities is for Thai NGOs, medics and UN agencies to convince Thailand that a major shift in border policy is hugely in the interests of Thai society and an essential step in relieving the humanitarian disaster in Myanmar.

Adhikari said: The Thai government could help contain the COVID-19 threat and migrant problems by setting up one-stop offices at the border crossings. These multifunction offices could provide health checks and vaccinations and process visa renewals for migrant workers, helping to eliminate brokers and traffickers. This would benefit all sides and help the Thai economy.

The proposal offers the potential of a win-win humanitarian solution for Thailand and Myanmar. But it will require a huge amount of lobbying to make any kind of breakthrough and transform the frontier into a zone of international COVID-19 prevention and cooperation.

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Myanmars Covid Crisis Needs Thai Cooperation for Cross-Border Vaccine Aid - The Irrawaddy

Putin claims FSB foiled western plot to kill pro-Kremlin journalist – The Guardian

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Vladimir Putin has claimed his countrys Federal Security Service (FSB) spy agency has foiled what he said was a western plan to kill a prominent Russian journalist.

This morning, the Federal Security Service stopped the activities of a terrorist group that planned to attack and kill one famous Russian TV journalist we have indisputable facts, the Russian president said during a meeting with his countrys top prosecutors.

After experiencing an information fiasco in Russia, the west has now turned to attempts to kill Russian journalists, Putin added, without providing evidence to support his claim.

Shortly after Putins statements, the Russian news agency Tass said the security services had arrested Russian members of a neo-Nazi group called National Socialism/White Power that was allegedly plotting to kill the popular pro-Kremlin state TV host Vladimir Solovyev on Ukraines orders.

Tass said the security services seized a number of weapons as well as eight molotov cocktails and six pistols during the arrest of the group.

The FSB also released a number of images containing what they claimed were items seized from the group during the raid, which included Ukrainian passports, several Nazi symbols, a portrait of Adolf Hitler and, bizarrely, three discs containing the Sims video game.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) swiftly denied the Russian allegations, saying in a statement that it has no plans to assassinate V Solovyev.

The Russian state-run RIA Novosti news agency later reported that six members of the neo-Nazi group had been arrested.

Citing the FSB, RIA Novosti said the group was also discussing attacks on the head of the RT news network, Margarita Simonyan, and the pro-Kremlin TV presenter Dmitry Kiselyov as well as other prominent state journalists.

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The FSB frequently claims to foil terrorist acts plotted by what it says are far-right groups acting on behalf of Ukraine, without providing much evidence to support their allegations.

Days prior to Moscows invasion of Ukraine, Russias security services also accused Kyiv of a number of attacks on Russian territory and the separatist-held Donbas, claims that were later debunked by independent journalists.

Putin on Monday further said that the west was attempting to destroy Russia from the inside.

The task of splitting Russian society, destroying the country from the inside, has come to the fore for the west, but their efforts will fail, Putin said, adding that Russian society had never been more united.

Putin also accused the west of using foreign media organisations and social media to organise provocations against Russias armed forces.

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Putin claims FSB foiled western plot to kill pro-Kremlin journalist - The Guardian