Monthly Archives: June 2017

Make Or Break August 1st Event Is Coming For Bitcoin Investors – Seeking Alpha

Posted: June 26, 2017 at 4:52 pm

This article aims to explain the chain of events that happened and going to happen in bitcoin space. Let me start with few basics so that for the benefit of non tech savvy long term investors. Though some of the terms mentioned below are technical, it is highly desirable for long term investors to understand to make their conviction about bitcoin more stronger.

Bitcoin transaction basics A bitcoin transaction tells the bitcoin blockchain network that the owner of the bitcoin has authorized the transfer of bitcoin to another owner. The new owner can now spend these bitcoins by creating another transaction that authorizes transfer to another owner, and so on, in a chain of ownership. So in nutshell bitcoin transactions are nothing but creating a chain of ownership as the value of bitcoin is moved from address to address.

Exponential growth of bitcoin transactions If we look at the 2 year graph on the number of transactions on bitcoin we would get a better understanding. In 2010, the number of transactions per block was below 50. In 2015, the number of transactions registered in a block was in a range of 650 to 800 transactions. Till then it has grown exponentially and in May 21, 2017, the number of transactions in a block reached an all time high of 2218.

SegWit-An Idea by Dr. Pieter Wuille Every transaction in bitcoin network contains an input address from where the value is coming, an output address to where the value is going and a digital signature to verify the authenticity of the transaction. This digital signature associated with each transaction is taking 65% of the space in a given transaction. Another problem by associating digital signature with transaction data is that the signature can be tampered to change the transaction id and later claim for refund. Dr. Pieter Wuille suggested solution to this problem by segregating the digital signature from the transactions data.

What segwit does? Segregated Witness is the process by which the space in each block is "indirectly" increased by removing signature data from Bitcoin transactions. When blocks are made smaller, this frees up the capacity to add more transactions to the chain. SegWit enabled code ignores the data attached to a signature by striping off the signature from within the input and moving it to a structure towards the end of a transaction. This would increase the 1 MB limit for block sizes to nearly 4 MB, in which 3MB data is exclusively for signature part. Once the solution is implemented every block can accommodate more than 3 times of transactions compared to existing blocks

Alternative for segwit When the segwit idea of segregating signature from transaction data floated around another theory came into picture. The idea as to increase the standard block size from 1MB to 2MB or more without segregating the witness or signature.

Segwit2Mb- The combined solution Segwit2Mb is the project that aims to resolve the above conflict between different political positions among miners and developers regarding segwit activation vs an increase of the on-chain blockchain space through a standard block size increase. Segwit2Mb combines segwit as it is today in Bitcoin version 0.14 with a 2MB block size hard-fork activated ONLY if segwit activates (95% of miners has to agree with the proposal). The hard-fork will happen at a future date once the segwit is activated.

NewYork Agreement In May 2017, developers and miners together joined and reached an agreement at Bitcoin Scaling Agreement at Consensus 2017, there after called as NewYork Agreement. As an outcome, they unanimously agreed to immediately support below two parallel upgrades to the bitcoin protocol, which will be deployed simultaneously and based on the original Segwit2Mb proposal:

Activate Segregated Witness at an 80% threshold, signalling at bit 4 Activate a 2 MB hard fork within six months

As mentioned above, the consensus percentage required for Segwit was reduced from 95% to 80% in the New York agreement. This mandatory activation of segwit deployment comes under Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 148 (BIP 148)

What can happen to Bitcoin during this process When segwit happens, it does nothing to Bitcoin as a coin. It will remain as it is because it is bacically a user activated soft fork or UASF, without any split. When standard block size increase, the coin will split into two, one running with existing 1MB block size and the new one forked out with 2MB block size. This is planned to happen after 6 months of segwit activation.

Sounds great right? But the trick lies in the first part. To understand this, we should understand what happens during segwit activation. miners have to signal that they are ready of segwit. If the total hash rate of miners who agree to segwit reaches majority, then the nodes following the original chain will reorganize and begin to follow the segwit activated UASF chain.

The newly segwit activated BIP148 nodes will begin to orphan Bitcoin blocks not signaling Bit 1 (1 means agreeing with segwit) at its UASF forking point. In such an event, there is a chance that a significant number of financial transaction records will disappear from nodes that rejected segwit activation. Mining community calls this as "wipe out"

A contingency plan against UASF (BIP148)- A hard fork by prominent mining community Bitmain as front runner, majority of the mining community have the opinion as the UASF chain presents a risk of the original chain (the chain which rejects segwit) being wiped out. If there is no contingency plan, all transactions that occurs on the original chain after the UASF forking point will face the risk of being wiped out. According to them this has disastrous consequences for the entire Bitcoin ecosystem. They maintain the stand that UASF is an attack against users and enterprises who disagree with activating SegWit right now without a block size increase.

UASF is an attack against users and enterprises who disagree with activating SegWit right now without a block size increase, which is a very important clause in the Hong Kong agreement made by the global Bitcoin community in February, 2016.-bitmain

To protect their interest, they plan for a User Activated Hard Fork, or UAHF. They will do the hard fork at 12 hours and 20 mins later than UASF to maintain the original segwit not active chain. This hard forked block will accept block of which the size is less than 8MB and miners will soft-limit the block size to less than 2MB.There will be a soft fork rule added into the protocol to limit the sigops (signature part) per transaction within 20K.

BTC 148 & BTC Legacy If this two events happens, here would be two types of Bitcoin tokens, "BTC 148" for coins on the soft forked chain, and "BTC Legacy" for coins on the chain that did not activate segwit. As an investor we don't need to worry as each bitcoin would effectively be copied to both chains. If you hold bitcoin right now, you will hold both "148 BTC" and "Legacy BTC" after the split.

"In the event of a hard fork of the Bitcoin protocol, it is likely that Coinbase will temporarily suspend the deposit and withdrawal of bitcoin from the platform pending our assessment of the technical risks posed by any fork, such as the possibility of replay attacks, network instability, or other factors. Customers should take note that they will not be able to withdraw bitcoin from or deposit bitcoin to Coinbase for a period of up to 24 hours or more following the fork. In the event of a hard fork of the Bitcoin protocol, Coinbase may suspend the ability to buy or sell on our platform during this time."

- Coinbase

Advise for long term investors 2 year wait for such an event is going to end by August 1st. Better keep calm and don't trade from July 31st till August 3rd.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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Where’s the Missing Mt. Gox Bitcoin, Now Worth $2 Billion? – Investopedia

Posted: at 4:52 pm

Mt. Gox was one of the earliest and most public downfalls of the Bitcoin era. In early 2014, Mt. Gox stood atop the field of Bitcoin exchanges as the largest, until it declared bankruptcy following a devastating theft or disappearance. The exchange lost 850,000 Bitcoins with a value of about $450 million in February of 2014, alongside an additional $27 million in cash. 200,000 of those Bitcoins were eventually found, but that leaves 650,000 Bitcoins which have mysteriously disappeared. In the time since, many analysts, former Mt. Gox investors, and others have speculated as to where the missing currency is. This is particularly important as Bitcoin's price has soared in recent months: the missing Bitcoins could be worth as much as $2 billion at this point.

According to reporting by Cyberscoop, the investigator working on behalf of Mt. Gox's creditors, Chainalysis, "definitely" knows the location of the missing coins. This comes via congressional testimony made by the company's co-founder. This information emerged in the midst of a June 8 hearing by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit finance. The hearing centered on the national security implications involved in cryptocurrencies. Witnesses in the hearing were drawn from Chainalysis and Elliptic, both firms that have run investigations into cryptocurrency security. When Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, inquired about the reason the missing Bitcoins couldn't be traced considering that the transactions were tied to the Blockchain. "I was particularly struck by your opening remarks that we can detect the activity," he said. "It seems that if we have this ability...then we should be able to find the missing Mt. Gox coins. Why can't we?"

According to Jonathan Levin, co-founder of Chainalysis, "we actually did find those...the destination of those coins is definitely known." Davidson did not follow up on the location of the coins and Levin did not share that or other information about where the coins currently are, who has them, and how that will impact the ongoing cases involving Mt. Gox.

According to Jerry Brito, the executive director of Coin Center, "just because you know where they are may not mean you can get them back." Mark Karpeles, the CEO of Mt. Gox who was briefly jailed in 2015, has stated that "many popular rumors about Mt. Gox about the stolen Bitcoins not actually existing or being stolen by me are absolutely false."

It's possible that the hearing involved a miscommunication. Investigators have long known many of the specific transactions in which the coins were stolen. That does not necessarily mean that the location of the coins is currently available or that they are recoverable, however.

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Chart analyst sees a troubling similarity between the rise of chip stocks and bitcoin – CNBC

Posted: at 4:52 pm

Rich Ross, technical analyst at Evercore ISI, is getting bearish on the whole market, but not too bearish, predicting a pullback of 3 percent on the S&P 500 and 5 percent on the NASDAQ-100.

The call is based partly on complacency, partly on the time of year, and partly on what he sees are disturbing trends in other asset classes:

"While global equity trends remain strong and prices near record highs; volatility is at the lows; the put/call hit its lowest level of the year; and crude, the dollar, yields and inflation expectations continue to collapse as we enter a period of thinner trade, heightened volatility and typically weaker equity returns," wrote the analyst.

What's most shocking in his new report is the analysis about the sector Ross believes will lead the downturn.

The analyst notes an eerie similarity between trading on the main Philadelphia Semiconductor Sector index (known as "the SOX") and Bitcoin, and indeed the charts do show a remarkable similarity this year, rising modestly from mid-January to mid-March, and taking off in mid-April.

"I reiterate my sell call on Semi's and continue to see a test of 1,000 on the SOX (-8 percent) as the group continues to display the textbook signs of a reversal in trend and a technical symmetry with Bitcoin, which is down -9% overnight and poised for another -17% to 2,044," Ross wrote.

SOX index (black line) vs. Bitcoin (bar chart)

Source: Evercore ISI

He's not completely negative on the whole market. He has an aggressive call to buy biotech and sell semiconductors against them.

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Newsflash: Bitcoin Price Hits a 10-Day Low – CryptoCoinsNews

Posted: at 4:51 pm

A gloomy Monday ushers Bitcoin in with a downward start to the week as prices fell 4.8% to hit a low of global average low of $2,459.72.

In a downturn that began late Sunday evening, bitcoin prices fell below $2,500 for the first time in over a week. On Bitstamp, bitcoin price hit a low of $2,432, reminding investors of the ongoing volatility with cryptocurrencies less than a fortnight of hitting an all-time high of $3,000.

At press time, figures from CoinmarketCap shows bitcoin price trading at just under $2,550, losing 4.69% on the day. Data shows a significant withdrawal from investors in US markets, followed by Asian and European trading markets.

The United States leads the global trading markets with over a third of the trading volume over a 24-hour period, followed by China, Japan and Korea. The three Asian markets are all seeing trading premiums, with the Korean market currently fielding a significant 15% premium in its spread over US-based markets. Bitcoin is currently valued above $2,900 in a country whose authorities are unable to agree on a uniform path toward regulating its local bitcoin industry despite a pro-FinTech and digital currency-friendly agenda set by the Korean government.

Meanwhile, bitcoin isnt the only currency to see a fall among the wider crypto-market at the start of the final week of June. Ethereum has seen bigger losses leading into Monday, trading under $300 per Ether as gloomy Monday awaits an upbeat turn to hit the green.

For a real-time bitcoin price chart, click here.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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Twin Peaks recap: ‘The Return: Part 8’ – EW.com

Posted: at 4:51 pm

Subscribe to A Twin Peaks Podcast: A Podcast About Twin Peaks on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts to unwrap the mysteries in EWs after-show every Monday during the Showtime revival.

Let it be weird.

No need to explain it. No need to figure it out. No need to tame it with reason or theory.

Just let it be weird. For now.

Part 8 of Twin Peaks: The Return was the David Lynch on heroin wed been promised. For the most part, it was a mesmerizing rush of pure-cut WTF, albeit one that made a certain amount of sense for those versed with the shows symbol system and Lynchian motifs. Still, I officially gave up trying to make sense of everything during my first viewing right about the time the eyeless transhuman entity known as Experiment started barfing foamy ejaculate containing speckled (Easter?) eggs and a creamed corn glob of BOBs face. I quit taking notes, quit pressing PAUSE so I could Google things like The Manhattan Project, quit sweating that I wasnt getting it. I decided to accept Gotta light? as an act of pure Strangelove. I stopped worrying about it and just enjoyed all the crazy bomb drops.

This is not to say we wont be trying to understand it in this recap. We will! We should! Part 8 was this shows version of Losts Across the Sea episode a big bang creation myth for the evil that haunts and poisons Twin Peaks America and gave rise to abominable mutants and brought otherworldly cosmic horror to a fallen world; it was Lynchs version of a 50s sci-fi/horror movie. (From this perspective, you could see the episode as a big bang creation myth for pop culture.) Still, everything I have to offer in the way of being Mr. Explainer is mostly speculation, and the last thing I want to do is confuse you more than you might be. So Ill try to be disciplined in my theories. I do hope Lynch and Mark Frost will offer some illumination for what we saw here in the episodes to come, especially since some of it was actually hard to see; this was a dusky, dim episode, appropriate for a story about spiritual darkness, but some images were hard to make out. Example: the shot of the BOB embryo harvested from the chest of Dirty Cooper. But for now, Im okay to just let it be weird, and delight in that weirdness. Also, its my girlfriends birthday, and I promised Id celebrate her with an energetic, attentive presence unimpaired by a recap-broken brain. Priorities, people.

Part 8 opened with Dirty Cooper and Ray, newly sprung from prison, traveling by yellowy rental car at night to a place Ray liked to call The Farm. Fitting for a creature from the deep web of Black Lodge space, Dirty Cooper used one of his dark devices some kind of black magic cell phone full of cheat codes for techno-reality to exorcise the vehicle of three tracers and/or cast them upon a truck. (Poor hexed scapegoat truck!) He then threw the phone out the window, the big litterer. The earth cried from mans indifference to the environment, and not for the last time in this episode.

Tension between these two criminals: palpable. Dirty Cooper knew that Ray had accepted a $500,000 contract to rub him out. But he needed to extract some information from his treacherous associate before he made him say hello to his little friend hidden in the glove compartment. (No, not Ike the Spike a gun!) What Dirty Cooper didnt know was that Ray was pretty hip to all this. He had no intention of giving up whatever it was that he knew a string of numbers; coordinates, I believe unless the man he called Mr. Cooper wished to pay for them, or so he intimated; I think Ray has no intention of giving Dirty Cooper anything he wants. Ray also knew all about the concealed weapon, and he wasnt worried abut it for a few reasons, including the fact that he had a revolver of his own, courtesy, we might assume, of the warden whom Dirty Cooper blackmailed last week. Truly, there is no honor among thieves and their corrupt jailers.

Dirty Cooper directed Ray to exit the highway and take a smaller road to their final destination. This led to some long, Lynchian shots of Cooper and Ray driving in silence or shots from their point of view of the car following highway lines and directional markers and pushing into darkness across rough, uneven, unpaved terrain. In retrospect, Lynchs filmmaking choices foreshadow the protracted odyssey to come: This was an episode that basically departed from the shows main narrative (such as it) to go off-roading into the wilderness of Twin Peaks mythology.

Ray stopped the car in the woods because he had to take a leak, because by now, it just wouldnt be an episode of Twin Peaks without someone peeing. (The shows biggest whizzer, coffee-chugging Dougie, was MIA this week.) Perhaps Dirty Cooper could smell the bulls on Ray. He retrieved the gun, checked the chamber, and demanded that Ray cough up the digits in his head. Ray spun around with a gun of his own. Dirty Cooper was the first to pull trigger but the gun didnt fire. Click-click-jammed! Tricked you, fer, quipped Ray, who then put Dirty Cooper down with two bullets in the chest.

And thats when s got weird. (Recap continues on page 2)

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Bread’s Done! This Company Wants to Help Astronauts Bake in Space – Space.com

Posted: at 4:51 pm

This proof of concept shows the front plate of an oven that can bake bread in microgravity.

A team of engineers and scientists may have just found a way for astronauts to enjoy fresh bread in space.

Currently, astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) rely on tortillas as their "bread" because they have a long "shelf life" and don't produce crumbs. But now, a team of engineers and scientists in Germany is developing an oven that works in microgravity, as well as space-grade dough that's suitable for baking bread in orbit, so that astronauts may one day be able to bake and enjoy fresh bread on the job.

Germany-based startup Bake In Space also plans to develop a made-in-space sourdough brand based on yeast cultivated at the International Space Station.

According to Sebastian Marcu, founder and CEO of Bake In Space, the idea came from his friend, spacecraft engineer Neil Jaschinski, who had been struggling to find a better solution to what he says was poor-quality bread in the Netherlands, where he works.

"Bread is a big topic in Germany," Marcu told Space.com. "We have 3,200 variations of bread, with a bakery pretty much on every street corner. In the Netherlands, most Germans would complain about the quality of bread." [Space FoodEvolution: How Astronaut Chow Has Changed (Photos)]

Spacecraft engineer Neil Jaschinski poses with Bake In Space's prototype microgravity oven.

Jaschinski have overcome the lack of good bread by learning to bake his own at home. However, he and Marcu realized that their fellow German, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst who is slated to command the ISS in the second half of 2018 would have no choice but to survive his six months in space on NASA-approved tortillas.

"I have heard from several former German astronauts that they really missed bread" while in space, Marcu said. "Everything on the space station has to have [a] long shelf-life. And fresh produce, freshly baked products that's something they really miss."

Former German astronaut Gerhard Thiele has joined the project as well.

'We need to take care of the human beings that we are sending [to space], of their wellbeing, and food, as well as the environment, is an essential part of this," commented Thiele, who spent 11 days in space in 2000 aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-99

To have something fresh, whether it is bread or whether it is vegetables, it would be wonderful.

Bread has been a staple in human diet for thousands of years but replicating the art of bread making in orbital conditions presents multiple challenges. Microgravity, Marcu said, is only one of them.

"We have to comply with a whole set of safety regulations that we have on the space station," Marcu said. "We have to make sure that none of the surfaces [of the oven] becomes hotter than 45 degrees Celsius [113 degrees Fahrenheit]. This means that we cannot preheat the oven; we cannot open the oven in the middle of operation."

On Earth, bread needs to be baked at a temperature of about 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Once its done, the bakers remove it from the heated oven. But that would not be possible in space. Processes such as thermal convection, which helps to mix up air on Earth, don't work in space. If a bubble of air that hot were to escape from the oven in orbit, it could stay floating inside the station for quite a while, posing a serious health risk to the astronauts,Marcu said.

Marcu said the team has found a way to overcome this challenge.

"We basically put the baking product, the dough, inside the cold oven and start heating it up," he said. "Once it's almost done, we start cooling it down. But at that time, any product will start to get dry, and that's why we need to design the oven so that some water is added during the baking process."

The oven also needs to be able to operate with only 270 watts of power about one-tenth the power used by conventional ovens on Earth. Marcu said the team hopes to have a prototype ready by the end of this year. [The International Space Station:Inside and Out(Infographic)]

Mastering the process of baking is only one step toward making the space-grade bread. Crumbs could damage the station's equipment, or astronauts could accidently inhale them. Marcu said he hopes the combination of the new baking process and a carefully designed dough will solve the problem.

There are further challenges when it comes to the dough, Marcu added. While the ultimate goal is to make bread in space from scratch, he said, the engineers will launch a premade bread product to the space station as a first step. But as with all space food, this bread product will have to have an extremely long shelf life and survive without a fridge or a freezer.

"At the moment, we are testing out different dough recipes, doing longevity storage tests, keeping them at ambient temperature and making sure that nothing grows inside that is not wanted that could contaminate the space station," Marcu said.

Separately, Bake In Space will send a yeast culture to the space station that the astronauts will use to create sourdough, which will be delivered back to Earth to establish a line of made-in-space bread.

Sourdough is a traditional type of bread dough that people used before the industrialization of bread making. It uses naturally occurring yeast and bacteria that ferment the dough and provide it with its typical mildly sour taste.

"Sourdough basically takes up the bacteria from its near vicinity and the person that has his hands in the bread, and that's how the special taste of the bread is developed," Marcu said. [Can You KeepKosheror Halal inSpace?]

"Wherever you are on Earth, sourdough has a unique taste, whether it's created in San Francisco or India," he added. "It will be interesting to see what the flavor will be when we cultivate it in space."

Marcu said the made-in-space bread could be one small way to improve the quality of life in space before space tourism and deep-space exploration fully take off. Although the diversity of space food has improved greatly, it can still be rather dull compared Earth-based fare.

"On Earth, bread has always been a symbol of quality of life," Marcu said. "Bread always stands for friendship and well-being, and that's what drives our project. If we want to go further into space, we need to create quality of life, and that's why bread is really a stepping stone for human exploration of space."

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How Former Astronaut Leroy Chiao Turned His Dream of Space into a Reality – Space.com

Posted: at 4:50 pm

Former astronaut Leroy Chiao's astronaut class took a photo in front of a T-38 jet after their selection in 1990.

Leroy Chiao is the CEO and co-founder of OneOrbit LLC, a motivational, training and education company. He served as a NASA astronaut from 1990-2005 and flew four missions into space aboard three space shuttles and once as the co-pilot of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station. On that flight, he served as the commander of Expedition 10, a 6.5-month mission. Chiao has performed six spacewalks, in both U.S. and Russian spacesuits, and has logged 229 days in space. You can read more of Chiao's Expert Voices Op-Eds and film reviews on his Space.com landing page. Chiao contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Recently, NASA announced its newest class of astronauts: Twelve were chosen from a record-setting pool of over 18,000 applicants to form Group 22. As you would imagine, these 12 are quite accomplished and talented individuals, who are walking on air. It brought me back to my own selection as part of Group 13 back in 1990. What an exciting time!

I had wanted to be an astronaut from a young age. Growing up in the 1960s, I can't remember a time when I wasn't fascinated by airplanes and rockets. I followed the early missions when I was old enough to understand space exploration, but it was the Apollo 11 moon landing that captured my imagination and started my dream of becoming an astronaut myself. I remember looking at the moon as an 8-year-old and marveling that there were two astronauts in a lander on the surface, getting ready to go out and actually walk. That settled it for me: I knew I was going to at least try to become an astronaut. I wanted to be like those guys. [Astronauts Record Awesome Welcome Video for NASA's 2017 Recruits]

Studying engineering was natural for me; I was always interested in technology and building things. As a university sophomore, I signed up for the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) intending to become a fighter pilot and, hopefully, an astronaut. Just a few months in, however, I discovered that my left eye had slipped a bit from 20/20. My military pilot plans were dashed. I had not yet reached the point of becoming a contract cadet, so I was able to leave AFROTC, but it was disappointing, to say the least. I did go on to be a pilot, and have been flying airplanes now for almost 33 years.

Just a year later, the Space Shuttle Columbia made its maiden flight. I watched the television intently as Columbia executed a perfect landing in the Mojave Desert. The space shuttle program re-opened the gates for me, since NASA had begun to select more civilian scientists and engineers as astronauts. I was back in the game!

After earning my university degrees and working for a few years, I wrote to NASA to request an application package. Seven months later, after I applied, I received a call inviting me to Houston to interview. That itself was thrilling; it meant that I was one of the 100 or so who would be interviewed, chosen from several thousand applicants. Several months afterward, I received that life-changing phone call, and reported for duty just six months later.

Most NASA astronaut class photos have been shot in the studio. These new astronaut candidates had their photo taken in front of a NASA T-38 jet, just as we did 27 years earlier. That's what first caught my eye when they were announced. Over the next two years, these 12 new astronaut candidates (ASCANS) will train together as a class. Yes, they really are called ASCANS, just like it's spelled, with a bit more than a hint of derision. That is how it's always been.

The 2017 NASA Astronaut Class: (from left) Zena Cardman, Jasmin Moghbeli, Jonny Kim, Frank Rubio, Matthew Dominick, Warren Hoburg, Robb Kulin, Kayla Barron, Bob Hines, Raji Chari, Loral O'Hara and Jessica Watkins.

As with any new group of highly skilled and motivated individuals from different backgrounds, strong friendships and rivalries will form among the new astronaut class. They will be expected to do things as pledges in this fraternity that they perhaps didn't anticipate. They will perform skits for the astronaut office holiday parties, plan the astronaut reunions and do more menial and grunt work than they might have imagined. It's all part of the process and experience, the rite of passage. [What It's Like to Become a NASA Astronaut: 10 Surprising Facts]

The ASCANS will learn about the International Space Station and its systems, participate in simulator sessions and train on robotics and spacewalks, called extravehicular activity (EVA). They will learn the Russian language, and work out in the astronaut gym. They will travel as a class to the NASA field centers and be trained in aircraft egress, as well as land and sea survival. They will fly T-38 jets civilians are trained to be co-pilots and go out on public affairs trips to talk to the public about NASA and space exploration.

After their initial training, the ASCANS will shed this somewhat ignoble title, graduate and receive their silver astronaut pins. It will be a great day for them. They will wear this pin exactly once, as they move one step closer to realizing the dream of wearing one made of gold.

Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates and become part of the discussion on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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Valles Marineris landing would leave little room for error – Enid News & Eagle

Posted: at 4:50 pm

For those of us who wonder whether life once existed on Mars either in the ancient past or present day, there is a particular feature that piques our interest.

It is a massive feature Valles Marineris, the Grand Canyon of Grand Canyons.

The Red Planet may be decidedly smaller than our homeworld, but it is home to some truly gargantuan features, including Valles Marineris and Olympus Mons, an enormous volcano.

The former stretches the length of Los Angeles to New York, if we could somehow transport the United States to Mars. Arizonas Grand Canyon is, well ... its a bit smaller than that.

Here are some hard numbers. Valles Marineris is 4 miles deep, up to 370 miles across and 2,500 miles long.

The Grand Canyon, in comparison, is 1 mile deep, 18 miles wide and 280 miles long.

I dont need to tell you that this is an enormous feature.

So you think of something four time as deep as the Grand Canyon. About 20 times wider. And much, much longer.

Valles Marineris is a crack in Mars surface forged as the planet cooled that covers 1/5th of the planets circumference, said Rick Davis, assistant director for science and exploration in NASAs Planetary Science Division. Subsequently, it offers unprecedented insight into the geological history of the Red Planet.

The valley offers a mural of Martian history that would captivate geologists and astrobiologists alike with rock strata that stretch back to the days when Mars was still wet.

Imagine being at the bottom of that forever-deep canyon and being able to peer into Mars ancient past. What might be found down there? First and foremost, though, what are the possibilities of sending scientific instruments down to study Mars past life?

While the opportunities for science are tantalizing, the challenges of landing in such a deep canyon with imprecise guidance, navigation and control (GNC) systems are signficiant, Davis said.

For any landing site, we have a desired landing spot, but due to limitations in our GNC systems and our understanding of Martian winds and atmospheric density, the actual landing can occur anywhere within an ellipse which we refer to as a landing error ellipse.

Initial landing error ellipses at Mars were very large. For Viking, the first successful lander at Mars, the error ellipse was 174 x 62 miles. But, the precision of our landing systems has improved over time. Curiositys error ellipse was just 15 x 12 miles.

There is another upcoming rover mission to Mars, called Mars 2020, that will conduct geological surveys, determine environmental habitability, search for signs of ancient Martian life and assess the risk and reward humans face in colonization.

Davis said the Mars 2020 team is trying to reduce the error ellipse to an even smaller 11 x 8 miles. There was a site at Valles Marineris considered as a possible landing site, but it was judged to be too small (6 miles across at its narrowest).

In the meantime, scientists have come up with a short list of three potential landing sites: Northeast Syrtis (a very old part of the planet), Jezero Crater (once home to an ancient lake) and Columbia Hills, which possibly once held a hot spring long, long ago.

In other words, Valles Mariners is pretty much out. For now, anyway.

But not all hope is lost. Davis said that human landings will demand pinpoint accuracy; accuracy, in other words, that would be conducive to landing inside the giant canyon.

Of course, we dont know exactly when we will be able to send humans to Mars, but, as far as decades go, it will probably happen quite soon.

For now, we can only imagine what well find in the most ancient strata of Valles Marineris.

Perhaps there is a discovery waiting that will change the course of history; one that will alter our view of our place in the solar system and its past.

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Valles Marineris landing would leave little room for error - Enid News & Eagle

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Narendra Modi, Travel Ban, Liu Xiaobo: Your Morning Briefing – New York Times

Posted: at 4:50 pm

The court also allowed the ban to go into effect for people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who do not already have ties to the U.S.

Here are the basics.

Mr. Trump hailed a clear victory for our national security.

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South Korea is offering the U.S. reassurances on North Korea ahead of President Moon Jae-ins visit to the White House on Thursday and Friday.

The countrys foreign minister indicated that Seoul would honor an agreement to deploy the American Thaad missile-defense system despite public protests, above, and economic retaliation from China.

She also said the government would not hurry to try to reopen a jointly run industrial complex in the North Korean city of Kaesong, a conduit for hard currency for the North.

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A New York Times correspondent, above, who has covered race in the U.S. traveled through Australias indigenous communities and encountered young people defying stereotypes and the painful legacy of colonization with outrage, resignation and courage.

A 60-minute documentary based on his travels, part of the Australian Broadcasting Corporations Foreign Correspondent series, will air today and online.

And check out The Breakdown, conversation starters and context drawn from Australia news. Catch up on David Petraeuss views on Australian might, the Great Barrier Reefs estimated value and Russell Crowes battle with gossip weeklies.

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Climate conundrum: The amount of carbon dioxide humans are pumping into the air seems to have stabilized but data gathered at the worlds monitoring stations, like the one above in Tasmania, show that excess carbon dioxide is still on the rise

One troubling possibility: The worlds natural sponges for the greenhouse gas, like the ocean, are no longer able to keep up.

Indias tech workers face the possibility that automation, robotics and other technologies will prompt their industry, valued at $150 billion a year, to shed jobs en masse.

A court in Shanghai sentenced three Australian and 13 other employees of Crown Resorts to prison terms for illegally promoting gambling. The case is seen as Beijings warning to foreign gambling operators.

Whats next for Takata? We look at the far-reaching consequences of the bankruptcy declaration by the airbag maker at the center of worlds largest auto safety recall.

European Union officials are expected to issue a record fine of at least $1.2 billion against Google for breaking the regions competition rules.

Best Inc, the Chinese delivery firm backed by Alibaba, filed for an initial public offering on Wall Street, with an initial target of $750 million.

Most U.S. stocks were higher. Heres a snapshot of global markets.

Liu Xiaobo, the jailed Chinese activist who won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, received a medical parole to be treated for late-stage cancer, and supporters called for his wife, Liu Xia, to be freed from house arrest and allowed to visit him. [The New York Times]

Pakistans prime minister cut short a private visit to London and promised to get to the bottom of the fuel tanker inferno in Punjab Province that killed at least 153 people. [The New York Times]

In southwest China, a month-old infant whose crying woke his parents is credited with their miraculous survival in a landslide that appears to have claimed the rest of their village. [Caixin]

Flashback: In 1973, Chan Hak-chi and his wife swam six hours through a typhoon and shark-infested waters to reach Hong Kong and escape Chinas Cultural Revolution. [Sixth Tone]

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

Give biking to work a try. Start with our guide.

If you find yourself nodding off at your desk today, go ahead and take a nap. Itll do wonders for your productivity.

Recipe of the day: A cucumber and yogurt salad sprinkled with dill and sour cherries is a wonderful complement to a hearty main dish.

Australian odyssey: Our reporter went out on a lonely highway on a mission to save joeys baby kangaroos whose mothers ended up as roadkill. She also found a makeshift orphanage that takes in about 100 baby roos a year.

New Zealand is celebrating after a crew of young newcomers finished off a surprisingly lopsided 7-1 victory over their U.S. rivals to reclaim the Americas Cup after a 14-year wait.

K-pops effervescent universe was on full volume at KCON, an annual concert festival in New Jersey devoted to up-close and giggly interaction with fans (( hi-touch, in the lingo of the genre).

The Times has set up a forum for our journalists to speak directly to you about our coverage. Today, they explain why some important news stories run in feature sections and discuss the challenges in making our coverage more global in perspective.

Today is Seven Sleepers Day, which both celebrates an ancient legend and supposedly predicts the weather in the German-speaking parts of Europe.

The legend, which features in both Christian and Islamic tradition, stretches back centuries. It involves a group of seven youths who escaped religious persecution by hiding in a cave, where they slept for hundreds of years before awakening.

More practically speaking, the days weather is thought to foretell conditions for the rest of the summer, similar to the way Groundhog Day predicts the arrival of spring in the U.S.

Above, a hiker on Herzogstand Mountain in southern Germany.

According to one saying, ist der Siebenschlfer nass, regnets ohne Unterlass, or if Seven Sleepers is wet, it rains unceasingly. More precisely, if it rains on June 27, it will pour for seven weeks.

The days predictive power is helped, as Germanys weather service explains, by the jet stream, which stabilizes around this time, providing, with some variation, a consistent forecast.

(Confusing matters, the days name in German is Siebenschlfertag, which is nearly identical but unrelated to Siebenschlfer, the word for a type of dormouse common in Europe that hibernates for about seven months.)

Palko Karasz contributed reporting.

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This briefing was prepared for the Australian morning. We also have briefings timed for the Asian, European and American mornings. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters here.

Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online.

What would you like to see here? Contact us at asiabriefing@nytimes.com.

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Narendra Modi, Travel Ban, Liu Xiaobo: Your Morning Briefing - New York Times

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Genetic Engineering | IPTV

Posted: at 4:49 pm

Genetic engineering has the potential to change the way we live. The science behind the agricultural, medical, and environmental achievements is spectacular, but this excitement is tempered by concern for the unknown effects of tampering with nature. How should we use genetic engineering?

DNA is the root of all inheritance and the key to understanding the basics of all biological inheritance and genetics.

The possibilities of this genetic engineering are endless, and everyone from medicine to industry is scrambling to adopt it and adapt it to their specific needs.

Genetic engineering changes or manipulates genes in order to achieve specific results, and there are many ways to "engineer" genetic material including fixing defective genes, replacing missing genes, copying or cloning genes, or combining genes.

How is genetic engineering used in food production? What political, environmental, and production obstacles could arise in the effort to label genetically engineered foods? What food traits would you like to see genetically engineered?

How could GE help in meeting growing demand for food around the world?

How can GE be used with animals? What are the benefits and risks of using genetic engineering with livestock or with endangered or extinct animals?

How does cloning work? What situations might be viewed as ethical uses of human cloning? Unethical?

What are the potential consequences, positive and negative, of discovery in the genetic engineering field? Who should be involved in determining the ethical limitations of the uses of genetic engineering?

Produced from 2001 through 2004, Iowa Public Television's Explore More online and broadcast series engages students in problems they can relate to, provides compelling content for investigation and gives students opportunities to form their own points of viewon contemporary issues.

Although the full website has been retired, this archive provides links to project videos and related resources. Please contact us if you have questions or comments about Explore More.

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Genetic Engineering | IPTV

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