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It’s been three months since NASA’s Curiosity rover set foot wheels down on Martian terrain, and now the space agency has divulged what it’s learned about radiation on Mars. Marking the first time radiation has been measured from the surface of another planet, preliminary data collected using the rover’s Radiation Assessment Detector (or RAD for short) revealed that levels on the ground are similar to what astronauts encounter on the International Space Station. What’s that mean for space travel? “The astronauts can live in this environment,” Don Hassler, principal investigator on Curiosity’s RAD hardware, said in a press conference. However, humans would still experience higher levels of radiation on the way to and from the red planet than on its surface. The results are encouraging, but they’re just one of many developments left before Homo sapiens set foot on Mars. For more details on the RAD’s findings, look below for the press release.

Continue reading Curiosity rover finds radiation levels on Mars are safe for humans

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Welcome to Thursday evening folks. Today Microsoft’s former Windows head Steven Sinofsky discussed his recent and surprising departure from the company, but didn’t go into too many specifics when it came down to why he actually left. The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 started shipping ahead of schedule today, while new reports are suggesting that Apple may delay the new iMac into 2013. NASA was the victim of a major security breach recently, and today it said that it will make sure all of its laptops are equipped with full disk encryption by the end of the year as a result.

HP’s PC chief took some time out of his day to talk some smack about Microsoft Surface, while Google started sending out emails that said some Nexus 4 orders have been placed on backorder for three weeks. We learned today that 4G LTE networks are surprisingly easy to bring down, and Dell’s earnings for Q3 are showing a pretty big decline year-over-year. Usage of Microsoft’s SkyDrive has doubled in six months (and there are new features on the way), while a new survey is telling us that consumer demand for Windows 8 is a little on the low side.

We learned that the Steve Jobs biopic will be comprised of a collection of pre-keynote footage, and SpaceX founder Elon Musk talked about the future of space exploration. Steve Ballmer had some harsh words for the likes of Android and Apple today, while we learned that thieves made off with a shipment of 3,600 iPad minis. The HTC Deluxe was leaked today, leading us believe that it’s the international version of the HTC DROID DNA, and a new augmented reality game called Google Ingress was officially revealed.

Microsoft will be holding Windows Store app labs in 30 different cities to help Windows 8 developers make apps for the new OS, Xbox Live celebrated its 10th birthday. Spotify confirmed that its web app beta is rolling out to select number of users today, and Bethesda shared a bunch of new screenshots from its upcoming Dragonborn DLC. Finally tonight, Don Reisinger asks why the music industry seems to dislike fairness, while we go hands-on with the new Samsung Galaxy Camera – it’s a cool little device, so you’re not going to want to miss that one! That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night everyone!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: November 15, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

I’ve seen the space shuttle in every possible way and angle. Even at the launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. But I’ve never seen it completely shrink-wrapped, as if someone just ordered one from Amazon. More »

NASA has been informing workers and contractors this week that a laptop that had personal information was stolen. The information stored on the laptop included Social Security numbers and other details. The laptop was reportedly stolen from a locked car two weeks ago, and puts information on thousands of workers and contractors at NASA at risk.

Laptop belonged to an employee at NASA headquarters in Washington and while it was protected by a password, the contents of the computer were not fully encrypted. NASA has admitted that the information on the laptop may be accessible to unauthorized users. NASA is investigating the theft and has hired data breach specialists to follow up with individuals whose information was stored on the computer.

NASA associate deputy administrator Richard Keegan said that it could take up to 60 days for all the individuals whose data was lost to be contacted. NASA administrator Charlie Bolden has banned the removal of unencrypted laptops containing sensitive information from any NASA facility. Bolden also ordered security software upgrades for NASA equipment to be completed by December 21.

NASA has also previously warned employees about storing sensitive data on smartphones and other mobile devices. NASA will be offering employees affected by the breach free credit-monitoring services and other support. NASA has reportedly had 48 laptops and other mobile computing devices lost or stolen between April 2009 and April 2011. Many of those devices reportedly contained sensitive data.

[via Reuters]

Stolen NASA laptop leaks personnel details is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google created its Google Mars service as a spinoff from Google Earth back in 2009. Since that launch, most of the satellite images offered of Mars were relatively low resolution. That has all changed now with an update for Google Mars that makes the images even sharper than what Google offers of our own planet in many areas.

This week Google Mars received major update thanks to high-definition images sent back from orbit around Mars from the Context Camera. The Context Camera is one of the instruments on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The high-resolution images allow viewers to drill down to a resolution of 20 feet per pixel.

Typically, Google Earth images have a resolution of 50 feet per pixel. If you have Google Earth, you can access Google Mars by clicking on the orange Saturn-shaped button at the top of the screen on Google Earth. It is worth noting that Google Earth does have higher-resolution images for some cities down to as low as 12-inches per pixel.

Before this month’s update, the only high-resolution images on Mars had been provided by the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The gray bands you see in the image above are areas covered with the Context Camera update.

[via Business Insider]

Google Mars images are sharper than Google Earth images is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.