Connect with us

Tech

China’s next-generation craft to blast off for space later this decade

Published

on

Chinese astronaut and former pilot Yang Liwei said that the next-generation crewed spacecraft will enable Beijing to send up to 7 astronauts, and may blast off for space for the first time between 2027 and 2028, as the global space race has intensified.

China’s crewed space flights commenced in 2003 when the former fighter pilot Liwei, was sent into orbit in a small bronze-coloured capsule, the Shenzhou-5. He was the country’s first man to explore space and an instant hero cheered by millions.

Guangzhou Daily cited Yang as saying at a Chinese university Monday: “In the future, a new generation of spacecraft will be used on crewed lunar missions, to build our space station, and for deep-space exploration.”

Long March-2F rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-16 Manned Space Flight Mission on May 30 2023, heading to the Tiangong space station. — AFP
Long March-2F rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-16 Manned Space Flight Mission on May 30 2023, heading to the Tiangong space station. — AFP

Yang, who is currently deputy chief designer of China’s manned spaceflight project, said: “Recent tests on the return capsule of the next-generation spacecraft have been very successful, with their first flights estimated to take place between 2027 and 2028.”

The next-generation spacecraft was first tested in 2020.

Since China’s space station became operational late last year, the focus has now shifted to a project to land astronauts on the moon by 2030, with engineers recently disclosing more details of the plan — from the type of carrier rockets to be used to the spacecraft transporting astronauts and other equipment.

Long March-2F rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-16 Manned Space Flight Mission, lifts off on May 30 2023. — AFP
Long March-2F rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-16 Manned Space Flight Mission, lifts off on May 30 2023. — AFP

China’s current Shenzhou spacecraft, based on Russia’s Soyuz, can transport up to three astronauts to low-Earth orbit. 

It consists of a life-support and propulsion module, an in-orbit module for short-term human habitation, and a re-entry capsule for their return to Earth.

“The new generation of crewed spacecraft will comprise just two parts — the propulsion and the return modules — to allow for bigger modules and a larger carrying capacity of up to seven people,” Zhang Bainan, chief designer of the trial version of the new-generation spacecraft, said in 2020.

The return module’s high heat resistance also allows much of it to be re-used.

Latest News

Cybersecurity firm reports exposure of sensitive DeepSeek data on the internet.

Published

on

By

The New York-based cybersecurity firm Wiz has discovered a cache of sensitive data from the Chinese artificial intelligence business DeepSeek that was mistakenly exposed to the public internet.

In a blog post released on Wednesday, Wiz reported that examinations of DeepSeek’s infrastructure revealed that the company had inadvertently exposed over a million lines of unencrypted data. The materials were digital software keys and chat logs that seemingly documented prompts transmitted from consumers to the company’s complimentary AI assistant.

The chief technical officer of Wiz stated that DeepSeek promptly safeguarded the data following the notice from his organisation.

“It was removed in under an hour,” stated Ami Luttwak. “However, this was exceedingly easy to locate, leading us to believe we are not the sole discoverers.”

DeepSeek did not promptly respond to a request for comment.

DeepSeek’s rapid success after the introduction of its AI helper has exhilarated China and incited concern in America. The Chinese company’s evident capacity to rival OpenAI’s skills at a significantly reduced cost has raised concerns regarding the viability of the business models and profit margins of U.S. AI behemoths like Nvidia and Microsoft.

By Monday, it surpassed the U.S. competitor ChatGPT in downloads from Apple’s App Store, prompting a worldwide decline in technology stocks.

Continue Reading

Latest News

WhatsApp launches bulk channel management functionality

Published

on

By

WhatsApp has initiated testing of a bulk channel administration feature on iOS for select beta users, enabling the simultaneous selection of many channels, hence enhancing the efficiency of managing following channels.

This essential update enables users to perform bulk activities, including muting many channels simultaneously, designating them as read, and altering notifications. If the chosen channels are muted, users will now have the option to activate notifications. Users can swiftly silence unmuted channels in one action.

Additionally, this feature enables users to unfollow many channels simultaneously, thereby optimizing the process of decluttering their channel list. This change is particularly beneficial for users that oversee numerous subscriptions, as reported by WABetaInfo.

Previously, users were required to manage each channel individually, rendering tasks such as muting or designating channels as read laborious and time-consuming.

The functionality provides enhanced flexibility and control over channel subscriptions, enabling users to efficiently manage notifications. The solution streamlines laborious operations for consumers who subscribe to numerous channels, hence enhancing their entire experience.

Accessibility
The bulk management feature is presently accessible exclusively to a limited number of beta testers who installed the latest WhatsApp beta for iOS using the TestFlight application. WhatsApp, owned by Meta, plans to expand the feature’s availability to a larger user base in the next weeks.

This update demonstrates WhatsApp’s dedication to enhancing user experience by offering a clear and efficient method for managing channels and notifications.

Continue Reading

Latest News

Pakistani internet slowdown: ongoing submarine cable issue

Published

on

By

Even after two weeks, the global submarine cable AAA-1 problem that was discovered on January 2 near Qatar has not been fixed, causing sluggish internet connection in several Pakistani towns.

According to a representative for Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the issue has affected customers’ capacity to effectively access social media applications and browse the online. Even with initiatives to fix the problem, social networking sites still lag during busy times.

Internet traffic has been redirected via alternate channels to lessen the impact, and more capacity has been set up to stabilize the service.

The PTCL representative promised that “Internet service across the country is operating normally, and there will be no issues with web browsing,” noting that social media applications’ lag is common during

Continue Reading

Trending