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No Such Thing As A Free Launch

No Such Thing As A Free Launch

Japan Prevents Sony From Turning On the PlayStation Network

by James Plafke | 11:44 am, May 16th

Even though the PlayStation Network officially returned yesterday in North America and Europe, the service remains down in its homeland of Japan because Japanese authorities do not believe Sony’s promised security countermeasures have been completed.

Kazushige Nobutani, director of the Media and Content Industry department at the Ministry of Economy, states they met with Sony on both May 6 and 13 and wanted two things, the first being ”preventative measures. As of May 13, Sony was incomplete in exercising measures that they said they will do on the May 1 press conference,” and claims that he could not disclose exactly what the preventative measures are due to security reasons.

The second topic discussed was how Sony will attempt to regain customer confidence after the hack and leak of subscriber personal information. Nobutani claims, “There were similar cases in the past that were caused by other firms, and we are asking Sony whether their measures are good enough when compared to countermeasures taken in the past,” making Japan’s blockage of the PSN seem a little overcautious, in that Sony’s strategy for regaining customer trust should have more to do with marketing than security measures.

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No Such Thing As A Free Launch

NASA’s $420 Million Glory Satellite Crashes

by Max Eddy | 12:20 pm, March 4th

NASA is reporting that its orbital climate change observatory Glory has failed to achieve orbit after launching early this morning atop a Taurus-XL rocket. A statement from NASA indicates that the fairing, the casing around the satellite atop the rocket, failed to open and release Glory into orbit. As such, the craft was too heavy, and subsequently crashed.

Glory is the second climate change satellite to crash, and its crash is the second fairing-related incident on a Taurus rocket. Were it to have survived launch, Glory would have studied the effects of tiny particles called aerosols in the atmosphere, and how they affect the climate on Earth. It also carried the Total Irradiance Monitor, which would have provided a greater understanding of how much radiation the Earth receives from the sun.

The failure of the mission means a $420 million loss for cash-strapped NASA, but a far greater loss of knowledge that the craft would have provided. The solar radiation information, for instance, would have added to a 32-year long dataset.

Glory’s loss is a reminder that when it comes to space exploration, nothing is ever routine. Liftoff video below:

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