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Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Europe stages a moon landing to learn how to photograph the real thing (photos)
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Pictures from a simulated moon landing, not designed to fool anyone into believing a fake but rather to provide a reference to make sure that we can get the best video images possible when astronauts finally do return to the moon, have been released by the European Space Agency (ESA). When Neil Armstrong clambered down the Eagle's lander to take his "one giant leap" in 1969, it was captured by a black-and-white slow-scan television (SSTV) with a resolution of a mere 320 lines and 10 frames per second. The transmission, beamed back via NASA's Deep Space Network, was sketchy, plagued by ghosts and poor contrast. The available 900 to 1,000 kiloHertz bandwidth just wasn't sufficient to transmit in color. Things improved slightly with Apollo 12, which had a wider 2 to 3 megaHertz bandwidth that permitted color footage — at least until the video camera was accidentally pointed at the sun, the solar intensity damaging its vacuum tube. Soon, NASA's Artemis crewed moon missions will be flying with high-definition and ultra-high definition color cameras with frame rates of up to 60 per second. But even though the technology has dramatically improved since 1969, there remain many challenges for successfully documenting a lunar landing on video. Bandwidth continues to be one of these challenges, as does the 1.3-second signal delay from the moon, dealing with bright sunlight starkly reflecting off the lunar surface, and moon dust that seems to be able to find its way into every nook and cranny. Therefore, taking detailed images and video footage of activities on the lunar surface and transmitting them back to Earth, all within the constraints of these challenges, is an acquired skill. We can't yet just pop to the moon to practice, so the next best thing is to simulate the environment of the moon somewhere on Earth. Indeed, this is the purpose of the LUNA facility in Cologne, Germany, which is a joint project between ESA and the German Aerospace Center (known by its German acronym DLR). The idea is to create a lunar environment that is as realistic as possible for testing robotic landers, training astronauts and practicing with equipment — including, in this case, cameras. To that end, imaging experts from the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS), which features representatives from 28 countries, have convened on LUNA to practice shooting astronauts playing make-believe in a simulated lunar environment. Spending time at LUNA gave imaging expert Melanie Cowan, who is ESA's representative on the CCSDS' Motion Imagery and Applications Working Group team, "a glimpse of what it may be like on the moon," she said in a statement. "One cannot get any closer to the real thing. It was a special and challenging experience to film and photograph in this surreal environment." Indeed, so realistic was this pretend moon that Cowan and fellow imaging experts had to wear protective clothing to prevent the simulated lunar dust from being breathed in, or getting in their hair or on their clothes. Dust could be a major problem for astronauts spending any appreciable time on the surface; it is so fine that it gets everywhere, sticking to surfaces and potentially clogging up equipment. So, donned in their protective clothing reminiscent of the head-to-toe suits used in clean rooms, the imaging experts captured footage of astronauts descending from a mock lunar lander, exploring the surface and even taking a selfie — something that Neil Armstrong may have wished he'd had the opportunity to do. (There are famously few images of Armstrong on the moon, since he carried the Hasselblad camera during most of his and Buzz Aldrin's historic moonwalk.) The point behind taking the selfie was to see how much detail could be captured in the reflection on the visor of the astronaut's helmet. The resulting images and video are intended to be used as reference files for the real thing, so that astronauts and imaging technicians can better understand what camera settings to use, and how large the resulting image or video files might be when transmitted. "These efforts should help agencies and companies create a ground truth for video applications and equipment," said Falk Schiffner, who is the DLR representative in the CCSDS Motion Imagery and Applications Working Group. "The activities to refine video quality are not geared only to moon imagery, but to all space transmissions." Capturing good footage on the moon is not as easy as on Earth. For one thing, because there is no appreciable atmosphere on the moon to scatter sunlight, the contrast between areas directly illuminated by the sun and areas in black shadow can lead to over-exposed daylight areas and totally black shadowed regions. And the slow rise and setting of the sun over a two-week period from any given location results in slowly changing conditions. To replicate all of this at the LUNA facility required a lot of trial and error with camera angles and lighting. "We tried different sun simulators and techniques to replicate the lighting of the sun on the moon," said Cowan. "We investigated the effects of the shadows from the rocks and inside craters. Early tests revealed that HDR video will provide more detail in shadowed areas on the lunar surface." Related stories: — European Space Agency: Facts & information — Apollo 11: First men on the moon — NASA's Artemis program: Everything you need to know HDR stands for "high dynamic range," which can drastically improve the contrast ratio of an image, or boost its colors. Camera manufacturer Nikon has already teamed up with NASA to develop modified Nikon Z9 cameras to be used by astronauts should they land on the moon as part of the eventual Artemis 3 mission. The Nikon Z9 possesses both HDR and UHD (ultra-high definition) capabilities that will be essential for use in the strange, stark lunar landscape. Taking an 8K UHD video camera to the moon is one thing, but transmitting all that data back to Earth in a livestream (or as live as it can be with the 1.3-second delay) has limitations in the available bandwidth. In particular, footage containing lots of motion is referred to as an "encoder killer," as it bumps the data rate way up. In practice, data transmission from the moon will be compressed, just as it already is from the International Space Station, for example, but even then methods will have to be found to squeeze it all into the available bandwidth without losing too much data. Help may soon be coming thanks to ESA's Moonlight initiative, which plans to launch a constellation of five satellites into orbit around the moon. Four of these spacecraft will assist future missions with navigation, and the other will provide high-data-rate communications between the lunar surface, spacecraft in lunar orbit or traveling to the moon, and ground stations on Earth. The intent is for Moonlight to be fully operational by 2030.
Forbes
21-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Crypto's Fresh $5 Billion Disaster
This is a published version of our weekly Forbes Crypto Confidential newsletter. Sign up here to get Crypto Confidential days earlier free in your inbox. THE OM COLLAPSE Just last week, Mantra's OM token looked great: up over 800% year‑on‑year, a fresh $108 million ecosystem fund and a $1 billion Dubai real‑estate deal (Mantra is a blockchain for tokenizing physical assets like buildings and art) in the pipeline. Then, over last Sunday, its price cratered more than 90% from around $6.3 to below $0.5, erasing over $5.4 billion in value and sending traders hunting for villains. The problem wasn't a clever exploit. Blockchain analysts flagged 17 wallets moving 43.6 million OM (about $227 million) to exchanges Binance and OKX in the days leading up to the crash. Rumors of OTC fire‑sales at half price fueled the panic. Once the selling started, liquidity vanished. Traditionally thin Sunday order books couldn't absorb the flood, triggering forced liquidations of leveraged positions. By the time the cascade stopped, veteran traders were comparing the mess to Terra's LUNA collapse. CEO John Patrick Mullin denied insider sales, blamed 'reckless forced closures' by centralized exchanges and promised a token buyback. Exchange OKX pointed to MANTRA's suspicious token economics changes and concentrated ownership. A high‑profile investor, Nomura-backed Laser Digital, also jumped on X to deny it was among the sellers after an analytics platform apparently mistagged its wallets. THE NEW ORDER OF CRYPTO LENDING The crater BlockFi, Celsius & Co. left in crypto credit hasn't stayed empty. In centralized crypto lending, the throne now belongs to Tether, Galaxy Digital and Ledn—a trio that controls nearly 90 % of what remains of centralized lending. The bigger shift, however, is on‑chain: DeFi protocols now originate just over half of all crypto loans ($19.1 billion of the market's $36.5 billion total), turning smart contracts into the sector's chief credit officers. Wall Street is circling too: Cantor Fitzgerald is preparing to wade into bitcoin financing. Read more. TEMPERATURE CHECK ON TRUMP'S CRYPTO GAMBIT On the campaign trail, Donald Trump vowed to make the U.S. the world's undisputed crypto super‑power. Four months into his second term, the sprint is on: SAB 121 is gone, freeing banks from punitive capital rules on digital‑asset custody; April's bill scrapped the nightmare cost‑basis paperwork for DeFi; and the DOJ has shuttered its crypto task force, vowing to chase scammers, not software. Beyond holding a variety of crypto tokens in a strategic reserve and putting an end to prosecutions of industry players, the administration is leaning into bipartisan efforts to craft rules for dollar‑pegged stablecoins. So far the bet is paying off: bitcoin is up almost 30% since election night, and broader crypto prices have held firm despite Wall Street chop. Read more. ELSEWHERE: Donald Trump's 29-Year-Old Crypto Guru Lays Out The President's Plans For Regulating Crypto And Rolling Back A Biden-Era Crackdown [Fortune] The Analyst Who Predicted Crypto's Latest $5 Billion Collapse [The Street] Kraken Expands Beyond Crypto With Commission-Free Trading Launch [Reuters]
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Do Kwon's Trial Postponed as Prosecutors Say DOJ Crypto Pivot Not Applicable
Do Kwon's trial stemming from the collapse of his Terra crypto project was pushed from January to February 2026 at the second pre-trial conference in Manhattan court on Thursday. Judge Paul Engelmayer revealed he had overlooked a conflict and neither side objected to moving the trial start back one month. That may now give more time for a pro-crypto pivot in the U.S. to play out ahead of Kwon's trial. During the hearing, Judge Engelmayer asked prosecutors whether a new pro-crypto memo from the Department of Justice would have any bearing on the case. The memo, penned by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche this week notes, "The Justice Department will no longer pursue litigation or enforcement actions that have the effect of superimposing regulatory frameworks on digital assets while President Trump's actual regulators do this work outside the punitive criminal justice framework." But lead prosecutor Jared Lenow mentioned that the memo would not change anything about the case against Do Kwon from heading to trial. Prosecutors at another case hearing Thursday involving the sentencing of Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky also made mention that the memo was only meant to be forward-looking. "We're aware of the memo," Lenow said on behalf of the government. "We have no plans to change our charges at this time." Do Kwon's new lead attorney, Hecker Fink's David Patton, sat by Kwon's side for the duration of the trial conference and noted that the memo could lead to some pre-trial motions. More specifically, the defense reserved the right to raise new questions if the government changes its opinions on whether Terra's UST or LUNA crypto tokens were or were not securities. Do Kwon stands charged with counts of fraud stemming from commodities, securities, along with conspiracy and money laundering charges. Lenow pointed out that some of the charges do pertain to conduct carried out by the Luna Foundation Guard, which marketed using Bitcoin to defend the algorithmic stablecoin's peg before it infamously failed in 2022, resulting in over $40 billion in investor losses. Coinage was the first to interview Do Kwon after the collapse in an award-winning documentary. The Securities and Exchange Commission won its case last year against both Terraform Labs and Do Kwon, in which Kwon and his company were found to be liable for fraud. The SEC pursued a record $4 billion dollar penalty against the company and Terra filed for bankruptcy protection. After winning an extradition battle last year, the Department of Justice unsealed a superseding indictment detailing a series of damning allegations against Kwon. If convicted on all counts, Kwon faces a potential 130-year prison term, underscoring the gravity of the courtroom battle that is set to shape up in New York. But before that unfolds, both sides will have more time to discuss things. Judge Engelmayer proposed delaying the start of the trial by a few weeks due to a conflict. Neither side objected to the new trial date of February 17. The next conference is scheduled for June. After about an hour of courtroom discussions in total, Do Kwon was shuffled out of the courtroom by two U.S. Marshalls. For all the news related to Do Kwon's case, follow Coinage on X for more — and subscribe to our free newsletter for updates. Sign in to access your portfolio
Forbes
14-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
MANTRA's $5.4B Crash: How Supply Control Set the Stage for Disaster
In one of the most dramatic implosions in recent crypto events, MANTRA's OM token crashed 90% within hours, wiping out over $5.4 billion in market value. The price collapsed from $5.21 to $0.50 over the weekend before a brief rebound to ~$1.2 — a flash crash that stunned even hardened market veterans. The community quickly compared the event to LUNA's historic collapse, but data shows MANTRA's fall was uniquely self-inflicted. While the immediate trigger for OM's collapse was a sudden cascade of forced liquidations totaling $66.97 million in just 12 hours, it seems the underlying fragility had been building for months. MANTRA's team allegedly exercised extreme control over OM's supply, with up to 90% of tokens — about 792 million OM — held in a single wallet. This left only 10–20% of the total supply circulating freely, making the token acutely vulnerable to any significant sell pressure. In the days leading up to the crash, on-chain data seems to have revealed that 17 wallets collectively offloaded 43.6 million OM — worth approximately $227 million — to exchanges, representing 4.5% of the circulating supply. At the same time, rumors emerged that tokens were being sold off-exchange at 50% or greater discounts, further undermining confidence in the open market. These conditions would later set the stage for a liquidity death spiral. When major holders began exiting, the already thin order books couldn't absorb the sudden wave of sell orders, triggering cascading liquidations across exchanges and accelerating OM's collapse. Before the crash, OM appeared almost unstoppable. The token hit an all-time high of $9.04 in late February this year and was still up 825% year-on-year just before the collapse, according to CoinMarketCap data. OM's price resilience, even as broader crypto markets corrected, painted a picture of strength that has made the community to follow. In hindsight, it seems to have proven to be largely a manufactured illusion. MANTRA's tight grip on circulating supply, aggressive market making, and repeated delays in airdrop distributions — often justified by questionable "Sybil attack" claims — kept selling pressure artificially low. The project's public image was further bolstered by the announcement of a $108 million ecosystem fund just days before the crash. Behind the scenes, however, the reality was far more fragile. OM's liquidity was thin, ownership remained highly centralized, and insider exits were quietly accelerating, all setting the stage for the token's eventual implosion. MANTRA's crash is more than an isolated incident — it stands as a textbook case of how hidden risks can build quietly until they explode. Thin liquidity combined with heavy insider holdings created a fragile system, where even minor shocks had the ability to trigger a full collapse. Rumored OTC discount sales further eroded market confidence, producing inflated valuations that were never truly backed by open market demand. Flashy growth stories can prop up prices temporarily, but they cannot hide underlying structural weaknesses forever. Despite MANTRA's downfall, the broader RWA sector remains resilient, with total value locked reaching a record $11 billion in the first quarter. Still, MANTRA's fate serves as a brutal reminder: in crypto, control is a double-edged sword. When a handful of players dominate supply, so-called "price stability" can shatter into collapse almost overnight.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mantra Token Plummets 90%: Team Blames Exchange Liquidations as Market Cap Shrinks to $683 Million
On Sunday evening, Mantra's OM token experienced a catastrophic crash, plunging more than 90% in a matter of hours and triggering over $71.8 million in liquidations. The token, which was trading around $6.30 yesterday, now sits at approximately $0.70, with its market capitalization drastically reduced from nearly $6 billion to just $683.09 million. Source: CoinMarketCap Mantra Price In a significant development, major cryptocurrency exchange OKX has released an official statement regarding the OM token crash. The exchange noted that the initial price drop occurred around 2:28:32 am (UTC+8) on April 14, with "a rapid price drop and increased trading volume first appearing on other exchanges, followed by a sharp drop of more than 80% in the entire market in a short period of time." OKX's analysis indicates potential structural issues with the token, stating that "based on the on-chain public data and the internal data of the exchange, the project token economic model has undergone major changes since October 2024." The exchange also revealed that "since the beginning of March, multiple on-chain addresses with similar operation modes have experienced large deposits and withdrawals from various exchanges." In response to these risks, OKX has "adjusted a series of risk control parameters" and added risk warnings on the OM token page. The exchange emphasized that "recent market risks are relatively high, and some tokens may have significant changes in token supply, which will have significant fluctuations and impacts on token prices." Mantra's co-founder, John Patrick Mullin, quickly addressed the situation through the project's official channels, attributing the collapse to "reckless forced closures initiated by centralized exchanges on OM account holders" rather than any action by the team. "The timing and depth of the crash suggest that a very sudden closure of account positions was initiated without sufficient warning or notice," Mullin stated in a post on social media platform X. He pointed out that the incident occurred "during low-liquidity hours on a Sunday evening UTC (early morning Asia time)," suggesting "a degree of negligence at best, or possibly intentional market positioning taken by centralized exchanges." According to data from Coinglass, the crash resulted in more than $74.7 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, with ten positions each experiencing liquidations exceeding $1 million. Source: Coinglass As the price collapsed, speculation of a potential "rug pull" - where developers abandon a project after withdrawing funds - began circulating among traders. Market investor Gordon compared the situation to previous crypto disasters, writing: "[The] team needs to address this or OM looks like it could head to zero, biggest rug pull since LUNA/FTX?" Mantra executives have firmly denied these allegations, with Mullin providing verification addresses for the team's token holdings to prove they remain locked as scheduled. "To be clear, this dislocation was not caused by the team, the MANTRA Chain Association, its core advisors, or MANTRA's investors selling tokens. Tokens remain locked and subject to the published vesting periods," the team stated in their community update. Arkham Intelligence data indicates Mantra DAO had burned approximately 21 million OM tokens in separate transactions on April 2, though this appears unrelated to the current crisis. Sign in to access your portfolio
