Month: November 2017

Enlarge / Chinese Premier Li Keqiang inspects the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation in Beijing on April 27, 2017. (credit: Xinhua/Xie Huanchi via Getty Images)

There have been rumors about China's development of a spaceplane for the better part of a decade, but now the vehicle has a tentative launch date. According to a statement from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, published by the Chinese state news service Xinhua, the reusable spacecraft will launch in 2020.

Should Chinese scientists and engineers deliver on their promises, some of the technology promised by the new spaceplane will be downright futuristic. Based on various reports, the spacecraft would take off from a runway and then, higher in the atmosphere, shift to ramjet propulsion before finally using rocket motors to exit Earth's atmosphere and move into orbit around the planet.

In June, a key official with the state corporation developing the vehicle said significant progress had been made. “Currently, China is developing its own reusable earth-to-orbit space vehicles that can take off and land horizontally," Liu Shiquan, vice director of the China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation, said. "We have already finished several crucial ground tests for engines and [other key components], yielding remarkable achievements."

Enlarge (credit: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)

The nascent market for electric cars will suffer a big setback if the Republican tax plan released on Thursday enters into law. Among the changes to the current tax code would be an end to the Plug-In Electric Drive Vehicle Credit. That's the tax incentive that currently means up to $7,500 back from the IRS when you purchase a new battery or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

Personal EV incentives gone

Since the start of 2010, the EV tax credit has been $2,500 for a plug-in vehicle with at least 5kWh battery capacity. Every extra kWh nets another $417 up to a maximum of $7,500, although you would need at least that amount in income tax liability—the IRS won't cut you a check to make up the full amount. It was never meant to be permanent; once an automaker sells 200,000 qualifying vehicles (starting from January 1, 2010) its eligibility is phased out over a matter of months.

But in the almost seven years since, no one has reached that limit yet. Tesla will almost certainly be first, with General Motors not far behind; between them, they've sold a lot of Model Ses and Chevrolet Volts. If this tax plan is enacted, it will surely mean pain for both companies, as well as anyone else hoping to sell a lot of EVs here in the US. The data is pretty clear—tax incentives sell electric cars, and the market for EVs can dry up very fast when they're abolished, as Georgia's recent experience shows.

Enlarge / Boxer Floyd Mayweather has done paid endorsements for little-known cryptocurrencies. (credit: So Max O)

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a statement warning celebrities that they may be violating the law if they make paid endorsements of cryptocurrencies without disclosing the payments.

Just a few months ago, there would have been no need for such a warning because there were very few celebrities endorsing blockchain products (though Mike Tyson has been endorsing Bitcoin products since at least 2015). But with billions of dollars flooding into initial coin offerings, celebrities like Floyd Mayweather and Paris Hilton have begun promoting new cryptocurrencies on social media.

Readers of Ars will be shocked to learn that these celebrity-endorsed blockchain technologies have not exactly been the cream of the crop. A September investigation by Forbes reported that the Hilton-endorsed currency, called LydianCoin, was founded by a man "being sued by at least four former employees for harassment and discrimination" and who is facing possible jail time related to domestic violence allegations.

ScanPyramids mission

Though the Great Pyramid at Giza in Egypt is one of the ancient world's biggest and most elaborate monuments, we still know very little about how it was constructed. We also don't know how many chambers are hidden inside it. Now, an international research team has identified what appears to be a large empty space or void above the pyramid's famed "Grand Gallery." The scientists report in the journal Nature that they used a cutting-edge technique for detecting cosmic radiation to make their discovery.

The Pharaoh Khufu (2509-2483 BCE) ordered the Great Pyramid to be built at Giza roughly 4,500 years ago. The structure remained sealed until 820 CE, when the Caliph al-Ma'mun broke open one of its walls and discovered three chambers inside, arranged vertically. These chambers are connected by the "Grand Gallery," a large corridor. Since that time, many have tried to find additional rooms and failed. Part of the problem is that we have no remaining plans for the pyramid's design, so it's impossible to know where to look. Plus, archaeologists today can't explore the pyramid using invasive techniques that might damage the structure. So explorers have to get creative. That's why Heritage Innovation Preservation Institute's (HIP) Mendhi Tayoubi organized a team of engineers and physicists who would use cosmic radiation to map the interior of the pyramid to look for empty spaces.

Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our friends at TechBargains, we have another round of deals to share. It's officially November, which means two things: a sudden abundance of mustaches and "Black Friday" deals that start weeks before Black Friday actually happens.

The Dealmaster is focusing on the latter today, as some retailers have already started slashing prices on monitors, laptops, headphones, TVs, and more. We'll make particular note of Dell's well-reviewed UltraSharp U2412M, which can now be had for $200. That's not the lowest price the 24-inch 1200p monitor has ever had, and the device itself isn't the newest thing around—there's no HDMI, for instance—but it still looks superb, and you'll get a $75 Dell gift card for your troubles. 

If that doesn't interest you, though, take a look at the rest of the deals below.