Month: February 2020

• 

  In June 2019, MAVERIC first took to the skies. You might notice that it looks a bit small compared to the grass by the side of the runway—that's because MAVERIC is a scale model for testing low-speed and stall mechanics. [credit: Airbus ]

On Tuesday at the Singapore air show, Airbus revealed one of its new technology test beds. It's called MAVERIC—short for Model Aircraft for Validation and Experimentation of Robust Innovative Controls, and it eschews the traditional airliner shape for a more unconventional "blended wing body" (BWB) design. This packs a lot more interior volume into an aircraft than one with a traditional long, thin fuselage would for the same overall length and wingspan. In fact, Airbus has been flight testing MAVERIC in secret; the project began in 2017 and first flew in June 2019. However, don't expect to fly on it any time soon—although it's airworthy, it's also only a scale model, measuring 6.6 feet (2m) long and 10.5 feet (3.2m) wide.

"By testing disruptive aircraft configurations, Airbus is able to evaluate their potential as viable future products. Although there is no specific time line for entry-into-service, this technological demonstrator could be instrumental in bringing about change in commercial aircraft architectures for an environmentally sustainable future for the aviation industry," said Jean-Brice Dumont, EVP for Engineering Airbus, in a press release.

One big hope for the BWB design is to make a more efficient airliner. Unlike cars, trucks, buses, or even garbage trucks, electric passenger airliners remain a long way off. Air travel is going to keep burning hydrocarbons due to their sheer energy density, whether those are biofuels or not. And if we can't replace hydrocarbon fuels for air travel in the near- or mid-term, then surely we could find a way to get people to their destinations while releasing less CO2 into the atmosphere.

Enlarge / Randori's Attack platform aims to automate the "red team" adversarial security role so that more companies can afford to constantly check their security. (credit: CSA Images via Getty Images)

Attack simulation and "red teaming as a service" have become a hot area of development over the past few years as companies continue to seek ways to better train their network defenders and find problems before attackers do. Randori, a company pulling together red-teaming skills and security software experience, today is launching a new platform that attempts to capture the expertise of a high-budget security testing team as a cloud-based service—giving chief information security officers a way to continuously take the pulse of their companies' defenses.

Red teaming, the practice of actively researching and exploiting vulnerabilities in systems to help find and fix gaps in their security, has long been the realm of high-paid security consulting firms with hands-on-keyboard (and occasionally, with full penetration testing, hands-on-lockpick) engagements, and not something most companies can afford to do regularly. Large organizations and software firms with a business imperative to keep their systems secure have typically maintained internal red teams, but smaller organizations that need red teams for things like getting credit card compliance certification or checking the security of other financial systems often rely on hit-and-run engagements with outside specialists.

There have been other efforts to streamline and automate components of red teaming to make it a more regular part of companies' security programs. For example, Scythe, a firm that spun out of the security research company Grimm, has focused on providing attack simulation as a service—allowing a company to test the mettle of its "blue team" defenders and users by running modular "attacks" that mimic the techniques of known threat groups, while creating a marketplace for security testing modules. And other companies, such as Pwnie Express, have used passive and "offensive" security tools to scan and audit networks for potential attack vectors.

Enlarge / NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken familiarize themselves with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. (credit: NASA)

NASA and SpaceX are closing in on the first launch of humans into orbit from US soil since 2011, when the space shuttle made its final flight.

Although the space agency has not yet said so publicly, NASA is working toward a May 7 launch of a Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station.

Asked Monday about the early May launch date, the director of Johnson Space Center, Mark Geyer, said it is tentative and that no final decisions have been made. The International Space Station and Commercial Crew programs are continuing to consult with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and the agency's chief of human spaceflight, Doug Loverro. "That's the target the two programs have agreed is reasonable, but we're still confirming with Jim and Doug really when we think we're going to launch," he said.