Short Takes – 8-11-25

Atlanta Home Struck by Meteorite Older Than Earth, Study Finds. Yahoo.com article. Pull quote: “Harris and his colleagues obtained 23 of the precious 50 grams recovered from the house, and subjected it to optical and electron microscopy. The results suggest that it's an L-type ordinary chondrite, a stony rock that initially formed billions of years ago before experiencing a catastrophic event that put it on an eventual collision course with Earth.”

Encryption Made for Police and Military Radios May Be Easily Cracked. Wired.com article. Pull quote: “Only TEA1 is available for radios used by public safety agencies, police agencies, and militaries in countries deemed not friendly to Europe, such as Iran. But it’s also used in critical infrastructure in the US and other countries for machine-to-machine communication in industrial control settings such as pipelines, railways, and electric grids.”

NASA to assess LeoLabs’ data for orbital collision avoidance. SpaceNews.com article. “Menlo Park-based LeoLabs operates a network of ground-based phased-array radars to monitor objects in low Earth orbit. The company is part of a growing commercial space situational awareness sector that aims to complement government tracking capabilities as orbital traffic and debris increase.”

Mk-II Aurora suborbital spaceplane makes first rocket-powered flights. NewAtlas.com article. Pull quote: “Plans call for that vehicle [Aurora MK-III] to take off and land like a regular fixed-wing airplane – using conventional runways - carrying cargo such as satellites weighing up to 250 kg (551 lb). Upon reaching an altitude of 100 km (62 miles), that payload will be launched into low-Earth orbit via an expendable second-stage rocket. The Mk-III could also carry up to 1 ton (0.9 tonnes) of scientific instruments (which would not be launched into orbit) on suborbital flights.

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