Tag: Technology

Built in 1998, the ISS was created in collaboration with NASA, Roscosmos (Russia), ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan), and CSA (Canada).

It’s since allowed scientists to conduct experiments that can’t be done anywhere else, orbiting about 250 miles above the Earth.

The US space agency described the ISS as ‘an unprecedented achievement in global human endeavors to build and utilize a research platform in space.’

But it wasn’t built to last forever, with its operational life set to end in 2030.

NASA will let the ISS slowly get closer to Earth 18 months after operations end on board.

Then, a spacecraft will latch on to the ISS and use its thrusters to propel the space station towards Earth. And it’s Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has secured the $843,000,000 contract to do the honors.

A modified version of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, the vehicle will have six times the propellant and four times the thruster power of a standard Dragon.

As the ISS moves through the Earth’s atmosphere, the station will largely break into pieces and burn up.

But the larger modules of the space station will make it through the atmosphere and land in a final splash spot, the location of which NASA is yet to publicly confirm.

Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said: “Selecting a U.S. Deorbit Vehicle for the International Space Station will help NASA and its international partners ensure a safe and responsible transition in low Earth orbit at the end of station operations.

“This decision also supports NASA’s plans for future commercial destinations and allows for the continued use of space near Earth.

“The orbital laboratory remains a blueprint for science, exploration, and partnerships in space for the benefit of all.”

Some nine space stations will allow the continuation of work from space, including China’s Tiangong space station, which has been in orbit since 2021.

While SpaceX has secured a number of NASA contracts over the years.

Most recently, the company landed a $256 million deal to launch NASA’s Dragonfly mission to explore Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

A Falcon Heavy rocket will launch the space agency’s Dragonfly rotorcraft from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, between July 5 and July 25, 2028.

The journey to Titan takes six years, meaning the spacecraft won’t be landing until 2034. Something to look forward to, though!

The wild story of Ilya ‘Dutch’ Lichtenstein and Heather ‘Razzlekhan’ Morgan—who were dubbed the Bitcoin Bonnie and Clyde for their part in the 2016 Bitfinex hack—is set to be explored in the Netflix documentary Biggest Heist Ever.

Based in New York, the pair seemingly had a lot going for them.

Lichtenstein had co-founded a sales business, while Morgan was a columnist and had even contributed to Forbes.

She also released rap videos on YouTube under the moniker Razzlekhan, garnering attention for her incredibly cringey moves.

Behind the scenes, though, the duo had been orchestrating one of the biggest cryptocurrency thefts ever seen.

The pair stole some 120,000 bitcoins from the Hong Kong-based virtual currency exchange Bitfinex, causing the currency’s value to plummet by 20 percent.

At the time of their arrest in 2022, their heist was valued at a staggering $4.5 billion.

How did Dutch and Razzlekhan pull off the heist?

Lichtenstein spent months preparing the hack, in what was described by IRS agents as ‘the most complicated money-laundering techniques’ ever encountered.

He used sophisticated tools to carry out more than 2,000 unauthorised transactions, totaling 120,000 Bitcoin.

While Morgan was initially unaware of the hack, months later, she helped her husband devise a plan to disguise the origin of the stolen Bitcoin.

They used fake identities and funneled the currency through multiple accounts, breaking the transactions down into smaller amounts to dodge being caught.

Some of the funds were spent on gold, NFTs, Uber rides, and a PlayStation.

How did the pair get caught?

In early 2017, small amounts of the stolen Bitcoin began to be moved from the wallet it had been initially stored in to the Dark Web marketplace AlphaBay, with the intention of laundering it.

After AlphaBay was shuttered by international law enforcement led by the FBI, the money was rerouted to the Russian marketplace Hydra.

It is believed the shutting of AlphaBay allowed authorities to help trace the illegally transacted bitcoins.

Eventually, officers were able to acquire a search warrant for a cloud storage service used by Lichtenstein and obtain a spreadsheet of wallet addresses linked to the hack, along with their passwords.

One of the wallets had around 94,000 bitcoins. As the transactions were logged on the blockchain, law enforcement was able to track the money, and obtaining the passwords allowed it to seize it.

What happened to the couple?

The couple’s life unraveled when they were charged by US federal authorities with conspiring to launder Bitcoin. They were arrested in Manhatten in February 2022.

Lichtenstein pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering as well as carrying out the hack in August 2023.

Morgan admitted to one count of money laundering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

In November 2024, Lichtenstein was sentenced to five years behind bars, while Morgan was handed an 18-month sentence.