Billionaire Bezos unveils moon lander mockup, touts Blue Origin's lunar goals

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Billionaire entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, founder of rocket company Blue Origin, unveiled on Thursday a mockup of a lunar lander spacecraft and discussed missions to the moon in a strategy tailored to the U.S. government’s renewed push to establish a lunar outpost in just five years. Bezos, the world’s richest man and also chief executive and founder of Amazon.com, told a rare media event in Washington that the lander, named Blue Moon, could deliver payloads to the moon’s surface and deploy payloads during journey to Moon.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence in March called on NASA to build a space platform in lunar orbit and put American astronauts on the moon’s south pole by 2024 “by any means necessary,” four years earlier than previously planned. “I love this,” Bezos said of Pence’s timeline. “We can help meet that timeline but only because we started three years ago. It’s time to go back to the moon, this time to stay.”

During his hour-long presentation at Washington’s convention center, Bezos waved his arm and a black drape behind him dropped to reveal the two-story-tall unmanned lander mockup, which he said can deploy up to four smaller rovers and shoot out satellites to orbit the moon. “This is an incredible vehicle and it’s going to the moon,” he added. Bezos unveiled a model of one of the proposed rovers, which was roughly the size of a golf cart. Bezos also presented a new rocket engine called BE-7, which can blast 10,000 pounds (4,535 kg) of thrust.

Privately held Blue Origin, based in Kent, Washington, is developing its New Shepard rocket for short space tourism trips and a heavy-lift launch rocket called New Glenn for satellite launch contracts. It is aiming to deliver the New Glenn rocket by 2021, while launching humans in a suborbital flight later this year atop its rocket-and-capsule New Shepard. Blue Origin has also previously discussed a human outpost on the moon.

NASA has already set its sights on the moon’s south pole, a region believed to hold enough recoverable ice water for use in synthesizing additional rocket fuel as well as for drinking water. Bezos, who has talked about his broader vision of enabling a future in which millions of people live and work in space, has been intent on moving Blue Origin closer to commercialization.

His announcement came about two months before the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, and he began his presentation with video of that event. Bezos spoke of the importance of future human colonization of space and mentioned two important issues: reducing launch costs and using resources already in space. “One of the most important things we know about the moon today is that there’s water there,” Bezos said. “It’s in the form of ice. It’s in the permanently shadowed craters on the poles of the moon.”

His vision is shared by other billionaire-backed private space ventures like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and aerospace incumbents like United Launch Alliance, a partnership between Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin. While Bezos is angling to become a leading player in space exploration and win business from the U.S. government, he has been the target of repeated criticism from President Donald Trump, who has referred to him as Jeff “Bozo.” Bezos also owns the Washington Post, which Trump has frequently targeted in his broadsides about “fake news.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-exploration-bezos/billionaire-bezos-unveils-moon-lander-mockup-touts-blue-origins-lunar-goals-idUSKCN1SF1WI

North Korea launches more missiles; U.S. announces ship seizure in mounting tensions

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range missiles on Thursday in its second such test in less than a week, and the United States said it had seized a North Korean cargo ship as tensions again mounted between the two countries. U.S. President Donald Trump said “nobody is happy” at the launches, but still appeared to hold the door open for more talks with North Korea. South Korea said the tests were worrisome and unhelpful and likely a protest against Trump refusing to ease economic sanctions on North Korea at a failed summit in Hanoi in February.

The United States has given no sign of willingness to budge on sanctions and on Thursday the U.S. Justice Department announced the seizure of a North Korean cargo vessel it said was involved in the illicit shipping of coal. North Korea has effectively pulled back from engagement with Washington since the Hanoi meeting between its leader Kim Jong Un and Trump collapsed without agreement on U.S. demands for the dismantling of Pyongyang’s nuclear program and Kim’s demands for relief from punishing sanctions. “The relationship continues … I know they want to negotiate, they’re talking about negotiating. But I don’t think they’re ready to negotiate,” Trump told reporters.

Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said the United States would continue to focus on diplomatic efforts with North Korea. “We’re going to stick to our diplomacy and as you all know we haven’t changed our operations or our posture and we’ll continue to generate the readiness we need in case diplomacy fails,” he told reporters outside the Pentagon.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles/north-korea-launches-more-missiles-u-s-seizes-ship-in-mounting-tensions-idUSKCN1SF0ON

U.S. charges Chinese national in hacks of Anthem, other businesses

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal grand jury charged a Chinese national in a 2015 hacking campaign that affected large U.S. businesses including insurer Anthem Inc, where the breach affected a computer system containing data on nearly 80 million people, according to an indictment unsealed on Thursday. Fujie Wang, 32, and others including one individual charged as John Doe, conducted intrusions into Anthem and three other American businesses, according to the four-count indictment in federal court in Indianapolis, where Anthem is based. It did not identify the other companies by name.

The hackers used sophisticated techniques to hack into the businesses’ computer systems and installed malware, then identified information of interest including personally identifiable information (PII) and business information. “The allegations in the indictment unsealed today outline the activities of a brazen China-based computer hacking group that committed one of the worst data breaches in history,” said U.S. Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski.

Wang and Doe were charged with conspiracy to commit fraud in relation to computers and identity theft, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and intentional damage to a protected computer, the Justice Department said. The “extremely sophisticated hacking group” ultimately stole data concerning nearly 80 million people from Anthem’s computer networks, the Justice Department said in a statement. The information accessed included names, birthdays, Social Security numbers, street addresses, email addresses and employment information, including income data, it said. In July 2017, Anthem agreed to settle litigation over the breach for $115 million, which lawyers said would be the largest settlement ever for a data breach.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-anthem/u-s-charges-chinese-national-in-hacks-of-anthem-other-businesses-idUSKCN1SF2FZ

Judge expedites Trump lawsuit to block House subpoena of his accountant

Judge expedites Trump lawsuit to block House subpoena of his accountant

by Colin Wilhelm

| May 09, 2019 05:30 PM

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A federal judge has expedited President Trump’s lawsuit against the House Oversight and Reform Committee over its subpoena of Trump’s accountants for his financial information. Trump sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the subpoena. On Thursday, Judge Amit Mehta expedited the suit, telling Congress and the president, who is represented in the case by his personal attorneys rather than White House counsel, that he has enough information from both sides to rule on the case.

The central question to Trump’s challenge of the subpoena is whether the congressional committee’s subpoena of Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA LLP, is a valid exercise of legislative power. Mehta will now hold a hearing on the case May 14.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/judge-expedites-trump-lawsuit-to-block-house-subpoena-of-his-accountant

Here's how US border officials want to spend $20.8B in 2020

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a Department of Homeland Security entity, has asked Congress for $18.2 billion to fund operations in fiscal 2020, making it the agency’s biggest annual request for discretionary funds. In addition to the $18.2 billion ask, CBP asked to use $2.6 billion from fees its customs officers have acquired, for a total proposed budget of $20.8 billion. In fiscal 2019, the White House asked for $14.4 billion.

CBP Deputy Commissioner Robert E. Perez testified Thursday afternoon before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, and Operations that next year’s budget increase was due, in part, to record-high travel and trade levels, as well as a spike in illegal immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border. Both issues mandated more spending on personnel and resources. In fiscal 2018, CBP interacted with nearly 414 million travelers at airports, seaports, and land ports of entry — up 4% from the previous year. Seven months into fiscal 2019, Border Patrol agents have taken into custody 460,000 people at the southern border compared to around 400,000 in all of the previous year. The proposed budget funds the agency’s four main focuses: trade and travel, border security, counterterrorism, and organizational objectives. Border security is expected to eat up one-quarter of the total budget. Here’s a breakdown of how it wants to spend some of that money.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/heres-how-us-border-officials-want-to-spend-20-8b-in-2020