NASA successfully completes vital Artemis 1 rocket fuel test

The next Artemis 1 launch attempt might take place as soon as next week, seeing as NASA has met all the objectives it set out to do to consider its rocket’s fuel test a success. NASA had to test adding super-cooled fuel to the Space Launch System’s tanks to confirm the repairs it made after it scrubbed the mission’s second launch attempt in late August. The ground team at Kennedy Space Center spotted a persistent hydrogen leak affecting one of the fuel lines on the SLS at the time and tried to fix it the day of three times. In the end, the team was unsuccessful and decided to postpone the mission.

The team determined a few days later that the leak was triggered when the SLS rocket’s core booster tank went through a brief overpressurization. To prevent the same incident from happening, the team adjusted procedures for filling the rocket’s tank with propellants, and it involves transitioning temperatures and pressures more slowly to prevent rapid changes that could cause leakage. The team’s engineers also replaced the rocket’s liquid hydrogen seals after discovering a small indentation in one of them that may have contributed to the leak. 

While the engineers encountered another hydrogen leak during the fuel test, their troubleshooting efforts worked this time around and got the leak to “within allowable rates.” That allowed them to conduct the pre-pressurization test, which brought up the liquid hydrogen tank’s pressure level to match what it would experience just before an actual launch. 

Artemis 1 launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said the test went “really well” and that the team was able to accomplish all the objectives it set out to do. NASA will now evaluate data from the test before deciding if it can schedule another launch for the mission on its target date of September 27th.

Study finds surgery patients wearing VR headsets needed less anesthetic

More evidence is mounting that virtual reality might relieve pain during surgery. MIT Newsreports that Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center researchers in Boston have published a study indicating that patients wearing VR headsets required less anesthetic during hand surgery. While the average conventional patient needed 750.6 milligrams per hour of the sedative propofol, people looking at relaxing VR content (such as meditation, nature scenes and videos) only required 125.3 milligrams. They also recovered earlier, leaving the post-anesthesia unit after 63 minutes on average versus 75 minutes.

The scientists claim VR distracted the patients from pain that would otherwise command their full attention. However, the researchers also admitted that the headset wearers may have gone into the operating room expecting VR to help, potentially skewing the results.

Beth Israel Deaconess’ team is planning trials that could rule out this placebo effect, though. One follow-up trial will also gauge the effect of VR on patients receiving hip and knee surgery. Past experiments, such as at St. Jospeph’s Hospital in France, have indicated that the technology can help assuage patients.

The allure for healthcare providers is clear. Patients might suffer less and return home sooner. Hospitals, meanwhile, could make the most of their anesthetic supplies, free recovery beds and reduce wait times. What a provider spends on VR headsets could pay for itself if it allows for more patients and higher-quality treatment.

‘Destiny 2’ cheat maker AimJunkies claims Bungie hacked them

Destiny 2 developer Bungie has been on a legal spree recently: It sued one user over cheating and threats against its employees, as well as a YouTuber who issued nearly 100 false DMCA claims against other creators. But after suing the cheat developer AimJunkies last year, Bungie is now facing a countersuit. AimJunkies claims the developer illegally hacked an associate’s computer, reports TorrentFreak (via Kotaku). Additionally, they allege Bungie also violated the DMCA by breaking through that machine’s security.  

Bungie’s current Limited Software License Agreement (LSLA) gives the company’s BattleEye software permission to scan computers for anti-cheat tools, but that wasn’t true back in 2019, when the alleged hack began. According to AimJunkie’s counter-suit, Bungie accessed a computer owned by its associate James May several times throughout 2019 and 2021. It goes on to allege that Bungie used information from those hacks to gather information about other potential suspects. 

Phoenix Digital, the company behind AimJunkies, didn’t stop there. It also claims the Bungie violated its Terms of Service by buying AimJunkies’ software and reverse-engineering its source code. If this all sounds a bit ironic, that’s because Bungie accused the company of similar tactics in its original suit. James May and Phoenix Digital are demanding damages, as well as an end to any future hacks and DMCA breaches. We’ve asked Bungie for comment, and will update if we hear back.

Twitter is logging out some users following password reset ‘incident’

Twitter has disclosed an “incident” affecting the accounts of an unspecified number of users who opted to reset their passwords. According to the company, a “bug” introduced sometime in the last year prevented Twitter users from being logged out of their accounts on all of their devices after initiating a password reset.

“if you proactively changed your password on one device, but still had an open session on another device, that session may not have been closed,” Twitter explains in a brief blog post. “Web sessions were not affected and were closed appropriately.”

Twitter says it is “proactively” logging some users out as a result of the bug. The company attributed the issue to “a change to the systems that power password resets” that occurred at some point in 2021. A Twitter spokesperson declined to elaborate on when this change was made or exactly how many users are affected. “I can share that for most people, this wouldn’t have led to any harm or account compromise,” the spokesperson said. 

While Twitter states that “most people” wouldn’t have had their accounts compromised as a result, the news could be worrying for those who have used shared devices, or dealt with a lost or stolen device in the last year.

Notably, Twitter’s disclosure of the incident comes as the company is reeling from allegations from its former head of security who had filed a whistleblower complaint accusing the company of “grossly negligent” security practices. Twitter has so far declined to address the claims in detail, citing its ongoing litigation with Elon Musk. Musk is using the whistleblower allegations in his legal case to get out of his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter.