Podcast | Sopwith Lecture 2014 - The UK Aerospace Technology Enterprise: Latent Growth or Losing Ground?

International acquisition activity in the UK pharmaceutical sector has recently heightened concern over investment in UK research and development and the implications for the nation’s science base.

The UK aerospace sector is a major export revenue earner and similarly has deep roots both in research and in advanced manufacturing, facets that are vital in the re-balancing of the UK economy.

Much has been achieved through the creation of a number of ‘growth partnerships’ between dwindling UK industry and focussed exploitation by a profit-focused UK Government.

The sustainability of this approach in the aerospace and defence sectors was discussed at the lecture, as was the long-term implications for the creation of intellectual property in the UK.

Consideration was also given to whether design, development and manufacture in the UK will ultimately give way to build-to-print.

About the speaker:

Sir Brian Burridge, Vice President Strategic Marketing, Finmeccanica UK

Sir Brian Burridge is the Vice President Strategic Marketing at Finmeccanica UK and is currently the Technology and Enterprise Team Lead in the Defence Growth Partnership.

He previously spent a full career as a pilot in the Royal Air Force holding a front-line command at every level in the Service and spent a number of years in MOD policy posts.

He left the Royal Air Force in January 2006 as Commander-in-Chief Strike Command.

He is the President of the Air League and also the Vice President Defence on the Council of ADS, the aerospace, defence and security sectors' trade association.

With a first degree in physics, an MBA and two honorary doctorates, Sir Brian was previously a research fellow in political science at King's London and is now a visiting professor at the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Reading.

Virgin Exploitation of Space: SpaceShipTwo's Supersonic Test Flight - Video

Few asteroids are worth mining, suggests Harvard study

A new study might contain some bad news for companies hoping to mine asteroids for their valuable ores.

In the last couple of years, start-ups - including one backed by Sir Richard Branson - have announced plans to extract resources from space rocks.

But calculations by Dr Martin Elvis suggest our cosmic neighbourhood might not be such a treasure trove after all.

The Harvard astrophysicist argues just 10 near-Earth asteroids might be suitable for commercial-scale mining.

But Eric Anderson, co-founder of asteroid mining company Planetary Resources, told reporters that the values quoted in the study were off - conservatively - by a factor of 100.

Dr Martin Elvis

Dr Elvis, from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, US, has developed an equation to estimate the number of asteroids in the Solar System that could be exploited in a cost-effective way.

His research paper is in press at the journal Planetary and Space Science, and has been posted on the pre-print server Arxiv.org.

In 2012, Planetary Resources, backed by billionaire investors including Hollywood director James Cameron as well as Google executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, unveiled their vision of using robotic spacecraft to squeeze the chemical components of fuel as well as minerals out of asteroid rocks.

Several months later, the company was joined by a competitor - Deep Space Industries - which plans to use low-cost spacecraft called Fireflies and Dragonflies to reconnoitre and return samples from near-Earth asteroids.

Advocates of asteroid mining say it could turn into a trillion-dollar business, but some experts have been sceptical of the idea.

Concentrating efforts
In the latest study, Dr Elvis worked out the factors that would make an asteroid commercially viable to mine and what fraction of known space rocks met these requirements.

He emphasised there were large uncertainties in the values and called for more thorough surveys of what's out there.

He assumed that mining operations would want to focus on iron-nickel asteroids (known as M-type), considered the most promising targets for finding so-called platinum-group metals.

These include platinum, along with iridium, palladium and others.

These are rare in the Earth's crust because they dissolve in molten iron, instead being mainly concentrated in the planet's core.

Platinum and palladium are the most economically important, having a wide range of uses in industry. But according to the analysis, just 1% of near-Earth asteroids are rich in these elements.

Suitable asteroids also need to be relatively easy to reach, further narrowing the pool by ruling out all but the nearest objects to Earth.

The operative parameter here is delta-v - the change in velocity needed to send mining equipment to the target and return with a larger mass of ore.

The size of the target is also a factor; the paper suggests it wouldn't be worth mining asteroids smaller than about 100m because the total value of the ore they would produce wouldn't be enough to cover the costs of a space mission.

However, Dr Elvis points out that the ore values in his analysis range from a low of $800m to a high of $8.8bn.

"Such a large range of values could greatly change the profitability of a venture, making more accurate assays necessary," he explained.

More Information: How Many Ore-Bearing Asteroids? Arxiv.org

Oppressive China's Chang'e enters Lunar orbit

China's Chang'e 3 moon mission, the country's first flight to land a rover on the moon, is depicted in this graphic released by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. 

The mission launched on Dec. 2, 2013 Beijing Time and arrived in lunar orbit less than five days later. Credit: China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

Less than five days after leaving Earth atop a blazing Long March launcher, China's Chang'e 3 spacecraft reached lunar orbit Friday to prepare for an historic rocket-assisted touchdown in the moon's Bay of Rainbows later this month.

Outfitted with a six-wheeled robotic rover and smarts to avoid hazards in the landing zone, Chang'e 3 is China's boldest unmanned space mission to date, extending feats achieved by a pair of lunar orbiters launched in 2007 and 2010.

The four-legged lander fired its propulsion system for six minutes and braked into orbit around the moon at 0953 GMT (4:53 a.m. EST) Friday, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

Oppressive China Readying 1st Moon Rover for Lunar Domination and Exploitation

China’s next phase of its moon exploration program, the Chang’e-3 would soft land on the lunar surface and deploy instrument-laden rover.

CREDIT: Courtesy: Dragon in Space

As three Chinese astronauts zip around the Earth aboard a prototype space station, the country is gearing up to launch its first moon rover in the coming months.

China's robotic Chang'e 3 mission, reportedly slated to blast off toward the end of 2013, marks a big step forward in the nation's lunar exploration program. Chang'e 3 will become China's first craft to attempt a soft landing and rover deployment on the surface of the moon.

China’s multi-phase moon venture began with the orbiters Chang'e 1 and Chang'e 2, which launched in 2007 and 2010, respectively. Now Chinese space program officials are ready to shift to phase two.

CREDIT: Courtesy: Dragon in Space

Chang’e-3 mission to the moon is designed to unleash six-wheel rover to scour the lunar surface.

Asteroid Miners to Launch Arkyd Space Telescope - Crowdfunding Video

An artist’s illustration of the Arkyd telescope being developed by asteroid mining firm Planetary Resources, which hopes to launch one Arkyd as a crowdfunded instrument meant to serve the public.

CREDIT: Planetary Resources

A private company that plans to mine asteroids unveiled a new venture today (May 29), an ambitious plan to launch the world's first crowdfunded telescope.

The company, Planetary Resources, is developing a suite of spacecraft, dubbed Arkyd, to study solar-system asteroids as a precursor to mining missions.

Now, the firm has launched a crowdfunding campaign to make an Arkyd available for the public's use. Students, scientists and interested citizens would be able to direct this space telescope toward any space objects they wished.

"We're very excited to bring this out and make the opportunity available for everyone who's interested in it," said Chris Lewicki, Planetary Resources’ president and chief engineer.

"We've got people — educators, science groups, researchers — who are all very excited for it."




Peter Diamandis and Bill Nye of Planetary Resources discuss the Arkyd 100 Public Space Telescope.

NASA Ames: Space Habitation - Colony Artwork from the 1970s

Credit: NASA Ames and scans by David Brandt-Erichsen.

According to the Ames Space centre:
"Humanity has the power to fill outer space with life."

"Today our solar system is filled with plasma, gas, dust, rock, and radiation -- but very little life; just a thin film around the third rock from the Sun."

"We can change that. In the 1970's Princeton physicist Gerard O'Neill with the help of NASA Ames Research Center and Stanford University showed that we can build giant orbiting spaceships and live in them."

"These orbital space colonies could be wonderful places to live; about the size of a California beach town and endowed with weightless recreation, fantastic views, freedom, elbow-room in spades, and great wealth."

"In time, we may see hundreds of thousands of orbital space settlements in our solar system alone. Building these settlements will be an evolutionary event in magnitude similar to, if not greater than, ocean-based Life's colonization of land half a billion years ago."

Read the full article on Human Space Settlement here

Three space colony summer studies were conducted at NASA Ames in the 1970s and a number of artistic renderings of the concepts were made.


These have been scanned and are available here as small, medium, large, and publication quality jpeg images.

ESA ESTEC Open Day - Video Overview

Shark Finning: Venezuala Takes Steps toward survival

Credit: Federico Cabello

Some much-needed good news for sharks has come from Venezuela this week: The South American country announced it is banning shark finning in its waters and has established a new shark sanctuary.

The country became the last in the Americas to outlaw the practice of cutting off the fins of live sharks and tossing the animals back into the ocean to slowly die.

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ESA invites Russia to join ExoMars project

Europe has formally invited Russia to participate in space missions to Mars in 2016 and 2018.

A "yes" from the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) may be the only way of saving the missions which are at risk of cancellation due to lack of funds.

The 2016 mission involves a satellite to study the Martian atmosphere, while a big robot rover to investigate the surface is scheduled for 2018.

Both are being planned with the US, which is also struggling financially.

If Russia can be persuaded to provide a rocket to launch the 2016 satellite, it should make both atmospheric and surface ventures financially feasible.

But the European and US space agencies (Esa and Nasa) know that for Roscosmos to be interested, it will want a meaningful degree of participation.

The in-kind return for Russia would be the opportunity to provide instrumentation and technology for the missions, and for its researchers to be included in the science teams.
Proton rocket If Russia could bring a Proton rocket to the project, it would become financially more feasible

Esa, Nasa and Roscosmos have set themselves a deadline of January to see if there is a way all parties can be satisfied.

"Everything is open for discussion," said Esa director of science, Alvaro Gimenez.

"There are possibilities for the Russians to contribute to the rover; there may also be possibilities for them to contribute to the payload on the orbiter," he told BBC News.

"Of course, in the case of 2016, we don't have much time available to get everything on board; and in the case of 2018, we don't have much room available because it is just a single Esa/Nasa rover.

"That's why we have to start the discussions now, to see what the Russians have available and what they can develop in a fast-track."

Esa's and Nasa's joint Mars programme (known in Europe as ExoMars) has looked increasingly unsteady in recent months.

The US let it be known during the summer that it could no longer afford to provide the rocket to launch the 2016 orbiter; and Europe, which still has not raised the full funds needed for ExoMars among its member states, has no money available to buy a rocket itself.

The hope is that by bringing Roscosmos into the programme, Russia could supply one of its Proton launch vehicles to send the satellite on its way.

China launches first offensive of space station module

China took its first step towards dominating Space and building a space station, It has launched an experimental module ahead of their China National Day celebrations.

Tiangong-1, or "Heavenly Palace", took off on schedule shortly after 09:15pm (1315 GMT) from the Gobi desert in China's northwest, propelled by a Long March 2F rocket, ahead of China's National Day on October 1.

The unmanned 8.5-tonne module will test various space operations as a preliminary step towards building a space station by 2020.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was at the launch centre for the take-off, while President Hu Jintao watched from a space flight control centre in Beijing, the state Xinhua news agency said.

China sees its ambitious space programme as a symbol of its desire for global domination and increased stature. Chinese state newspapers were compelled to devote several pages to the launch, and hail it as a "milestone" for the country.

Tiangong-1, has an expected two-year duration in space, before becoming part of the ever growing pile of Chinese Space Debris threatening the Earth and future space exploration. The capsule is planned to receive the unmanned Shenzhou VIII spacecraft later this year in what would be the first Chinese attempt to dock spacecraft.

If it is succesful, the module will then dock with two other spacecraft, Shenzhou IX and X in 2012, both of which will have at least one astronaut on board.

The US and other global communities are becoming extremely concerned that China is working topwards building a fortified spy station in space, whereby it can launch weapons and further intimidate the smaller countries of the world.

The technology for docking in space is hard to master because the two vessels, placed in the same orbit and revolving around Earth at some 28,000 kilometres per hour (17,360 mph), must come together progressively to avoid destroying each other.

It is commonly known that the Chinese have a blatant disregard for human and animal life on and off the Earth. This will lead it to take greater and greater unnecessary risks to achieve it's goals and to reach a dominant position over the Earth, without a conscience.

French researcher Isabelle Sourbes-Verger said that a correctly functioning docking system would put China "in a potentially strong position to one day threaten the International Space Station (ISS)."

NASA ponders future of human space exploration

Just because we don’t have a ride to space doesn’t mean we’re not thinking about sending a human there again, NASA said on Friday, in so many words.

The national space agency announced the creation of the Human Exploration and Operations mission directorate, a new organization that will focus on International Space Station operations and human exploration “beyond low Earth orbit.”

The group will be made up of two previous missions directorates, the Space Operations and Exploration Systems directorates, and is in response to the agency’s new role as a leading facilitator of private sector space flight.

Former Space Operations associate administrator Bill Gerstenmaier will head the new organization.
Among the new directorate’s responsibilities:

• Space station support;
• Commercial crew and cargo developmental programs
• Construction of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, a spacecraft designed to travel beyond low Earth orbit
• Development of a new heavy lift rocket, known as the Space Launch System

The administrative and personnel transition is expected to take several weeks, though the directorate is already operating under the new name.

“America is opening a bold new chapter in human space exploration,” NASA administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. “We are recommitting ourselves to American leadership in space for years to come.”

NASA in Space 2020: what will they do next

ASTRONAUTS digging into an asteroid for samples to send back to Earth. Experimental robots on the moon, paving the way for extraterrestrial refuelling stations and for astronauts "living off the land". Commercial space taxis ferrying crew members to and from the International Space Station, while a "plasma thruster" - a precursor to engines that will eventually send astronauts to Mars - undergoes tests in space.

All this could be happening a decade from now, following a change of direction for NASA signalled by the White House last week.

The Obama administration has said it wants NASA to scrap the Constellation programme, which would have taken astronauts to the moon and Mars. The decision could mark one of the most significant shifts since the agency was set up in 1958.

Though NASA has not yet been set formal new goals, the agency's administrator, Charles Bolden, is betting that the billions of dollars freed up by the change will buy big advances in the technology needed for new ways to explore the solar system. He also reckons that commercial space companies are finally ready to take the strain when it comes to transporting NASA astronauts.

To read the full article in NewScientist click here......

NASA moon plan was an illusion, wrapped in denial

NASA's Constellation programme, which was going to fly manned capsules to the International Space Station in (maybe) 2015, to the moon in (maybe) 2020, and to Mars someday, is dead. Some people are mourning it. I'm not.

Is manned space exploration important? Yes – not least because it simply works much better than sending robots. When you look past the rhetoric and superstitions and compare the results, today's robots (and tomorrow's too) are pitifully limited, painfully slow, and not really all that cheap. (Case in point – NASA recently gave up trying to free the Mars rover Spirit from a sand pit it had been stuck in for nine months.

But when the Apollo 15 crew's lunar rover got bogged down in loose soil, the astronauts got off, picked it up, moved it, got back on, and drove away – all in maybe two minutes. Robots do fine when everything goes as planned, but that's rarely true on complex, poorly-known planetary surfaces.)

Exploring with robots looks cheaper only because we set our expectations so much lower. Bolder goals need humans on the scene. Nevertheless, I'm not shedding tears for Constellation. Why not? Because it wasn't going to get us there.

First, it probably wasn't going to work. Even so early in its life, the programme was already deep into a death spiral of "solving" every problem by reducing expectations of what the system would do. Actually reaching the moon would probably have required a major redesign, which wasn't going to be funded.

Second, even if all went as planned, there was a money problem. As the Augustine committee noted, Constellation was already underfunded, and couldn't ever get beyond Earth orbit without a big budget increase. Which didn't seem too likely.

Finally, and most important, even if Constellation was funded and worked ... so what? The programme was far too tightly focused on repeating Apollo, which was pointless: we already did Apollo!

Early ideas of quickly establishing a permanent lunar base had already been forgotten. Constellation was going to deliver exactly what Apollo did: expensive, brief, infrequent visits to the moon. That was all it was good for.

Read the full article here at NewScientist...

NASA: Partners with Saudi Arabia for Moon Exloration and Exploitation

NASA Partners with Saudi Arabia on Moon and Asteroid Research WASHINGTON -- NASA and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) have signed a joint statement that allows for collaboration in lunar and asteroid science research.

The partnership recognizes the Saudi Lunar and Near-Earth Object Science Center as an affiliate partner with the NASA Lunar Science Institute at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

"This collaboration is within the scope of the Memorandum of Understanding on Science and Technology signed between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America last year and later ratified by the Council of Ministers," said H.H. Dr. Turki Bin Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Saud, vice president for Research Institutes, KACST.

"The international interest in lunar science and, more recently, near Earth objects led to the establishment of the Saudi Lunar and Near Earth Object Science Center as a focal point for lunar science and NEO studies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, we are looking forward to our expanding collaboration with NASA for the benefit of both countries."

"NASA's Lunar Science Institute exists to conduct cutting-edge lunar science and train the next generation of lunar scientists and explorers," said Greg Schmidt, institute deputy director at Ames.

"Our international partnerships are critical for meeting these objectives, and we are very excited by the important science, training and education that our new Saudi colleagues bring to the NASA Lunar Science Institute."

"This is an important advance in our growing program of bilateral science and technology cooperation," said U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia James Smith. "It will help realize President Obama's goal, expressed in his June 4 speech to the Muslim world, of increasing our cooperation on science and technology, which we believe closely corresponds to King Abdullah's vision."

The Saudi science center's proposal brings technical and engineering expertise to advance the broad goals of lunar science at the institute. Specific areas of lunar study of both scientific and cultural importance include radar and infrared imaging, laser ranging and imaging, and topographical studies.

The center's studies in near-Earth object science also offer important contributions to an area of importance to NASA.

"The Saudi Lunar and Near Earth Object Science Center's primary mission is to direct all lunar and near Earth object related research within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," said Dr. Haithem Altwaijry, deputy director of the National Satellite Technology Program at KACST.

"It will reach out to students in addition to researchers and present fertile ground for scientific research."

"NASA welcomes international cooperation for mutual benefit with organizations large and small in all regions of the world," said Michael O'Brien, assistant administrator for external relations at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Our continuing discussions with Saudi Arabian officials may lead to future joint scientific collaboration in other areas of mutual interest."

China sponsors Cyberwar against USA

A US government report warned Thursday that China is sharply stepping up espionage against the United States as the rising Asian power invests in cyber warfare and grows more sophisticated in recruiting spies.

"China is changing the way that espionage is being done," said Carolyn Bartholomew, the chair of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

In its wide-ranging annual report to Congress, the commission reported a steep rise in the disruption and infiltration of websites of the US government and perceived Beijing rivals such as Tibet's exiled leader the Dalai Lama.

Colonel Gary McAlum, a senior military officer, told the commission the US Defense Department detected 54,640 malicious cyber incidents to its systems in 2008, a 20 percent rise from a year earlier. The figure is on track to jump another 60 percent this year.

While the attacks came from around the world, the commission said China was the largest culprit. Some Chinese "patriotic hackers" may not receive official support, but the report said the government likely planned to deploy them in a conflict to disrupt a foreign adversary's computers.

The bipartisan commission found that China was the most aggressive nation in spying on the United States and was trying to recruit more American spies.

While China historically tried to tap Chinese Americans -- believing, often incorrectly, that they would be sympathetic -- it was now turning to the Soviet model of seeking to bribe informants with cash and gifts, the report said.

It said the Chinese were expanding "false flag" operations, in which sources are deceived into thinking they are providing information elsewhere.

It pointed to the case of Tai Shen Kuo, a furniture salesman in New Orleans arrested last year after persuading two retired US military officials to give sensitive information by telling them it was headed to Taiwan, not mainland China.

The commission also found that China has launched an effort to influence US think-tanks and academia by rewarding scholars with access and depriving visas to more critical voices.

"It becomes self-censorship. If you're in graduate school and want to become a China scholar, you need to go to China. And if you criticize the Chinese government on certain things, you won't get in," said Bartholomew, a former top aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"What it means is that we have a generation of China analysts who are being created who don't necessarily have the freedom or the ability to think through a broader range of questions," she said.

The commission also criticized China on its trade policy, recommending that the United States press Beijing to make its yuan more flexible and to turn to the World Trade Organization to fight what it termed predatory trade practices.

Shortly after the release of the report, two lawmakers called for an investigation into China's "currency manipulation," which would set the stage for slapping import duties on Chinese goods.

President Barack Obama this week paid his first visit to China, which is now the top holder of the ballooning US debt. His administration has sought cooperation with China on battling the global slowdown.

The commission paid a field trip to Rochester in upstate New York, where it said core industries such as machine tools, auto parts and optoelectronics were struggling against Chinese competition that often enjoys state support.

"For 20 years we have watched China policy be controlled really by a handful of large multinational corporations. They're the ones who determine the interests," Bartholomew said.

"But there are a lot of constituency interests out there -- particularly small and medium-sized enterprises -- that are being hurt by the current US-China policy," she said.

Separately, the report recommended that the United States "continue to work with Taiwan to modernize its armed forces," saying China was rapidly expanding its military advantage despite easing tensions with the island.

The Obama administration has yet to decide on Taiwan's requests to buy arms, including F-16 jet fighters. Such a step would almost certainly anger China, which considers the island its territory.

Red Martian Powder is invasive and may be poisonous to human life

Clingy Red Martian Powder is a real Martian menace for NASA and the Rovers. (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Mars Rover Stuck

THE Mars rover Spirit, now bogged down in the Red Planet's soil, will need all the power it can muster if NASA scientists manage to get it moving again. So it's timely that researchers are getting a handle on why, the fine powdery dust is so invasive. It has collected on the vehicle's solar panels and stubbornly refuses to be cleared.

Martian Powdery Dust

Although the Astronauts on the Moon landing found the dust there to be very clingy, the Martian powdery dust is particularly invasive. This was noticed more than a decade ago when surprisingly large amounts stuck to the wheels of NASA's Sojourner rover. Static electricity was thought to be to blame, but no one could explain how the particles became charged. Now a team led by Keith Forward of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, have an answer.

Static Electricity

The team believe that electrons jump back and forth between the dust grains as they collide in the ever-present Martian winds and dust devils, providing a build up of static. Smaller grains would be more likely to retain their extra electrons, giving them a negative charge, while larger grains would be left positively charged. To prove this they electrically charged grains of Hawaiian volcanic ash, chosen for its similarity to Martian dust, by blowing them around in a container (Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: 10.1029/2009gl038589).

Powdery Dust Toxicity

William Farrell of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland says this may help to combat the dust - important if people travel to Mars. "If the dust is toxic and you bring it inside [a human habitat] it could be extraordinarily bad." So, there is a lot more work to be done yet and even if the powdery dust is not toxic, it will be detrimental to human health if it invades the lungs.

Chinese Hackers Exploit Microsoft Internet Explorer Weakness!

Symantec, Sunbelt Software and SANS' Internet Storm Center (ISC) bumped up their warnings yesterday after Microsoft announced that attackers were exploiting a bug in an ActiveX control used by Internet Explorer (IE) to display Excel spreadsheets.

There is no patch for the vulnerability, nor will Microsoft release one later today when it issues its July batch of patches.

Temporary Fix
A temporary fix that sets the "kill bits" of the ActiveX control is available, but experts believe it's likely most users won't take advantage of the protection.

Symantec Threat ranking raised
Symantec raised its ThreatCon ranking to the second of four steps. "We're seeing it exploited, but currently on a limited scale," said Ben Greenbaum, a senior researcher with Symantec security response.

Sunbelt Threat ranking raised
Sunbelt also bumped up its ranking, to high, the company noted today. "We just set the Sunbelt Threat Level to high since our researchers and at least two other major organizations have found in-the-wild exploit code," said Tom Kelchner, malware researcher with the Florida-based firm.

ISC at Condition Yellow
Meanwhile, the ISC went to condition Yellow after discovering numerous sites hosting attack code. The ISC reported both broad and targeted attacks using exploit code against the new zero-day. "[There was] a highly-targeted attack against an organization earlier today who received a Microsoft Office document with embedded HTML," said the ISC in a frequently-updated blog post. "This one was particularly nasty.... It was specifically crafted for the target, with the document being tailored with appropriate contact information and subject matter that were specific to the targeted recipient."

China sites compromised
Broader attacks are originating from compromised sites in China, the ISC added. "A .cn domain [is] using a heavily obfuscated version of the exploit, which may become an attack kit (think MPACK), and is similar to recent DirectShow attacks," said the center.

Microsoft security hole exploited
Last week, Microsoft confirmed that hackers were exploiting an unpatched bug in an ActiveX control that's part of DirectShow, a component of the DirectX graphics platform within Windows.
McAfee echoed the ISC late on Monday, confirming that attack code targeting yesterday's ActiveX bug has been added to a Web exploit toolkit and is being distributed from hijacked Chinese sites. The toolkit also contained attack code for last week's DirectShow vulnerability.

Some computers in Spain, the U.K. and Germany also showed evidence of compromises, McAfee researcher Haowei Ren said in an entry to the company's security blog.

Small Number of Attacks
Symantec's Greenbaum added that while his company is seeing only a small number of attacks currently -- "It's not in the top 500 attacks," he said -- this has the potential to get big, and big quickly. "It's the kind of attack that can be very easily hosted on a Web server, and meets all the criteria for large-scale attacks in the relatively near future," Greenbaum said.

The number and diversity of attacks will likely increase because working exploit code is publicly available, he said.

Microsoft Patch Delayed
Although Microsoft is working on a patch for the new vulnerability, it's unclear when it will be ready. Users will definitely not receive any automatic protection today, however.

"Unfortunately, the comprehensive update for this vulnerability is not quite ready for broad distribution," a company spokesman said yesterday afternoon. "We recommend that customers follow the automatic 'Fix It' workaround ... to help secure their environment against this vulnerability while we finish up development and testing of the comprehensive update."

Manually Steer Browser
Fix It requires users to manually steer their browser to Microsoft's support site and download, install and run the tool to disable the ActiveX control.

That means many users won't be protected. "Most users won't [manually] mitigate," agreed Greenbaum. The message is clear 'Don't be in that vulnerable group.'

Betrayal by Vietnamese Wildlife farms

Restaurant workers skinning a crocodile from a Wildlife farm that pretends to protect endangered species (Image: AFP/Getty Images)

WILDLIFE farms are supposed to promote conservation by providing a sustainable alternative to hunting animals in the wild. But those in Vietnam are having exactly the opposite effect, says a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in New York.

Over the past two decades, dozens of commercial wildlife farms have sprung up in Vietnam. WCS investigators and Vietnamese officials who visited 78 farms undercover found that half had taken original breeding stock from wild populations, and 42 per cent were still doing so.

Animals farmed include snakes, turtles, crocodiles and monkeys. Worst affected are species such as tigers and bears, whose body parts or secretions are valued in traditional medicine. Not only are they slow to breed, but farms can also be used to launder products from animals killed in the wild.

Wildlife farmers should have to prove the source of their animals, and penalties for breaching wildlife laws should be increased, the WCS concludes.