Technologies

Bold new mission to asteroid belt will study Venus and seven unknown worlds

The United Arab Emirates announces plans for an ambitious journey across the solar system.

Hot on the heels of the Hope Mars mission, the United Arab Emirates has announced it will begin building another interplanetary probe for launch in 2028, with the goal of visiting Venus and seven worlds in the asteroid belt over the next 12 years.

The mission, announced Tuesday by the vice president of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, will perform a flyby of the hellacious second planet from the sun in mid-2028, swinging around the planet on its way back past Earth and toward the asteroid belt. It will be built in the next seven years, and its journey will see it rack up more than 3.6 billion kilometers (more than 2.2 billion miles).

«The UAE is determined to make a meaningful contribution to spaceexploration, scientific research and our understanding of the solarsystem,» tweeted Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, on Tuesday.

The aim of the mission will be to explore seven objects in the asteroid belt, a region of space between Mars and Jupiter stacked with millions of odd-shaped rocks that orbit the sun. Objects within the belt have been studied by space agencies, like NASA, in the past, but the UAE’s ambitious mission will aim to image seven asteroids — and then touch down on one to collect a sample.

If it can achieve all that, the UAE would become the fourth country to touch down on the surface of an asteroid. It won’t be easy.

«This mission is in the order of five times more complex than EMM,» said Sarah bint Yousif Al Amiri, the chair for the UAE Space Agency, in a press release.

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As with the Hope mission, the UAE agency will work with Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The name of the mission will be announced at a later date.

Venus has become an increasingly popular target for space missions in the past year. NASA plans to launch two spacecraft to the planet, and both India’s space agency and the European Space Agency are preparing their own probes to explore it, too.

While many of the Venus explorers have been discussed for years, there’s been plenty of hype about its potential habitability since a 2020 study discovered elevated levels of phosphine — a gas associated with life on Earth — in the cloud decks of the hothouse planet. Since publication, the findings have been disputed and the data reanalyzed, with a June 2021 study suggesting that the planet’s atmosphere is too dry to support microbial life.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 10, #533

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 10, No. 533.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition features a lot of team names, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy one to solve. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Play ball!

Green group hint: Not front.

Blue group hint: Certain NFL player.

Purple group hint: They play at Smoothie King Center.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: An AL Central player.

Green group: Words appearing before «back,» in football.

Blue group: Associated with Derrick Henry.

Purple group: New Orleans Pelicans.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is an AL Central player. The four answers are Guardian, Royal, Tiger and Twin.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is words appearing before «back,» in football. The four answers are corner, defensive, full and running.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with Derrick Henry. The four answers are Heisman, King, Ravens and Titans.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is New Orleans Pelicans. The four answers are Bey, Fears, Murphy and Queen.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, March 10

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 10.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? I’d just like to point out that the New York Times puzzle-makers love the 7-Across answer — they use it about every other week. Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Writing that lacks substance
Answer: FLUFF

6A clue: Pencil in a cosmetics bag
Answer: LINER

7A clue: ___ acid (building block of proteins)
Answer: AMINO

8A clue: Partner of services, in economics
Answer: GOODS

9A clue: Small criticism
Answer: NIT

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Warning sign in a relationship, metaphorically
Answer: FLAG

2D clue: Fancy prom ride
Answer: LIMO

3D clue: SAG-AFTRA, for one
Answer: UNION

4D clue: Luxury fashion house headquartered in Rome
Answer: FENDI

5D clue: Ground coating on a cold morning
Answer: FROST

Technologies

Australians Flock to VPNs in the Wake of Online Age-Restriction Laws

App downloads for VPN services increase sharply as websites in Australia go behind age-restriction walls.

A new set of laws in Australia requiring adult websites and app stores to age-restrict content for those under 18, and requiring AI companies to restrict chatbot offerings from displaying certain types of sensitive or adult content to minors, is apparently driving many to download Virtual Private Network apps there.

Major adult sites have closed their virtual doors to those who aren’t age-confirmed in Australia, and these changes follow a nationwide ban on social media use by teenagers and young children that went into effect in December.

According to reports from Reuters, The Guardian and others, in response to the bans, downloads of VPN-related apps, which people can use to circumvent location-based restrictions, are sharply on the rise. According to Reuters, three of the 15 most downloaded free iPhone apps in the country were VPN-related as the new laws went into effect on Monday.

Lawmakers in some regions, including the US, are well aware that people use VPNs in this way. In states such as Michigan and Wisconsin, laws are being proposed to limit or outright ban VPN use. Wisconsin’s proposed law would require adult sites to block VPN traffic, while Michigan’s proposal would ban VPN use entirely in the state.

There is also a proposal in England under consideration to ban VPN use by minors. That proposal is currently under review.