A research satellite exploring Mars suddenly rebooted and went into “safe” mode recently but is expected to return to normal operations next week. Jim Erickson the project manager for NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, stated  that researchers are doing final reviews to try and figure out the cause of the malfunction prior to going through the extended and intricate process necessary to bring the spacecraft back to normal mode.

Erickson stated the spacecraft does not appear to have suffered any damage. However, the switch to safe mode was triggered by a high power load indication. Therefore, it either did detect an exceptionally high load, or a temporary bug caused it to interpret there was a high load when there really wasn’t. The latter may have been the result of a charged particle such as a cosmic ray or similar particle from the sun hitting the circuit that measures the load on the power source. The cause, however, may never be known for certain.

The orbiter, which was launched in August 2005, has instruments that conduct close-up photography of the Martian surface, look for subsurface water, analyze minerals, trace the quantities of dust and water distributed in the atmosphere, and monitor daily global weather on the planet. The mission is to be completed on December 31, 2010.

A woman who described herself as gay in her account profile was prohibited from participating at the XBOX Live, Microsoft’s online gaming and entertainment service. The unnamed woman had stated she was harassed by numerous players, who actually would monitor her while she was playing games and let other players know to report her to Microsoft since they did not wish for their kids to experience “that crap.” The woman’s account was subsequently suspended and she stated Microsoft informed her that other gamers had perceived her sexual orientation to be “offensive,” This is not the first time a video gamer was removed due to their sexual orientation. A male whose real name was “Richard Gaywood” was suspended since the word “gay” was part of his last name.

Jack Straw, who as the British home secretary in the past headed a National Hi-Tech Crime Unit to crack down on computer hackers, had himself become victimized by Nigerian Internet fraudsters. The crooks managed to gain access to a Hotmail account that Straw utilized to answer questions from voters in his Blackburn constituency. The password was divulged when Straw answered a fake email saying that the email account would be suspended unless a reply was given.

Mistakenly, a staff member in Straw’s office fell for the scam and sent a reply last Thursday. This provided the fraudsters enough sensitiveinformation to hack into the account and learn the  the names of hundreds of Straw’s contacts in his Hotmail address book, from Labour party members to council bosses. Subsequently, fake emails with the official heading “The Right Hon Jack Straw MP” began being sent around Blackburn. Bewildered voters were reading a personal plea from the Justice Secretary for help after finding himself marooned while visiting Lagos, Nigeria’s capital, for a project called Empowering Youth To Fight Racism.