Video: Canada's elite military aerobatic team visit Udvar-Hazy Center

The Canadian Armed Forces’ Snowbirds flew by the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in preparation for an all-day event at the museum. Officially known as the Canadian Forces 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, they are Canada’s elite military aerobatic flight demonstration team. The team was at the Udvar-Hazy Center on Wednesday where visitors were able to get an up-close look at the Canadair CT-114 Tutors that the Snowbirds fly.

Poll: Americans select new face for Mount Rushmore

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of America's National Park System, Expedia.com commissioned a study of American attitudes toward which American president they would choose to add to Mount Rushmore, if given the chance.

The study was conducted from Feb. 26-29, and included responses from 1,039 American adults.

Americans were presented with a range of modern American presidents and asked to select the one they would choose to add to Mount Rushmore, alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the runaway winner, chosen by 29 percent of Americans.

1. Franklin D. Roosevelt - 29%
2. John F. Kennedy - 21%
3. Ronald Reagan - 19%
4. Barack Obama - 9%
5. Dwight Eisenhower – 8%
6. Harry S. Truman - 5%
7. William Clinton – 4%
8. George H.W. Bush – 3%
9. George W. Bush - 2%

Americans also were given the option of writing in the name of a famous person - not a president - who they would like to see added to the monument. The most common recommendation was Martin Luther King, Jr., who was named by 11 percent of Americans. The top five non-presidential Mount Rushmore nominees include:

1. Martin Luther King, Jr. - 11%
2. Benjamin Franklin- 7%
3. Albert Einstein - 3%
4. Jesus Christ - 2%
5. Donald Trump - 2%

Mickey Mouse ranked sixth, and Beyoncé came in eighth.

When asked which national park they consider to be their favorite, Yellowstone won the honor, cited by 27 percent of Americans. The Grand Canyon came in second, cited by 20 percent of Americans. The top five favorite American national parks are:

1. Yellowstone - 27%
2. Grand Canyon - 20%
3. Great Smoky Mountains - 18%
4. Rocky Mountain – 16%
5. Yosemite - 10%

When asked to name the "most beautiful" national park, the same five parks were cited, only in a different order.

1. Grand Canyon - 25%
2. Yellowstone - 21%
3. Yosemite – 20%
4. Great Smoky Mountains - 12%
5. Rocky Mountain – 9%

When asked which national parks landscape, monument, or feature Americans would "most like to take a selfie in front of," the top five selections were:

1. Mount Rushmore - 30%
2. Grand Canyon – 25%
3. Old Faithful - 18%
4. Lincoln Memorial – 13%
5. Great Smoky Mountains – 7%

US aerospace and defense exports expected to increase by 3.2 percent in 2016

Gross exports in the U.S. aerospace and defense sector increased by $5 billion in 2015, a 58.9 percent increase in the last five years, according to Deloitte's "U.S.Aerospace & Defense Export Competitiveness Study."

Looking forward, the U.S. aerospace and defense sector's gross exports are expected to increase by 3.2 percent in 2016. This is largely due to an increased pipeline of defense platform products announced and expected for foreign military sales by U.S. defense contractors

"The U.S. aerospace and defense sector was the largest contributor to America's net exports during the 2010 to 2015 period," said Tom Captain, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP. “The sector is also a top employer, taxpayer and contributor to the nation's gross domestic product, making it key to U.S. manufacturing competitiveness."

During the 2010 to 2015 period analyzed in the survey, the U.S. aerospace and defense sector was responsible for the following:

• Sector accounted for 9.5 percent of total U.S. exports in 2015, with the sector's contribution increasing from 7.1 percent of total exports in 2010.
• U.S. accounted for 33 percent of global defense exports in 2015.
• Total aerospace and defense gross exports in 2015 were $143.3 billion, a significant increase of 58.9 percent over the last five years.
• China was the largest aerospace and defense export market for the U.S. in 2015, followed by the U.K. and France.

The top five exporting states - Washington, California, Connecticut, Texas and Georgia - accounted for about 61 percent of the total aerospace and defense sector exports in 2015. Washington state also showed a strong 109.4 percent increase in exports in 2015 compared to 2010 as the state that continues to have the largest presence in the commercial aircraft manufacturing subsector.

'Dark web,' a realm of the Internet unmonitored and anonymous

What is believed to be the first ever comprehensive report on the 'dark web' has been published by Intelliagg. Intelliagg monitors, collects and aggregates intelligence about organizations and individuals that could pose a threat to their clients. Although partial efforts to map the dark web have been attempted before, Intelliagg and Darksum are the first to employ hard data to paint a comprehensive picture of its contents. The report

accurately maps the dark web and offers valuable insights into the poorly understood realm of cyberspace.

Intelliagg found that, despite its reputation, only 48 percent of the sites on the dark web are illegal. Drugs featured 4 percent of the time, whereas weapons and pornography-fetish come up at less than 2 percent collectively. Leaked data (28 percent) and financial fraud (12 percent). Perhaps not surprisingly, the vast majority of information is in English (76 percent). German and Chinese are next at 4 percent and 3.7 percent respectively.

The most discernible differences between the Internet and the dark web lie in anonymity and size. The dark web is much smaller than commonly thought, a mere 30,000 sites - a small fraction of the size of the Internet. The Internet has a protective monitoring system that can block and remove illegal or harmful websites and has the capability to identify users. By its very nature, the dark web depends on its anonymity. Users are unidentifiable and untraceable, websites are hard to find, unless you're in 'the know', and sites on the dark web cannot be reached without the use of specialized encryption software.

Intelliagg's research has identified a number of serious security threats. These include a major Western democracy, where it is possible to view private addresses, social security numbers and photos of key government personnel, policemen, judges and even the secret service. It is then just a click away to find a hit man and a menu of their fees. Intelliagg have forwarded these findings to the relevant government's security services.

The research also exposed commercial risks, such as employees of banks advertising their services, such as laundering money, to interested bidders. This is a recurring problem that has strong links to organized crime rings.

A spokesman from Intelliagg explained; "The dark web is renowned for illicit and illegal trade, unmonitored and anonymous. Not any more. We have successfully penetrated into the darkest parts using specialist software and our expertise. We are now using this information to protect companies, governments and individuals.”

Video: Student scientists help NASA build spacecraft to explore asteroid

College students in Boston are getting the chance to help NASA explore an asteroid. These student scientists have built an instrument called REXIS, which will fly on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft that is scheduled to launch later this year. This video puts a spotlight on a group of these students and their experience on the REXIS project.

California space factory to step up production to hundreds of satellites each year

Millennium Space Systems has officially broken ground on Phase-3 of its manufacturing & production plan, building out an additional 35,000 square feet at its existing spacecraft factory in El Segundo, Calif., located two miles south of LAX and adjacent to the Los Angeles Air Force Base and the Aerospace Corporation. The expansion, anticipated to be completed by mid-summer of this year, also encompasses additional space to broaden the company's existing onsite mission operations, rapid prototyping, internal research and development laboratories and high-tech workspace.

Stan Dubyn, Millennium's Chairman & CEO, commented, "with this Phase-3 facility expansion, we're putting into place the additional manufacturing & production processes and infrastructure to build hundreds of satellites each year, sparked by the work started with us by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, on the SeeMe Program, where the demand was to provide a sustaining capability to build 24 satellites on 90-day call-ups. We just hit our second year at the new spacecraft factory - this next big step adds to our capacity to continue designing, manufacturing, testing, delivering, and operating a wide range of satellites and components from our ALTAIR and AQUILA platform lines."

UH-60A Black Hawk helicopter sales announcement

The U.S. Army Contracting Command-Redstone announced Friday they are putting another UH-60A helicopter up for sale on behalf of The Utility Helicopters Project Management Office, Black Hawk Exchange and Sales Team (BEST) Program.

Interested buyers have 15 days to indicate their desire to purchase the aircraft and arrange satisfactory arrangements for payment, pickup, handling, and transportation charges. Payment must be made within 30 calendar days after purchase.

The UH-60A Black Hawk (tail number 80-23506) is located at the BEST Aircraft Consolidation Facility in Huntsville, Ala.

Past UH-60A sales:

July 12, 2014 - Army Black Hawk helicopter up for sale

June 9, 2015 - Four US Army UH-60A helicopters up for sale