BROAD STRATEGIC APPRAISALS: Thursday, October 15, 2009

Thursday, October 15, 2009

'Look Ma, No Parachute!' Lunar Lander Floats on Electric-blue Jets

So far, the prototype has passed all tests with flying colors: "Once we start a test, it's all autonomous," Mulac continues. "An onboard computer directs the thrusters. The flight profile is pre-programmed. We tell the craft where to go and it goes there on its own."

Speed of Thought-to-Speech Traced in Brain

In just 600 milliseconds, the human brain can think of a word, apply the rules of grammar to it and send it to the mouth to be spoken. For the first time, researchers have traced this lightning-fast sequence and broken it down into distinct steps.

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High-Speed 'Other' Internet Goes Global

A super high-speed global Internet devoted solely to science and education has just expanded to include half the countries of the world, and yes, you at home can be jealous.

The Taj network, funded by the National Science Foundation, now connects India, Singapore, Vietnam and Egypt to the larger Global Ring Network for Advanced Application Development (GLORIAD) global infrastructure, and "dramatically improves existing U.S. network links with China and the Nordic region," according to an NSF statement.

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Unmanned Helicopter Flies with Foliage-Penetrating Radar

The Boeing A160T Hummingbird unmanned helicopter successfully completed 20 test flights from Aug. 31 to Oct. 8 with the Foliage Penetration Reconnaissance, Surveillance, Tracking and Engagement Radar (FORESTER). The tests, conducted at Fort Stewart, Ga., validated the radar-carrying A160T's flight characteristics with more than 50 hours of flying time.

ATK Delivers NASA a Crew Module Structure Made of Composite Materials

Alliant Techsystems has delivered a technological first to NASA: a full-scale, crew module structure made of composite materials. The Composite Crew Module (CCM) is a unique capsule design that has the potential to reduce the overall weight of future manned launch vehicles.

Composite structures reduce launch costs through weight savings and are presently used on a variety of space launch vehicles and aerospace structures. However, the CCM is unique in that it was specifically designed and built to resemble a space capsule.

Stem Cells from Fat Used to Grow Teen's Missing Facial Bones

Stem cells so far have been used to mend tissues ranging from damaged hearts to collapsed tracheas. Now the multifaceted cells have proved successful at regrowing bone in humans. In the first procedure of its kind, doctors at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center replaced a 14-year-old boy's missing cheekbones—in part by repurposing stem cells from his own body.

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Beating Heart Tissue from Stem Cells

In a study in the journal Science, researchers explain how they used mouse embryonic stem cells and microchip technology to create heart muscle tissue that actually beats.

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US Special Forces Field-Testing Plasma Knife

The knife, whose blade consists of heated, ionized gas, cuts through flesh just as easily a steel scalpel, but also cauterizes the wound. By sealing off the damaged flesh, the plasma knife protects against infection, and stops the bleeding that imperils the wounded soldier.

Nano antennas open perspective for terabit networks

A research team at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Karlsruhe, Germany) has created antennas for multi-terahertz frequencies. The devices could form a cornerstone of extremely powerful future data networks.

Quantum computer chips now 1 step closer to reality

In the quest for smaller, faster computer chips, researchers are increasingly turning to quantum mechanics -- the exotic physics of the small. The problem: the manufacturing techniques required to make quantum devices have been equally exotic. That is, until now.

Researchers at Ohio State University have discovered a way to make quantum devices using technology common to the chip-making industry today. This work might one day enable faster, low-power computer chips. It could also lead to high-resolution cameras for security and public safety, and cameras that provide clear vision through bad weather.

Apple patent shows new battery charging technology

Three patent requests made by Apple and published by the US Patent and Trademark office show hints of plans for intelligent charging of universal batteries, making Apple batteries last longer, waste less energy, and be recycled more efficiently.

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New Schemes for Powering Processors

In an effort to keep power consumption reasonable and maintain constant power dissipation, chipmakers have been moving their circuits to lower-voltage requirements, which these days are about 1 volt. But supplying such low voltage to a chip from an off-chip source requires increasing the input current to more than 100 amperes per microprocessor. Carrying such high currents around the chip on copper interconnects leads to high conductive power losses. It also means that the majority of input/output pins—as many as 70 percent—must be devoted to power distribution, leaving few available for transmitting actual data.

Korea to Start Developing Bombs that Knock Out Electricity

Korea plans to start developing bombs with carbon fiber filaments that can knock out the electricity of enemy bases, its top arms research institute said Thursday, Yonhap reported.

In a report presented to a parliamentary inspection of defense affairs, the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) said the prototype of a carbon fiber bomb will be created next year.

Typhoon Thrust Vectoring Engine

Eurojet, manufacturer of the EJ200 engine that powers the Eurofighter Typhoon, is aiming to offer a thrust-vectoring upgrade to the aircraft's two EJ200 engines. The company claims that equipping Typhoon with thrust-vectoring nozzles could result in air forces increasing operational efficiency and effectiveness of the swing-role combat jet.

Bomb Technicians Lead Fight Against IEDs

Airmen on the ground in explosive ordnance disposal units are scattered across Afghanistan in teams, searching for and dismantling explosive devices before they can harm anyone. They use unique tools, from multi-million-dollar robots and mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles to water and plastic bottles -- anything that can be used is being used -- to defeat these threats.

Natural nukes may have crippled early life

Ancient nuclear reactors buried in lake and shallow ocean sediments may have cooked early microbes, according to a new study. And radiation from the deposits could have delayed the onset of our modern-day, oxygen-rich atmosphere, and even had a hand in shaping the genetics of primordial life.

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Lockheed envisions leasing spy plane fleet worldwide

Lockheed Martin has identified a possible new business model in the global market for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft: leasing platforms that carry reconfigurable suites of multi-intelligence payloads.

The strategy is based on Lockheed's airborne multi-intelligence laboratory, a company-owned Gulfstream III (G-III) modified to carry three sensors - electro-optical/infrared cameras, low- and high-band signals receivers and a synthetic aperture radar - and an on-board processing system.

This is Not Your Father’s Parachute: US Army Replaces 1950s-Vintage Chute

The US Army has undertaken a complete redesign of its T-10 parachute, which it has used since the 1950s. The new T-11 parachute has a new square design and a number of advantages over the T-10: a larger canopy, slower descent rate, and greater carrying capacity.

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