Space junk piles up into threat to future launches

A BURGEONING blizzard of space debris is going to have a major impact on the future economics of space flight.

That was the prediction made this week by Hugh Lewis of the University of Southampton, UK, at the European Air and Space Conference in Manchester. His projections indicate that the number of close encounters between objects in orbit will rise 50 per cent in the next decade, and quadruple by 2059. Countermeasures will add greatly to the cost of future missions.

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Navy to increase broadband speed tenfold

The Navy is about to install new satellite technology that will increase bandwidth by up to 10 times what is currently available on board ships.

The new terminals will provide frigates, cruisers and destroyers with access to high-speed Internet, video and other broadband services. The terminals are part of the Commercial Broadband Satellite Program's Unit Level Variant program.

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Stealthy Nanoparticles Attack Cancer Cells

Scientists at BIND have shown that their nanoparticles--which are not only infused with drugs but also enrobed in cancer-targeting proteins--can better stop the growth of prostate, breast and lung tumors in rodents.

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Cryptographic Voting System

Scantegrity is an open source election verification technology for optical scan voting systems. It uses privacy preserving confirmation numbers to allow each voter to verify her vote is counted. The confirmation numbers also allow anyone to verify that all the votes were counted correctly.

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Portable 3-D laser technology

Z Corporation introduced the world’s most affordable portable 3D laser scanner, providing high-resolution 3D data capture to a broad base of users at an economical price.

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Spacesuits with artificial intelligence may look for life on Mars

Astronauts may in future be wearing spacesuits equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) and digital eyes, turning them into what the researchers call cyborg astrobiologists.

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Tiny injector to speed development of new, safer, cheaper drugs

It's no bigger than a stamp packet but it has the potential to allow rapid development of a new generation of drugs and genetic engineering organisms, and to better control in-vitro fertilization.

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Boeing Delivers Upgrades for USAF ICBM Security System

The Boeing Company today announced that it has delivered upgraded cryptography devices to Northrop Grumman Corporation and the U.S. Air Force for the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) system. The devices provide additional communications security between the missile system's launch control centers and launch facilities.

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Obama Announces Winners of Smart-Grid Stimulus

President Barack Obama spoke at Florida Power and Light’s new DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center about $3.4 billion in stimulus money going to smart-grid projects that will help link renewables to consumers.

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Silk-Silicon Implantable Electronics Conform to Tissues, Then Melt Away

In the quest to make our bodies ever more bionic, researchers have now developed implantable silicon-silk electronics that almost dissolve completely inside the body, leaving behind nanocircuitry that could be used for improved electrical interfaces for nervous system tissues or photonic tattoos that display blood-sugar readouts on the skin’s surface.

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US Navy chief favors speeding up unmanned programs

Wants to speed up autonomous underwater systems

Navy unmanned combat plane could move out sooner

The U.S. Navy's top admiral said on Monday he hoped to speed up work on unmanned weapons systems, including underwater vehicles and an unmanned combat plane being developed by Northrop Grumman Corp.

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Laser-Powered Elevator to Space Hits Some Snags

A laser-powered robot failed to complete its climb up a long cable dangling from a helicopter Wednesday in a $2 million competition to test the potential reality of the science fiction concept of space elevators.

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Chilton: U.S. Needs More Ready-to-Launch Satellites

U.S. Strategic Command chief Gen. Kevin Chilton said Nov. 3 he would give up new, state-of-the-art space systems to swell the number of satellites the military could launch as needs arise.

The U.S military's space community has become focused on managing programs and budgets "to capability gaps" rather than ensuring there are ample space systems "in the barn" ready to be placed on orbit.

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BAE Systems to Support US Air Force Nuclear Treaty Monitoring

BAE Systems received a contract worth up to $20 million to support the US Air Force global monitoring for nuclear treaty compliance.

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