The new Human Electro-Muscular Incapacitation (HEMI) projectile is being developed for the Pentagon by Taser International under a $2.5 million contract and should be ready for prototype testing some time after the new year.
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Monday, November 2, 2009
Star power comes to Earth
Though not yet running at full capacity, the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA) is now operational. It has taken 15 years and $3.5 billion to build the huge 192-beam laser system, which is now on a gradual ramp toward its full design output of 1.8 MJ of ultraviolet pulse energy.
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Raytheon Tests JSOW-ER As Anti-Ship Weapon
Raytheon has conducted the first free-flight test of a powered, extended-range version of its Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW-ER) as the U.S. Navy prepares to begin an analysis of alternatives (AOA) for anti-ship missiles to replace the Harpoon.
Satellite Is New Missile Attack Warning System
A new satellite that is set to provide early warning of missile attacks has entered a more advanced test stage.
The Space Based Infrared System (SBIS) geo-synchronous spacecraft, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, will provide an early warning system against missiles being launched. The satellite is due for launch in 2012.
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Army Develops ‘Ghost’ Imaging to Aid on Battlefield
Physicists at the Army Research Laboratory are bringing quantum “ghost” imaging from the realm of scientific curiosity to practical reality.
Ghost imaging is a technique that allows a high-resolution camera to produce an image of an object that the camera itself cannot see.
Decoding of pig DNA could lead to new vaccine
An international group of scientists has decoded the DNA of the domestic pig, research that may one day prove useful in finding new treatments for both pigs and people, and perhaps aid in efforts for a new swine flu vaccine for pigs.
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LockMart Flight Tests For Paveway II Plus Laser Guided Bombs
Lockheed Martin has successfully completed the first in a series of flight tests of the paveway II Plus Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) guidance kit. The paveway II Plus LGB uses an enhanced laser guidance package, significantly improving precision when compared to existing paveway II LGBs.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Slim, warm superconductors promise faster electronics
The thinnest superconductor yet is a layer of copper oxide material less than a nanometre thick. The feat suggests a new possible route to faster electronic components.
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MIT's Affective Intelligent Driving Agent
A dashboard-mounted AI system that collects environmental data, such as local events, traffic and gas stations, and combines it with a careful analysis of your driving habits and style to make helpful suggestions and note points of interest.
How Terahertz Waves Tear Apart DNA
Great things are expected of terahertz waves, the radiation that fills the slot in the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and the infrared. Terahertz waves pass through non-conducting materials such as clothes , paper, wood and brick and so cameras sensitive to them can peer inside envelopes, into living rooms and "frisk" people at distance.
'Blue energy' seems feasible and offers considerable benefits
Generating energy on a large scale by mixing salt and fresh water is both technically possible and practical. The worldwide potential for this clean form of energy - 'blue energy' or 'blue electricity' - is enormous. However, it will be necessary to work actively on several essential technological developments and to invest heavily in large-scale trials.
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2 parachutes malfunctioned in NASA test flight
Two of three parachutes malfunctioned in the test flight of a prototype moon rocket earlier this week, causing major damage to the booster, NASA said Friday.
A Mars Rover Named 'Curiosity'
Dust cloaks some fascinating tales in other places, too. NASA scientists will soon brush the dust off some Martian rocks that are practically bursting their seams to give their lively account of the red planet's past. The Mars Science Lab -- aptly named "Curiosity" -- is heading up there in 2011 to read the diary of Mars.
US boots up new unified cybersecurity center
The National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) brings together various government organizations responsible for protecting cyber networks and infrastructure and private sector partners.
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Superhydrophobic surfaces reduce drag
Microscopic features on a wall can have an enormous influence on macroscopic flows along it.
Researchers led by Jonathan Rothstein tailored the microscale structure of a hydrophobic material—polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), akin to the rubbery polymer used to caulk bathtubs—to create air pockets that allow the flow to “slip” (shear free) at the liquid–air interface. The greater the area covered by air pockets, the greater the overall reduction in shear stress.
LM Starts Integrated Testing Of 2nd Missile Warning Satellite
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] announced today that the second Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous orbit (GEO-2) spacecraft is progressing through a series of key tests that will demonstrate the integrated satellite's readiness to enter the critical environmental test phase in preparation for launch.
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Lighter sentence for murderer with 'bad genes'
An Italian court has cut the sentence given to a convicted murderer by a year because he has genes linked to violent behaviour — the first time that behavioural genetics has affected a sentence passed by a European court. But researchers contacted by Nature have questioned whether the decision was based on sound science.
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Windows 7 app turns laptop into Wi-Fi access point
A developer has found an unfinished feature of Windows 7 that turns any laptop into a wireless access point, allowing other devices to share the connection without special software.
Chip Design Thwarts Sneak Attack on Data
Cache architecture harnesses the power of randomization.
The new technology, called Newcache, developed at Princeton University by electrical engineering professor Ruby Lee and her graduate student, Zhenghong Wang, foils these so-called cache side-channel attacks by randomizing where data is stored in the cache.
Airbag RPG Countermeasure
Textron Defense Systems' Tactical Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) Airbag Protection System, (TRAPS), has recently completed the first phase of testing at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center (EMRTC) in Socorro, New Mexico.
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U.S. Navy Facing Submarine Challenges
Donald highlighted several issues of concern, including recruiting, training and retention of “highly competent operators.” The training piece is particularly tough, he added, noting aging facilities and a backlog of students, which has resulted in a diminished flow of qualified operators to the fleet.
U.S. Seeks to Counter Enemy’s ‘Weapon of Choice’
The Defense Department expects U.S. forces in Afghanistan to continue to be targeted by improvised explosive devices -- which have claimed more lives there than any other weapon -- while it seeks ways to counter the threat, officials said.
Rocketeers take lead in $1 million race
Masten Space Systems' Xoie rocket prototype has apparently taken the lead in a nail-biting race for a million-dollar prize from NASA.
The Masten team's "try, try again" effort at California's Mojave Air and Space Port was aimed at winning the top prize in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge's Level 2 contest.
The Masten team's "try, try again" effort at California's Mojave Air and Space Port was aimed at winning the top prize in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge's Level 2 contest.
Russian submarine fails to launch troubled missile: report
Russia's latest test of its next-generation Bulava missile was aborted when a submarine failed to carry out the launch, in a fresh setback for the project, the Interfax news agency reported Thursday.
Harris to Supply US Army With Falcon-III PRC-117G Radios
Harris Corp recently received a basic purchasing agreement contract worth up to $419 million to supply the US Army with Falcon III AN/PRC-117G multiband tactical manpack radios, and vehicular power-amplifier adapter systems.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Pinning down superconductivity to a single layer
Using precision techniques for making superconducting thin films layer-by-layer, physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified a single layer responsible for one such material's ability to become superconducting, i.e., carry electrical current with no energy loss. The technique, described in the October 30, 2009, issue of Science, could be used to engineer ultrathin films with "tunable" superconductivity for higher-efficiency electronic devices.
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Intel Claims Memory Research Milestone
Intel (NSDQ: INTC) and Numonyx say they have achieved a research milestone in computer memory that could one day lead to a less expensive and higher-performing alternative to the technology used today.
The accomplishment stems from the work the two companies have been doing together on a type of non-volatile memory called phase-change memory, or PCM. The research partners say they have successfully stacked multiple layers of PCM arrays within a single 64 Mb die.
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The accomplishment stems from the work the two companies have been doing together on a type of non-volatile memory called phase-change memory, or PCM. The research partners say they have successfully stacked multiple layers of PCM arrays within a single 64 Mb die.
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Fermi Telescope Caps its 1st Year with a Glimpse of Space-Time
During its first year of operations, NASA's Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope mapped the extreme sky with unprecedented resolution and sensitivity. It captured more than one thousand discrete sources of gamma rays -- the highest-energy form of light. Capping these achievements was a measurement that provided rare experimental evidence about the very structure of space and time, unified as space-time in Einstein's theories.
Raytheon Awarded More Than $100 Million For New Missile Defense System
Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) was awarded two contracts worth in excess of $100 million by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. to design and develop the David's Sling Weapon System.
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Metamaterials Arrive in Cellphones
The quest to build more-powerful multiband mobile handsets has gotten a boost from a relatively new class of materials. Called metamaterials, they arespecifically engineered to have properties that do not occur naturally, such as the ability to bend light the wrong way. For manufacturers of mobile devices, recent advances in metamaterials promise a way to shrink size while still retaining multiband functionality.
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