It sounds like a cause of heart burn. Instead, Boundary Layer Ingestion – or BLI – is a promising idea NASA researchers are studying to reduce fuel burn in jet engines, thus reducing emissions and the cost of operating the aircraft. At its simplest: With BLI, an airplane’s engines are located near the rear of…
Fight Over Small Cell Siting Continues as Verizon Urges FCC to Help Clear Municipal “Minefield”
Verizon urged the FCC to take action to help clear what it called a “minefield” of municipal regulations around small cell deployments ahead of 5G. In a filing with the Commission last week, Verizon asked the FCC to use its statutory authority to lay out “baseline requirements” for small cell citing. Specifically, the carrier asked…
Leidos to Develop Electro-Magnetic Technology for U.S. Air Force
Leidos was awarded contract to develop electro-magnetic technology for the U.S. Air Force, the company announced this week. The performance period of the cost-plus-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract is five years. It carries a value of $38 million, including an initial $11 million task order. Leidos said its work will primarily be performed at Kirtland Air Force…
Rookie Docs Can Work Longer, 24-Hour Shifts Under New Rules
Rookie doctors can work up to 24 hours straight under new work limits taking effect this summer — a move supporters say will enhance training and foes maintain will do just the opposite. A Chicago-based group that establishes work standards for U.S. medical school graduates has voted to eliminate a 16-hour cap for first-year residents.…
Lockheed Martin Wins $64M Contract for F-35 Work
Lockheed Martin received a $64.6 million contract to perform work on the integrated core processor used by the F-35 aircraft. The order includes services for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and international partners. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the work aims to alleviate diminishing manufacturing source constraints projected under F-35 production Lot…
Hubble Finds Young Super Star Cluster, Giant Star
NASA scientists have gotten a closer look at one of the largest stars ever discovered in a super star cluster, thanks to images from the Hubble Space Telescope. A new image from Hubble has revealed a young super star cluster called Westerlund 1, home to a gigantic star known as Westerlund 1-26. Westerlund 1 is a star…
NASA Finds Missing LRO, Chandrayaan-1 Lunar Orbiters
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said it has located its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft after disappearing for years. JPL said scientists found the spacecrafts orbiting the moon by using a new technological application found on ground-based interplanetary radar. “Finding LRO was relatively easy, as we were working with the mission’s navigators and had…
The Peculiar Tale of Super-Strong Monolith Magnets
Brainiac75 risks painful pinches and battles strong magnetic fields to test out powerful magnets intended for use in electric generators. Learn more about these monolith magnets here:
Toward ‘Valleytronic’ Devices for Data Storage or Computer Logic Systems
Faster, more efficient data storage and computer logic systems could be on the horizon thanks to a new way of tuning electronic energy levels in two-dimensional films of crystal, discovered by researchers at MIT. The discovery could ultimately pave the way for the development of so-called “valleytronic” devices, which harness the way electrons gather around…
Gearing Up to Track Space Debris
Space is filling up with junk. “It’s not like there’s a storm of metal and if you venture into space you’re going to get clobbered,” says Professor Russell Boyce, Chair of Space Engineering at UNSW Canberra. “But the risk of collisions is increasing.” The US Air Force Space Command tracks more than 20,000 pieces of…
Nanosatellites for Low-Cost Space Flight
The space flight scene is in a state of upheaval. Something along the lines of a democratisation of space is happening – at least as far as the lower orbits are concerned. For several years, numerous universities have been experimenting with so-called nanosatellites. In the coming years, they will probably experience a commercial breakthrough –…
Slowing Down an Interstellar Spacecraft at Alpha Centauri
While one of the most important challenges for future interstellar travel is to how send a probe to another stellar system relatively quickly, another issue that needs to be resolved is how to successfully slow down such a spacecraft once it gets there. Recently, two German researchers have proposed a solution addressing this problem, presenting…
ONAP is Driving Much-Needed Standards in NFV
Last month, the Linux Foundation announced the fusion of its two flagship open networking projects. Open-O (launched a year ago at Mobile World Congress by China Mobile and Huawei) will join with open source ECOMP (Enhanced Control, Orchestration, Management and Policy, led by AT&T) to form the ONAP (Open Network Automation Platform) project. Here’s why…
Why We Should Not Know Our Own Passwords
Since 2009, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have been allowed to search electronic devices carried by citizens or noncitizens as they cross the border into the United States from other countries. More recently, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly suggested this digital vetting should also include harvesting social media passwords. Kelly’s proposal prompted legal and…
NASA Mars Orbiter Tracks Back-to-Back Regional Storms
A regional dust storm currently swelling on Mars follows unusually closely on one that blossomed less than two weeks earlier and is now dissipating, as seen in daily global weather monitoring by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Images from the orbiter’s wide-angle Mars Color Imager (MARCI) show each storm growing in the Acidalia area of northern…
New Application of the Selective Laser Melting Method
Scientists of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) and Delft University of Technology developed a technology for obtaining new metal structures by selective laser melting method (additive technology of manufacturing three-dimensional objects from metal powders). Key findings of the research have been described in an article “Functionally graded Inconel 718 processed by additive…
AF Uses First Drone for C-17 Post Flight Inspection
The 412th Test Wing’s Emerging Technologies Combined Test Force used a quadcopter to conduct a maintenance inspection of the exterior of a C-17 Globemaster III here March 6, 2017. The C-17 was on loan from Joint Base Lewis-McCord, Washington. It was the first time the CTF flew a small unmanned aerial system on the flightline…
New Implants Aimed At Combating Retinal Degeneration
Preserving, improving, and restoring eyesight has been a daunting challenge that researchers haven’t shied away from, despite the obstacles it presents. The few methods that are presently available at combating conditions like retinal degeneration have been practical, but invasive to patients. The conventional solutions involve inserting an external device that embeds wires in the back…
CCA: FCC’s Auction Reserve Worked “Exactly As Intended” To Expand Spectrum Access
As the FCC’s 600 MHz incentive auction draws to a close, the Competitive Carriers Association has made it clear it’s pretty pleased with how the process has shaken out so far. In a blog post this week, CCA EVP and General Counsel Rebecca Murphy Thompson and Policy Counsel Courtney Neville said the auction’s spectrum reserve…
Rafael Completes Test Firing with Protector USV
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems completed a test firing demonstration using its Protector unmanned surface vehicle, or USV. During the demonstration, the vehicle conducted a series of launches with a variety of munitions, including the Spike missile. The event marked the first missile test firing with a fully operational, remotely-controlled Protector platform. In a video released…
Mikros Contracted for U.S. Navy Radar Support Systems
The U.S. Navy awarded Mikros Systems Corporation with an $11.5 million contract to perform engineering and technical support services for radar support systems. The three-year agreement includes engineering, product support and upgrades for Adaptive Diagnostic Electronic Portable Test sets, which are used to operate and maintain advanced radars such as the AN/SPY-1 phased array integrated…
Sierra Nevada to Continue U.S. Counter-IED Support
Sierra Nevada received a $30.9 million contract from the U.S. Navy to continue supporting the branch’s effort to counter improvised explosive devices. The contract modification tasks the company with exercising Option Year 6 for the procurement and support of AN/PLT-5 IED countermeasure devices. The AN/PLT-5 is a mobile system used by military technicians to electronically…
How Drones Are Being Used To Pollinate Flowers
With animals like honeybees seeing their numbers drop around the world due to pesticides and habitat loss, the potential ramifications are concerning. One of the most impactful effects resulting from declining honeybee numbers is pollination—the process that plants use to reproduce, which is an essential step in growing many of the fruits and vegetables we…
GOP Health Bill Would Cut CDC’s $1B Disease Fighting Fund
A proposal to replace the Obama health care law would cut out a pillar of funding for the nation’s lead public health agency, and experts say that would likely curtail programs across the country to prevent problems like lead poisoning and hospital infections. The Republican bill calls for the elimination of a $1 billion-a-year fund…
AF Revolutionizes Cybersecurity Risk Management Ensuring Mission Assurance
The Air Force Chief Information Security Office continues to lead massive change to the way the entire service manages cybersecurity and risk across the five core missions. The latest innovation is the roll-out of the completely redesigned Risk Management Framework – the formal policies and processes designed to empower Airmen to assess, manage and validate…