Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories recently launched a bus into space. Not the kind with wheels that go round and round, but the kind of device that links electronic devices (a USB cable, short for “universal serial bus,” is one common example). The bus was among 16 total experiments aboard two sounding rockets that were launched as…

A test launch for a hypersonic weapon — a long-range missile that flies a mile per second and faster — takes weeks of planning. So, while the U.S. and other states are racing to deploy hypersonic technologies, it remains uncertain how useful the systems will be against urgent, mobile or evolving threats. Sandia National Laboratories,…

An electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, emitted by a nuclear weapon exploded high above the United States could disable the electronic circuits of many devices vital to military defense and modern living. These could include complicated weapon systems as well as phones, laptops, credit cards and car computers. Also in trouble might be home appliances, gas…

It’s about speed, and Sandia National Laboratories, with a hypersonic wind tunnel and advanced laser diagnostic technology, is in an excellent position to help U.S. defense agencies understand the physics associated with aircraft flying five times the speed of sound. With potential adversaries reporting successes in their own programs to develop aircraft that can be…

A new rocket program could help cut research and development time for new weapons systems from as many as 15 years to less than five. Sandia National Laboratories developed the new program, called the High Operational Tempo Sounding Rocket Program, or HOT SHOT, and integrated it for its first launch earlier this year under the…

Sandia National Laboratories helped design the first generation of fueling stations for hydrogen-powered cars so that they’re as safe as conventional gas stations. Now, Sandia is working to do the same for the next generation of hydrogen stations. To keep up with growing demand for hydrogen fuel, retailers need to build many more fueling stations. This expansion…

Along with flying cars and instantaneous teleportation, smart bridges, roads and subway lines that can send out warnings when they’re damaged are staples of futuristic transportation systems in science fiction. Sandia National Laboratories has worked with Structural Monitoring Systems PLC, a U.K.-based manufacturer of structural health monitoring sensors, for over 15 years to turn this science fiction…

Sandia National Laboratories is using its solar tower to help assess the impact of extreme temperature changes on materials. The tests, now in their second year, take advantage of the ability of Sandia’s National Solar Thermal Test Facility to simulate a very rapid increase in temperature followed by an equally rapid decrease. The testing is for the…

Today, with 3-D printing, you can make almost anything in a matter of hours. However, making sure that part works reliably takes weeks or even months. Until now. Sandia National Laboratories has designed and built a six-sided work cell, similar to a circular desk, with a commercial robot at its center that conducts high-throughput testing…

Research at Sandia National Laboratories has identified a major obstacle to advancing solid-state lithium-ion battery performance in small electronics: the flow of lithium ions across battery interfaces. Sandia’s three-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development project investigated the nanoscale chemistry of solid-state batteries, focusing on the region where electrodes and electrolytes make contact. Most commercial lithium-ion batteries contain a…

The Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky once postulated that the devil no longer employs fire and brimstone but instead simply tells you what you want to hear. Sandia National Laboratories cyber researchers go with that second option when it comes to foiling a hacker. Rather than simply blocking a discovered intruder, Vince Urias, Will Stout and…

Can fatigue be predicted? Can life-threatening fatigue be differentiated from recoverable fatigue? A team of researchers led by Sandia National Laboratories is seeking answers to these questions through the Rim-to-Rim Wearables at the Canyon for Health, or R2R WATCH, study, a collaboration with the University of New Mexico and the National Park Service and funded…

Sandia National Laboratories has successfully demonstrated a new, more environmentally friendly method to test a rocket part to ensure its avionics can withstand the shock from stage separation during flight. The new method — called the Alternative Pyroshock Test — used a nitrogen-powered gas gun to shoot a 100-pound steel projectile into a steel resonant…

Last week, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories flew a tethered balloon and an unmanned aerial system, colloquially known as a drone, together for the first time to get Arctic atmospheric temperatures with better location control than ever before. In addition to providing more precise data for weather and climate models, being able to effectively operate UASs…

Sandia National Laboratories and a commercial firm have designed a drilling tool that will withstand the heat of geothermal drilling. The downhole hammer attaches to the end of a column of drill pipe and cuts through rock with a rapid hammering action similar to that of a jackhammer. Downhole hammers are not new — the…

On the chilling list of terrorist tactics, suicide bombing is at the top. Between 1981 and 2015, an estimated 5,000 such attacks occurred in more than 40 countries, killing about 50,000 people. The global rate grew from three a year in the 1980s to one a month in the 1990s to one a week from…

Components housed in stainless steel for protection against extreme environments seen in the aerospace and defense industries require paths for electricity to power them and communicate with them. Those paths in turn need a reliable insulation seal to prevent contact with the metal case that could short out the power and communication lines. Strong bonds…

On the chilling list of terrorist tactics, suicide bombing is at the top. Between 1981 and 2015, an estimated 5,000 such attacks occurred in more than 40 countries, killing about 50,000 people. The global rate grew from three a year in the 1980s to one a month in the 1990s to one a week from…

Researcher David Moore holds a rectangle of hard carbon composite material, smooth with a faint woven pattern on its surface. The sample shows normal wear and tear until he turns it over to reveal a circular impact mark with cracks radiating from it. The question for Moore, his Sandia National Laboratories colleague Timothy Briggs in…

After a disaster or national tragedy, bits of information often are found afterward among vast amounts of available data that might have mitigated or even prevented what happened, had they been recognized ahead of time. In this information age, national security analysts often find themselves searching for a needle in a haystack. The available data…

Sandia National Laboratories geochemist Mark Rigali and his colleagues are developing and deploying apatite-based technologies to protect groundwater at sites contaminated by radionuclides and heavy metals. Apatite is currently being used at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State and the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, “and, there are numerous other potential…

A critical area of security is ensuring that something inside a container stays there. Sandia National Laboratories has made the job easier with an innovative technology that detects signs of tampering. “In our world, one advance by an adversary can make a security technology obsolete overnight,” said Dianna Blair, manager of Sandia’s Global Technology Engagement,…

Transportation accidents, such as trucks crashing on a highway or rockets failing on a launch pad, can create catastrophic fires. It’s important to understand how burning droplets of fuel are generated and behave in those extreme cases, so Sandia National Laboratories researchers have developed 3-D measurement techniques based on digital in-line holography. Digital in-line holography,…

Sandia National Laboratories has begun making silicon wafers for three nuclear weapon modernization programs, the largest production series in the history of its Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Applications complex. MESA’s silicon fab in October began producing base wafers for Application-Specific Integrated Circuits for the B61-12 Life Extension Program, W88 Alteration 370 and W87 Mk21 Fuze…

Growing up in Wichita, Kansas, Jon Madison had a strong sense of who he was and where he was going. “I wasn’t an average kid,” he said. “Whatever my peers were doing, chances are I wasn’t doing it. After school and weekends I helped with my family’s business. When it came to performing academically and…