Archive | October 30, 2010 | Armed with Science

VIDEO: When James Bond Meets Grizzly Adams on Skis [Dispatches from Antarctica]

Filed under Education & Culture, Technology, Videos by Armed with Science on October 30, 2010 at 11:31 am {5 comments}

This is the twentieth entry in the Armed with Science series, Dispatches from Antarctica. The series features Air Force Lt. Col. Ed Vaughan’s first-hand experiences on OPERATION: DEEP FREEZE, the Defense Department’s support of National Science Foundation research in Antarctica.

16 October 2010, McMurdo Station, Antarctica: The Baslers arrive

What is a Basler? Think Antarctic retro a la Casablanca. Think James Bond meets Grizzly Adams. Think of a twin-propeller driven DC-3 from a bygone era retrofitted with modern engines and avionics. And just to make it really awesome…put it all on skis.

Baslers are decidedly cool. Any company that wants to promote rugged, classy watches, or explorer sun-goggles, or expedition class jackets, should get a Basler for their photo shoots. The only thing I don’t like about the Basler is that I’m not flying it.

Kenn Borek Air, Ltd, out of Canada, operates the DC-3T Baslers for the US Antarctic Program under contract.

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In Their Own Words: C-17 Pilots Visit McMurdo Station [Dispatches from Antarctica]

Filed under Education & Culture, Technology, Videos by Armed with Science on October 30, 2010 at 11:25 am {5 comments}

Major Bruce Cohn, C-17 Instructor Pilot, on McMurdo’s Ob Hill. (Photo: Maj Bruce Cohn/USAF)

This is the nineteenth entry in the Armed with Science series, Dispatches from Antarctica. The series features Air Force Lt. Col. Ed Vaughan’s first-hand experiences on OPERATION: DEEP FREEZE, the Defense Department’s support of National Science Foundation research in Antarctica.

15 October 2010, McMurdo Station, Antarctica: In their own words…C-17 Pilots Visit McMurdo

U.S. Air Force active duty and Reserve Airmen from the 62nd and 446th Airlift Wings at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, forward-deploy to Christchurch, New Zealand for Operation Deep Freeze each year. These Airmen are now skilled in providing inter-continental airlift to and from Antarctica in support of NSF scientific research.

In a bizarre twist, the same C-17 aircrew who fly missions to Antarctica almost never spend the night there. No matter how much “ice” experience the C-17 aircrew gain, it’s virtually all obtained in the air or on the ice runways. Compare that with Airmen from the 109th Airlift Wing, New York Air National Guard, who forward deploy to McMurdo Station, living and working on the Antarctic Continent for extended periods.

So what? Well, in order to provide C-17 aircrew a glimpse into life and science support operations at McMurdo Station, the NSF approved a new initiative this season. Under this initiative, C-17 instructor pilots spend 2-3 days at McMurdo on a space-available basis, shadowing forward-deployed military personnel. The goal of the program is to improve coordination between the Christchurch and McMurdo detachments of the 13th Air Expeditionary Group, and help C-17 aircrew build professional relationships with McMurdo weather, air traffic control, and other mission support personnel.

The following guest blog posts and video capture this unique experience in the pilots’ own words.

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Tech Talk: Small Business Innovation Research Program Contracts

Filed under Education & Culture, Technology by John Ohab on October 29, 2010 at 12:30 pm {3 comments}

Tracy Frost, program manager for ONR's Small Business Innovation Research Program, answered questions from audiences on Facebook on Oct. 27. (Photo: ONR)

Tracy Frost, program manager for ONR's Small Business Innovation Research Program, answered questions on Facebook on Oct. 27. (Photo: ONR)

The following is a transcript from the Office of Naval Research (ONR)’s online Tech Talk series. Tracy Frost, program manager for ONR’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, answered questions from audiences on Facebook on Oct. 27.

Frost talked about doing business with the Navy’s science and technology (S&T) provider, highlighting new initiatives like the Phase II.5 program, which provides additional SBIR funding opportunities beyond Phase II. Formerly, with the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division, sheofficially joined ONR in December 2007 after managing S&T projects as a detailee at ONR for more than six years.

Editors’ Note: The following transcript includes questions submitted earlier on Facebook and Twitter, and e-mailed directly to ONR.

Event Transcript

Marilyn Erwin: Very interested in understanding the specific process for securing Phase II.5 programs.

Brian Sjoberg: Are there any specific areas we should concentrate our proposal submissions?

Edmond Dougherty: Do you think there will ever be a subdivision of the SBIRs for very small companies? According to the DoD you can have hundreds of employees and still be a small business. Our company has high ambitions and great skills.. but we have just a handful of people and it is difficult to compete with companies that are so much larger.

Edmond Dougherty: We are just completing a Phase I SBIR, and as part of the final report, it appears that we need a “transition plan”. As we are somewhat outsiders we really don’t know much about transitioning technology within the DoD. How can we get smart on this fast?

Edmond Dougherty: We feel we have a lot of good ideas, and as each SBIR solicitation is published we dig though the topics hoping for matches. This is hit or miss. Is there some kind of SBIR “suggestion box” where we can actually suggest topics?

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New DoD Project Developing a “Science of Cyberspace”

Filed under Social Sciences, Technology by Armed with Science on October 28, 2010 at 11:12 am {one comment}

Dr. Carl Hunt is the project manager for a DoD project developing "The Science of Cyberspace". (Courtesy photo)

Dr. Carl Hunt is the Senior Research Director for Information Operations for Arlington, VA-based Directed Technologies, Inc., and is the Project Manager for SENDS. Dr. Hunt is a retired Army officer with extensive experience in network-based operations and defense.

Change happens at the speed of communication and nothing changes human behavior like open communication. The Internet and development of the World Wide Web has changed the way people communicate, it has changed the way they conduct commerce, it has changed the way they live their lives. Cyberspace has not changed any of the physical laws of the universe, but it has brought a new dimension and, as Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn says, for the Dept. of Defense it has brought a new domain. Now, the challenge is learning to maneuver in this new domain.

DoD’s Director of Defense Research and Engineering’s Rapid Reaction Technology Office (RRTO) has been working with the US Air Force Institute of Technology’s Center for Cyberspace Research (CCR) on a project called, “Science Enhanced Networked Domains and Secure Social Spaces” (SENDS). RRTO and CCR have supported this project since late 2009 and SENDS has recently begun posting progress on its work in a new blog called SENDS & The Science of Cyberspace.

A formal SENDS Pilot Project has been underway since June, 2010, and consists of several primary tasks that are highlighted in the blogs. One of the major tasks deals with a sophisticated modeling and simulation effort called SENDSim, which will serve as the primary experimentation environment for the project. Another significant task explores the feasibility of developing a Center for the Science of Cyberspace that will help refine future studies and experiments in cyberspace science and exploration.

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VIDEO: Repairing a Crack in the Seasonal Ice Runway [Dispatches from Antarctica]

Filed under Earth Sciences, Technology, Videos by Armed with Science on October 27, 2010 at 4:29 pm {4 comments}

This is the eighteenth entry in the Armed with Science series, Dispatches from Antarctica. The series features Air Force Lt. Col. Ed Vaughan’s first-hand experiences on OPERATION: DEEP FREEZE, the Defense Department’s support of National Science Foundation research in Antarctica.

14 October 2010, McMurdo Station, Antarctica: Repairing a crack in the seasonal ice runway—Gary Cardullo, USAP Airfield Operations Manager

Gary Cardullo is not happy today. That’s standard. As airfield manager here for over a decade, he knows his job. And he makes it his job not to be happy unless the airplanes have perfect ice and snow for takeoff and landing and parking. And with Gary’s high standards and Antarctica’s lack of cooperation, perfection is hard to come by.

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Where’s the Romance? [Dispatches from Antarctica]

Filed under Education & Culture by Armed with Science on October 27, 2010 at 4:23 pm {3 comments}

Ice crystals form a rainbow on the ice runway. (Photo: Nate Peerbolt/US Antarctic Program)

This is the seventeenth entry in the Armed with Science series, Dispatches from Antarctica. The series features Air Force Lt. Col. Ed Vaughan’s first-hand experiences on OPERATION: DEEP FREEZE, the Defense Department’s support of National Science Foundation research in Antarctica.

13 October 2010, McMurdo Station, Antarctica: Where’s the romance?

I think you are a romantic. Now this is a very romantic age, so there is no room for romantics; it calls for practical men. A hundred years ago you would have made a banker or a professor and you could have worked out your romanticism by reading fanciful tales and dreaming about what you might have been if you hadn’t the misfortune to be born into a humdrum period. But this happens to be a period when adventure and romance are part of daily existence. Naturally it takes very practical people to cope with it.

– Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) from Tunnel in the Sky (orig 1955)

Antarctica is romantic, in the classical sense of adventure and exploration. The same way there’s a romance about flying and about the sea and about space travel. It’s romantic, that is, unless you’re actually here. If you’re here, you work. I suppose the point of this dispatch is to permit me to apologize for not aptly conveying the romance from Antarctica that I often feel about Antarctica.

Through these Dispatches I’ve attempted to describe the feeling of romance for the place that I feel when I am not here. There’s an element of artificiality about it that can’t be avoided. Like my compatriots, I’m here to work; to accomplish a mission.

Most days, I wear intellectual and emotional blinders [some call compartmentalization] that permit me to focus on the task at hand. To get the job done. Allowing myself the luxury of enjoying the moment, of feeling the romance, of smelling the polar roses as it were, would necessarily undermine my progress.

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Picatinny Engineer Recognized for Service to Hispanic Community

Filed under Education & Culture by Armed with Science on October 26, 2010 at 12:53 pm {one comment}

Sam Perez, a native of Puerto Rico, has worked at ARDEC for 21 years. (Photo credit: Todd Mozes)

Mr. Samuel Perez is a Supervisory Branch Chief in the US Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ. He is an experienced Army Leader who uses his leadership abilities and character beyond the laboratory to help the Hispanic community through his membership in the United Methodist Church.

Last month, I had the privilege and honor of receiving the LATINA Style Distinguished Service Award, given to Latino military members and civilians who support the Department of Defense mission in overseas contingency operations, while also demonstrating role model qualities and core values of their respective agencies and communities.

This award is the highest recognition I’ve received in my years working in the Army, and I hope that it will inspire others to volunteer in their communities. It is interesting to see how many people all over US Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) have congratulated me, but I accept their congratulations with humbleness. Also, the news has reached my hometown in Puerto Rico through the Spanish translation of the original article by a newly created online newspaper. You never how the things you do or accomplish in your life will impact others.

ARDEC offers engineers and scientists great opportunities to use their skills and abilities in a variety of fields. In my experience, I believe the opportunities and challenges I have received throughout my career at Picatinny Arsenal have helped me to become a leader of character inside and outside the laboratory.

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