Archive | June 28, 2011 | Armed with Science

ORS-1 Imaging Satellite Scheduled For Liftoff

Filed under Earth Sciences, STEM by Carla Voorhees on June 28, 2011 at 1:51 pm {one comment}

ORS-1 is the first satellite in the DOD’s Operationally Responsive Space Office (ORS) program designed to support Combatant Command operations as an operational prototype. The payload leverages a SYERS-2 sensor, the primary imaging sensor on the U-2 reconnaissance plane. The ORS-1 payload was built by the Goodrich Corporation, who also served as prime contractor, while the spacecraft bus was built by ATK Spacecraft Systems & Services, Beltsville, Md. It includes an integrated propulsion system as well as other critical subsystems for communications, attitude control, thermal control and command and data handling. ORS-1 will provide crucial battlespace awareness supporting U.S. Central Command.

Colonel Carol P. Welsch, Acting Director of the Space Development and Test Directorate

Col. Carol P. Welsch, Acting Director of the Space Development and Test Directorate, and the mission director for ORS-1 shared some background and thoughts on the mission.

“In 2008, the Operationally Responsive Space Office approached the Space Development and Test Directorate and suggested a partnership to meet an urgent warfighter need. We knew this would be a tough challenge, but we were eager to do whatever we could to assist US Central Command. I want to thank Dr. Wegner for his confidence in the Space Development and Test Directorate. As a result of this partnership, the Space Development and Test Directorate was tasked to provide the satellite, command and control system, test capabilities, and the launch vehicle. We are immensely proud to field space capabilities supporting U.S. Central Command and our forces engaged in the fight.

“In order to meet the timelines requested by US Central Command, we tailored the Space and Missiles Systems Center’s standard approach to space acquisition to accept a higher risk posture than other than other space system acquisition programs. For example, ORS-1 uses some components which have not been qualified to standards for space flight. To mitigate some of the risk, the team introduced measures such as memory error detection and correction algorithms to help detect and repair any upsets to the on-board memory. Along the way we’ve learned many lessons in the art of rapid space acquisitions, and once ORS-1 is on-orbit, we will continue to learn how to more rapidly provide space capabilities. This combined government and contractor team has demonstrated great dedication and persistence to meet the challenge of developing a new satellite and supporting ground system in record time. (more…)

Psychology Course Prepares Military Providers for Deployment Concerns

Filed under Education & Culture by Julie Weckerlein on June 27, 2011 at 3:52 am {no comments}

By Robyn Mincher, DCoE Strategic Communications
From www.dcoe.health.mil

During the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) course, “Topics in Deployment Psychology,” a panel of five military mental health care providers spoke about their recent deployment. The discussion raised an important question on self-care while deployed: how can a provider stay mentally fit while addressing the psychological health of troops?

For Capt. (Dr.) Tracy Mayfield, a clinical psychologist with the U.S. Air Force deployed to northeast Afghanistan, she found company with the base’s working dog.

“I had to take time out from being a psychologist to have ‘me time’ and relax,” said Mayfield, who was the forward operating base psychologist for about a thousand troops. “Every Sunday, I’d take the dog for a walk. I’m a pet lover, and it really helped.”

CDP is part of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and a component center of Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE). The course, held at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence from June 7 to June 16, 2011, offered an overview of deployment issues facing service members, their families and providers, geared toward uniformed behavioral health providers from all branches of the military.

Along with the panel, the course started its second week June 13, 2011, with presentations highlighting sexual assault prevention and response, provider self-care and ethical issues in deployment settings.

Retired Lt. Col. Nate Galbreath’s presentation on sexual assault focused on topics such as encouraging bystander intervention to stop assaults, using sexual assault response coordinators when faced with a situation, psychological injury caused by trauma and the potential for the under-reporting of cases.

(more…)

JTRS Demonstrates Soldier Radio Waveform Network Between Radios From Multiple Vendors

Filed under STEM, Technology by Julie Weckerlein on June 22, 2011 at 2:39 pm {no comments}

U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Damien Burke from a convoy security element with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 1, conducts a radio check prior to a convoy. (U.S. Navy Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Chad Runge)

Did you hear about this?

The Joint Program Executive Officer (JPEO) for the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) successfully completed the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) Interoperability Quicklook laboratory test designed to investigate the capabilities of SRW to communicate real time voice and data across waveforms installed on radio platforms from multiple vendors.

This test was performed at SPAWAR Systems Center-Atlantic in Charleston, SC from 9-13 May 2011. JTRS government test engineers successfully planned, created and managed an SRW network comprised of four different types of SRW-capable JTRS radios: HMS Production Rifleman Radio (PRR) developed under government contract by the JTRS program, as well as three commercial vendors’ radios, Harris’ Falcon III (AN/PRC-117G), ITT’s Soldier Radio, and Northrup Grumman’s Software Defined Multi-Function Device.

(more…)

Breathe to Relax with Breathe2Relax

Filed under Technology by Julie Weckerlein on June 21, 2011 at 3:20 pm {no comments}

Spc. Gordon Welch, a Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Special Troops Battalion, 7th Sustainment Brigade personnel security detachment medic, takes a breath after delivering a casualty to the Kandahar Airfield hospital, Afghanistan, March 18. Photo by Staff Sgt. Alexander Burnett

One of the worst parts of a stressful situation is feeling your body start to rev up, knowing all along that remaining calm would help you deal with the situation more effectively. Nobody likes feeling out of control in a crisis.

Now there’s an app for that.

Enter Breathe2Relax; the newest smartphone app developed at the National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2).

Breathe2Relax teaches you how to use diaphragmatic breathing to relax; a skill taught to induce a calming response in widely different circumstances including the treatment of PTSD and panic attacks, smoking cessation, yoga, child birth, meditation and sniper training.

You’ve probably heard your mother say, “Just take a deep breath.” when you were distressed or upset. This advice has been around forever, and it turns out she was almost right. Taking a series of breaths can indeed have a calming effect, but it has to be the right kind of breath. Take the wrong kind of breath and you’ll end up feeling dizzy and disoriented from hyperventilation instead of calm, relaxed and focused.

Diaphragmatic breathing, sometimes called “belly breathing”, is the right kind of breath to help turn off your stress response and allow your body to relax. It’s different from shallow chest breathing which can easily lead to hyperventilation. When you breathe deeply using your diaphragm, you are able to fully fill your lungs with the least effort. You take control of your breathing so that you are inhaling and exhaling in a slow and deliberate way. The act of focusing on your breathing, having control over it, and using your diaphragm to draw breath into your lungs rather than force it, all lead to a calming response.

(more…)

Acupuncture Makes Strides in Treatment of Brain Injuries, PTSD (VIDEO)

Filed under Life Sciences, Technology, Videos by Carla Voorhees on June 20, 2011 at 2:23 pm {29 comments}

Military field physicians are using the practice of acupuncture to treat cases of mild traumatic brain injuries (mild TBI), including concussions, and cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“We think it’s important to work on these as a team and address both issues at the same time to try to get a Marine back on his feet and heading in the right direction,” said Navy Cmdr. (Dr.) Charlies Benson, a psychiatrist and surgeon with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

Navy Cmdr. Keith Stuessi, officer in charge, Concussion Restoration Care Center, Alpha Surgical Company, Combat Logistics Regiment 15 (Forward), 1st Marine Logistics Group (Forward), performs an acupuncture procedure on a Marine at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, Jan. 13. Acupuncture is being utilized as an alternative treatment to help concussed patients with relaxation, pain and difficulty sleeping. (Photo: 1st Marine Logistics Group)

Acupuncture, a form of alternative medicine, treats patients by the insertion and manipulation of needles in the body. It has been known to relieve pain, treat infertility and diseases, and prevent diseases.

Operation Stress Control and Readiness Program, a joint Navy-Marine Corps effort, embeds psychiatrists and psychologists within combat teams to provide mental health care to troops in Afghanistan. The program trains medical officers, corpsmen, chaplains, religious personnel and key leaders at the sergeant and first sergeant level to deliver basic mental health services. Troops also have the option to see physical therapists, occupational therapists, and acupuncturists at an outpatient concussion center to address physical and emotional impacts of combat-related injuries. (more…)

DARPA encourages others to look to the stars

Filed under Education & Culture, Technology by Julie Weckerlein on June 16, 2011 at 2:45 pm {one comment}

NASA picture

In 1865, Jules Verne put forward a seemingly impossible notion in From Earth to the Moon: he wrote about building a giant space gun that would rocket men to the moon. Just over a century later, the impossible became reality when Neil Armstrong took that first step onto the moon’s surface in 1969.

(more…)

Energy for the War Fighter: the DOD’s Operational Energy Strategy (VIDEO)

Filed under Technology by Julie Weckerlein on June 14, 2011 at 11:44 pm {one comment}

Maj. Sean M. Sadlier (left) of the U.S. Marine Corps Expeditionary Energy Office explains the solar power element of the Expeditionary Forward Operating Base concept to Col. Anthony Fernandez during the testing phase of this sustainable energy initiative. May 19, 2010. (by U.S. Marine Corps/Maj. Paul Greenberg)

The following was previously posted on the official White House blog by Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynne III.

Seven years ago, after leading the initial campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, General James Mattis, now the commander of U.S. Central Command, called on the Department of Defense to “unleash us from the tether of fuel.”

Just last week on June 7th, General David Petraeus, echoed that call in a memo to all U.S. Forces in Afghanistan. “Energy is the lifeblood of our warfighting capabilities,” he said, noting that high fuel use means risks for the mission and for each Service member and civilian. “We can and will do better,” he directed.

(more…)

Information Analysis Centers, Saving Money and Saving Lives

Filed under Education & Culture, STEM, Technology, Uncategorized by Julie Weckerlein on June 10, 2011 at 8:07 am {no comments}

Six-Month Blogging Campaign Increases “Friends” and Shares Stories of Success

By Christopher Zember, Deputy Director, Information Analysis Centers

This blog was shared by the Information Analysis Center (IAC) Program Management Office (PMO). It is the final blog in our 22-part series produced by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).

Six months ago, we started our very first blogging campaign. Our goal was to reach out and connect with as many people as possible. By connecting with others in the Armed with Science community, we had the opportunity to share some of our success stories and highlight the mission-critical, warfighter-centric work performed every day by the Information Analysis Centers (IACs). The past twenty blogs gave our readers a snapshot of some of the incredible work performed by the IACs. We focused on “hot topics” within the Department including: Oil Detection Sensors, Aircraft Survivability in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, MRAP Reliability, Weapons Systems, Information Assurance and so much more. But it doesn’t end there…

(more…)