Archive | Featured | Armed with Science

The View From Above

Filed under Featured, Space by jtozer on May 24, 2013 at 7:14 am {no comments}

The universe.

It’s something that has been mystifying and enchanting humans since the moment we looked up into the night sky. So many questions come to mind when we look up into that black ribbon of night be-speckled by twinkling unknowns. The inquisitive human race is constantly reaching out to the silence of space in search of answers.

SO. MUCH. SPACE. (Credit: NASA; ESA; G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch, University of California, Santa Cruz; R. Bouwens, Leiden University; and the HUDF09 Team)

And in the last 100 years, we’re finally making some headway.

As I’ve mentioned before, In 1957, the Soviet Union surprised the world with their launch of Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial Earth satellite. Shortly after that (in 1958), President Eisenhower founded the Advanced Research Projects Agency – what we now know as DARPA. It’s mission? To be at the forefront of scientific and technological development. Basically, he wanted to make sure that there would be no more, ahem, surprises.

Neil Armstrong's footprint still remains on the lunar surface. (Photo credit: NASA)

Neil Armstrong’s footprint on the lunar surface. (Photo credit: NASA)

Kennedy made history when he declared that we would put a man on the moon before the 1960s were over. Sure enough, we made some giant leaps for mankind when Neil Armstrong left his footprint in history on the lunar surface.

But for all of this brilliant headway, the human experience in space is only just scratching the surface. Luckily that’s an itch we love to scratch.

Since then we’ve built shuttles, space stations, amazing telescopes, satellites, GPS systems, landed a robot on the surface of Mars and more. Space is the final frontier, and for those of us still bound by the laws of gravity here on Earth, many of us long for the understanding if not the actual experience of space travel.

So imagine how exciting it is to shake hands with a man who has actually been to space.

His name is Kevin Ford, and I think I’ll let him introduce himself to you.

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The Unmanned Way Of Warfare

Filed under Featured, Robots, Technology by jtozer on May 17, 2013 at 7:48 am {no comments}

I think we need to come to terms with the fact that the age of AI is upon us.

From the indifferent-yet-dulcet tones of Siri, to the soda machine robot that lets you pick grape-cream-diet-vanilla-pepper, these so-called intelligent machines are taking a larger part in the way we live our lives.

The same can be said for modern warfare.

Imagine the noise – or lack thereof – that these things would make. (Graphic illustration from www.airpower.au.af.mil)

I’m talking about remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The use of these cool flying robots is nothing new per se, but the advancement of an unmanned fleet is becoming more and more of a reality.

So will we see legions of flying robots patrolling the skies?

So glad you asked…

Air Force Lt. Col. Peter Garretson is the Division Chief for Air Force Irregular Warfare Strategy, Plans and Policy (and previously the Chief of Future Science and Technology Exploration for Air Force Strategic Planning). Recently he published a paper titled A Range-Balanced Force, An Alternate Force Structure Adapted to New Defense Priorities. The topic on hand was, you guessed it, RPAs and UAVs.

More specifically, the important and growing role that they are playing in modern warfare.

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Inside The NSA

Filed under Cyber Security, Featured, Videos by jtozer on May 16, 2013 at 7:09 am {no comments}

What do you think of when you hear the words “National Security Agency”?

Do you think of an enigmatic organization dedicated to keeping America’s secrets secure?

Do you think of a giant super computer, watching and processing everything that people digitally do?

How about a team of secret agents, scouring the country for those missing files that hold the key to unlocking the mystery of our forefathers?

Well contrary to what some entertainment outlets would have you believe, the NSA doesn’t just exist within the pages of books about conspiracy theories. It is not some crazy men-in-black organization designed to serve in the biggest of big brother capacities. No, it isn’t. Because I said so. Because I do.

Well, okay. Maybe they’re not that…entirely.

…Right?

So in my quest to discover the truth (in true X-Files fashion) I decided to get the inside scoop about the National Security Agency from this man:

I don’t know why, but I just feel compelled to trust this man. I bet he gets that a lot. (Photo courtesy of the National Security Agency)

His name is John C. Inglis, and he is the Deputy Director of the National Security Agency. I figure if anyone knows the ins and outs of the enigmatic organization, it would be the man who has dedicated nearly 30 years of his life to it.

And you know what? I was right.

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DOD Officials Detail $1 Billion in Space Program Savings

Filed under Cyber Security, Featured, Policy by jtozer on May 13, 2013 at 7:08 am {no comments}

Senior Defense Department officials testified before Congress highlighting the activities the department has undertaken to save an estimated $1 billion and provide a balanced national security space program.

(Photo graphic by Jessica L. Tozer)

Gil I. Klinger, deputy assistant secretary of defense for space and intelligence, and Douglas L. Loverro, deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy, appeared before the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on strategic forces to review the department’s fiscal year 2014 budget request for national security space activities.

Klinger said the Defense Department is introducing competition as early as possible with a more efficient contracting strategy for acquiring space launch services and associated launch capabilities, resulting in significant savings.

“These actions resulted in an estimated savings of over $1 billion in the Future Year Defense Program, below the fiscal year 2013 President’s budget, without excessive and unacceptable risk,” he said.

Klinger said the department continues to consider potential alternative acquisition and procurement strategies across the national security space portfolio and remains committed to a disciplined cost approach.

“The undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, and the service acquisition executives have established affordability targets for the majority of our large, critical space programs,” Klinger said.

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Well Hello There, Mars Rover

Filed under Featured, Robots, Space by jtozer on May 8, 2013 at 7:59 am {no comments}

There comes a time in every SciFi enthusiast’s life when you realize that you need to interview a robot in space.

It had to be done.

Now, I’ve interviewed a space robot before. I had a rousing conversation with Robonaut on Twitter last year. That was pretty fantastic, but it left me wanting to know more. I mean, these robots give me a glimpse into a life in space. Something that, barring an alien abduction, I won’t actually get to experience.

O hai there! (Photo Courtesy of The Mars Curiosity Rover Twitter profile)

So imagine my glee when I heard that the Mars Curiosity Rover had some time to answer some of my questions regarding life outside of this atmosphere.

I mean seriously. I think I might have actually shrieked a little.

For those of you who don’t know, the Curiosity Rover is pretty much a robot celebrity. She has over 1.3 million followers on Twitter, and over 500,000 followers on Facebook. Curiosity is a pretty big deal. And there’s a reason for that. Well several, really.

Curiosity is humanity’s extension on a foreign planet. She’s designed to help us better understand life, the universe and everything. And she does. With cleverness, scientific brilliance, and some witty, concise tweets, she brings us a little closer to our own Solar System. And what’s great is the work that the Curiosity Rover is doing is something that affects not just the science community. It affects us all.

Hey, even the DoD is involved in our reach toward the stars.

The Department of Defense has had a role in aerospace exploration for decades, and they’re still dedicated to it. Budget restraints and all. Recently senior Defense Department officials testified before Congress highlighting the activities the department has undertaken to save an estimated $1 billion and provide a balanced national security space program.

Air Force Lt. Col. Peter Garretson, the Division Chief for Air Force Irregular Warfare Strategy, Plans and Policy (and previously the Chief of Future Science and Technology Exploration for Air Force Strategic Planning) says humanity needs a billion year plan for space exploration.

Douglas L. Loverro, deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy, recently told Congress it is critical for the Defense Department to develop and implement space programs and policies to maintain U.S. space advantages in a perpetually changing environment.

From military satellites, to lasers, to GPS innovation and more, the advancements that are made in the aerospace industry benefit more than just us stargazers. The work that is being done is helping to shape the future of the human race.

Because when it comes down to it, space matters.

But don’t just take my word for it…

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Discovering DARPA

Filed under Featured, Technology by jtozer on May 2, 2013 at 7:19 am {no comments}

(Graphic photo provided by DARPA)

If you’re familiar with the advancements in science and technology in any way, chances are you’ve heard a thing or two about the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. You might know them better by their buzzworthy acronym DARPA.

Ah, DARPA.

Mother of the cheetah robot. Creator of magnificent stealth machines. Problem solving with science so spectacular it brings science fiction to life in front of our very eyes. Yes, this agency is one that makes my life – all our lives, really – more exciting. As a science journalist, the word DARPA is to me what the word Enterprise is to a Star Trek convention: immediately interesting and intrinsically on topic.

But for as much as I love the robotastic DARPA, there are a lot of people who don’t really know what the agency is, or what they do.

That, my friends, is about to change.

Surprising satellite was surprising. Also, frankly, pretty neat looking, too.

Let’s start with a little bit of history. In 1957, the Soviet Union surprised the world with their launch of Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial Earth satellite. Shortly after that (in 1958), President Eisenhower founded the Advanced Research Projects Agency – what we now know as DARPA. It’s mission? To be at the forefront of scientific and technological development. Basically, he wanted to make sure that there would be no more, ahem, surprises.

Basically, this institution was designed to put the government in a position where they would be seeking and exploring science and technology, rather than learning about it second hand.

And now, 55 years later, they’re still doing just that.

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SPACE MATTERS

Filed under Featured, Space by jtozer on April 29, 2013 at 7:45 am {no comments}

Artist’s rendering of Orbital’s Antares medium-
class space launch vehicle. (graphic by Orbital Sciences)

When someone asks you if you want to go see a rocket launch, what else can you say except ABSOLUTELY.

Which, incidentally, is exactly how I responded when I was given the opportunity to get a (reasonably distanced) front row seat to the Orbital Sciences Antares rocket launch at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

As many of might already have noticed, space is sort of a big deal to me. The chance to reach out and touch the stars. To be a part of something greater than the world in which we’re tethered. To move forward as a species.

Now that’s something I want to be a part of, and the Antares rocket launch was a way to make that happen.

So why is the Antares rocket such a big deal, you ask? Let’s break it down.

First of all, it’s a rocket. Rocket = big deal.

This is no ordinary rocket. This is one in a series of rockets that are being used – quite fiscally responsibly, I might add – to push the human race out of lower Earth orbit and into the Solar System.

Antares is a two stage vehicle, with optional third stage, that provides low-Earth orbit (LEO) launch capability for payloads weighing over 5,000 kg.

Antares is one of 10 projects with the same point and purpose: risk-reduction missions designed for easy resupply services to the International Space Station. It has the added benefit of delivering substantial payloads into a variety of low inclination, low-Earth, sun-synchronous and interplanetary trajectories.

It has streamlined vehicle/payload integration and testing via simplified interfaces to reduce time from encapsulation to lift-off.

It can also accommodate major payloads, so it can carry more things than the average rocket might. It’s also capable of launching single and multiple payloads.

So I guess you could say it’s a multi-tasking rocket. (more…)

How Could Light-emitting Monolayers Benefit Soldiers?

Filed under Featured by jtozer on April 26, 2013 at 7:17 am {no comments}

Army scientists want to make sense of the fascinating properties of novel layered materials that can exist in a single or a few atom-thick layers, such as graphene.

Penn State researchers working with the Army Research Office showed that tungstenite formed from layers of sulfur and tungsten atoms has light-emitting properties that could be useful to plenty of Army applications, like optical sensors or even lasers. (Graphic courtesy of Penn State University)

Recently Penn State researchers working with the Army Research Office showed that tungstenite, or WS2, formed from layers of sulfur and tungsten atoms has light-emitting properties that cold be useful to plenty of Army applications, like optical sensors or even lasers.

University scientists saw an extraordinary glow from the honeycomb edges of monolayered triangular islands of WS2 for the first time and knew this would be groundbreaking.

The discovery was one of several milestones for a small team of experts from four universities working on a Multi-Disciplinary University Research Initiative, or MURI, project.

Along with the principal investigator of this project, professor Pulickel Ajayan of Rice University, this team is helping the Army “make sense of the fascinating properties of novel layered materials that can exist in a single or a few atom-thick layers,” said Pani Varanasi, Ph.D., program manager for the Physical Properties of Materials Materials Science Division of the U.S. Army Research Office, of U.S. Army Research Laboratory, known as ARL.

The MURI project, which explores the synthesis routes of two-dimensional, or 2-D, atomic layers of nitrides, oxides and sulfides and characterization of these materials, is in its second year.

“The most recent finding forms the building blocks for improvements to future Army technologies such as sensors, transistors and flexible displays.”

Mauricio Terrones, Ph.D., a professor of physics and of materials science and engineering at Penn State, is one of the team members of the MURI, and leads the present research on WS2 materials.

“We wanted to work on a layered system that people were not working on already,” Terrones said. “There were several reports on [molybdenum disulfide] but not that much research regarding WS2, so we thought this could be a nice avenue to investigate.”

The research team used a method similar to the one they developed in their earlier research.

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