Archive | Physical Sciences | Armed with Science

Laser Weapons for Navy Ships

Filed under Physical Sciences, Technology, Videos by jtozer on May 14, 2012 at 7:50 am {no comments}

We are getting closer and closer to the laser beam, I can feel it. A military scientist operates a laser in a test environment. The United states Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Directed Energy Directorate conducts research on a variety of solid-state and chemical lasers. (U.S. Air Force)

I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time.

The Navy…is getting LASER WEAPONS.

Eventually.

Okay, so it’s not right this second, but ONR is working to make it a reality. To help sailors defeat small boat threats and aerial targets without using bullets, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) wants to develop a solid-state laser weapon prototype that will demonstrate multi-mission capabilities aboard a Navy ship.

“We believe it’s time to move forward with solid-state lasers and shift the focus from limited demonstrations to weapon prototype development and related technology advancement,” said Peter Morrison, program officer of the Solid-State Laser Technology Maturation (SSL-TM) program.

ONR will host an industry day May 16 to provide the research and development community with information about the program. A Broad Agency Announcement is expected to be released thereafter to solicit proposals and bids.

The Navy’s long history of advancing directed-energy technology has yielded kilowatt-scale lasers capable of being employed as weapons. Among the programs, the Maritime Laser Demonstration developed a proof-of-concept technology that was tested at sea aboard a decommissioned Navy ship.

The demonstrator was able to disable a small boat target: (more…)

Better Than Bottled Water

Filed under Physical Sciences by jtozer on April 28, 2012 at 7:21 am {no comments}

Cpls. Kyle Slusher and Cody Sorrell, water purification specialists, operate the Tactical Water Purification System to purify Moroccan ocean water into a clean water source for Marines with the 24th MEU training with the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces. (Photo by Sgt. Richard Blumenstein)

Water purification specialists with Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, put their water purification systems to the test on a Moroccan beach, during the bi-lateral exercise named African Lion 2012.

The Marines assembled a Tactical Water Purification System (TWPS) and Lightweight Water Purification System (LWPS) on the beach to turn ocean water into a sustainable, potable water source for the Marines conducting training operations with the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces, and test the systems on a foreign water source.

“Instead of bringing thousands of pallets of water ashore, this is what we use,” said Cpl. Kyle Slusher, a water purification specialist with CLB 24. “This is what’s going to sustain our force, and we can use it wherever there is a water source.”

Marines use water purification systems to sustain their forces and also to provide water for a number of other operations such as disaster relief, and humanitarian assistance, according to Cpl. Cody Sorrell, a water purification specialist.

“We can use this capability for any sort of mission where Marines are going to be there a long period of time,” Sorrell said. “You can’t conduct operations without a sustainable water source.”

(more…)

Keeping Cool: Cryogenics And The Military

Filed under Energy, Physical Sciences by jtozer on April 23, 2012 at 7:54 am {no comments}

Story written by Airman 1st Class Zachary Perras

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Dustin Volpi, 354th Logistics Readiness Squadron fuels distribution supervisor, issues liquid nitrogen to a liquid nitrogen cart. Liquid nitrogen can temporarily shrink mechanical components during machine assembly to perform press fits - the process of fastening two parts by friction. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Araos)

The word “cryogenic” is derived from the Greek words kruos, for frost, and genos, for origin of creation. In essence, cryogenics is the technology and art behind producing low temperatures. Here at Eielson, that art is imperative to the flying mission.

As the dedicated cryogenics expert at Eielson, Staff Sgt. Dustin Volpi knows how the process should function, how to handle and manage liquid nitrogen and oxygen and how to maintain operational readiness for Eielson’s fliers.

“We keep the mission going,” said Volpi, 354th Logistics Readiness Squadron fuels distribution superviser. “Without us, the planes don’t fly. That’s what we do.”

In cryogenics, there is liquid oxygen, primarily used as aviator breathing oxygen, and liquid nitrogen, used to service the emergency power unit, the emergency source of electrical and hydraulic power in the event the onboard generators or engine fails on the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Cryogenics is a heavily inclusive part of the flying mission because of this, Volpi said.

However, cryogenics here is quite different from any other base. When temperatures drop to 50 below zero, limitations arise, affecting the capabilities and how quickly a task can be finished. On top of this, frostbite can easily occur. Since liquid nitrogen boils at minus 321 degrees Fahrenheit and liquid oxygen boils at minus 297 degrees Fahrenheit, the potential for danger rises.

“You can only stay out there for so long because it’s so cold,” Volpi said. “It’s even colder standing by the equipment because the cryogenics are so cold. If you add the environment from the gases boiling off, it gets cold really quick.”
(more…)

Cool Under Pressure – Using Science to Stave Off Hypothermia

Filed under Education & Culture, Physical Sciences by jtozer on April 13, 2012 at 7:51 am {no comments}

By Bob Reinert for USAG-Natick Public Affairs

Capt. David DeGroot, Ph.D., puts volunteers into a water immersion tank at the U.S. Army Institute of Environmental Medicine at Natick Soldier Systems Center as part of a study that is looking at how Soldiers' bodies cool down. (By David Kamm,NSRDEC Photographer)

Seventeen years after four soldiers died from hypothermia during the final phase of Ranger School, researchers at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine at Natick Soldier Systems Center continue to study how the human body cools down, in hopes of one day developing medical techniques to help prevent such tragedies.

“You can’t design possible countermeasures — pharmacological treatments, perhaps — until you know mechanisms,” said Capt. David DeGroot, Ph.D., a research physiologist in USARIEM’s Thermal and Mountain Medicine Division, who is leading the study. “You’ve got to understand the basic mechanism before you (say), ‘Okay, now how do I target it?’

“This is going to allow us to get further insight with the actual mechanisms so that we can follow it up with, Okay, what could we possibly do in terms of an intervention to mitigate that rate of core temperature drop?”

Dr. John Castellani, serving as an Army captain with USARIEM at the time, was a member of the team that conducted the institute’s initial study at Camp Rudder on Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., soon after the February 1995 deaths. He still works at the institute as a research physiologist.

Castellani said that the original study led to adjustments to the tables Rangers use to determine what amount of exposure to cold is safe.
(more…)

The Strength of Titanium For The Navy

Filed under Physical Sciences by jtozer on April 12, 2012 at 7:14 am {no comments}

From the Office of Naval Research

Steel may have met its match.

An Office of Naval Research (ONR)-funded project will produce a full-size ship hull section made entirely with marine grade titanium using a welding innovation that could help bring titanium into future Navy ship construction.

The contractor team building this section recently completed the industry’s longest friction-stir titanium alloy welds and aims to complete the ship hull section this summer. Friction stir welds more than 17 feet long joined the titanium alloy plates for the section’s deck.

“This fast, effective friction stir weld technique is now an affordable manufacturing process that takes advantage of titanium’s properties,” said Kelly Cooper, the program officer managing the project for ONR’s Sea Warfare and Weapons Department.

What it means for the Navy

Titanium metal and its alloys are desirable materials for ship hulls and other structures because of their high strength, light weight and corrosion-resistance. If constructed in titanium, Navy ships would have lighter weight for the same size—allowing for a bigger payload—and virtually no corrosion. But because titanium costs up to nine times more than steel and is technically difficult and expensive to manufacture into marine vessel hulls, it has been avoided by the shipbuilding industry.

But perhaps not for much longer.

(more…)

Administration to Announce “Big Data” R&D Initiative

Filed under Energy, Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, Technology by glenn.selby on March 29, 2012 at 12:15 pm {no comments}

Today, at 2:00 p.m. EST, the American Association for the Advancement of Science will host researchers from a number of fields. These researchers are generating extremely large and complicated data sets, commonly referred to as “big data.” A wealth of information may be found within these sets, with enormous potential to shed light on some of the toughest and most pressing challenges facing the Nation.

To maximize this historic opportunity—and in support of recommendations from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology—the Obama Administration is launching a Big Data Research and Development Initiative, coordinated by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and supported by several Federal departments and agencies.

Please click here to watch the event.

SPEAKERS:

John Holdren, Assistant to the President and Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Subra Suresh, Director, National Science Foundation

Francis Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health

Marcia McNutt, Director, United States Geological Survey

Zach Lemnios, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering

Kaigham “Ken” Gabriel, Deputy Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

William Brinkman, Director, Office of Science, Department of Energy

Dr. Brett Dunlap Named American Physical Society Fellow

Filed under Physical Sciences by glenn.selby on March 24, 2012 at 2:27 pm {no comments}

Dr. Brett Dunlap, a research physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory, has been elected to fellowship in the American Physical Society. (Photo: Jamie Hartman, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)

Dr. Brett Dunlap, a research physicist in the Navy Technical Center for Safety and Survivability within the Naval Research Laboratory’s Chemistry Division, has been elected to fellowship in the American Physical Society (APS) through the Division of Chemical Physics for “pioneering contributions to variational fitting methods that enable reliable density-functional andab-initio calculation on large molecules and clusters.” Election to fellowship in the APS is in recognition of outstanding contributions to physics and is limited to no more than one half of one percent of the membership.

Dr. Dunlap has had a distinguished career in chemical physics spanning over thirty years at NRL. He is especially well known for contributions he made to the development of fast and accurate Gaussian orbital based density-functional methods, which were cited in his election to APS fellowship. This work-often requiring the invention of new approaches and computational techniques-produced methods that are now used in almost all density-functional and ab initiomolecular computer codes that use Gaussian orbital basis sets, facilitating research in many areas. Dr. Dunlap’s impact on the field of chemical physics extends considerably beyond his pioneering work on the development of chemical-based density-functional methods with highly regarded papers with colleagues on the properties of magic number alkali halide clusters, carbon cluster isomers, magnetic clusters, fullerenes, and carbon nanotubes. Currently, Dr. Dunlap’s research is focused on kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of solid-oxide fuel cells.

(more…)

Inside NRL’s Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research

Filed under Physical Sciences, Technology by glenn.selby on March 14, 2012 at 3:36 pm {no comments}

Alan Schultz is the first Director of NRL's new Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research. (Photo: U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)

This Friday, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) will open a new facility — the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR), at its main site located in Washington, D.C.

LASR will provide specialized facilities to support highly innovative, multidisciplinary research in autonomous systems, including intelligent autonomy, sensor systems, power and energy systems, human-system interaction, networking and communications, and platforms. The objective of the Laboratory is to enable Navy and Department of Defense scientific leadership in this complex, emerging area and to identify opportunities for advances in future defense technology.

In advance of the opening, SPECTRA magazine got the inside scoop from Alan Schultz, Director, Autonomous Systems Research at NRL.

1. Tell us about the capabilities of the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research?

The new facility has a number of high bay environments and laboratories with many unique features to support research in autonomous systems.

The Prototyping High Bay is 150′ x 75′ x 30′ high. This space can be used for small autonomous air vehicles, autonomous ground vehicles, and of course the people who will interact with them. The most unique feature of this space is a motion capture system, which will allow us to track up to 50 objects, and gather high accuracy ground truth data of all positions of these tracked objects at 120Hz. Our tracking system currently has the largest capture volume in existence. In addition, we have high-speed cameras on motorized pan/tilt heads which can be automatically cued by the motion capture system, allowing us to record video of specific targets.

(more…)