Armed with Science | Tag Archive

Detainee Drinking Water & The Science That Goes With It

Filed under Life Sciences, STEM by jtozer on September 4, 2012 at 7:55 am {no comments}

A team of highly qualified sailors here are currently maintaining the vital process of nanofiltration that enables ground water from Parwan province to be utilized in the day-to-day operations of the Detention Facility in Parwan. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Faiza Evans)

A team of highly qualified sailors here are currently maintaining the vital process of nanofiltration that enables groundwater from Parwan province to be utilized in the day-to-day operations of the Detention Facility in Parwan.

Chief Petty Officer Andrew Anderson, supply lead, Task Group Trident, supervises a team of sailors responsible for running a water plant here, and maintaining a holding tank they call Big Blue that supplies disinfected, non-potable water to the DFIP.

“The job we do of monitoring and producing water is very important,” said Anderson. “Every person, our service members, counterparts and detainees, need water, and the constant production of water for the DFIP is crucial to the success of the mission.”

Task Group Trident is a subordinate unit of Task Force Protector. Protector is the unit responsible for the secure and humane care, custody and control of all the detainees in the DFIP.

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Walking (Well, Rolling) On Water

Filed under STEM, Videos by jtozer on August 22, 2012 at 7:23 am {2 comments}

This video depicts testing of a 1/5 scale demonstrator of the Captive Air Amphibious Transporters (CAAT). The CAAT has air-filled pontoons on a tank tread-like design, enabling them to carry containers over water and directly onto shore.

The vehicle is part of DARPA‘s Tactically Expandable Maritime Platform (TEMP) program, which seeks new sea and air delivery systems to enable direct support to disaster zones from offshore container ships. All technologies developed under TEMP are transportable using standard 20-foot or 40-foot commercial shipping containers.

This technology demonstrator is jointly funded with the Office of Naval Research, who is looking at it for potential use as an amphibious transport for the Marines/Navy.

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Simulating The Lay Of The Underwater Land

Filed under Technology Licensing by jtozer on June 7, 2012 at 7:04 am {no comments}

You got all that? Good. Go forth and make it happen. (Picture provided by NRL)

Hey, anyone need a river simulation tool? I know an organization lookin’ to license one out…

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has developed a river simulation tool (RST) that performs automated extraction of riverine features from imagery.

My first thought here was “hey, there’s a simulator that can help me perfect my moat making!” But since I’m assuming we’re not planning to dig holes around our military bases and fill them with crocodiles, I’m thinking this is a little more in-depth (Ah? See what I did there?).

Although, if we are going to do that, I think the crocs should also be robots. Created by LASR. But I digress…

The extractions include water/land edge locations, water point locations, and obstacle and hazard locations. Okay, so it’s an aqua-mapping simulation device designed to understand the lay of the underwater land. Well that is helpful, especially in areas where the river is a foreign body of water. For service members, having a working knowledge of rivers in foreign countries could be extremely important for mission readiness.

Besides, any Disney theme park jungle ride will tell you that knowing what’s around the river bend could make all the difference.

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Better Than Bottled Water

Filed under Physical Sciences, STEM 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.”

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Tech Talk: How Navy Provides Drinkable Water at Sea [Transcript]

Filed under Life Sciences, Physical Sciences by John Ohab on October 7, 2010 at 11:12 am {no comments}

Paul Armistead manages the Functional Polymeric and Organic Materials basic research program at ONR's Naval Materials Division. (Photo: ONR)

The following is a transcript from the Office of Naval Research’s online Tech Talk series. Dr. J. Paul Armistead, program officer in ONR’s Naval Materials Division, answered questions from audiences on Facebook and Twitter on Oct. 6.

Armistead manages the Functional Polymeric and Organic Materials basic research program – which currently has interests in novel dielectric materials for high-density energy storage, organic photovoltaics and nontoxic antifouling coatings for ship hulls – as well as an applied research and development program in Advanced Shipboard Seawater Desalination.

Prior to joining ONR in 2000, Armistead worked in the Naval Research Laboratory Chemical Division, where he conducted research on composite interfaces, high-temperature composites and polymer crystallization kinetics. He received his bachelor and master degrees in chemical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, or VA Tech, and a doctorate degree in materials science from Johns-Hopkins University.

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

Event Transcript

Chris Harding: I remember learning a bit about reverse osmosis membranes in college as a chemical engineering student. From my understanding, fouling and “plasticizing” are two of the worse problems and each affects the voids differently. Is this correct?

Chris Harding: I may be using the wrong term, “plasticizing,” but it is the diffusion of a compound or elemental atom into the spaces between the polymers that, if a chemical reaction takes place, can cause a hardening of the membrane and reduce the overall effectiveness because of tears. What type of polymer systems are you using?

Patricia Nevins Kime: I believe ONR issued a 2010 CNR Challenge to solicit white papers on this topic. What kind of feedback have you received and can you discuss the most promising proposals?

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