Copernical Team
AFRL space leader commends team, transitions to new role
"I'll miss the "ah ha" moments," said Col. Eric Felt, director of the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate, who will depart AFRL for an assignment at the Pentagon in July.
Felt became the Space Vehicles director in July 2018 and has a dual-hatted role as commander of AFRL's Phillips Research Site, both located at Kirtland AFB. He will be taking on the job of the directo Raytheon demonstrates critical Joint All Domain Command and Control capability for US military
During the Defense Department's Valiant Shield 22 exercise this month, Raytheon Intelligence and Space, a Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX) business, successfully demonstrated the ability to collect data on a simulated sea-based threat and then share targeting solutions with distributed defense systems across the Western Pacific Ocean - a key test of the company's Joint All Domain Command and Co Air Force hosts service chiefs to discuss JADC2
Reemphasizing a critical joint partnership in all-domain warfare, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. met with his fellow service chiefs from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Space Force June 24 to share advancements and discuss the way forward as the services work together to continue cultivating common ground on Joint All-Domain Command and Control.
The meeting focused on the Def Lost in space: Astronauts struggle to regain bone density
Astronauts lose decades' worth of bone mass in space that many do not recover even after a year back on Earth, researchers said Thursday, warning that it could be a "big concern" for future missions to Mars.
Previous research has shown astronauts lose between one to two percent of bone density for every month spent in space, as the lack of gravity takes the pressure off their legs when it co Life in the abyss, a spectacular and fragile struggle for survival
Cloaked in darkness and mystery, the creatures of the deep oceans exist in a world of unlikely profusion, surviving on scant food and under pressure that would crush human lungs.
This extremely hostile environment, which will come under the spotlight at a major United Nations oceans summit in Lisbon this week, has caused its inhabitants to develop a prodigious array of alien characteristics Humans in the loop help robots find their way
Just like us, robots can't see through walls. Sometimes they need a little help to get where they're going. Engineers at Rice University have developed a method that allows humans to help robots "see" their environments and carry out tasks. The strategy called Bayesian Learning IN the Dark - BLIND, for short - is a novel solution to the long-standing problem of motion planning for robots that wo SpaceX launches first C-band television broadcast satellite into space for SES
The first television broadcast satellite under SES's C-band lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday evening on a SpaceX rocket.
SES, a video and data solutions company, said the satellite will free up the lower 300 MHz of C-band spectrum to ensure the company can provide video and data services to its customers while enabling wireless operators to quickly deploy 5G services across t Earth from Space: Patagonia
The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission captured this impressive, wide-angled view of Patagonia at the southern end of South America, as well as the Falkland Islands (Malvinas).
Another Webb telescope instrument gets the 'go for science'
The second of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's four primary scientific instruments, known as the Mid-Infrared instrument (MIRI), has concluded its postlaunch preparations and is now ready for science.
The last MIRI mode to be checked off was its coronagraphic imaging capability, which uses two different styles of masks to intentionally block starlight from hitting its sensors when attempting to make observations of the star's orbiting planets. These customized masks allow for scientists to directly detect exoplanets and study dust disks around their host stars in a way that's never been done before.
Along with Webb's three other instruments, MIRI initially cooled off in the shade of Webb's tennis-court-size sunshield to about 90 Kelvin (minus 298 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 183 degrees Celsius). To perform its intended science meant dropping to less than 7 Kelvin—just a few degrees above the lowest temperature matter can reach—by using an electrically powered cryocooler. These extreme operating temperatures allow for MIRI to deliver mid-infrared images and spectra with an unprecedented combination of sharpness and sensitivity.
Two Seattle startups racing to transform next-gen space travel
The phrase "nuclear energy" conjures images of large steaming towers or Tony Stark's arc reactor from the iconic "Iron Man" movies. But two Seattle-based startups are designing nuclear technologies small enough to pick up and carry that, thanks in part to buy-in from the Defense Department, they hope will fuel a new generation of spaceships.
Seattle's Avalanche Energy and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation received undisclosed amounts of funding from the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit in May to further develop two different approaches to small-scale nuclear power.
Avalanche is pushing the boundaries of nuclear fusion while Ultra Safe aims to revolutionize nuclear radioisotope batteries, like those that power Mars rovers. Both companies are expected to deliver functional prototype spacecraft to the Pentagon by 2027.
"Nuclear is an interesting area because traditionally that's been mainly in the realm of government," said U.S. Air Force Maj. Ryan Weed, the program manager for the Defense Innovation Unit's nuclear propulsion and power program. The unit—the Pentagon's outpost in Silicon Valley—works exclusively with private sector companies to adapt emerging technologies for military use.
After six decades of materials science research, nuclear fuels are relatively safe and are being embraced in the private sector.