In 2016, Newt Gingrich said that the combination of the Air Force’s parochialism and NASA’s bureaucracy, has caused the USA to be at least 25 years behind where we should be in space capability. American space power stagnated under U.S. Air Force stewardship a long time ago. Congress observed this situation nearly 25 years ago, …
Boston Dynamics has a new robot called Handle. It is a research robot that stands 6.5 ft tall, travels at 9 mph and jumps 4 feet vertically. It uses electric power to operate both electric and hydraulic actuators, with a range of about 15 miles on one battery charge. Handle uses many of the same …
Space Adventures has sent seven people to the international space station NASA pays the Russian space agency Roscosmos about $81 million and change for a round-trip ticket in a Soyuz capsule. The latest five seats NASA bought in bulk were a little cheaper, about $74.7 million per seat. NASA estimates that a round-trip ticket to …
The US Army was twice burned (at least) since 2009 by cancellations of ambitious and innovative, but ultimately impracticable programs. The Army now has incremental low risk technology modernization programs: improving the M1 Abrams tank and M2 Bradley troop carrier, rebuilding the M109 Paladin howitzer with an all-new automotive system, and building the new Armored …
China is considering introducing birth rewards and subsidies to encourage people to have a second child, after surveys showed that economic constraints were making many reluctant to expand families, the state-owned China Daily newspaper reported. The potential move was revealed by Wang Peian, vice-minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission at a social …
Google’s Waymo self driving car company has sued Uber. The lawsuit alleges former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski secretly downloaded 14,000 files proprietary technical files before leaving to found self-driving truck startup Otto. Uber acquired Otto last summer and put Levandowski in charge of its self-driving efforts. Wired describes the situation. “From what we know in …
SoftBank is closing the first round of investment in its $100 billion Technology Vision Fund by the end of this month, people familiar with the matter have said. The initial investments will likely include $45 billion from Saudi Arabia and $25 billion from SoftBank, as well as $1 billion each from Apple Inc., Qualcomm Inc. …
Quantum entanglement is a key ingredient in quantum information processing. In practice, entanglement can be easily destroyed by environment noise. Quantum illumination(QI) can benefit from entanglement in target detection even it is under these entanglement destroying noise. The aim of quantum illumination is to detect low reflective target which is embedded in a bright background …
Arxiv – Semihierarchical quantum repeaters based on moderate lifetime quantum memories The construction of large-scale quantum networks relies on the development of practical quantum repeaters. Many approaches have been proposed with the goal of outperforming the direct transmission of photons, but most of them are inefficient or difficult to implement with current technology. Here, we …
In September 2016, there were claims from China that they had developed quantum radar. There has been recent articles discussing China’s quantum radar The quantum radar system was developed by the Intelligent Perception Technology Laboratory of the 14th Institute of CETC. Researchers completed experiments on quantum detection and target scattering characterization. In the target detection …
BYU mechanical engineers have created an origami-inspired, lightweight bulletproof shield that can protect law enforcement from gunfire. The new ballistic barrier can be folded compactly when not in use, making it easier to transport and deploy. When expanded — which takes only five seconds — it can provide cover for officers and stop bullets from …