Nextbigfuture has obtained the independent reviews of EMC2 Fusions work for the US Navy from 2012 and 2013. The reviews were obtained with a Freedom of Information Act request. In our July 5, 2013, report, the review committee stated, “The EMC2 team is finally at the threshold of success or failure with the Polywell / …
The US Army is considering upgrading the lethality of the entire M1126 Stryker armored vehicle fleet. Army may “up-gun” the Stryker fleet. In addition to the 30 mm cannon, the Army is reportedly considering adding Javelin anti-tank guided missile (ATGM)-capable remote weapons stations to selected Stryker vehicles to enhance their anti-armor capabilities. Both the 30 …
University of Houston physicists report finding major theoretical flaws in the generally accepted understanding of how a superconductor traps and holds a magnetic field. More than 50 years ago, C.P. Bean, a scientist at General Electric, developed a theoretical explanation known as the “Bean Model” or “Critical State Model.” The basic property of superconductors is …
Rand Corporation had a study that in 2017 it would take 10 to 20 times the number of US planes to achieve 50% attrition of the Chinese airforce in a conflict in the South China Sea compared the number of planes needed to achieve the same goals in 1996. Each airwing has 72-aircraft. It would …
The DARPA Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) is developing an unmanned vessel optimized to robustly track quiet diesel electric submarines. DARPA estimates using an unmanned vessel instead of a similarly-sized manned one will be save an order of magnitude on the cost of daily operation. The ACTUV will instead be 132 feet …
China’s economy grew at its weakest pace in a quarter of a century last year, raising hopes Beijing would cushion the slowdown with more stimulus policies, which in turn prompted a rally on the country’s rollercoaster share markets. Growth for 2015 as a whole hit 6.9 percent after the fourth quarter slowed to 6.8 percent, …
Spacex had a successful launch of the Jason 3 satellite but the first stage failed to latch a landing leg and tipped over. The Falcon 9 rocket first stage experienced a “hard landing” and broke one of its stabilizer arms designed to hold it upright. The fate of the rocket stage was not immediately known, …
A few months ago, IBM unveiled the NeuroSynaptic Evaluation (NS1e) board, which contained a single TrueNorth chip, along with circuitry for interfacing the chip to sensors and real-world data. These boards were used in their August 2015 “Boot Camp” event, in which participants learned how to program the chip to implement cognitive systems [Brain-Inspired Computing …
Musk has previously said that he would publicly present some specifics of his Mars-colonization plans later in 2015, but it will now be early in 2016. Elon Musk has clarified his fast Mars terraforming strategy. He wants to have a small repeatedly detonating fusion bomb at each pole. “Not really nuclear weapons,” he says. “I …
A team led by researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has created a super-strong yet light structural metal with extremely high specific strength and modulus, or stiffness-to-weight ratio. The new metal is composed of magnesium infused with a dense and even dispersal of ceramic silicon carbide nanoparticles. It could …
The J-31 fighter jet had poor performance in air demonstrations at the 2014 Airshow China in Zhuhai. This has prompted officials from the state-run Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) to emphasise the future development path for the aircraft. The builder AVIC is attempting to convey the perception that the actual “FC-31” production-standard aircraft will …