1000 mph Supersonic business jet on track for 2023 first flight

Aerion Supersonic is still on track to its first supersonic flight in 2023. Complete certification is targeted for 2025. Supersonic business jet developer Aerion has launched preliminary design of its 12-seater, Mach 1.4-capable AS2 and revealed ambitions to develop bigger and faster follow-on variants, including potential commercial models. Aerion is partnered with Lockheed Martin, General …

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Russia indicates that they are matching US hard and soft military exoskeleton development

Russian designers are to present the third-generation Ratnik (“Warrior”) combat gear to the world in seven years, the TASS news agency has reported (in Russian), citing the press service of the Central Research Institute for Precision Machine Building (TsNIITochMash, a subsidiary of the Rostec state corporation). According to the designers, the armor will feature an …

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Carbon-nanotube-enhanced plants send an alert if they detect explosives

Spinach is no longer just a superfood: By embedding leaves with carbon nanotubes, MIT engineers have transformed spinach plants into sensors that can detect explosives and wirelessly relay that information to a handheld device similar to a smartphone. This is one of the first demonstrations of engineering electronic systems into plants, an approach that the …

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European space telescope survey finds 400 million more stars in a section of the milky way previously known to have 700 million star

The Milky Way has been mapped in greater detail than ever before. And a first quick look indicates that our home galaxy is larger in extent than scientists had thought before, says Gisella Clementini, an astronomer at the Astronomical Observatory of Bologna in Italy. Today, at the European Space Astronomy Centre in Madrid, the European …

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US Air Force is looking at improving stealth of existing fighters and bombers and boosting range with sneakier and tougher aerial refueling planes

The US Air Force’s next-generation air dominance (NGAD) [aka what was the sixth generation fighter project] project is still moving forward and will include improvements to low-observable capability and aircraft range, according to the service’s top scientific research and technology official. The USAF in May released its “Air Superiority 2030 Flight Plan” announcing that it …

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Economist magazine looks at possibility of imminent medical life extension successes

Treatment based on calorie restriction manipulation might improve the prospects of longer and healthier life in ways that drugs aimed at specific diseases cannot match. Eileen Crimmins, a researcher at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, points to calculations which show that the complete elimination of cardiovascular disease would add only 5.5 years …

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US efforts to reassert military technological dominance will get $18 billion in funding over the next 5 years

DoD introduced the third offset strategy to keep the U.S. technologically superior to its rivals. The strategy is investing in specific research areas like man-machine teaming, autonomous learning systems, semi-autonomous weapons systems and assisted human operations. DoD expects to invest $18 billion in the Offset Strategy over the next five years. The investments are in …

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Transatomic technical paper shows its molten salt reactor would reduce waste by 53-83% depending upon level of enrichment used

Transatomic Power Corporation has released technical information on the design of its molten salt reactor (MSR), which it says offers multiple advantages over existing generation technologies. The technical white paper (22 pages) issued by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company outlines how its 1250 MWth reactor design – the TAP MSR – uses the properties of its …

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