An article published by the China Military Online website on 7 December has provided further insights into the requirements for China’s new strategic bomber. China is developing a new long-range strategic bomber referred to in the article as the H-20. While General Ma gave no details of the programme, Rear Admiral Yin, who is also …
When light strikes electrons in atoms, their state can change unimaginably quickly. Laser physicists in Munich have measured such a phenomenon – namely that of photoionization, in which an electron exits a helium atom after excitation by light – for the first time with zeptosecond precision. A zeptosecond is a trillionth of a billionth of …
China’s domestic 001a aircraft carrier is nearly complete and could be ready for sea trials by early 2017 The carrier now awaits only the installation of its superstructure – also known as the “island” of an aircraft carrier. This part houses the bridge of the ship, its aviation facilities, and its radar and electronic warfare …
When an airplane begins to move faster than the speed of sound, it creates a shockwave that produces a well-known “boom” of sound. Now, researchers at MIT and elsewhere have discovered a similar process in a sheet of graphene, in which a flow of electric current can, under certain circumstances, exceed the speed of slowed-down …
SpaceX will try yet again to land its Falcon 9 rocket on a robotic ship in the Atlantic Ocean Friday (April 8). The landing attempt will come during the launch of SpaceX’s robotic Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA, which is scheduled to take place at 4:43 p.m. EDT (2043 …
Robotic in orbit assembly and laser propulsion could enable vast increases in space capability while not significantly changing the world civilization energy budget. Robotic and additive manufacturing could enable massive frames and massive solar power arrays Tethers Unlimited is currently developing a revolutionary suite of technologies called “SpiderFab” to enable on-orbit fabrication of large spacecraft …
Nextbigfuture will have a total of 70 million pageviews later today and has over 215 million Google plus views. Thanks to all of the readers and commenters. Looking forward to passing the 100 million pageview mark in 2017. Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers …
Researchers at the University of Wisconson have built an energy-harvesting technology that’s particularly well suited for capturing the energy of human motion to power mobile electronic devices. The technology could enable a footwear-embedded energy harvester that captures energy produced by humans during walking and stores it for later use. Power-generating shoes could be especially useful …
The Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier is now $6 billion over budget and will fall years behind schedule. The program is now $6 billion over budget, according to a review by McCain’s staff. And while the lead ship is expected to be delivered next year, the second ship in the fleet is five years behind …
High-tech fabrication facilities are being developed to enhance ship maintenance and repair by enabling more cost-effective training and rapid onsite production of parts and components. DARPA and the Navy recently agreed to locate a fabrication laboratory, or Fab Lab, at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center (MARMC, pronounced “mar-mack”) in Norfolk, Virginia, under DARPA’s Manufacturing Experimentation …
Deputy Commander of the Russian Navy Admiral Igor Kasatonov recently announced that Russia would build its first aircraft carrier – although construction will begin only after 2025. The National Interest, citing Itar-Tass News Agency, reported that the proposed carrier would be able to hold about 100 aircraft and would use a catapult take-off system. In …