Hypertelescopes on the Moon Can Have Better than 1 Microarcsecond Resolution

Nextbigfuture commenter, Goat Guy, verified the resolution of very large hypertelescopes and optical interferometers. The highest angular resolutions for telescopes can be achieved by arrays of telescopes called astronomical interferometers. Hypertelescopes are being worked on that would combine many, many telescopes into very large arrays of tens, hundreds and even space based arrays of one …

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DARPA has drop-in removable autopilot kit for existing aircraft

DARPA’s Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program envisions flight operations with reduced onboard aircrew while improving mission performance and flight safety—all through a tailorable, drop-in, removable kit that would provide advanced automation to existing aircraft. In two important steps toward that goal, DARPA has recently completed Phase 2 of this development effort and has …

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Ultracapacitors with highest energy density works in extreme conditions

Devices called ultracapacitors have recently become attractive forms of energy storage: They recharge in seconds, have very long lifespans, work with close to 100 percent efficiency, and are much lighter and less volatile than batteries. But they suffer from low energy-storage capacity and other drawbacks, meaning they mostly serve as backup power sources for things …

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New Tech can enable smartphones and computers that respond to real time hand signals

A mobile phone that responds to hand signals rather than the touch of a button may soon be possible thanks to technology developed by A*STAR researchers that efficiently detects three-dimensional human hand movements from two-dimensional images in real time1. Combining this technology with devices such as laptops or mobile phones can facilitate robot control and …

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World Population might be 7.5 billion this year with corrected counting errors

Online World population meters indicate that the world population is 7.314 billion people However, the UN reports that their estimate of World population has 1-2% error. An evaluation of a series of United Nations population projections between the 1950s and 1990s found that all but one had a margin of error of less than 4%. …

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Russian and US space agencies talk about a joint space station successor to the ISS

Moscow’s space officials are talking with their NASA counterparts about building a new space station after the current one has run its course, in 2024 or later. But there’s no indication of a formal agreement, even though some of the comments make it sound that way. The comments came after discussions between NASA Administrator Charles …

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DARPA terahertz chip for high resolution imaging, advanced radar and sensors

Officials from Guinness World Records today recognized DARPA’s Terahertz Electronics program for creating the fastest solid-state amplifier integrated circuit ever measured. The ten-stage common-source amplifier operates at a speed of one terahertz (10^12 Hz), or one trillion cycles per second—150 billion cycles faster than the existing world record of 850 gigahertz set in 2012. “Terahertz …

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China expected to have 25 million cars sold in 2015, USA 15.9 million in 2015

US Light vehicles sales for all of 2011 totaled 12.8 million, Autodata said, an increase of 10.3% from 2010. Car sales may rise 12 percent to 14.3 million this year and 3.5 percent to 14.8 million in 2013, Southfield, Michigan-based AlixPartners said. In the three years through 2016, sales may rise 7.4 percent to 15.9 …

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Intelligent car co-pilot

Barrels and cones dot an open field in Saline, Mich., forming an obstacle course for a modified vehicle. A driver remotely steers the vehicle through the course from a nearby location as a researcher looks on. Occasionally, the researcher instructs the driver to keep the wheel straight — a trajectory that appears to put the …

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Putin Wants a Russian Darpa, new long range bombers and lots of UAVs

Wired – Russian industry and defense leaders announced plans last week to bankroll the Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects in the Defense Industry. (RFARPDI) Russia’s newly re-coronated president, Vladimir Putin, has already sent a bill to parliament to authorize the agency, which will be tasked with keeping track of projects that “can ensure Russian …

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