The International Potato Center (CIP) launched a series of experiments to discover if potatoes can grow under Mars atmospheric conditions and thereby prove they are also able to grow in extreme climates on Earth. This Phase Two effort of CIP’s proof of concept experiment to grow potatoes in simulated Martian conditions began on February 14, …
While a new naval future fleet architecture study from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) suggests that the U.S. Navy should maintain a fleet of 12 full-sized supercarriers, the paper also suggests that the service should develop a new class of light carriers. In the interim, while the new aircraft carriers are being …
The fourth Yasen-class submarine, the Krasnoyarsk, has passed critical tests of its structures and pressure hull, according to Russia’s TASS news agency. It’s supposed to be the most quiet nuclear-powered attack sub ever to enter the Russian fleet. As TASS reports, the Krasnoyarsk’s pressure hull withstood hydraulics tests and that further work is being planned …
: The long-delayed super-carrier USS Ford is “99 percent” complete and will be delivered to the Navy in April, the Navy announced late Wednesday. A date for commissioning the $13 billion ship into service has still not been yet. The Ford is the first all-new carrier design in 40 years — since the USS Nimitz …
2015 saw roughly 86,000 more deaths than 2014 in the USA Standard life expectancy at birth dropped to 78.8 years from 78.9 just a year earlier. Preliminary analysis suggests the increase in deaths may have been driven by drug overdoses and an unusually severe flu season in early 2015, which may have exacerbated potentially fatal …
The Turkish munitions developer TÜBİTAK-SAGE showcased its progress in developing a prototype electromagnetic railgun to the Turkish government at the end of October. Designated ‘Sapan’, TÜBİTAK-SAGE’s research and development program aims to provide the Turkish arms industry with the groundwork to develop one day develop applications using this technology. Electromagnetic (EM) rail guns are long-range …
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 …
The Navy submarine community is pushing hard to make progress on unmanned underwater vehicle development and operations, which lag behind unmanned aerial vehicles, through prototype testing and the creation of a UUV squadron. The submarine community currently gets more use out of unmanned aerial vehicles, which are more technologically mature and easier to operate but …
The US Navy’s expensive new Ford aircraft carrier will miss the Navy’s November delivery deadline. That’s the latest slip for the $12.9 billion USS Gerald R. Ford, which is being built at Huntington Ingalls Industries. The carrier was originally expected to be delivered in 2014 but has been beset by delays, cost overruns and technological …
The Pentagon’s emerging “Arsenal Plane” or “flying bomb truck” is likely to be a modified, high-tech adaptation of the iconic B-52 bomber designed to fire air-to-air weapons, release swarms of mini-drones and provide additional fire-power to 5th generation stealth fighters such as the F-35 and F-22, Pentagon officials and analysts said. It is also possible …
Robots for the automation of industrial tasks are on the rise in North America, according to a recently-released industry report from the Association for Advancing Automation. More than $800 million in orders were placed in the first half of 2016, setting a new purchasing high for the industry of 14,583 robots. This represents a 2% …