Technology Advancements

[Chanvlan]

Post all those interesting Science articles or latest invention articles that you have read.

Military, or about anything Scientific, basically anything new and interesting Post it here!

Post and Discuss!!!

Also, Try to Provide URL to the website, and Quote MINOR bits of it which give an outline for the "busy" or "lazy" people. Post these at the top of you post along with the title and maybe your opinion.

Hidden asteroids are stalking the Earth
^^^
Something Interesting I was reading.

Brief Outline: Asteroids with different Orbit times of the sun pass us and we have many near misses.Asteroids with non-synchronous orbits can also hide. Those with orbits mostly interior to Earth's - called Aten asteroids - spend most of their time in the glare of the sun as seen from Earth, so telescopes have trouble spotting them.

Recommendation: Not super important, but a good read indeed.


... But seriously ... No Spam ... We dont want Noddy having a stroke and asploding now do we?

[ChiefRyza]

That's interesting, imagine if in our lifetime we actually began mining asteroids for minerals instead of destroying our own planet :O

I find this rather interesting as well, NASA exploring two dwarf planets in our asteroid belt, with Vesta being visited mid this year:

The mission's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch by investigating in detail two of the largest protoplanets remaining intact since their formation. Ceres and Vesta have many contrasting characteristics that are thought to have resulted from them forming in two different regions of the early solar system; Ceres is theorized to have experienced a "cool and wet" formation that may have left it with subsurface water, and Vesta is theorized to have experienced a "hot and dry" formation that resulted in a differentiated interior and surface volcanism.

Using two redundant framing cameras,[20] a visual and infared spectrometer, and a Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer,[21] Dawn will take pictures and measure the chemical composition of Ceres and Vesta.[22]

To cruise from Earth to its targets it will travel in a long outward spiral. The current estimated chronology is as follows:[23]
Planned flight trajectory

* September 27, 2007: launch
* February 17, 2009: Mars gravity assist
* July 2011: Vesta arrival
* July 2012: Vesta departure
* February 2015: Ceres arrival
* July 2015: End of operations

NASA posts the current location of Dawn on the web.[24]

An extended mission in which Dawn explores other asteroids after Ceres is also possible, although unlikely, as greater return is expected by spending the available time at Vesta and Ceres.[25]

[CDN-SMOKEJUMPER]

I'm going to love this thread.

Thanks for the interesting posts guys!

I have to spread some rep around Chan before you get any again.

[McDethWivFries]

I'll put up a few Military articles, dont have links for the original source for some tho, only what i've got from another forum.

Joint and Allied Threat Awareness System (Jatas)

Helo-Protecting Advanced Sensors Hurried

Jan 21, 2010

By David A. Fulghum
Washington

After generations of talk but little success, integration and commonality of digital sensors among operational forces of the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force are showing surprisingly vibrant signs of life.

A competition was kicked off late last year to design, build and demonstrate prototypes of the Joint and Allied Threat Awareness System (Jatas) to protect Navy and Marine Corps helicopters and tiltrotor aircraft from both dumb and smart weapons. The two remaining competitors are Lockheed Martin and the team of Alliant Techsystems (ATK) and BAE Systems.

Jatas is to be the core of a system that can grow, as technology and funding allow, to detect lasers, small-arms fire, shoulder-fired rockets as well as guided surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles. Eventually, Jatas is expected to encompass cyber-network detection, analysis and, possibly, attack.

“This is a first,” says Matt Milligan, director of platform survivability for Lockheed Martin. “These capabilities do exist, but they are different systems with [diverse] hardware components that take up valuable space and resources on assault helicopters. [Meanwhile,] the threats are evolving. We have documented evidence that assault platforms [in Iraq and Afghanistan] are coming back riddled with bullet holes and in some cases the pilot doesn’t know he’s being shot at.” In addition, older ultraviolet-based, missile detection systems “are being flooded by false alarms,” he says.

A key concept is to network information collected by a growing package of sophisticated sensors that is then integrated by an advanced, broadband, high-speed processor. Jatas is part of the effort to introduce common, open-architecture systems that can transport capabilities across service lines and among allies.

The Navy awarded two 16-month contracts to demonstrate prototypes of a compact, two-color, mid-wave, infrared system, says Laurie Nuzzo, BAE Systems’ Jatas program manager. The Marine Corps MV-22 tiltrotor troop transport is the lead platform for the Jatas program’s engineering and manufacturing development phase. Development proposals are due this November, with final selection of a prime contractor expected next spring. Both teams include DRS Technologies and Goodrich.

Demand for the missile-detection capability is being accelerated by the heavy volume of automatic small-arms fire encountered in Afghanistan and, to a lesser degree, by availability on the black market of Russian-built SA-16 Gimlet, SA-18 Grouse and SA-24 Grinch man-portable air defense missiles (manpads).

SA-16s, for example, can be bought for about $40,000 each, say U.S. defense officials. Defense laboratories have bought SA-18s on the black market (for an undisclosed amount) and they were delivered by a commercial mail service. Both missiles are hit-to-kill and carry modifications to delay their detonation until they have penetrated the target. The SA-24 has contact or non-contact options. It offers a combination of rods and fragments to expand and optimize the kill envelope, say U.S. analysts.

Jatas eventually is expected to integrate electronic attack and warfare capabilities as well.

“We really need to work the whole [electro-magnetic] spectrum now, not just because of manpads,” says Burt Keir*stead, BAE Systems’ director of Navy programs for survivability solutions. “[However,] the big threat at the moment, if you look at rotary-wing losses, is hostile [small-arms and rocket-propelled-grenade] fire. It turns out that we’ve done a pretty good job with missile warning, especially with the Army. I’d argue that more important is a hostile-fire [detection] capability that’s going into the Jatas program. At lower altitudes, that’s the greater threat to helicopters.

“As we’ve seen with the Army, the helicopter will continue to be the workhorse in modern conflicts like Afghanistan where you need to transport troops,” Keirstead says. “The other aspect is that the Office of the Secretary of Defense is searching for cross-pollination among the services to solve the hostile fire threat.”

Acoustic sensors will be examined later in the program to detect and locate the source of ball-ammunition, rifle and machine gun fire that have no infrared signature to exploit. But there are hints about work on advanced algorithms that are to combine information from many sources other than acoustics to determine the source of ball-ammunition fire.

“We are looking at acoustic as well as a few other options . . . as supplements to our IR sensor for the complete hostile fire indicator,” says David Huber, Lockheed Martin’s Jatas program manager. “Acoustic [sensors] may be furthest along in maturity, but there are other technologies we are looking into. We’re going to create discriminators for ourselves [from our] strong capabilities in algorithms, integration and sensor-packaging.”

“As a requirement for the program, the Navy would like to evolve to a directable infrared countermeasure [dircm]—a jammer—which is part of the Jatas interface requirement,” Keir*stead says. The Army already uses the advanced threat infrared countermeasures (Atircm) jamming laser.

One of the project’s core requirements is for a broad-bandwidth, large-memory processor with open architecture as well as memory, bandwidth and processing speed reserves of 200% for adding future functions to the system. Another requirement calls for a mid-wave, two-color (3-5 micron) IR system that allows targets to be picked more efficiently from interfering sources of radiation. It is expected to generate fewer false alarms than sensors based on ultra-violet sensors.

The mid-IR part of the spectrum was picked for its longer-range target detection. An open-architecture processor—built on a standard commercial design for low cost and interoperability—wil l allow modular insertion of more capabilities.

“[Jatas also] has a laser-warning capability embedded in it,” Keirstead says. For example, Goodrich provides laser warning that determines the direction and type of threat laser and the type of weapon associated with it. “We think we need to get as many sensors on the problem as we can.” The processor and IR sensor package also provide the skeleton on which advanced future capabilities can be hung. “You want to add incremental capability without having to go back and rebuild key pieces of core operational software,” says Keirstead.

Another longer-term upgrade is networking with other air and ground systems to locate and track all the weapons in a specific battlespace, including longer-range surface-to-air missiles.

“It’s safe to say that growth for these applications . . . will let us go look at air-to-air threats, for example,” Keirstead says. “The big difference when you go from manpads to air-to-air threats is just the range. One of the advantages of embedding infrared capability is getting extended range so there is more potential to deal with long-range missiles.”

There also is a long-term requirement to tack on other advanced sensors, including a network-detection device that can sense, identify and map the activity of local IT networks that might be part of a threat system.

[edit] - found another one

TEXTRON's SCORPION system succeeds

Textron Defense Systems' XM1100 Scorpion Intelligent Munitions System Demonstrates Operational Capabilities in Successful End-to-End Testing

(Source: Textron Inc.; issued January 19, 2010)

WILMINGTON, Mass. --- Textron Defense Systems, an operating unit of Textron Systems, announced today that its XM1100 Scorpion networked sensor and munitions system successfully completed a rigorous test series at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Testing culminated in the first end-to-end, live-fire engagement by the Scorpion networked sensor and munitions platform, with the Scorpion system scoring a perfect three for three against vehicle targets. Remote-controlled military targets were driven through multiple fields of emplaced Scorpion systems, which identified and tracked the targets and passed information to an operator overlooking the fields. The operator then armed a fully functional Scorpion system with a high-explosive munition, destroying the targets and demonstrating the system’s effectiveness.

The Scorpion system includes networked, arrayed lethal and non-lethal engagement effects and components for command and control, situational awareness and communications, all of which are linked by a central command-and-control module. The system can detect, track, classify, report and engage enemy vehicles, making it effective for battlespace shaping and force protection.

A full network of 16 dispensing modules was employed during the White Sands Missile Range test event, which included demonstration of command and control, ground sensor tracking, target engagement, anti-vehicle munitions launch and warhead lethality, as well as self-destruction testing and soldier interaction testing and assessment. Additional achievements included the testing of a fielded Scorpion system overnight to observe its force protection capability.

“The White Sands Missile Range end-to-end test event demonstrates that our Scorpion system operates as intended — to protect warfighters from surrounding threats and provide them critical force protection capability,” says Textron Defense Systems’ Senior Vice President and General Manager Mark Catizone. “The demonstration’s successful completion brings us an important step closer to delivering this system into the hands of warfighters.”

Following this major program milestone, Textron Defense Systems plans to deliver production representative systems for government qualification testing, which is expected to commence early this year.

Textron Defense Systems employs advanced technology and industry expertise to develop and manufacture state-of-the-art smart weapons; airborne and ground-based sensors and surveillance systems; and protection systems for the defense, aerospace and homeland security communities. Its innovative systems for the military provide precision effects, actionable intelligence and force protection.

Textron Systems Corporation has been providing innovative solutions to the defense, homeland security and aerospace communities for more than 50 years. Textron Systems Corporation is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Inc.

-ends-

linkie for pix - http://www.textrondefense.c om/prod...s/scorpion.htm

and also

TPI Composites Successfully Tests its All Composite Military Vehicle

First-of-its-kind prototype saves 900 pounds compared to traditional HMMWV and provides a more durable alternative

07:57 GMT, January 20, 2010 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.



TPI Composites, Inc. today announced its All Composite Military Vehicle (ACMV) has successfully completed both accelerated durability testing and road testing. It is believed to be the first completely composite tactical vehicle to accomplish such a milestone for the U.S. Army. These are significant steps toward integrating advanced composite materials into tactical vehicles which will provide a lighter, more durable option and provide the Army with the ability to:

• Traverse treacherous terrain while safely transporting troops and cargo
• Add personnel protection
• Add payload such as vital communications systems or ammunition
• Reduce corrosion and certain maintenance expenses
• Improve fuel efficiency in theater

The military's High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) was selected as the platform of the vehicle. The body structure of the ACMV, including the frame rails, were constructed of composite materials and contain no metal. Standard HMMWV drive trains, suspensions and other accessories were fastened to the composite body with methods similar to those used for steel and aluminum HMMWVs.

"We are very pleased with the performance of TPI's All Composite Military Vehicle," said CEO Steve Lockard. "A vehicle like this gives the U.S. Army several significant options to improve its HMMWV fleet. Not only will this vehicle give our troops increased mobility, its lighter, high-strength composition will allow for significant fuel efficiency and potentially allow for the addition of enhanced armor or greater payload. This is a huge step forward in military vehicle engineering."

The ACMV prototype was tested by Defiance Testing & Engineering in Troy, Michigan between October 9, 2009 and November 2, 2009. It was tested on a 4 post tire coupled vehicle test simulator. The vehicle was sent to Chrysler's Chelsea Proving Grounds for 85 hours, representing a 50,000 mile road test. The data represented a severe off road schedule typically used for light trucks and sport utility vehicles, commonly referred to as "L4S". The vehicle was tested in two different configurations – ballasted and un-ballasted. Other project team members that supported the program included the University of Delaware's Center for Composite Materials.

The ACMV was also tested at Nevada Automotive Test Center (NATC) between December 2008 and May 2009 and was subjected to the following performance tests:

• Static stability (tilt table)
• Dynamic stability (NATO double lane change)
• Dynamic stability (steady state turning)
• Ride quality and peak acceleration
• Peak vertical acceleration.

The vehicle was also tested for 5,000 miles on a mission profile-representative course. The road test consisted of 1,500 miles of primary roads, 1,500 miles of secondary roads and 2,000 miles of cross-country travel. The ACMV performed very well at NATC and Defiance exhibiting no significant structural failures.

"We're proud to apply our expertise in composite technology to assist the military in providing a lighter, safer, more durable vehicle for U.S. troops," said Lockard. "From our beginnings as a custom yacht manufacturer to the wind turbine blades we supply to GE Energy and Mitsubishi Power Systems to our military products, TPI has a heritage of innovation in composite manufacturing."

The next and last significant phase of testing of the ACMV is blast testing which is likely to take place in the first half of 2010.

This is not TPI's first entree into applying advanced composites in military vehicles. The company has designed and built improved HMMWV Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) hoods. It also designed and prototyped the first All Composite Cab for the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) platform. Like the ACMV, the HEMTT cab has successfully completed several tests required by the Army. In each case, TPI has reduced significant vehicle weight and produced parts that enhance vehicle payload and personnel protection.

[SamEEE]

Biggest technological breakthrough of 2010 me thinks.

[CDN-SMOKEJUMPER]

That new Humvee is going to save lives. Great news and an awesome read!



Sameee, what's so good about it? I watched the video's but don't understand what's so different about these rockets.

Do you have a text link I could read? I love space stuff but don't know too much about what's going on.

[Gourmetrail]

Plasma Rocket (Ion Thruster)...

Rail Gun...kilometres per second...

[Chanvlan]

wow 0.o

those are AWESOME Gourm!

Also I LOVE that new hummer design, so cool!

[McDethWivFries]

Originally Posted by Gourmetrail

Plasma Rocket (Ion Thruster)...

YouTube- VASIMR Ground Testing

TIE fighters here we come (o:

[edit] - oh and BOOOOOOOOoooo to your edit Chan (o;

[Chanvlan]

^^^^ bahahaha

hehehe I am a devious one arent I?? lmao

EDIT: errm, guys, why arent they using Railguns as the new cannons??

[McDethWivFries]

Originally Posted by Chanvlan

EDIT: errm, guys, why arent they using Railguns as the new cannons??

- still developmental
- cant lob the shots over hills
- dont make a nice manly BOOM when firing, just a poofy little ZING
- candy isn't included

[ChiefRyza]

Originally Posted by McDethWivFries

- still developmental
- cant lob the shots over hills
- dont make a nice manly BOOM when firing, just a poofy little ZING
- candy isn't included

Actually, considering they break MACH 3 or something like that, I imagine they are probably loud enough to blow your ears out if you were near it because the sound barrier is broken at the gun itself. (edit. may be wrong there while reading about Sonic Booms, it would still be pretty loud though)

Not to mention the sheer amount of power to operate one of these things as a viable weapon is ridiculous The US Navy is probably still investing in it however to provide an almost unstoppable anti-aircraft/missile weapon, even up to being used as anti ship or submarine weapons. That is a long while off though.

This is freaky though:

On January 31, 2008 the US Navy tested a railgun that fired a shell at 10.64 MJ with a muzzle velocity of 2,520 m/s.[15] Its expected performance is a muzzle velocity over 5,800 m/s, accurate enough to hit a 5 meter target over 200 nautical miles (370.4 km) away while firing at 10 shots per minute. The power was provided by a new 9-megajoule (MJ) prototype capacitor bank using solid-state switches and high-energy-density capacitors delivered in 2007 and an older 32-MJ pulse power system from the US Army’s Green Farm Electric Gun Research and Development Facility developed in the late 1980’s that was previously refurbished by General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (EMS) Division[16]. It is expected to be ready between 2020 to 2025.[17]

[Shotgun]

Originally Posted by CDN-SMOKEJUMPER

That new Humvee is going to save lives. Great news and an awesome read!

Sameee, what's so good about it? I watched the video's but don't understand what's so different about these rockets.

Do you have a text link I could read? I love space stuff but don't know too much about what's going on.

Smoke these rockets are the next generation of space travel, these rockets are the only things that are going to get to the moon again and also to mars. Current "space" shuttles can only just exit the earths atmosphere they cannot and will never be part of interplanetary space flight

Think of it as a V8 vs steam powered engine.

Also these rockets are only part of a giant rocket that is going to be used for space flight.

[CDN-SMOKEJUMPER]

Awesome! Thanks for that buddy.

[ChiefRyza]

Yeah, the Ion Drive basically provides much, much less force than a rocket, however it is extremely conservative in it's usage of fuel. In short, they pulsate very quickly and can pretty much go for roughly 2 years at a time on the amount of fuel they carry per engine. Because there is no gravity in space they are viable to operate in it, but they would be pretty much useless in conventional flight.

It's just Wikipedia but it is the easiest way to find this sort of stuff.

Due to their relatively high power needs, given the specific power of power supplies, and the requirement of an environment void of other ionized particles, ion thrust propulsion is currently practical only in outer space.

[Shotgun]

no worries

This is pretty much what I do in my spare time so I have plenty of stuff to go around

Water on Mars?

Self-portraits taken by a NASA probe on the surface of Mars may have provided our first glimpse of liquid water on another planet. The Phoenix Mars Lander, which touched down near the planet’s north pole, was designed to look only for ice frozen into the Martian soil. But University of Michigan space scientist Nilton Rennó says probe images show blobs of liquid water clinging to the lander’s titanium legs.

In an October paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research, Rennó theorizes that as Phoenix landed, its thrusters displaced topsoil and splashed small droplets of brine onto the probe’s legs. Sodium and magnesium perchlorate salts in the Martian soil may allow water to remain liquid despite the extreme cold, about –90 degrees Fahrenheit. In successive images, the drops seem to flow downward and darken, as if they are melting. “I think there is liquid water on Mars right now,” Rennó says. In a follow-up, he confirmed that under simulated Martian atmospheric conditions, sodium salts do absorb water vapor and form a liquid solution.

Michael Hecht of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory disagrees with Rennó’s assessment, saying the blobs could merely be frost; Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona in Tucson thinks there is not yet enough evidence to evaluate the claim. “Whether you believe Rennó’s case or not, though, he’s created some interesting ideas that are very relevant to future Mars research,” Smith says. One intriguing possibility: If fluid water does persist on Mars, life that might have thrived there millions of years ago, when the climate was warmer and wetter, could be hanging on in thin layers of salty water just beneath the surface.

Originally Posted by ChiefRyza

there is no gravity in space they are viable to operate in it

LIES! there is always gravity its just weaker

[CDN-SMOKEJUMPER]

Please keep them coming this is cool.

That website has all sorts of neat stuff.

[Shotgun]

Discover Magazine is pretty much my second home

[jamo128]

umm someone gonna invent the warp drive sooner or later .... oh wait ... thats after world war 3 .. if you seen star trek .. lol

[Slavak]

This should just about cover it...

http://www.vindianz.com/featured/50-...09-202606.html