Military & Aerospace
Poof! Dust disk that might have made planets disappears
July 5, 2012 8:45 am | by Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters | News | CommentsIn a cosmic case of "now-you-see-it, now-you-don't," a brilliant disk of dust around a Sun-like star has suddenly vanished, and the scientists who observed the disappearance aren't sure about what happened.
This summer is 'what global warming looks like'
July 5, 2012 8:36 am | by SETH BORENSTEIN, AP | News | CommentsWASHINGTON (AP) -- Is it just freakish weather or something more? Climate scientists suggest that if you want a glimpse of some of the worst of global warming, take a look at U.S. weather in recent weeks.
A closer look at the Higgs boson
July 5, 2012 8:35 am | by Frank Jordans, The Associated Press | News | CommentsScientists working at the world's biggest atom smasher near Geneva have announced the discovery of a new subatomic particle that looks remarkably like the long-sought Higgs boson. Sometimes called the "God particle" because its existence is fundamental to the creation of the universe, the hunt for the Higgs involved thousands of scientists from all over the world.
The first “Code of Conduct” for UAVs
July 3, 2012 11:50 am | by Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor | Blogs | CommentsA trade group has written the first "Code of Conduct" related to unmanned aerial vehicles. The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), which boasts more than 7,000 members across 60 countries, released its treatise in response to growing privacy concerns toward domestic UAV usage.
Sounding rocket mission to observe magnetic fields on the sun
July 3, 2012 8:57 am | News | CommentsOn July 5, NASA will launch a mission called the Solar Ultraviolet Magnetograph Investigation or SUMI, to study the intricate, constantly changing magnetic fields on the sun in a hard-to-observe area of the sun's low atmosphere called the chromosphere. Magnetic fields, and the intense magnetic energy they help marshal, lie at the heart of how the sun can create huge explosions of light such as solar flares and eruptions of particles such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
Research paves the way for accurate manufacturing of complex parts for aerospace and car industries
July 2, 2012 2:16 pm | News | CommentsProducing strong, lightweight and complex parts for car manufacturing and the aerospace industry is set to become cheaper and more accurate thanks to a new technique developed by engineers from the University of Exeter. The research team has developed a new method for making three-dimensional aluminium composite parts by mixing a combination of relatively inexpensive powders.
Officials: Ala. Airbus plant will employ 1,000
July 2, 2012 10:24 am | by Phillip Rawls, Associated Press | News | CommentsAirbus's planned aircraft assembly plant in Alabama will cost $600 million to build and will employ 1,000 people when it reaches full production, officials said ahead of a formal announcement Monday.
Hi-C to investigate activity in solar atmosphere
July 2, 2012 10:09 am | News | CommentsNASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. is leading an international effort to develop and launch the High Resolution Coronal Imager, or Hi-C, on a sounding rocket from the White Sands Missile Range at White Sands, N.M. Hi-C is a next-generation suborbital space telescope designed to capture the highest-resolution images ever taken of the million-degree solar corona.
Soyuz spacecraft lands safely in Kazakhstan
July 2, 2012 9:54 am | by Associated Press | News | CommentsA Soyuz space capsule carrying a three-man multinational crew touched down safely Sunday on the southern steppes of Kazakhstan, bringing an end to their 193-day mission to the International Space Station.
Soyuz spacecraft ends mission with smooth landing
July 2, 2012 9:02 am | by Reuters | News | CommentsA Russian Soyuz capsule landed on the Kazakh steppes on Sunday, safely delivering a trio of astronauts who helped to dock the first privately owned spacecraft during a six-month stint on the International Space Station.
Noise filter removes incoming disturbances
June 29, 2012 10:31 am | Product Releases | CommentsWAGO Corporation’s DIN-rail mount 288 Series Signal Noise Filter removes disturbances from incoming power for industrial control panels. The 288-2003 pairs a 10A/120VAC Receptacle, common mode choke and WAGO 740 Series PCB Terminal Blocks on a 1.75’’ wide open assembly. Initially developed as a custom product by WAGO’s Engineering Services division for aquatic show control systems (dancing water fountains), 288 Series is now a standard product.
GPGPU embedded DSP module is AFT-cooled
June 29, 2012 10:19 am | Product Releases | CommentsCurtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions (CWCDS) announced what is said to be the industry’s first rugged Air Flow Through (AFT) cooled GPGPU embedded DSP module. The announcement of the AFT version of CWCDS’ VPX6-490 GPU Application Accelerator, a dual NVIDIA GPU-based 6U VPX module
Enjoy the long weekend, if only for a second
June 29, 2012 9:11 am | by Chris Wickham, Reuters | News | CommentsThe world is about to get a well-earned long weekend but don't make big plans because it will only last an extra second.
Scientists develop spray-on battery
June 28, 2012 2:12 pm | by Chris Wickham, Reuters | News | CommentsScientists in the United States have developed a paint that can store and deliver electrical power just like a battery.
Milky Way struck 100 million years ago, still rings like a bell
June 28, 2012 1:40 pm | News | CommentsAn international team of astronomers have discovered evidence that our Milky Way had an encounter with a small galaxy or massive dark matter structure perhaps as recently as 100 million years ago, and as a result of that encounter it is still ringing like a bell. The discovery is based on observations of 300,000 nearby Milky Way stars by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).
New government system will send severe weather warnings straight to Americans' smartphones
June 28, 2012 8:57 am | by Steve Karnowski, AP | News | CommentsMillions of smartphone users will soon begin receiving text messages about severe weather from a sophisticated government system that can send a blanket warning to mobile devices in the path of a dangerous storm.
Seal rotary switch resistant to corrosion, rough weather
June 27, 2012 9:54 am | Product Releases | CommentsCole Hersee, the Commercial Vehicle Products division of Littelfuse, Inc., announced that it is introducing the latest product in the 95060 series of sealed rotary switches. This new, weather-sealed reversing switch, constructed with engineering thermoplastic, stands up to corrosion much better than older, metal models with similar functionality.
Microwave coaxial cables feature solid core or monofilament dielectric for desirable signal speed and improved electrical performance
June 26, 2012 3:18 pm | Product Releases | CommentsTemp-Flex LLC, a subsidiary of Molex Incorporated, announced the availability of microwave coaxial cables designed for high-bandwidth applications using proprietary processes.
Synchronizer accommodates up to 8 PCIe boards for multichannel applications
June 26, 2012 2:56 pm | Product Releases | CommentsPentek, Inc. introduced a system synchronization and distribution amplifier, the Model 7893 PCIe board.
High-frequency RF and microwave MLCCs tout high Q factor
June 25, 2012 12:22 pm | Product Releases | CommentsVishay Intertechnology, Inc. introduced a series of surface-mount multilayer ceramic chip capacitors (MLCCs) offering high self-resonance, a high Q factor of ≥2000, and a low dissipation factor of ≤0.05 percent for operation in high-frequency commercial applications. With their low
China manned docking a key step for space station
June 25, 2012 9:15 am | by Gabriel Wildau and Samuel Shen, Reuters | News | CommentsChina re-affirmed its goal of building a full-fledged space station by 2020 on Sunday, following a successful manual docking between a manned spacecraft and an experimental orbiting lab module.
Manufacturers: Defense cuts would cost more than 1 million jobs
June 22, 2012 3:47 pm | News | CommentsThe National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) today released a new report, Defense Spending Cuts: The Impact on Economic Growth and Jobs, that highlights the potential impact defense spending cuts under the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 will have on U.S. jobs and economic growth.
Insight: Look, no hands! Augmented reality gets a grip
June 21, 2012 3:27 pm | by Harro Ten Wolde and Tarmo Virki | News | CommentsOne day in March 2000, just days before the dot-com bubble began its journey back to earth, German engineer Thomas Alt first glimpsed the future of technology.
Single board computer ideal for military, communications, industrial applications
June 20, 2012 11:05 am | Product Releases | CommentsExtreme Engineering Solutions, Inc. (X-ES) introduces the XCalibur1600, a 6U CompactPCI Single Board Computer (SBC) supporting Freescale QorIQ P4080 processor. Available in either conduction- or air-cooled versions, the XCalibur1600 utilizes the eight Power Architecture e500mc cores running at up to 1.5 GHz, making it an ideal solution for high-end military, communications, and industrial applications.
UK government report backs open access science publishing
June 20, 2012 8:57 am | by Chris Wickham, Reuters | News | CommentsThe shift toward open access to publicly funded scientific research should be supported with an extra 50 million to 60 million pounds a year in public money, according to a UK government-commissioned report.
