Military & Aerospace
South Korean presidential candidate promises freer web browsing
November 15, 2012 9:05 am | by YOUKYUNG LEE AP Technology Writer | News | CommentsA South Korean presidential candidate has promised to get rid of encryption technology that has tied South Korean Internet users to a single web browser - Microsoft's Internet Explorer -for online financial transactions. Ahn Cheol-soo, a popular independent presidential candidate,
DC/DC converters achieve 92% efficiency
November 14, 2012 11:02 am | Product Releases | CommentsGAIA Converter releases a new family of high input voltage DC/DC Converters targeting Avionic, Aerospace, Military and Missile applications. Uniquely compact, the 155-480V input voltage range MGDS-175-S is ideal for 270V applications such as those with MIL-STD-704E/F requirements....
Global warming talk heats up, revisits carbon tax
November 14, 2012 9:13 am | by SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer | News | CommentsClimate change is suddenly a hot topic again. The issue is resurfacing in talks about a once radical idea: a possible carbon tax. On Tuesday, a conservative think tank held discussions about it while a more liberal think tank released a paper on it. And the Congressional Budget Office issued a
Crystal clock oscillator includes phase noise performance of -80dBc/Hz at 10Hz offset
November 13, 2012 4:47 pm | Product Releases | CommentsIQD’s new CFPS-115 crystal clock oscillator offers two key features; low phase noise and low current consumption. At 40.0MHz the phase noise performance is -80dBc/Hz at 10Hz offset and -145dBc/Hz at 1kHz offset, figures which are around 5dBc better than similar design parts.
China to launch new manned spaceship in 2013: Xinhua
November 12, 2012 9:03 am | by Reuters | News | CommentsChina plans to launch its Shenzhou 10 spacecraft in early June 2013, one of the senior officials in charge of the manned space program said on Saturday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.The launch marks another step forward in Beijing's ambitions for a bigger presence
New Zealand won't sign 'Kyoto 2' climate treaty
November 9, 2012 9:09 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsNew Zealand's government said Friday that it would not sign on for a second stage of the Kyoto Protocol climate treaty, a stance that angered environmentalists and political opponents. The announcement came the same day that Australia said it would stay the course and commit to "Kyoto 2."
Do you have what it takes to be a Roundtable expert?
November 8, 2012 11:11 am | Articles | CommentsIn October, we asked you for your words of wisdom for a brand-new design engineer and boy, did you guys have advice in spades. The responses we received were so good in fact, we’ve decided to open up our December Roundtable to our faithful readers in hopes that you can offer more words of wisdom.
New planet discovered in habitable zone
November 8, 2012 8:50 am | by Chris Wickham, Reuters | News | CommentsAn Anglo-German team of astronomers has discovered a new planet orbiting a nearby sun at just the right distance for an Earth-like climate that could support life. The team actually found three new planets orbiting the star 44 light years away, but only one of them is in the so-called Goldilocks Zone, the band around a sun where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist.
Top 10 must-see posts from October
November 1, 2012 1:49 pm | by The ECN Editors | Articles | CommentsHere’s a rundown of the most read, most popular, most awesome articles on the web. Take a look at what you missed the first time around or check up on an old favorite to see the conversation in the comments. Keep checking out the Lead at www.ecnmag.com and follow us on Twitter @ecnonline for our most up-to-date articles.
6U single-slot processor blade designed for use by robust computer makers and intelligent system integrators
November 1, 2012 12:32 pm | 3M Electronics Solutions Division | Product Releases | CommentsADLINK Technology announces availability of the cPCI-6520, a 6U single-slot CompactPCI (CPCI) processor blade designed for use by robust computer makers and intelligent system integrators in mission-critical applications such as those developed for the military sector.
Spacewalkers leave station to track coolant leak
November 1, 2012 10:41 am | by Irene Klotz, Reuters | News | CommentsA pair of spacewalking astronauts floated outside the International Space Station on Thursday to attempt to bypass a leak in one of the outpost's cooling systems.Engineers suspect a micrometeoroid or tiny piece of space debris may have punched a hole no bigger than the width of a hair into one of the station's radiators
Scientists look at climate change, the superstorm
October 31, 2012 9:13 am | by SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer | News | CommentsClimate scientist Michael Oppenheimer stood along the Hudson River and watched his research come to life as Hurricane Sandy blew through New York. Just eight months earlier, the Princeton University professor reported that what used to be once-in-a-century devastating floods in New York City
Durability or bust
October 30, 2012 2:51 pm | by Eurekalert! | News | CommentsA Kansas State University-led research project is helping high-speed rail systems handle the stress of freezing and thawing weather conditions. The university's Kyle Riding, assistant professor of civil engineering, is leading a three-year study that looks at the freeze-thaw durability of concrete
Insight: Unable to copy it, China tries building own jet engine
October 30, 2012 2:31 pm | by David Lague and Charlie Zhu, Reuters | News | CommentsChina has designed nuclear missiles and blasted astronauts into space, but one vital technology remains out of reach. Despite decades of research and development, China has so far failed to build a reliable, high performance jet engine. This may be about to change. China's aviation sector is striving for a breakthrough
Sandy and storm surge pose 'worst case scenario'
October 29, 2012 3:31 pm | by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsThe projected storm surge from Hurricane Sandy is a "worst case scenario" with devastating waves and tides predicted for the highly populated New York City metro area, government forecasters said Sunday. The more they observe it, the more the experts worry about the water - which usually kills and does more damage than winds in hurricanes.
Paintballs may deflect an incoming asteroid
October 26, 2012 12:00 am | by Massachusetts Institute of Technology | News | CommentsIn the event that a giant asteroid is headed toward Earth, you’d better hope that it’s blindingly white. A pale asteroid would reflect sunlight — and over time, this bouncing of photons off its surface could create enough of a force to push the asteroid off its course...
Son-Tinh Moving Into South China Sea
October 25, 2012 4:10 pm | by NASA | News | CommentsTropical Storm Son-tinh soaked the Philippines and is now moving into the South China Sea. NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of the storm as the bulk western half of the storm had already moved over water. On Oct. 25, 2012 at 0525 UTC (1:25 a.m. EDT) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer...
NASA satellite shows Son-tinh over Philippines
October 25, 2012 10:31 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsThe latest tropical storm in the western North Pacific Ocean has already spread its clouds and showers over the Philippines, as seen in NASA satellite imagery. NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image as it flew over Tropical Storm Son-tinh today, Oct. 24.
U.S. military hypersonic aircraft trial set for 2013
October 25, 2012 9:31 am | by Mary Slosson, Reuters | News | CommentsThe last of four unmanned experimental U.S. military aircraft designed to fly at six times the speed of sound is expected to be tested next year, the program manager said on Wednesday, months after its predecessor broke up during a trial. The third test flight of the craft, known as the Waverider or X-51A, broke apart over the Pacific Ocean seconds into a test flight in August.
Revealing a mini-supermassive black hole
October 25, 2012 9:24 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsOne of the lowest mass supermassive black holes ever observed in the middle of a galaxy has been identified, thanks to NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and several other observatories. The host galaxy is of a type not expected to harbor supermassive black holes...
Leaner Navy looking at future technology, fleet size and sequestration
October 24, 2012 9:11 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsAdm. Mark Ferguson, vice chief of naval operations, headlined the opening of the ONR (Office of Naval Research) Naval S&T (science and technology) Partnership Conference and ASNE Expo Oct. 22, 2012, and highlighted the importance of innovative S&T programs being developed by the Navy.
Small unmanned aircraft systems log 168 flight hours in the Antarctic
October 23, 2012 1:39 pm | News | CommentsAAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems announced that its Aerosonde Small Unmanned Aircraft System logged 168 flight hours in the frigid, harsh climate of Antarctica, supporting meteorological research by the University of Colorado's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.
Wideband miniature transformers meet NASA low outgassing specifications
October 23, 2012 11:35 am | Product Releases | CommentsFor aerospace and other ultra-critical applications requiring miniature ferrite-core transformers, Coilcraft CPS has introduced the new AE458RFW Series. These robust, open design surface mount transformers are specially designed and tested to meet or exceed NASA’s demanding low-outgassing specifications
Declassified documents describe real-life flying saucer
October 23, 2012 11:32 am | by Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor | Blogs | CommentsX-Files fans, conspiracy theorists, and the tinfoil hat crowd were right all along! Sorta… In the 1950s, the US government really was building a flying saucer. But it didn’t involve little green men, human-alien hybrids, or David Duchovny; this isn’t what you’d call a "smoking gun."
Italian court ruling sends chill through science community
October 23, 2012 9:03 am | by Chris Wickham, Reuters | News | CommentsScientists reacted with alarm to the manslaughter conviction of six earthquake experts in Italy for failing to give adequate warning of the 2009 earthquake in the city of L'Aquila that killed 308 people. Scientists warned that researchers in areas involving unpredictable natural threats, like volcanology
