High tech news

This first one blows my mind a little.

Once thought impossible, the new sensor capabilities unveil the ability to follow energy from their beginnings as small-scale, meters-wide disturbances as they propagate over much greater distances “and potentially around the world,” according to Michael “Orbit” Nayak, program Manager with DARPA’s Atmosphere as a Sensor (AtmoSense) program.

And what is this new sensor?? The entire atmosphere.

Over the last several years, the program has refined its ability to detect and model energy waves—both acoustic and electromagnetic—moving through Earth’s atmosphere, paving the way toward new scientific applications, as well as those with national security implications.

From the outset, the AtmoSense program team had set out to determine whether atmospheric wave propagation might be useful for unveiling critical details about events occurring on Earth, including their source and scale.

“High-resolution surface-to-space simulation of acoustic waves was considered impossible before the program began, but we accomplished it,” said Nayak in a recent statement. With the development of models that cover six orders of magnitude in scale, Nayak and his team say they were able to demonstrate how energy begins with small disturbances on the ground, eventually propagating through the atmosphere. Such events remain detectable up to thousands of kilometers away from their point of origin

In a simplified form, think how dropping a pebble in a pond sends ripples all the way across. Now imagine checking the ionosphere for ripples from a one-ton explosion half a planet away. Or even using the whole atmosphere to sense if something enters it.

One of the most surprising findings emerged when researchers detected a significant dip in atmospheric electron content following one of the test detonations. Upon investigation, the disturbance was traced to a SpaceX Falcon 9 re-entry that coincided with the test. Further analysis of multiple Falcon 9 re-entries confirmed a repeatable pattern in electron content drops, revealing a new method for detecting objects re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.  The Debrief

The Black Arrow, also known as the Small Cruise Missile, has completed a guided flight test from an AC-130J Ghostrider gunship, the weapon’s manufacturer, Leidos, has confirmed.

As well as using the RLT, Leidos says that Black Arrow can be launched from a palletized system or conventionally released from a stores pylon on a fixed-wing aircraft.  The War Zone

Category: Science and Technology