darpa – Techdirt (original) (raw)
DailyDirt: Spaceplanes 2.0
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
The Space Shuttle was a cool idea, but it never accomplished the goal of providing a relatively low-cost route to space. The concept of reusable space ships is still attractive, but it really depends on how much it takes to refurbish them before they attempt another launch. A few different organizations are already testing some reusable space vehicles (and Boeing has its X-37B that’s orbiting somewhere above us right now). Here are just a few more spaceplanes that might join the new reusable space race.
- The EU has its Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) robotic space plane that was tested last year. The IXV is scheduled to fly another test in 2019, and it might be operating by the time Elon Musk is on Mars.
- DARPA’s XS-1 spaceplane project has a goal of flying 10 times in 10 days and putting a few tons of satellite payload into space — for less than $5 million per flight. That’s a pretty ambitious plan, especially if it’s supposed to start testing by 2019 (and they’re still narrowing down the technology).
- The Skylon concept spaceplane is a single-stage-to-orbit dream. It might not be hard to explain how it could work, but it’ll sure be difficult to actually build a working prototype.
After you’ve finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.
Filed Under: intermediate experimental vehicle, ixv, re-usable rockets, single stage to orbit, skylon, space, space exploration, spacecraft, spaceplane, x-37b, xs-1
Companies: boeing, darpa, nasa
DailyDirt: It's Not So Simple To Get To Mars…
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
The shortest distance between the Earth and Mars varies depending on where the two planets are in their respective orbits. In July 2018, Mars will be a little under 36 million miles away (pretty close to the closest possible distance of 33.9 million miles). However, it’s not quite as simple as shooting a big rocket aimed in the right direction. If astronauts are going to survive the trip (and the return?), no one has the technology to do that yet. Manned space exploration sounds like a noble venture, but funding it seems to be a big problem.
- NASA has a bunch of unsolved problems that it’s asking the public to help solve. There are monetary rewards for solutions that could help establish colonies on Mars. Innocentive is handling the submission process, and some of the challenges have already been awarded. (The challenge for achieving independence from Earth is ending just a couple days after July 4th.) [url]
- How does the US measure up in the modern space race? Perhaps we’re asking the wrong questions, and the space race shouldn’t be about competition as much as global cooperation and collaboration. Over 70 countries have some kind of space program now, but maybe we shouldn’t be trying to elbow our way past fellow humans to claim mining rights in deep space? [url]
- If people really see Mars as a “backup planet” for our existing biosphere, perhaps we ought to make it more comfortable before we go there. Terraforming Mars with genetically engineered microbes might be the way to do it. Or not. Should we really be messing around with planetary-scale biology experiments? [url]
After you’ve finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.
Filed Under: astronauts, biotech, crowdsourcing, gmo, manned missions, mars, space, space exploration, space race, terraforming
Companies: darpa, innocentive, nasa
YouTube Silences Six Hours Of DARPA Robotics Finals… Because Of One Song Briefly In The Background
from the fun-with-contentid dept
As you may have heard, DARPA, the wonderful government agency folks who helped bring us the precursors to the internet and self-driving cars, held a giant robotics competition this weekend, known as the DARPA Robotic Challenge, or DRC. It was full of amazing robots — though everyone seems focused on the ones that fell over, despite the amazing advancements in robotics that were on display.
One bit of “robotics,” whose best work is not on display, is the robotic nature of YouTube’s ContentID copyright censorship. If you go to check out the six hour YouTube video of the DRC Finals Workshop on YouTube you’ll get to witness everything, but not hear a damn thing. Because, apparently, there was a copyright-covered song playing somewhere in the background, YouTube muted the whole damn thing:
So, yup, rather than learning about the latest advancements from our soon to be robotic overlords, we’ll just silence everything so someone’s copyright isn’t infringed because it was playing quietly in the background at a daylong event.
Filed Under: contentid, copyright, darpa, darpa robotics challenge, mute, robots, youtube
Companies: darpa, google, youtube
DailyDirt: Flying With The Greatest Of Ease
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Airplanes have been commonplace for quite some time now, and we’ve grown accustomed to what an airplane should look like. Ask any kid to draw a plane, and you’ll probably get familiar results. However, this doesn’t mean we’ve reached the end of novel plane designs. Plenty of unconventional planes are being designed and tested, and here are just a few.
- NASA is testing an experimental wing design with 18 electric motors as part of its Leading Edge Asynchronous Propeller Technology (LEAPTech) project. Each motor can be optimized for better ride quality and noise reduction — and possibly improved fuel consumption. [url]
- The Russian PAK TA concept is a supersonic transport that could be ready for military service by 2024. A 200-ton capacity plane traveling at 1200 mph with a range of 4,000 miles sounds a bit futuristic because it would be amazing to see a plane actually capable of doing it (but maybe not so amazing in another 10 years or so). [url]
- DARPA wants to make a VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft that’s much much better than a helicopter or existing VTOL designs. Boeing has a Phantom Swift design that’s been built (as a 17% scale model) — one of four contenders aiming to meet DARPA’s technical specs. [url]
If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Filed Under: aircraft, aviation, design, helicopters, leaptech, pak ta, phantom swift, planes, prototypes, supersonic, vtol
Companies: boeing, darpa, nasa
DailyDirt: Is There A Better Word For Wireless?
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Wired communications are obviously a more reliable connection than any wireless technology (when a wired connection is actually possible or practical), so wirelines aren’t going away any time soon. (Well, unless you live on an island off the coast of New Jersey.) But wireless technologies offer some pretty clear advantages, too. Maybe we’ll discover some way to make wireless connections just as solid as wired ones, but until then, here are just a few advances for transmitting information without a wire or cable.
- If you’re really paranoid about someone intercepting your home WiFi network, maybe someday you can set up a wireless network that transmits via visible wavelengths (so a wall would effectively block out would-be eavesdroppers). It might be annoying to set up a wireless network like this for more than one room, though. [url]
- Cheap, high-bandwidth transmitters for satellite communications in the 42-25 GHz range might be nice to have in a smartphone. A couple DARPA teams have demonstrated the feasibility of millimeter-wave power amplifiers on silicon chips for the first time. [url]
- T-rays (aka terahertz rays) have been shown to break the 3 Gbps barrier — but a T-ray based WiFi network would probably only achieve 100 Gbps and have a range of about 10 meters. FYI: T-rays are part of the unregulated spectrum, and they can penetrate some materials (but not metals or water). [url]
If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Filed Under: bandwidth, communication, networks, satellite, t-ray, technology, unregulated spectrum, wifi, wireless
Companies: darpa
DailyDirt: More Walking Robots
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Honda’s ASIMO and other walking robots don’t really look like much of match for catching up with people running away from them. But like zombies, robots never get tired and can just keep walking slowly towards you (as long as their batteries last, that is). Here are just a few examples of some robots that are starting to walk a bit more like us.
- Boston Dynamics has been working on a 6’2″ tall humanoid robot named Atlas. It can walk over rubble, and someday it will say, “I’ll be back” in an Austrian accent. [url]
- Researchers at the Humanoid Robotics Institute have designed a robotic leg with many of the same joints and features of a human leg. It’s actually not that easy to get a robot leg to have all the same range of motions as a real human leg. [url]
- Robot legs using a neural network to mimic human walking has created one of the first biologically-accurate models of the human gait. This research could help us understand how babies learn to walk and how people with spinal cord injuries might learn to walk again. [url]
If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Filed Under: asimo, atlas, biomimicry, bipedal, gait, humanoid, locomotion, mabel, robots, terminator, walking
Companies: boston dynamics, darpa, honda, humanoid robotics institute
DailyDirt: Better Robots Keep Coming
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Robot research has made some remarkable advances over the years, but we don’t quite have Star Wars servant droids or helpful general-purpose household bots from the Jetsons yet. While we’ve gained some autonomous vacuum cleaners, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Here are just a few robotic advances to be aware of before droids try to conquer their wetware creators.
- DARPA’s robotics programs have been developing cool and useful robots for decades, and one of its latest demonstrations is a set of robotic hands (and arms) that can change a tire (almost). This bot won’t be replacing F1 pit crews any time soon, since it hasn’t quite mastered putting the tire back on (and it’s painfully slow), but it shows that robot hands are almost ready to do some everyday tasks without human supervision. [url]
- Mechanical computers aren’t too common nowadays, but they could make a comeback in artificial muscles. Robot muscles that can respond reflexively to stimuli might lead to better robots that can navigate dynamic environments. [url]
- Boston Dynamics’ BigDog robot is almost creepy in how it moves like an animal — hitting that Uncanny Valley of robotic movement. Recently, BigDog has been given a head/neck appendage that can hold and throw heavy things, adding to its Frankenstein-look of a cobbled together collection of robot body parts. [url]
If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Filed Under: artificial muscles, automation, bigdog, droids, robots
Companies: boston dynamics, darpa
DailyDirt: Fighting The Next Pandemic
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
The last flu season was pretty rough, but there’s a new H7N9 strain that has no vaccine (yet!) and is starting to infect and kill people (instead of sticking to birds). We’re just about coming to the tenth anniversary of SARS, and we’re still creating over 100 million flu vaccines every year using egg embryos — a process that takes months, time that we might not have if a really serious flu strain spreads quickly across the globe. Here are a few projects that are making vaccines more quickly.
- Tobacco plants can be made transgenic in order to grow vaccines for us, and they’ve been shown to be able to produce over a million doses of vaccine in a few weeks. DARPA has a challenge out to anyone who can produce vaccines at a rate of 10 million doses in a month. [url]
- Genetically modified tobacco plants can be grown and harvested by robots — producing vaccine proteins very quickly and efficiently — without the need for human labor. These robots can grow tens of thousands of tobacco plants in a batch, and it’s likely only a matter of time before researchers can get these plant factories to produce other kinds of pharmaceuticals. [url]
- Flublok relies on insects to grow flu vaccines for us — a process that has been used for other kinds of vaccines, but has only started to be used for the flu. Flublok has already been FDA approved, so it will be available to patients for the 2013-2014 flu season. [url]
- Bananas could potentially be grown with edible vaccines, but the regulatory hurdles for development have caused researchers to focus on non-edible vaccines grown in other plants (like tobacco). Bananas grown for edible vaccines might still be viable for treating fish or other animals. [url]
If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Filed Under: bananas, flu, flu season, flublok, gmo, h7n9, robots, sars, tobacco, vaccine
Companies: darpa
DailyDirt: Who's Going To Clean Up All The Space Junk?
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Putting satellites and spacecraft into low earth orbit is getting easier and less expensive all the time, but that also means we’re possibly creating even more orbiting space junk around our planet — without any way to remove this garbage. Man-made space debris is already a problem, and as we shoot more stuff up into space, it could become an even bigger problem. There are at least a few folks who are concerned about space pollution, but there aren’t that many workable solutions (yet).
- DARPA is working on a project called Phoenix which aims to create new satellites that can cannibalize older satellites in orbit for parts. DARPA wants to demonstrate robotic satellites that can salvage reusable parts such as antennas from obsolete satellites in geosynchronous orbit, but there are quite a few technological and logistical hurdles to overcome. [url]
- China’s space program has achieved several significant milestones, but its anti-satellite capabilities could turn low earth orbit into an unusable space junkyard. In 2007, China shot down one of its own weather satellites and created a cloud of space debris. [url]
- One proposal to reduce space debris in low earth orbit involves deploying tons of micron-scale tungsten dust in space — which would collide with other debris and slow down the space junk so that it burns up in the upper atmosphere. About 100 tons of cosmic dust from micrometeorites gets captured by Earth’s gravity on a daily basis, but it’s too spread out to have a significant effect on man-made space junk. Unfortunately, deploying 40 tons of man-made tungsten dust, at about $1000 per pound, is a fairly expensive mission… [url]
If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.
Filed Under: china, low earth orbit, micrometeorites, phoenix, satellites, space, space junk, tungsten
Companies: darpa
DailyDirt: Creating Virtual And Artificial Brains
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
We’re a long way away from creating an artificial intelligence from scratch that can perform general tasks. But plenty of researchers are learning some interesting things about AI while they build massively parallel computers or grow microbrains from little clumps of cells. Here are just a few projects where some synthetic brains are being hand-built by people.
- One *million* [/Dr. Evil voice] ARM processor cores are being hooked together to create a parallel computer called SpiNNaker that will try to simulate the human brain. Given that the human brain has about 100 billion neurons with 1,000 trillion connections between them all, this project is less than 1% of the way towards a full brain simulation. [url]
- Growing a brain in a petri dish from rat neurons might be an interesting approach to building a brain de novo. So far, researchers have created a network of about 60 rat neurons which seem to be able to sustain activity for about 12 seconds. [url]
- Folks from IBM are working on cognitive computing like the Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) project with some DARPA funding to re-create a billion artificial neurons. Trying to beat the power efficiency of the human brain isn’t an easy task. [url]
- To discover more interesting bot-related content, check out what’s currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]
By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
Filed Under: artificial intelligence, brains, cognitive computing, microbrains, neurons, parallel computers, spinnaker, synapse
Companies: darpa, ibm