A cubesat sent to blaze a trail for NASA’s next space station arrived in lunar orbit Nov. 13—the first cubesat known to ever have done so—after a voyage that proved tense at times. Meanwhile the small company that created the tiny spacecraft secured a new ...
Maj. Gen. Heather L. Pringle, commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory, moderated a discussion on "The Future of Propulsion" with Michael Gregg, director of the Aerospace Systems Directorate; Shawn Phillips, chief of the Rocket Propulsion Division; John Sneden, director of the Propulsion Directorate; and ...
The Air Force plans to complete testing of a full-scale blended wing body cargo/tanker aircraft within four years, according to the department’s new Climate Action Plan. The demonstrator could be a prototype for a future operational mobility aircraft or family of aircraft, and the plan ...
The Air Force Research Laboratory and the Air Force Test Center will host their first-ever summit on autonomy, a weeklong session this fall to dive into the concept that is key to the service's future strategy. The Defense Department is accelerating its push for autonomous ...
Half of the Air Force’s billets that call for advanced academic degrees in science, technology, engineering, or math are either unfilled or filled by someone who doesn’t hold the degree. At the same time, the Air Force has the fewest general officers with advanced STEM ...
Skyborg, the Air Force’s effort to develop an artificial intelligence-enabled system to control unmanned aircraft, is ready to “graduate” and contribute to key programs such as the Next Generation Air Dominance family of systems, a top program executive officer said. But while the so-called “Vanguard” ...
A new cubesat built and operated in house at the Air Force Research Laboratory is set to demonstrate cognitive, beyond-line-of-sight radio networking via satellite while also giving AFRL’s researchers “intimate knowledge” of how the satellite works to apply in the future. Its name Recurve refers ...
Military and defense industry officials are proud to say the Global Positioning System of satellites has entrenched itself as the world standard of position, navigation, and timing. But new threats—and some futuristic considerations—are leading some to think bigger than GPS when it comes to the ...
The Pentagon has put out a call for blended wing body aircraft concepts that could be applied to future military tanker and cargo aircraft as well as commercial aircraft, according to a solicitation posted by the Defense Innovation Unit. The Pentagon wants “concepts of design ...
The defense contractors vying for the Air Force’s “bridge tanker” program updated the status of their aerial refuelers, citing new capabilities aimed at automating the refueling process. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has repeatedly said the likelihood of a competition for the service’s “bridge tanker” ...
As the Air Force Research Laboratory is studying the space environment in space, it’s also building a new device to simulate the space environment in a lab. Both activities could help the Space Force predict and track the well being of satellites.
Growing out of the problem of fratricide in close air support, an app originating in the Air Force Research Laboratory is bringing wildland firefighting into the internet age. Team Awareness Kit’s free downloads and plugin architecture are giving firefighters, among others, the ability to layer ...