Recently there have been important news about UAP and its investigation.
From them it becomes clear that there are two official parallel and independent programs: one belongs to the All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) which has to submit a report to the Congress on the coming October 31.
The other belongs to NASA.
Here we offer relevant details about both activities.
******
Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick (Physics) is the Director of All/domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO).
Dr. Kirkpatrick was asked by USD(I&S) to stand-up and lead AARO in early 2022. Known as Dr. K to his staff and team, he brings over two decades of experience and a significant depth of expertise in scientific and technical intelligence (S&TI), S&TI and space policy, research and development, acquisitions, and operations, specializing in space/counterspace mission areas.
******
NASA Announces Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Study Team Members
NASA has selected 16 individuals to participate in its independent study team on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). Observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or as known natural phenomena are categorized as UAPs.
The independent study will begin on Monday, Oct. 24. Over the course of nine months, the independent study team will lay the groundwork for future study on the nature of UAPs for NASA and other organizations. To do this, the team will identify how data gathered by civilian government entities, commercial data, and data from other sources can potentially be analyzed to shed light on UAPs. It will then recommend a roadmap for potential UAP data analysis by the agency going forward.
The study will focus solely on unclassified data. A full report containing the team’s findings will be released to the public in mid-2023.
Unidentified aerial phenomena are of interest for both national security and air safety and the study aligns with one of NASA’s goals to ensure the safety of aircraft. Without access to an extensive set of data, it is nearly impossible to verify or explain any observation, thus the focus of the study is to inform NASA what possible data could be collected in the future to scientifically discern the nature of UAP.
The NASA official responsible for orchestrating the study is Daniel Evans, the assistant deputy associate administrator for research at NASA’s Science Mission
“NASA has brought together some of the world's leading scientists, data and artificial intelligence practitioners, aerospace safety experts, all with a specific charge, which is to tell us how to apply the full focus of science and data to UAP,” said Evans. “The findings will be released to the public in conjunction with NASA’s principles of transparency, openness, and scientific integrity.”
Astronomers have spotted a bright blast of high-energy light that may be the most powerful cosmic explosion ever detected.
The high-energy emission known as a gamma ray burst (GRB) – the most powerful type of explosion seen in our universe since the Big Bang – likely represents the moment a dying star collapsed into a black hole, triggering a tremendous supernova explosion, astronomers said.
The incredible blast, officially dubbed GRB 221009A, was first spotted by gamma-ray and X-ray telescopes, including NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, on Oct 9.The initial detection sent teams of astronomers around the world scrambling to observe the aftermath of the cosmic explosion, resulting in several additional detections over the following days. Astronomers have since given the burst the affectionate nickname "the B.O.A.T" — standing for the brightest of all time. GRB 221009A is thought to be brighter than other highly energetic GRBs by a factor of at least 10, Jillian Rastinejad, a Northwestern University doctoral candidate whose team spotted the burst on Oct. 14, told Live Science."Photons have been detected from this GRB that has more energy than the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) produces," Rastinejad said, referring to CERN's massive underground particle accelerator. She added that while the LHC can generate energies as high as 13 teraelectronvolts (TeV) — or 13 trillion electron volts — GRB 221009A produced photons with energies of at least 18 TeV and possibly even higher.
-------------------------
ASTRONAUTICS
New Astronaut Suits
 |
The new suits were designed by astronauts for astronauts and offer enhanced mobility and weigh less than the current generation spacesuits, allowing for increased mission times. The suits are also designed to accommodate nearly every astronaut body type and can rapidly incorporate new technologies.
“Astronauts returning to the moon and venturing beyond need a spacesuit that’s
as modern as their new missions,” said Dan Burbank, senior technical fellow at
Collins Aerospace and former NASA astronaut. “The next-gen spacesuit is
lighter, more modular, a better fit and easily adaptable, which means that
wherever the journey into space may lead, our crew will be ready.”
Collins Aerospace designed the first spacesuit that allowed astronauts to walk
on the moon, as well as the suit NASA astronauts currently use when operating
outside the International Space Station.
“Collins was there when the first man walked on the moon, and we’ll be there
when humankind goes back,” said Phil Jasper, president of Mission Systems for
Collins Aerospace.
“We are excited to return to the moon and build on our 50-year legacy of supplying EVA suits to NASA from the Apollo program to today on the International Space Station,” said Patty Stoll, president of Space Systems at ILC Dover. “We look forward to partnering with NASA as their lunar spacesuit provider and inspiring the next generation through Artemis as we work to send the first woman and next man to the moon.”
---------------------
AERONAUTICS
Lockheed Martin’s Mysterious SR-72 Could Enter Service in the 2030s
[Article by Maek Episcopos for The National Interest]
Here’s What You Need to Remember: Despite the progress that has reportedly been made, concrete development and production timelines remain elusive. Lockheed said in late 2018 that an SR-72 prototype will fly by 2025, with the aircraft possibly entering service into the 2030s.
Rumored to eventually be the world’s fastest plane, Lockheed Martin’s mysterious SR-72 could revolutionize flight as we know it.
The legendary SR-71 Blackbird, a fifty-seven-year-old reconnaissance plane that still holds the title of fastest manned airbreathing jet engine aircraft, was retired by the U.S. Air Force in 1998. In the late 2000s, rumors emerged that Lockheed Martin was working on a successor to the Blackbird. In 2013, an influential piece by Aviation Week’s Guy Norris provided fresh insights into Lockheed Martin’s ongoing Skunk Works development of a Blackbird successor: the SR-72, or “Son of Blackbird.”
The SR-72 is envisioned as an unmanned, hypersonic, reusable reconnaissance, surveillance, and strike aircraft. The latter role is among the new fighter’s key upgrades. Whereas the original Blackbird carried no armaments at all, the SR-72 will reportedly support Lockheed Martin’s upcoming High-Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW). The SR-72’s combat capability could be a potent tool for delivering high-precision strikes against in threat environments deemed too risky for slower, manned fighters. Capable of traveling at a staggering top speed of Mach 6 or 4603 miles per hour, the SR-72 is roughly twice as fast as the original Blackbird. The new aircraft can also reportedly take off much faster than its notoriously slow-to-start predecessor, potentially a major operational boon in rapid-response scenarios.
But the technologies required to realize a product this ambitious and forward-looking were not sufficiently mature in 2013, slowing down the project by several years. That is now no longer the case, according to top Lockheed Martin officials. “We’ve been saying hypersonics is two years away for the last 20 years, but all I can say is the technology is mature and we, along with DARPA and the services, are working hard to get that capability into the hands of our warfighters as soon as possible…” Rob Weiss, Lockheed Martin’s executive vice president, and general manager for Advanced Development Programs, reportedly told Norris several years ago.
Weiss’s account was corroborated by Lockheed Vice President Jack O’Banion at an event in 2018. “Without the digital transformation the aircraft you see there could not have been made. In fact, five years ago, it could not have been made,” said O’Banion, referencing an SR-72 rendering presented at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ annual SciTech Forum. “We couldn’t have made the engine itself—it would have melted down into slag if we had tried to produce it five years ago,” O’Banion added. “But now we can digitally print that engine with an incredibly sophisticated cooling system integral into the material of the engine itself, and have that engine survive for multiple firings for routine operation.”
Despite the progress that has reportedly been made, concrete development and production timelines remain elusive. Lockheed said in late 2018 that an SR-72 prototype will fly by 2025, with the aircraft possibly entering service into the 2030s.
No comments:
Post a Comment