Lifeboat Foundation

Eighty-one years ago, our world-class research center in California’s Silicon Valley was born. Ground broke on Ames Research Center on Dec. 20, 1939. It was the second aeronautical laboratory established by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics to perform fundamental research on all things flight. From its very beginnings, Ames was a place for innovation. Tests performed in its wind tunnels transformed military aircraft during World War II and paved the way for air travel at supersonic speeds. In the 1950s and ‘60s, its researchers looked to the stars and came up with new designs and materials for spacecraft that would make human spaceflight a reality. Fast-forward to the present, and the center contributes to virtually every major agency mission through its expertise in spacecraft entry systems, robotics, aeronautics, supercomputing, and so much more! Here are things to know about Ames.

The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover is the latest lunar exploration mission led by Ames. Launching in 2023, the mobile robot will search for water ice inside craters and other places at the Moon’s South Pole. Its survey will help pave the way for astronaut missions to the lunar surface beginning in 2024 as part of the Artemis program.

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Interesting…

The United States is the sole military super power in the world, but that may not last for long. Other nations are catching up in the new arms race and have dedicated massive military budgets to developing hypersonic missiles! How can the US defend against such high impact and evasive missiles? You’ll have to watch today’s new video to find out if the US has an answer of it’s own.

Continue reading “Why the US is Losing the New Arms Race” »

Members of the US Space Force will be known as “guardians”, it was announced on the military service’s first birthday.

US Vice President Mike Pence said: It is my honour, on behalf of the president of the United States, to announce that henceforth the men and women of the United States Space Force will be known as guardians.

Mike Pence says soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and guardians will be defending our nation for generations to come.

Continue reading “‘Guardians’ of the galaxy: US Space Force members get a new name” »

This missile system is designed to reach up and smash enemy satellites in orbit.

Russia has carried out another test of its new PL19 Nudol anti-satellite weapon system, a ground-launched missile designed to destroy satellites stationed in low-Earth orbit in order to deny their use by Russia’s enemies.

Continue reading “It Sure Looks Like Russia Just Tested a Space Weapon” »

The Marines want to unleash swarms of loitering munitions on its adversaries.

It seems some countries are now switching to drone swarms.

From Syria to Libya to Nagorno-Karabakh, this new method of military offense has been brutally effective. We are witnessing a revolution in the history of warfare, one that is causing panic, particularly in Europe.

Continue reading “‘Like horse-mounted cavalry against tanks’: Turkey has perfected new, deadly way to wage war, using militarized ‘drone swarms’” »

“During the summer disturbances in Washington, D.C., a top local military police officer asked the D.C. National Guard about deploying two military systems that seem to come out of science fiction. One, the Active Denial System (ADS), makes the target’s skin feel like it’s on fire. The other, called the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), directs intense sound in a narrow cone. The sound is so clear and so powerful that it was nicknamed “the voice of God.” I encountered both systems, one at Quantico, Virginia, the other in Falluja, Iraq. Here’s what I saw.”

DOD has two crowd control systems that are straight out of science fiction. One uses direct energy to create a burning sensation on exposed skin. The other is so loud that it sounds like the voice of God.

Given the possibility of orbital debris, space warfare will be different from what we imagine it to be (from Star Wars and Call of Duty). Watch this video to find out what it will look like!

*Note: I spelled the word “deficit” wrong in my subtitles. Guess I was too sleepy.

Continue reading “The Real Future of Space Warfare” »

Space Force members will be known as “Guardians” from now on, Vice President Michael R. Pence announced Dec. 18.

“Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Guardians will be defending our nation for generations to come,” he said at a Dec. 18 White House ceremony celebrating the Space Force’s upcoming birthday.

As the Space Force turns 1 year old on Dec. 20, abandoning the moniker of “Airman” is one of the most prominent moves made so far to distinguish space personnel from the Air Force they came from. An effort to crowdsource options brought in more than 500 responses earlier this year, including “sentinel” and “vanguard.”