Hasta La Gadget!

I am quite sure that most of us out there have seen at least one episode of Mission Impossible where the message self-destructs after relating the mission to whoever is listening in to it. Well, the research arm of the Pentagon, DARPA, intend to work on next generation military hardware which is said to self-destruct at a certain point in its life. Sensors that are suicidal? There’s no need for a shrink for such shorted silicon, yo!

Basically, DARPA is looking into sensors and other “sophisticated electronic microsystems” which will have their place in a warzone, and will self-destruct after a while, so that opposing forces who pick them up cannot apply the techniques of reverse engineering and come up with formidable weapons of their own. How about a smartphone that self-destructs after you lose it, simply because you sent activated a “kill switch” remotely? That would be cool, and the thief who took your smartphone might actually see his or her pants catch fire as it melts. I want in on such tech, how about you?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: TrackingPoint Brings ‘Auto-Aim’ To The Real World With Linux-Powered Rifles, Air-conditioned bullet-proof jackets could help cops in service be more comfortable,

For a long time, laser weapons were the stuff of science fiction, but researchers have able to create viable laser weaponry over the last several years. Boeing and the U.S. Air Force flew the Airborne Laser Testbed for a long time before scrapping the project last year. That massive laser was in the nose of the Boeing 747, was used to destroy missiles in flight, and could be an offensive weapon. DARPA has now announced that it wants to put significantly smaller laser weapons into turrets on jet fighter aircraft next year.

DARPA wants these weapons to be used in defensive situations to destroy incoming missiles. DARPA is working on two weapon systems including the High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS), and Aero-Adaptive/Aero-Optic Beam Control (ABC).

The HELLADS would be a 150-kilowatt laser approximately 10 times smaller and lighter than current airborne laser systems. The project aims to create a laser weighing under 5 kg per kilowatt that could fit into a total space of only 3 m³. The ABC is a weapon that could be mounted on aircraft to shoot down incoming missiles behind an aircraft. It would use technology to allow it to maintain effectiveness while shooting through the turbulent air behind an aircraft in flight.

And if you think that the illustration above seems far-fetched, think again. It’s the rendering that DARPA themselves has been circulating for HELLADS.

[Military Aerospace via Gizmodo via Dvice]

Sure, your phone can take a decent picture, but it’s not even in the same universe as the best camera the government’s got. At 1.8 gigapixels, the DARPA-developed ARGUS-IS the highest resolution surveillance platform in the world, and, when mounted to a drone, can single-handedly do the work of an army of 100 predator drones watching the area of one medium-sized city. More »

Forget about missiles fired from a fighter jet towards the enemy in a dogfight, and neither do you need to worry about bullets. DARPA, the research arm of the US military, is currently working on two systems, the High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS), and Aero-Adaptive/Aero-Optic Beam Control (ABC). HELLADS, as seen above, will bring back memories of the USS Enterprise firing away its pulse cannons and phasers, but in real life, this is a 150-kilowatt system which is said to be ten times smaller and lighter compared to existing systems, and is suitable for use both on the ground and in the air. This laser tips the scales at under five kilos per kilowatt and can cram into a total space of three cubic meters, so while fighter jets with lasers sound frightening enough, how about equipping them on sharks? Now that’d be a real nightmare.

It would be nice to see how the tracking systems work to trace down different targets within range of the lasers mounted on a fighter jet, and traditional countermeasures such as flares will not work with lasers once it has locked on to the target, since lasers would theoretically move at the speed of light – correct me on that as physics is not my strong suit, but I believe it would be faster than your average missile.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: DARPA’s SeeMe Satellites Displays Bird’s-Eye Views Of the Battlefield, Hide From Nearly Anything With New York Designer’s Stealth Wear,

There are a ton of dead satellites currently still orbiting the Earth, but certain parts on these satellites often still work, such as antennas and solar panels. However, there’s no method to salvage and reuse these satellite parts once they’re launched into space, but DARPA is looking into it, and has launched a new program specifically for recycling old satellite parts.

DARPA calls its new initiative the Phoenix program, and they’re looking to spend around $180 million to test technologies that will retrieve working parts from dead satellites and use them elsewhere. Essentially, DARPA wants to save money overall, and increase the return on investment with all of its satellites.

Essentially, DARPA will launch a robotic mechanic into space with a toolkit that will be able to mine dead satellites for parts. There would then be a separate launch of multiple mini-satellites, where the robotic mechanic would then connect the mini-satellites to the old satellite parts to create a whole new satellite of sorts.

The Phoenix program is actually already under way, and DARPA has given contracts to several companies to develop new technologies that will eventually be able to scrap old satellites for its parts. The agency is also seeking new proposals from interested companies starting next month. The first test that will find out whether the program will work or not will come in 2016, when it launches a demonstration mission to one of 140 dead satellites that DARPA has picked out for this mission. It’s a new technique that’s never been done before, so while we’d love it if the program went off without a hitch, there’s always the possibility that it might not work, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed hoping for the best.

DARPA to breathe new life into dead satellites is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
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