Coming out of WWII, America’s Air Force was the undisputed champ of the skies. That all changed during the Korean War when Soviet forces unveiled the MiG-15, a sprightly swept-wing interceptor that would go on to spark decades of dogfights. More »
Antarctica a viciously inhospitable land, averaging a balmy -70 degrees F in the continent’s interior. That’s precisely where an intrepid band of American scientists have dug clean through 3405 meters of ice sheet, in an effort to research an eon’s worth of climate change. To do it, they used this one-of-a-kind coring machine. More »
From the Byrd telescope in West Virginia, to the Arecibo Telescope in Puerto Rico, to the MeerKAT system in South Africa, the world is not hurting for gigantic radio telescopes. These large arrays are precise and powerful, but come 2024, they will all be eclipsed by the capability of the Square Kilometre Array—a telescope system big enough to answer science’s deepest questions about the nature of our universe. More »
Between 1925 and 1927, the burgeoning US Naval submarine force suffered two high-profile submarine failures—the loss of the S-51 in 1925 as well as the S-4 in 1927—together resulting in the deaths of 71 US Servicemen. Seeing an opportunity to save lives, Charles B. “Swede” Momsen set about devising a means to pluck submariners from the briny deep. His solution remains the only submarine rescue system to ever actually work in practice. More »
In the early 1960’s, the US Department of Naval Research needed a new way to study the acoustic targeting for submarine rockets. The ship had to be silent and stable—more buoy than boat. The design that met the requirements became the world’s only vertically-flippable research vessel. Either that, or the lamest Transformer since Bumblebee. More »
While the US Navy is generally immune to IED attacks (the USS Cole tragedy notwithstanding) it must remain vigilant against ballistic missile strikes launched by hostile nations. When that happens, even before the Phalanx system begins to spool up, US warships engage the Aegis BMD—a nearly impenetrable ship-based missile shield. More »
A German heavy equipment manufacturer decided they’d impress potential buyers—or maybe just people with a fetish for construction equipment—by using a series of massive cranes to lift each other. More »
Let’s face it, Bruce Willis is getting old. We can no longer rely on the option of simply strapping him to a rocket, shooting said rocket towards an oncoming asteroid, and hoping for the best. Luckily, the Silicon Valley-based B612 foundation is developing the world’s most advanced asteroid early warning system. More »
NASA didn’t completely dump the idea of manned extra-terrestrial flight. It just needed some space. Before the agency resumes its manned missions sometime in 2021, NASA will need somewhere to put the astronauts. A new generation of reusable spacecraft, capable of zipping beyond the current limits. Something like the Orion Capsule. More »
Japan, China, and South Korea together dominate 90 percent of the global shipbuilding industry. But compared to the neighbors, Japan is getting killed on production costs. So how do the Japanese respond? By inventing an entirely new kind of ship. More »
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