The Department of Energy (DOE) will award $27.5 million in funds to 16 projects that aim to deliver sustainable water sources and low-cost treatment options to various sectors across 13 U.S. states.

The funding effort's objectives include the assessment of potential opportunities for the generation of power from wastewater and the creation of treatment processes that could yield renewable energy, DOE said Monday.

DOE seeks to enhance wastewater treatment processes for livestock and agriculture field predictive process, machine learning and artificial intelligence controls to augment energy resiliency.

The department also intends to address environmental justice and social issues caused by lack of clean water access in native and rural areas through the funding opportunity.

The awardees are based from Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Georgia, Virginia and California.

The funding opportunity is a part of DOE's efforts to support the government's intent to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. DOE noted facility retrofits may increase energy savings up to 50 percent, while wastewater treatments could produce chemical, hydraulic and thermal energies.

The U.S. Air Force is continuing efforts to update its cyber training platform which the service branch envisions to include features for unique skill sets and new career areas, FedScoop reported Monday.

The Air Force’s office for Business and Enterprise Systems Product Innovation (BESPIN) told the publication that it seeks to provide more customizations for the Digital University (DU) tool to support specific upskilling activities. The service launched DU in collaboration with contractors such as Pluralsight, Udacity and Udemy.

DU leaders expect to expand the platform’s user base to include U.S. Space Force personnel and Airmen other than cybersecurity personnel, according to FedScoop.

“Technical training typically isn’t done well in the Air Force, so there is a demand to upskill our technical airmen for the jobs we need. DU was built to be that central hub,” said 1st Lt. Peyton Cleveland, project manager and lead developer for DU at BESPIN

Cleveland noted that the U.S. Army is also looking into piloting the platform.

NASA has launched an environmental test for the propulsion system of a small satellite that would verify the safety of the Moon's cislunar orbit.

The space agency said Tuesday its Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) would study the unique orbit's dynamics to reduce risks of NASA's planned Gateway lunar outpost.

Gateway would operate from the Moon's orbit to support future missions under the Artemis program, which aims to revive manned space exploration. CAPSTONE will also attempt to demonstrate space-to-Earth communications and navigation between spacecraft. 

California-based Stellar Exploration designed and developed CAPSTONE's propulsion system with early funds from NASA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems builds the CAPSTONE CubeSat under the leadership of Colorado-based Advanced Space and the management of NASA’s Launch Services Program.

A U.S. Army-supported research team from Louisiana State University has demonstrated the use of machine learning to correct errors found in quantum information systems.

The research team tested how a neural network's self-learning and self-evolving functions can correct information used in quantum sensing and communications, the Army said Monday.

This approach is designed to correct the distorted quantum information in photon-composed systems. The team said the technology has the potential to encode multiple information bits in a single photon during scenarios with atmospheric turbulence.

“The team’s result is an exciting step forward in developing this understanding, and it has the potential to ultimately enhance the Army’s sensing and communication capabilities on the battlefield," said Sara Gamble, program manager at the Army Research Office (ARO) within the Army Research Laboratory (ARL).

Join Potomac Officers Club for the 3rd Annual AI Summit on March 30th to learn about the progress, innovations and accomplishments of automation over the last year, what challenges remain, and how industry can help in 2021 and beyond.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working to enhance the Global Forecast System weather model in an effort to improve U.S. weather forecasting, including hurricane origins, snowfall location and heavy rainfall.

NOAA's current weather forecast model will combine with the WaveWatchIII, a global wave model used for ocean wave prediction, NOAA said Monday.

NOAA expects the combination to consolidate weather and wave forecasts, streamlining operations at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). The update will also include atmospheric physics enhancements to support rain and snow forecasts.

“These upgrades are part of the Next Generation Global Prediction System (NGGPS) within the Unified Forecast System offsite link framework, which is an ongoing effort to leverage the expertise of the broader weather community and expedite the research to operations pathway,” said Vijay Tallapragada, chief of the modeling and data assimilation branch within NOAA’s Environmental Modeling Center.

“By coupling the WaveWatchIII and GFS models, we will extend current wave forecasts and integrate wave forecasting into the global model to streamline model products," he added.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recommended that the Department of Defense (DOD) define the roles, authorities and responsibilities of DOD organizations and leadership positions responsible for hypersonic weapons development and acquisition efforts to ensure coordination.

GAO made the recommendation after it found that DOD has not documented the authorities, roles and responsibilities of its organizations overseeing development work on hypersonic weapons, according to a report published Monday.

“Such governing documentation would provide for a level of continuity when leadership and organizational priorities inevitably change, especially as hypersonic weapon development efforts are expected to continue over at least the next decade,” the report reads.

“Without clear leadership roles, responsibilities, and authorities, DOD is at risk of impeding its progress toward delivering hypersonic weapon capabilities and opening up the potential for conflict and wasted resources as decisions over larger investments are made in the future,” GAO noted.

The congressional watchdog identified 70 hypersonic weapons development projects spread across the Pentagon as well as the Department of Energy (DOE) and NASA in support of DOD. These initiatives have total reported funding of approximately $15 billion from fiscal year 2015 through FY 2024.