Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic utilized 3D printing technology to design personal protective equipment in support of COVID-19 relief efforts.

The command's production quality and manufacturing team produced and distributed 110 face shields and 1,444 face masks to NIWC personnel worldwide as of June 1, the U.S. Navy said Thursday.

NIWC used air conditioning and media heating ventilation strainers to obtain filter materials that will support facemasks.

The team also partnered with the U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Command to procure 300 face shields in an effort to address the lack of polyethylene terephthalate glycol.

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) has conducted a test of a new tactical data link designed to boost situational awareness across airmen, C4ISRnet reported Thursday.

USAF's Air Mobility Command delivered high bandwidth and accelerated data processing with the data link in a test that took place Sunday.

“One individual who has flown this same profile about eight different times … said this was the most situational awareness he’s ever had,” said Lt. Col. Bradley Rueter, chief of AMC's capability development branch.

In the exercise, which simulated an airdrop of ground forces into a contested environment near Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, the Air Force changed how and how fast it was sending data to crews aboard two C-17s.

AMC used commercial satellite communications, which according to Rueter, are “hundreds of times faster than what we traditionally use,” in addition to a “slightly different” protocol to send those messages.

The two planes were also outfitted with an upgraded computer with higher processing speeds. Overall, the new tech allowed for higher refresh rates to keep up with changes in the battlespace. The success of the mission will improve the effectiveness of joint operations in contested environments.

The test marks a milestone in USAF's effort to implement the Joint All-Domain Command and Control approach that integrates systems across multiple domains. Rueter has projected to continue the system's testing with C-130, KC-46 and KC-135 aircraft.

The U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX innovation arm will host an event on July 15 and 16 to brief small businesses and academic entities on the service branch’s efforts to utilize commercial technologies for military applications, the service branch reported on Friday.

The "TeamUp" virtual trade show is aimed at promoting dialogue between industry, universities and research institutions ahead of the Air Force’s Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Open Topic funding round.

AFWERX and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) will provide an overview of the STTR Open Topic solicitation, which will focus on the “Agility Prime” topic area and cover commercial platforms for applications such as emergency response, medical evacuation and relief operations.

The Air Force expects to issue $10 million in contracts under the Agility Prime area within a 90-day period.

Maj. Jared Evans, program manager for AFWERX's STTR Open Topic and technology transfer lead at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, said the STTR program serves as "a critical part" of the service's broader investment in the small-business and research communities.

“TeamUp events like this one will provide opportunities for multiple stakeholders to come together and compete with speed,” noted Col. Nathan Diller, director of AFWERX.

Technologies to be featured during the event include air mobility platforms and related components such as electric propulsion systems, computing hardware, sensor systems and communication technologies.

The Department of the Air Force has begun evaluating the 26 states competing to serve as the U.S. Space Command's new headquarters location, SpaceNews reported Sunday.

“We were pleased with the strong response the Air Force received from across the country,” Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek, a spokeswoman for the Air Force, said.

In May, the Air Force released its criteria for the permanent SPACECOM headquarters, which must have large military installations to accommodate the command’s personnel. Any state with large military bases that met a list of criteria was eligible to compete. Responses were due June 30.

Stefanek said in a statement obtained by SpaceNews that the service is undergoing assessment procedures and will not “make any further selection announcements until after the candidate selections in mid-late November.”

“After we announce the preferred location we will accomplish the environmental analysis before rendering a final decision,” she noted.

The Air Force intends to send officials to sites across the country ahead of selecting the winning location in January 2021, according to the report.

NASA announced that the administration has concluded a systems checkout for the core stage of a rocket designed to support the agency's Artemis I mission. 

The test used Green Run software that was developed for the test and loaded in the flight computers for the first time. The SLS avionics power on and checkout was the second of eight tests in the Green Run test series at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where the core stage is installed in the B-2 Test Stand. 

A team of Boeing and NASA personnel worked in control rooms to power the avionics and the core stage flight hardware of the Space Launch System during the checkout, the agency said Wednesday. The agency validated the core stage's computers and avionics at the Marshall Space Flight Center's systems integration and test facility prior to the test.

The three flight computers and avionics are located in the forward skirt, the top section of the 212-foot tall core stage, with more avionics distributed in the core’s intertank and engine section as shown in the right image.

The rocket's core stage will work to propel the Artemis I mission by producing over 2M pounds of thrust. Formerly known as Exploration Mission-1, the effort seeks to allow human exploration to the Moon and Mars.