Amyx has announced new initiatives to help in the global effort to maintain the spreading of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) by supporting front-line response agencies, enabling the procurement of critical medical supplies and supporting the military’s urgent and critical medical response activities, the company announced on Tuesday.

“These are just a few instances of the support that we are delivering – we’re also providing cybersecurity and information services, data analytics and decision support tools, as well as technical and professional services subject matter experts in a coordinated effort to respond to and manage the impacts of the pandemic,” said Satya Akula, president and CEO of Amyx, Inc. 

Amyx has provided daily operational support to the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) by developing real-time status of COVID-19 impacts to the government’s supply chain operations.  

The company has used visualization tools and an internal SharePoint instance to enable situational awareness and collaboration for the Operational Planning Team. Amyx Geographic Information System (GIS) developers have also begun development of a Common Operating Picture (COP). 

COP will utilize customized dashboards for critical COVID-19 response activities, including embedded data from the World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Department of Transportation (DOT), Johns Hopkins, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and governmental agencies. 

Amyx is also actively helping the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) respond to urgent requests for ventilators and associated accessory items.  Amyx has configured DLA web applications and data extracts to provide improved visibility into sources of supply and pricing data for ordering urgently needed medical assets.   

The company will also continue its support of the Defense Health Agency (DHA) and the Military Health System (MHS). Amyx will provide expedited acquisition support to executing contracts and procurements to enable DoD’s COVID-19 response operations.  

The Amyx Support Agreements Team has created Memorandums of Agreement with academic and DoD partners for the development and operation of forecasting models for producing accurate weekly, probabilistic forecasts of COVID-19 for Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs).

“The entire Amyx team is committed to partnering with federal, civilian and defense agencies as we grapple with this crisis.  I’m proud of each Amyx employee and their hard work and tremendous dedication,” added Akula.

NASA has introduced its new Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program that will integrate emerging technologies to enable faster trips to Mars and robotic exploration of the ocean, the administration announced on Wednesday.

“NIAC is an innovative program that encourages researchers – and the agency – to think outside of the box for solutions that could overcome challenges facing future science and exploration missions,” said Walt Engelund, deputy associate administrator for programs within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD).

NASA’s program, which invests in early-stage technology ideas from the administration, industry and academic researchers across the country, has selected 23 potentially revolutionary concepts with a total award value of $7 million. Among the selections are 16 new concepts and seven studies that previously received at least one NIAC award.

A mission concept to image Earth-like planets outside of the solar system was selected for a Phase III study. Slava Turyshev, a researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, will receive a $2 million grant to further mature the concept and related technologies.

Turyshev has outlined the feasibility of a solar gravity lens to enable enhanced viewing of planets orbiting other stars, known as exoplanets, during his Phase I and Phase II NIAC research. He also developed a mission architecture that uses multiple small spacecraft and solar sail technology to propel them to their target destination 50 billion miles from Earth.

He has uploaded to the preprint archive arXiv in February 2020, which has suggested the phenomenon could allow us to get strikingly detailed images of distant Earth-like planets.

“In the strong interference region of the SGL, this light is greatly amplified, forming the Einstein ring around the Sun, representing a distorted image of the extended source,” Turyshev noted in his research.

Turyshev stated that NASA researchers have to carry a “meter-class telescope with a solar coronagraph” to an extraordinary distance from the Sun. For perspective, Voyager I is currently only about 123 astronomical units away from Earth has reached the edges of the solar system in 2012, the furthest we’ve ever sent a man-made object.

To keep costs low and feasibility as high as possible, Turyshev suggests that a “swarm architecture for smallsats” with solar sails for power could fly out, along the SGL, to observe “multiple planets/moons of an exosolar system” at the same time.

The selected Phase I and II studies will explore the overall viability of a technology and develop them into mission concepts. Areas researchers will study include mapping asteroids and other small bodies in the solar system with hopping probes, making on-demand pharmaceuticals in space, and extracting water on the Moon.

Several of the concepts could inform capabilities relevant to NASA’s Artemis program, which will land the first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024 and establish a sustainable presence on and around the Moon by 2028.

“This is only the third study selected for Phase III funding in the history of the program,” said NIAC Program Executive Jason Derleth. “We’re excited by its potential to bring us closer to imaging an exoplanet in detail, at a resolution comparable to the well-known Apollo 8 Earthrise photo.”

NASA selected the proposals through a peer-review process that evaluates innovation and technical viability. All projects are still in the early stages of development, with most requiring a decade or more of technology maturation, and are not official NASA missions.

NIAC will support visionary research ideas through multiple progressive phases of study. Phase I studies will receive $125,000 and are nine-month efforts. Eligible recipients of Phase I awards can submit proposals for a follow-on Phase II study.

Selected Phase II researchers will receive $500,000 grants to further develop their concepts for up to two years. Phase III is designed to strategically transition NIAC concepts with the highest potential impact for NASA other government agencies or commercial partners. Phase III researchers will receive $2 million grants to develop and mature their mission concept over two years.

“We’re excited about the new concepts and to see how additional time and resources advances the research selected for follow-on Phase II and III studies,” added Engelund.

Jacobs has been recognized by Environmental Business International (EBI) with six business achievement awards for leadership and outstanding performance in its corporate, environmental and climate change work in 2019, the company announced on Wednesday.

“As we face some of the world’s toughest challenges, including clean water, affordable energy, connectivity, climate change, environmental pollution and economic growth, our people are working to find better ways to create an enduring legacy,” said Jacobs chair and CEO Steve Demetriou.

The first award Jacobs received, inclusion and diversity, has recognized the company’s continued efforts to develop “Conscious Inclusion” training for all employees, broadening ethnic and gender diversity in its executive team and adding an eighth global employee network, called “ACE” (Access. Connect. Empower.).

The efforts have celebrated and raised awareness of those with physical, cognitive and mobility impairments and broadened LGBTQI+ recognition. In Jan. 2020, Jacobs joined The Valuable 500, an organization that seeks to ensure disability inclusion is on business leadership agendas, to Jacobs to  encourage corporate diversity, including disability, in the workplace.

“As a member of The Valuable 500, Jacobs is committed to the journey of becoming a more accessible and inclusive company, leveraging our Inclusion & Diversity platform to encompass disability in the workplace on a global scale, while empowering employees to bring their full, authentic selves to work,” said Steve Demetriou, Jacobs chair and CEO.

The company also received an industry leadership award for its hydrogen economy. Jacobs developed a sustainable hydrogen supply chain model tailored for Australia’s emerging hydrogen economy. Jacobs’ global thought leaders developed a white paper that outlined a sustainable vision for hydrogen production in Australia in May 2019.

The third award recognized Jacobs’ social contributions. The company worked with Home Leone’s anti-poverty program in the West Africa country of Sierra Leone, which is developing a new community and relocating more than 2,000 people from across Freetown’s 62 slums to new, secure, low-cost homes.

Jacobs’ received an award on technology merit, recognizing the company’s development of the Replica digital twin software platform that has produced simulations of physical infrastructure and processes in the digital realm.

Jacobs has integrated Replica into its projects and clients to minimize energy and chemical usage on water and industrial water-related processes, develop alternative control strategies against wet weather events and create digital twins of infrastructure.

Jacobs has implemented a new practice area using environmental DNA (eDNA) and metagenomics sequencing technology for the ecosystem and biological monitoring, providing safe, efficient and unbiased biodiversity surveys in aquatic and terrestrial systems that are quicker, less expensive and more reliable than traditional survey approaches. Because of the company’s innovation, Jacobs received a “new practice award”

Jacobs has been recognized for its ultra-low emission zone. The company prepared an impact assessment for the world’s first Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in London, England, which requires that all cars (other than taxis), motorcycles, vans, minibusses, buses, coaches and heavy-goods vehicles meet emissions standards or pay a charge.

“I am also very proud of the significant strides the company has made with inclusion and diversity – which is the central element of the Jacobs culture – continually empowering our employees to find strength in our differences,” added Demetriou.

About Jacobs

At Jacobs, we’re challenging today to reinvent tomorrow by solving the world’s most critical problems for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes, operational advancement, scientific discovery and cutting-edge manufacturing, turning abstract ideas into realities that transform the world for good.

With $13 billion in revenue and a talent force of more than 55,000, Jacobs provides a full spectrum of professional services including consulting, technical, scientific and project delivery for the government and private sector.