The Department of Energy has selected Sandia National Laboratories, Georgia Institute of Technology and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to develop artificial intelligence tools for potential use in DOE missions.

Scientists from the two DOE-backed labs and the public research university will receive $5.5M in total funds to collaborate through the Center for ARtificial Intelligence-focused ARchitectures and Algorithms, PNNL said Wednesday.

The department established ARIAA around the “co-design” concept, which calls for a balance between software and hardware functions as researchers look to integrate algorithms and architectures to address a problem.

Collaborators aim to determine the potential applications of AI and machine learning tools in the cybersecurity, power grid, computatuonal chemistry and graph analytics areas.

“The creation of ARIAA is part of the strategy for solving some of the most challenging problems by employing novel artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques,” said Roberto Gioisa, a senior research scientist at PNNL.

Jeanette Manfra, assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, has said that it’s unlikely that the agency could prevent a massive cyberattack similar to WannaCry in 2017, TechCruch reported Monday.

Manfra told attendees at a TechCrunch event in San Francisco that the rapid transmission of WannaCry attacks would make it difficult for the Department of Homeland Security component to protect thousands of systems.

“Updating your patches would have prevented a fair amount of people from being a victim,” she said. Marcus Hutchins, a security researcher and malware reverse engineer, previously developed a “kill switch” intended to prevent the attack from spreading.

WannaCry was reportedly executed by hackers associated with North Korea who used tools from the National Security Agency. Recently, DHS issued a warning for a similar attack known as BlueKeep, which has wormable properties and has the capacity to impact millions of devices connected to the internet.

Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Keyport has issued its initiatives to accelerate cybersecurity research under new authority granted by Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, has activated two phases of pilot efforts under Section 233 of the FY17 NDAA, the service branch said Thursday.

The pilot efforts extend new fielding authority to commanding officers at science and technology reinvention laboratories. The newly enacted authority allows STRL commanding officers to implement and operate at research, development, testing and evaluation networks. The authority was originally exclusive to Naval Sea Systems Command leaders.

“This new authority pushes responsibility and accountability to the commanding officer level,” said Capt. Jon Moretty, NUWC Division, Keyport commanding officer. “This increases the level of knowledge of the Risk Management Framework process, improves the cybersecurity of the networks since they can achieve required standards and continuous monitoring in a more timely manner, and removes organizational roadblocks which stifle innovation and action,” he added.

The U.S. Army unveiled a policy to utilize robotics, artificial intelligence, composite materials and 3D printing in the maintenance of warfighter equipment, ArmyTimes reported Saturday. The service branch is looking to explore advanced manufacturing technologies to optimize the Army’s logistics capabilities and expand operational rates for legacy equipment.

“Their ability to replace parts quickly, doing it within hours, as supposed to weeks. … There’s an immediate return where you can put it into tactical formations,” said Ryan McCarthy, secretary at the Army.

McCarthy noted the policy will also drive the military service to invest resources and funding in advanced manufacturing efforts for future projects.

“We’re already doing it in 2021, but we needed to get more aggressive so we could have a comprehensive approach.”

NASA and partners have concluded a collaborative satellite mission to measure physical features of the global sea surface. The Jason-2/Ocean Surface Topography Mission launched in 2008 to measure sea surface height across the globe and ended Oct. 1 this year, the space agency said Friday.

NASA has worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, France’s space agency and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites to pursue the effort. The Jason-2/OSTM satellite worked to provide measurements over the mission’s 11-year course, continuing efforts started by the TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1 satellites. Engineers originally designed Jason-2 to function for only three years.

 “Jason-2/OSTM has provided unique insight into ocean currents and sea level rise with tangible benefits to marine forecasting, meteorology and our understanding of climate change,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

The third designated Jason satellite, launched in 2016, is continuing to measure sea surface heights. NASA expects to launch two Sentinel-6/Jason-CS satellites in 2020 and 2025.

NASA has tested the separation capacity of the Mars 2020 rover’s descent stage at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Ryan van Schilifgaarde, a support engineer for the Mars 2020 assembly at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, said in a statement published Friday that it took a day for the team to carry out static fire tests and inspection efforts for the two components.

The descent stage and the rover will undergo a series of tests within a Mars-like environment prior to its delivery to Cape Canaveral in Florida. NASA will deploy Mars 2020 via a United Launch Alliance-built Atlas V rocket in 2020, and it expects the rover to arrive at the planet’s Jezero Crater in 2021. JPL has been tapped by the agency to handle the rover’s operations.