Core Stage of SLS Rocket for Lunar Mission Nears Completion
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Core Stage of SLS Rocket for Lunar Mission Nears Completion


Jeff Brody

NASA and Boeing have assembled 80 percent of the core stage of the Space Launch System rocket to bring the Orion spacecraft to the moon as part of the Artemis 1 mission. The agency said Monday that the milestone comes after crews connected the hydrogen fuel tank to the SLS core stage’s upper part, which consists of the intertank, liquid oxygen propellant tank and the forward skirt housing the rocket’s flight computers.

“The decision to integrate the core stage structures horizontally demonstrates our efforts to continuously improve our operations,” said Ben Birkenstock, the SLS stages vehicle assembly lead.

Boeing and NASA will proceed with outfitting the core stage’s engine component. The completed core stage is made up of four RS-25 engines and two propellant tanks designed to generate a combined thrust of 8.8 million pounds during launch and flight. NASA expects to use SLS and Orion to send two astronauts to the moon by 2024 and establish a sustainable human presence by 2028.

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Forge.AI and In-Q-Tel Announce Strategic Investment Agreement; LTG John Mulholland Added as Advisor
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Forge.AI and In-Q-Tel Announce Strategic Investment Agreement; LTG John Mulholland Added as Advisor


Forge.AI and In-Q-Tel Announce Strategic Investment Agreement; LTG John Mulholland Added as Advisor
LTG John Mulholland

Forge.AI, an artificial intelligence company that transforms the world’s unstructured information into structured machine ready data, announced on Wednesday that the company has formed a strategic investment agreement with In-Q-Tel (IQT). ForgeAI also announced that Lieutenant General John Mulholland to the company’s its board of advisors.

The strategic partnership intends to strengthen ForgeAI’s expertise in the national intelligence space. The enriched data provided by Forge.AI’s proprietary artificial intelligence technology will help parts of the intelligence and defense communities to better perceive and understand real-time changes in the world and predict the impact of those changes on key areas of interest.

“We are excited to partner with IQT and the communities they represent,” said Jim Crowley, CEO and co-founder of Forge.AI. “The fact our capabilities are fundamentally amplifying and accelerating the analytical, predictive, and decision-making capabilities of these critical communities makes us deeply proud and we are eager to continue on this journey with IQT as a partner.” Crowley continued.

“We believe Forge.AI can meaningfully enhance situational awareness, course of action hypothesis testing, supply chain modeling, Counter-WMD modeling, and force protection planning, to name a few,” Crowley continued.

Crowley also expressed his excitement regarding LTG Mulholland to Forge.AI’s advisory board, and his experience and background are “singularly unique.” Prior to his retirement in 2015, LTG Mulholland commanded the Army Special Forces and joint special operations forces, which included leading special operations task forces in both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

LTG Mulholland also spent his final tour on active duty as the Associate Director of Military Affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency. LTG Mulholland brings a deep understanding of the information and analytical challenges and opportunities that exist in the government and intelligence sectors to the board of advisors at Forge.AI.

“Every moment of every day, the U.S. government and military tackles immense information challenges.  Because our interests are global, our analytical perspectives must be global as well,” said LTG Mulholland. “Having lived in this world for the entirety of my career, it is clear to me that AI-powered capabilities, like those that Forge.AI can deliver, will help ensure that the United States’ increasingly AI-driven information and analytical infrastructure is unparalleled across the globe.”

About Forge.AI

Based in Cambridge, MA, Forge.AI is an artificial intelligence company on a mission to help organizations understand and act on the world’s unstructured data. Using proprietary AI technologies, Forge.AI transforms the world’s unstructured information into machine-readable data that supports critical analytical tasks and strategic decision making.

Forge.AI leverages publicly available text-heavy content – such as news reports, social media, financial reports, SEC filings – and produces intelligent structured event feeds specifically designed for immediate use by data scientists, engineers, and intelligent machines.

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Army Sets Early 2020s to Field Hypersonic, Laser Weapons
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Army Sets Early 2020s to Field Hypersonic, Laser Weapons


Jeff Brody

A top U.S. Army official announced that the service plans to bring hypersonic and directed energy weapons to the field in less than four years to support combat operations, Defense News reported Tuesday. The recently reorganized Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office is leading the project.

RCCTO aims to deliver combat-capable Stryker combat vehicles equipped with 50-kilowatt lasers in late fiscal year 2022, followed by new Long-Range Hypersonic Weapons in 2023. The Army started seeking a contractor for the LRHW missile in March and plans to name a company in August.

The service will integrate the weapon with the existing Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System and MH70 trailers for mobility and faster fielding. Meanwhile, the service is working on four laser-equipped Stryker vehicles. In 2018, the service tested its first laser on the vehicle in Germany. 

Lt. Gen. L. Neil Thurgood, director of RCCTO, said the Army is also considering to put the 50-kilowatt lasers on a new Stryker-based short-range air defense platform over the next five years. The RCCTO stood as the Rapid Capabilities Office before its transformation in March. Thurgood said the office’s first priority is to build hypersonics and directed energy weapons for the Army.

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DHS Building New App for Faster First Responder Navigation
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DHS Building New App for Faster First Responder Navigation


Jeff Brody

The Department of Homeland Security partnered with industry to develop a new app to improve how first responders navigate areas during deployment. DHS said Tuesday its Science and Technology Directorate is working with technology firm Azimuth1 to create the QuickRoute app, which uses more data sources than commercial navigation apps to provide responders with more flexibility. 

The tool sets the route based on the type of vehicle and uses its size, capabilities and roadway protocols to find the appropriate roads leading to the incident. S&T and Azimuth1 brought QuickRoute to Maryland for field tests in April along with first responders and transportation stakeholders.

The agency intends to make modifications to the app based on feedback gathered during the test. Meanwhile, the QuickRoute team is refining its back-end system, which enables users to record and assess routing data for future operations. S&T intends to release the app in the second quarter of 2020.

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DOE Supports 66 Projects in High-Energy Physics Under $77M Funding Opportunity
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DOE Supports 66 Projects in High-Energy Physics Under $77M Funding Opportunity


Jeff Brody

The Department of Energy has awarded 66 spots on a $77 million funding grant to support university research efforts in high-energy physics. The funding opportunity will help scientists from 51 academic institutions carry out theoretical and experimental studies in the areas of particle physics, detector technologies, dark matter and dark energies, DOE said Tuesday.

The awardees were chosen through a competitive peer review process facilitated by the agency’s office of high energy physics. Selected projects include the analysis of observatory data on dark matter, assessment of Higgs boson particles from the Large Hadron Collider and an experimental search for dark matter at South Dakota.

“These research efforts, at dozens of universities across the nation, will not only yield fresh insights into such problems as dark matter and dark energy, but also help build and sustain the nation’s science and technology workforce,” said Paul Dabbar, under secretary at DOE.

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Ed Burrows, Robotic Process Automation Program Manager of GSA, Announced as Panelist for Potomac Officers Club’s 2019 Artificial Intelligence Forum on June 13th
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Ed Burrows, Robotic Process Automation Program Manager of GSA, Announced as Panelist for Potomac Officers Club’s 2019 Artificial Intelligence Forum on June 13th


Ed Burrows, Robotic Process Automation Program Manager of GSA, Announced as Panelist for Potomac Officers Club’s 2019 Artificial Intelligence Forum on June 13th
Ed Burrows

Ed Burrows, robotic process automation process manager of the U.S. General Services Administration, will be featured as a panelist during Potomac Officers Club’s 2019 Artificial Intelligence Forum on June 13th.

At the event, GovCon leaders from the public and private sector will discuss “Starting Your AI Journey” and the challenges that come with that process. You can register for the event here.

Burrows joined GSA in March 2015 as the senior advisor to the chief financial officer. Burrows is responsible for management of GSA’s financial shared services provider, including performance measurement and improvement and achievement of operational efficiencies and savings. He launched the robotic process automation program in Jan. 2019.

Prior to his tenure with GSA, Burrows served as the vice president of Professional Services for Marketlocity LLC between Sept. 2014 and Feb. 2015. From Dec. 2009 to Aug. 2014, Burrows was the Americas region director for Telarix and led a team of project managers and business analysts in implementation of iXTools and iXLinksoftware for clients across the globe.

In addition, Burrows has served in a wide range of senior leadership positions for BT Group plc., Concert Communications and MCI Communications. Overall, Burrows has more than 20 years of experience successfully leading business and government programs and operations, PMOs and client professional services engagements.

Burrows graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and a Master of Arts Degree in Economics from the University of Virginia. He specialized in public sector economics and his thesis was an analysis of the efficiency benefits of plant-wide pollution caps vs. technology-based point source controls for U.S. steel manufacturing.

Don’t miss out on the 2019 Artificial Intelligence Forum on June 13th. You can register for the event right here.

Industry Committee Wants NOAA to Reconsider Satellite Regulation Updates
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Industry Committee Wants NOAA to Reconsider Satellite Regulation Updates


Jeff Brody

An industry advisory committee wants to make changes to NOAA’s proposal to revise regulations for commercial satellite imaging systems. The Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing argued the agency’s plan may create new burdens for the industry, SpaceNews reported Tuesday. 

NOAA wants to streamline the process to provide licenses for satellite systems to address the growing number of applications. However, ACCRES raised concerns that some of the changes in the process could actually lead to challenges in securing approval. 

The committee held a meeting on Tuesday at the Department of Commerce to discuss NOAA’s proposal. Among the topics at the meeting was the agency’s idea to classify license applicants as either “low-risk” or “high-risk” prior to approval. 

ACCRES said that satellite makers may struggle to achieve a “low-risk” status as majority of commercial systems are high risk. The group also opposed restrictions and conditions for “non-Earth imaging,” which may significantly limit their services and delay responses to anomaly. 

ACCRES plans to conduct another meeting on July 11 to discuss recommended changes to NOAA’s proposal. The agency will accept public comment on the new regulations until July 15.

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Omar Lopez Sworn in as NCIS Director
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Omar Lopez Sworn in as NCIS Director


Omar Lopez Sworn in as NCIS Director
Omar Lopez

Omar Lopez, former executive assistant director for national security of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, has taken oath as NCIS’ new director. Richard Spencer, secretary of the Navy and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient, swore Lopez in during a ceremony Tuesday, the U.S. Navy said the same day.

Lopez succeeds Andrew Traver who retired on Monday after serving more than six years as NCIS director. Lopez, in his most recent role, oversaw investigations on global terrorism matters such as espionage, cyber operations and insider threat programs. He joined NCIS in 2003 and went on to fill roles in multiple work areas including national security and protective service. Lopez also contributed work to support Iraq’s Coalition Provisional Authority.

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House Committee Seeks Cybersecurity Verification to Address Navy’s Afloat Network Funds
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House Committee Seeks Cybersecurity Verification to Address Navy’s Afloat Network Funds


Jeff Brody

The House Armed Services Committee intends to reduce the Navy’s at-sea network funds if the secretary of defense does not confirm the service branch’s compliance with certain cybersecurity recommendations, Fifth Domain reported Tuesday. The secretary must work with the Department of Defense’s chief information officer to prove the compliance of the Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services with a certain, classified inspector general report. 

The committee included this condition in a recent draft of the fiscal 2020 defense policy bill. The Navy uses the CANES at-sea platform to consolidate command, control, communications, computers and intelligence networks across ships and shore-based facilities.

Sens. John Thune, Brian Schatz Reintroduce Small Cell Deployment Act
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Sens. John Thune, Brian Schatz Reintroduce Small Cell Deployment Act


Jeff Brody

Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, are reintroducing legislation to speed up infrastructure assessments for small cell network access ahead of the planned 5G rollout. Thune’s office said in a press release published Monday that the “Streamlining the Rapid Evolution And Modernization of Leading-edge Infrastructure Necessary to Enhance Small Cell Deployment Act” revises the Communications Act of 1934 to include emerging requirements and better address challenges faced by small municipalities with less than 50,000 residents.

The STREAMLINE Small Cell Deployment Act enables applicants to receive action on their equipment collocation requests within 60 days and allows the Federal Communications Commission to issue a 30-day waiver for requests by state and local entities.

“Developing and deploying the next generation of wireless technology will provide more Americans with access to the internet while giving us the chance to continue our global leadership and create millions of new jobs,” Schatz noted.

Thune serves as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet. Schatz is as ranking member of the subcommittee.

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