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ARPA-E to Help NASA Hold Energy Technology Challenge
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ARPA-E to Help NASA Hold Energy Technology Challenge


ARPA-E to Help NASA Hold Energy Technology ChallengeThe Energy Department‘s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy will support NASA‘s iTech challenge geared to identify technology concepts that will enhance energy generation, storage and distribution for earth and space applications.

Entrepreneurs, inventors and researchers can submit a five-page concept paper on transformative energy technologies through the NASA iTech website until April 29, DOE said Thursday.

Technology sub-themes for the challenge include regular and regenerative fuel cells, high-energy-density batteries and supercapacitors, solar and small fission power systems, power management and distribution and X-Factor Energy concepts.

ARPA-E and NASA subject matter panelists will select concepts based on relevance and potential impact and invite 10 finalists to present ideas at the 2018 NASA iTech Cycle II Forum that will be held at New York City in June.

Forum attendees will include NASA and ARPA-E technologists, energy and space professionals and potential investors.

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Patrick Shanahan Outlines National Defense Strategy Execution Priorities
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Patrick Shanahan Outlines National Defense Strategy Execution Priorities


Patrick Shanahan Outlines National Defense Strategy Execution Priorities
Patrick Shanahan

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has said that the Defense Department focused on the execution of the National Defense Strategy in March, DoD News reported Thursday.

Shanahan told the audience at an event hosted by the Center for a New American Security that his first execution priority is to move forward with military readiness efforts to help ensure that DoD officials are spending money properly.

The second execution priority is to address risks facing programs of record to complete projects ahead of schedule and within budget, Shanahan added.

He noted that the third and most important execution priority is to accelerate modernization.

DoD officials are also working to reform the department’s business processes and research and development strategy, Shanahan said.

The department is taking a “rip off and deploy” approach, which involves the adoption of concepts that already exist in the private sector.

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FCC OKs SpaceX to Provide COMSAT-Based Broadband Services
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FCC OKs SpaceX to Provide COMSAT-Based Broadband Services


FCC OKs SpaceX to Provide COMSAT-Based Broadband ServicesThe Federal Communications Commission has authorized SpaceX to provide satellite-based broadband services across the U.S. and the globe.

The company proposed to use a constellation consisting of 4,425 satellites and was approved to do so with Ka (20/30 GHz) and Ku (11/14 GHz) band frequencies, FCC said Thursday.

SpaceX’s non-geostationary-satellite orbit, fixed-satellite service constellation will be used to provide global-scale broadband coverage.

This authorization adds to previous FCC approvals for OneWeb, Space Norway and Telesat to provide broadband services via NGSO FSS constellations.

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Maj. Gen. David Thompson Promoted to Three-Star AFSPC Vice Commander
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Maj. Gen. David Thompson Promoted to Three-Star AFSPC Vice Commander


Maj. Gen. David Thompson Promoted to Three-Star AFSPC Vice Commander
David Thompson

Maj. Gen David Thompson, special assistant to the commander of the Air Force Space Command, will receive his third star and take on a new role as AFSPC vice commander this week to support military space operations at the Pentagon, Defense News reported Saturday.

Gen. David Goldfein, U.S. Air Force chief of staff, told a roundtable forum held Thursday that the service branch promoted Thompson to the three-star position in order for Gen. Jay Raymond to concentrate on managing the command at the Peterson AF Base in Colorado, as its leader.

Goldfein added he expects that Thompson’s new duties in Washington will focus more on space programs.

The report said USAF initially intended to appoint Thompson to lead a space directorate that would have been called A11 and based at the military service’s headquarters, but the 2018 defense authorization bill signed into law in December prohibits the formation of that post.

He previously served as two-star AFSPC vice commander, based in Colorado, for two years before he became the commander’s special assistant in July 2017.

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NASA Selects 25 Space Tech Proposals for 2018 NIAC Program
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NASA Selects 25 Space Tech Proposals for 2018 NIAC Program


NASA Selects 25 Space Tech Proposals for 2018 NIAC ProgramNASA has selected 25 early-stage concepts of different platforms that may aid future space exploration missions.

The space agency said Saturday selected technology proposals for the 2018 Innovative Advanced Concepts program encompass the areas of meteoroid impact detection, space telescope swarm and small orbital debris mapping.

“The NIAC program gives NASA the opportunity to explore visionary ideas that could transform future NASA missions by creating radically better or entirely new concepts while engaging America’s innovators and entrepreneurs as partners in the journey,” said Jim Reuter, acting associate administrator of the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.

Phase I awardees will use $125,000 in total funds to design and analyze their proposed technologies over a nine-month period and can apply for second-phase grants if they complete their feasibility studies.

NASA offers up to $500,000 over two years for each project that moves to phase II of the NIAC program.

Click here to view the agency’s full list of grant recipients.

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Ben FitzGerald: DoD to Focus on Sustainment, Use Data-Driven Approach in AT&L Reorganization Effort
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Ben FitzGerald: DoD to Focus on Sustainment, Use Data-Driven Approach in AT&L Reorganization Effort


Ben FitzGerald: DoD to Focus on Sustainment, Use Data-Driven Approach in AT&L Reorganization Effort
Ben FitzGerald

Ben FitzGerald, director of the Defense Department‘s strategy and design office, has said DoD intends to adopt a “data-driven approach” as it works to reorganize the acquisition, technology and logistics office, DoD News reported Thursday.

FitzGerald officially assumed his current role Jan. 2 to oversee the split of the AT&L organization into two units: acquisition and sustainment; and research and engineering.

He said such an approach would call for DoD to analyze data associated with the acquisition process and capability portfolios and noted that the two-year reorganization effort should also focus on sustainment.

“An opportunity to innovate is usually in the sustainment phase,” he said Tuesday at an American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council-hosted seminar.

“We need to figure out how to bring that community up front so it can influence how we design, so we can design for sustainment, so we have ways to prototype into sustainment, so we can think about the sustainment of [areas such as] software.”

FitzGerald asked industry to offer recommendations and feedback on the restructuring effort, which he said seeks to provide authority for rapid prototyping and fielding activities.

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U.S. Naval Academy Wins Inaugural NSA Cyber Exercise
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U.S. Naval Academy Wins Inaugural NSA Cyber Exercise


U.S. Naval Academy Wins Inaugural NSA Cyber ExerciseThe U.S. Naval Academy won the National Security Agency‘s recent Cyber Exercise, or NCX, an event where cadets contended with a variety of cyber operations challenges.

Cadets from all five U.S. military service academies took part in the three-day exercise that challenged participants in the areas of adversary coordinates tracking, space mission kit protection and U.S. infrastructure defense, NSA said Wednesday.

The event garnered 80 guests during its first two days, and on the third day had additional attendees who were supposed to take part in the Joint Service Academy Summit.

The JSA Summit was cancelled due to a snowstorm in the Annapolis area.

The NSA and U.S. Cyber Command members delivered each exercise’s opening and closing remarks.

Harry Coker, executive director at the NSA, announced on March 21 the winner after the final exercise; then Walter Carter, superintendent at the U.S. Naval Academy, delivered NCX’s closing remarks.

NCX 2019 is expected to take place at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado.

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Researchers Demo Short-Term Memory Restoration Tech Under DARPA Program
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Researchers Demo Short-Term Memory Restoration Tech Under DARPA Program


Researchers Demo Short-Term Memory Restoration Tech Under DARPA Program
DARPA image

Researchers at the University of Southern California and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have demonstrated a proof-of-concept system designed to restore and improve memory function in humans as part of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program.

DARPA unveiled in November 2013 the Restoring Active Memory program that aims to address the effects of brain injury among service personnel through the development of a closed-loop, implantable neural technology that works to restore normal memory function, the agency said Wednesday.

The study published in the Journal of Neural Engineering showed a 37 percent improvement in episodic memory function among neurosurgical patient volunteers through the use of a system that works to facilitate encoding of short-term memories through patterned electrical stimulation derived from the patients’ neural activity or codes.

Researchers developed the technology based on a multi-input multi-output, spatiotemporal model.

They constructed the MIMO-based model using surgically implanted electrodes in patients to track and analyze neural activity in the hippocampus’ sub-regions, CA1 and CA3, associated with memory function during image-recall tests.

DARPA noted the MIMO-based model works to predict the transformation of neural firing patterns between the two sub-regions during memory formation.

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Navy Demos Remote Aircraft Recovery on USS Abraham Lincoln
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Navy Demos Remote Aircraft Recovery on USS Abraham Lincoln


Navy Demos Remote Aircraft Recovery on USS Abraham LincolnThe U.S. Navy has demonstrated remote aircraft landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier using the Aircraft Terminal Approach Remote Inceptor, or ATARI.

The test marked the first at-sea use of the ATARI system, which was developed by the Naval Air Systems Command and has been tested onshore with a Learjet aircraft in 2016, the Navy said Wednesday.

ATARI is designed to give landing signal officers the option to remotely maneuver an aircraft during recovery operations.

The system is intended to serve as a backup landing method in case LSOs need to take over and guide an aircraft.

The Navy Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23 installed ATARI into F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets in 2017 and conducted tests and quality assurance ahead of the first sea-based demonstration.

The test aboard USS Abraham Lincoln involved an F/A-18 aircraft that was manned by a safety pilot.

ATARI engineers will evaluate data from the test and make changes for further at-sea testing.

The remote landing platform is not yet approved for fleet-wide use, but the test provides a potential for future implementation, the Navy noted.

Ronny Jackson to Replace David Shulkin as V.A. Secretary
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Ronny Jackson to Replace David Shulkin as V.A. Secretary


Ronny Jackson to Replace David Shulkin as V.A. Secretary
David Shulkin

Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin will be replaced by White House physician Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, President Trump announced Wednesday.

Robert Wilkie, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, will be acting secretary until Jackson’s confirmation.

“I am thankful for Dr. David Shulkin’s service to our country and to our GREAT VETERANS!” Trump said on Twitter.

Jackson began his active duty naval service in 1995 at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center in Virginia. He joined the marines in 2005 and was deployed to Iraq as an emergency medicine provider, before being selected as a White House physician in 2006. President Obama appointed him as physician to the president, his current role.

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