Lifeboat Foundation

It’s extremely difficult to make a fair comparison of US and Chinese spend on technology like AI as funding and research in this area is diffuse. Although China announced ambitious plans to become the world leader in AI by 2030, America still outspends the country in military funding (which increasingly includes AI research), while US tech companies like Google and Microsoft remain world leaders in artificial intelligence.

The Trump administration will likely present today’s news as a counterbalance to its dismal reputation for supporting scientific research. For four years in a row, government budgets have proposed broad cuts for federal research, including work in pressing subjects like climate change. Only the fields of artificial intelligence and quantum computing, with their overt links to military prowess and global geopolitics, have seen increased investment.

“It is absolutely imperative the United States continues to lead the world in AI and quantum,” said US Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios ahead of today’s announcement, according to The Wall Street Journal. “The future of American economic prosperity and national security will be shaped by how we invest, research, develop and deploy these cutting edge technologies today.”

PredaSAR has successfully completed its Critical Design Review (CDR) to begin fabrication, testing and launch of its Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) spacecraft, in partnership with Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems. PredaSAR is building and will operate what is predicted to be the world’s largest and most advanced constellation of SAR satellites. The successful CDR completion marks another major milestone in PredaSAR’s journey and follows its recent announcement of a rideshare partnership with SpaceX to launch its first satellite aboard the Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

PredaSAR spacecraft employ an advanced, proprietary radar payload to create 2D Synthetic Aperture Radar images, 3D reconstructions of objects and the Earth’s surface, and customer-tailored data products. SAR satellites provide high-resolution images at any time of day and in any weather condition, overcoming natural limitations of traditional optical satellites. PredaSAR spacecraft possess the latest in space-proven, high quality satellite systems to support scalable and fully capable operations in any low earth orbit. Leveraging its advanced technologies, PredaSAR will deliver critical insights and data products to military and commercial decision makers at the speed of need.

PredaSAR completes Critical Design Review to begin largest SAR satellite constellation — SpaceWatch. Global.

Continue reading “PredaSAR successfully completes Critical Design Review to launch world’s largest SAR satellite constellation” »

An adorable little tugboat as long as a Ford F-150 is making the rounds on social media, prompting many to call it the “smallest ship in the U.S. Navy.”

At just 19 feet long, the boat is actually “Boomin Beaver” security tug. Originally built to herd logs in waterways, the Navy boat is now an all-purpose vessel that can tow small ships and deploy floating security fences, ensuring that larger submarines, destroyers, and even aircraft carriers don’t receive unwanted visitors.

⚓️ You like badass boats (no matter how small). So do we. Let’s nerd out over them together.

His motto is “Aim high, fly-fight-win.” But for a top U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and weapons school graduate, aiming high—and in one instance aiming low—wasn’t enough to prevail against an AI opponent in a simulated competition last week.

The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) sponsored the AlphaDogfight trials as part of its effort to use AI to help pilots in realtime combat and encourage developers to sign up for its Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program to design AI defense systems.

Continue reading “Heron AI prevails over human in air combat” »

An extract from Space 2.0 by Rod Pyle.

At the other extreme is the massive Dyson Sphere, theorized by physicist Freeman Dyson – a metallic globe large enough to hold a star at its centre and contain a human population at a sufficient distance from the star to comfortably support their survival. This is a highly theoretical idea and is more of a thought experiment than a workable design, at least with any foreseeable technology.

Concerns have been raised about what kinds of governments might take hold in space settlements, and what possible risks they might face from ever more powerful economic and military establishments back on Earth.

Continue reading “Settling the final frontier” »

U.S. Army researchers have teamed with Texas A&M University to create a new polymer material that can shape-shift and autonomously heal itself as part of a research effort to improve future unmanned air and robotic vehicles.

In early research, the first-of-its-kind, 3D-printable epoxy-based material can respond to stimuli, and researchers hope it will one day have embedded intelligence allowing it to adapt to its environment without any external control, according to a news release from Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s (CCDC) Army Research Laboratory.

Read Next: Mortar Shells Strike Kabul as Afghans Mark Independence Day.

Spokeswoman for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova, said at a briefing on Thursday that Russia is ready to continue to discuss space issues with the US. This discussion should operate within the framework of a bilateral expert group, commenting on the publication of the US Space Force doctrine by the Pentagon.

“The document confirms the aggressive direction of Washington in the sphere of space, the determination to achieve military superiority up to the total dominance in space. The outer space is considered by the American side exclusively as the arena to conduct warfare,” she said. “We see an opportunity to remove mutual concerns within the framework of the Russian-American working group on space security whose first meeting took place in Vienna on July 27 and we confirm our readiness to discuss further all issues of space activities in the bilateral format,” the diplomat added. The spokeswoman drew attention to the fact that the use of space research exclusively in peaceful purposes remains a priority for Russia as well as prevention of an arms race in outer space. “As opposed to the US, we do not pursue the goals of domineering and superiority. We are interested instead in maintaining the strategic balance in order to strengthen the international security.” She referred to the Russian-Chinese treaty draft on the prevention of stationing arms in space, use of force or threats against space objects. All existing issues and contradictions on the subject of arms in space should be resolved within the framework of the Disarmament Conference, the spokeswoman stressed. According to her, Russia thoroughly analyzes the possible consequences of “Washington’s aggressive endeavors.”

Spokeswoman for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova, said at a briefing on Thursday that Russia is ready to continue to discuss space issues with the US. This discussion should operate within the framework of a bilateral expert group, commenting on the publication of the US Space Force doctrine by the Pentagon.

Continue reading “Russia to continue bilateral dialogue with US on all space issues” »

Literally hundreds of shiny new fighter jets will take flight over the next decade.

“We will not have an active exoskeleton with servomotors tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow. That’s science fiction,” Sergei Smagluk, of the EO-1 design team told Russian newspaper RIA Novosti. He adds that as soon as a suitable power source is available, it will create a boom in exoskeleton development, one which his company is well-placed to lead.

While America’s ambitious attempts to build Iron Man-style powered armor are making little progress, Russia is already fielding modest but effective unpowered military exoskeletons.