Over the past five years there has been tremendous growth in the 3-d printing technology landscape. What used to be a small industry built around hobbies has blossomed into a full-fledged, world-changing market that is driving down costs. We've already explored the explosive growth of this technology and some possible uses here, so once you've read that check out the infographic below on what those technologies look like and how boundaries are being pushed, especially at places like Northrop Grumman.                          

How 3-D Printing Technology is Changing the World

Like so many scientific endeavors, the Pioneer 4 spacecraft wasn't perfect. When it launched in 1959, it didn't get close enough to the mysterious lunar surface to study the moon. Nevertheless, it still accelerated science and achieved several important milestones in space exploration.  What Was the Pioneer 4 Spacecraft? This unmanned spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral in 1959 to photograph the moon during a close flyby. It was a spin-stabilized vehicle. It had a mechanical despinning mechanism that included weights attached to long wires wrapped around the base of the cone, according to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum where Pioneer 4 now resides. After the vehicle was on its trajectory, the weights were released to unwind and slow the rate of spin down.  It was a cone-shaped probe that was only 13 pounds and 20 inches (51 cm) high, according to NASA. The probe was made of fiberglass and coated with gold to make it conductive, and was painted with white stripes to help it maintain the proper temperature. A ring of mercury batteries at the base of the cone provided power, and the tip of the cone was a small probe, which, combined with the rest of the cone, acted as an antenna.  The probe was equipped with Geiger counters, which are instruments that measure radiation. A photoelectric sensor poked out of the center of the ring. The sensor had two photocells that were meant to be triggered by moonlight when the probe got close enough to the moon. The Pioneer 4 spacecraft went down in history as being the first American lunar probe to escape Earth's gravity and the first American probe to orbit around the sun. It got close to the moon, passing 37,300 miles by the moon's surface, according to NASA. Unfortunately, this wasn't close enough — it would need to be 20,000 miles from the moon to trigger the photocell or to measure the moon's radiation.  A Path to the Moon Landing  The mission didn't get close enough to capture images or data about the moon itself, but it did bring back excellent data that helped scientists understand the nature of space. It was the first American lunar probe to break out of Earth's gravity, which was a necessary step toward landing on the moon a decade later.  It was also a valuable exercise in how to track objects in space. Its radio transmitted data for 82 hours and 655,000 miles of travel, according to NASA. This was the farthest distance that anyone had ever tracked a human-made object at the time.  Pioneer 4 sent back excellent radiation data about the Van Allen Belts, which Space.com explains are rings of magnetically trapped, highly energetic charged particles that surround Earth. The data from this mission helped scientists understand the inner and outer structures and varying intensities of different areas of Van Allen Belts. This knowledge was critical in early space missions and it's even more important now that we have space vehicles loaded with high-tech, sensitive gear.  "Our current technology is ever more susceptible to these accelerated particles because even a single hit from a particle can upset our ever smaller instruments and electronics," said David Sibeck, Van Allen Probes mission scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "As technology advances, it's actually becoming even more pressing to understand and predict our space environment."  Enable targeting cookies to view this content.  

Pioneer 4 Spacecraft Was a Successful Failure

The rock band or the doomed blimp? Hydrogen explosions and catchy melodic hooks have hijacked our thinking about the term "Zeppelin." Visceral television coverage of the Hindenburg disaster — and its scale — have largely overwritten the more storied tales of these luxurious sky kings. Consider the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin: 90 years ago, this lighter-than-air craft made history with the first passenger-carrying flight around the globe and pumped up worldwide interest.  Building a Better Zeppelin Airship  Built by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin and completed in 1928, the LZ 127 was named after airship pioneer Count (Graf) Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Designed using the basic plan of the LZ 126 — which was supplied to the United States and commissioned the USS Los Angeles as war reparations — the LZ 127 was also built using triangular duralumin girders and rings spaced 15 meters apart. When completed, the craft was 776 feet long and 110 feet high, making it the largest airship in the world.  As noted by Airships.net, size was the priority: The long, thin hull of the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin was not aerodynamically ideal and was subject to bending stress. Designers wanted to maximize the ship's fuel-carrying capacity and would have likely made the Zeppelin even larger if they weren't constrained by the construction shed at Friedrichschafen — which had interior dimensions of 787 feet long and 115 feet high.  This Zeppelin airship also used a new type of fuel for its combustion engines, called "Blau gas" after its inventor. With a similar weight to air, burning Blau gas meant airship personnel didn't have to account for the loss in weight as heavier-than-air fuel burned, which ordinarily necessitated the regular venting (and therefore loss) of lifting gas. When completed, the LZ 127 was capable of reaching altitudes of up to 6,000 feet and speeds of 72 miles-per-hour.  Grafs Gone (World)Wide  Once cleared for active service the Graf Zeppelin began making history; on Oct. 11, 1928, it completed the first commercial passenger flight across the Atlantic in 111 hours and 44 minutes. And in 1929, the LZ 127 conquered another first: A worldwide journey with passengers on board. Starting and ending in Lakehurst, New Jersey, the worldwide trip took just 12 days and 11 minutes of flying time. Refueling was accomplished at pre-planned landings along the way, such as Friedrichschafen and Tokyo.  But things didn't always go as planned. In Los Angeles, captain Hugo Eckener was forced to land during a temperature inversion, which required the ship to vent large quantities of hydrogen that couldn't be immediately replaced. As a result, the craft was much heavier than usual on takeoff and nearly crashed into a string of power lines.  The LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin didn't stop there — in July 1931 the ship made a trip to the North Pole, allowing scientists to photograph unmapped Arctic regions, conduct meteorological observations and measure magnetic field variations. And until 1937 — the Hindenburg disaster — the LZ 127 flew regular flights from Germany to South America. During its lifetime, the Zeppelin airship made nearly 600 trips and flew more than a million miles.  Catching the Fever  What Zeppelins lacked in sleek aerodynamics and simplicity of use, they made up for in stability of flight, comfort and the ability to carry large volumes of cargo, crew and passengers around the world. So it's no surprise that the massive LZ 127 — effectively a proof-of-concept for its size and the use of Blau gas — captured public interest. Extensive documentation of its globe-trotting flight only increased this Zeppelin affection, especially since Captain Eckener had a flair for the dramatic, timing his flight through San Francisco's Golden Gate with the sun setting behind the ship. As Eckener put it: "When for the first time in world history an airship flies across the Pacific, should it not arrive at sunset over the Golden Gate?"  Despite the LZ 127's innovative design and historic accomplishments, however, the use of hydrogen as lifting gas meant it was only a matter of time before leaky balloons and errant sparks caused a serious problem. On May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg exploded over Manchester Township, and on June 18 of that same year, the LZ 127 had her farewell flight — from Friedrichshafen to Frankfurt — until being stripped for parts by the Luftwaffe in 1940.  Ballooning Interest  Airships had a simple problem: Hydrogen is highly flammable and dangerously explosive under pressure.  But there's a (relatively) easy fix — helium. With 92% of hydrogen's lifting power and none of the flammability, this noble gas is the perfect alternative. In the 1930s, however, helium supply was largely controlled by the U.S. and sharing it with the Germans wasn't seen as strategically sound. Today, however, helium isn't so heavily regulated, making it the go-to lifting gas for next-gen Zeppelins.  The result? Commercial and consumer interest in airships is on the rise. As noted by CNN, Goodyear recently updated its fleet with their "NT" models, which come complete with fly-by-wire steering, more comfortable seats and — finally — a lavatory. And Luftschiffbau Zeppelin itself is back in the airship business, running 12 routes across Germany and Switzerland for 21,000 tourists every year. Still, CEO Michael Schieschke gets asked the same question every day: Do the airships still use hydrogen, and will helium burn? Despite the ongoing concern, he believes that "most of the public understands that these aircraft are safe now."  In fact, helium-powered craft align extremely well with current economic conditions: Zeppelins can make long flights for low cost, are virtually noiseless, produce limited emissions and can lift massive amounts of cargo. From both environmental stewardship and expenditure management perspectives, the rigid airship renaissance makes sense.  We Have Liftoff  Zeppelin airships represented a breakthrough in aeronautic technologies, introducing comfort and control never before seen in airborne vehicles. The LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin marked the pinnacle of hydrogen-powered travel, breaking transatlantic, global and even polar records during its nine-year service. Ninety years later, new corporate investment is driving the development of Zeppelin features and designs — much like the burgeoning commercialization of space flight, renewed private-sector commitments offer the potential for both travel at scale and scientific discovery. 

The Legacy of Zeppelin Airship Innovation

Destructive hurricanes like Harvey and Irma certainly get attention, but the threat of rising sea levels is an everyday concern for coastal populations. While some corners of the world still debate the legitimacy of climate change, the governments of low-lying coastal cities aren't waiting around, especially when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) and the non-profit environmental group Climate Central predicted that the U.S. faces an extreme sea-level rise of up to 12 feet by 2100. Instead, public and private entities prepare for drastic upheaval by exploring natural and artificial technologies and new planning approaches that have the potential to combat flooding. Floating cities, living shorelines and other options might give coastal communities a fighting chance to adapt to a rapidly changing world. Disappearing Islands Rising sea levels are the most striking example of the earth's spiking temperature. Heat-trapping greenhouse gases have caused glaciers and massive ice sheets to melt and expand the depth of oceans. Most scientists concur that global warming will continue to accelerate the melting, but they don't know how fast land ice will melt, and thus put coastal areas at risk of flooding. Erosion and the outright depletion of land are the costs of more sea water. At least eight low-lying Pacific Ocean islands have vanished in the past 70 years, according to New Scientist. At the same time, coastal areas like Miami deal with an overflow of rain that can't easily discharge into the Biscayne Bay, especially when the sea is at its highest level during the fall, causing "King" tides to simultaneously carry saltwater directly onto the streets, as the Miami Herald reported. Reconfiguring and Building Anew For cities directly in the path of a rising sea, taking an innovative approach to combating climate change isn't the pursuit of a new aesthetic or a bold opportunity to make a profit but rather a calculated preparation for the worst nature has to offer.  Consider Miami. On a small but effective scale, city planners have embraced various technologies and approaches to properly plan for more water. The city intends to use 3D models to have a better sense of how to plan urban development around flood zones. Miami is also benefiting from grant money to participate in programs to improve permitting processes and storm water management, as well as pay for a chief resilience officer whose sole task is to create a comprehensive climate change strategy, according to GCN. Taking an even bolder approach, Miami looked at the possibility of tearing down properties and returning flood-susceptible areas to nature, the Miami Herald explained. In French Polynesia, rising sea levels initiated the consideration of simply restarting civilization on a floating city. With many of its island coastlines eroding or at risk of disappearing, the government allowed the Seasteading Institute, a Silicon Valley enterprise, to explore the development of the world's first self-sufficient floating city, the Huffington Post reported. Aside from housing people, a floating city could serve as a hub for oceanographic and climate resilience research and implementation, including wave and tidal energy experiments and explorations into trapping atmospheric carbon on the sea floor, a Seasteading Institute executive told the Huffington Post. Combating Change Naturally For those who can't afford the potential livable space cost of $504 per square foot on a floating city, other avenues are being considered to preserve some semblance of existing property. Natural or nature-based structures known as "living shorelines" aim to protect shores more inexpensively and more effectively than man-made bulkheads and walls. NOAA contended that shorelines with intact natural coastal habitats suffer less damage and bounce back more quickly from severe storms. In 2016, the Army Corps of Engineers approved a nationwide permit that lowers regulatory hurdles to build living shorelines, such as wetlands with sea and marsh grasses, sand dunes, mangroves and coral reefs. Whether municipalities take incremental approaches by raising sidewalks, building natural recovery zones or restarting planning strategies, or if they boldly shoot for the moon by creating a floating city space, the time to address climate change has arrived in full force. Steps taken now will go a long way toward preserving the future.

Rising Sea Levels Trigger the Redesign of Coastal Communities

In a world filled with technology, some of the most sophisticated designs exist in nature. Butterfly wing anatomy, for example, is delicate, complicated and efficient. Butterfly wings are also extremely fragile and sensitive to temperature changes, so what prevents them from overheating?   How to Study Butterfly Anatomy   Researchers at Columbia University and Harvard University used a new technique called infrared hyperspectral imaging to find out how butterfly wings avoid overheating. They learned that butterfly wings are based on a complex thermodynamic structure that can teach us about how to make more efficient cooling materials. The researchers anesthetized butterflies and then used a paintbrush to carefully remove the wing scales to reveal the wings' nanostructure. They also injected a blue stain into the butterfly's thorax. This stain was then carried by hemolymph, which is like a bug's version of blood, so it spread throughout the butterfly's living cells and tissues, making it easier for the scientists to see the tiny details and go deeper than butterfly wing anatomy.   However, even with a stain, it is difficult to study how butterfly wings manage heat. According to ScienceNews, butterfly wings are so thin and semi-transparent that thermal cameras can't distinguish the difference between heat from the wings or other things in the background. To get around this challenge, the Columbia-Harvard team designed a technique based on infrared hyperspectral imaging where each pixel of an image represents an infrared spectrum. Then they used this special thermal camera to map the way heat dissipated from certain areas on the delicate wings of more than 50 butterfly species.   What Keeps Butterfly Wings From Overheating?   With this new imaging technique, the researchers were able to map out the thermodynamic properties that make butterfly wings so efficient, as well as gain a deeper understanding of how the insect's body works as a whole.   "This work shows that we should reconceptualize the butterfly wing as a dynamic, living structure rather than as a relatively inert membrane," said Naomi E. Pierce, a biology professor at Harvard who co-led the new thermodynamic research. "Patterns observed on the wing may also be shaped in important ways by the need to modulate temperatures of living parts of the wing."   They discovered a "wing heart" that beats a few dozen times per minute to control blood flow to the scent pads of certain species of butterflies. More surprising, they discovered that butterfly wings contain a network of mechanical and temperature sensors that work similarly to a household radiator heater.   Butterfly wings contain a mixture of living and nonliving structures covered by scales made of a rigid substance called chitlin, according to Scientific American. The live portions of wings have scent pads, pheromone-releasing organs and veins; chitlin membranes stretch between the wing veins.   It turns out that the scales covering different parts of the wing have different shapes to help regulate the wing's heat. Butterfly wings don't overheat because of a process called radiative cooling, according to Scientific American. Because heat is electromagnetic radiation generated by the vibration of molecules, when a material exposes more molecules on its surface it will be able to dissipate more heat. Therefore, the structure of materials will allow them to release heat more quickly than others.   There is one type of scale that covers the wing's non-living parts, which aren't as sensitive to heat. Then there are special scales to cover the living parts of the wing that are more susceptible to overheating. Scales over the scent pads are shaped like a bunch of tiny tubes, similar to radiators but only one micron in diameter. Just like a household heater, these nanostructures are shaped to efficiently dissipate warmth. While the radiator-style scales help protect the wing's organs from overheating, the scales covering veins are also efficient at emitting heat, although they are thicker, with many holes.   The Columbia and Harvard researchers also experimented with how butterfly wings handle different environmental conditions. They varied the light and temperature and found that this radiative cooling anatomy caused the live areas of butterfly wings (the veins and scent pads) to always be cooler than the lifeless areas of the wings.   Butterfly-Inspired Technology   Butterfly wings are joining a growing list of nature that inspires technology. Because of their complex thermodynamic structures, butterfly wings can teach us how to make more efficient cooling materials. The researchers are using what they learned from butterfly wings, along with other studies they've done on sub-Saharan ants, to develop a cooling polymer and spin it into nanostructures inspired by butterfly wing anatomy.   This material could be used to coat structures such as buildings to help them get rid of heat. Similar heat-repellent materials are often white because that color doesn't absorb heat. But as a bonus, just like butterflies, this new lightweight cooling material could be made in a variety of colors.   Butterfly-inspired cooling materials would be especially useful for developing heat-resistant aircraft. Nature is the ultimate inspiration for aircraft. Someday, airplane wings could be as efficient as butterfly wings.    Enable targeting cookies to view this content.    

Butterfly Wing Anatomy Inspires Cool New Materials

How ice-penetrating rockets and robotic submarines could help find life beyond Earth When it comes to exploring other worlds, we typically think of observation satellites taking pictures and scientific measurements from orbit or robotic rovers trekking along the red desert of Mars. But what about harpooning the icy shell of a moon, like Europa, with a rocket-propelled spear and searching for life beneath the surface with an autonomous robotic submarine? This is one of many alluring concepts that could be employed in man's undying quest to find life beyond our planet. Beyond Mars, Europa seems like our next closest hope for finding the past or present signature of biological life forms somewhere in our solar system. Europa's Ingredients for Life Scientists believe that Europa, one of Jupiter's many moons, possesses the ingredients for life: water, chemistry and energy. Long-held predictions that Europa has an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy crust were confirmed in 2019 by scientific observation through the world's largest telescope, the Keck Observatory, in Hawaii. An international group of researchers spotted water vapor emitting from a geyser on the moon's surface, a phenomenon that explains Europa's unique surface "chaos" geology. This observation has heightened interest in the Galilean world, with NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) both planning missions to Europa in the 2020s. NASA's Europa Clipper mission would be ready for launch in the 2023-25 timeframe, whereas ESA's JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft is already taking shape with a planned launch in 2022. These two missions primarily focus on scientific observation but depending on the data they return, mankind might want to take a closer and more exploratory look. One option is to land a mobile probe on the surface like the Mars rovers. But another — perhaps more fruitful — endeavor is to go beneath the crust and swim around looking for life such as floating bacteria or more complex organisms, like the fish and crustaceans we find living deep within our own oceans. Breaking the Crust The first challenge is to find an opening in the crust through which to send a robot carrying various sensors, such as acoustics for detection, gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy for chemistry, cameras for observation and sonar for mapping. For this kind of mission in a far off world, there would be a lot of cross-pollination between the technologies developed by the civil space sector for interplanetary observation (i.e. launch vehicles, deep space communications, re-entry and landing, etc.) and the national security sector ( i.e. rocket motors, penetrators, communications, navigation, sensors, etc.). Over the past few decades, the U.S. military has ramped up the development of so-called hard-target munitions — or bunker busters — to destroy structures buried deep underground. Additionally, billions of dollars have been invested in exquisite sensors for land, air, sea and space platforms to get a better view of the battle space and detect hazards like roadside bombs. Together, these two technology sets could form the basis for an eventual Europa mission. To punch an opening in the surface, a large, high-kinetic energy penetrator could be propelled like a pile driver into an area of Europa where the ice is the thinnest to create a straight opening through which an autonomous robot could enter. In the military, aircraft drop guided earth penetrators from high altitudes to take out underground bunkers using the sheer kinetic force produced by gravity, often combined with depleted uranium, a high density element which generates large kinetic energy. However, because Europa is smaller and has far less gravitational pull than Earth, the spear would need to be very dense, and accelerated by a rocket booster. Using kinetic energy to punch a hole in a distant world might seem like an extraordinary measure, but this isn't a novel concept. In April 2019, Japan's Hayabusa-2 asteroid sample-return mission made history by firing a copper lug into the rocky surface of the asteroid Ryugu. The spacecraft essentially shot the asteroid using an instrument called the Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) to blast a crater and free up debris for collection. Not to be outdone, NASA plans to slam a spacecraft into the Didymos binary asteroid in an attempt to nudge it off course. This Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will prove whether it is possible to stop Armageddon by changing the trajectory of an asteroid before it potentially collides with Earth. Deep Dive into Europa's Waters Once the ice shell of Europa is breached, an autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle could be lowered through the opening to start exploring the newly unlocked ocean. There are many similarities between this type of vehicle and the towed or free-swimming mine-hunters used by the U.S. maritime force to protect ships from undersea mines. Aerospace and defense companies such as Northrop Grumman are leaders in this field, with expertise in undersea minehunting and torpedo guidance, navigation, communications, sonar, infrared and other areas. There needs to be some way to beam data back to Earth for analysis. That information would be passed from the robotic explorer to a relay on the surface of Europa and then to an orbiter for deep-space communications back to Earth. Passing information from the explorer to the surface relay would be the greatest challenge, since the jagged ice would rip, crush or sever any trailing copper or optical fiber cables. This problem would be familiar to military forces operating in the Canadian North, Arctic or Antarctic. The autonomous undersea robot would instead need to communicate using low-bandwidth radio frequency, free-space optical or acoustic transmission. Each type of transmitter has its limitations, but some data is better than no data. The bit rate of the transmissions would range from low to very low depending on the thickness and opacity of the moon's icy crust. Onboard the explorer would be a navigation and guidance system as well as eyes in the form of electro-optical/infrared cameras for a near field of view. A sensitive microphone should also be onboard to detect the acoustic signals of geological movement and biological life in the deep ocean. A gas chromatograph and spectrometer is desirable for chemical analysis. In order to detect weak magnetic fields, a superconducting quantum interference device, or SQUID, which is a very sensitive magnetometer could be used to observe the magnetic environment. The primary instrument for mapping the hereto uncharted world is a miniature synthetic aperture sonar. The military uses sonar, a system for detecting objects under water and measuring depth by emitting sound pulses measuring their return, for submarine and torpedo navigation, mapping, and detecting undersea threats like anti-vessel mines. Ocean explorers have been using sonar since the 1980s to discover, map and photograph shipwrecks like the Titanic. Unlocking the mysteries of Europa would be a monumental scientific and technological achievement for mankind and many of the elements needed for success already exist. How you combine them and structure the mission makes the difference. Thanks to ambitious Clipper and JUICE projects being pursued by NASA and ESA, respectively, we Earthlings should soon know if the potential for life on Europa is great enough to merit such an ambitious undertaking. See how you can be at the forefront of cutting-edge research and development in space exploration or undersea minehunting at Northrop Grumman.

Harpoon Europa to Unlock Hidden Mysteries

Make some room, human on the Moon.
If all goes according to plan, NASA astronauts will, in the not-so-distant future, live and work on a base on the Moon as part of the agency's Artemis program. After some brief stays on the lunar surface as part of initial missions that should start this decade, the next generation of explorers will eventually establish a long-term home on the Moon to conduct scientific research and create a stepping-stone to Mars.
To do so, they will need lunar architecture that can accommodate their work and personal needs while protecting them from Moon dust, extreme temperatures and the sun's radiation. Fortunately, engineers on Earth are designing it. The first crews on the moon will stay in a landing platform that's also a shuttle to a moon-orbiting space station, and a permanent base probably won't be constructed until years later. Still, that's just a blink of an eye when considering no one has walked on the Moon since Gene Cernan lifted his foot from the surface 50 years ago on the last Apollo mission.
"The Apollo era was filled with new technology," says Krystal Puga, an engineer and mission architect for Northrop Grumman's advanced concepts group. "This time, humans will stay longer and do much more. Artemis will push this next generation to innovate even further."
Artemis Will Further the Gains of Apollo
This push to further explore and settle on the Moon formally took shape in 2017 when the Artemis program began. (In Greek mythology, Artemis is the twin of Apollo and a goddess of the moon.) Artemis centers on several large-scale components that will support various stages that will stretch into the 2030s and beyond.
Launching from Earth on top of NASA's Space Launch System rocket, the Orion capsule will push Artemis crews farther than any astronauts have traveled in space. In 2022, the first mission, Artemis I, completed an uncrewed 1.4-million-mile test lap around the Moon and splashed down back on Earth. That set the stage for Artemis II, a crewed flight in 2024 that will take four astronauts around and beyond the moon to test the Orion spacecraft's life-support systems and other capabilities.
Orion won't directly land on the Moon. It will dock with NASA's lunar Gateway and its Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module, humanity's first space station in lunar orbit to support NASA's deep space exploration plans. HALO will support operations around the moon and serve as a living space for astronauts on their way to and from the lunar surface.
The astronauts will reach the moon on the Human Landing System (HLS), a platform that will also carry rovers, scientific equipment and other payloads. The initial crews will live and sleep on HLS, getting out for scientific projects and other work, but eventually, NASA intends to build Artemis Base Camp. That's where Puga and her colleagues come in.
Designing a Human-Centered Structure
The work of Puga and her teammates is in the early design-and-test phase as they study different habitat concepts that could ultimately lead to the creation of objects large and small that would go into a lunar structure. "The exciting thing about working on cutting-edge technology is knowing that many of these details need to be figured out for the first time," Puga says.
That means understanding the functions and requirements of a home that would double as a workspace for as many as four astronauts at a time. To do this, her group and other teams conduct mock-ups that involve humans so bugs can be worked out early to see if any ideas can advance to further stages. Engineers call these approaches human-in-the-loop testing and human-centered design.
"We focus on human factors and crew system interfaces to make sure displays, handles, workloads and the mobility and comfort of astronauts are all being considered," Puga says. "We think about sleeping conditions, hygiene, food preparation and all that goes into living and working in the habitat. We basically do a day in the life of an astronaut and build from that perspective to ensure architecture is where it is needed."
Building a Shelter to Protect Against Extreme Weather
When the time comes to establish a base on the moon, it shouldn't require assembly, Puga explains. Just as the James Webb Space Telescope automatically unfolded in space, the placement of lunar architecture should be touchless.
"It's very difficult to assemble something like that in spacesuits," she says. "Running a torque wrench would be hard and time consuming and we want the astronauts to focus on science."
Structures on the moon would be made with NASA-approved materials — e.g., space-grade steel and aluminum — that stood the test of space's harsh environment during Apollo and other missions. Those conditions are top of mind for the advanced concept group.
Artemis Base Camp will need to offer shelter from extreme temperature swings (250 degrees Fahrenheit near the equator in the daytime; -208 degrees at night, when the moon's poles are even colder). Astronauts will also need protection from the sun's radiation. Gravity and long stretches of darkness are major considerations, as is lunar dust.
"Lunar dust sticks to everything," Puga says. "We're accounting for that and thinking about creating something like a mudroom inside the habitat. But it's not as simple as taking shoes off. You have to contain all that dust in one space so it doesn't gather in the galley or sleeping area, or other critical areas."
The technology that goes into the astronauts' home away from home can't be too far ahead or behind the curve; otherwise, it runs the risk of not being compatible with what arrives on later missions. Systems need to plug and play. Scientific payloads will change depending on missions, but the plugs will remain the same, Puga says. If an electronic device breaks down or if it makes sense to upgrade technology, things will be replaced. And software that controls interior power, lights and temperature should be updated just as it is on a spacecraft.
Making Lunar Dreams Come True
Puga hasn't been to the moon, but she got a taste of extreme temperatures, confined spaces, isolation and the blending of work and life in a lunar home when she spent three weeks at an arctic research site in Juneau, Alaska. It was a reminder that her career has been a dream come true and how her work will help the dreams of many others become reality.
"There are a lot of technical challenges to this," Puga notes. "Power and communications systems, unpressurized and pressurized rovers, and landing systems are just some of the technologies being developed to support the Artemis mission. But I'm very excited to work on the solutions that can get us there."
Are you interested in working on innovative solutions to make lunar dreams come true too? Learn more about our people and life at Northrop Grumman, or check out our career opportunities to see how you can be a part of defining possible.

Building a Base on the Moon, One Design at a Time

Commercial space travel may no longer be a shot in the dark thanks to rapid advancements in aerospace technology and a shift in how space technology is funded. Space programs have historically been limited by government budget constraints, but during the last two decades, a few adventurous billionaires began investing in space technology. Private space travel is an emerging industry that's changing the way we view the universe. Why it Makes Sense Now Public funding for space programs isn't guaranteed — each country's current administration must determine how to manage priorities within a budget. Commercializing space travel invites competition, which brings not only new opportunities for funding, but also a new enthusiasm from the private sector that could spark innovation. When private companies get paid to bring things or people into space, some of the burdens are shifted away from government space programs, such as NASA. Commercial space travel is possible as a result of recent advancements in propulsion methods, robotics and communication, plus new solutions such as autonomous rocket-tracking technology, as described by MIT Technology Review. Traditionally, astronauts have undergone extensive training to prepare physically and mentally for the challenges of space travel, but today's spacecraft are automated, so anyone who is healthy and wealthy can travel beyond our planet. Not only have robotic spacecrafts improved, but so have the communication methods. With low latency live video feeds, an amateur space traveler can get help from experts back on Earth. Types of Commercial Space Travel If you have enough money to travel anywhere, there's not a more far-flung and unique destination than space. Space tourism began in 2001, when American Dennis Tito paid $20 million to become the first space tourist, traveling on a Russian rocket to visit the International Space Station (ISS). Billionaire tech entrepreneurs are responding to the siren song of space travel, as some companies have laid out big plans for bringing people to visit lower Earth orbit and eventually to live on Mars or other planets. Contracted government work is another way commercial space companies can make money. NASA's shuttle program was retired in 2011, and now private companies are paid to bring cargo and people to space. With commercial rockets launching satellites into orbit and delivering supplies to the ISS, traditional space programs have more capacity to focus on developing spacecraft and rockets for deep space missions. There are economic benefits, too; according to NASA, more than 1,000 suppliers are working across the U.S. on commercial crew spacecraft systems. Additionally, private companies need commercial services — especially delivering satellites to space. Satellites are used for navigation, aerial photography and mapping, television, communication and internet. Infinity and Beyond For many space experts, the next big goal is visiting and perhaps colonizing Mars. Projects such as Bill Nye's LightSail aim to find ways to travel long distances without traditional rocket fuel, which is heavy, expensive and finite. Stratolaunch, backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, is pioneering a new way to lift heavy objects into space with minimal fuel by launching rockets off a gigantic airplane, according to Engadget. Other projects are exploring ideas such as reusable rockets, propellant depots and asteroid mining, which could make deep space reachable and profitable. With more companies getting involved in space exploration travel, the places we've only dreamed of visiting may eventually be common destinations.

The Future of Commercial Space Travel

In October 2018, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report stating that Earth has about a dozen years before average global temperatures exceed 1.5 Celsius, if significant reductions in carbon emissions aren't made. Some businesses are heeding the warnings and focusing on sustainable development in technology that improves energy efficiency or reduces emissions. From better ways to store renewable energy to improving methods of capturing carbon from the atmosphere, environmental tech is outpacing policy in the race to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2). Here are three already out of the gate. Pumped Hydroelectric Storage When people think of batteries, they may think of the lithium-ion ones in mobile phones or the lead-acid batteries in cars. Pumped hydroelectric storage is also a battery but on a much larger scale. It requires a hill, pumps and two reservoirs of water — one at the top of the hill and another at the bottom. It's often paired with renewable energy, such as hydroelectric, solar and wind, as a way to store energy on a huge scale for the utility grid. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the United States has 42 pumped hydro facilities. But there are opportunities for many more. A 2019 study from researchers with the Australian National University found 530,000 sites worldwide that have the potential to site pumped hydro energy storage. Altogether they'd cache upwards of 22 million gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity, hundreds of times more than the amount needed to power the entire world with 100 percent renewable energy. In Germany, the wind power manufacturer, Max Bé¶gl Wind, recently won an award from the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum for a pilot project near Stuttgart that will pair some of the world's tallest onshore wind turbines with a pumped hydro storage facility. For the project, four monstrous wind turbines, one of which will tower 810 feet, are being built on top of a hill. Each turbine will be planted in a small reservoir of water. These four pools connect to a pump facility and larger reservoir at the bottom of the hill. When the wind blows and energy costs are low, water is pumped up the hill to fill the small pools. When the wind stops blowing, the water is allowed to run back downhill, where it passes through turbines that generate electricity. The power plant is expected to generate about 10 GWh of electricity annually. Carbon Capture In the U.N.'s IPCC report, the panel members published an assessment of a new technology that could reduce CO2 already in the atmosphere. It's called carbon capture. It involves removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and either sequestering it or turning it into a useful product, such as concrete or carbon nanotubes. According to IPCC experts, carbon capture tech could "trap up to 85 to 90 percent of the CO2 emissions produced from the use of fossil fuels in industrial processes and electricity generation, effectively preventing that CO2 from entering the atmosphere." In 2019, the DOE announced it would provide up to $20 million in federal funds to accelerate the sustainable development of this environmental tech, which can be set up near natural gas or coal plants to nab emissions as they're spewed. To date, the world's largest carbon capture project at a coal plant is NRG's Petra Nova, according to Forbes. Based outside Houston, Texas, the plant captures more than 1.4 million tons of carbon dioxide gas each year, enough to remove 350,000 cars from the road, the company says. The CO2 is sucked from flue gas and piped 80 miles southwest to an oil field called West Ranch, and then a mile into the ground beneath it, reports the University of Texas. There, the CO2 is injected into spaces between rocks that used to hold oil. Although most of the oil has been extracted, remnants remain. The presence of the CO2 gas forces the remaining oil out, making older wells profitable again. Before using carbon capture technology, West Ranch produced about 300 barrels of oil daily. Now, NRG is recovering 4,000 barrels per day. Although carbon capture technology promises to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, environmental groups have criticized it for prolonging the world's dependence on fossil fuels and delaying sustainable development of renewable energy. A recent New York Times article said that Chevron, Occidental Petroleum and BHP have all invested tens of millions of dollars in the technology. But a 2019 study from the Center for International Environmental Law warned that carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies, could slow the transition to renewables and "undermine broader efforts to mitigate climate change." Cooling Data Centers In the United States alone, 3 million data centers bring the internet to the masses. Running day and night, these massive computer servers require a lot of electricity. The heat generated could melt critical electronics. To keep them cool, data centers use additional electricity to run air conditioners, server fans and other equipment. The carbon footprint is enormous. By 2025, data centers around the world are predicted to consume at least 1,200 terawatt-hours of electricity, or 3.2 percent of the planet's total electricity, and produce 1.9 gigatonnes of carbon emissions, reports the Guardian. Forced Physics, a company based in Scottsdale, Arizona, has invented a passive, low-power technology that they say could reduce a data center's electricity by 90 percent. The device also eliminates the need for the billions of gallons of water or other coolants that data centers rely on annually to cool these systems. The device is called a JouleForce conductor. It's a long, narrow and mostly hollow box made of aluminum. Computer circuit boards are attached to the outside. Inside, there are 3,000 very thin fins. Giant fans suck air through the middle of the conductor and over the fins. As they do, air molecules contact the fins, which, because of their thinness and special alignment, orient the molecules in the same way and accelerate them into a fast-moving "beam." The beam quickly moves heat from the attached electronics out the backside of the conductor. By using the technology, the company says, a data center could reduce their carbon footprint significantly and save $45 million a year by reducing costs on infrastructure, operations and energy. As the world grapples with the consequences of global climate change, including warmer, more acidic oceans, rising sea levels, more intense storms and droughts, some companies are working on mitigation. Pumped hydroelectric storage, carbon capture and data centers cooling technology are just three innovations that could have sweeping impacts.  If you want to contribute to a team exploring environmental tech solutions, take a look here.

3 Key Innovations Aiming to Reduce CO2 Emission

For some, the future comes too fast. Technologies of tomorrow seem to quickly usurp yesterday's trends. But luckily advances in restoration architecture have come together to save parts of history from total obliteration. Lasers, virtual reality and 3D printing are recent additions to the conservation technology toolbox, giving historians new ways to preserve cultural landmarks that may have been lost — or are at risk of being lost — to time, neglect, wars or disaster. Lasers 3D-Mapped Notre Dame At 6:20 p.m. local time on Monday, April 15, 2019, an alarm rang out at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. A fire had started in the building's iconic spire and spread through the roof, nicknamed "The Forest" for its framework of beams hewn from 12th century oaks. Nine hours later, firefighters extinguished the flames, reports CNN, and the world looked with shock upon the ruins of a historical landmark. But all was not lost. Ten years prior to the fire, the late Andrew Tallon, an architectural historian at Vassar College, and computer scientist Paul Blaer of Columbia University laser-scanned every inch of Notre Dame, inside and out, according to The Atlantic. It took them five days to place markers around the structure and then point a Leica scanner, mounted on a tripod, at 50 different locations. They collected more than 1 billion data points, according to Leica, and computer software converted the scanned data into three-dimensional forms. As part of this architectural conservation project, Tallon also used a digital camera to collect high-resolution panoramic photos of the interior and exterior, and overlaid them onto the 3D scans to map the details. There was only one problem, reports The Atlantic. No one is quite sure where the files are. Roughly a terabyte in size, Blaer estimates, the files are small enough to fit on a single hard drive and, since they were collected 10 years ago, are unlikely to have been uploaded to the cloud. A colleague of Tallon's, John Ochsendorf, of MIT, told The Atlantic he thought they might be with Tallon's widow. If found, these details would offer invaluable resources to those rebuilding the Gothic cathedral. Remote Sensing Uncovers a Lost Mayan City High-resolution aerial images are creating breakthroughs in archaeology and technology. Using an aerial mapping technology, called LiDAR, scientists are able to see archaeological sites hidden beneath soil, sand, vegetation or even man-made structures. Last year, Marcello Canuto of Tulane University and his team published an unprecedented study in the journal Science, detailing the dozens of ancient cities in northern Guatemala that they found using this laser-based technology. It's similar to radar in that it emits a signal that is analyzed with a sensor when it reflects off a distant object and returns. The difference is that radar uses radio waves and Lidar uses light waves. Onboard sensors are able to measure the precise elevation and geospatial location of features on Earth's surface to create a 3D topological map. According to a press statement from Tulane University, Canuto and his team conducted aerial surveys of 810 square miles and found 61,480 ancient structures, 362 square kilometers of terraces, 952 square kilometers of farmland and 106 square kilometers of causeways. Based on the ruins, the scientists estimate that 7 to 11 million people lived in the area between the years 650 and 800. Virtual Reality and 3D Printing Preserve a Trove of Heritage Sites Arguably one of the most ambitious projects to use conservation technology to save landmarks is the Open Heritage Project, started by San Francisco-based Ben Kacyra, an engineer and founder of a company that developed a portable scanning technology. The idea for the project came to Kacyra in 2001 as he watched television footage of the Taliban, a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist group, destroying the Buddhas of Bamiyan — monuments in Afghanistan that date back to the 4th and 5th centuries, reports Smithsonian. Well-versed in scanning technology, Kacyra decided he could use it to create 3D experiences of heritage sites, even ones that had already been destroyed. He founded the nonprofit CyArk in 2003 to use 3D scanning technology, digital imagery, drones and virtual reality to compile open-source data and share visual representations of culturally significant sites. CyArk teamed up with Google to create an online library, which contains some 27 sites from 18 countries. Visitors to the Open Heritage Project can view the Maya ruins of Chiché©n Itzé¡ in Mexico, the ancient city of Bagan in Myanmar, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and more using a laptop or virtual reality goggles. This past January, CyArk and Google partnered with the 3D printing company Stratasys to make some of the world's heritage sites available as 3D-printed models. In a press statement, Chance Coughenour, a digital archaeologist and program manager with the Google Arts and Culture division, said, "These detailed scans can also be used to identify areas of damage and assist restoration efforts." For all that has been saved, plenty has been lost. In 1900, a hurricane nearly wiped away the city of Gavelston, Texas, according to History. In 2018, a fire ravaged Brazil's 200-year-old Rio de Janeiro National Treasure Museum. But advances in restoration architecture and conservation technology are making it possible to digitally record and preserve the world's cultural heritages for future generations.

How Architectural Conservation Technology Is Saving Landmarks

The most common materials in the world, including plastic, steel, glass or wood have distinct molecular and chemical properties that give them intrinsic qualities, such as strength, flexibility or transparency. But an entirely different class of materials, called metamaterials, are coming onto the scene.  Artificially engineered, these materials have unique geometries and physical structures that can manipulate any mechanical or electromagnetic wave that passes through them. Metamaterials can perform a host of futuristic tricks; they can absorb sound waves to produce silence, bend light to create invisibility cloak technology and dampen seismic waves to safeguard a building against an earthquake.  Metamaterial applications are numerous, but here are five of the coolest.  Sound Silencers  If you've ever traveled by train or plane, you know the thunderous noise large engines can make. Industrial noise occurs in factories, too — it even emits from the fan in your refrigerator. Some scientists, like Yun Jing and his colleagues at North Carolina State University, are building metamaterials to quiet these large machines.  In the journal of the Annual Review of Materials Research, Jing describes a material he designed that behaves like a kind of sound cage. Gaps in the cage are large enough to allow air to pass through but small enough that sound waves become trapped inside. Soundproof and ventilated, the cage could keep engine noise to a minimum.  Sonar Deflectors  In the deep ocean, submarines crews use sound waves, or sonar, to detect other seafaring vessels. But what if you have a stealth mission ahead of you and you don't want to be detected? Talk to engineer Amanda Hanford and her team at Pennsylvania State University. They designed a metamaterial device that renders objects invisible to sound. If the hull of a submarine were covered in this material, it would force the energy from oncoming sound waves to spread around the object, instead of bouncing off and returning a signal, reports the BBC.  Earthquake Dampeners  Earthquakes have injured or killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world since 2000, reports Our World in Data, and the annual damage earthquakes cause to infrastructure is in the billions of dollars. Researchers are looking at various applications of metamaterials to soften the blow of these violently shaking natural disasters.  One method involves building blocks called robotic meta-atoms, developed by a group of physicists from the University of Amsterdam, says PhysOrg. Each tiny device vibrates on a unique spring, causing the concentric rippling energy passing over it to shift and move in only one direction. That dissipates the wave in one direction and amplifies it in another. A device made from these meta-atoms could potentially redirect the energy of a seismic wave away from a building and in a safer direction.  Heat Shields  Dozens of space companies and agencies are currently drafting plans to send satellites and spaceships into orbit and beyond. Once outside Earth's protective atmosphere, spacecraft electronics become vulnerable to infrared heat and radiation from the sun. Current methods to protect them involve radiator panels made from quartz tiles. But these tiles are heavy, adding to the cost of launches.  Last year, researchers from the University of Southampton announced they had developed a thin, lightweight coating from metamaterials designed to radiate infrared heat away from spacecraft. Called a metamaterial optical solar reflector, or a meta-OSR, the material is made from metal oxide, a material commonly used for transparent electrical contacts. The team created a pattern in the surface of the material to bend each electromagnetic wave in the infrared spectrum away from it and also reflect sunlight.  Invisibility Cloaks  Scientists are closer than ever to creating an invisibility cloak that competes with Harry Potter's.  In research published last year in the journal Optica, researches led by engineer José© Azaé±a reported that they had developed invisibility cloak technology in the form of a spectral cloaking device that could make objects invisible in daylight. The device, called an optical filter, manipulates the various frequencies of visible light, such as the red, blue and green wavelengths of light seen in a rainbow.  The filter works by shifting one frequency of light to another as the light passes through the object, reports Tech Times. Once the light wave has passed, it returns to its original state. For instance, the filter would shift the red wavelength of light passing over a red apple to another frequency, rendering the apple invisible. Such a filter could be used to cloak military operations, but it could also be used in the telecommunications industries to improve radio signals.  Each year, scientists improve upon the technology of metamaterials, remarkably engineered coatings, devices and components. These structures, which are typically microscopic or smaller, allow scientists to control mechanical and electromagnetic waves in novel and surprising ways. From saving lives to shielding covert operations from enemy eyes, these materials push the limits of light and sound and will take humans into a future we haven't yet imagined.        

Engineered Metamaterials Could Lead to Invisibility Cloak Technology

Key Takeaways Commercial drone delivery service to your house or neighborhood is an increasingly popular way to order goods. In-flight safety and collision avoidance, especially over populated areas, are more important features than drone tech advances. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is collaborating with drone operators to create a safe air traffic management system for drone flights.Don't look up now, but drone delivery service is landing a different future in your front yard, one that will keep your pizza hot, save you a late-night trip to the pharmacy or even help you save a life with emergency medical supplies.On the RunwayIn recent years, several well-known companies, such as Walmart and Amazon, have been launching commercial drone-based delivery solutions and taking serious steps toward making delivery by drone a feasible option on the mass market.The government has also been involved in making this a reality: In March 2020, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorized UPS and drone maker Matternet to begin using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to deliver medical supplies. Since then, UPS has also embarked on commercial home deliveries in California, according to Commercial UAV News, and Google spinoff Wing Aviation received the FAA's first certification in 2020 for a commercial drone delivery service.Safety FirstHovering amid this new enthusiasm for drone-based delivery services, however, are questions about air traffic safety, particularly for densely populated areas."The FAA is responsible for the safety and security of all aircraft in the National Airspace System," said an FAA spokesperson. "Our long-term goal is to integrate drones safely into that system so our society can reap the full benefits of drone technology."Integration ChallengesRecently, drone technology has greatly improved, but integration into airspace remains challenging, explained Doug Davis, director of airworthiness and airspace integration for Northrop Grumman, a developer of autonomous aircraft systems."If you're going to operate new aircraft, you need to operate them within the same framework of operational risk and requirements that apply to all aircraft operating in domestic airspace," he said.Davis's concern is not technical maturity but rather flights over populated areas."Many of these new operators are coming into the field from a purely business perspective, with no aviation background at all," he explained. "They often don't understand what's in the air with them."His fears, compounded by the limited ability of drones to avoid collisions in flight, are shared by the FAA."Several companies have developed technology to automatically detect and avoid other aircraft, but it's still maturing," admitted the FAA spokesperson. "Solving that challenge would allow longer flights beyond a pilot's visual line of sight and help enable routine drone delivery."A review published in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems highlights that research into this potential hazard is ongoing.Encouraging InnovationTo create an air traffic safety environment for public safety and drone delivery service success, the FAA is working closely with drone operators to define new regulations for safety and innovation."For drones, we're focusing on the top-level safety performance we expect rather than dictating a detailed aircraft design," explained the FAA spokesperson.This approach encourages drone operators to meet overall safety and operational requirements while not discouraging new, more innovative ways to deliver products and services, the spokesperson added.Flying ForwardUPS is also building public confidence in drone-based services."UPS has conducted numerous public drone demonstrations for urgent commercial and non-urgent residential deliveries," said Kyle Peterson, a UPS spokesperson. "We also partner with GAVI and Zipline to deliver blood products by drone to remote locations in Africa. These efforts help shape and inform evolving drone policy in the U.S."Current FAA safety regulations prohibit drones from operating over populated areas or beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) without an FAA waiver. Since August 2023, UPS has been cleared to fly BVLOS, as reported by Popular Science.Managing the FutureAny drone for package delivery must obtain an FAA airworthiness certificate. The FAA recognizes, however, that it is operating in a dynamic, technology-driven environment, where the pressure to integrate drones safely and efficiently into the national airspace is increasing every day.Working with NASA's Ames Research Center and other federal agencies, the FAA developed the Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) system. The project wrapped in May 2021, laying the initial groundwork for a "safe, well-connected sky.""The UTM system is an automated, machine-to-machine system that does not rely on air traffic controllers," said NASA Ames's Marcus Johnson, deputy project manager for NASA's UTM program. "It relies instead on drones to self-report their positions and flight activities to a group of federated UAS service suppliers on the ground."Reality CheckAccording to Johnson, UTM testing revealed that drone operations remain vulnerable to "microclimates" and radio frequency (RF) interference."If you operate a drone in dense urban environments, you're likely to encounter a diverse set of small, localized weather patterns," Johnson said. "These microclimates can really challenge your situational awareness of current flight conditions, particularly if you're operating the drone BVLOS."Urban density may also limit an operator's options for landing a drone quickly and safely. And RF interference poses a threat."For command and control, drone operators often use the same unlicensed frequency bands — 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz — used by residential or commercial Wi-Fi routers," explained Johnson. If a drone flies too close to an office building where such routers are in use, it can experience a sudden loss of communication with its operator, creating safety hazards for people on the ground. RF interference is also found in common building materials.Writing a New ChapterThe final step in integrating drones safely into the national airspace is the transition to the UTM rules of engagement. The FAA continues to explore UTM as a way to collaboratively move forward, evaluating industry proposals in early 2023. An evaluation project comprising a consortium of industry operators is taking place in North Texas, with participants exploring multiple drone services with overlapping BVLOS operations.For its part, the FAA is cautiously optimistic about the future of commercial drone operations."Societal acceptance of drones will be predicated on the public's expectation for safety, just as in the airline industry," said the FAA spokesperson. "Working together, we can accelerate the development of the UTM ecosystem and usher in the necessary social transformation. It's an exciting challenge as we integrate unmanned aircraft into our nation's airspace and help write a new chapter in aviation history."Northrop Grumman is a recognized leader in autonomous systems; learn how our solutions help customers meet a growing number of missions.

Is Drone Delivery Service Safe Enough for Takeoff?

Made up of more than 10,000,000 people across 770,000 square miles, the Incan (also Inca or Inka) Empire of pre-Columbian America was notable for its long-lasting cultural impact on South American civilization, along with a host of innovations across agriculture, architecture and record-keeping.  However, like other empires quick to expand across conquered territory, the Inca faced a challenge: ensuring the safe movement of people and goods within its borders. Their solution? The Inca road system or "Qhapaq é‘an" — a network of interconnected highways and bridges that spanned nearly 25,000 miles and made its way through everything from humid jungles to snowy mountain peaks and arid deserts. Even more impressive? This Andean road system was built without the aid of wheeled carts or iron tools, and yet much of it remains to this day.  So, let's explore this ancient road system with a look at its role in Incan operations, the effort undertaken to build and maintain this navigation network, how Incan engineers overcome critical landscape challenges and how this pre-Columbian construction marvel continues to impact South American culture.  Qhapaq é‘an: The Arteries of an Empire  While "all roads lead to Rome" is a European conceit, the Inca Empire had their own version: All roads of the Qhapaq é‘an lead to the capital of Cuzco. From the city, four main highways branched out: Chinchaysuyu (north), Collasuyu (south), Antisuyu (east), and Cuntisuyu (west). Each led to a quarter of the Empire. The structure makes sense; not only does it conform to the four cardinal compass directions, but it also lines up with the Incan name for their empire, Tawantinsuyo, which means "Land of the Four Quarters" or "The Four Parts Together."  With ten million people speaking at least 30 different languages — but just 40,000 Incas in charge of running the empire — this road system wasn't just for show. While part of the project stemmed from the need for physical reminders of Incan leadership in conquered territories, the road's primary purpose was much more practical: empowering easy movement. In effect, these Inca roads were the arteries of the empire, allowing its lifeblood — people and goods — to travel quickly and safely from place to place. Without the Herculean effort undertaken by Inca builders, even the best-laid administrative plans would quickly come to naught; reliable roadways showcased both strength and sustainability.  But this raises a question: How did Incan engineers manage to construct this continent-spanning marvel without the aid of iron tools, pack animals or carts?  Building the Inca Road System  The Qhapaq é‘an is now a UNESCO World Heritage site, and deservedly so. Also called the "Royal Road" or "Main Andean Road," it not only included four main highways but also multiple smaller routes connecting cities and towns all along the west coast of South America. While some of the highways used preexisting routes built by other cultures in the area, Inca Empire engineers weren't afraid to embrace the landscape and take on the challenge of creating new routes that snake through mountain passes or across blazing-hot deserts.  According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, the Incans had only wooden, stone and bronze tools and lacked the advantages of modern surveying equipment to mark distances or account for variances in local terrain. While most road surfaces were constructed using packed sand, earth or grass, they varied in width from three to twelve feet — and some main highways were over 40 feet wide. In many cases, builders used small stone walls to mark road edges, while regular drains and culverts were used to divert water off or under main routes. As the journal Archaeologies reports, this roadway system also included structures placed at regular intervals called "tampus," which served as lodging facilities for travelers and included space to store goods or materials being transported. In addition, major highways often included stone markers to indicate distance traveled in "topo," an Incan unit of distance equal to seven kilometers.  It's also worth noting that Incan roadway construction varied significantly by territory, since it was the responsibility of local populations to both build and maintain these roads. As the National Museum of the American Indian explains, using a give-and-take concept known as Mit'a and Anyi — or labor and reciprocity — the head of each household was required to pay a labor tax (Mit'a) by working on agricultural, military or construction projects for a specific amount of time each year. In return (Anyi), the Incan government provided food and security.  The (Not So) Straight and Narrow  Perhaps one of the most incredible aspects of the Qhapaq é‘an was the willingness of Inca builders to both work with natural landscapes and conquer any challenges they presented. For example, while Incan engineers have often been praised for their ability to create uniform roadways with ancient tools, all but the most well-traveled highways tend to follow naturally-existing pathways rather than fighting these contours. The Incan exception came when they encountered steep ravines or rushing rivers; rather than trying to find a way around or head downstream to discover a shallow ford, engineers tackled the problem head-on by building either rope suspension bridges or "oroya," suspended baskets that could transport a few passengers at once over far greater distances.  Consider the suspension bridge over the Apurimac River, which measured 45 meters in length. Local populations were responsible for gathering, soaking, pounding and drying bushels of long grass that they then wove into strong fibers, stretched across the river, and lashed to rocky outcroppings. And with substantial degradation from repeated use, many communities had to complete the same process year after year to ensure bridges were safely maintained for all travelers.  Acknowledging the Qhapaq é‘an Legacy  Today, many paths on the Inca road system remain in use. Perhaps the most famous are the stairways and bridges surrounding popular tourist destinations such as Machu Picchu, but many modern roads use these pre-Columbian roadways as inspiration for current routes. As Smithsonian Magazine notes, technical traditions around Qhapaq é‘an construction remain. Every year, four villages in the Andes undertake a three-day festival to create a new rope suspension bridge, cut the old one free into the river below and replace it with the fruits of their substantive labors. Using virtually the same techniques as their Incan ancestors, young men haul massive fiber ropes into yawning chasm while village elders say prayers and make offerings. When construction is complete, leaders from each side of the river meet in the middle of their newly-minted effort and declare "Tukuushis" — we've finished.  This is the legacy of the Main Andean Road. While construction began more than six hundred years ago and the empire's use declined rapidly after the arrival of Europeans, the effort and engineering skill required to create this roadway system — all without the convenience of modern tools or even iron implements — cements its status as both an ancient architectural marvel and enduring human achievement. 

Navigating the Inca Road System That United an Empire

Flying from New York to London in a 747 jumbo jet takes a little over six hours. The supersonic Concorde could manage the trip in about three hours. Could a hypersonic commercial plane make the trip in just 90 minutes?
A number of aviation companies are racing to bring hypersonic air travel to the public, but first, they must solve some massive engineering challenges.
What Is Hypersonic Speed?
At sea level, the speed of sound is 761.2 mph, assuming an air temperature of 59° F (15° C). For ease of comparison, this can be referred to as "Mach 1."
According to NerdWallet, a 747 jumbo jet has a maximum speed of Mach 0.86, which is about 86% of the speed of sound. The Concorde could cruise at Mach 2.02 — more than twice the speed of sound. Any object that travels faster than Mach 1 is supersonic and will create a sonic boom when it crosses from Mach 0.99 to Mach 1.01.
Anything that travels faster than Mach 5 — five times the speed of sound — is considered to be hypersonic. The transition isn't marked by anything as dramatic as a sonic boom, but it's when the physics gets really weird compared to Mach 1.
Breaking Speed Records
A variety of military aircraft have broken Mach 5, but these have mostly been unmanned rockets. For aircraft with a human on board, the current record of Mach 6.7 was set back in 1969 by the X-15. This was essentially a rocket with a seat launched from altitude by a B-52 and then brought up to speed by a rocket engine.
As described in Physics Today, the record-setting flight generated so much friction that a portion of the aircraft melted, causing a test engine to break loose and fall to the ground. The pilot survived, but the incident showed how risky hypersonic flight can be — precisely because scientists don't understand the interactions between all the forces involved. This remains true today.
For a proper plane — with an engine that can manage to take off and land with a pilot on board — the speed record of Mach 3.3 was set by the SR-71 Blackbird in 1976. This fighter jet was made of titanium with quartz windows to withstand the 600° F exterior temperatures generated by supersonic flight. The supersonic SR-71 Blackbird obviously provided inspiration for Hollywood's fictional SR-72 Darkstar, the hypersonic jet that Tom Cruise flies in "Top Gun: Maverick."
Building a Hypersonic Jet
Companies in the United States and Europe have reported technological advances intended for use in hypersonic military equipment or hypersonic commercial planes. The tricky part to achieving Mach 5 and above, though, is building an engine that can gear up to those speeds successfully. Ramjet engines, for instance, have been used for decades, but they don't work at speeds below Mach 3. However, it might be possible to combine a ramjet with a turbojet engine.
A turbojet engine typically uses rotating blades to compress oxygen-containing air, so it can be mixed with fuel and ignited. The resulting jet of hot gas pushes the plane forward. Above Mach 3, the air is moving so fast that rotating blades become unnecessary. That's where the ramjet engine could kick in and take over, slowing the air down to subsonic speeds to make ignition of the hydrogen fuel more manageable.

Together, these engines could work to achieve Mach 5. Building a hybrid engine that can transition seamlessly from turbojet mode to ramjet mode would be a major step toward the goal of unlocking hypersonic air travel, but a future where a hypersonic commercial plane can take us anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes is still far off.
Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Learn more about our people and life at Northrop Grumman, or check out our career opportunities to see how you can be a part of defining possible.

Are We Nearing the Age of Hypersonic Air Travel?

Today's technologies are revolutionizing the way we build everything from microchips to fighter jets. The fourth industrial revolution, often called Industry 4.0, is happening right now in factories worldwide. Artificial Intelligence (AI), smart factories and the Internet of Things (IoT) are no longer flashy demonstrations at trade shows or aspects of theoretical factory utopias. They are essential tools that manufacturers are using to keep up with their competition. In a Deloitte survey of 2,000 international business leaders, 70% of C-suite executives said that long-term business success requires the integration of Industry 4.0 technologies into their operations. How Did We Get Here? Many technologies have matured in recent years, and early adopters are reaping the rewards. While it may seem like smart factories popped up overnight, the evolution has been gradual.   The first industrial revolution, centered in 18th century Britain, introduced water and steam power to early factories.  Around a century later, manufacturers experienced a historic boost with the second industrial revolution of assembly lines, telephone communication and new power sources (oil, gas, electric).  Then in the 1970s, computers, advanced telecommunications, data analysis and basic digitization stimulated the third industrial revolution.  Today, we're surrounded with 21st-century advancements. Sensors and robotics are simultaneously better and cheaper than they were just a few years ago. And cloud computing has made it practical and relatively easy for machines to communicate with us and each other. This fourth industrial revolution, as TechTarget defines, is "the cyber-physical transformation of manufacturing." Driving Technologies of Industry 4.0 Many of the same inventions that underpin today's popular consumer technology also contribute to the transformation of smart factories. Here are the biggest drivers of the current industrial revolution.   IoT: Machines are now equipped with sensors with an IP address, so they can connect to the internet. Supervisors can see information about the whole machine, its subsystems and even individual components. This helps with quality control, increasing productivity and predictive maintenance. Now, instead of waiting for something to break — which can cause a whole production line to shut down unexpectedly — supervisors can use data to optimize a maintenance schedule to keep everything running as efficiently as possible.  Artificial intelligence: Increased automation is a hallmark of the industrial revolution. Robots and software automation take over tasks that are dirty, dull or dangerous, so people can do other tasks such as strategic planning. Previous generations of robots did the heavy lifting and repetitive tasks. Now, they also collect data, move freely around factory floors and inspect goods to identify defects.  Cloud computing: Cloud computing enables nearly all driving technologies. Previously, computers used servers that were located on-premise. Now, you can use the internet to store and access data and software applications on off-site servers run by service providers. This gives companies access to more computational power with increased flexibility. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) explains that cloud computing can save manufacturers time and money.  Additive manufacturing, augmented and virtual reality, big data, simulation and system integration: These additional technologies are helping to push factories into the future. The list continues to grow as industrial leaders continue to embrace new technologies and modern approaches to streamline their businesses.  The real magic happens when technologies combine, and machines and software programs communicate with each other. "Even higher value is created when data from production operations is combined with operational data from ERP, supply chain, customer service and other enterprise systems to create whole new levels of visibility and insight from previously siloed information," according to IBM. More Sensors, More Problems? All these technological advancements bring incredible benefits to manufacturing environments. Industrial professionals now have more visibility into what's happening on factory floors, even when they aren't physically present. Machines are assisting technicians with physical tasks. And behind the scenes, software is reducing human mental load by making sense of all the data that sensors collect so that humans can make data-informed decisions. But nobody said revolutions were easy. Significant changes come with new problems. Along with its many benefits, Industry 4.0 also comes with challenges. First, new technologies usually require an initial investment, and not every industrial employee can have the latest and greatest tools at their disposal. Cybersecurity is a major concern. As machines, systems and individual components become "smarter," they also become vulnerable to threats such as malware, hackers and viruses. Therefore, cybersecurity must go hand in hand with all the other driving technologies. There are inevitable challenges, but the benefits of a new approach to manufacturing are so enormous that they can't be ignored. Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

21st Century Technology Drives Industry 4.0

Whether it's to curb poaching, lessen the harm of climate change or prevent extinction itself, modern technology has shown it can offer new ways to approach the often delicate and precise work of saving animals. Separate initiatives by Northrop Grumman employees to protect Hawaiian crows, sea turtles, polar bears and oysters are incorporating technological know-how into animal extinction prevention programs, efforts that illustrate how ingenuity from unexpected places can help solve seemingly intractable problems. Even though animals are involved, these are more than pet projects. Building a Smarter Bird Feeder Meena Janekrabuanhad is an environmental engineer for Northrop Grumman and a member of the company's environmental remediation group. Outside of her regular work duties, she and five colleagues last year won a hackathon that Northrop Grumman sponsored with San Diego Zoo Global, a non-profit that operates the famed zoo. The challenge was to devise a way to track the Hawaiian Crow, also known as the Ala'la. Endangered and the only surviving crow species that's native to Hawaii, the Ala'la regenerates the forests of the Big Island by dispersing seeds. San Diego Zoo and wildlife experts lacked the technology to track the bird and have a consistent way to monitor its health and feeding patterns. Working in one of Northrop Grumman's experimental maker spaces known as a FabLab, where employees can use all sorts of technologies for causes such as the hackathon, Janekrabuanhad and her team created a smart monitoring bird feeder that can identify the dining bird, monitor its eating habits, assess its health and provide GPS and weather conditions. Currently in a second prototype model, the food hopper will unlock only for Hawaiian crows fitted with radio frequency identification tags. The feeder will be equipped with cameras and sensors, with the data to be transferred to a website that will serve as a research database for scientists to monitor the birds' activity in the wild. Janekrabuanhad doesn't consider herself a techie, so the feeder, called "Ala'la Carte Diner," is "something very real and attainable to create. You don't need an engineering background." She added: "What really drove me to this is the environmental aspect. What I'm saying is, 'Let's go save the birds.'" Engaging Students to Help Sea Turtles Did you know that from May to October each year, over 30,000 green sea, loggerhead sea and leatherback sea turtles nest their eggs along the 72-mile-long shoreline of Brevard County, Florida? What wildlife researchers don't know is where these turtles come from, where they feed and where they ultimately go. Roddey Smith, a Northrop Grumman fellow of modeling and simulation, and Richard Beers, a support equipment manager at the company, want to help find the answers. They and dozens of colleagues are working with Brevard Zoo on a multi-pronged program that takes the best of affordable technology to track sea turtles during their five-month visit to the Florida shore. Appropriately enough, the project also aims to teach the students of participating colleges and high schools to fish "for a lifetime," rather than giving them the catch of one day, Beers said, citing the old proverb. "Our goal is to take what we know and teach them to fish, and eventually they can hand off the tech to outside organizations to sustain themselves," he said of students from the University of Florida, Florida Atlantic University, University of Central Florida and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The hurdle they're all trying to overcome is that tracking sea turtles is expensive and difficult. Current tracking relies mostly on satellite transmitters that show a view from high above but fails to observe the turtles near or below the surface of the ocean. The project, called "Turtle Tech," aims to build an automated data analysis system that would use image recognition technology to identify sea turtles onshore and offshore. The data — which will include RF trackers and high-resolution images taken from above by drones, as well as temperature readings and other environmental actions recorded by sensors along the beach — will be sent to researchers via a new data network and analyzed with machine learning so the researchers won't have to spend hours manually combing through thousands of photos. "If you better understand how sea turtles are gathering and how their life cycle changes," Smith said, "you can improve conservation." A Team That Went Beyond Its Mission Sea ice melting linked to climate change has polar bears scrambling to find food after drastic changes to the landscape of their longstanding Arctic habitats. Researchers need to know more about the new routes that bears take to find seals and whether they can survive such changes. Operation #PolarEye, a joint venture with Northrop Grumman and the San Diego Zoo, successfully mapped Arctic Sea ice with the aim of saving the bears in 2017. Working in Churchill, Manitoba — known in many circles as the "Polar Bear Capital of the World" — the team used a commercial off-the-shelf hexacopter fitted with a custom sensor pod to capture a fine-scale view that included 3-D maps of sea ice habitat. Customized technology also detected tracks and signs left behind by polar bears as they migrate from land to ice. It's a big world, so even though the team didn't return to the land of polar bears, its members have found other conservation initiatives to assist. In 2018, Cristian Paunescu and other members of the #PolarEye team ventured to Panama. Relying on the same hexacopter used in Manitoba, they helped San Diego Zoo Global and Duke University map rain forest habitat along the Panama Canal. And in 2019, Paunescu and his colleagues went to Hawaii to assist San Diego Zoo Global in tracking the breeding of the Ala'la, the endangered crow that Janekrabuanhad's team is helping preserve with the bird feeder. "We did a lot of work," Paunescu said of how his team's creation made a difference beyond its original purpose. "I'm proud of how far it got. We have smart groups of people who nonetheless can't go into much depth in the researchers' fields. We were interested in how they did things so we could figure out how to create technology that could enhance their work." He added: "I feel that we have scratched the surface of what's available and what we can do together. I definitely want to follow this path and hope that technology companies like ours also help. Conservation organizations have a tough path. It's going to take more than just a couple of passionate engineers to make a difference. There is a lot more conservation work to be done." Scanning the Bay to Save Oysters In a plight similar to Florida's sea turtles, the oyster population of Chesapeake Bay can't easily be studied at a time when pollution, overfishing and climate have threatened their existence. In just the Maryland side of the bay, the market-size oyster population declined from 600 million in 1999 to fewer than 300 million in early 2018, according to an assessment by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Martin Kepinski-Kozaczek, a program manager and challenge lead at Northrop Grumman, is leading a project in coordination with Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) to improve how oysters are monitored. Right now, CBF is limited in studying oysters in the 50 sanctuary reefs along Maryland and Virginia. Researchers can dig up a piece of the reef, but it provides only one small sample, Kepinski-Kozaczek said. CBF also occasionally pays a diver to take pictures, but that's costly and doesn't always guarantee quality images, and thus a true sense of the oyster population, because of changing water conditions. Five Northrop Grumman teams are helping to enhance that methodology, with as many as 40 employees involved at various times. They are creating off-the-shelf, modern technology solutions to better monitor the reefs so that CBF can someday replicate them at low cost and so that the Northrop Grumman employees constructing the systems can "try different things, fail and try other approaches," Kepinski-Kozaczek said. "Hopefully it's a learning experience they can take back to their programs." For example, an inexpensive camera package that is wrapped in a tight air container can be connected to a remote control of a rover that works like an aerial drone but is underwater. The team is also looking at placing a microphone or hydrophone on a commercial buoy that costs only a few hundred dollars to record water conditions and passing traffic. Ultimately, the evidence gathered from these solutions will give CBF a clearer and comprehensive picture of reef conditions and a stronger understanding of the efforts needed to preserve oysters. CBF intends to plant 10 billion oysters in the bay by 2025. Kepinski-Kozaczek hopes to deliver the solutions to CBF by year's end and then spend 2021 helping the organization collect data. Echoing the thoughts of Janekrabuanhad, Smith, Beers and Paunescu, Kepinski-Kozaczek appreciates how Northrop Grumman gives him the latitude to pursue animal extinction prevention efforts outside of normal work duties. "This shows how companies like Northrop can engage with scientific communities that don't have the means of looking at a technology space that's not available to them," he said. "I hope this is just the start of these kinds of things. Good people have good ideas, and we can help them."

From Bears to Birds: Animal Extinction Prevention Supported by Technology

Programmable microstructures hold the promise of giving tiny devices greater flexibility and functionality — capabilities that could reshape the delivery of healthcare and even improve the exploration of planets.However, there's long been one large hurdle to these miniature devices accomplishing big tasks: They not only have to be microscopic, but they also need to bend and twist in a way that suits the job in front of them. Cilia in cellular organisms have those capabilities, but not for wide-scale applications. Recent scientific advances might finally have a solution: artificial cilia that can be more flexible than the real thing.Harvard researchers say they have developed a single-material, single-stimuli microstructure that can outmaneuver even living cilia. In other words, unlike other developments in the field, their invention needs only one trigger — in this case, light — to move, and requires only one material for its design. Their creation could change "the ways we design materials and devices for a variety of applications, including robotics, medicine and information technologies," as one of the researchers notes.Recreating Helpful CiliumAs you might remember from high school biology class, cilia can be found in almost every type of cell in animals. According to Sciencing, these hair-like organelles are typically no more than 10 micrometers long and, among many biological roles, move beneficial cells as well as harmful materials such as pathogens.Scientists and engineers admire the productivity of these tiny workers and have tried to replicate their nimbleness, but creating artificial cilia has been challenging. It usually requires fabrication processes that involve several steps as well as different stimuli that will trigger the microstructure's movement — basically, too much activity behind development and too many impetuses to function.An invention by North Carolina State University and Elon University brilliantly exemplifies this complexity: synthetic cilia that bend into new shapes in response to a magnetic field and return to their original shape when exposed to light. As Advanced Science News explains, this creation comes about through several steps. It begins with dipping a mold into a polymer that's dissolved through an organic solvent, and then, once the solvent is drawn off, the cilia take shape.Simple to Build, Simple to MoveResearchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) say they have designed an artificial cilium with a single material. Instead of relying on "complex multi-component materials," they instead use only a photoresponsive liquid crystal elastomer.They say it also functions simply: When exposed to light, its building blocks realign and the structure changes shape. And as those changes occur, a cycle of perpetuation takes hold. A new spot on the microstructure will also be exposed to light, changing that area as well. This feedback loop creates a self-propelled and endlessly programmable microstructure. "Once you turn the light on, it does all its own work," says one of the Harvard researchers.The shape changing of the artificial cilia drives the "endlessly reconfigurable" twisting and turning that will hopefully make microstructures "potentially transformative" for a wide range of applications that require repetitive and defined movement, the researchers say.Ideal for "Soft" ApplicationsMicrostructures are all about flexibility. In a paper submitted last year to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, another Harvard SEAS team explained how their work in designing shape-shifting materials could similarly create new, dynamic uses for application. "These structures allow for independent control of the geometry and mechanics, laying the foundation for engineering functional shapes using a new type of morphable unit cell," a researcher explained.By all accounts, artificial cilia accomplish a new way of configuring structural elements — which spurs robotics potential. Instead of facing limitations with "hard" components, soft robotics driven by artificial cilia could achieve tasks that have been out of reach.For instance, a recent Georgia Tech College of Engineering story detailed how soft, flexible robots could revolutionize healthcare. Their wide range of motion means they could navigate catheters or endoscopes to the right places in the body, all while minimizing stress and damage to tissue. Amputees could have prosthetics that mimic the softness and suppleness of skin. Stroke patients who lost mobility could have their full range of motion restored from joint supports powered by soft robotics.The possibilities don't end on Earth. NASA is studying how soft robots could explore the tight spots of a moon or planet, as Space.com explains. That's a long way from what you learned about cilia in high school.Are you interested in science and innovation? We are too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

Artificial Cilia: More Flexible Than the Real Thing

Sensors are usually embedded or hidden, so it's easy to take them for granted, but they are sophisticated devices that deserve a second look. The technology behind them has dramatically improved in the last couple decades and research and development continues to expand future capabilities. While the basic sensor has existed in various forms since the late 1800s, this century's version is smaller, more precise and more reliable. The latest versions are also multifunctional. Just like our smartphones are capable of doing much more than phone calls, a modern sensor can also multitask. Ed Eberl, Chief Technologist at Northrop Grumman's Amherst Systems unit explains, "At one instant a sensor could be acting as a communications link — transferring data back and forth — and then an instant later it could be acting like a radar tracking a target, and another instant later it can be jamming something, trying to detect someone else's communications." Sensors Are Everywhere With the Internet of Things, it might seem like sensors are already everywhere (from your coffee maker to your watch), but this is just the beginning. The optical sensing market is projected to grow to $3.46 billion by 2023 (three times greater than in 2016). Sensors are essential for consumer electronics such as wearable fitness trackers, virtual reality, smartphones and gadgets that haven't been invented yet. They are also increasingly used for industrial applications, such as allowing factories to automate manufacturing and shipping goods. There is massive potential in the medical field, since they can be used to provide doctors with detailed information about patients' health in real time. Sensors are components in the latest medical devices but they can also be embedded directly into the body to track heart rate, muscle movement and biomarkers. Many recent advancements in sensor technology were initiated by military projects. The Distributed Aperture System (DAS) sensor, for example, can give pilots the benefits of collision avoidance, weather tracking, night vision, ground mapping and early warnings of any incoming missile threats. While this type of high-tech situational awareness was originally meant for the military, similar technology is now being used by automakers to improve safety features and even create self-driving vehicles. Today's vehicles can already detect cars passing in blind spots and warn drivers if they drift into the wrong lane. Smart pressure sensors are a critical component to how airbags function in smart cars. Some automakers, such as Tesla, even offer autopilot mode for highway driving. No doubt, tomorrow's fully autonomous cars will be loaded with multifunction sensors. Sensor Technology Improved Modern challenges — whether in military or civilian settings — demand high-tech goods that require a sensor. Fortunately, two major factors have driven recent improvements in sensor technology. Researchers have greatly improved signal conversion, where you take a microwave signal and convert it into a digital format. The accuracy with which the latest devices can measure a radio frequency signal is constantly increasing because engineers keep developing faster and faster data converters. In addition to these more precise measurements, a second aspect has continued to improve at the same time: processing power. So now, better measurements are taken and they can be processed quickly on site or even in-flight. In the military, for example, there used to be intelligence platforms that would go out into the field and collect signals. This data would be recorded and sent back to an analysis center at a different ground location. Now, with the advancements in computing power and higher sampling rates, more information can be extracted in real time and analysis can be done right from the fighter jets. As sensors become more precise, the artifacts which hold them are becoming smaller, reducing the weight of the airframe. Another advancement in sensor technology is how multifunction sensor arrays are evolving. Typically, a set of sensors is assigned to work together to perform a task. A multifunction array is a collection of many smaller sensors, and each of these individual sensors can be independently assigned a specific task or function. The parameters of individual sensors can also be controlled to "point" the array in a desired direction. Think of a multifunction array as an LED light fixture. One LED bulb by itself may not be bright enough, but several of them can illuminate an entire area. Sensors work similarly. One of them may not be able to detect a target or signal, but a group of them working in unison provides increased sensitivity to perform a task. Because sensors play such an integral role in a variety devices and applications, advancements in their form and function are not only expected, but inevitable. Anticipating Future Capabilities What will a sensor be able to do in the next few years? Anything is possible. Eberl and his colleagues have to anticipate future capabilities. His team provides simulation and testing so that the engineers who are developing new devices can work out any bugs. One of these testing simulators — the Combat Electromagnetic Environment SIMulator (CEESIM) — provides RF simulation of multiple, simultaneous emitters so that engineers can see how their devices respond to the most complicated potential scenarios. The challenge is anticipating the many ways that a multifunction sensor will be used in the future. For example, recent improvements allow for a large array of individual sensors to be subdivided into multiple groups of sensors, each performing a different task. These types of array can perform multiple tasks simultaneously. Think of your cell phone and the multiple things you can do from this one device -- talk to a friend, while scrolling through an app to order dinner and have the big game streaming in the background -- all at the same time. Similarly, CEESIM needs to be able to test multiple different functions at the same time. "This is an exciting challenge for us," Eberl says, "to have to simulate all the different types of signals and different types of utilization of that sensor in a very dynamic environment because we as a simulator don't know what the sensor is going be doing from instant to instant." Check out opportunities to join Northrop Grumman's effort to predict the future at our career page.

The Incredible Shrinking Sensors and Their Massive Growth

Some organizations have a history of being innovative; others do not. Younger organizations are more open to change and more likely to innovate as they are not constrained by long-standing and established practices. However, younger firms are at a disadvantage with respect to innovation compared to more established companies that have stronger relationships with customers, more manufacturing experience in reducing costs and more experienced employees with a larger knowledge base, all of which can improve the company's ability to generate innovation.[1] But many successful large firms can experience structural inertia (rigidity of organizations' practices and specifications) and become bureaucratic, which stifles their ability to innovate. Thus, the paradox for the modern industrial corporation is that, in order to grow, or even to survive, it is necessary to undertake technological change — change that is disruptive to its stable state. Innovative Attributes What are the characteristics of a highly innovative company? Flourishing innovation can be attributed to corporate structural arrangements[2][3][4] (for example, organizational adaptability, matrix organizations, job rotation programs and innovation banks) that enable an enterprise of effective social networks, such as integrated communication channels, communities of practice, internal expos and forums, employee culture publications and access to distinguished scientists. These types of organizations also tend to cultivate supporting cultural attributes for innovation — entrepreneurial values, calculated risk taking, tolerance of failure, collaboration and employee recognition and rewards — that facilitate working together to incorporate technical change for the corporation. Enabling the Innovation Process We can think of the innovation process as having three major phases: creativity, prototype design and testing, and diffusion to adopters. Previous case studies on advanced materials at Northrop Grumman provide strong evidence of the influences of organizational arrangements and an effective social enterprise in developing and advancing game-changing technologies throughout these phases.[5][6] In addition, champions (such as creative scientists, entrepreneurial project managers, executive sponsors and end-user adopters) will typically emerge throughout the three phases of the innovation process to promote and advance innovative technology. The Creative Phase: Several structural and social factors within organizations have a major influence in sparking the creativity of individual scientists. Organizational structures that provide interpersonal communication channels and a corporate climate marked by collaboration across levels promote creativity. Matrix organizations, in which mid-level employees report to both a project manager and a functional manager, force cross-area communication.[7] Organizations with internally recognized and accessible senior technical staff members, such as subject matter experts and fellows, will facilitate social networking and technical discussions that create new ideas and increase the innovation rate. This informal organization, not generally shown on org charts, consists of ad hoc problem-solving teams of employees from different functions who exchange information and provide support for innovation. Prototype Design and Testing Phase: Unlocking the value of creative ideas often requires a new design and testing a new prototype.[8] Typically, the program manager or the corporate "intrapreneur"[9] will assemble a working team and procure funds to convert the creative idea into working prototypes to verify its value. However, the intrapreneur's success in building the innovation tends to be as much a function of how well external relations are handled as of the technical feasibility of the idea itself. It's critically important to keep supporters up to date on the project and its success, protect the group from outside interference and handle any subtle threats or opposition that could jeopardize the project. Hence, in practice — contrary to popular narratives about innovation being the result of an extraordinary, heroic inventor — innovation is a social enterprise. There is no "I" in innovation.[10] The Diffusion Phase: The culmination of innovation is the transfer of a product value to the potential adopters who will exploit the innovation and incorporate it as an ongoing organization practice. This is the most critical phase of the innovation process. Studies have indicated that, again, social practices make the principal difference, even more than the technical value of the innovation.[11][12] Because of perceived risks or entrenched ideas and/or specifications, the innovation might be seen as controversial, and the target adopters might even refuse to use it.

The Sociology of Innovation at a Large Corporation

Imagine bringing home a piece of "some-assembly-required" furniture from IKEA and discovering, to your utter delight, that your new table or stereo console actually assembles itself. Or that those new shades for your home windows autonomously close themselves at night and open themselves in the morning. Both of these fantasies may be coming soon to a city near you, thanks to 4D printing technology. And both may be part of a new paradigm of smart city technology.   Paradigm Shift   4D printing was first defined on the TED stage in 2013 by Skylar Tibbits, an assistant professor of design research at MIT and founder of the school's Self Assembly Lab.    "4D printing is multi-material 3D printing plus a new capability called transformation," Tibbits explained. "We program 3D materials to transform their shape, properties or even their function autonomously in response to external stimuli such as heat, moisture, light, vibration or electromagnetic energy." These new materials, he added, can actually build themselves.   Tibbits emphasized, however, that 4D printing — the fourth dimension is time — is no longer strictly about printing. It includes many types of production techniques such as printing, lamination, injection molding and even knitting.   "The unifying concept is that we are integrating materials that change their behavior in response to external stimuli," Tibbits said.   Material Differences   Tibbits is careful to distinguish the 4D work being done in his Self Assembly Lab from traditional smart city technology.   "The conventional approach to building 'smart' cars, 'smart' shoes, or 'smart' buildings has been to add a bunch of robotics — sensors, actuators, processors — to that application," he said. "What we are proposing is eliminating all of the robotics, making the same 'smart' product, but doing it strictly through materials." Eliminating those traditional electronics can reduce a product's weight and cost, simplify its design and improve its reliability, he added.   Promising Apps   To date, Tibbits and his team have explored multiple applications of 4D printing to future smart cities, primarily in the areas of building materials, transportation and adaptable infrastructure.   For example, they developed a new paradigm for water delivery in which pipes — sans pumps or valves — can expand or contract on their own to change capacity or flow rate or even undulate to move water themselves. For cars, they have developed self-morphing skins that adapt their aerodynamic shape in response to increased airflow, air pressure, etc. And for coastal cities dealing with beach erosion caused by rising sea levels, they are working with researchers in the tropical island nation of Maldives to develop a system of underwater structures that use wave energy to create sand accumulation in strategic locations. This technology could be used to literally grow new islands or to rebuild beaches.   Industry Resistance   Unfortunately, 4D work remains largely a laboratory demonstration science. Its biggest limiting factor, as Tibbits sees it, is human adaptation, not the technology itself.   "4D printing is really just a different way of designing and making things," he said. Historically, engineers have been focused on making things that do NOT move. By contrast, Tibbits' team is focused on making highly active garments, buildings, cars and planes that are always moving, always transforming, always morphing and adapting to their environment.   "The limitation is not about the fundamental technology or material performance. It's more about getting people to understand what's possible," said Tibbits.   Physics First   The notion of using 4D materials to protect buildings from earthquakes — imagine stiff structural materials that transform into resilient, shock-absorbing materials in response to vibration — remains tantalizing. The reality, however, is that the technology is still constrained by physics.   "4D objects need to be made from relatively soft materials such as polymers that can change shape rapidly in response to external stimuli," explained Jerry Qi, professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech. "Unfortunately, these softer materials do not perform well in applications such as buildings or highway structures that have to support a lot of weight."   Stiffer materials such as stainless steel, concrete or iron are more practical for structural applications, he continued, but they generally do not respond quickly enough to external stimuli, which limits their usefulness as 4D materials.   A more achievable, near-term application in tomorrow's smart city, suggests Qi, might be to embed 4D printed sensors in the exterior shell of electronic devices. "With 4D printing, you could integrate a thermometer, for example, in your bedside clock radio in a simple, elegant way while making that device more adaptive to its environment," he said.   Scale Matters   Other issues to consider, said Howon Lee, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Rutgers University, are the scale of the object being produced and the capabilities of the 3D printing device. The key factor here is called resolution, i.e. the smallest feature you can print in detail.   "The larger the object you hope to print," he explained, "the larger your smallest feature size will be." Larger feature size means that molecules have to travel farther within the material to effect the desired transformation, which limits a 4D object's ability to change quickly.   "If the length or thickness of a 4D object becomes 10 times larger, for example, its response time will become 100 times slower," said Lee.   He equated this dilemma to trying to print a large-scale photograph using a digital file that contains only a small number of pixels, a situation that produces a coarse and "out-of-focus" image. The best approach is either to limit the size of your 4D printed object or to use a 3D printer that can print features with higher resolution.   Lee and his research team at Rutgers are trying to resolve this size limitation of 4D objects by decoupling the overall response time of 4D objects from their underlying physics. One way, he suggests, is to embed a series of smaller 4D objects with a characteristically shorter response time within a larger object. By placing these smaller objects strategically, Lee believes they can create larger objects that morph on the faster time scale of the smaller objects.   Fad or Future?   So will 4D printing become a ubiquitous part of the future or languish as a passing fad?   "The most important property for moving any research out of the lab into commercially viable products is reliability," said Lee. "A product has to be proven to be functional, durable, and reliable for the long haul. If it is not reliable, no one will buy it." Proving that reliability, he adds, will fall on the shoulders of investors and third-party testers.   Even more important to the future, however, will be industry awareness. For most people, it remains a very new concept.   "People tend to think of solutions to a problem only in terms of what they know," said Lee. "Once they become aware of 4D printing, they realize that their problem could be solved easily with this technology. Our challenge, therefore, is to disseminate knowledge about the technology, get more people involved in the field, and encourage them to collaborate with 4D industry and university experts to discover smart solutions to their most urgent problems."   If you'd like to add a new dimension to your career, please check out the latest opportunities at www.careers.northropgrumman.com. 

4D Printing Promises Smarter Cities

Scientists and curious people all over the planet have dreamt of interplanetary travel. Is this sci-fi trope finally within our grasp? NASA saw great success with its DAWN mission, which explored the giant asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The DAWN mission successfully hopped from one extraterrestrial destination to another, potentially laying the groundwork for exploring multiple planets in future missions. Success of DAWN NASA's robotic DAWN spacecraft, developed by Northrop Grumman, achieved several major milestones in its 11 years of spaceflight. According to NASA, DAWN was the first spacecraft to:   Orbit two planetary bodies  Orbit an object in the main asteroid belt  Visit a dwarf planet  It collected data and images about Vesta and Ceres, two bodies that scientists barely understood before the mission. "There was some expectation based on observations done by earth telescopes or Hubble, but we really didn't know what we would find at either of these places until we got there," says Joe Makowski, DAWN Operations Program Manager. The spacecraft launched in 2007 and made the slow but steady trek to the asteroid belt. It orbited Vesta from mid-2011 until 2012, then spent the next three years traveling to Ceres. It studied Ceres from 2015 through 2018, and though the mission has been completed, scientists are still making new discoveries from the 100,000 images that DAWN collected. By getting a closer look at bodies in the asteroid belt, scientists confirmed that asteroids, protoplanets and dwarf planets are much more than a bunch of giant space rocks. They are diverse astronomical bodies that hold evidence of how the early solar system was organized and evolved. The mission revealed that Vesta's surface contains a historical record of the many thousands of impacts it has seen since it formed, and that it has trace amounts of water, which was unexpected.  In August 2020, NBC News reported that the latest scientific analysis revealed that Ceres is more geologically active than scientists previously thought. DAWN revealed that it has surface features such as huge salt-domes, muddy 'ice-volcanos,' and potentially some liquid saltwater beneath the surface. This reinforced the idea that dwarf planets like Ceres could have previously hosted sub-surface oceans — and possibly still do — according to NASA. Ion Propulsion The key to visiting multiple places in the solar system in one mission is having an efficient propulsion system for the spacecraft. While many other spacecraft are powered by chemical propulsion, DAWN used solar electric propulsion — using solar power to drive its ion engines — provided by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dawn's solar electric propulsion was about ten times more efficient than chemical propulsion, requiring only a tenth of the propellant to go the same distance. So, does that mean that ion propulsion is the technical key to interplanetary travel? Perhaps. Ion propulsion worked especially well for a mission like DAWN that required orbiting two different bodies, because the bodies were close enough to the sun. It could have limitations in other scenarios. "Solar electric propulsion works well until you get somewhere around Jupiter and Saturn," Makowski explains. He adds, "Those planets are so far from the sun, where solar energy is so limited, that you need another electrical power source." Lessons for the Future of Space Travel Ion propulsion with new power sources may be the silver bullet for interplanetary space travel, with lessons from DAWN providing the foundation for future missions. "Another big challenge with planetary missions is fault management," says Makowski. This means making sure that if something goes wrong with the spacecraft's hardware, the software can detect the problem and make adjustments to correct these failures. This is critical for interplanetary travel where the spacecraft are too far from Earth for constant communication. As Makowski says, "If you're supposed to be thrusting and you're not, and you don't talk to Earth for five days, the spacecraft won't be in the place in the sky where you expect it to be." He explains that over the course of the 11-year mission, the fault management system helped the spacecraft safely recover from any issues that arose. During the handful of issues that happened during the mission, ground crews could adjust trajectories and get DAWN back on track with plenty of propellant to spare, aided by the ion propulsion system's efficiency. According to Makowski, the team that designed and built DAWN have already used variants of the electric propulsion and fault management systems for:   Communication satellites  A proposed mission to fly to a comet  The Cygnus cargo spacecraft that resupplies the International Space Station  The mission extension vehicle (MEV), a new vehicle that flies to orbiting satellites to refuel them.  Space exploration is a time-consuming and expensive endeavor. Each mission builds on the last, allowing us to become more efficient in our exploration. As we learned from Dawn, harnessing lessons from today's missions, allows us to develop a greater understanding of our place in the history of the solar system. "An achievement like DAWN just opens us up to a universe of possibilities," says Makowski. "You can look back and say - we learned something from that project — more than we ever expected."

Interplanetary Travel Lessons From DAWN

Quantum mechanics is quantitatively strange, describing probability-based phenomena across a host of atomic processes. This atypical action is typically odd at small scales, but there's an exception: superfluid. This macro-scale manifestation comes with unique properties and massive scientific potential.       The Fundamentals       The concept of superfluidity was first explored by Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, John F. Allen and Don Misener in two 1938 papers. As noted by Nature, the trio discovered that when liquid helium-4 was cooled below its "lambda point" of 2.17 kelvins (K), the typically colorless liquid known as He-I became He-II — a liquid with no friction, no viscosity and the ability to "creep" up the sides of any holding container.       What was going on? The explanation rests with Bose-Einstein condensate, which Scientific American defines as a process "in which individual particles overlap until they behave like one big particle." Under the right conditions fundamental particles known as bosons can "condense" and begin acting in unison rather than exhibiting the typical randomness associated with particulate probabilities. Helium-4 atoms are composite bosons made up of six fermions — two protons, two neutrons and two electrons — and subject to this condensed state under super-cooled conditions.       Worth noting? The absent friction is analogous to superconductivity; as noted by Nobel Prize-winning physics professor Anthony Leggett, "according to our modern understanding, superconductivity is nothing more than superfluidity occurring in an electrically charged system." Just as superfluid liquid can flow seemingly forever without friction, an electric current can do the same in superconductor systems, potentially continuing "for a time much longer than the age of the universe."       Second Sounds and Strange Stars       Frictionless fluidity across a non-viscous volume is only the first of condensed helium's superpowers. Along with the ability to creep upward along any surface and escape through microscopic cracks, this ultra-cold element also displays:         Quantum Critical Velocity: As noted by the New World Encyclopedia, if superfluid is placed in a rotating chamber, it remains perfectly stable until reaching critical angular velocity. It then begins to rotate in quantized vortices — unlike normal liquids, it doesn't rotate uniformly and can only spin at specific rates. If more speed is added, more vortices will form.  Mega Thermal Conductivity: No other substance can currently match He-II's thermal conductivity, which is 1 million times greater than He-1. Why? Second sound. This phenomena occurs when heat moves like a wave — similar to the propagation of sound through air — rather than via diffusion.        Although helium-4 is the most common superfluid, it's possible to coax helium-3 into the same state. New research also suggests that other elements could be super-cooled to create a fermionic condensate with superfluidic properties. With the search for new chemical elements and the so-called "island of stability," there's plenty of room an entire league of super-powered subatomic standouts.       There's also strong evidence that pulsars — rapidly-spinning neutron stars — are made of spinning superfluids surrounded by two crustal layers. Repeated detection of rotational anomalies in these pulsars suggests that some of the superfluid core may occasionally move outward and strike the outer crust, causing a temporary speed increase. Other inner-core superfluid then catches this outlier and reduces rotation to normal values.       Turning Up the Heat       Beyond their unique properties, there is also offer some practical potential.       In chemistry, helium-4 is being used as a quantum solvent for Superfluid Helium Droplet Spectroscopy (SHeDS). Single molecules placed in He-II solvents exhibit their gas-phase characteristics, allowing more precise observation and measurement of molecular properties.       Researchers from Cornell University are also working on a long-held scientific goal: high-temperature superfluidity. The term "high" is relative to the starting state superfluids, many of which hover around 1 K (or -457.87 F). By using an exciton — an electron paired with an electron "hole," which is the absence of an electron where one could exist in atomic lattice, causing a net positive charge — the Cornell-led team was able to raise minimum condensation temperature from just above absolute zero to 100 K, or -279.67 F.       While this is a far cry from room-temperature superfluidity, postdoctoral researcher Zefang Wang notes that "the realization of an exciton condensate at much higher temperature than earlier studies provides an exciting opportunity to explore this quantum phase of matter at significantly less stringent experimental conditions." In practice, more stable quantum states comprised of condensed excitons could be used to create new lighting technologies that are both brighter and more efficient than current LEDs.       Smooth Operator       At super-low temperatures, helium-4 isotopes exhibit unique fluidic properties. Lacking friction and viscosity, these smooth superfluids have changed our understanding of superconductor mechanics, paved the way for improved stellar science and are expanding the potential for room-temperature quantum technologies.    

It's Absurd, It's Insane, It's ... Superfluid!

Neil Armstrong could never escape the spotlight that always followed the world's most famous astronaut. But behind the scenes, more than 400,000 government employees and private contractors toiled in anonymity on the Apollo 11 mission, helping to ensure NASA would win the space race with the Soviet Union. For years, engineers, scientists and even security guards worked feverishly around the clock to answer President John F. Kennedy's call to put the first man on the moon and return him safely to earth. For Gerard "Jerry" Elverum, work on the "moon shot" started in 1960, a year before the Apollo program formally began, with him designing the rocket engine that powered the descent of the lunar module (LM) used on all six moon landings. Meanwhile, Howard "Howie" Frauenberger alternated college studies with a Grumman Corporation internship that had him participating in three high-profile scientific tests on Apollo. Their ingenuity, scientific insight and diligence enabled Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to bounce around the moon's surface on July 20, 1969. Millions of people back on Earth watched in astonishment, while Elverum and Frauenberger observed history with a mix of confidence and the slightest of worries. Now, as the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing approaches, the retired engineers look back on their accomplishments with wonder and pride. "No matter what you were working on, there was this intense feeling that you have to get it right," Frauenberger recalled. Elverum remembers being driven by an expectation that individual efforts had to match the collective national drive to achieve the extraordinary. "We had a goal and knew we had to be committed to make it work," he said. Confidence in a Design In 1960, a year after Elverum joined Grumman legacy company Space Technology Laboratories (STL), he started creating one of the most critical mechanical components for a moon landing. The LM needed an engine powerful enough to separate from Apollo's command and service module (CSM) in lunar orbit but also nimble enough for a soft and precise touchdown on the moon's surface. Elverum knew he had the right stuff, but it took a bit of convincing. Grumman Corporation was charged with developing and building the LM, and Rocketdyne — then one of the biggest rocket engine companies — had secured the job to create the spacecraft's descent engine. But, as Elverum recalls, NASA was worried about Rocketdyne's design. Hearing this, he showed his design to NASA officials, who wondered aloud about the legitimacy of an engineer from a largely unknown company. But tests supported Elverum's belief that his rocket would consistently perform under all conditions. In 1963, NASA asked STL to build its engine as a backup to Rocketdyne's product; a year later, it realized Elverum was correct all along. Now 92 and living about 80 miles east of Los Angeles in Murrieta, California, Elverum still holds the patent on the concept of the lunar descent throttling engine. "The lunar module descent engine probably was the biggest challenge and the most outstanding technical development of Apollo," according to "Chariots for Apollo," a NASA history of the program. "It had a dynamically stable configuration, so if there was a major disruption, it would recover within 10 seconds and could take all types of glitches," Elverum said in a telephone interview. "I was convinced of that. And all through the time we were developing it, that had to be the most critical thing that NASA and Grumman would have to see. I had a lot of confidence in it." The throttling capabilities of the engine enabled Armstrong to safely guide the LM to a new landing spot when it overshot the planned touchdown area. "During those 12 minutes, it felt like I had the whole world on my shoulder," Elverum said. His engine performed capably not just on the Apollo 11 mission but on five others. On the Apollo 13 mission, when the engine intended to bring astronauts home was irreparably damaged in an explosion on the way to the moon, Elverum's engine ultimately brought them back to earth. For that and other career accomplishments, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1987. He retired three years later. A Dream Internship Frauenberger attended Pratt Institute, a university in his native Brooklyn, New York, because it offered a unique work-study program. Although it would take five years to earn an engineering degree, he gained work experience by interning for three full semesters at Grumman's campus in Bethpage, New York. It didn't take long during his first internship semester, in spring 1966, to be assigned to the LM project, as he helped vouchsafe the dependability of the craft's landing gear. "It better work, because if it doesn't work, you can't land," Frauenberger joked in a recent telephone interview from his home in Malverne, New York. Not long after, Frauenberger found himself in the cold-flow test facility, using inert gases in a methodical assessment of the functionality of ascent and descent vehicles that were ready to be shipped to Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. "It was a test that had to keep going and going around the clock for about six or seven days for each module," he recalled. Two years later, with NASA pushing hard to land the first man on the moon, Frauenberger had one more Apollo assignment: help the thermodynamic engineering department conduct an analysis of the LM's cabin, simulating the conditions it would face on the moon. He ran a computer program that examined "how the temperature would vary from the landing to the take-off from the moon," he said. "It was for the sake of the astronauts and the electronic equipment." Several times throughout his internship, Apollo astronauts stopped by the Grumman facility to check on progress and inspire employees. Frauenberger has forgotten which astronauts visited because at the time he was unabashedly giddy about meeting his heroes. "You don't wash your hands for days. It was the closest thing to meeting God." Frauenberger graduated in the summer of 1969, just in time to witness the moon landing on television while at a friend's birthday party. Five decades later, he believes his work on Apollo was the pinnacle of his career. His colleagues might disagree. Grumman hired him after college, and he spent 47 years with the company, working on, among several projects, the development of the F-14 Tomcat fighter jet and the MQ-4C Triton. Now retired, the 72-year-old holds the distinguished title of Grumman technical fellow. Frauenberger can't believe 50 years have passed since Armstrong stepped down from the ladder of Apollo 11 and left his first imprint on lunar soil. Those heady times still seem like they happened yesterday. "The whole world kind of stopped," he said. "It is one of the greatest events in history. It is certainly one of the greatest aerospace events."

Northrop Grumman Engineers Recall Their Work on Apollo 11 Mission

The Rydberg sensor is a technology rooted in the fundamental structure of nature on the smallest scales that points to a complete revolution in the detection of radio waves. And it may be coming soon to that cell phone in your hand.
The current cell phone radio frequency network is an engineering marvel that most of us never think twice (or even once) about — except when a call gets dropped and we find ourselves talking into dead air. The engineers who designed and operate the cellular network work very hard to maintain it, but let's take a look at this new technology and how it may change cell service forever.
Switching Heavy Traffic
As outlined by UCSB, a cellular handset (aka your phone) contains a compact, low-powered two-way radio, with sufficient range to connect to a nearby "base station" mounted on a cellular tower. The base station, in turn, uses higher-powered long-range equipment to connect to broader regional and global networks.
The whole point of this system is to enable users to move around freely, including moving from one base station's reception area to another's. According to Dr. Sid Ghosh of Northrop Grumman, the normal sequence of operations when making a phone call on the move is as follows:

    You make a call and your phone connects to and communicates with the nearest cell tower.
    If you move, you step out of the range of the first tower.
    Your phone seamlessly connects to another nearby tower.
    You continue your call completely unaware that this just happened.

All of this works impressively well, says Ghosh, and a call being dropped during handoff is "quite rare." But mobility does put challenging demands on cell phone radio frequency technology. "When you are driving or on a train," explains Ghosh, "the handovers tend to get tricky since the user may not be optimally located for cell tower coverage."
Even if dropped calls are rare, multiply the basic technology challenge by the number of calls being made, and the problem of dropped calls and generally poor cell phone reception becomes serious — especially when it's your call that gets dropped or garbled.
The Antenna Fiddling Challenge
A key component of any radio frequency detector is the antenna that picks up the signal. This is, in principle, simply a length of wire. If the wire is the right length and oriented in the right direction, the electric field of passing radio waves will trigger an electric current in the wire, which can be detected and amplified.
This has been the principle of every standard radio receiver since, as noted by the AAAS, Heinrich Hertz first demonstrated and reported on the existence of radio waves in 1889. But it is not ideal for rapid and frequent handoffs from one cell phone radio frequency base station to the next. The thing about antennas is that their ability to pick up a signal depends on the antenna's physical size and geometry, which need to be adjusted to pick up a signal well.
Anyone who's moved a radio around to improve reception or fiddled with old-fashioned TV rabbit ears will appreciate that this can be tricky. But as Ghosh explains, quantum physics now provides an entirely different way of detecting radio waves that can revolutionize cell phone reception.
Giant Atoms and a Tiny Detector
Under the right circumstances and hit with the right frequency of laser light, atoms of rare alkaline metals, such as cesium and rubidium, can swell up enormously to a diameter of about 1/25,000 of an inch — still submicroscopic but about 10,000 times the size of ordinary atoms.
This atomic bloat is an effect of quantum mechanics. The atomic nucleus is unchanged, but the orbits of its outermost electrons are "pumped up" by the laser and pushed outward to the atom's far outer envelope, where they are only tenuously bound to the nucleus. This loose binding makes these outer electrons extremely sensitive to electric fields, such as those produced by radio waves.
In effect, the radio signal's fluctuating signal "jiggles" the loosely bound outer electrons, producing changes in the optical spectrum of the Rydberg atoms, and an optical sensor can detect these spectrum changes. It adds up to a nifty physics bank shot: radio waves jiggle the outer electrons of Rydberg atoms, producing spectrum changes in the (vastly shorter wavelength) optical band.
Moving Beyond the Antenna
What makes this one weird physics trick so important to radio technology is that — unlike any conventional radio antenna — Rydberg atoms do not need to be arranged in a particular length or pointing in a particular direction to pick up a signal. The only thing that needs to be adjusted is the frequency of laser light used to pump up the Rydberg atoms. This property drew the particular interest of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), most famous for having developed the internet.
Changing a laser frequency is a much faster and simpler process than physically adjusting the size and orientation of an antenna, particularly when the receiver is on the move and must continually switch frequency as it passes from base station to base station. Size also matters when it comes to mobile radio devices. Conventional antennas need to be proportionate in size to the radio waves they are intended to detect — a major constraint on the available radio frequency spectrum when it comes to devices, like cell phones, that must be physically compact.
In contrast, explains Ghosh, "Rydberg atoms can act as electrically small antennas and detect the modulation of a carrier wave. They can detect and demodulate AM, FM and phase modulation over a broad range of carrier frequencies, making them a promising platform for advanced communication receivers."
Moreover, he adds, "the Rydberg receiver is frequency agnostic over a wide range of operating frequencies, and thus, the size of a Rydberg receiver does not need to scale with operating frequency to maintain optimal performance." The current standard for Rydberg sensor elements, notes Ghosh, is that the sensor must fit inside one cubic centimeter. This is far more compact than most conventional antennas.
The Future of Rydberg Sensors
The Rydberg sensor technology is currently still in its research and development stage in the Quantum Apertures program. But as Ghosh outlines, the gas cell technology for producing Rydberg atoms is maturing rapidly, while similar rapid development is taking place in "adjacent peripheral technology development … in the commercial optical communication domain that's helping move the concept of a Rydberg receiver toward a viable product that can operate over a wide range of frequencies in various application scenarios."
As reported by EE Times, the wide scope of capabilities offered by Rydberg sensor technology has drawn the interest of NASA as well as DARPA, pointing toward space-based as well as ground-based applications. The possible range of applications is enormous, but few are more ubiquitous than the cell phone network, which makes it likely that people will soon be holding Rydberg sensor technology in their hands. But with improved reliability and performance, they'll probably spend even less time thinking about the technological marvel they're holding than they do now.
 
Are you interested in all things related to technology? We are, too. Learn more about life at Northrop Grumman, and check out our career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery in science, technology and engineering. 

Transforming Cell Phone Radio Frequency

Temple Grandin is a world-renowned expert in two seemingly unrelated topics: autism and livestock behavior. She uses her unique perspective as a person with autism to gain insights into human and animal behavior, practicing biological anthropology through firsthand observations and visual thinking. While autism spectrum disorder (ASD) made communication and socializing difficult for Grandin, she says that autism helps her notice tiny, important details that most people overlook. She has advocated for the ASD community and has done incredible scientific work with animals during the course of her career.  Childhood and Education  Born in Boston on August 29, 1947, Temple Grandin was diagnosed with autism as a young child. She didn't start speaking until age four, according to Biography.com. With support from her mother and early intervention, Grandin found ways to manage the difficulties that she faced with communication, social behavior and anxiety. She earned a Ph.D. in animal science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and remains in academia at Colorado State University.  As a teenager, Grandin witnessed cattle being handled in a squeeze chute at a relative's farm. She noticed that animals calmed down when pressure was applied by the chute. This inspired her to invent a device called a "hug machine," which is a therapeutic tool that provides deep pressure to help with anxiety. In a scientific paper archived on Grandin's website, she described how the device helped her reduce anxiety and panic attacks, and overcome her sensitivity to human touch.  More Humane Livestock Handling Systems  Grandin's mind, which she has described in countless books and lectures as "thinking in pictures," gave her a unique perspective on animal science. According to Elsevier, she noticed the kinds of tiny distractions such as a reflection in a puddle or a nearby waving flag that could spook livestock. She noticed fear tendencies in animals and invented techniques to minimize fear and eliminate panic responses in animals before they're slaughtered. Her practices are not only more humane, but they also make good business sense because calm animals are more predictable and easier to handle. She has written books and scientific papers about livestock handling, with active research on cows and horses, according to several articles she authored in 2019 listed on Research Gate.  Biological Anthropology  Autism has enabled Grandin to better understand the minds of people and how their thinking styles relate to their scientific abilities, Elsevier points out. She says that people who are visual thinkers are often good at art and building things, although they might struggle with abstract concepts such as math. They are great candidates for scientific careers, such as designing experimental methods.  According to Biography.com, Grandin became nationally known after appearing in Oliver Sacks's 1995 book, "An Anthropologist on Mars," which was inspired by Temple Grandin's description of how she feels in social settings. Grandin has demonstrated the benefits of including diverse minds in science.  "When I look at the methods of an experiment, I see the actual animals, I see the experiment," Grandin told Elsevier. "So when I review journal articles, I tend to really go over the methods: the sampling procedures, what kind of animals they use. Other people are tearing apart the statistics, and I'll (notice) they didn't even tell me what breed of pig they used in the experiment. And that can affect the results in a really bad way." 

Temple Grandin Has a Mind for Science

More than a year has passed since Parisians watched in horror and sadness as Notre Dame Cathedral, a symbol of national pride since its construction in the 12th Century, was partially destroyed by fire. First, melted scaffolding needs to be removed from the charred and broken Notre Dame before any architectural restoration begins in earnest. The scaffolding was in place for a $6.8 million restoration that was nearly completed when the fire struck. A team leading the post-fire reconstruction effort intends to remove the scaffolding in March before beginning the painstakingly careful repair work out of fear the building's vaults could collapse. The French government, which leads the team, wants to ensure every restored artifact aligns with tradition and the expectations of future generations. Notre Dame Cathedral isn't the first — and won't be the last — historic building to be restored after falling into disrepair or being destroyed by natural disaster or war. French restorationists will undoubtedly make decisions that are informed by the spirit of the structure, but they also can seek guidance from the rebuilding of other acclaimed historic buildings and new technologies. Starting Over Again and Again Contemporary U.S. presidents don't actually stay in the same White House that George Washington lived in when he was in office. For one, it was then called the President's House, and — until John Adams' presidency — it was in Philadelphia. But more exactly, the building that became the White House was lost to a fire set by British troops that stormed Washington, D.C., in 1814, two years into the War of 1812. Although it took 10 years to construct the first White House, its architect, James Hoban, returned to the wreckage to reconstruct a new one in less than three years. Hoban was able to reuse stone walls, significantly hastening the rebuild, but he also saved time by altering the structural scheme of the building by using timber instead of brick, according to the White House Historical Association. Although resourceful and successfully working off memory, Hoban's expediency led to a weaker structure that ultimately led to a demolition and rebuilding of the White House 130 years later. White House reconstruction efforts pale in comparison with the many rebuilds of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. The cathedral dates to 604 A.D., but it has had several incarnations after burning in several fires over the centuries. Viking raiders also destroyed it. The Great Fire of London in 1666 claimed St. Paul's yet again, leading a scientist, Christopher Wren, to lead an architectural restoration effort that illustrates the many demands on a project of public significance. After having designs rejected as too modest or too radical, Wren struck the perfect note with a plan to have the larger rebuilt church surrounded by dozens of smaller new churches. The beloved cathedral stood strong during the London Blitz, a German bombardment of the city in World War II, sustaining only minor damage and acting as a symbol of Britain's resilience. Bringing Notre Dame Back to Life Modern technology now helps architects rebuild and preserve historic structures and determine how to create a restored artifact with the care and precision that restorationists and the public often expect. Infrared thermography measures the radiation emitted by different materials to create a multi-layered look inside the walls of a building. This view can show preservationists where things are buried, whether a support beam has cracked and if anything lies beneath the surface. Ground-penetrating radar also helps detect structural defects in masonry and stone, and if any archeological remains are buried in the surrounding grounds. Laser scanning could someday help bring Notre Dame Cathedral back to life. This process has emerged as a nearly fail-safe way to record the dimensions of structures should those many details be needed later. The digital photos can be used as "point clouds," essentially detailed 3D models that can serve as blueprints for reconstructing buildings hurt by time, fire and natural disaster. Because of the widespread affection for Notre Dame Cathedral, many recorded its internal workings before the 2019 fire. Vassar College professor Andrew Tallon led a 3D laser scan of the entire cathedral before his death in 2018. His continuous mapping of the church created a 3D image that Tallon said was accurate to within five millimeters and is considered a near-realistic image of the space that can guide the eventual reconstruction. Of course, the materials used to build and repair Notre Dame over the centuries — including the timber that made the roof and the stone that shaped the vaults — isn't readily available today. Still, Tallon's scanned images will give the eventual saviors of Notre Dame a meticulous view of how the cathedral used to stand and how it can again stretch into the Paris sky.

Technology and History Can Guide Architectural Restoration

While women make up 46 percent of the overall workforce, women in STEM make up only 14 percent of American engineers. This statistic is up from 5.8 percent in the early 1980s, but it's still surprisingly low compared to other industries, according to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.       However, a few innovative companies and organizations are making a conscientious effort to stand out from the crowd and promote STEM careers among women:       1. Northrop Grumman Partners With the Society of Women Engineers       In 2017, Northrop Grumman announced iReturn, a 12-week returnship program that helps prepare people who might have taken a career break for a full-time career in one of Northrop Grumman's many fields. This program was launched in partnership with the Society of Women Engineers and iRelaunch.       "'We understand the value that individuals with all types of experience bring to our company,'" said Sandra Evers-Manly, vice president of global corporate responsibility at Northrop Grumman.       iReturn is only one of the many projects launched by the SWE with Northrop Grumman. The two organizations often co-sponsor events for female engineers, run competitions for high school students interested in STEM, and more.       2. Recognition for Top Female Leaders in Technology       The Women Tech Council is a national organization that celebrates the contributions of women in technology. In 2017, they presented the Women Tech Awards to seven innovative women. "Since launching the award program 10 years ago, WTC has recognized more than 190 women including 26 university students through the Women Tech Awards," according to Cision's PR Newswire. The organization has also implemented STEM education programs in elementary schools to increase awareness of STEM careers at an early age, as well as a host of other technology-related programs for women, according to WTC.        Enable targeting cookies to view this content.       3. Google Joins the National Girls Collaborative Project       Google has partnered with the National Girls Collaborative Project, an organization that brings computer science programming to children all over the U.S., especially young girls. The NGCP has branches in almost every major U.S. city, aimed at fostering the next generation of female leaders.       4. Johnson & Johnson and Cisco Support Million Women Mentors       By 2020, Million Women Mentors hopes to pair 1 million people who work in engineering and science with girls and women who are interested in STEM careers — whether they are in high school or college or are starting their careers. Both Johnson & Johnson and Cisco donate money, time and volunteers to this effort annually — and this time and money has seemed to trickle down into workforces that subsequently prioritize more diversity than their peers.       Cisco has stated, "We have committed to the US2020 pledge — that 20 percent of our workforce will mentor students in STEM annually by 2020." Johnson & Johnson has made a similar commitment: they aim to foster mentoring initiatives to increase and retain the amount of young women in the nursing workforce by 2020.       Empowering Women in STEM       Things are improving for women in STEM, albeit slowly. According to Business Insider, "18% of software engineering jobs in the U.S. went to women in 2016, versus 16% in 2008."       A 2016 LinkedIn report found that while some U.S. industries are making strides in hiring women, others are regressing or haven't changed at all. In addition, when women do get hired, they often face behaviors or barriers that may push them out the door later on, according to CNN Tech.       Changing these statistics requires more than just hiring women; it also involves empowering a younger generation of women to get excited about pursuing engineering careers and making workplace environments welcoming to women.    

Women in STEM: Innovative Companies are Pushing for More Female Engineers

In 2020, we're still just getting to know the depths of our home planet. More than 80% of the bottom of the sea is still unmapped and unexplored, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "We've done a pretty good job mapping the surface of the earth and what's underground. But we have almost no information on what's really undersea," explains Dr. Dave Smallwood, program manager in Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems Sector. Smallwood has spent his entire career working below the surface of the ocean, and he sees great potential beneath the water. How much of the ocean floor has been discovered so far? By volume, 99% of the Earth's biosphere remains unknown, according to National Geographic's calculations and less than 5% of the seafloor has been surveyed according to NOAA. We actually know much more about the surface of Mars, with NASA reporting that nearly 99% of the planet's surface has been mapped. What's Under the Sea While you might be picturing smooth, sandy floors, The Atlantic points out that the seabed is actually "a jagged and dynamic landscape" with as much variation as we see on land. Under the depths of the ocean, there are mountains, canyons, hot springs, lakes and hillsides. It's not just an unknown landscape to explore for the sake of beauty — the deep sea floor contains many minerals that can be useful to us on land. In addition to minerals, we've found unusual animals at the bottom of the ocean. Smithsonian points out that even at 13,000 feet below the surface, where temperatures are near freezing and there's no sunlight, researchers have discovered living creatures such as fish, coral, crustaceans, jellyfish and worms. With odd looking features such as transparent skin, giant eyes and jagged open mouths, these deep sea creatures look like aliens because they have adapted to their environment. Even in the dark mesopelagic region of 650 to 3,200 feet deep, there are vast potential resources, with gems, metals, minerals, oil and an estimated 10 billion metric tons of marine life, including fish, shrimp and squid, according to the New York Times. Why We Study the Ocean Floor One of the biggest reasons to study the bottom of the ocean is fundamental science. There are several business cases for exploring the deepest parts of the sea, but if you don't have a fundamental understanding of the ocean floor, then you can't do any advanced work. Smallwood says, "The contents of the subsea environment at different depths, the physical landscape, what lives there and what doesn't live there, right, that's all a priori information for any group that wants to explore." Some of the most compelling financial reasons to explore the sea floor are the oil, gas and mineral resources, according to Nature. "Vast swaths of the open ocean sea floor in the Pacific don't really fall under anybody's expanded economic zone or continental claims," says Smallwood. He adds, "But there are potentially a lot of minerals down there at depths from 4,000 to 6,000 meters." That's why companies are putting large mining equipment under water to harvest raw materials such as rare-earth metals, which are often found in hard to reach places. There's also deep water archeology, where scientists study shipwrecks to find evidence of ancient seafaring civilizations. Another subsea industry is aquaculture, the breeding of fish and growing food to feed them, according to NOAA. In other words, it's farming in the middle of the ocean. Understanding how much of the ocean floor has been discovered is important for defense. For example, mapping the seafloor is key for naval mine avoidance. The US Navy has been operating beneath the waves in human occupied submarines for over 120 years. Challenges With Deep Sea Exploration Clearly, there are many reasons the ocean floor is worth exploring. So why is so much of it still unknown? There are several technical challenges that researchers face when visiting the ocean floor. First there is the fundamental limitation that humans can't breathe in water like fish. Even when equipped with SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) equipment to let them breathe, the pressure of the water (think back to diving in the deep end of the pool and feeling the pressure on your ears) changes the way your central nervous system handles gasses, according to Healthline. Below 100 feet deep, divers can experience nitrogen narcosis, a condition that makes them feel and appear uncomfortably drunk or dazed. Even if that wasn't an issue, if you were to go thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean, the pressure is so extreme that it would crush you to death, explains Smallwood. Human-occupied submersibles represent one way to protect and enable humans exploring the deep ocean, but they are expensive and limited in numbers. That's why, much like with space exploration, most of the deep sea research is done by rovers, unmanned vehicles that explore inhospitable environments. The ocean's water itself creates problems because it corrodes the devices that are meant to explore it. Communication is difficult under water, simply due to the physics of the electromagnetic spectrum. Radio frequency (RF) waves attenuate rapidly under water, so our usual methods of transmitting data are useless. "You can use them, but what might get you tens of feet or a mile range up on the surface of the earth or in air might get two inches of transmission underwater," says Smallwood. Navigation is difficult under the ocean, where there is no GPS to guide the way and minimal known landmarks on the largely unmapped surface. There are alternative methods of navigating, such as inertial navigation, which navigates using the acceleration of your body (or the sensor, robot, or vehicle that is exploring) relative to the Earth. "It's an active area of research and development that pushes the bounds of what's possible," says Smallwood. Similarities With Space The bottom of the sea shares many similarities with space. They are both dark, harsh environments that are difficult and exciting to explore. In space, you have to contend with radiation, extreme temperatures and a lack of gravity. "Going undersea, you are facing incredibly crushing pressures and a corrosive environment that is trying to eat away at you the minute you touch the water," says Smallwood. Both space and the deep sea present engineering challenges, such as power constraints, life support needed for human exploration, and harsh environments that destroy people and equipment. But both environments are bursting with potential. Could the deep ocean be the next frontier? Smallwood says he considered either a career in space exploration or undersea exploration. He says, "I like the undersea option because it's much more accessible to me. Within an hour's drive, I could find somewhere on the water to test, explore, and learn."  

The Next Frontier: Exploring the Bottom of the Sea

August 26 marked Women's Equality Day, which commemorates both the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote and the nationwide demonstration for women's rights in 1970, according to the National Women's History Project. While women represent nearly half of the workforce, they hold only 24 percent of STEM jobs, as reported by the US Economics & Statistics Administration. However, women in STEM fields are gaining momentum. Meet Kerry Nguyen, Chemist Kerry Nguyen, a chemist at Northrop Grumman, hopes to see more women in STEM fields in the future. When Nguyen was in the sixth grade, her mother was diagnosed with cancer, so she decided to study science to better understand how cancer was diagnosed, prevented and treated. "My parents kept the news from me initially because they believed I was too young to understand the issue at the time, and they were correct," Nguyen said. She had only taken basic environmental science classes in school, but she took her curiosity about her mom's cancer diagnosis into her own hands. Her interest in science grew from there. "I wanted to learn as much as I could possibly understand about my mom's situation so I was better able to help her when needed," Nguyen added. As a first-generation American, Nguyen said her parents are her biggest inspiration. They came to the United States from Vietnam with minimal resources to start, but they always made sure she and her sisters had everything they needed to thrive. Nguyen's biggest mentor is another woman in STEM — her oldest sister, the first member of her family to attend college and a chemist who is pursuing her Ph.D. in organic chemistry. "Mary is the oldest, which meant that she made mistakes that I learned from. I continue to look up to my sister for guidance for many things, including chemistry," she said. Turning Curiosity Into a Career When it came time for college, Nguyen was already familiar with the STEM programs offered at California State University, Long Beach, near her hometown. As a student, she applied to an internship at Northrop Grumman after hearing about the position through an email from her school's career center. She was familiar with the company but had no idea that they had a chemistry lab. She was offered a position and started in the summer of 2015. "I applied to my internship position to freshen up my resume and with the mindset that I have nothing to lose but time, and I do not regret my decision one bit. I love the work I do and the support I provide for NG," said Nguyen. Nguyen graduated in May 2017 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, and she continues to work in Northrop Grumman's lab, now as a full-time chemist. As a technical scientist, her job varies daily, and she spends most of her time analyzing chemical samples for all programs across the company. She explained: "Chemists are like the CSI of aerospace. We can determine what a material is made of or how much of a certain component is in a given material. We can test many different chemical properties using analytical and instrumental techniques." Nguyen plans to continue her work at Northrop Grumman and will earn either a master's degree in a STEM field or an MBA sometime in the future, building her technical, leadership and management skills to eventually pursue a management position. Advice to Women in STEM Fields Nguyen suggested that young people focus on networking and meeting new people to expand their opportunities. Most importantly, she urges other women who are interested in STEM to seize any opportunities without hesitation. "Do not undermine what you are capable of doing for yourself, and do not make yourself worth less than what you really are," Nguyen said. In the spirit of Women's Equality Day, she added: "Be proud to be a young woman in the STEM fields because it is rare, but we need to make it a norm. If you are curious, put your foot in the door and test out the water. You will never know unless you try, and it is never too late to be curious."

Women in STEM Fields: Advice From the Lab

Laser technology is a staple of science fiction and our daily lives. This 60-year-old technology continues to improve, and engineers are still developing brand new applications for lasers. "Lasers are really hot right now," says Carly Wright, an optical engineer who works in the laser engineering group at Northrop Grumman. Lasers are used in medical procedures, beauty treatments, telecommunications, industrial applications, robotics, autonomous vehicles, toys, scientific research and more. Due to their power and precision, lasers are also being developed for military use. "There's a lot of interest in putting lasers on a wide variety of platforms to defeat a really wide variety of targets," says Wright. How Do Lasers Work? Although the term "laser" is widely understood today, it was originally an acronym for light amplification by a simulated emission of radiation. A laser produces a very narrow beam of light, but it's not just any light. So, how do lasers work? First, you have to understand the fundamentals of light. Each color of light has a different wavelength on electromagnetic spectrum. Sunlight looks like white light, but it actually includes a mixture of all the different colors, or wavelengths of light. Lasers are different, NASA explains, because they produce a narrow beam of light in which all of the light waves have very similar wavelengths. This alignment of waves makes laser beams narrow, bright and extremely precise. Think of a flashlight versus a laser pointer. A beam of light from a standard flashlight spreads out, but a laser pointer stays focused wherever you aim it. These properties mean laser beams can travel very long distances and concentrate their energy on a very small area. A Brief History of Lasers Today's laser technology is made possible because of the fundamental principles of modern physics that Max Planck and Albert Einstein and their peers discovered in the early 1900s. According to Interesting Engineering, at the turn of the century, Planck figured out the relationship between energy and the frequency of radiation. He described that energy couldn't just be transferred in any amount (as presumed by classical physics). Instead, energy is emitted or absorbed in discrete packets, which we now call quanta. Einstein then expanded on Planck's insight and proposed that "electrons could be stimulated into emitting light of a particular wavelength." Although they weren't specifically looking to define what is a laser, scientists continued to experiment with light over the next few decades, with the invention of holography in 1948, and the first proof of Einstein's principles in action in 1954, with the MASER (Microwave Amplification of Stimulated Emission of Radiation). Laser technology truly took off in the early 1960s. During this time period, the term laser was created, and the first practical laser was prototyped and patented. Scientists developed several types of lasers, including the first continuous-beam laser, the solid-state (semiconductor injection) laser, and the carbon dioxide laser. In 1961, lasers were used for medical treatment for the first time, in an optical surgery that was faster and more comfortable than conventional treatments. Today, lasers are such a common medical tool that they are used to remove everything from tumors to unwanted hair. They're also used in endless other facets of our lives, including telecommunications, consumer electronics, law enforcement, entertainment, manufacturing and military equipment. Lasers in Real Life When laser weapons are portrayed in science fiction, there's often a bright flash of light that shoots opponents with a "pew, pew!" sound. In reality, Wright explains that lasers are stealthier than the ray gun you might be imagining. As an optical engineer, she spends most of her time working in a lab experimenting with the laser source of a direct energy (DE) weapon. Not only are lasers silent, but some are also invisible. "The lasers that we work with, are not visible to the eye," she says. "So when you think of laser weapons, you think of a red laser shooting through space. That's not the case. It doesn't make a sound."  Make no mistake: Light, especially when concentrated in a laser, is hot and dangerous. Wright has watched a laser drill a precise hole through a brick. She works in a class 1,000 clean room, wearing a full "bunny suit" of protective gear including a mask, gown, booties, gloves and laser goggles. In addition to their precision and power to zap objects with heat, lasers have another property that makes them a powerful weapon. Wright says, "As long as you have electricity or fuel, you can use your lasers, and there's not a finite number of shots that you can take." That's particularly valuable for the naval battle space, where refueling at sea is challenging. Despite all the awesome new technology that scientists and engineers are developing today, lasers remain a hot topic.

The Future of Laser Technology (Hint: It's Bright)

It may seem like the gender gap is closing, but at least in STEM fields, there is still a long way to go. Non-male scientists all around the world deal with this gap, whether you're talking about American women or Indian women. A study published in the journal Science demonstrates that this isn't due to men being better or having higher achievements in math or science. In fact, the study showed that women actually have higher achievement in math and science than men. The issue was that only the highest-achieving women pursued STEM fields, whereas men with poorer grades and test scores didn't let these lower marks dissuade them from pursuing a technical career. The issue, according to an NYU study, is confidence. "Our results suggest that boosting STEM confidence and earlier career aspirations might raise the numbers of high-achieving women in [physics, engineering, and the computer sciences], but the same kinds of interventions are less likely to work for average and lower-achieving girls, and that something beyond all these student factors is drawing low-achieving men to these fields," said lead researcher Joseph R. Cimpian in a release. This problem is persistent everywhere. India is a country well-known for excellence in STEM fields, but those areas are dominated by men. According to The Hindu, Dr. Namrata Gupta has pointed out that India's patrilineal society has discouraged women from working; it's only recently that Indian women working has been embraced and encouraged. Just 10 to 15% of people in STEM research fields in India are women. However, this doesn't mean there aren't Indian women doing incredible work. There are Indian women scientists, engineers and people working in technology who are making impressive strides and putting India on the global map. We'll introduce you to just a few of them here. Muthayya Vanitha: India's Rocket Woman India has a thriving space program called the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). In 2019, the ISRO sent an uncrewed mission to the moon called Chandrayaan-2 (which, according to Vox is Sanskrit for "moon craft") that consisted of an orbiter, a lander and a rover. While the lander and rover malfunctioned and crash-landed on the moon, the orbiter is still sending back data and even found water molecules on the lunar surface. Muthayya Vanitha, the project director for Chandrayaan-2, is considered one of India's "rocket women" due to her work on the mission. According to the India Times, this was the first time that an Indian woman was put in charge of a big-budget ISRO mission, though they have previously led smaller-profile operations. An electronic systems engineer, Muthayya Vanitha graduated from the College of Engineering in Guindy, Chennai, and according to Forbes India, she's been with the ISRO for 33 years. Her background is in satellite communications and digital signal processing. Vanitha was persuaded to take on the role of project director (a promotion from her previous associate director role) by M Annadurai, a famous aerospace engineer known as the "Moon Man of India." In 2019, Vanitha was named a "Person to Watch" by the journal Nature. Gagandeep Kang: A Leader Searching for a Rotavirus Vaccine Dr. Gagandeep Kang is one of the most prominent Indian scientists thanks to her work on intestinal diseases in children. She currently serves as a professor of microbiology in the Department of Gastrointestinal Sciences at India's Christian Medical College. She's the first Indian woman scientist to be invited to join The Royal Society in London. Kang trained at Christian Medical College but decided to go into public health and research rather than practice medicine. "I enjoyed the idea of public health and working with community rather than working with a single patient," she said in an interview with The Print. "So I decided to try it out, and I ended up in gastrointestinal research." She worked in the UK and the United States before returning to India to focus on Indian children. Indian children experience more rotavirus infections (which affect the intestines, causing diarrhea and vomiting) at younger ages than children in other countries and before their immune systems are fully developed. Kang's work as an Indian scientist has been crucial in the hunt for a new rotavirus vaccine. Kang has also been one of the Indian scientists on the forefront of COVID-19 policy, and according to The Lancet, her future goals lie in closing gaps of inequality within India's health care system. Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan: NASA Scientist and Silicon Valley Pioneer From Mumbai to Pluto to Silicon Valley, Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan makes waves everywhere she goes as an Indian woman and scientist. She was born and raised in the vibrant and bustling city of Mumbai, and according to a profile in Her Story, education was always important in her household. She got her undergraduate degree at Boston University and went on to pursue a doctorate at Stanford in information theory and algorithms. "As part of my Ph.D. program, I built a communication chip used on board the New Horizons spacecraft," Sivaramakrishnan told the San Francisco Business Times. New Horizons has since completed its mission to study Pluto and is currently in the Kuiper Belt, heading outside the solar system. Since her pivotal work on NASA's New Horizons mission, Sivaramakrishnan has pursued a different area of tech: advertising. She was the lead scientist for AdMob, which was purchased by Google in 2010. She founded the tech company DrawBridge in 2010, and it soon became the fastest-growing female-led company in the United States, according to Business Insider. It's clear that women around the world have a long way to go before achieving equality in STEM fields. But these inspiring, engaging, passionate Indian women are blazing a trail for younger women to follow in their footsteps, and they are changing the world as they do it. Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

These Trailblazing Indian Women Are Shaking Up Science and Technology

 Advertising is all about finding the connection between people and the products, brands or adventures they love or may not realize they've been missing in their life. Beyond the idealized version of marketing found on television, advertisers are being challenged in new and exciting ways to find that story. Machine learning is being embraced for its diversity and power. In some cases, the tech is capable of being more human than human by understanding our needs before we even thought about lunch. Smarter Advertising The same machine learning that's causing an artificial intelligence revolution across various industries is also creating a huge impact in the world of advertising by powering decisions at an enormous scale. The sheer amount of data that's now available, and improves over time, lets advertisers make better informed decisions leading to campaigns that are better tailored to an individual. Whether it's called machine learning or artificial intelligence, AI is a powerful tool being implemented in a lot of fascinating ways. Object detection and facial recognition in photos is one such example.  Over time, the tool gets honed through new parameters that refine the process to the point where the algorithm can not only detect faces but also identify friends and family members. Recognizing a brother or a mother adds another layer of personalization to future advertising. If an algorithm identifies a seasonal family outing, appropriate campaigns can be developed highlighting perfect choices for that summer cruise or the fall camping trip. In advertising, algorithms are being used to identify customers and their behavior to create better targeted campaigns. The technology is also a way to glimpse into the future without a crystal ball through predictive choices backed by millions of data points. Learn what each app may be collecting and how searches affect what you see. Follow that up with an experiment where you try to identify ads or other personalized marketing as you browse the web.Better Marketing Customer segmentation uses algorithms to continuously improve content, emails and website offerings based on user habits. Every action performed by an individual is considered a data point that AI can use to adapt and refine its approach. Because a computer can go through billions of these data points, there can now be a greater population of individuals with the same behavior, income, geographic region and preferences. Advertisers are now basing marketing campaigns on hundreds, or thousands, of examples of behavior that's similar to your own. For advertisers, there's a greater confidence that what they are sending is actually going to the right audience. The future of AI in advertising is going to be all about you. Advertising has always struggled with personalizing campaigns, but now the consumer is doing the work for them through data. A smarter smartphone assistant in the future can monitor your calendar and identify how you've worked two years straight without a vacation. The assistant could create an alert and, based on the apps on your phone, suggest potential itineraries. Additionally, a preliminary shopping list could be created for the trip. Those principles could be applied to your favorite clothing brand sending you an offer based on the last time you purchased a shirt or a pair of jeans. A faded shirt in a photo on social media could prompt an alert. Even what you watch after a long day at work could be tailored through AI based on social media posts and calendar invites.Behavior, such as time spent on particular websites or what sites you most frequent, can be tracked; brands can learn how to connect with an audience using predictive analytics. Algorithms are capable of creating a best guess for what a user will do next because the model has so much information on what the individual has done in the past. It's a way to develop future campaigns with better accuracy, which is a huge sigh of relief for any marketer at the beginning of their next big launch or sale. Machine learning is rapidly transforming many industries, from marketing to insurance, because of its versatility and unprecedented scale. But behind every great program or technology are engineers, developers and programmers: the real brains behind any artificial intelligence.

How Machine Learning Makes Advertising More Human

According to NASA, there are more than 500,000 pieces of debris, or "space junk" the size of a marble or larger, orbiting the Earth. At least 20,000 of those objects are larger than a softball. All of the objects, which travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph, pose potential dangers to satellites orbiting the Earth, both now and in the future. Orbital debris (NASA Image) One way to potentially reduce these hazards, and the costs and risks of launching new satellites, would be to build and launch an on-orbit recycling system. Notionally, the system would have the ability to vaporize small existing space debris; recycle and recover manufacturing materials from existing satellites; and even perform in-space manufacturing of structural elements for new satellites. "Think of this space recycler as an on-orbit refinery, powered by that amazing source of energy in space called the sun," said Howard Eller, Advanced Missions Tech Fellow, Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems. Bringing the Sun into Focus In its basic form, the recycler would include a large parabolic reflector, perhaps 50 to 100 feet in diameter; a spherical crucible made of material with an extremely high melting point; a set of compartments in which different types of salvaged materials could be stored; and several robotic arms for capturing "dead" satellites or other space debris.  Space Junk Recycler (Northrop Grumman Artist Concept) The recycler's reflector would concentrate solar energy into a small spherical space, creating an intense source of heat. The heat could be used either to simply vaporize existing small debris, or to heat larger pieces of space debris in the recycler's crucible. The crucible could be rotated through the thermal flux like a rotisserie grill to heat the debris to a desired and uniform temperature. Using this approach, explains Eller, "we could selectively melt and capture material of type A, heat the crucible more to melt and capture material of type B and so on." Materials melted and captured at each stage of the recycling process could be stored in separate compartments in the form of ingots, or perhaps piped in real time to another part of the recycler as source material for in-space 3-D printing manufacturing operations. Any unneeded leftovers from the recycling process could be compressed into small pieces and vaporized by the solar concentrator. There could also be self-sustaining aspect to this recycler, adds Eller. "If the mirrored surface of the solar concentrator became contaminated, the recycler could vaporize a piece of scrap aluminum in such a way that material is deposited as a new thin and highly reflective layer on the mirror, effectively recoating it," he said. Scavenging the Graveyard An ideal source of dead satellites for the recycler would be so-called "graveyard" orbits several hundred kilometers above geosynchronous (22,500 miles) altitude. Satellites are typically "safed" (batteries drained, propellant tanks emptied) and placed in a graveyard orbit at the end of their operational lives to reduce the chance of colliding with an operational spacecraft.  Space recycler captures "dead" satellite (Northrop Grumman artist concept) According to Eller, a recycler could either be placed in a relatively fixed location in orbit where dead satellites could be brought for recycling, or the entire facility could maneuver from satellite to satellite in a graveyard orbit. In theory, an in-space 3-D manufacturing facility could be attached to the other end of the recycler. As old satellites are ingested (think PacMan) and converted to raw materials, new satellite structures would be produced and pushed out the other end for in-space assembly.  Smarter, Lighter, Cheaper The ability to perform on-orbit recycling and manufacturing could also enable a new generation of simpler, lighter and potentially more capable satellite systems. Free from the impact of gravitational forces during launch, satellites could be assembled in space using simpler designs and materials with far less mass and structural strength. As a result, they might look very different from traditional spacecraft buses, which are essentially boxes with one or more solar array appendages. "If we built a satellite in space, it could be a single panel of any desired length," explains Eller. "One side could be an array of RF [radio frequency] elements and electronics, like a single large circuit board. You could produce additional panels to serve as solar arrays, or perhaps attach solar cells to the back of the original panel." After building this "panelsat" in orbit, you could plug in a module launched from Earth containing all of the electronic or spacecraft bus components that are currently too difficult to produce in space. Working the Vision In the end, admits Eller, space recycling is a vision that should be driven by economics. It makes perfect sense to recycle existing satellites because they are made of the materials most often needed to make new satellites. "But right now there is no financial incentive to get rid of space debris," he says. "That's why we should develop this or similar concepts as a nation. If we can figure out a way to convert dead satellites from a waste product into an economic benefit, recycling in space will happen." # # # If you'd like to explore a career helping Northrop Grumman unravel the mysteries and technical challenges of space exploration, please contact us at www.careers.northropgrumman.com.

How to Recycle Space Debris and Reduce Launch Costs

Today, we take water filtration for granted. From city sewer systems to storm drain ponds and water treatment plants, we're fortunate to have virtually unfettered access to clean, safe water. But where did it all start? How (and when) did humans devise and deploy systems that made this kind of water purification possible? The Maya city of Tikal offers a look back in time to the Western Hemisphere's first filtered framework. Let's dive in. On a Molecular Mission The goal of any water filtration system is to trap and remove problematic particles, from heavy minerals to harmful bacteria. Filtrating frameworks — often called molecular sieves, according to Smithsonian Magazine — are typically made using porous crystalline compounds capable of capturing these particles without negatively impacting overall water flow. The practice hasn't changed much in the past few millennia; according to the CDC, two key stages of current water treatment systems include sedimentation (the process of heavier particles settling to the bottom of water supplies) and effective filtration. And while archeological evidence shows that ancient civilizations were more than capable of building aqueous transport systems, molecular sieves were largely absent, especially in the Western Hemisphere. However, according to a paper published in Scientific Reports, new research suggests that Mayan engineers dealing with unique landscape and weather challenges devised and implemented a filtrating framework using a type of volcanic mineral — which is still used today — in city water systems, bottled water and wine. The Technology of Tikal The city of Tikal — also called Yax Mutal — contained more than 3,000 buildings and supported more than 60,000 people during its most populous period in 750, and it remained occupied until around 1100. Now part of a rainforest in Guatemala, the natural environment of Tikal came with unique water challenges, including a porous limestone base and reoccurring droughts. As a result, Mayan engineers needed a way to not only transport and store water but also to ensure this water didn't sicken and kill its population during times of drought. Accomplishing this goal meant creating the Corriental reservoir, which, despite high mercury content in other nearby water storage systems, was free of contamination. According to the Tikal researchers, the reason is simple: zeolite. Zeolite is a compound of silicon and aluminum, and as the CDC notes, it's still used in water filtration systems across the United States for its ability to collect and capture harmful microbes, especially when paired with crystalline quartz. The Tikal system had both, allowing it to naturally filter mercury and bacteria-heavy water before it was used by the populace. Worth noting: There's no naturally occurring zeolite in Tikal. Instead, the research team believes that the Maya likely found this combination some 18 miles northeast of town, near the Bajo de Azéºcar — which contained naturally pure and filtered water. According to Nicholas P. Dunning, co-author of the Scientific Reports paper, "It was probably through very clever empirical observation that the ancient Maya saw this particular material was associated with clean water and made some effort to carry it back." Once they brought it back, they would place it in settling tanks to clean and purify the water before it reached the Corriental reservoir. Not only does this system represent the earliest known example of water filtration in the Western Hemisphere, but it also predates the use of this compound for water decontamination anywhere in the world. As ScienceAlert notes, while the Romans did use a variant of zeolite — called pozzolan — as part of their cement mixture for building bridges and aqueducts, not even these famed ancient builders repurposed zeolite to remove water contaminants. Engineering Equivalence This Mayan water work also raises an important point: While ancient engineering efforts of Eastern Hemisphere civilizations point to the human preoccupation with clean, easily accessible water (such as the Roman Empire's still-standing Aqueduct of Segovia), these Eastern efforts are often regarded in isolation and ignore the efforts of their Mayan and Aztec counterparts. Case in point? The Maya city of Tikal. Not only were the builders tasked with transporting water across great distances to account for the problem of porous limestone foundations during droughts, but they also needed a way to correct for cyanobacteria and other disease-delivery microbes. As lead author of the Tikal study Kenneth Barnett Tankersley notes, "When it comes to water management, the Maya were millennia ahead." And that's not the only Western claim to fame. The post-Mayan Inca civilization was also responsible for creating one of the most complex and enduring roadway systems in the world — the Qhapaq é‘an — which stretched more than 25,000 miles down the western coast of South America, and parts of it are still in use to this day. Water, Water Everywhere We all need a drink. It's no exaggeration to say that civilizations live and die on their access to clean, fresh water — and when it comes to functional filtration frameworks, the Mayans were way ahead of the curve. 

Mayan High-Water Mark: The Western Hemisphere's First Filtration Framework

From space travel to the World Wide Web, email to nanoscale robots, humanity's constant drive for improvement and innovation has changed the course of history. So hop aboard and get comfortable — the time machine is all fired up and ready to relive the top scientific discoveries of decades past. Let's go! First it was the 1960s and the development of microchips, then a quick stopover in the '70s for the personal computer. Now it's time to for a hard look at technology in the '80s — and the world's first mobile phones. Let's Get Digital The '80s were about getting noticed — think neon leotards, suits with shoulder pads and the rise of punk music. Subtle was not in the decade's vernacular as evolving technologies provided easy access to low-cost products and services. It's hardly a surprise that the "Me Generation" took on the task of developing over-the-top cellular technologies to function as chunky, clunky status symbols — and ultimately paved the way for the widespread uptake of mobile devices. Can You Hear Me Now? Current mobile devices rely on microwaves to carry signals from one device to another, which have wavelengths of one meter to one millimeter and frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 Ghz, according to Lumen Learning. This offers a distinct advantage over radio waves, which have longer wavelengths and are more susceptible to interference while traveling over long distances. But even using more powerful microwaves presents a problem: limited bandwidth. As noted by Physics.org, around 800 frequencies are available to any mobile phone network — what's more, two-way communication requires two frequencies, one for transmitting and one for receiving. Cellular networks solve this problem by dividing network coverage areas into hexagonal, isolated "cells" each equipped with their own signal tower, allowing frequencies to be reused rather than forcing users to wait. The first batch of car-connected mobile phones often required users to wait up to 30 minutes just to place a poor-quality call. Adoption of cellular methodology made multiple calls on duplicate frequencies possible and significantly expanded the mobile market's reach. Cell-ing Points The '80s sparked some interesting trends, but it wasn't the first decade dedicated to mobile communications. As noted by The Washington Post, "field telephones" were used during the First World War to coordinate military operations, and by 1941 hand-held radio transceivers were developed for vehicles and then adapted for use during the Second World War. 1973 saw the first cellular telephone call — made from a giant brick of a thing that weighed more than two pounds and provided just 30 minutes of talking time after a 10-hour charging cycle.  In the early 1980s, the first commercially available phone hit the market. For just $4,000, which is currently about $10,000 adjusted for inflation, users could get their hands on Motorola's 1.7-pound monster, the DynaTAC 8000x. Cue up the synthesizer and get ready to take Wall Street by storm — with this phone in hand (and one undoubtedly muscular arm after all that lifting), you were going places. By 1989, Motorola debuted a smaller version called the "MicroTac" which was small enough to fit (badly) in shirt pockets and bore more than a passing resemblance to original "Star Trek" communicators. And lo, the mobile revolution was born. The Future Is Mobile Building on the cellular advances of the 1980s, and bolstered by the falling size and cost of microchips, mobile devices shrunk in dimension even as they rapidly gained new capabilities. By the mid-1990s, "smart" phones included access to email and faxes, and in 1999 BlackBerry released its first two-way pager with native web browsing. In 2007, the original iPhone hit store shelves — forever changing the way consumers interact with mobile devices. Today, the market includes everything from smartphones to tablets, internet-connected sensors to wearable devices, all connected via myriad networks types including LTE, 4G and 5G. In addition, users now demand speedy, secure wireless connections to empower everything from streaming digital content to sharing social interactions across global content networks. And it all started with that ugly brick of a phone. Talking Points If technology in the '80s had a motto, "hideous but usable" might be the most accurate. While the decade's cellular phone solutions were hilariously chunky and unbearably primitive by current consumer standards, there's no doubt that '80s mobile tech remains one of the world's top scientific discoveries. Next up? '90s kids remember: the birth of the World Wide Web.

Technology in the '80s: The Cellular Solution

Scientists are developing technology to make sustainable space travel possible. As NASA prepares for long term space missions to the moon, Mars and beyond, many challenges remain. The future of space travel requires solutions for long-duration missions with limited resources. They will need access to fuel and the essential elements that sustain life. Scientists recently demonstrated a possible solution by splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen in zero gravity using a semiconductor material and light. Challenges for Sustainable Space Travel It's already difficult for astronauts to live at the International Space Station (ISS) and that's a well-established station located nearby in low earth orbit. Longer missions will be even trickier. According to NASA, the ISS uses a system that recycles approximately 90% of the water and 42% of the oxygen in the spacecraft. The system purifies the crew's waste — including urine and sweat — and turns it into potable water for the crew to drink. Still, cargo spacecraft regularly visit the space station to supplement essential supplies and replace some of the system's components. How will future astronauts get the elements they need to survive on long-term space missions? What will fuel their spaceships and the electronic gadgets they'll need onboard? Fuel Cell Space Vehicles The Conversation reports that an international team of researchers demonstrated that it is possible to produce hydrogen and oxygen from water using a semiconductor material and sunlight (or light from any star) in zero gravity. These findings, which are published in Nature Communications, are a step toward long-term space travel with storable, renewable energy. While water may be a relatively heavy supply for space travel, it's a reasonable option because it provides a two-for-one, with hydrogen for fuel and oxygen for astronauts to breathe. Plus, it can be recycled, making sustainable space travel possible. As a bonus, launching a space vehicle loaded with water is safer than the potentially explosive alternative of rocket fuel and oxygen. If this idea is going to be realistic, scientists need to develop a method for splitting water apart and putting it back together again. They're working on how to create water from oxygen and hydrogen, plus the opposite. The Process In space, we don't have the luxury of plants releasing oxygen, but we can mimic photosynthesis. According to the Conversation, water can be split into hydrogen and oxygen via electrolysis, where scientists run an electric current through a water sample that contains a soluble electrolyte. A new version is even better for space travel because it uses lightweight equipment and sunlight (or starlight). While solar power is useful on earth, it's even more abundant in space, where light isn't filtered through an atmosphere. In this alternative method, photo catalysts absorb photons into a semiconductor material in the water. The researchers explain in Nature, "The photoelectrochemical cell consists of an integrated catalyst-functionalized semiconductor system that generates hydrogen." As a bonus that will be especially useful with limited resources in space, the process can be reversed. How to Create Water From Oxygen and Hydrogen The hydrogen and oxygen can be recombined, according to the Conversation, "using a fuel cell returning the solar energy taken in by the photocatalysis." This energy can be used to power electronics, and it produces water that can be reused. Drop Tower Testing To test their system, the researchers dropped their experiment down a 120-meter tower. As the object accelerated toward Earth, the "drop tower" simulates microgravity by creating an opposite effect to the G forces that astronauts experience during lift-off. The Bubble Problem While the researchers did successfully split water into hydrogen and oxygen in this microgravity environment, a big challenge popped up: bubbles. When the water is split to create gas, bubbles form. On Earth, gravity causes the bubbles to float to the surface, but in zero gravity the bubble lurks near the catalyst, blocking the next potential bubble, and therefore obstructing overall gas production. They attempted to fix the bubble problem by creating pyramid-shaped zones on the catalyst so that the bubble could easily move from the pointed tip and float away. But even though this forced the bubbles away from the catalyst, without gravity, they remain in the liquid and create a pesky foam that blocks the catalyst and electrodes, making the whole system inefficient. Despite these remaining challenges, the new water-splitting method proves that there's great potential for sustainable space travel in the future. Advanced technology and creative scientific processes can make the most of limited resources, on Earth and in space.

Recycling in Zero Gravity for Sustainable Space Travel

Imagine driving along a roadway that produces energy from the sun or the motion of your vehicle. Or, finding your way on a street that lights up at night without using energy. These are a few of the innovative road solutions that could change the way we travel each day. There are nearly 36 million miles of roads in 223 countries across the globe, as cited by the CIA Factbook. Most of those roads were made from petroleum products and other chemicals that have a lingering environmental impact throughout their life cycle, according to the National Asphalt Paving Association. Some recent technological innovations have uncovered potential solutions for transforming traditional roadways into useful infrastructure that also contributes to a positive impact for our planet. Plastic Roads and Technological Innovations Discarded plastics are choking the oceans and landfills, and some companies are taking those castoffs and turning them into road materials. In England, startup MacRebur gathers plastic waste and grinds it up for use in road materials. The pulverized plastic replaces an oil-based substance known as bitumen, which binds sand, rock and limestone into an asphalt surface. Roads made with the new material are less likely to crack and can help improve vehicle gas mileage, reported The Drive.com. Netherlands construction firm VolkerWessels plans to salvage plastic pollution from coastal areas and convert it into lightweight, maintenance-free prefabricated roadway modules with hollow interiors that can be fitted with electrical cables and drainpipes. In 2016, about 1.5 percent of traffic accidents in India were due to poor road conditions, according to a government report. To sustainably improve roadway safety, the government has invested in technology to build roads with recycled plastics. So far, more than 100,000 kilometers of the road has been laid, and each kilometer of single-lane road consumes a metric ton of plastic waste. The plastic's flexibility means the road lasts two to three times longer than conventional surfaces and reduces the risk of potholes. Sunshine-Powered Roads With millions of miles of roads lining the world, turning streets into solar power generators seems to make sense, according to a report from Singularity Hub. In China, an effort is underway to build a two-kilometer (1.2 miles) stretch of solar road using a new type of transparent asphalt, one of several such efforts around the globe, according to Singularity Hub. In a small village in France, a one-kilometer (0.6 miles) road boasts 30,000 square feet of solar panel, and officials hope to be able to power the village's streetlights, Fast Company noted.  Grid-free Lighting In a small town outside Amsterdam, a 15,000-foot stretch of a highway has no streetlights. Instead, stripes of bright green paint guide cars through the darkness, like airport runway lighting. Researchers developed a high-powered glow-in-the-dark paint that absorbs solar energy during the day and releases it at night, reported Wired. The goal, the designer said, is to replace streetlights with solar-powered lighted roads someday. A bike path in Poland uses different technology to achieve a similar bioluminescent lighting effect. The pathway, made with phosphor, can emit light for up to 10 hours, explained CityLab. Researchers in Mexico developed a new formula to make phosphorescent cement that stores solar energy and emits it as light for up to 12 hours, according to Scientific American. The material could be a boon for developing nations or remote areas that don't have access to a steady supply of electricity. Molecules in Motion  In the United Kingdom, the average road carries up to 3,000 cars per hour, and innovative road solutions can transform that traffic movement into electricity. These kinetic roads use the piezoelectric effect to convert mechanical motion into electricity, according to Phys.org. Kinetic roads could generate enough electricity to power streetlights and traffic signals and provide traffic data for real-time monitoring. Underground Power, an Italian startup, has developed Lybra, a tire-like rubber paving material that absorbs kinetic energy from passing vehicles and can produce "the equivalent of energy used by 40 families." Are you interested in a job that puts you on the front line of technology innovations? Consider a career with Northrop Grumman.

Innovative Road Solutions Could Make Highway Travel Eco-Friendly

Will voice command technology replace keyboards? As voice search becomes more widely used, many futurists have theorized that soon we won't need keyboards, computer mice or buttons on devices. Instead, computer input could come exclusively from voice commands.  But some aren't so convinced. The mass extinction of a staple technology like a keyboard will likely be more gradual.  Predictions for Voice  While it might not be as extreme as a brain-computer interface, voice technology is eliminating the barriers between people and computers.  "What's clear to me today is that the keyboard in five years will be gone as an input device," Mark Tluszcz, a venture capitalist with a track record for successfully predicting technology, told CNBC.  Other tech experts have a more moderate outlook. According to The Conversation, voice interfaces still have limitations that can't be solved by better technology. Noise pollution is a challenge — voice assistants are getting better at ignoring background noise, but anyone who has attempted voice commands in a noisy environment will attest that it's not worth the hassle. Noise pollution goes both ways, because talking to your device in a public setting is creating noise that didn't exist just a few years ago.  The Conversation also points out that voice commands can be distracting. Researchers have found that voice commands derail your train of thought more than typing. While this is only a minor nuisance in most circumstances, it can be dangerous for driving. Recent studies found that when drivers used voice commands, they were distracted for nearly half a minute.  Popular Applications for Voice Command Technology  Cars  Many of today's vehicles are equipped with speech recognition controls that could improve safety by helping drivers keep their eyes on the road. Instead of texting or turning a radio nob while driving, you can tell your car what to do. According to language technology firm Globalme, your car's speech system could also tell you important messages. It could let you know when your car's gas tank or battery is low, and it could give you directions to the nearest gas station.  Military Technology  While we often consider voice commands for consumer goods, they are also improving military technology. The F-35 fighter aircraft is equipped with a speech recognition system that enables pilots to give the aircraft voice commands. Military Machine points out that this lets pilots focus on other mission-critical tasks instead of scrolling through the instrument panel.  Voice Assistants  Devices such as our cell phones and speakers are now equipped with voice search assistants such as Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant. These tech giants already have hundreds of millions of pre-existing users, and the latest voice technology can be integrated into their devices with a simple software update, according to Globalme. With these updates, we can play music, look up a recipe and follow directions — all without lifting a finger.  Learning and Disability Assistance  Voice command technology can help people who are learning a new language practice pronunciation. Most importantly, according to The Conversation, voice interfaces help users with disabilities such as motor impairments, repetitive stress injuries (such as carpal tunnel) or dyslexia.  Future Applications: TBD  Even Tluszcz, the investor who is convinced that voice will soon replace typing, suggests that the future of voice command technology isn't guaranteed. He told CNBC that voice could either be "a nice add-on" for companies or a "cataclysmic change to the user experience." There's no doubt that voice recognition is growing, but we can't be certain how the growth will continue in the future.  The Conversation suggests that voice interfaces won't take over entirely, but they will be useful tools in our cars and as voice assistants through devices such as smart speakers.  There are so many ways that voice recognition is already being used, and likely many more applications in the future. But just like other technology overhauls such as word processors, smartphones and the internet, change won't happen overnight. How will voice search be used in the future? There are likely many applications we can't even imagine in the context of today. 

What Will Voice Command Technology Do Next?

Scientists have created an ultrasensitive torque detector that could measure a counterintuitive quantum effect called vacuum friction. While we may think of a vacuum as being truly empty and therefore frictionless, physicists have theorized that friction is possible in a vacuum. Now, a laser-based detector could prove whether the theory is true.  A Few Contradictory Definitions Friction is the force that resists the relative motion of one thing against another. Or, in more technical terms, friction "corresponds to wasted energy and therefore determines the efficiency and useful lifetime of all moving systems, from biological to aeronautical," according to Science Advances. In the simplest terms, a vacuum is a space without matter (remember, air is matter — it's just not very dense). Scientists can create a vacuum on Earth by using a vacuum pump to remove the air from a sealed container or by reducing the pressure using a fast flow of fluid, according to Britannica. Given these definitions, the idea of vacuum friction doesn't make sense. How can friction exist in a frictionless environment? Vacuum friction is a quantum effect where an object spinning in a vacuum experiences drag even though it's surrounded by nothingness, according to Science News. Why? Scientists suggest that even when there isn't any matter present, drag can be caused by the ever-present electromagnetic fields that constantly appear and disappear. It would be great to confirm this weird quantum effect, but it would be so subtle and on such a small scale that it's extremely difficult to measure. Torque Detector to the Rescue A team of physicists at Purdue University may have the answer. Phys.org reports that the Purdue scientists built the world's most sensitive torque measuring device. They suspended a speck of twirling dust in a laser beam inside a vacuum. Then they used another laser to alternate the torque and test its sensitivity. The device is made of a silica nanoparticle (that's the dust) suspended inside of a vacuum chamber by a laser beam. The physicists fired a pulsating, circularly polarized laser beam at the nanoparticle for 100 seconds at a time. This made the particle spin 300 billion times per minute, making it the fastest human-made rotor in the world. According to Science News, the torque detector can measure tiny twisting forces, and it is the most sensitive torque detector ever — 700 times as sensitive as the next best sensor. Just how sensitive is it? In the lab, the sensor could measure torques as tiny as 0.4 trillionths of a quadrillionth of a newton-meter, a unit of torque. For context, Science News explains that it takes about one newton-meter of torque to twist a cap off a soda bottle. Quantum Mechanics in Practice According to the researchers at Purdue, the nano-torque detector will help measure and investigate several aspects of quantum theory. Not only will it help unveil vacuum friction, but it could also measure other related effects. It could eventually measure the Casmir effect and nanoscale magnetism. With a better understanding of these quantum effects in the future, engineers could use them to develop and control nanoelectronic devices.

Torque Detector Could Determine if Vacuum Friction Is Possible

Carbon nanotubes, or CNTs, are cylinders of pure carbon with nearly mythical properties. Depending on the angle at which the carbon layer is rolled into cylinders, a carbon nanotube can have perfect electrical conductivity, be a semiconductor or be non-conducting. According to Nanowerk, CNTs can be 400 times stronger than steel at one-sixth the weight, and have better thermal conductivity than diamond. They are extremely resistant to corrosion, and the hollow interior can be filled with pharmaceuticals, water molecules or other nanomaterials to shield them from the surrounding environment. A Solution for Tangled Tubes Ever since Sumio Iijima discovered carbon nanotubes in 1991, researchers have been working to literally untangle their potential. CNTs can be 1,000 to 1,000,000 times longer than they are wide, which makes them prone to tangling during synthesis. The diameter of a carbon nanotube can be less than one nanometer (10-9 meters) or more than 100 nanometers, and the length can range from micrometers (10-6 meters) to millimeters (10-3). Carbon nanotubes are manufactured at a large scale, with highly tangled forms being used in composite materials for sporting goods, bullet-proof vests, boats, cars and aircraft. In order to unlock the full potential of carbon nanotubes, they need to be untangled and assembled into precise structures. A new solvent reported in Science Advances now allows high quality CNTs to be used in advanced manufacturing processes such as 3D printing. Challenges of the Nanoscale The challenge of untangling CNTs is explained by Eric Barnes, a Northrop Grumman Fellow specializing in additive manufacturing and 3D printing who was not involved in the study: "Carbon nanotubes exist in the realm that starts to be governed by nanophysics. In this realm, mass-driven properties like gravity and inertia slowly become less dominating, and elements of quantum physics begin to exert influence," he explained. "We find that things like Van der Waals attractive forces (attraction between molecules that leads to effects like surface tension) can become an asset or a liability. If you are a gecko lizard, the nanoscale structures on the pads of your feet allow you to take advantage of the Van der Waals attractive forces to walk up a sheet of glass. If you are wanting to disperse a nanomaterial into a fluid — such as a resin — the Van der Waals forces may cause your nanotubes to clump together." CNTs are often dissolved in "superacids," such as oleum or chlorosulfonic acid (CSA), which give the sidewalls of the CNT a partial positive charge without permanently changing their structure. This positive charge causes adjacent CNTs to repel each other and move into solution, which allows the carbon nanotubes to be detangled further while remaining at high enough concentrations to be extruded through a needle to produce high performance materials. Unfortunately, these superacids are incompatible with many manufacturing processes and commonly used plastics. A Gentle Touch Unlocks Possibilities Researchers found that two weaker acids, p-toluenesulfonic acid (pToS) or methanesulfonic acid (MSA), had the same effect on CNTs when mixed with a small amount of oleum, which is also known as fuming sulfuric acid. These acids can be used in die coating, screen printing and injection molding with common substrates, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polycarbonate plastics, according to Barnes. PToS is a solid that melts at 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), which is particularly useful for 3D printing because the materials can be processed at moderate temperature and then solidified by cooling. The researchers found that MSA is best for fiber spinning and roll-to-roll production (for example, printing copies of an electrical device on a roll of flexible plastic). After printing, the acid solvent can easily be removed by submersing it in water. It can then be recycled, reducing the cost and environmental impact of producing CNTs. The oleum still requires special handling, but when it's diluted with the milder acids it can be used on unventilated bench tops with common plastics. According to Barnes "This novel approach allows for direct write of CNT structures by transforming the disarranged CNTs into precise, functional morphologies." These 3D printed structures "could potentially be used to carry electrical currents within a multifunctional aerospace structure. The ability to apply the CNTs to polycarbonate and polyester fabric indicates the potential for textiles containing CNT sensors for human health monitoring." In short, the possibilities are endless. Are you interested in all things related to technology? We are too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

Untangling the Possibilities for Carbon Nanotubes

From space travel to the World Wide Web, email to nanoscale robots, humanity's constant drive for improvement and innovation has changed the course of history. So hop aboard and get comfortable — the time machine is all fired up and ready to relive the top scientific discoveries of decades past. Let's go! We've gone to the moon, personalized the computer, and dialed in on cellular tech. Today's destination? Software technology in the 2000s. Known for Y2K scares, the new millennium's first decade was also the launchpad for a digital revolution: music downloads. Sharing Is Caring Early 2000s music listeners toted CDs and portable CD players. As noted by The Next Web, a 700MB CD could fit a full-length album and CD "rippers" made it possible to transfer digital disc files to personal computers. But with the average song landing around 42mb and a Nov. 1st, 2000, article from CNN noting that "the vast majority of users" were still tapping 56 kbps dial-up connections, downloading a single song took three hours minimum. Fortunately, there was a '90s software technology tailor-made for the job: the MP3. MP3's are a type of codec — a portmanteau of COmpressing and DECompresssing — used to shrink the size of audio files. According to The Conversation, MP3s were developed by Fraunhofer IIS and Technicolor and standardized by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). The name is a shortened form of MPEG-1, Audio Layer 3. Released in 1993, MP3s found little traction against both MP2 and AAC formats, despite their ability to achieve 12:1 compression ratios with acceptable sound quality. But in 1999, all that changed. Wake Me Up (Before You Download) While MP3s made it possible to share audio files quickly, users lacked a central repository to store and search for specific tracks or albums. Enter Napster, the brainchild of Sean Parker along with brothers Shawn and John Fanning. This peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing network was a simple software application that let users find and share the music they loved. As noted by LifeWire, more than 80 million users created accounts during Napster's first two years. Napster's downfall was rampant piracy. Many users weren't aware (or didn't care) about music ownership rights and royalties, and in 2001 the service was shut down after a protracted court battle with the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA). But users with a taste for the sweet simplicity of MP3 sharing weren't about to go down easy — services such as Gnutella provided the infrastructure for sharing clients like BearShare, LimeWire and Morpheus. LimeWire in particular was extremely popular, with estimates suggesting it was installed on one-third of computers worldwide during the height of the P2P craze. Not surprisingly, court battles (and P2P losses) continued throughout the early 2000s. Revenue Streams While no one likes stories where Goliath wins, the RIAA had a point: Napster, LimeWire and other P2P services didn't have the rights to distribute the vast majority of their digital files. For their part, these services argued they weren't the ones doing anything wrong. They simply provided a platform and users were the ones committing copyright crimes. This should be the end of our technology in the 2000s story — music file sharing was great for convenience, bad for copyright and that's all she wrote. And for a while, it was. Companies began selling digital files, and MP3 players like the original iPod appeared on store shelves. Buying digital music began to replace the purchase of CDs just as discs muscled out tapes. But the rapid growth of broadband internet and megabit-per-second transfer rates conspired to create a new revenue opportunity: streaming. Leveraging a combination of audio codec, media server and media player application programming interfaces (APIs), streaming applications backed by large record labels and artist groups offered to let users listen to almost any song, any time, anywhere. The caveat? Instead of being downloaded, files were sent via cellular or Wi-Fi data paths. Costs came down — many popular streaming services now charge $10 — $15 per month for full access to music catalogs — and audio fidelity increased. I'm With the Band(width) When Napster hit the internet in 1999, no one could have predicted its meteoric rise. Its epic fall was an easy mark, but the legacy of music downloading software has fundamentally changed the technology landscape. Streaming is the most obvious downstream consequence: Both audio and video file streaming is now commonplace in homes and businesses as users expect on-demand access to the content they want, when they want it. But this musical interlude continues to shape the future of internet use: As noted by Scientific American, global internet traffic is growing by 22% per year — and providers are struggling to keep up. Emerging bandwidth demands stem in no small part from the myriad of MP3s exchanged across early-aught P2P pirating sites more concerned with connecting users than obtaining digital rights. Put simply? Media files of all types and sizes — from single tracks to feature-length movies — are now consumable, convenient and (mostly) sold under copyright. And it's all thanks to the chart-toppers of post-2000 pop music. 

Technology in the 2000s: Of Codecs and Copyrights

It's common knowledge today that anyone who gains unauthorized access to data in a computer system is called a hacker. But not all hackers are equal. In the world of cybersecurity, computer criminals are called black hat hackers and those who break into systems to expose vulnerabilities that need to be fixed are known as white hat hackers.  The terms are a nod to old-time Western movies, in which the villains wore black hats and the good guys wore white, explains Norton. And while black hat hackers get all the press, those engaged in ethical hacking get all the praise. Their role in cybersecurity is so critical, it's going mainstream. Fussing With Machines Hacking didn't always get such a bad rap. For centuries, it meant to chop or cut. But in 1955, members of the Tech Model Railroad Club at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used the word "hack" to mean "fussing with machines." The club meeting minutes from April of that year state that "Mr. Eccles requests that anyone working or hacking on the electrical system turn the power off to avoid fuse blowing," reports Slate. No malicious intent was inferred.  As computers became more common and people began to understand how these machines could be manipulated, fussing with machines took on dark undertones. Wrong-doers began manipulating telecommunications systems in ways that allowed them to make expensive long-distance phone calls for free. Called phreaking, this activity eventually gave way to black hat hacking in the 1980s and 1990s, as thieves saw money-making opportunities in stealing and selling information, according to National Cyber Security Alliance. Kevin Mitnick became notorious during these years for penetrating the computer systems of Sun Microsystems, Digital Equipment Corporation, Motorola, Netcom and Nokia. He became the first hacker to make the FBI's Most Wanted list, reports CISO Magazine, and was finally arrested in 1995. After spending five years in prison, Mitnick became a white hat hacker and started Mitnick Security, a computer security consulting business that deploys "Ghost Teams" of ethical hackers to test the cyberdefense systems of businesses. Mitnick may have helped put ethical hacking on the map, but it was IBM Vice President John Patrick who coined the term in 1995. He said that ethical hacking was "the goal of the majority of hackers, but the current media perception is that hackers are criminals," according to the Richmond Journal of Law & Technology. Today, that may be more accurate than ever before. About 30,000 websites are hacked every day, cybercriminals create 300,000 new pieces of malware daily and hackers steal 75 digital records per second, reports WebARX. Attacks can get expensive. Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that IT security spending worldwide will exceed $1 trillion by 2021. Hacking for Good As computers, including Internet of Things devices, become ubiquitous, a growing and urgent need has arisen for digital security experts that can wage a counterattack. And ethical hackers, who make an average salary of more than $70,000 a year according to InfoSec Institute, have a multitude of training options. The International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) is one such group dedicated to growing the community of white hat hackers. The company was founded in 2003, and today is the world's largest cybersecurity technical certification body, providing training as a Certified Ethical Hacker, Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator, Certified Security Analyst and more in 145 countries. In addition to InfoSec Institute and EC-Council, other reputable hacker academies include Cybrary, Offensive Security, SANS and Hacker House, according to VPNMentor. Those trained in the art of ethical hacking will be tasked with assessing the security of a computer system and attempt to break in as a malicious hacker might — but in a legal manner. Indiana Tech notes that some job responsibilities might include:   Scan computer systems for vulnerable open ports, understand the threats it could face and develop a plan to prevent future attacks.  Dig into digital trash bins to locate deleted chats, passwords and other sensitive information that could be used against a company.  Examine software patches to make sure they're current.  Attempt to dodge Intrusion Prevention Systems, Intrusion Detection Systems, firewalls and honeypots to ensure a computer system has protections in place.  Check for malware, hijacked web servers or applications and other signs of malicious intent and fix them.  The need for white hat hackers is exploding. Small business, hospitals, large corporations and even local and state governments are being cyberattacked on a regular basis. Anyone from a tech-savvy high school student to a college-trained computer science engineer can make a career out of ethical hacking and keep the computer systems we rely on day in and day out safe.

White Hat Hackers on the Trail of Cybercriminals

A successful career rarely follows a straight path. It usually takes a winding road, with plenty of learning curves, ups and downs. One of the best things an employee can do to stay on course is to find a mentor. At Northrop Grumman, mentorships are encouraged through several programs and are seen as valuable interactions that help people broaden their experience, expose them to different career possibilities and point them to educational opportunities. Although it's smart to find a mentor in any industry, it can be particularly helpful to have one in a STEM career. In honor of National Mentoring Month, Laura Scott, a quality program manager at Northrop Grumman, explained why she thinks it's important to find a mentor. Making Connections Scott began her career at Northrop Grumman in November 2009, freshly graduated from Villanova University with a degree in mechanical engineering. She came in as part of the quality engineering group, specifically in process control and testing material properties. In the early days, Scott sought out advice informally from Northrop Grumman employees she admired. But after a couple of years, Scott felt as though she had learned as much as she could on her own and wanted to gain a deeper knowledge of the company from others. She knew it was time to find a mentor. Through a Northrop Grumman program called Women In Leadership, Scott connected with Art Lofton, who was vice president of Global Mission Excellence for the company's Aerospace Systems sector at the time. Lofton, who had started with the company in 1990 and is now retired, had held several positions over his tenure, including deputy program manager of Long Range Strikes for Integrated Systems. That gave him a good perspective on what it took to excel at the company. About once a month, Scott and Lofton would meet to talk about her career goals and get his insight. In one case, Scott was contemplating a move from her job as a Material Review Board quality engineer to Sector Material Review Board chair. Although it was a lateral move, the chairperson role had a much higher level of responsibility. Scott would need to maintain quality processes and interact with customers to ensure consistency across all programs in the sector. She went to Lofton as a sounding board. They discussed the pros and cons of the move, whether it was a good fit for her current skills and development and what would it look like as part of her career path, she said. "A mentor can motivate you to go out there and take some risks," said Scott. Ultimately, she decided to make the move, and she's glad she did. The Bigger Picture After Lofton retired, Scott was paired with Chris Hernandez, vice president of engineering for Aerospace Systems, through the company's VP mentoring program. Because Hernandez worked outside the quality and mission excellence function, he was able to connect Scott with senior people she hadn't met before, in particular women engineers in leadership roles. Scott said she appreciated the opportunity to network with women who were already forging a path in a male-dominated industry.  Enable targeting cookies to view this content.   Hernandez also offered advice that helped Scott think more strategically about her role at Northrop Grumman. In previous positions, for instance, Scott would be tasked with finding solutions to individual problems. But as she progressed through the ranks from contributor to manager, she had to consider an entire sector. Hernandez encouraged her to tweak otherwise single-problem solutions in a way that would make them apply across the board. He challenged her to think not just about putting out a single fire, but about how a solution could work universally, for the whole sector. With Hernandez's help, Scott's perspective began to shift from one of meeting day-to-day goals to one of considering long-term strategic outcomes. Those outcomes generally revolved around technical issues. But as Scott took on more responsibility, she found herself encountering managerial challenges, too. Addressing those issues wasn't something she learned as part of her STEM education; she was trained as an engineer and, like many engineers, tended to focus on the technical. "That can absorb you completely," Scott said. Those who do not look up from their work often may not get out of their niche, she said. They may not know anyone outside their group and or understand how to deal effectively with interpersonal situations when they arise. Hernandez helped introduce Scott to people outside her domain and gave her valuable advice for dealing with a variety of people. "If you want to develop in a career or go into management, mentoring really helps with those interpersonal managerial issues that aren't taught much in STEM fields," says Scott. Two-Way Street For Scott, mentoring always went both ways. As she reflected on her experience during National Mentoring Month, she said she never saw herself as merely the recipient of advice but as an active participant in a mutually respectful relationship. Because she was of a different generation than her mentors, Scott often shared the perspective of her peers with them. She briefed her mentors on the latest technology she and her friends used, for instance, or shared their philosophical perspective. That kind of information can be valuable to those in leadership roles, who are typically managing hundreds, even thousands, of people of different ages and backgrounds. Ten years into her career at Northrop Grumman, Scott is now giving back by mentoring junior-level employees. She says she's impressed with how honest recent college graduates are and how much they know about technology coming into the job. She hopes to pass on what she's gleaned from the formal and informal mentorships she formed over the last decade. And although she's on the other side of the conversation — giving advice, rather than accepting it — she continues to learn. "Even if you don't have a lot work experience, those life experiences can be just as helpful at providing a different point of view to problems," Scott said. Are you looking for a company where you can grow and find your mentor? Visit Northrop Grumman's career page for opportunities.

Why It's Important to Find a Mentor for Your Career

Nature offers gifts every day, from horizon-stretching sunsets to blazing autumn foliage, zippy little hummingbirds and even funny cat videos. But nature can reveal more than what can be seen by the naked eye: when you look very closely, you can see nature rivaling — or surpassing — human efficiency. Observing these intricate processes, forms and characteristics can inspire and influence the systems that humans create and rely on.
Sometimes, nature's influences seem obvious, like how birds in flight led to the creation of airplanes. Other times, wellsprings of ideas can be surprising. The single-celled slime mold, for example, provides insight into how a city can make its roads better conduits for travel. Just as a routine sunset can occasionally reveal a new perspective, finding intelligent patterns and behaviors in biology can be a source of inspiration.
Biomimicry Borrows Nature's 3.8-Billion-Year-Old Secrets
Engineers and scientists study nature for answers because its systems may have already arrived at an answer. This look outward is known as biomimicry. It's a popular approach in architecture, environmental conservation, construction, robotics and other fields. With technology being able to design and manufacture all sorts of materials today, it's getting easier to shape solutions that were first shown to work in nature.
The nonprofit Biomimicry Institute sees the act of replicating nature as a way for humans to survive and thrive on a planet stressed by human-made climate change. While innovators look to biomimicry to create something efficient and effective, the people at the institute believe that, along the way, they also form a connection with the natural world.
As the president of the Biomimicry Institute told GreenBiz, "It's the process of looking at something like a leaf, and trying to figure out how to make a better solar cell. ... After 3.8 billion years, life has learned what works and what's appropriate on the planet, and right now that's what the people trying to redesign our world are looking for."
Nature in Action by Plane, Train or Whale Back
Perhaps the most famous example of nature's influence is the Wright brothers' observations of birds helping to get their Wright Flyer I in the air. Other aspiring aviators also looked to nature's winged creatures for inspiration, but it was the Wrights' study of birds gliding in circles that allowed them to master a critical aspect of flying. They got their plane to balance and turn in the air by warping the wings in opposite directions to change the amount of lift generated by each side, something they observed in vultures, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
Decades later, observing birds also helped to get another innovative mode of transportation not off the ground but to move faster — and more quietly. Reaching speeds of almost 200 miles per hour, the Shinkansen bullet train would make a sonic boom when it exited a tunnel. Innovators had been trying to work out how to eliminate it, and one birdwatching engineer noticed a potential parallel in a kingfisher's long beak that allows it to dive into water without making a splash. So, the Shinkansen underwent a facelift. With a 50-foot-long beak-shaped nose, the train no longer booms, faces less wind resistance and travels faster.
Solving problems isn't just for the birds, though. The water habits of the suckerfish inspired a scientific breakthrough in how to attach trackers to animals in the wild. Known for traveling oceans on the backs of whales, rays and sharks, suckerfish were observed not tightly grasping the skin to hang on, but rather hovering slightly above it. Their position forms a low-pressure zone that sucks the two close together, even on a full-speed ride. This realization inspired researchers to create a biomimetic sucker to track whales and other mammals that has better adhesion than previous trackers.
Looking at Slime Mold, Frog Tongues and More
The slime mold physarum polycephalum grows as a greenish-yellow system of veins that form a tubular network. The network transfers nutrients throughout the organism, first "foraging" broadly over an area, then refining the network to improve the movement of the nutrients.
Researchers believe this level of slime mold intelligence could provide a model for improving city planning, according to Phys.org. A University of Toronto research team created a computer model that simulates the way slime mold constructs its network. They based the model on metrics that speak to architects, city planners and others who might find these lessons from slime mold intelligence beneficial to their design process.
If that seems like a bit of a leap, consider how the super-fast tongues of frogs inspired Georgia Tech University researchers, according to CBS News. Amazed at how a frog's tongue could move fast and not lose its grip on flies and other tasty objects, the researchers are learning how frog saliva could lead to the development of new adhesives.
What else could scientists and engineers learn from nature? According to the Biomimicry Institute, the ladybug's compact and foldable wings can inspire aeronautics and space technology. The anglerfish's ability to manipulate light could lead to new ultra-black materials and bio-inspired lamps. And the spines of sloths can illustrate how to balance compression and tension.
Of course, the energy-saving and purposeful leisureliness of sloths themselves could improve the movements of robotics. That would be a study anyone could enjoy — slowly.
 
Are you interested in all things related to science and technology? We are, too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

From Slime Mold to Sloths: Biomimicry Inspires Real-World Applications

The first Drone Racing League (DRL) series was announced by ESPN last fall. Complete with crashes and tricked-out courses, the competitions are built to entertain fans. The events combine cutting-edge aerial vehicle technology with Hollywood-quality courses to deliver races packed with speed ... and crashes.Viewers are taken along for a ride thanks to onboard cameras that provide first-person views (FPV) that allow pilots the freedom to push the limits of the devices.FPV is unique in that it provides a viewpoint that is otherwise unachievable. Racing drones can perform maneuvers that would render a human pilot unconscious and, thanks to their size, they are able to operate in places where manned vehicles simply cannot.A Sporty ApproachAutonomous aerial systems have been around for a few decades but the launch of competitions is bound to drive further innovation. Sport and competition is what has driven vehicle innovation for more than a century, since the first automobile races of the late 1800s.The DRL series is driven by strict regulations and requirements. This is not unlike the design specifications adhered to by aerospace companies. Each has unique operating environments and vehicles are packed with carbon-fiber bodies, efficient motor control systems and low-latency, high-precision control mechanisms.The agility and precision control software it takes to get a drone through a series of checkpoints is an accessible display of technology. Measuring about 10 inches across and weighing in just under a pound, an official DRL vehicle can reach speeds of up to 120 mph.Speed and Agility RequiredThe vehicles you see on ESPN are designed for, as the DRL puts it, "speed, agility, and durability." Airing drone racing makes it accessible to the masses but aerospace companies have been doing that for years, and they take durability and range seriously.Take the U.S. Navy's MQ-8C Fire Scout. The Northrop Grumman-designed Fire Scout is nearly 50 times larger (41.4 feet) and 6,000 times heavier than its model counterpart, but is also able to carry a 500-pound payload and hit top speeds of more than 150 mph.Northrop Grumman also took on a monumental challenge of engineering, precision and control while becoming the first to land and launch an autonomous aerial system from an aircraft carrier, with the U.S. Navy's X-47B UCAS-D in 2013.In 2016, DARPA announced Northrop Grumman as the winner of a nearly $100-million contract to develop a new form of autonomous aerial system. Most of that development is still top secret, but it'll make drone racing devices look like the toys that they are.Seeing Is BelievingWe may not all be fighter pilots, but getting a ride in the cockpit is still the best way to experience what is happening in the industry. Enthusiasts in the San Diego area, a hotbed of aviation activity, were treated to a fierce, team-based competition of autonomous aerial systems working in concert at the Northrop Grumman-hosted Quad Cup in August.Everyone who wants to see autonomous aerial systems continue development should be pushing to have more people experience that thrill. One of the leading makers of FPV drones, Lumenier, is quoted as saying their main marketing channel is to sponsor pilots in drone racing events.The FAA does not regularly release data on how many operators there are out there, but as of May 2016, there were reports of more than 500,000 registered drones in the United States. Add in the recent holiday season and that number will soon approach a million.What's next for drone racing? As the commercial and military markets leap forward with innovation, the push towards truly trusted cognitive autonomy may result in flying robots that make their own decisions, untethered by the limits of the joystick.

A Sporty Approach to Drone Racing

In the United States, annual healthcare waste — from failure of care delivery to overtreatment — ranged from $760 to $935 billion, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. But wearable healthcare technology is poised to overturn these trends. New laws that allow doctors to embrace innovations in wearable diagnostic and assistive devices could help usher in a new era precision medicine that reduces medical costs and saves thousands of lives. "Studies have shown that folks using these types of devices are more engaged in their own health than those that are aren't," says Michael Wittman, program manager at Northrop Grumman Information Systems in McLean, Virginia. Fitness Trackers Grow Up  Today's wearable healthcare technology has its origins in old-school pedometers that could count the number of steps a person took each day. Activity trackers began to crop up in the late 2000s, like wristbands that wirelessly connected to a smartphone app. In addition to tracking steps, most of these consumer devices were capable of sensing heart rate, sleep patterns and flights of stairs climbed. The data they collected was informative, but it wasn't detailed enough to feed a medical diagnosis. Things started to shake up in 2018. Apple introduced its Series 4 Watch, which had the ability to take an FDA-approved electrocardiogram (ECG) and share it with a doctor. The medical diagnosis door was cracking open for wearable healthcare technology, but one detail stuck. Even if a doctor could receive medical-quality data, they weren't able to bill an insurance company for any service related to it. The situation would be similar to a doctor making a medical recommendation based on the result of an MRI, but not being able to bill for it. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) saw the problem and enacted changes in January 2019, says Pete Ianace, senior vice president of corporate development at VitalTech in Dallas, Texas. They released a handful of insurance codes doctors could use to bill Medicare for services tied to wearable diagnostic and assistive devices. For instance, says Ianace, if a doctor writes a prescription for a Medicare advantage patient to wear a health monitoring band, Medicare will pay the doctor $65/month for as long as the patient wears the device. If the doctor or a nurse in that office spends 20 minutes per month reading the data, the doctor can bill $54. If the patient sends a photograph of, for instance, a rash that could be a side effect of medication, the doctor can bill $13. The list goes on because starting in January 2020, CMS is adding more codes. "The doctor today who is burned out now has the ability to do remote care, from telehealth to remote monitoring, and essentially add a million dollars of revenue per year to a single practice — and, by the way, end up with better patient health outcomes," says Ianace. Precision Medicine in the Making Wearable medical devices being developed not only track activity, including heart rate, steps and calories burned but also have sensors that pick up vital signs, such as respiration rate, blood-oxygen levels and irregular heartbeats. At-risk patients, such as elderly people with diabetes, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart irregularities have a lot to gain from these wearables. A medical-quality gadget can be programmed with a patient's baseline biometrics as well as their prescription regime and send regular updates to a doctor automatically. If a patient's usual activity or biometric indicators move outside normal ranges, the system can send an alert to a phone app owned by the patient or to a family member. Healthcare technology advances will improve disease treatment and prevention by taking into consideration an individual's medical history, environment and lifestyle. If a person with diabetes has a blood-sugar level that gets too high, for instance, a medical device can issue a warning that they need to adjust their medication. If air quality is poor on a hot summer day, the device could warn a patient with asthma to take precautions or stay inside. Healthcare wearables can remind people to take specific medication at specific times, detect falls and serve as panic alerts that connect users to immediate assistance. In response to the potential of wearable healthcare technology, the market is exploding. According to Wareable, market analysts from Gartner have estimated that spending on wearable products, including smartwatches, will rise from $41 billion in 2019 to $52 billion in 2020. That trend is already underway. At the end of October 2019, Optum, a division of the insurance giant United Healthcare, acquired Vivify Health, a patient-monitoring platform, reported CNBC. And just a few short days later, Google announced that it had purchased Fitbit, the health fitness wearable. Use With Caution As with any emerging field, especially one that impacts the health and well-being of a patient, there will be challenges. In an essay published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, physicians from Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Massachusetts General Hospital offer a word of caution about healthcare technology advances with wearable devices. In a summary provided by the American Medical Association, the study's authors write that although insurance companies have begun to reward policy holders for healthier activity, calorie intake, blood pressure and weight tracked by wearable devices, these companies could begin to penalize less healthy people with higher premiums because there are no regulations to stop them. The physicians also warn that inaccurate data collection could unintentionally result in penalties or harmful treatment. For instance, if a device records activity levels much lower than the person produced, the numbers could reduce insurance premium rewards. Or, if a device yields false-positive readings, doctors could potentially recommend treatments that are harmful. They also point that patients who cannot afford wearable devices and who aren't covered by Medicare may not be able to participate in incentive programs. They would miss out on insurance rewards, and more importantly, health benefits that the technology offers. Lastly, the physicians write that the data from digital health devices could be intercepted by third parties and used in inappropriate ways. Data collected by a wearable device is not protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the physicians said. Wittman says that in order to increase adoption and to be able to use the technology from a clinical standpoint, tech companies have to make devices that produce medically relevant data. Strong guidance from the FDA can help make medical wearables reliable and accurate. But it may simply take some time. "I think you're going to see more and more devices approved for home use as the technology matures," says Wittman.

Advancing Precision Medicine With Wearable Healthcare Technology

Have you been considering a new career? Perhaps a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)? The new year is a perfect time to make intentional changes in your life, especially pertaining to your job. However, exploring a new career path can be overwhelming at times. To get started, try these job search tips:1. Make a List of Your Current StrengthsWhat skills do you already have that would translate to a career in STEM? For example, if you feel confident in your communication skills, perhaps you might look for a job in science policy. Jodi Glickman suggests some job search tips in the Harvard Business Review (HBR), the most key of which is to think of your strengths in terms of what people ask you for help with the most.2. Research Career OptionsDo some research about what qualifications will be required if you want to get a STEM job but are not yet working in the field. Consider what potential certifications you might need to complete. Check websites of professional organizations in your desired field to get a sense for how to prepare for a job. Writer Kenda Whitmire recently switched from a career in the humanities to a career as a nutritionist, and she reminds career changers that many STEM jobs will require that you take classes or acquire a new degree. Keep in mind that if you do need to acquire a new degree, you may have already fulfilled some prerequisites.3. Find Companies Whose Aspirations Match Your OwnRebecca Knight writes in HBR that it's worthwhile to look for companies and careers whose mission, values or aspirations align with your own. For example, some STEM careers will allow you to help people directly — like nursing or nutrition — while others might involve more independent work, perhaps in a laboratory or factory setting. If you need to tangibly see the impact of your work, you might choose the former over the latter. At Northrop Grumman, employees agree to take quality and leadership seriously. If these factors matter to you, a career at Northrop Grumman might be a good fit.4. Vet Specific RolesTake a look at specific STEM jobs and ask yourself these key questions: How much do you need to make per year to achieve your financial goals? How well does the specific job fit in with your strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes? What else are you offered as part of the job? Research has shown that a job's "extras" — like benefits, commute time and managerial structures — can make a big difference in job satisfaction levels.5. Polish Your ResumeMake sure that your resume reflects your transferable skills and new certifications; that way, you can show how you might be qualified for a new job in the STEM sector even if it's not obvious at a first glance. "Maybe it's not just, I'm great with numbers, it's I'm great with details. And so I could take this financial analysis position that I've been doing for years and years and actually go do something very different as long as it is also detail oriented ... it's the skill behind the skill," says Jodi Glickman, founder of the communication training company Great on the Job.6. NetworkJob boards are usually for research; networking is often the real key to getting a new position in a STEM field. This is why informational interviews are important. You can also network by joining common interest groups for the industry you're interested in, attending hackathons or reaching out to people in your local community who've also switched to STEM careers in mid-life.7. Stay PersistentIt can be tough to get a new job, especially in STEM, and especially if you're making a career change later in life. For this reason, Glickman recommends setting a reasonable time frame for your job hunt. For example, if after three months your dream job isn't panning out, agree that you'll spend 50 percent of your time continuing to work toward that dream job and 50 percent of your time working toward a fallback option that gets you halfway there.

7 Job Search Tips for STEM Positions

Melting ice sheets and warming oceans are forcing cities to deal with more frequent storm surges and flooding rains. One solution proposes building structures not on land but at sea, requiring architectural innovation to create permanently floating homes and other buildings along shores and on other waterways. Leading the charge is the architectural firm Waterstudio, based in the Netherlands. "A hundred years ago the invention of the elevator allowed us to build vertically; now we need to understand water as an extra dimension for cities," architect and industrial designer Koen Olthuis, Waterstudio's founder, told the Financial Times. Architectural research coming out of Waterstudio, as well as other design institutes, demonstrates that homes, neighborhoods and even entire countries can be built to rise on the tides. Because it can help mitigate the impacts of high waters and also provide commercial real estate magnates sustainable development opportunities, this kind of architectural innovation has the potential to be the next frontier in real estate. Here are four floating concepts that architects are working on to deal with the threat of floods. Homes Ahoy Olthuis founded Waterstudio in 2005 out of frustration that the Dutch were building on land despite the fact that one-third of the coastal country is below sea level and prone to flooding, according to Reuters. Taking inspiration from the tens of thousands of houseboats common throughout the country, Olthuis began designing homes for the water. In a 2017 interview with Inhabitat, he said that the first 20 or so homes he built were modern houseboats. But after his firm patented a technology for a floating foundation made of foam and concrete that moved up and down on piles, he was able to build moored structures. They are now using it to construct, among other things, single- and multi-family homes in the Netherlands, including a series of floating villas in the city of Den Bosch, in the north of the country and in Dordrecht, near Rotterdam. Buoyant Neighborhoods Building a home is one thing, but planning an entire development that floats is entirely new. In Amsterdam, a neighborhood called Schoonschip consists of 46 houses and apartments and a community center built on 30 floating plots. It was conceived of by Dutch television producer Marjan de Blok in 2008, who was inspired by a self-sufficient, floating houseboat called geWoonboot, which is used as a meeting center. It runs on solar energy, uses an onboard purification system to deal with wastewater and uses solar boilers and heat exchangers to provide warmth. De Blok worked with Waterstudio to develop well-insulated, highly efficient residences that were built between 2017 and 2019. As self-sufficient as geWoonboot, all 46 homes in Schoonschip are connected via one port to a communal smart grid, which allows homeowners to trade energy with each other. At the moment, gray water from washing machines and black water from toilets is flushed and processed by a separate source, but eventually the city's utility company, Waternet, will include the neighborhood in a pilot project to deliver toilet water to a bio-refinery. There, it will be transformed into energy. Suburbs at Sea In tiny countries with little land to spare, some people are eyeing the ocean as a place to expand. Singapore, for instance, is the most densely populated city in the world with 5.9 million people living within 278 square miles. To accommodate its growth, it has for years imported sand to build out its coast. But that practice is falling under stricter regulations, forcing the government to reconsider alternatives. Civil and environmental engineers from the National University of Singapore are investigating whether floating rafts could support growth. In a 2019 study, the researchers proposed a grid of more than 40 floats, each a little bigger than a baseball diamond, which would be connected to a wharf, reported Smithsonian Magazine. Concepts are in the early stages and would need to be tested first on a small scale before full-size prototypes were built. Gil Wang, a naval engineer at the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel, told Smithsonian Magazine that Israel is also investigating floating platforms as a way to expand Tel Aviv, located on the Mediterranean Sea. They can be a cheaper and more sustainable alternative to dredging sand, he said. His architectural research team is using computer modeling to test how floating platforms about the size of a hockey rink could support 10-story buildings. Connecting several platforms with hinge-like mechanisms and adding floating breakwaters to dampen waves could improve a structure's stability, he said. Floating Farms If people can live on sea, why not animals? The Netherlands-based architectural office Goldsmith has built what they're calling the world's first floating dairy farm in Rotterdam. A triple- decker structure, the farm is essentially an open-air barn that houses 40 dairy cows. Animals eat on the top layer, which has large stalls, a rubber floor, a milk robot and an automatic belt feeder that delivers local brewers' grains, bran, potato scrapings and grass to the hungry cow. A plank to the adjacent shore allows the cows to spread out and graze in the nearby field. The middle level supports a small factory for milk and yogurt production. All heavy structural and technical components are situated in the lower, submerged level of the building. Solar panels provide energy and a rainwater-capturing system on the roof collects and purifies water. The architects said the ability to put the farm on the water means it can be close to the city, shortening the transport of food production to consumers, which reduces pollution. Goldsmith is also considering future designs for a floating chicken farm and a floating vegetable greenhouse. With available land area shrinking, oceans rising, hurricanes surging and 50% of the world's population living on coasts, governments are under pressure to respond. Adapting to rising waters with innovative architecture that "goes with the flow" is one alternative solution. If such an endeavor can tap into technologies, such as solar and bioenergy, floating homes, neighborhoods and cities may become a sustainable solution to coastal impacts of climate change. Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

How Architectural Innovation Will Take Everyday Living Out to Sea

Gaming is on the rise around the world. According to Bloomberg, video games are exploding globally, with a 23% rise in revenue between 2020 and 2021. It's forecasted to be a $219 billion industry by 2024, helped along by the pandemic and the number of hours, days and weeks people have spent inside. Nowhere is gaming on the rise more than in India, the world's largest democracy. Of the roughly 1.3 billion people who live there, it turns out that around 400 million are gamers. According to the All India Gaming Federation, it's Indian female gamers who are driving this industry growth in the country. Let's take a look at why gaming is becoming such a force in India and what Indian female gamers are doing to push it forward. Why Is Gaming Such a Big Deal in India? The Independent reports that India has 560 million internet users, which makes it the second largest population of internet consumers in the world. Gaming was already a huge force in India, and the COVID-19 pandemic and its ensuing lockdowns only accelerated its growth. What was once seen as a solitary behavior became a way to forge connections with others. For instance, at its peak, the popular game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) had 34 million users in India. According to KPMG, just 9% of Indian gamers use a computer, and only 4% are console players. Mobile phones are the primary avenue through which gamers in India play, and the low pricing of 4G data has made gaming more accessible than ever. Between 2021 and 2025, KPMG projects 182% revenue growth in the Indian gaming industry. How Are Women Contributing to the Rise of Indian Gaming? In 2020, the number of Indian female gamers rose sharply, from 19% to 42%. Ninety-five percent of these women are playing on a smartphone, and these numbers are expected to increase over the next few years. That's an absolutely massive increase in the number of gamers in India and a boom for the domestic industry. Women are also participating in e-sports and streaming in unprecedented numbers. Payal Dhare is behind Payal Gaming, with over 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube. She's considered one of the most talented and popular female gamers in India. Another content creator for online gaming, Aparna Shukla (also known as Rog Stream), has over 2.5 million followers on Facebook. These two, along with many others, are normalizing the presence of women in gaming and content creation spaces, making room for more women within these industries. The key here is that women already make up almost half of gamers in India. Every expert prediction and market research report says that these numbers will continue to rise disproportionately, and sometime soon female gamers could easily outnumber male gamers in India. How Is This Shaping India's Gaming Industry? Indian companies are noticing sharp upward trends and rushing to cater to this quickly growing demographic of new gamers. With the rise of gaming in India, it's a good time to join the gaming industry there, and many organizations are now specifically marketing their content and games to women. Because of the country's large population and the ubiquity of smartphones, research firm Research and Markets reports that over 200 game development companies have popped up in India in the past three years. Companies are looking to make games for Indians domestically, rather than relying on internationally made games, and they're looking to research to help them tap into what women in gaming are looking for — all of which is driving the Indian video game industry forward considerably. Are you interested in all things related to technology? We are too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

How Indian Female Gamers Are Driving the Growth of the Industry

   In an era when long-distance communication was achieved by sending signals over telegraph wires, Italian electrical engineer Guglielmo Marconi was one of a handful of researchers who suspected invisible radio waves might offer a better solution. Despite failing his college entrance exams, Marconi (1874—1937) went on to conduct some of the most important technological experiments in history, pioneering long-distance radio transmission and becoming one of the world's most famous inventors, a successful entrepreneur and a Nobel Prize winner.    Enable targeting cookies to view this content.   Although others explored the same idea, Marconi successfully commercialized emerging radio technology. His work became the foundation for radio, television, satellites, radar and the internet.      Experiments, Patents and Commercial Success    It didn't hurt that, in addition to being a brilliant inventor, he had family connections and wealth on his side. As a young man, Marconi was privately educated, and he transformed the top floor of his family's Italian estate into a working laboratory for his experiments.  After reading an article about Heinrich Hertz's groundbreaking work with electromagnetic radiation, Marconi was determined to build a device to transmit radio waves over long distances. In 1895, at the age of 21, Marconi successfully sent wireless signals over a distance of one and a half miles. Next, he wirelessly communicated over a 12-mile distance and was granted the world's first patent for a system of wireless telegraphy. Over the following decade, he continued to stretch the technology across greater distances and found commercial success outside of the lab. In 1899, he established wireless communication between France and England across the English Channel and founded the Marconi Telegraph Company.    While his business grew, Marconi continued to patent new inventions and achieve milestones in developing radio communication. In 1900, he was granted a patent for "tuned or syntonic telegraphy" and in 1901, he sent and received the first wireless signals across the Atlantic Ocean, 2,100 miles from his now-famous Poldhu station in England to Newfoundland. This experiment disproved the common misconception that the earth's curvature would affect the way wireless signals transmitted on electromagnetic waves.    In 1902, he patented a magnetic detector that became the standard receiver for wireless communications for many years. In 1905, he patented his horizontal directional aerial, and in 1912, Marconi patented a "timed spark" system for generating continuous waves. He later transmitted wireless messages between Poldhu and stations at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. In 1907, Marconi opened the first transatlantic commercial service between Glace Bay and Clifden, Ireland. In 1912, Marconi's wireless system was used by the crew of the RMS Titanic to send life-saving distress signals.    Legacy Beyond Radio    During World War I, Guglielmo Marconi served in the Italian army and navy, where he achieved the rank of commander. He was sent on diplomatic missions to the United States and France. After the war, he continued his research on short-wave radio technology, picking up where his earliest experiments had left off.    During the 1920s, he conducted trials between experimental installations at Poldhu Station and his yacht "Elettra," his floating home and perpetual laboratory. His later work led to the "beam system" for long-distance communication, which was adopted by the British government in 1926 as a design for international communication. Marconi's research on the propagation characteristics of shorter waves led to microwave transmission. He also contributed to the development of radar systems that are still being used for military missions and scientific pursuits.    He was one of the lucky inventors to be recognized during his own time, but he was also the subject of controversy. His telegraph company was criticized for having a near-monopoly on the global wireless communications industry. Additionally, several of his patents were challenged and restored to other inventors. In 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Tesla's radio patent number 645,576.    Ultimately, Marconi is remembered as the pioneer of radio. By the end of his career, he had received countless honors and international awards, such as the John Fritz Medal, the Kelvin Medal and the Italian Military Medal for his war service. He also shared the Nobel Prize in physics with Karl Braun in 1909.    Marconi's experiments, which are on display at the National Electronics Museum in Linthicum, Maryland, were instrumental in developing the wireless technology we use today in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, smartphones and Internet of Things applications. His fundamental research remains essential as modern Marconis continue to push the limits of the ways we can make the most of radio waves.

You Can Thank Guglielmo Marconi for Your Favorite Wireless Devices

Florid cursive writing and mastery of Latin were once core studies in the educational curriculum. Today, technology leaders are encouraging parents and schools to teach kids to code. Code is a broad term for the programming languages that tell computers what to do. Every car, airplane, medical device and social media app relies on coders to create and maintain the programs behind the scenes. Teaching kids to code will prepare the next generation to keep our tech-reliant economy humming. According to CNBC: "About half of the highest-paying American jobs now require some coding knowledge. But our tech skills are lacking; 15-year-olds in the United States ranked 38th out of 71 countries in terms of math skills" in a 2015 assessment. Coding Prepares Kids To Succeed No matter their career aspirations, all students can benefit from learning computational thinking and problem-solving strategies, Chicago Public Schools Computer Science Integration Manager Troy Williams told Mashable.  Chicago Public Schools spearheaded an initiative called Computer Science for All (CS4All), which ensures "that students across the district are afforded the opportunity to receive world-class CS instruction, regardless of the type, size, or socioeconomic status of a school's students." One of the leaders in teaching kids to code is Code.org, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by women and underrepresented minorities. Code.org hosts Hour of Code, an annual campaign that engages tens of millions of students across the world and provides the leading curriculum for K-12 computer science in the United States. Top competitions include CyberCenturion, a cybersecurity contest in the United Kingdom for 12- to 18-year-olds, sponsored by Northrop Grumman. The goal of the competition is to engage with students at an early age and encourage them to pursue careers in the cyber fields, filling the U.K. cyber skills gap. Battlecode — a long-running artificial intelligence competition from MIT — pits teams against each other to design AI that can best their opponents. Recent competitions have added virtual zombies to introduce a random element that makes it more difficult to program for every eventuality. Coding training can use commercially popular languages such as Python and Ruby, as well as systems built to teach programming for kids. MIT developed Scratch and Scratch Jr., visual programming languages for children as young as 5 years old. Another child-friendly visual programming language is Tynker, which also incorporates the hugely popular Minecraft online world into its lessons. Tynker introduces students to Python and JavaScript coding as their skills progress. The visual programming languages teach children to create sequences by snapping blocks of commands together. The result might be an animation or game. Students learn how to program repetitive actions and conditional steps — if the next space is open, then move forward; if not, turn left. Should All Kids Learn To Code? What are the benefits of programming for kids? As Marina Umaschi Bers wrote in Tufts Now, "It offers many opportunities for learning and personal growth, exploration and creativity, mastery of new skills, and ways of thinking." While only some students will go on to have careers in the field, learning how to code teaches many transferable skills. Robin Raskin, the founder of Living in Digital Times, wrote in the Huffington Post that the single best skill learned through coding is "empowerment." She adds that, "Your thoughts can be translated into actions."

Teaching Kids To Code Teaches Them How To Think

Unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, have become a ubiquitous part of our lives. Smart, microprocessor- and software-driven flying machines now regularly perform military missions tagged as "dull, dirty or dangerous," while local government agencies and private entrepreneurs enlist drones for missions such as aerial surveillance of fires, wedding photography and small-package deliveries. Against this backdrop, however, human test pilots — those daring young men and women in their flying machines of movie legend — remain a central and indispensable part of aircraft design, and the teams and processes that develop, test and field new aircraft systems, both manned and unmanned. "Developmental test pilots serve as the 'bridge' between engineers (who design the plane) and operational pilots (who fly the plane)," explains Bob Hood, a retired U.S. Air Force test pilot and one of 15 active test pilots employed today by Northrop Grumman. "The test pilot must be able to speak 'engineering' to help aircraft developers produce a plane with good flying qualities that can meet its mission requirements. He must also help developers produce a flying experience for pilots that is engaging, intuitive and easy to understand." Start With STEM Many test pilots begin their careers as military pilots with a degree in engineering or another technical degree such as physics or mathematics. "To enter test pilot school, you also have to have substantial flying experience — a minimum of 750 flight hours — in military aircraft," explains Troy Johnson, a retired Air Force test pilot and Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems' chief test pilot. The U.S. Navy and the Air Force both operate their own test pilot schools; commercial test pilot schools are also available in the U.S. and abroad. Join the Dream Team Ironically, explains Don Weiss, a retired U.S. Marine Corps test pilot and Northrop Grumman's chief B-2 stealth bomber test pilot, "a majority of the contributions of a test pilot are not made while seated in an aircraft." The role of a test pilot actually begins, he explains, "in the 'dreaming' stage of aircraft design as part of a team considering all aspects of aircraft operation and performance." The test pilot contributes to everything from aircraft design criteria; vendor selection for specific subsystems; and the layout of cockpit controls and displays; to helping develop simulators, flight test plans and training programs — and the earlier in the program, the better. "The single most important job of a test pilot," advises Wayne Staley, a retired Northrop Grumman test pilot who began his test pilot career in the Air Force, "is to collect the data that the aircraft's designers need to evaluate the operation and performance of the aircraft." Bring the Right Stuff The most important characteristic of a test pilot? "Integrity," says Weiss. "Both engineers and pilots have to trust, intimately, the real-time findings of the test pilot. If there is an issue with the plane, the test pilot has to be very transparent so that the situation is well understood by designers and operators alike." Good test pilots need to be disciplined, curious, and cool under fire. According to Hood, however, "fear is not part of a test pilot's vocabulary." If something unusual happens during a flight, he says, "You have to operate in the present. It doesn't matter how you got there, only how you're going to fix it." And this advice has paid off. In October, both Hood and Staley were recognized by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP) for their career-long ability to meet challenging flight test requirements. Both men were honored as members of SETP's 2017 Class of Fellows at the organization's annual meeting, in Anaheim, Calif. Evolve With Technology As aircraft design technology has evolved, so too has the role of the test pilot. "In the 1950s, pilots took planes out to see what they would do. Today we take aircraft out to verify the predictions of our models," says Staley. In an age of sophisticated wind tunnel testing, modeling and simulation tools, he adds, "we don't get into the cockpit until our predicted performance is good." But a new aircraft system doesn't need a cockpit to benefit from the skills of a test pilot. "Increasingly, high speed computers do most of the 'thinking' and management of flight control surfaces for autonomous systems," says Weiss. "But you still need someone who can evaluate the air vehicle's flying qualities, because humans are involved in operating it from the ground." FAA rules require operators of certain classes of unmanned systems to be flight qualified as pilots, and instrument rated. Test pilots work closely with designers of ground control stations, therefore, to ensure that aircraft controls, displays, and methods of presenting information are consistent with how our pilots are trained. Test pilots also help autonomous system designers ensure that an aircraft's avionics and flight control systems can respond appropriately to human air traffic control commands to the air vehicle operator. "The goal is to design autonomous systems so that they are fail-safe and foolproof, but every once in a while, these systems fail and you end up losing an aircraft," observes Johnson. "By including test pilots' expertise in the development of an aircraft, there's a much better chance that a pilot can bring it home safely." Manage the Risks In the end, being a test pilot centers on risk management, whether you're testing a manned or an autonomous system. "The test pilot and the test team spend a lot of time discussing and mitigating risks before a plane ever takes off," explains Staley. "These discussions involve the people who understand best how the aircraft works. Our shared goal is to identify possible problems and minimize our exposure to those problems. That way we'll always have a safe escape route if unexpected situations arise." Enjoy the Ride For all the discipline, teamwork, and mission planning, however, test pilots still go to work to do what they love most — fly high performance aircraft. "One of my most memorable experience was testing the weapons delivery capabilities of a military jet over the ocean," recalls Weiss. "On test day, there was a marine layer of clouds. We needed to have clear conditions to complete the test properly. We spotted a hole in the clouds that was just large enough to drop in, release the weapons, document it and get out. That was fun, and it felt good to accomplish the test under challenging conditions. Most importantly, we got the data. I call that a pretty good day at the office."

Aircraft Design in the Age of Autonomous Systems: Test Pilots Still Play Essential Role

Alarmist news reporting warns of robots eventually replacing human employees. There isn't cause to worry just yet, so banish all thoughts of Rossum's Universal Robots rising up against their human overlords. It's not all doom and gloom. From companionship to pizza delivery, robots can handle lots of simple and not-so-simple tasks that demonstrate how they can help humans. Robotic Assistance When considering the potential benefits of robots, start by thinking through your daily routine. Is there anything you would gladly let a robot take over? Though they're relatively small in size, there are robots making a big impact in areas of everyday life. Gardening: If you enjoy watching your Roomba trundle around after dust bunnies, just think how awesome it would be to have an outdoor robot that kills weeds in your garden. Franklin Robotics' Tertill uses solar power and four-wheel drive to wage war on your weeds on a daily basis. This waterproof garden tank rumbles around rain or shine. Pizza: Maybe you'll use the time you saved in the garden to pick up a pizza. Or maybe not; Domino's customers in Hamburg, Germany, have the option of getting one delivered by robot. The six-wheeled, curb-climbing Starship Technologies vehicles trundle along sidewalks at around 4 mph with a payload of around four pizzas. According to Wired, onboard sensors allow the unit to avoid both foot and auto traffic as it crosses streets and navigates routes up to a mile from the pizzeria. While other companies are using drone technology for deliveries, Starship Technologies says it has tested the system in 6 countries and 59 cities and states that there are advantages to keeping robots on the ground, such as "No high-speed crashes, no tangling with the FAA for regulatory approval, no reliance on technology that's still in development or overly expensive." Need a Hand? Venom Extraction: Do you have a tank full of scorpions to milk? There's a robot for that. According to The Society for Experimental Biology, a research team in Morocco has a lightweight and portable scorpion-milking robot that is gentle with both the insect and the human handler. While SEB notes that scorpion venom is beneficial for "immunosuppressants, anti-malarial drugs and cancer research," they also state that "the extraction process can be potentially life-threatening." Hopefully, this invention will decrease life-threatening risks, making electrical shock or accidental envenomation a thing of the past. Travel and Telecommuting: Robots can now stand in for you at conferences, as described by Wired. Tired of commuting to work? This Oculus Rift-based VR project from MIT gives you the option to control robots remotely via telecommuting.  Music: What about how robots can help humans in the arts? Lonely musicians should take note of Nigel Stanford's automated bandmates. At Robotic Arm's Length Along with helping with daily tasks, robots can also keep you out of danger. As well as unmanned systems removing land mines, there are other robots designed for danger zones. For example, the University of Nevada, Reno, has aerial robots designed to fly around toxic environments like the abandoned Manhattan Project sites, mapping hazards for eventual cleanup, as described by Unmanned Aerial Systems Magazine. Instead of exposing operatives to radiation, chemical hazards and extreme environments, remote operation places robots at the sharp end of disasters. How about robot security guards patrolling the neighborhood? Business Insider suggests that Silicon Valley firms may soon be patrolled by security guards that never need a bathroom break. These robots are not built to tackle but to scan; through an array of sensors, the mechanical guards monitor the environment. When challenged with unusual activity, they sound the alarm to deter intruders or bring help.  Will robots ultimately replace the need for human labor, or will they enhance our lives in ways we never imagined? It remains to be seen, but the possibilities seem endless.

Benefits of Robots in Modern Life — Humans Need Not Apply

Water is life. But even as our warming planet's sea levels and rainfall rise, the percentage of water on Earth is shrinking. Drought, water pollution, agricultural demand, exponential population growth and leaky infrastructure exacerbates the problem of water scarcity. At least 10 global cities, populated by tens of millions of people, face a future of limited water resources that will directly result in poor health, disease and death.  Researchers are working to address the problem, though. From technologies that purify polluted water to those that harvest it from thin air, solutions are coming online to quench the world's thirst.  The Blue Marble  One of the most iconic images of planet Earth came in 1968, when the crew of the Apollo 8 spacecraft entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve. NASA astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders produced a color photo that would later become known as Earthrise. It shows our planet as a fragile blue rock amid a vast, black cosmos. That blue is water. More than 70% of the planet is covered in it and the oceans alone hold 96.5% of all Earth's water, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).  Although oceans support plenty of life, seawater is salty and undrinkable. Humans need fresh water and most of that is locked up in glaciers, ice caps or in deep underground reservoirs. Surface water, such as lakes and rivers, provide accessible water, but it's comparably tiny. The USGS estimated that if all of the surface water in the world were collected into a sphere, the bubble would be only 35 miles tall and wide — a mere speck compared to the size of Earth.  Another way to think of it is that for every 100 raindrops that fall on land, only 36 drops are available for humans to drink, PhysOrg reported. In a recent study, scientists found that although global warming is causing more rainfall, it's also drying out soils to drought-like conditions, reducing the chances the extra rain will flow into rivers and lakes.  "It's a double whammy," Professor Ashish Sharma of Australia's University of New South Wales told PhysOrg. "Less water is ending up where we can store it for later use. At the same time, more rain is overwhelming drainage infrastructure in towns and cities, leading to more urban flooding."  Will the Well Run Dry?  Assistant Professor Megan Konar studies hydrology and environmental science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She told Earther that although the percentage of water on earth a whole would not shrink to zero, certain locations would face water scarcity, which is already happening.  Back in January 2018, the government of Cape Town, Africa, announced that the city of 4 million people was three months away from running out of municipal water. Labeled "Day Zero," the day would come, officials said, when dam levels would be so low, they would be forced to shut off the taps, according to The New York Times. An aggressive conservation plan swung into action, limiting each person to just 50 liters (13.2 gallons) a day.  Although Cape Town averted disaster, it's still at risk, but other cities are close behind. CNN reported that Chennai, Mexico City, Cairo, Tokyo, Jakarta, Sé£o Paulo, Beijing, Bangalore, Melbourne and London are the top 10 cities most at risk for running out of water. Extended periods of drought, heavy agricultural demand, leaky infrastructure and pollution are some of the leading causes of water scarcity.  According to the World Health Organization, at least 1.8 billion people on the planet drink contaminated water. Unclean water and poor sanitation are leading causes of childhood mortality. Diarrhea alone results in 1.5 million child deaths annually. As climate change and population growth put increasing pressures on water access, improving the quality of the water we have left and dealing with water pollution is imperative.  Pure Solutions  Fresh, clean drinking water is within our grasp. Researchers around the world are working on technology to increase the percentage of clean water on earth. For instance, Innovative Water Technologies in Rocky Ford, Colorado, have invented the SunSpring Hybrid, a solar- or wind-powered filtration system that can purify more than 5,000 gallons of contaminated drinking water per day. Because it doesn't need to be plugged into a reliable source of electricity, the device can be used in remote regions or be deployed urban areas that have been devastated after a natural disaster.  In southwestern Morocco, a nonprofit called Dar Si Hmad has been harvesting water from thin air. The region's unique mountain setting, although quite arid, is frequently shrouded in a dense fog caused by a high-pressure system called the Azores High that sweeps in from the Canary Islands and becomes trapped against the High Atlas mountains. The fog doesn't ever turn into rain, but folks at Dar Si Hmad have built tall net-like structures on which droplets of fog collect and accumulate. To date, this fog-harvesting system extends to seven reservoirs with pipelines that reach nine villages, reported the Weather Channel.  Although technology can address some of the world's water problems, it cannot fix it all. Clean drinking water starts with the source, water resource educators Susan Boser and Diane Oleson of Pennsylvania State University wrote in an opinion piece for The Conversation. One of the most critical means for keeping water clean is regularly monitoring the lakes, rivers and wells that supply it. But countries also need to invest in infrastructure, public education, source water protection and regulation "to keep water flowing to a thirsty nation," they said. 

Populations Are Threatened as the Percentage of Water on Earth Shrinks

We're all time travelers.   Granted, we're not very good at it. We're only moving in one direction at a fixed rate — but we're never in the same moment twice. And while time's arrow seemingly puts spacetime second helpings out of reach, humans have a habit of breaking the rules.   What if we could do an about-face and discover what came before? Or push past our present pace to see what comes next? Astrophysicist Ron Mallett from the University of Connecticut says he's got the theoretical receipts to take on time travel.   Wondering how to build a time machine? It takes just 4e2Q=X easy steps! Simple, right?   Future Tense   Not all time travel is created equal. While heading back into the past poses a host of problems — such as changing the course of history by altering key events, or encountering your past self and making choices that could lead to your non-existence in the present — moving forward is less complicated. Relatively speaking.   As with most things spacetime related, E=MC2 gets involved. Einstein's equation articulates the interaction between energy and matter: Put simply, if matter goes fast enough, it becomes energy. It also becomes much more massive the closer it gets to the speed of light, providing a hard stop for objects trying to surpass this universal limit. But the theoretical framework that gave rise to this famous function — special relativity — also includes the fundamentals of future time travel.   Here's how it works: The faster you go, the greater your mass. And the greater your mass, the greater your disruption of local space — and time. As a result, time passes more slowly for someone traveling near the speed of light than those of us back on Earth. As noted by Scientific American, a spaceship accelerating continuously at one g — equal to the value of gravitational acceleration at Earth's surface, or 9.81 m/s2 — would approach the speed of light around the one-year mark. From the perspective of an astronaut on the ship, a trip to the center of our galaxy and back would take about 40 years. Upon returning home, however, our intrepid explorer might have trouble reporting their adventure to mission control, unless NASA was still up and running after 60,000 years.   Of course, it's not quite that easy. The energy requirements for the acceleration described above would be "greater than a planetary mass," and steering the ship at near-light speed might be problematic. Still, the basic science is there, though it's worth mentioning a critical caveat: This isn't the flash-forward in time we're familiar with when Marty McFly hits 88 miles per hour in his DeLorean. Perceptually, both observer and actor see no change in the passage of time. Observationally, there's a significant difference.   Fire Up the Flux Capacitor   Professor Mallet is looking the other direction, having spent the latter decades of his career looking for backward-facing loopholes. And while our equation for how to build a time machine is pure nonsense, he's created one that posits the potential physics of actual travel through time.      By using a ring laser — what he describes as a "circulating beam of laser lights" — he believes its possible to bend both space and time. Do it right, and the machine should be able to bend time back on itself, creating a portal to the past. If this sounds vaguely familiar, it is — Mallett's machine bears a striking similarity to the concept of spacetime wormholes: Theoretical tunnels of space and time that could let explorers travel across massive volumes of miles and moments in the blink of an eye. Professor Mallett has developed a prototype and hopes to conduct a feasibility study, even as he does more research into the potential mechanics of a time machine at scale.   Keeping the Lights On   Let's get it out of the way right now: Professor Mallett's time travel technology won't head back into the past anytime soon. Information, rather than individuals, will make the trip and hopefully come out unscathed — but where? Or more accurately, when? This is another limitation of the Mallett machine: The farthest information can travel back in time is to the moment the machine was turned on. Turn it off, and you'd have to start over.   There's also the issue of empirical verification. Let's say the device turns on this year. You'd want continuous monitoring to ensure that if information arrived you're ready to capture it and take appropriate action. But if it works, it makes sense that future scientists would send data back to the origin point — so information should arrive immediately after the device is turned on. Or should it?   Physicist Richard Muller doesn't think so. He argues that the future doesn't exist — meaning there are no scientists to send data back — and the past is literally a foreign country. For Muller, the intertwined nature of spacetime is responsible: "Every moment, the universe gets a little bigger, and there is a little more time, and it is this leading edge of time that we refer to as now."   Because we're on the leading edge of spacetime, nothing exists beyond it so there's no one to send data back. But it's all about perspective — what about the "us" of two years from now? If the machine is turned on in 2020, couldn't scientists in 2022 use the device? Muller says this also isn't possible because the machine doesn't simply exist in another time — it exists in another spacetime. "To reverse time you would have to decrease, at least locally, the amount of space in the universe." Not exactly an easy task.   Time, and Time Again   Whether Professor Mallet's project works or not is worth watching, but it's hardly the final word on time travel theory. Human effort to adjust the aim — or outright avoid — the arrow of time won't stop just because the universe doesn't like the idea. From pushing particles to near-light speed in high-powered accelerators to work on wormholes, efforts to both backtrack and fast-forward are scientifically inevitable.   Will time travel ever be a reality? In some form, probably. Are we on the road to a picnic in the past or a foray into the future? Don't pack your bags just yet.   

How to Build a Time Machine in Just 4 eÂ²Q=X Easy Steps

While maybe not as familiar as the "Wizard of Menlo Park" or "The Man Who Invented the 20th Century," Charles Steinmetz stands alongside giants like Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. In the wake of his 153rd birthday, we celebrate Steinmetz's genius and his contributions to electricity and engineering that helped usher in the modern era. Charles Steinmetz was born Carl August Rudolph Steinmetz on April 9, 1865, in Breslau, Germany — now Wroclaw, Poland — with a physical deformity that left him with a hunched back, stunted torso and uneven gait. However, this never prevented Steinmetz from great success. He was considered a brilliant student and was recognized for his work in mathematics and chemistry at the University of Breslau, according to Smithsonian Magazine. Steinmetz would flee to America in 1888 due to his affiliation with the Socialist Party. His work in Yonkers, New York, gained the attention of Thomas Edison and would make the widespread adoption of alternating current more practical. Harnessing Electricity Thomas Edison was losing the "war of the currents" to Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse in the 1880s, reports Smithsonian Magazine. Edison backed direct current, while Tesla championed the cheaper AC current to power electrical grids. Tesla won several high-profile contracts, including the power for the Chicago World's Fair and a bid to generate energy from Niagara Falls in 1893, notes the U.S. Department of Energy. While this battle took place on a national level, Steinmetz was working at Eickemeyer and Osterheld in upstate New York. The mathematician was tasked with powering trolley cars using AC. Steinmetz had to solve the power loss, or hysteresis, associated with AC. If he could figure out how to minimize power loss, motors and transformers would become more efficient, and AC could be used across great distances. In 1891, Steinmetz discovered the laws governing hysteresis, which made AC and DC electrical systems more efficient, reports Wired. Edison and General Electric — recognizing the work Steinmetz was doing in Yonkers — bought Eickemeyer and Osterheld in 1892. The deal included Steinmetz and all the patents created by him. By 1894, GE hired Steinmetz to solve their most complex electricity problems. He patented an AC distribution system based on the principles he and Tesla established — see the patent here. Steinmetz would also patent new AC motors, generators and a three-phase electrical system.  One of Steinmetz's most impressive inventions was inspired by a shattered mirror. After piecing the mirror together, he noticed a pattern that could be associated with the electrical discharge of lightning. Steinmetz went back to work at GE, where he created artificial lightning using 120,000-volt generators. Steinmetz's work would be used to protect power lines from lightning strikes, reports the Smithsonian Magazine. Teaching Electricity Electrical engineers can thank Steinmetz for developing an AC circuit model. Prior to his revelation, anyone interested in analyzing AC circuits needed to start at the very beginning and develop complex mathematical equations. Steinmetz solved that problem, and engineers could focus on answering their questions or problems without having to develop a new system from scratch. Some of the greatest minds went to Steinmetz to request his expertise. These luminaries included Albert Einstein and Henry Ford, notes Smithsonian Magazine. Although he still served as a consultant at GE, Steinmetz began teaching the next generation of electrical engineers at Union College. Steinmetz's papers and textbooks became a curriculum staple and required reading for any aspiring engineer.  Charles Steinmetz died on Oct. 26, 1923, at the age of 58, though his legacy lives on at Union College. Every year, they host the annual Steinmetz Symposium to celebrate student research.

Charles Steinmetz Electrifies the Modern World

Activities conducted using spacecraft have become a ubiquitous part of our society. From monitoring hurricanes to measuring the ozone layer to a host of defense-related missions, U.S. government agencies today rely heavily on satellites and aerospace technology to conduct their day-to-day activities. But how are satellites conceived, designed, produced and deployed? NASA describes a spacecraft as "a vehicle or device designed for travel or operation outside the Earth's atmosphere." A satellite is described as "a type of spacecraft that orbits the Earth, the moon or another celestial body." In this series, we will use the terms spacecraft and satellite interchangeably. * * * Planning for the launch and deployment of a spacecraft begins in the earliest days of its conception, when a customer is still defining mission requirements on the "back of a napkin." How large the spacecraft will be, what orbit it will occupy, and how much shock and dynamic loading it can sustain during liftoff all help determine the type of launch vehicle that can deliver it most effectively to orbit. "Typically, we're procuring the launch vehicle as a commercial service for the government or working with them to figure out what launch vehicle they plan to provide," says Will Whalen, a launch system integration (LSI) specialist with Northrop Grumman. Either way, Whalen adds, the LSI team is working with a customer team and the contractor's space vehicle and mission payload team very early in the proposal development phase to define the most appropriate — and most competitive — launch vehicle. Launch and launch vehicle costs can make up 10 to 30% of the mission value, so it's very important to get it right. Creating the Right Match After a contractor secures a satellite contract, its LSI team begins working closely with the space vehicle team and the launch vehicle provider to ensure a good match — mechanically and electrically — between the space vehicle, or satellite, and the launch vehicle. "It's critical that all stakeholders in the launch and deployment process work together from day one," emphasizes Whalen. The LSI team works with the launch vehicle provider to define the electrical and mechanical interfaces between the satellite and launch vehicle, the dynamic forces that the satellite and the upper stage will experience, and the details of the separation sequence, adds Whalen. It's important, for example, that the second stage provide sufficient thrust and stability to steer and control the satellite safely through the suborbital and separation phases of launch. The LSI team also coordinates early in the satellite development process, Whalen explains, with U.S. government entities —typically U.S. Air Force — that will need to support the launch. For military launches, for example, the Air Force provides satellite fueling services on the ground, plus radar systems and ground control stations that track the satellite during launch and deployment. Shipping for Safety After the satellite has been completed, it is shipped to its launch site, typically two to four months before launch depending on how much work the contractor team expects to do at the launch site. Most U.S. satellites are launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station or Kennedy Space Center in Florida, or Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Satellites are either shipped by air (a few hours) or truck (a week or longer). "Whenever possible, we transport satellites by air because it's faster, involves less risk, and avoids delays that can occur if we ship an oversize container by truck on normal U.S. highways," explains Whalen. "Sometimes our customer arranges for us to use a specialty government transport system such as a C-17 Globemaster or C-5 Galaxy aircraft." Coming Clean At the launch site, the satellite is brought into a processing facility that contains a series of progressively cleaner rooms. The first stop is an airlock where the shipping container is cleaned of all its road or air transport grime. Next is a high bay where the satellite is erected, lifted out of its shipping container, and placed on a processing stand that will allow integration and test (I&T) specialists to work on the satellite at different levels. Checking Reality After the I&T team connects its test sets and charges the satellite's batteries — they are shipped in a low state of charge to ensure safety and preserve battery life — it begins a carefully scripted series of tests. "During this phase of launch preparation, we activate the space vehicle, check out its payloads, and make sure that all of its subsystems — command and data handling, propulsion, attitude control etc. — are functioning the way we expect," says Whalen. "We want the specialists who designed and tested these systems in the factory to review the data and validate one last time that the data looks good and that none of our subsystems have been damaged in transit." Preparing for Launch After the space vehicle has been shown to be operating correctly, and before it is fueled, the launch preparation team simulates connecting the satellite to the Air Force Space Command Network (AFSCN), the communication link used during launch, deployment and on-orbit checkout. The AFSCN also provides a backup channel for sending commands or receiving telemetry should the satellite's primary communications link become unavailable during normal on-orbit operations. The final phases of the contractor's launch preparation include integrating the satellite mechanically with its separation system, and installing a special nose cone called the payload fairing around that entire assembly. The fairing protects the spacecraft against aerodynamic pressure and heating during launch and its ascent through the atmosphere. With the space vehicle contractor in observation mode only, the launch vehicle provider then integrates the fairing-enclosed payload with the launch vehicle. Counting Down And then the countdown to launch begins. The countdown period is normally 12 hours or less. Prior to countdown, all of the launch stakeholders, including contractors, customers and base authorities, meet for a final "launch commit" review. The goal is to ensure that all tasks associated with launch vehicle and satellite payload preparation have been completed, and that all assets needed to support the launch such as radar and tracking stations are available and working properly. It's also time for the satellite contractor team to go through its final checklist in preparation for launch. "On the day of launch, we power up the satellite and configure it for launch," explains Rob Woods, a satellite systems operation expert with Northrop Grumman. "If our technical team members spot anything they feel could jeopardize the safety or success of the mission, they can call for a launch hold or even a scrub." Skyway to Heaven Following a nominal countdown and liftoff, the launch vehicle provider takes the lead during the early, or ascent, phase of launch. Teams on the ground monitor the health and status of the launch vehicle as its main stage and any booster stages execute their specified burns, then drop off. Once the launch vehicle reaches a predetermined altitude above the atmosphere, it also releases the payload fairing, exposing the satellite to the space environment. During this ascent phase, the satellite contractor team puts the satellite into its separation configuration. Satellite batteries only have so much power, so during launch and liftoff, only a minimum, critical set of hardware (typically command and data handling) is powered up," says Woods. "Once a satellite separates from the second stage, however, it must be ready to assume complete control of itself, so all of its primary subsystems such as attitude control, propulsion, and communication have to be switched on." The second stage of the launch vehicle typically separates from the satellite and places it into either a circular low Earth orbit (LEO) or an intermediate transfer orbit. For more urgent, time-sensitive missions, the second stage might boost the satellite into a higher altitude (medium earth or geosynchronous) orbit before separation. Some satellites boost themselves from LEO to their final orbit using their own propulsion system, a process that can take several days, weeks or months. Final Checks Once the satellite reaches its final orbit, a team of engineers located at the satellite's permanent ground control station — often located at a customer site — begins a disciplined, on-orbit checkout of the spacecraft. This team typically includes the satellite contractor and customer representatives. "You can think of on-orbit checkout like the boot-up of your home computer, except that ours lasts for about 90 days," explains Woods. "Unlike your computer, however, which was booted up many times before you purchased it, a satellite can't be booted up in its operational configuration until the day you launch it. We have to turn things on very slowly and methodically." During this checkout phase, Woods continues, the ground operators configure the satellite for on-orbit operations. Their work includes powering on any remaining subsystems and mission payloads, and deploying the satellite's solar arrays, communications antennae, payloads or other articulations. "Once everything's activated and deployed, we verify that all of our satellite subsystems are fully operational," says Woods. "For example, we might change the pointing of the satellite, check that our star trackers are tracking stars as expected, or make sure that our mission sensors are seeing what they're supposed to see." The team also calibrates the satellite's instruments, and confirms, through a process called validation, that the data being collected by those instruments is consistent with expected and previously characterized data sets, he added. The on-orbit check-out process typically takes 30 to 90 days depending on the size of the satellite and complexity of the mission. Letting Go, Moving On Before "turning over the keys" to the spacecraft, however, Woods and his team provide the satellite's operators with all the critical and relevant details they'll need to ensure the safe, continuous and effective operation of the spacecraft. After that, they are typically kept on stand-by to provide periodic maintenance support or to diagnose and help resolve any technical issues that arise once the satellite goes operational. In summary, developing, producing and launching a satellite is a challenging, complex and extremely disciplined process. It takes the collective skills and talents of many people working toward a common goal. Space is a harsh and unforgiving environment, and critical details overlooked or misunderstood during satellite development can lead to disappointing or disastrous outcomes. If done right, however, every satellite has the potential to deliver valuable insights about the state of the planet and the human condition for many years to come. If you're ready to launch your career into a new orbit, check out the latest job opportunities at www.northropgrumman.com/careers

How Spacecraft Are Created: Launch and Deployment

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation's 2019-2023 National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems, approximately 5,090 airports in the U.S. are capable of providing commercial airline service, but only 506 of them actually do so. The reason is simple: major airlines make money by moving large numbers of passengers in a single plane over a long distance. Higher fuel burn rates, higher maintenance costs, lower passenger volume plus landing fees and crew costs make it difficult for air carriers to operate 150- to 200-passenger jets profitably between regional airports. Smaller (six- to 19-passenger) electric airplanes, however, could potentially rewrite this airline calculus and revitalize regional air travel for consumers and air carriers alike. Lower Costs, Higher Comfort "We expect savings of 25 to 30 percent in fuel cost with hybrid-electric airplanes, and perhaps 65 to 80 percent savings with fully electric models," said Stan Little, chairman and CEO of Southern Airways Express, a regional air carrier that primarily operates nine-passenger Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft. "Electric motors will undoubtedly produce significant savings in maintenance costs, but it's too early to know how much." Little hopes to be flying hybrid-electric caravans on Southern Airways' routes within the next three to four years, and possibly fully electric models in the five-year plus time frame, he added. Hybrid-electric airplanes typically use an internal combustion engine operating in parallel with a battery-powered electric motor for propulsion. Fully electric models run exclusively on battery power. Operational costs aside, Little is confident that electric airplanes will offer consumers a transformative flying experience. "The number one benefit of electric aircraft for consumers will be the quietness of the cabin," he said. "They will also get the satisfaction of knowing that the carbon footprint they're leaving behind is extremely low." Southern Airways Express subsidiary Mokulele Airlines is currently working with Los Angeles aviation startup Ampaire to flight test a six-seat Cessna 337 Skymaster retrofitted with the Ampaire's parallel hybrid-electric propulsion system. Mokulele and Ampaire plan to flight test the aircraft in 2020 by tracing a 15-minute commercial flight route between Kahului Airport and Hana Airport on the island of Maui. Short Hop to the Future Greg McDougall, founder and CEO of Vancouver, British Columbia-based Harbour Air Seaplanes, is also bullish on the ability of electric airplanes to bolster regional air travel in British Columbia. Over the last year, his company has been working closely with Redmond, Washington-based magniX, an electric motor producer, to retrofit and obtain FAA certification for a six-passenger DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver seaplane with an all-electric propulsion system. The two companies conducted the first all-electric flight of the aircraft in December 2019. McDougall hopes to eventually electrify Harbour Air's entire fleet of seaplanes with magniX's electric propulsion technology. As McDougall sees it, these retrofitted electric seaplanes, with their expected range of 100 to 150 miles, would be a great fit for both the current and future needs of his airline. "Anywhere there's water in a metropolitan area in British Columbia, we're flying into it with multiple scheduled services per day," he said. "Our most popular route, for example, between (British Columbia capital) Victoria and downtown Vancouver is just 35 minutes. It's also one of our longest routes." Electric airplanes also have the potential to enhance the basic operating model of Harbour Air, offered McDougall. "Electric motors will be much cheaper to maintain, and it will be many times cheaper to charge a seaplane's batteries than to put fuel in it." These cost savings, he added, will help reduce Harbour Air's overhead, which will likely make seaplane travel more accessible and more affordable for more people. Reality Check The long pole in the electric aviation tent, McDougall admitted, remains aircraft certification. He expects the FAA certification process of the Harbour Air/magniX de Havilland Beaver to take in the "neighborhood of two years." Less urgent but still critical to meeting the weight, payload and performance challenges of electric aircraft is battery energy density, i.e. energy per unit volume. Lithium-ion batteries, currently the most mature battery technology for aviation, still have only about 1/70 the energy density of jet fuel. The more energy each battery can store, the fewer batteries an aircraft will need to carry to reach its desired operating range. Fewer batteries also mean lower aircraft weight, which will allow it to carry more freight or passengers instead. McDougall is cautiously optimistic that advances in lithium-ion battery technology or possibly hydrogen cell technology could close that gap significantly in the coming years. Clean-Sheet Designs Not all regional air carriers are convinced that retrofitting conventional aircraft with electric or hybrid-electric propulsion systems is time and money well-spent. Hyannis, Massachusetts-based Cape Air, whose service areas include New England, the Midwest and the Caribbean, is working closely with Israeli aircraft company Eviation, the developer of a new all-electric, nine-passenger commuter aircraft called Alice. "So much of the design and engineering of new all-electric aircraft centers on the power plant and energy source, that I'm not convinced that retrofitting conventional planes is going to work from a commercial standpoint," said Cape Air's CEO Dan Wolf. "I think we're actually going to see 'clean sheet' designs become the mainstay of the decarbonized fleet in a number of years." Cape Air has been operating a fleet of nine-passenger Cessna 402s since Wolf founded the airline in 1989. In October 2019, Cape Air began transitioning its fleet to the nine-passenger Tecnam P2012 Traveller. Wolf expects the airline to transition eventually to a fleet of fully electric aircraft, including, presumably, Alice. "We believe that it will be possible, within our lifetimes, to significantly reduce or eliminate carbon from the short-haul transportation business," he said. Building Infrastructure No matter which type of electric aircraft ends up on the flight line, regional air carriers will need pilots who can fly their planes, and electric charging infrastructure at every airport (or harbor) where they land. Much of the pilot training will either be provided by aircraft developers as part of purchase agreements with carriers, or new pilots will seek out their own certification on aircraft such as Bye Aerospace's eFlyer 2 all-electric training aircraft. How the charging infrastructure plays out and how it's paid for is less clear. Typically, airports are powered from a central grid and users pay for the power, in effect, through landing fees and hangar rent. Another option for funding this infrastructure could be public-private partnerships between aircraft developers, federal agencies and municipal airports. Since time (on the ground) is money, however, new aircraft charging infrastructure will likely center on fast-charging technology. "We're currently looking at one minute of charging time for every minute of flight time," said Southern Airways Little. That equation could still be a challenge for his airline, whose average time between flights is just 25 minutes, he admits. "Electric charging could actually slow down our operation, or require additional aircraft, which eats away at the cost savings that come with going to an all-electric fleet." Charter Flying Reimagined Electric airplanes also have the potential to dramatically reshape the world of charter flying, suggests Little. "We're going to start out by electrifying nine-seat Caravans as part of our regularly scheduled service," he said. "People are then going to become comfortable flying on electric planes because they're going to see Southern Airways conducting 60,000 electric flights a year that are all safe and all reliable. This will become an accepted part of human existence in America." The ubiquity of commuter electric air travel and its anticipated lower cost structure, added Little, could also lead to the electrification of smaller, four-seat aircraft that will be able to land on a regular basis at general aviation airports (i.e,. those not currently served by commercial airlines). "You may even be able to call up an app on your phone and charter a four-seat electric aircraft the same way that you call an Uber today," he continued. "I think this charter service will become available to the average American family, a giant leap from the two percent of families that can afford that service today." Scaling Up, Flying Forward However it plays out, electric aviation promises to become more common, more accessible and a source of new opportunities for air travelers, regional air carriers, electric airplane producers and suppliers of critical airport infrastructure alike. If it is to be successful, however, advised Cape Air's Wolf, it must be scalable. "As one of the largest commuter airlines in the country flying small airplanes the shortest distances, Cape Air has the opportunity to be a leader in helping launch a clean, carbon-free regional air transportation sector," he said. "But our fleet of 95 airplanes can't be the beginning and end of that story. I hope that our work will be the introduction to decarbonizing air transportation completely over time. The transition we have planned over the next few years will make the whole flying experience more satisfying for travelers and much healthier for the planet." If you're ready to put your career on a runway to a greener, healthier future, check out the latest job opportunities at www.ngc.com/careers.

Electric Airplanes Offer Clean New Runway for Regional Air Carriers

Key Takeaways  Cloud seeding can encourage the production of "ice nuclei" that condense into precipitation. Glaciogenic cloud seeding uses silver iodide to form water droplets in cold clouds, while hygroscopic seeding uses salt for warm clouds. In Canada, scientists used cloud seeding to reduce storm severity and limit property damage due to hail.Farmers have long wished they could control the rain, and now weather manipulation can do just that. Cloud seeding, the most common way to modify weather, involves shooting silver iodide or other chemicals into clouds to encourage precipitation. In other words, a silver bullet can make it rain.This technique is not perfect, and it can't solve chronic drought, but it's relatively inexpensive and many communities around the world are desperate for water. Scientists use weather modification to enhance rainfall and increase water supplies, to disperse fog and to minimize hail during storms. Private companies and state-sponsored groups have even used cloud seeding to drop fresh snow on ski mountains and to squeeze out the rain before major events such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics.What is Cloud Seeding?The idea is not to create clouds out of thin air, but to squeeze every last drop of rain from naturally occurring clouds. So, what is cloud seeding?Cloud seeding adds substances to clouds by shooting them from the ground or dropping them from planes. Air already contains water vapor, but cloud seeding can encourage the water to condense until it falls from the sky. Normally, when air rises into the atmosphere, it cools and forms particles called ice nuclei, which clump together to form clouds. When enough of these cloud droplets combine, they grow bigger until they are heavy enough that they fall to the ground in some form of precipitation, determined by the temperature and other conditions. Adding a "seed" gives clouds a boost by creating ice nuclei that grow faster and bigger than normal.Glaciogenic seeding is a technique for squeezing water from cold clouds. Back in 1946, Bernard Vonnegut (author Kurt's brother) was one of the researchers at General Electric who discovered that silver iodide could help clouds form ice crystals. Scientists still aren't exactly sure how it works, but it's possible that ice easily bonds with silver iodide because they both have similar structures at the molecular level. When more particles collide, ice crystals are formed, and soon the cloud is full of heavy water droplets that become rain. Similarly, hygroscopic seeding is a technique for warm clouds, wherein a simple salt helps encourage water droplets to collide and produce rain.Other weather manipulation techniques that have been considered over the years include: blowing storms away from land with windmills, cooling the ocean with cryogenic material or icebergs, delaying surface evaporation with monomolecular films, blowing a hurricane apart with hydrogen bombs or laser beams and injecting air into the center of a storm. Cloud seeding has prevailed because it is the simplest and most cost-effective way to change the weather.Who is Manipulating the Weather?Although weather manipulation lingers on the fringes of the scientific community, it is practiced more widely than one might expect. More than 50 countries around the world currently have weather modification programs and the World Meteorological Organization just hosted an expert team meeting on weather modification in Geneva in June 2017.The reasons for modifying weather vary, depending on where the operation takes place. Russia has removed cloud cover for a national holiday, while India has focused on encouraging rain to fall in drought conditions.China made headlines when authorities said they had cleared the skies by shooting salt-filled bullets into clouds ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Then, in 2016, the Chinese government announced it had allocated 199 million yuan ($29.76 million) to spend on its weather modification program to combat drought and reduce the impact of natural disasters. In 2015 the United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched a $5-million research program for "rain enhancement science." Groundwater supplies were running low and demand for water is projected to double in the next 15 years as the country continues to grow. In 2016, the UAE carried out 177 cloud seeding operations — primarily hygroscopic seeding in the mountains to add water to aquifers and reservoirs.The United States is no stranger to weather manipulation, either. From the mid-1960s through the early 1980s, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) actively pursued Project STORMFURY, a program for experimental hurricane modification. Cloud seeding has especially been used in the Great Plains and western states to combat drought.Wyoming just completed a $15-million study over 10 years that concluded that cloud seeding can add, on average, 10 percent more snow to an existing storm. In Idaho this year, the National Science Foundation partially funded a research project to test seeding clouds to increase snowfall near communities where it can be used for crop irrigation and hydropower."Idaho Power is interested in putting more snow on the ground in the mountains, which leads to more water in rivers from snowmelt," said atmospheric scientist Jeff French of the University of Wyoming, in a statement. "In turn, that leads to more power generation capability throughout the year."Weighing the Costs and BenefitsMessing with the weather is a tricky science, and more research is needed to explain exactly how it works. There has been healthy skepticism that challenges whether cloud seeding and other techniques are effective. Since weather systems are complex and impossible to duplicate, it's hard to prove how much rain has been added to a cloud.Aside from proving the efficacy, there are also risks involved with modifying nature. Introducing salt or other chemicals into the rain could alter microclimates and possibly interfere with nearby crop growth, which would defeat the whole purpose. There is also a potential to abuse the science by using it as a military tactic to force storms on enemies or sabotage crops, though this practice is banned by the United Nations.Nevertheless, weather manipulation is worth exploring, since when used properly it has so much potential to work for the greater good. It can reduce fog at airports, minimize air pollution in large cities and be used for hydropower. It is mostly used to add water to areas with chronic drought, and even a small percentage increase could go a long way toward creating better agricultural conditions.It can also prevent or reduce damaging weather, such as hail, hurricanes and tornadoes. In the Canadian province of Alberta, in 2012, scientists attempted to use cloud seeding to mitigate a hail storm. They hypothesized that seeding the clouds would redistribute the water vapor in the clouds to form smaller hailstones rather than the golf ball-sized hail that was predicted. Radar data collected afterward showed that the storm was 27 percent milder than the original forecast. It's hard to prove cause and effect, but meteorologists involved in the project say it saved up to CAD$100 million in property damage. In places that are prone to severe storms, even a slight reduction in hail intensity could save millions and easily offset the cost of a weather manipulation program.Cloud seeding is still an imperfect science with room for progress, but one with potential to positively alter the way weather affects our lives.Learn how new disaster relief technology can help teams better respond to extreme weather issues.

Making it Rain: The Science of Weather Manipulation

The destruction caused by a natural disaster launches emergency services and rescue teams into action, and usually triggers waves of donations and support from those far away. Inevitably, though, focus turns elsewhere, and the rebuilding often receives limited widespread attention. It's only inevitable that another fire, flood or hurricane will strike and that resources and public attentiveness will follow. However, it's imperative to not lose sight of successes and failures of the after-disaster period because there are long-term lessons to learn from disasters. If anything, studying how governments, communities and organizations respond to disasters sets the table for more effective preparedness, resilient infrastructure and less money spent on disaster relief. In just six months during 2018, the U.S. government spent $140 billion in disaster assistance, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. According to the World Economic Forum's 2020 report on global risks, cumulative findings by federal agencies suggests that in the U.S. alone, climate-related economic damage could reach 10% of gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of the century. "We are a country that feels really good about helping out. After these disasters we have the Red Cross and other organizations providing assistance and raising money to help after the crisis," said Olivia Aguilar, an associate professor of environmental studies at Mount Holyoke College and director of the college's Miller Worley Center for the Environment. "It doesn't translate, though. Recovery costs are in the billions. If we demanded policies that were proactive, it would cost us less. We wouldn't be doing all of these out-of-pocket recoveries." In other words, studying the past can inform future actions. Learning About Disaster Relief More than 18,500 people died and more than 2,600 went missing after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011. The two events destroyed 130,000 homes and severely damaged another 270,000. "Learning from Megadisasters — Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake," an exhaustive study commissioned by the World Bank, reviewed the structural and non-structural measures that were in place prior to Tohoku. But it also reviewed the many forms of disaster response — including the field work of emergency and medical teams and the logistic supply chain for emergency supplies — as well as how the country could move forward to rebuild home and lost careers. An unthinkable triple-blow of earthquake, tsunami and accident at Fukushima Nuclear Power Station gave the Japanese government and outside experts such as the World Bank a lot to consider. Perhaps one of the most chilling findings was how delayed warnings might have affected how many residents fled the path of the tsunami. With about 602,000 people in those at-risk areas, 20,000 were killed or went missing. "The Japan Meteorological Agency's underestimation of the tsunami's height issued three minutes after the earthquake is likely to have delayed the evacuation," the World Bank report said. "Others, believing that the coastal dikes would protect them, may have delayed evacuations." The World Bank study didn't just go on a shelf. It had another aim. Eight countries — Armenia, Indonesia, Kenya, the Kyrgyz Republic, Maldives, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and Uganda — vowed to use the report's results and visits to Japan to tailor disaster preparedness specific to their local systems. In Armenia, government officials developed structural measures and building codes based on their learning experiences in Japan. Armenia is at high risk for earthquakes. While studying how Japan handled post-Tohoku responses, government officials from Sierra Leone also wanted to learn more about the country's disaster prevention and risk management practices, specifically how natural hazards can slow economic development. "The measures and tools that the Japanese have designed and implemented were presented to (Sierra Leone) to demonstrate that a culture of prevention helps to sustain growth," the World Bank report said. Overcoming the Roadblocks of Recovery  With natural disasters increasing in frequency, and the need to learn from them perhaps greater than ever, the consulting firm McKinsey looked at why governments can't always effectively manage recovery. Although released in 2015, the McKinsey report "Improving Disaster Recovery: Lessons Learned in the United States" provides valuable advice today.  McKinsey found four roadblocks for governments:    Political pressure to disperse disaster relief is intense. Public expectations about the amount, pace and flexibility of recovery funding are rarely met because public officials tend to set unrealistic targets before they understand recovery issues.    Receiving and spending political aid can take a long time. For example, congressional approval of emergency funding can take months and environmental assessments even more months, while the rebuilding of complex capital infrastructure is not a quick endeavor.   Government leaders have an abundance of resources but face complex tasks they are unprepared to administer, so they often misjudge resources and skills required to deliver.   Recovery governance requires commitment to bold organizational changes that leaders are often too risk-averse to make.  McKinsey offered a long list of recommendations to improve response, and there are a few worth noting. Governments should appoint a "strong, experienced" leadership team and establish an integrated governance body to gain the support of the public, other government agencies and financial backers. This will help with other efforts, such as securing the ongoing advice of disaster experts, having vendors implement specific recovery programs, creating a procurement team and ensuring the leadership team has complete independence. Focused and disciplined disaster recovery is possible, the report notes. McKinsey cites the "quick win" recovery efforts following Hurricane Sandy in 2012. For instance, New Jersey allocated about $200 million worth of federal homeowner grants, giving more than 18,000 people $10,000 grants for construction expenses. And in only 100 days, a New York City program gave away $640 million to restore heat, power and hot water to 11,700 housing buildings. Those programs worked because those governments prioritized projects that required less lead time to establish than full-fledged repair and reconstruction programs, the report said. Disaster Prevention at All Levels of Government  "Whatever you think can't happen, assume it will," are wise words from a North Carolinian quoted in the Zurich Insurance report, "Events Are Natural, Disasters Are Not." As with the other studies, this one also offers lessons to learn from disasters. That North Carolina resident was quoted after Zurich examined the damage Hurricane Florence caused in that state in 2018. And things did "happen" because of flooding from Florence. Stricken coal ash waste storage sites released heavy metals into rivers, while hog waste escaped from storage lagoons and killed thousands of fish in the Cape Fear River. Here was, the report noted, an opportunity to transcend cross-jurisdictional hurdles (those posed by separate regulations in the energy and agricultural industries) and have stronger coordinated enforcement by governments. Indeed, governments will inevitably drive the response to disaster and the preparation for them, according to Mount Holyoke's Aguilar. "Government matters," she said. "Without government support it will be really hard to address these issues at the local levels." 

Lessons to Learn From Disasters Can Shape Preventative Measures

The STEM fields are full of significant innovators who sadly never got the recognition they deserve. These people, many of whom are under-recognized female scientists, were pioneers in their fields. They achieved great things but didn't receive due credit because they were women of color (and often specifically Black women). In the 1950s and 60s, many Black women worked as engineers and "human computers," enabling the dawn of the space age and the era of modern computing. Dr. Gladys West is one of STEM's hidden trailblazers. She helped develop technology that contributed to the creation of the Global Positioning System, or GPS, which revolutionized modern society. Her contributions have been hidden for too long. We're excited to discuss both Dr. Gladys West and the ins and outs of how GPS works. How Does GPS Work? When we're going about our daily lives, we use GPS constantly but don't really think about what it is. How does GPS work? The United States' GPS relies on a constellation of 31 satellites in Earth orbit (other countries have their own GPS systems), according to the FAA. They work in concert with ground stations that pinpoint the precise position of these satellites at any given time. Receivers are what we utilize (our phones, car infotainment systems, etc.) to access the GPS network. Receivers are able to listen for signals from this satellite constellation. After communicating with a minimum of four separate satellites, they can pinpoint a user's location to within 7 meters, with about 95% accuracy. Dr. West's Background Born in 1930 in rural Virginia, Dr. Gladys West was the daughter of Black sharecroppers and worked the fields as a child. She knew education was her way to a different life, so through hard work, she excelled and received a scholarship to college. She earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics and continued on to pursue a master's degree. In 1956, she began her career at the U.S. Naval Weapons Laboratory. Her role was to collect and process data from satellites, which she used to help pinpoint their exact locations in space. This experience as a "human computer" helped Dr. Gladys West lay the foundations for the modern technology of GPS. Dr. West's Contributions to the Development of GPS Dr. Gladys West continued to work for the Navy and move up through the ranks due to her hard work and diligence. She participated in an award-winning study that examined the motion of Pluto relative to Neptune, which helped her understand the movement of planetary bodies and how they act upon one another. She received a commendation from her department head in 1979, which led to her becoming a project manager. Dr. West oversaw Seasat, the first satellite to track the oceans, which helped her see how tidal forces affect the shape of the Earth. As part of the Seasat team, she re-configured an IBM computer to calculate the geometric size and shape of the Earth much more efficiently. She was the first person to take all of the information we have on the Earth's movement and the forces that act upon the Earth and input them into a computer to create a precise mathematical model of our planet. Because the Earth is in constant motion, with gravitational, tidal and other forces acting upon it and changing its shape from one second to the next, it's very hard to pinpoint the shape of the Earth with accuracy — and harder still to identify the precise location of anything on it. That's why Dr. Gladys West's contributions were revolutionary. She made it possible to create an accurate geodetic model of the Earth. GPS needs to take all of these seemingly small factors into account in order to work. Though it might have seemed small at the time, Dr. West's computer program is what paved the way for pinpointing a person's location on the Earth through satellite tracking. It was this work that laid the foundations for GPS. Are you interested in all things related to technology? We are too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

Hidden Figure Gladys West and Her Role in Creating GPS

As a child, Beatrice "Tilly" Shilling played with building sets and spent her spare change on tools for tinkering with projects; at 16, she bought herself a motorcycle and started modifying it. She was a trailblazer practically from the day of her birth on March 8, 1909, so it's not surprising that this British aircraft engineer would go on to solve a dangerous flaw in the Supermarine Spitfire, an iconic World War II aircraft. She was a pioneer in military aviation technology and an early advocate for women in engineering. It is quite fitting that we now celebrate International Women's Day on her birthday.   Book Smart and Street Smart      Though she was clearly skilled from an early age, Shilling hadn't considered pursuing a career as an engineer until her mother discovered The Women's Engineering Society. After high school, she secured an apprenticeship at an electrical firm owned by Margaret Partridge, who mentored Shilling and urged her to study electrical engineering formally. Shilling became one of the first two women to study engineering at the University of Manchester, where her student record card defaulted to "Mr." since all students were presumed to be male, says the BBC.    Despite the challenges, Shilling graduated in 1932 with an honors degree in electrical engineering. Work was scarce during the Great Depression, so she continued school. She earned a master's degree by researching combustion engines, which had fascinated her ever since she started motorcycling. "I got a lot of pleasure from dismantling and rebuilding this motorcycle," Shilling wrote of her teenage project in a 1969 letter in The Woman Engineer: The Journal of the Women's Engineering Society of the UK. (Skip to page 326 to read it in full).   As soon as women were allowed to race motorcycles at Brooklands, the world's first motor racing circuit, Shilling bought herself a Norton M30 and modified the engine to make it even faster. In 1934, she hit speeds of 106 mph (171 kph) to win a Brooklands gold star, according to Engineering and Technology.    Enable targeting cookies to view this content. Savior of the Royal Air Force   Following her success in both racing and academia, Shilling started working at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, which supplied the Royal Air Force with military aviation technology. During this time, it was uncommon to hire women, notes the BBC.   Shilling explains in her 1969 letter, "The Air Ministry, having had some experience of women's work in the First World War, were not entirely unsympathetic and I was offered a job as an assistant in the Technical Publications Department at the Establishment." After spending eight months writing aero-engine handbooks, she was transferred to the engine department, where she specialized in research and development on carburetors, a much better match for her skills and interest.   When World War II broke out, the Royal Air Force had an urgent problem: The engines of its warplanes were prone to cutting out mid-flight. There was a glitch in the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines that powered the iconic Supermarine Spitfire fighter plane and the Hurricane fighter-bomber. When planes performed g-maneuvers, such as dives and other aerobatics, fuel could flood the engine and cause stalling, Real Engineering explains.   Tilly Shilling fixed the defective engine problem in 1940 by adding a small disk to the carburetor that stopped the fuel surge and prevented stalling. She spent the next year touring air force bases to show them how to make the repair. Her device was a relatively easy and temporary fix so that they didn't have to refit planes, and it enabled pilots to win the war.   Post-War Life   In 1938, Shilling married George Naylor, who also raced motorcycles and worked at the Royal Aircraft Establishment. Although her work was crucial to the RAE, Shilling spent a decade as a temporary worker because jobs were only open to single women, who, as a rule, were paid less than men. In 1948, the marriage rule was removed and she became an official RAE employee. That same year, she received the Order of the British Empire and was recognized as a crucial contributor to the eventual Allied victory, according to Motherboard.   She continued aeronautical work for the RAE on projects such as solid-fuel rockets, aircraft brakes and more until she retired in 1969. Shilling stayed active in the aerospace engineering and racing communities for the rest of her life, but much like NASA's "Hidden Figures," she remains an underappreciated hero of 20th century innovation. 

Fearless Beatrice Shilling Saved the Spitfire

If you haven't heard of digital twin technology yet, you will soon. While there is plenty of exaggerated and hypothetical talk about a virtual reality world called the metaverse, scientists are busy building a three-dimensional simulation of Earth. In other words, they are creating our planet's digital twin.Digital Twins DefinedWhat is a digital twin? It's a virtual representation of real-world entities and processes, synchronized at a specified frequency and fidelity. In other words, it is an exact digital replica of a physical object. Engineers use digital twins as part of digital transformation in aerospace manufacturing and, more broadly, Industry 4.0, the fourth industrial revolution. But scientists, doctors, designers and other experts are also starting to use digital twins to monitor and understand the physical world on a deeper level.How Digital Twins WorkWhen defining what is a digital twin, it's important to realize that we can create digital twins at various levels. Digital twins can range from the tiniest transistor on a computer chip to something as vast and complicated as our planet's weather pattern or a logistics company's trucking route.Digital twins take 3D simulation farther in the life cycle because they reflect changes in the real world. Say, for example, an architect designs a home. They can create a 3D model of that house and even simulate how the structure will hold up as weather and time erode the materials. But what if we want to know how the actual house is after it's built? If a severe storm blows a few shingles off the roof, or if a child accidentally sends a baseball into a window, a digital twin would include those changes.In practice, engineers equip the products they build with sensors to monitor them and update the virtual versions. In this way, they can monitor the product long after it leaves the factory floor. This helps with maintenance and informing future designs and iterations. According to IBM, digital twins are designed around a two-way flow of information.Engineers also use the virtual model to run simulations, apply artificial intelligence and analyze the data they receive. Those insights are then shared with the physical object in the real world, creating a smart system and a constant feedback loop.Use Cases for Digital TwinsDigital twins are particularly helpful for projects that involve physically large structures or mechanical complex systems. It's no surprise that the aerospace industry, which involves large and complex designs, is quickly adding digital twin technology to its toolkit. Some examples of digital twins from IBM, Popular Mechanics and Fast Company include: 	Aircraft, spacecraft, automobiles, etc. in manufacturing 	Buildings, bridges and other infrastructure in design 	Energy sources and power equipment 	A digital twin of Earth for climate researchers to run simulations to understand how to plan for approaching extreme climate events and new challenges 	Hospitals and related ambulatory services twins for doctors and hospital administrators to optimize staffing and operations 	Patient digital twins to help physicians monitor disease progression and treatment 	Avatars of people suffering from chronic pain, which can help researchers optimize and predict the impact of medications 	Astronaut digital twins, which NASA is looking to utilize to prepare for deep space missionsFuture of Digital TwinsDigital twins are possible now because several technologies have recently matured and become widely adopted, including the Internet of Things, cloud computing, extended reality and artificial intelligence. Digital twins are already making a difference, and as their underlying technologies mature, the potential impact grows, too.Are you interested in all things related to technology? We are too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

Digital Twin Technology Has an Avatar for Everything

Key Takeaways  Orville and Wilbur Wright may have been inspired by a toy helicopter. They started their careers by making a printing press and opening a bicycle shop in Ohio. On Dec. 17, 1903, in Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers flying machine became the world's first airplane with a flight time of 12s.December 17 marks the 115th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight, a major milestone in the history of aviation. Orville and Wilbur Wright didn't just invent the first airplane; they created a prototype that included many inventions that underlie today's airplanes. The many Wright Brothers inventions are still used today to develop aircraft that go far beyond the capabilities that they could have ever imagined back in Kitty Hawk.What Sparked Their Passion for Innovation?Orville and Wilbur Wright, born 1867 and 1871, grew up in a home that fostered independent thinking long before "innovation" and "disruption" were buzzwords. The home was equipped with an extensive library and according to Encyclopedia Britannica, Orville once said that in their home "there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused their curiosity."The Wright brothers were raised by parents who were outspoken, free thinking and technically savvy — all attributes that provided an excellent background for their adult lives as inventors. Their mother was a tinkerer ahead of her time. She was the top mathematician in her college class and as an adult she built household appliances for herself and toys for her children, according to The National Park Service (NPS). Their father was a bishop who openly opposed aspects of his church's ideology and eventually split from the church amid controversy.In 1878, according to NPS, their father brought Wilbur and Orville a souvenir from a business trip: a rubber band–powered toy helicopter. They made copies of this toy — possible signs of future Wright brothers inventions. The helicopter was based on a design by French inventor Alphonse Pénaud, whose work in aeronautics they would eventually study as grown men.Their passion for learning and building grew with age, and they started their careers by making a printing press and opening a bicycle shop in Ohio. The Wright brothers were inspired by leaders in early aviation, and according to Britannica, they had followed the work of Otto Lilienthal, a German glider pioneer who died in a glider crash. Fascinated with his work, Orville and Wilbur started investigating flight research, consulting with the Smithsonian Institution for aeronautics resources. In 1900, they wrote to introduce themselves to Octave Chanute, an engineer and a leading authority on aviation who became a personal friend and champion of the Wright brothers during the critical years of experimentation that followed.How They Designed Their First Flying MachineThe brothers started with a kite to test how to control and balance an aircraft, and they tested early designs for a system they called "wing warping" in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. For several years, according to NOAA, the brothers went back and forth between North Carolina and their home in Ohio. They calculated, experimented and developed their designs in a custom wind tunnel at their Ohio bike shop, and then assembled their prototypes and field tested in Kitty Hawk.After extensive research, testing and design changes, on Dec. 17, 1903, in Kitty Hawk, their flying machine became the world's first airplane when it successfully completed a 12-second flight. By the end of that day, they had demonstrated an even longer flight, lasting 59 seconds and covering 852 feet. This was a pivotal moment in the history of aviation.A Lasting Impact on AviationTheir groundbreaking innovations shaped future airplanes and the aviation space in general. Peter Jakab, chief curator at Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, explained in an educational video, "They knew that the airplane was not one invention but many inventions that all needed to work in concert for the machine to be successful."The Wright brothers paid close attention to each component to build a successful airplane. They focused on the basic building blocks for an airplane: wings (a lifting surface to get them into the air), a control system (to control the plane while flying), a propulsion system, aerodynamics and structural design — all the elements that would make up the airplanes of the future.Much like the Wright brothers, Northrop Grumman pays close attention to each component to build successful aircraft and aviation innovation. Learn more about what we do.

Culmination of Wright Brothers' Inventions

These days, robot design is less about the hardware and more about developing algorithms. It is becoming a powerful tool in healthcare technology to positively impact the lives of people with disabilities. From precise technology to help blind children see again to mind-controlled mechanical limbs and wearable technology, machines are improving the quality of life and health outcomes for people. However, it's not just a one-way relationship. People with disabilities are contributing to research and design for countless technology advances. Computer Vision Autonomous vehicles, industrial robots and robotic vacuum cleaners all rely on computer vision. This has been a long-standing challenge in the scientific community. According to Engadget, computers can now match or exceed human sight, but they still require intense training to understand the images they see. A robot isn't just a high-resolution camera. In order to truly have "sight," both robots and humans need to understand the pictures they see. If robots have a bunch of high-resolution images, but they can't make sense of them, the images are useless. MIT professor Dr. Pawan Sinha developed a new machine learning technique that was inspired by his work with blind children in India. Sinha started Project Prakash, a charity that provides eye surgery to children with treatable conditions such as congenital cataracts. Restoring sight to children with cataracts is more complicated than older patients because of brain development. Healthy babies are born with blurry vision, which gradually improves as they age. Fuzzy vision sounds like a problem, but it is actually crucial to babies' cognitive development. Sinha's theory is that that blurry vision helps babies focus on the big picture without getting overwhelmed by small details while their minds are busy developing. He applied this concept to artificial intelligence by integrating blurry imagery into an artificial intelligence system to help it gradually understand high-resolution images. Machine Learning Machine learning helps computers analyze data and learn what to do, so that they don't have to be programmed to perform each task. This branch of artificial intelligence is helping give people with disabilities more independence. "Machine learning is giving people like me that need accommodation in some situations the same independence as others," Liat Kaver, a product manager at YouTube who is deaf, told MIT Technology Review. The latest machine learning algorithms can understand images, sounds and language. This software is being used to improve healthcare technology for people with disabilities like deafness or autism. Closed captioning, for example, helps convey speed and sounds on TV shows and videos. YouTube uses speech-to-text software to automatically transcribe videos. But they also take it a step further by using algorithms that indicate additional sounds, such as applause, laughter and music. Image Recognition Software Accessibility used to mean providing ramps, wide doors and other physical accommodations. Today, accessibility also includes digital spaces. People with disabilities face challenges in their everyday lives that give them a different perspective on new technology. According to MIT Technology Review, Austin Lubetkin developed a navigation app for people with autism. Lubetkin used image-recognition technology from startup Clarifai to prototype an app that provides directions in the form of landmarks. Lubetkin has autism spectrum disorder, and he was inspired to create the app because of his personal experience with struggling to navigate, a common challenge in the autism community. He found it difficult to interpret the text and abstract images from conventional apps, so he used the image recognition software to add landmarks to navigation software. "Honestly, AI can level the playing field," Lubetkin said. Disability Robot Design A group of roboticists at Georgia Tech are researching ways to make robot control more seamless and accessible by developing new interfaces that allow people to control complex robots with only a single-button mouse, says IEEE Spectrum. The researchers are working with Henry Evans, who is almost completely paralyzed and unable to speak, due to a stroke. Through the use of a robot, he is able to do everyday tasks, like scratching his head or wiping his mouth. The robot's aid allows him to remain comfortable in bed without asking a human for help. According to IEEE Spectrum, the roboticists hadn't anticipated the disability robot to have this result. It's aid to Evans was the most successful job task the robot completed, in terms of performance and user satisfaction, since "the deployed research system provided a clear, consistent benefit to the user and reduced the need for caregiver assistance during these times." A Mutually Beneficial Relationship Prosthetic limbs, robotic exoskeletons, assistant robots and brain-to-machine interfaces are incredible tools that can help people with disabilities in many different ways. While these assistive technologies are improving, people with disabilities are also helping scientists to more precisely understand how to teach machines to learn, which is helping improve their lives and robot design.

Healthcare Technology: Robot Design Helps People With Disabilities

Back in the day, urgent deliveries by UPS, Amazon or even the local pizza parlor arrived at your door on four wheels in the hands of a two-legged human. Don't look up now, but drone delivery companies are working to land a different type of future in your front yard, one that will keep your pizza hot, save you a late-night trip to the pharmacy or even help you save a life with emergency medical supplies. Poised for Takeoff In recent months, reports Wired, several well-known companies including UPS and Google have taken serious steps toward launching commercial drone-based delivery services. In March, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorized UPS and drone maker Matternet to begin using drones, or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), to deliver medical specimens across North Carolina-based WakeMed's medical campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. In April, Google spinoff Wing Aviation received the FAA's first certification for a commercial drone delivery service. And Forbes reports that the FAA has authorized Amazon to conduct a year of drone research, testing and pilot training in authorized flight areas, but not to conduct deliveries yet. Drone delivery companies tout reduced carbon emissions and quicker delivery times — drones use electric motors and avoid local road congestion — as the key benefits of using drones to make time-sensitive deliveries. Drone operators are also taking advantage of rapid growth in the maturity, availability and reliability of drone technology. Safety First Hovering amid this new enthusiasm for drone-based delivery services, however, are questions about how best to ensure air traffic safety, particularly for drones operating in densely populated areas. "The Federal Aviation Administration is responsible for the safety and security of all aircraft in the National Airspace System," said an FAA spokesperson. "Our long-term goal is to integrate drones safely into that system so that our society can reap the full benefits of drone technology." Integration Challenges The designs and reliability of drones have greatly improved in recent years but the integration of drones into local and national airspace remains challenging, explains Doug Davis, director of airworthiness and airspace integration for Northrop Grumman, a developer of autonomous aircraft systems. "If you're going to operate new aircraft, which is what drones are considered, you need to operate them within the same framework of operational risk and requirements that apply to all aircraft operating in the domestic airspace of the United States," he said.  Davis' real concern is not the technical maturity of drones — over the past 15 years the number incidents of operators losing control of their drones has dropped dramatically — but rather, the high potential density of drones above populated areas, and an inadequate knowledge of the aviation environment by a new generation of delivery drone operators. "Many of these new operators are coming into the field from a purely business perspective, with no aviation background at all," he explained. "They often just don't understand what's in the air with them." His fears are compounded, he added, by the current limited ability of drones to avoid collisions with other objects in their path, whether it's a bird, a building, or another drone. The FAA shares Davis' concern. "Several companies have developed technology intended to automatically detect and avoid other aircraft but the technology is still maturing," admitted the FAA spokesperson. "Solving that challenge would allow longer flights beyond a pilot's visual line of sight and help enable routine drone delivery." Encouraging Innovation  To create an air traffic safety environment where the public is safe and drone delivery service companies can succeed, the FAA is working closely with drone operators such as UPS to define new regulations that support both safety and innovation. "For drones, we're focusing on the top-level safety performance we expect rather than dictating a detailed aircraft design that will meet that safety guideline," explained the FAA spokesperson. This approach encourages drone operators to meet overall safety and operational requirements while not discouraging them from exploring new, more innovative ways to deliver products and services, the spokesperson added. Flying Forward For its part, UPS is trying to build public confidence in drone-based services by simply delivering on its promises: "UPS has conducted numerous public drone demonstrations for urgent commercial and non-urgent residential deliveries," said Kyle Peterson, a spokesperson for UPS. "We also partner with GAVI and Zipline to use drones to deliver blood products to remote locations in Africa. These efforts help shape and inform the evolving drone policy in the U.S." In July, reports Reuters, UPS announced the creation of a drone delivery subsidiary, UPS Flight Forward, and revealed that it has applied for FAA certification to expand the business. Managing the Future Current FAA safety regulations prohibit drones from operating over populated areas or beyond line of sight without an FAA waiver. Any drone to be used for package delivery must obtain an FAA airworthiness certificate. And drones are not allowed to operate at night. The FAA recognizes, however, that it is operating in a dynamic, technology-driven environment where the pressure to integrate drones safely and efficiently into the national airspace is increasing every day. To that end, the agency is working with NASA's Ames Research Center and other federal agencies to develop an Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) system analogous to the current air traffic management system for manned aircraft. "The UTM system is an automated, machine-to-machine system that does not rely on air traffic controllers," said NASA Ames' Marcus Johnson, deputy project manager for NASA's UTM program. "It relies instead on drones to self-report their positions and flight activities to a group of federated UAS service suppliers on the ground." The service suppliers, Johnson adds, share information with each other about the drones' proposed flight activities, and help deconflict those activities from other operations occurring in the same air space. The service suppliers also communicate with the FAA through a flight information management system. Since 2016, the UTM program has undergone four phases of testing to demonstrate drones' ability to operate safely in increasingly dense and challenging traffic environments. NASA reports that the most recent testing was completed in August 2019 and "focused on UAS operations in higher-density urban areas for tasks such as newsgathering and package delivery." Reality Check According to Johnson, the UTM testing revealed that drone operations remain potentially vulnerable to "microclimates" and radio frequency (RF) interference. "If you operate a drone in dense urban environments, you're likely to encounter a diverse set of small, localized weather patterns," Johnson said. "These microclimates can really challenge your situational awareness of current flight conditions, particularly if you're operating the drone beyond visual line of sight." In such a situation, Johnson adds, the urban density may also limit an operator's options for landing a drone quickly and safely. RF interference also poses a greater potential threat to drone operations than most delivery service companies realize, he added. "For command and control, drone operators often use the same unlicensed frequency bands — 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz — used by residential or commercial Wi-Fi routers," explained Johnson. If a drone flies too close to an office building where such routers are in use, it can experience a sudden "loss of link," i.e. a loss of communication with its operator, which can create safety hazards for the drone and people on the ground. RF interference can also be caused by steel-reinforced concrete and other building materials found commonly in the urban environment. Writing a New Chapter The final step in integrating drones safely into the national airspace will be to transition the UTM rules of engagement into practice and to gain acceptance for commercial drone operations from all potential stakeholders. The FAA's UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP),created in late 2017, aims to create that harmony. It has brought UAS operators and manufacturers together with state, local and tribal governments to test and validate advanced drone operations in various beyond-line-of-sight applications including infrastructure monitoring, border protection and package delivery. According to Johnson, the technologies demonstrated by the UTM program have accelerated the delivery industry's readiness to begin using drones more regularly while helping to inform the FAA's current drone policy and rulemaking activities. For its part, the FAA is cautiously optimistic about the future of commercial drone operations. "Societal acceptance of drones will be predicated on the public's expectation for safety, just as in the airline industry," said the FAA spokesperson. "Working together, we can accelerate the development of the UTM ecosystem and usher in the necessary social transformation. It's an exciting challenge as we integrate unmanned aircraft into our nation's airspace and help write a new chapter in aviation history." If you're eager to see your career in autonomous aircraft systems take off, please visit us at www.careers.northropgrumman.com.

Are Drone Delivery Services Safe Enough for Takeoff?

It's one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. It held 50,000 excited spectators and smaller groups of less-enthusiastic participants, and fueled the resurgence of strong Roman rule. So it's no surprise that the Colosseum earns its place as one of the most impressive construction projects in history. But building the Colosseum was no easy task — what did it really take to birth this behemoth? We're digging deeper to discover the impact and outcome of engineering an empire. Roma Resurgens Politics — not practicality — drove the construction of the Colosseum. After years of civil war, city-destroying fires and disastrous rulers such as Nero, emperor Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty decided it was time to restore Rome's former glory. As noted by the Ancient History Encyclopedia, Vespasian minted coins with the inscription "Roma resurgens" — Rome rises again. He then set his sights on Nero's former Golden House in the heart of Rome for his new engineering effort. For Vespasian, the Colosseum represented stability: In the war-torn year after Nero's suicide, four emperors claimed the throne. Vespasian was the last, ruling for 10 years and laying the foundation for the Flavian dynasty, which according to History.com "attempted to tone down the excesses of the Roman court, restore Senate authority and promote public welfare." In approximately 72 A.D. he ordered the construction of the Colosseum; eight years later, his son Titus opened the gates and dedicated the amphitheater to the people of Rome. Numerical Superiority In the history of engineering, Roman projects often stand out for their focus on over-engineering — it's why many of their aqueducts and amphitheaters have endured for millennia. Building the Colosseum was no exception; as noted by BBC History, drains were built 26 feet below the structure to carry away underground stream water. The doughnut-shaped foundation was made of concrete 39-42 feet deep around the outer walls and seating, and 13 feet deep under the arena's inner ellipse. In addition, earth from the massive foundation hole was used to raise ground level around the Colosseum by 23 feet, allowing it to stand astride the skyline rather than shrink below. Colosseum construction conformed to period-specific design sensibilities, which stated that ideal building scale was 5:3. This Roman ratio informed the length and width of the arena. Originally planned at 300 x 180 Roman feet, the arena was eventually adjusted to 280 x 168 — smaller but still in line with ratio requirements, reports BBC History. Eighty entrances let spectators into the building, with 45,000 seats and 5,000 spaces for standing-room only, according to the Ancient History Encyclopedia. Let the Games Begin The Colosseum was largely finished just eight years after being commissioned by emperor Vespasian, but he didn't live to see opening night — his son Titus declared a festival to celebrate with 100 days of games including a mock naval battle. Full completion of the Colosseum happened under Titus' successor Domitian, who built a two-level basement — known as the hypogeum — and added the velarium, a large awning that could be pulled over the arena to shade spectators. Also exciting (and terrifying)? Thirty-six trap doors to let animals loose in the arena or send unwitting gladiators tumbling into the hypogeum. While history has forgotten the name of the architect(s) who designed this incredible structure, there's no doubt about the amount of labor required. Building the Colosseum took over 100,000 slaves working for a decade. As the BBC points out, while the exterior of the Colosseum fairly shone with glimmering travertine, the structure is "really a triumph of brick-vaulting and cement." Barrel vaults and radial walls helped distribute the massive downward force of the three-story building and allowed Roman builders to create soaring spans and arches that wouldn't be possible without massive cement foundations and — as noted above — the penchant for Roman over-engineering. Got a Permit for That? Construction of the Colosseum was almost impossibly fast, owing largely to the use of slave labor. Without the need for workplace protection, city permits or weekend breaks, building this behemoth was relatively straightforward. Modern technology — such as backhoes, bulldozers and dump trucks — would probably put current construction times on par with Roman imperial builders. The bigger challenge? Standing the test of time. As noted by Science Alert, Roman concrete outstrips the strength and longevity of its modern counterpart. Where current concrete erodes in contact with seawater, Roman rock flourishes. While our cement crumbles over time, ancient aggregate grows stronger. Cost is also a concern. Estimates put the budget of creating a Colosseum 2.0 at anywhere from $435 to $675 million — barring resource shortages, earthquakes or labor strikes. Put simply? We'd spend more for a structure that likely wouldn't live up to historic potential. Legends Never Die Even standouts in the history of engineering don't live forever. While Rome did enjoy a resurgence during the Flavian dynasty, multiple earthquakes and changing Roman tastes saw the building fall into disrepair by 600 A.D. By the 20th century, almost two-thirds of the original structure had been destroyed by a combination of neglect and material repurposing. In the 1990s, restoration efforts began and while the Colosseum still falls short of its former glory, it remains one of Rome's most popular attractions. The Colosseum remains a tangible testament to engineering will and wonder — despite its troubled past, there's no denying its place in the grand history of engineering.   

Building the Colosseum: How to Engineer an Empire

Have you ever looked at a tall bridge or high rise building and thought, "I'd hate to be up there in an earthquake?" It turns out you might actually be safer on one of those structures than in your own home, thanks to new and evolving civil engineering technology focused on disaster mitigation. Civil engineers focus on the design, construction, operation and maintenance of infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges and water delivery systems. Increasingly, they include disaster mitigation technologies in every project. Why? Because the less an earthquake, flood or fire affects a facility's safe operation, the sooner emergency management officials can get it back in service. Be Flexible, Enjoy the Ride  The U.S. government has invested heavily in networks designed to monitor indicators of potential natural disasters. Yet, it remains nearly impossible to know when the next disaster will strike, how strong it will be or how long it will last. As a result, civil engineers design structures to work "with" rather than "against" the forces of Mother Nature. Building designers in California, for example, use shear walls and metal joint reinforcement brackets to make structures more resilient to earthquakes. "If you make a building an elastic, well-connected box, its major structural elements will move together," explained John Schuricht, a structural engineer with Palos Verdes Engineering Corporation in Los Angeles. Without reinforcement, the building's main elements will move in random ways during an earthquake, potentially pulling the structure apart. The new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, opened in 2013, is a model of civil engineering technology that adapts to reality. Its self-anchored suspension bridge features a main tower, road deck and suspension cable that can bend and sway during an earthquake. The bridge also uses an innovative technology called hinge pipe beams — picture giant metal dowels and matching sleeves — installed under the road deck at junctions between its major sections. The beams allow road sections to slide back and forth as much as six feet without damaging the bridge.   The bridge's adaptive technology proved itself on August 24, 2014, when the South Napa earthquake — a magnitude 6.0 temblor and the biggest earthquake to hit the Bay Area in 25 years — left the bridge unscathed. Bend, Don't Break Disaster mitigation strategies also drive civil engineering technology used in public water storage and delivery systems. "We pay particular attention to the seismic resiliency of our emergency water tanks" said Todd Peters, chief engineer for the California Water Service Company, San Jose, Calif. All piping attached to the tanks is flexible, he explained, and the tanks are anchored seismically. "We also include 'head space' in each tank to allow water to slosh around during an earthquake, which reduces stress on the tank's structure," Peters added. The company has begun using pipes with flexible, earthquake-resistant joints to avoid breakage in areas with high seismic activity. Learn From Nature's Laboratory For civil engineers, every natural disaster provides an opportunity to test and improve their disaster mitigation strategies. California's Department of Transportation (Caltrans), which manages and maintains the state's highway system, has learned expensive lessons from each of the region's last major quakes. The Sylmar earthquake in 1971, for example, demonstrated the need to reinforce the tops and bottoms of the concrete columns that support the state's more than 12,000 bridges and overpasses. Freeways that collapsed during the 1994 Northridge earthquake taught Caltrans that all of the columns supporting a bridge should be approximately the same stiffness.  "Today we're building bridges with civil engineering technology that dissipates seismic energy at the ends of columns," said Mark Mahan, chief of Caltrans' Office of Earthquake Engineering, Analysis, & Research. "Either we form and pour the columns on site, adding reinforcing steel hoops at the ends of each column, or we build the bridge using precast concrete components integrated with reinforcing steel," he said. Drive Recovery With Data  Even if you've designed your bridge or water delivery system to survive the big one, you'd still like to verify its actual condition once the shaking stops. Caltrans' new ShakeCast system can help. Developed in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), ShakeCast is a web-based application. Within minutes of detection of an earthquake by USGS sensors, it sends out estimates of earthquake shaking, by location, to Caltrans and other state, federal and local agencies. ShakeCast can't tell you the condition of specific structures, but it can guide the deployment of structural inspection teams to areas most likely affected by an earthquake. Civil engineers will never defeat natural disasters, but if they can force a draw through deployment of smart, adaptive technologies, everybody wins.  Photo Source: Caltrans Photo Source: WikimediaCommons/U.S. Geological Survey 

Civil Engineers Build Resilience Into Disaster Mitigation Efforts

Hearing assistive technology has come a long way since the hearing "trumpets" of the 18th century. Today's sound technology is smaller and more seamlessly integrated into the user's body, such as through small devices that are placed behind the ear. Emerging solutions also take advantage of the consumer devices that so many people use every day, such as smartphones, wearable devices and tablets. Evolution of Hearing Assistive Technology From the 13th century through the 18th century, people with hearing loss used hollowed-out animal horns to assist with hearing, according to IEEE Pulse. Then, in the 18th century, people used a slightly more technical "ear trumpet," which looked like an instrument and worked by funneling sound through a narrow tube into the user's ear. Later, electric hearing aids were made possible by the invention of the telephone in the 19th century. The principles behind the telephone — controlling volume, frequency and distortion of sounds — were necessary for the first electric hearing aid, which was invented in 1898 by Miller Reese Hutchison, according to HearingSystems. The first hearing aid and subsequent versions amplified sounds. Modern Hearing Assistive Technology Today, hearing continues to be a widespread challenge. According to the World Health Organization, more than 5% of the population (roughly 466 million people worldwide) have disabling hearing loss. When hearing aids aren't enough, some people get cochlear implants. These are electronic devices that go beyond amplifying sound, as the Mayo Clinic explains, to bypass damaged portions of the ear to deliver sound signals to the hearing (auditory) nerve. They use a sound processor that captures sound signals and sends them to a receiver that is implanted under the skin behind the ear. However, advanced hearing aids and cochlear implants are often not enough to help people hear and understand sounds in busier settings. The Hearing Loss Association of America points out that people who are deaf or partially deaf need more help than just turning up the volume. In many settings, it's hard to separate the background noise from what you want to hear. Plus, users have to deal with reverberation and sorting out the distances of specific sounds. Imagine attending a conference, for example, with every sound turned up. It would be very challenging to understand the person giving a presentation if their voice had to compete with distant chatter and ambient noise. Hearing Assistive Technology (HAT) can bypass challenging acoustics by sending sound waves directly to users' ears. For example, Assistive Listening Systems use telecoils that are built into many hearing aids and cochlear implants to access the sound being transmitted through a sound system, such as the microphone used by presenters at a conference. There are several types of these systems:   Hearing Loops use a copper wire connected via a special loop "driver" to a sound system, and then an electromagnetic field connects to the user's telecoil receiver.  Infrared Systems (IR) work like TV remote controls, sending sound to an IR receiver using invisible infrared light waves.  FM Systems transmit wireless, low-power FM frequency radio transmission from a sound system to FM receivers.  People can also use tools such as hand-held amplifiers called Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs), Bluetooth wireless technology, captioning and Communication Access Real-Time Translation (real-time captioning for live events). New Sound Technology for Disabled People Recently, researchers at the University of Washington used sound processing technology to develop a smartwatch app that assists deaf people with sound awareness. Instead of helping users hear sounds, the app helps them understand what the sounds mean. When a microwave dings, a smoke alarm goes off or a siren blares, users feel a vibration from their watch. For sounds that require action, this helps with safety and situational awareness, but the user can also enjoy understanding other less urgent sounds. The project was led by Dhruv Jain, a computer scientist doctoral candidate who is hard of hearing. "These devices can also enhance people's experiences and help them feel more connected to the world," he says. "I use the watch prototype to notice birds chirping and waterfall sounds when I am hiking. It makes me feel present in nature. My hope is that other deaf and hard-of-hearing people who are interested in sounds will also find SoundWatch helpful." Wearables, like other trendy pieces of technology, aren't just for fun. With slight adjustments and app configurations, these devices can also become assistive technology for disabled people.

The Buzz About Wearable Sound Technology for Hearing Assistance

Engineers launch specialized aircraft into the skies and pitch payloads into space. Did you also know that, as an engineer, you can give people wings too? Engineering accessibility helps people with disabilities fly in a space that most of us take for granted.Without direct experience, it's difficult to know exactly what obstacles people with disabilities face in everyday life, but pause for a moment and imagine how you would use your computer without hands? How about riding a bike when your balance isn't good or your legs are too short? ... and how would you surf the internet to read this blog post?Engineering for Assistive TechThis is where assistive technology (AT) comes in — devices that help people with disabilities manage daily life. Probably the most famous and globally recognized is Stephen Hawking's voice — a computer interface that powers his communication, allowing him to communicate with the world around him. Other examples of AT that you may see every day include customized grips for holding a toothbrush or spoon securely, walkers, wheelchairs and ramps for mobility and electronic solutions for computer access. All of these solutions require engineering input to bring them to life. Many of them also need volunteers and organizations bringing experts together with patients and their families.Community Partner V-LINCCollaboration often starts in the workplace. Companies offer skills, workforce and sometimes production capacity to give back to the community. This is true for Northrop Grumman which has a long history with assistive technology, starting with prosthetic limb research after World War II. V-LINC, an organization that designs and builds customized AT solutions, recently recognized NG Baltimore aerospace engineers as Partner of the Year for their volunteer work.Based in Maryland, V-LINC is the merger of two groups, one of which started in 1982 with a former Westinghouse (and now Northrop Grumman) employee. The company influence continues, with employees forming one of the largest volunteer teams. Over the decades, they have worked on various V-LINC projects including bike modification clinics that get kids in the saddle, a mobility chariot to help a family exercise together and a seizure alarm for nighttime monitoring — all small engineering projects that make a huge impact on the families involved.Workplace Buzz at FabLabWithin the workplace itself, the NG FabLab (Fabrication Laboratory) initiative at the Space Park campus in Redondo Beach, California, also connects company volunteers with AT. In January 2016, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems employees engineered a custom motorized easel for an artist. The engineers spent time with Raul Pizarro, whose muscular dystrophy limits mobility so he can work only in a small area. Volunteers took measurements and 3D scans to design a solution that would allow Pizarro to work once again on larger canvases. When completed, the system helped move the canvas so that Pizarro could execute the full scope of his dreams.Engineering Accessibility With the Next GenerationNorthrop Grumman is also inspiring the next generation of engineers. A recent V-LINC project matched a Northrop Grumman volunteer with a college student team to learn about sensory processing disorders among autistic children and youth.Another FabLab event in October, 2016 exposed middle-school students to engineering design for AT. Held in collaboration with the National Science Teachers Association, the students used 3D-printing technology to build components for prosthetic hands designed for the specialized needs of growing children. With all the exciting tech and equipment available at FabLab, not only did the students learn about AT but they also saw how cool it is to work as an engineer.Low Tech Works TooAT doesn't always mean high tech; limited resources often require creative solutions and improvisation, something that engineers are good at. Last August, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems engineers brainstormed ideas for improving toilet access. Inspired by challenges faced by a Ugandan amputee and landmine survivor, they used their engineering know-how for solutions that make pit latrines more accessible. Prototypes included an ingenious portable seat that balances between crutches.High tech or low tech — the common feature is that engineering solutions help people with disabilities to face daily life. Maybe next time you see your work soaring across the skies, imagine the excitement of using those same mad skillz to give someone else wings.

Disabilities Take Flight When Accessibility Is Engineered

Establishing partnerships between startups and large companies can be awkward and complicated. Bureaucracy at large companies often results in slow discovery processes, complicated vetting and legal requirements that can drag on for months. Startups don't have the time or the personnel to deal with these lengthy processes that distract from the core mission of the company. Yet both sides are incentivized to work together. Startups need market reach, customer relationships and the scale large businesses offer. Large businesses need access to leading edge innovation, intellectual property and agility that startups thrive on. Moving Fast Northrop Grumman has been experimenting with new techniques aimed at expediting the establishment of partnerships. Quickly bringing the latest technology to the warfighter is becoming extremely critical. With the enormous and widening gap between commercial R&D and defense R&D, it is incumbent upon the defense prime contractors like Northrop Grumman to tap into adjacent technologies. In recent years, the company has teamed up with smaller ventures; for example, the company worked with Not Impossible Labs to create and distribute vaccines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2019, the large aerospace firm teamed up with smaller manufacturer Rocket Lab to launch a satellite from a remote spot in New Zealand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiyPDYlYpGk&feature=youtu.be <strong>A Hackathon and a Sprint More recently, Northrop Grumman held a hackathon with Deepwave Digital, the creator of a software-defined radio optimized to execute deep learning algorithms for signal processing and signal identification applications. Last summer, forty Northrop Grumman engineers sat in rapt attention as John Ferguson, CEO of Deepwave Digital, delivered a lecture about radio frequency (RF) machine learning. Twelve hours later, the engineers demonstrated their neural networks tackling a real world problem while running on Deepwave hardware in their own labs. The time from initial meeting to hackathon was only about 30 days. That's light speed in the world of defense technology. In the following months, a productive relationship was solidified. Exposing Northrop Grumman engineers to the Deepwave Digital development environment, by actually using it, translated to immediate benefits to the startup. Putting together the demos and curriculum for the hackathon forced Deepwave to put together a user experience that they now can share at other venues and accelerate adoption. Ferguson says, "Training and deploying RF machine learning as algorithms is complex, and the Northrop Grumman engineers had a wide variety of expertise. This forced us to put together a streamlined experience where we can enable newcomers to get relevant, first-hand experience with our product." Everyone Benefits The larger company benefited as well. Now, Northrop Grumman and its Applied Autonomy group have a new tool with which to develop solutions to some of its customers' hard problems. "We're really looking forward to some collaborative work with them in the coming year," says Dr. Mark Milam, Northrop Grumman Fellow. Relationships like these enable Northrop Grumman engineers to gain access to discriminating, cutting-edge technology fast and apply it to national defense problems. This will soon become second nature. Northrop Grumman has job openings working on exciting partnerships like this one.

Tech Giants and Startups: Combining Resource with Speed

Heading to Greece? You'll want to swing by the Parthenon, one of the most alluring and structurally adventurous buildings ever conceived. This highlight of Athens' Acropolis has seen better days, but work is ongoing to restore the ruins and reclaim its former glory. Despite its current state of disrepair, however, the building itself presents a compelling constructive paradox: How did Athenian engineers find the balance between architectural beauty and structural brawn in this piece of ancient architecture? Built to Last The existing temple sits on the site of an older building that was razed by the Persians in approximately 480 BCE. As noted by the Encyclopedia Britannica, construction of second temple to Athena began in 447 BCE under the direction of Pericles. Architects Ictinus and Callicrates (also called Iktinos and Kallikrates, respectively) were called upon to create the building which would eventually house a 39-foot high marble statue of Athena holding a gold-and-ivory aegis and carrying 6-foot tall image of the goddess Nike in her other hand. To construct the temple itself, Athenian builders hauled more than 100,000 tons of marble from a nearby quarry to the construction site where they were hand-trimmed and set in place. Experts believe the massive blocks were moved using a combination of pulleys, ropes and wood cranes — tools already available to the Athenians thanks to their existing naval ships. According to Smithsonian Magazine, the blocks were fastened together without mortar; instead, the Greeks used custom-built iron clamps set into meticulously-carved flutes. Lead was then poured onto the clamps, helping them withstand both regular earthquake events and prevent rusting. Civil engineering professor Kyriazis Pitilakis of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki notes that the columns supporting the Parthenon "are designed so that they have excellent seismic performance properties." Perfect Imperfection There's no denying the beauty of this ancient engineering feat; while the bulk of the temple was constructed using the simple, clean lines of Doric architecture, other elements — such as columns supporting the inner chamber roof — used the more elaborate Ionic style. Along the top outside edge of building is a repeating pattern of three-channeled and carved square blocks, known as triglyphs and metopes. There are 92 metopes in all: Those on the north side show the Trojan War, the south a mythical battle with centaurs, the west a battle with giants and the east a battle against the Amazons. The inner chamber (cella) contained a horizontal decorated frieze that ran the length of the walls and used the bas-relief technique to raise the figures slightly from the background. But for all its beauty, it's also a building of intentional imperfections designed to trick the eye and improve the viewing experience. It contains no perfectly straight lines; instead, the builders attempted to account for the natural tendency of straight edges at scale to appear curved. To accomplish this, the columns lean slightly inwards and bulge subtly in the center, giving the illusion at distance of perfectly straight lines. In addition, the floor of the temple rises slightly in the center to make it appear flat to outside observers, and the four corner columns are slightly fatter than the others, making them seem equally-sized when accounting for the negative space beyond their edge. Athena's Got Talent(s) Ancient architecture isn't cheap — estimates put the cost of building the Parthenon at around 470 silver talents. While there's no exchange rate between USD and Athenian talents, the city supposedly had gross annual income of just 1,000 talents with 6,000 held in reserve. For perspective, the cost to build and fully outfit the most advanced warship of the era — the trireme — was a single talent. Sculptures and metopes also contributed to the overall cost and monumental amount of detail work needed to complete friezes. While the temple itself was dedicated in 438, work continued on the artistic elements until 432 BCE. For example, a stippling pattern applied to the marble which helped dull the finish and reduce the appearance of imperfections "may have taken as much as a quarter of the total construction time expended on the monument," according to Manolis Korres, formerly the Parthenon's head restoration coordinator. In fact, modern efforts to restore friezes and columns have been hampered by technical limitations that would make such a project outrageously expensive in this day and age. While the use of a flute-carving machine has helped speed the process of repair, the precise detail needed to ensure a perfect fit demands hand-chiseling at the final stage. There's also evidence to suggest that current tools can't match ancient chisels and axes for sharpness and durability, meaning Athenian workers were getting more done, faster than tech-driven restoration efforts — and still needed 15 years to finish the job. Boom Goes the Dynamite Beyond the wear and tear that comes with 2,000 years of history, why is this feat of ancient architecture a shell of its former self? As noted by History.com, it started when Christian Byzantines conquered Greece in the sixth century and outlawed pagan worship. They converted the temple into a Christian church and blocked the east side entrance. In 1458, the Ottoman Empire took Athens and converted the church into a mosque — but when war came to their doorstep in 1687, the Empire decided to stockpile ammunition inside. Under heavy cannon fire, stored munitions exploded and much of the temple was destroyed. The Sincerest Form of Flattery As noted above, restoration efforts are underway — they began in 1975 with $23 million in backing from the Greek government. Initial estimations suggested the repairs could be completed in 10 years, but speedy (and sloppy) work done in 1898 proved problematic, causing columns to swell, crack and shift and necessitating immediate replacement. A focus on reusing the original materials wherever possible has also slowed progress; it took architects more than five years to identify the positions of over 500 blocks scattered around the Acropolis thanks to the munitions stockpile explosion. While work remains underway — and behind schedule — a full-scale replica of the Parthenon already exists in Nashville, Tennessee. Functioning as the city's art museum, it features direct plaster casts of original sculptures and monuments to provide a modern, tangible interpretation of Ancient Greek beauty and brawn. From the Parthenon to the pyramids, the Taj Mahal to Rome's Colosseum, ancient architecture remains both culturally relevant and mechanically mesmerizing. 

The Parthenon Paradox: Beauty and Brawn in Ancient Architecture

The Taj Mahal was a labor of love that has inspired affection in its own right.   Constructed nearly 400 years ago in Agra, India, the mausoleum annually attracts an estimated 8 million visitors and is widely considered to be the jewel of Indo-Islamic architecture. From its breathtaking symmetry to the unadorned grave at the spiritual center of the building, the Taj Mahal demands attention from almost every angle.   That's just what its creator wanted: eternal appreciation of the woman it honors. Mumtaz Mahal died while giving birth to her 14th child. Her husband, Shah Jahan, emperor of the Muslim Mughal empire, spared no ambition or cost in memorializing his third and favorite wife. His tribute stands, all these years later, as one of the world's most impressive architectural feats.   The Work of Craftsmen, Laborers and Elephants   A legend that historians disprove but nonetheless circulate, perhaps because its extreme nature mirrors the aesthetic intensity of the site, claims that Shah Jahan severed the hands and gouged the eyes of the artisans and craftsmen who built the mausoleum so that they couldn't repeat their success. If anything, the emperor probably appreciated the efforts of the many architects who designed the diffuse structures that seamlessly mesh to form a sweeping monument. The lingering question throughout the centuries is who actually designed it. As the official website of the Taj Mahal offers, credit for design in those days usually went to the building's patron, rather than the architects. But it is believed the job required a team of architects.   Hopefully, Shah Jahan also appreciated the backbreaking work of the 22,000 laborers who, in a time long before electricity and mechanized construction tools, took 17 years to complete the project, finishing the central mausoleum in 1648. The workers benefited from the help of more than 1,000 elephants.   They came from all over Asia: stone cutters from Baluchistan, Pakistan; sculptors from Bukhara, India; inlayers from southern India; calligraphers from Syria and Persia; a specialist in turrets; and another who carved only marble flowers. Thirty-seven such craftsmen formed a "creative unit."   A city, Mumtazabad, was actually created to accommodate all the workers. In Agra, they found a way to carry the heavy materials to the top of the 145-foot-high mausoleum dome; they built a 10-mile ramp that ran through the city. Materials —including ivory white marble and 40 types of gems — also came from all over: Iraq, Tibet, Turkestan and from within the Muslim Mughal empire.   Another legend has it that Shah Jahan, impatient after hearing it would take five years to remove the enormous brick scaffolding that supported the construction of the dome, declared that anyone who helped disassemble the bricks could keep them. It all came down overnight.   A Testament to Architectural Design   The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the Taj Mahal as a World Heritage site in 1983, meaning it has significant cultural and historical significance. That kind of significance almost goes without saying, but a UNESCO designation legally protects the site from harm or destruction in international treaties.   As UNESCO aptly describes in an overview of the structure and grounds, this wonder of the world is almost a sensory overload. It is a "rhythmic combination of solids and voids, concave and convex, and light shadow." Arches and domes "increase the aesthetic aspect," and "the relief work in marble and inlay with precious and semiprecious stones make it a monument apart."   UNESCO points to three architectural design innovations that accentuate the beauty and majesty of the structure and grounds. First, placing Mumtaz Mahal's tomb at one end of the site's four section garden, instead of in the exact center, adds depth and perspective to the distant view of the monument. Also, the four free-standing minarets that stand on the corners of the mausoleum offer "not only a kind of spatial reference to the monument but also give a three-dimensional effect to the edifice."   Lastly, UNESCO believes the Taj Mahal offers a perfect construct of symmetrical shapes, textures and colors that blend with dissimilar shapes, textures and colors in other spots. For instance, the mosque and the guest house in the proper complex are built of red sandstone, in contrast to the marble tomb in the center. Also, two main walkways and narrower cross-axial walkways precisely divide the walled garden into four sections.   Purposely Tricking Millions of Eyes   It's no wonder why the majority of visitors don't rush when on the grounds. Staring at it all is expected.   As Smithsonian observes, "the architects and craftsmen of the Taj Mahal were masters of proportions and tricks of the eye. When you first approach the main gate that frames the Taj, for example, the monument appears incredibly close and large. But as you get closer, it shrinks in size, exactly the opposite of what you'd expect." 

The Taj Mahal Stuns Millions of Visitors With Symmetrical Beauty

The first woman admitted to MIT, or any scientific institution for that matter, Ellen Swallow Richards, pioneered sanitary engineering, home economics, nutrition and environmental activism. She was the first woman in the United States to obtain a chemistry degree, and she would have pursued a Ph.D. in chemistry if women weren't prevented from doing so at the time.  Who Was Ellen Swallow Richards?  Ellen Swallow was born to a rural family farm in Dunstable, Massachusetts, in 1842. According to Smithsonian Magazine, she was a curious child who would read ingredient labels on food to learn more about nutrition. She earned her first bachelor's degree at Vassar College (an all-women school at the time), where she was mentored by America's first female astronomer, Maria Mitchell. Young Ellen wanted to be a chemist, but she couldn't find anyone willing to hire a woman for such a position or any schools that accepted women for advanced science degrees. She was able to attend MIT as a "special student." She was accepted to show that women couldn't handle higher learning, according to Smithsonian Magazine, and she was isolated from her cohort in a solitary lab.  A Groundbreaking Chemistry Career  Despite these challenges, she earned a bachelor's degree (her second) from MIT, plus a master's degree from Vassar. She continued studying at MIT for two more years and applied to the doctoral program but was rejected because they did not award doctoral degrees to women at the time. She married Robert Hallowell Richards, chairman of MIT's mining engineering department, and he supported her research, according to the New York Historical Society.  Ellen Swallow Richards taught chemistry at MIT from 1873 to 1878, although the university did not give her a salary or a title. She was recognized as a professor in 1879, but she still worked for free, according to the American Chemical Society. She advocated for more women in research and opened the Women's Laboratory where 23 women, mostly local teachers, joined her scientific pursuits.  Eventually, MIT warmed up to the idea of women in science, and her Women's Lab closed. She was appointed assistant chemist of the nation's first laboratory of sanitary chemistry in 1883. There, she studied water quality and sewage treatment, an emerging field at the time. While water testing is standard today, the concept of water quality was new when Richards participated in this research and analyzed 40,000 samples. Through this work, she helped set the stage for future pioneering women in STEM, such as environmental actistist Rachel Carson.  According to Smithsonian Magazine, Richards led a study of Massachusetts' food supply, in which her lab examined packaged food and discovered that it wasn't as pure as the labels suggested. She was a champion of domestic science, the precursor to home economics. She studied the science of baking and how science and technology concepts applied to homemaking in general.  A Powerful Voice (With a Limited Viewpoint)  Like many early activists, she advanced important causes but was not inclusive. Her work focused on advancing women like her — white middle-class housewives, according to Smithsonian Magazine.  Despite her limited views, she was one of the early pioneering women in stem who advocated for advancing women's education and careers. She pushed the boundaries of what was possible for women at scientific institutions, and her hard work proved that women's contributions were essential for the advancement of science. 

MIT's First Female Student: Ellen Swallow Richards

In March 2020, as the number of COVID-19 cases in the United States began to swell, hospitals put out a desperate call for help. They needed personal protective equipment — and they needed it fast. The Northrop Grumman FabLabs community swung into action. These fabrication laboratories, which opened in 2014 in the spirit of the maker movement, provide innovation space for company employees to pursue new ideas and test out potential customer solutions. But they're also ideal spaces to respond quickly to urgent manufacturing needs. Already equipped with a range of industrial tools and equipment, including 3D printers, laser cutters, metal and woodworking machines and even sewing machines, these labs don't have to undergo a major facility transformation like traditional factories might in order to meet a demand — at least, not in the conventional sense. Within weeks, six Northrop Grumman FabLabs located in California and Florida were taking an all-hands-on-deck approach. They cranked out more than 10,000 face shields in two months for dozens of hospitals — with some labs working 24/7. The effort both helped fulfill the immediate need for critical medical supplies and demonstrated that even a large company can become more agile and break through the usual bureaucracies to respond quickly to community needs and innovate to solve problems. "It was very grassroots, very collaborative," says Anne Stockdale, an engineer and manager at Northrop Grumman, who volunteered to coordinate the multi-lab effort. Stepping Up It began with a simple request. A nurse working in an intensive care unit asked her friend Daniel Hubert, a Northrop Grumman design engineer in Melbourne, Florida, if he could fabricate a face shield for her. Hubert researched designs approved by the National Institutes of Health and found a simple pattern made from a 3D-printed headband and a sheet of clear transparency paper typically used for overhead projectors. He prototyped the first one, and once the hospital approved, the entire 85-person staff of the ICU requested one. Undaunted, he recruited fellow engineers from Northrop Grumman to assist. In three days, they printed 150 face shields. It was clear by then that Northrop Grumman FabLabs could play a huge role. Tony Long, manager, Project Management, and FabLab lead in Redondo Beach, California, put out a company-wide call for volunteers. Stockdale, who has a materials and manufacturing background, stepped in to help coordinate production and distribution. Each day, all employees involved in the effort participated in a quick conference call to report on their progress, discuss materials needs and coordinate fixes on any equipment problems. Stockdale kept the meetings short. One slide listed each FabLab and what it needed to execute that day. Red, yellow, green or blue dots indicated their status. Red could mean a printer was down, yellow might mean materials were on the way, green might mean an order was ready but they needed a shipping address, blue meant no problems at all. "It was a quick way to get everybody on the same page and figure out who needed help as quickly as possible," says Stockdale. Crowdsourcing led to quick solutions, whether technical, logistical or material. Around the country, dozens of employees pitched in. Charlie Mann, a computer systems analyst in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, who had seven 3D printers in his home, produced dozens of shields in just a few weeks. CJ Nesbitt, an engineering manager in San Diego, California, also enlisted his own 3D printer as well as six others at the Northrop Grumman's San Diego FabLab. His group made more than 5,500 face shields for volunteer medical responders as well as healthcare workers in the area. Employees outside the FabLabs group got into the act as well. Northrop Grumman's Additive Manufacturing group, for instance, produced parts that were then sent to one of the FabLabs, where they were added it to the assembly line and distribution. Even some office administrators stepped up to the task. As production increased, transparency sheets, which were much more popular three decades ago, were suddenly in short supply. Stockdale already had global supply chain buyers from the company periodically checking office supply stores for this item, but she put out a request to admins asking them to check their office stock. "Sure enough, they found them in cabinets and drawers, where they'd probably been since the 1990s," says Stockdale. Retooling Historically, Americans have done well taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to solving national crises. Perhaps the best examples came during World War II, when dozens of manufacturing companies each underwent a facility transformation to produce vehicles, equipment, ammunition and more for the battlefield. According to Military.com, General Motors started making B24 bomber engines in its Buick factory. Fisher Body, which made auto bodies, began assembling the M-4 "Sherman" tank. Chrysler and Packard shifted some of their production to make tanks and aircraft engines. Oldsmobile started manufacturing artillery ammunition. During the COVID-19 crisis, Northrop Grumman FabLabs had to retool — but not in the conventional sense. These innovation spaces, designed specifically for prototyping, experimenting and making one-off gadgets, aren't intended to resemble factories. There are no assembly lines, and products are not made using methods to repeat and reproduce. "They're playgrounds for engineers," says Stockdale. In order to meet the demand for personal protective gear, the FabLabs not only turned into factories, they almost turned into businesses. They had to take customer orders and confirm that they could fulfill them. They had to source materials, some of which were not always easy to procure. They had to output parts according to an approved design and institute quality controls. They had to reproduce the items as quickly as possible over multi-shift operations. They had to synchronize distribution. They had to overcome design changes, meet legal requirements and build partnerships across networks they may not have encountered before. "How quickly the teams were able to set up and react to create face shields and get everything operational speaks volumes about Northrop Grumman employees," says Stockdale. In the end, Northrop Grumman FabLabs delivered about 16,700 face shields to healthcare workers in Arizona, California, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia. They also worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to send surplus equipment to hospitals experiencing critical needs. Northrop Grumman FabLabs will be ready to rise to the challenge, should a need arise again.  

Engineering Maker Spaces Respond to COVID-19

Although 5G promises to revolutionize the internet, the next wave of broadband may actually come from satellite technology. Amazon, SES Networks and OneWeb, to name a few, have plans to launch constellations of small satellites that are designed to deliver telecommunications and internet services. Flying less than 1,000 miles above the planet in low-Earth orbit (LEO), these networks of hundreds, and eventually thousands, of small satellites will blanket the planet in beams of broadband internet.  Origins of a Space-Based Internet  Companies like Dish Network and DirecTV have satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO), about 22,000 miles up. Although this is a traditional space for telecommunications satellites, the distance creates too much of a signal delay, or latency, to provide high-speed broadband internet.  In 2007, Greg Wyler founded the company O3b Networks with the intent of sending internet satellites into medium-Earth orbit (MEO) — about 5,000 miles above Earth, reports Bloomberg. At that height, latency is less of a problem than it is for satellites in GEO. Signals from MEO satellites take just 0.15 seconds to travel down to a gateway on Earth and back up again, compared to nearly half a second with satellites flying in GEO. The gateway connects to internet providers, who then deliver the signal to customers.  Wyler sold the company in 2016 to SES, which has put 20 satellites into MEO to date. In an interview with Space News, the company's CEO John-Paul Hemingway called MEO a "sweet spot" for space satellites. They're high enough that the spacecrafts can cover wide swaths of land, but low enough that their latency isn't an issue. In LEO, satellites cover smaller areas of land, which forces them to route their signals through multiple stops to achieve long-distance communications; that takes time and creates delays, Hemingway said.  But not everyone is convinced that LEO isn't efficient, including Wyler. After he sold O3b Networks to SES, Wyler founded OneWeb with plans to launch internet satellites into LEO. In February 2019, the company rocketed its first six satellites into space, according to a press release. OneWeb is sending more than 650 satellites into orbit and aims to provide full global coverage by 2021. According to CNBC, the company also announced it had secured its first customer, Talia, which delivers consumer broadband internet and community Wi-Fi to regions in Africa and the Middle East.  Internet Space Race Is On  Nearly half of the world's population lacks high-speed connectivity, according to a 2018 report from the International Telecommunications Union. Building out fiber networks in rural areas, or in countries that lack a reliable electrical grid, is expensive and creates an unreliable network. Luckily, a boom in commercial space ventures has raised competition and lowered the price of rocket launches as much as 25 percent, according to Bloomberg, igniting a new space race.  Amazon is following on the heels of SES and OneWeb. In April, the company announced that it was in talks with international regulators to gain spectrum rights for a constellation of about 3,200 satellites. The network, called Project Kuiper, would have three layers of orbiting satellites, one at 366 miles (590 km), one at 391 miles (630 km) and one at 380 miles (610 km), according to Space News. It has yet to secure FCC approval and has not yet set a deadline for deployment.  Companies able to deliver satellite-based broadband to the billions of people who lack it will open up new markets and completely change the future of the internet.  Challenges of Satellite Technology  Although thousands of new satellites orbiting Earth promise to deliver high-speed internet to people who need it the most, the abundance of spacecraft creates a considerable amount of orbital congestion. More than 4,000 intact spacecraft already orbit our planet along with 500,000 bits of debris, according to NASA. Adding thousands more satellites would greatly increase the risk of collisions. Concerned, the agency released a report in 2018 arguing that 99 percent all satellites would need to be taken out of orbit within five years of completing a mission. Making that happen is fairly straightforward. Controllers lower the altitude of a satellite's orbit so that it's pulled by Earth's gravity into the atmosphere, where it burns up.  In the next few years, the future of the internet will change dramatically. As satellites begin beaming high-speed internet to the Earth, terrestrial providers will need to scramble to compete. Billions of people will come online, gaining access to the apps, services and information so much of the world takes for granted. A major challenge will be ensuring that the space above our blue planet does not become heaped with the kind of junk and debris already clogging our lands and precious oceans. 

Satellite Technology Has Ignited a New Space Race

Activities conducted using spacecraft have become a ubiquitous part of our society. From monitoring hurricanes to measuring the ozone layer, U.S. government agencies today rely heavily on satellites and aerospace technology to conduct their day-to-day activities. But how are satellites conceived, designed, produced and deployed? NASA describes a spacecraft as "a vehicle or device designed for travel or operation outside the Earth's atmosphere." A satellite is described as "a type of spacecraft that orbits the Earth, the moon or another celestial body." In this series, we will use the terms spacecraft and satellite interchangeably. * * * One of the most challenging aspects of spacecraft development, and indeed the activity that underpins the success of a satellite mission, is an iterative process called systems engineering. Through this process, a spacecraft developer such as Northrop Grumman decides how best to design, launch and support a satellite system that meets a customer's mission requirements for cost, schedule, performance and reliability. Systems engineering begins during a company's earliest discussions with a customer about a new system, then continues on through the study, proposal and detailed design phases of satellite development. It never really stops, in fact, until the design for the satellite system has been formally approved for production by the customer.  Breaking Down the Mission "One of the first things we do is to perform a functional decomposition of a satellite mission," said Erin Shaw, systems engineering lead for Northrop Grumman's Spacecraft Resiliency and Rapid Prototyping Division. "We break it down into functions to perform the mission, functions to maintain the health and safety of the space vehicle, and functions to provide communications, and command and control between the satellite and the ground." Out of this process comes a top-level set of requirements that the systems engineers allocate or "flow down" to the major segments of the mission: the space vehicle, which carries the mission payload(s); the ground system, which manages command and control of the satellite; and the launch vehicle, which carries the satellite to orbit. In a typical satellite development program, systems engineers are sprinkled throughout the organization. They serve primarily as referees, working to resolve issues between and within mission segments. Their goal is to ensure that all requirements are accounted for, and that the satellite system meets the customer's expectations. Building the Architecture In concert with a mission's functional decomposition, explained Shaw, systems engineers use "block diagrams" to identify the physical and functional pieces required in each segment, and to define the interfaces required between segments. The diagrams help the engineers outline the main satellite architecture and bridge the gap between functional descriptions and physical reality. "The systems engineers are absolutely talking to the hardware folks at this point," she said. "We need to assure ourselves that the proposed system can actually get built and that all of the units shown in the physical block diagram can actually talk to each other." Shaw has also learned to include space vehicle integration and test (I&T) specialists in those early conversations. "I&T comes much later in a program," Shaw said, "but you don't want them to walk in, see all the parts on the floor, and tell you that your satellite can't be built the way you've designed it, or that the equipment they'll need to test it is not compatible with the satellite design." Studying the Options At the heart of every discussion between systems engineers and other spacecraft engineers is a process called trade studies. Through trade studies, team members weigh the benefits and risks of using one technical approach versus another. For example, a team might consider using a smaller, more expensive processor with higher performance instead of a heavier, more mature, but less expensive unit. Or they might compare the costs and mission benefits of processing satellite sensor data in space versus on the ground. Mission reliability is also a frequent factor in trade studies. "If your customer asks you to design a satellite for a Class A mission that absolutely cannot fail, you can't afford to use parts that are risky or unproven," explained Mike Ciffone, a director of programs in Northrop Grumman's Strategic Space Division. "On the other hand, if you're doing a Class D mission, which is more of a demonstration, you might be able to use components that are less proven but offer a higher potential payoff for the mission." Creating Balance After the systems engineering team assigns requirements to the main mission segments, each segment team can take a more detailed look at how to implement its portion of the mission. The first order of business for space vehicle systems engineers, for example, is to perform basic "sizing" calculations on the satellite's expected mass (weight), power consumption and power generating capabilities. "Satellite design is all about creating a balance between mission requirements and the fundamental characteristics and capabilities of the satellite," explained Ciffone. Typically, his engineering team lists out all the components required to do the mission, totals up the mass and power consumption of those components, then compares those figures to the lift capacity of the proposed launch vehicle and the power generation budget of the satellite. The goal is to get the satellite to orbit and remain "power positive," i.e., be able to generate the power its payload and support subsystems need throughout the mission. If that goal is met, Ciffone's designers will start producing detailed schematic drawings of the space vehicle's main structure and its key subsystems, including electrical power, propulsion, thermal, attitude control, and command and data handling. If, however, the space vehicle budgets don't "add up" to an achievable satellite system, cautioned Ciffone, "the systems engineering team will recommend adjustments to the size, power, performance, and cost of the mission payload and the space vehicle's major subsystems."  Negotiating Changes Perhaps nowhere is the role of systems engineers more important than in helping to "referee" proposed changes in design within or between mission segments. "One of the big problems that programs face during these early phases of design and development is managing the baseline and keeping everyone on the same page," emphasized Shaw. In other words, everything potentially affects everything. "We use a process called an engineering review board (ERB) to serve as a forum for anyone who's considering making a change to the design of a satellite subsystem or interface," she said. When changes are proposed, every major group on the satellite team gets to review the changes, then explain to the ERB how those changes might affect the team's ability to produce the satellite or satisfy its mission requirements. Convergence This iterative design process continues through the study phase of spacecraft development with a core team of perhaps a dozen systems engineers, satellite designers, payload specialists and integration and test experts. Their collaboration produces a satellite concept that can meet, to first approximation, the customer's requirements. In fact, by the time the customer finalizes their mission requirements, secures the required funding and issues a draft Request for Proposal (RFP) to potential bidders, much of the thinking about the satellite's design, and how it will be built and launched has been done. But no matter how much a satellite developer thinks they know what the customer wants, the draft RFP always produces surprises. "When we get a draft RFP, the most important task is to look at section M, the evaluation criteria, to find out what formally matters most to a customer," said Greg Davidson, Northrop Grumman's director of capture and proposal excellence. "The big question is always how much do they care about performance that exceeds requirements, and how much do they care about cost." If the customer indicates that they will not award "extra credit" for exceeding requirements, and is intent on obtaining adequate performance at the lowest possible cost, it's time to start looking for ways to reduce costs while providing the desired level of performance, added Davidson. Reducing Risks One way to reduce cost without sacrificing performance is to use units that have flown in space before, or that can be obtained more quickly. By eliminating the need to space qualify units, or by shortening a spacecraft's integration and test schedule, one can effectively reduce program cost. Another smart way to reduce development cost, advised Davidson, is to consider the real costs of spacecraft integration and test. "More often than not, schedule drives your overall cost," he said, "You can sometimes avoid risk in schedule by selecting hardware that does not require time-consuming or expensive integration and test procedures." The draft RFP period typically lasts about two months. During this period, satellite teams "scrub" their design to make sure it still complies with the latest requirements. They will also use the time to get clarifications from the customer about requirements, or to propose modifications to those requirements. Generally, a customer will take bidders' comments and suggestions into consideration before issuing the final RFP. Bidders typically receive about 45 days to prepare and submit their final proposals for the spacecraft system. Getting to "Yes" If a company wins the satellite production contract, the systems engineering process kicks back in, this time to verify that all of the requirements presented in the original RFP still pertain. "What the customer asked for 10 months or a year ago (during early phases of the competition) may not be precisely what they want now that you're on contract," explained Davidson. The typical sequence of events following contract award is a system requirements review (SRR) to make sure contractor and customer agree on the top-level system requirements; a preliminary design review (PDR), which produces a design with nearly all subsystem level requirements defined, and finally, the critical design review (CDR), which implies zero undefined requirements. "Passing CDR means 'okay, you can start cutting metal and fabricating real hardware,'" said Ciffone. "You have now officially transitioned from design into pure production. From that point on, the systems engineering team focuses mainly on verifying and validating that design."   # # # Part III of this series will focus on how satellites are assembled, integrated and tested.

How Spacecraft Are Designed: Balancing Requirements With Reality

About 30 miles north of Austin, Texas, robotic 3D printers have started creating 100 homes. In Houston, a two-story structure could be one of the tallest 3D-printed houses yet.
Home is where the heart is, but these innovative projects also stimulate the brain. It's mind-boggling to think a printer can create something of such significance, but the houses demonstrate the very real pace of 3D printing trends in the building and construction industry.
After starting small (jewelry and toys) and getting bigger and more essential (prosthetics), 3D printers finally seem to be getting a handle on creating the large and livable. Still, despite the progress in Texas and other places, 3D-printed construction has a way to go before becoming mainstream. Questions of safety, scale and practicality aren't fully answered. But there seems to be little question that, eventually, a substantial number of people will make meals, watch TV, read bedtime stories and live in 3D-printed houses.
Possible Relief for the U.S. Housing Shortage
As a new and potentially less expensive and eco-friendly way of constructing homes, 3D printing could jump-start the sluggish U.S. housing market by overcoming a shortage of building materials and trained builders. The country needs anywhere from 1.5 to 5 million homes to fill the gap, according to the Washington Post.
As noted by Business Insider, a lack of housing widens social and economic inequalities and perpetuates environmental harm, because many people have long car commutes between their urban jobs and the rural homes they can afford.
"We recognize that limitations around materials and labor are constraining factors [to] building the homes that the country needs," Stuart Miller, the executive chairman of the second-largest home builder in the U.S., Lennar Corp., told Bloomberg. "So, we have been very focused on looking at techniques and solutions to build more effectively, more efficiently and more affordably."
Lennar has teamed up with the 3D-printing company Icon to build 100 of the 2,500 planned homes in a community outside Austin. Advocates of automated, 3D-printed houses point to this project, known as the "Genesis Collection," as a possible blueprint for quickly erecting affordable housing with minimal waste.
A Printer Squeezes Out "Toothpaste" Walls
As CNBC describes it, a worker on the Genesis site loads a digital floor plan for a home into a software system that maps out the structural reinforcement of the structure. Only three workers are needed on the site of each new home: one on a laptop, another to monitor the dispersing of the concrete mix and another in a support role. They watch as a 46.5-foot-wide robot printer on a crossbar squeezes out row after row of a concrete mixture that looks like toothpaste.
It takes a printer about three weeks to complete these layers of exterior and interior walls, which is about 30% less time than traditional building methods, according to Bloomberg. Other machinery adds reinforcing rebar and insulation. A printer leaves space for windows and doors, which are installed manually, and workers carve out space for outlets and light switches. While Icon does its 3D printing onsite, other companies print offsite and transport components.
Potentially Resetting Cost and Environmental Standards
Icon's CEO estimates that 3D printers could build homes for as much as 30% less than the cost of conventionally constructed homes. Genesis homes are expected to sell in the mid-$400,000 range. A CEO of a separate 3D-printing construction company that intends to build affordable homes in lower-income communities told Yahoo News that houses made from a printer are already as much as 10% less costly.
The printers could also help the environment. They can process cement alternatives — including one that is a mixture of hemp, sand and other materials — that should create less greenhouse gas emissions than the production of traditional cement.
Figuring Out the Growing Pains of a New Industry
As with any new wave of innovation, these 3D printing trends in the building and construction industry come with questions. First, there's the matter of safety and numbers. The fledgling industry lacks experienced companies that are qualified to build at scale — not to mention that governments haven't yet set standards for 3D builders.
Mallikarjuna Nadagouda, an Environmental Protection Agency researcher, told Yahoo News, "There are no codes or standards relating to manufacturers or specifications, and very few design professionals know how to design, specify and procure these for commercial clients." Also, not enough concrete manufacturers are creating the environmentally friendly concrete mixtures, causing the sort of material shortage seen in traditional home construction.
Weighing the pros and cons of 3D-printed homes, construction law specialist David Morris wrote in Construction News that this new crop of builders should work with traditional builders to ensure homes are efficiently and safely made. "Ultimately, someone will need to guarantee the quality of materials and the machinery involved to assure customers that the printer will do what has been agreed and the house will be safe, comfortable and insurable."
The few homes that are being built by a printer are also relatively small. As NPR reported, the first 3D-printed two-story home was only recently built in Houston. But considering that building a home on a 3D printer seemed to be the stuff of dreams not long ago, don't be surprised to someday see 3D printers squeezing out skyscrapers' worth of cement mix.
Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Learn more about our people and life at Northrop Grumman, or check out our career opportunities to see how you can be a part of defining possible.

3D Printing Trends in the Building and Construction Industry Take Off 

Imagine a paralysis treatment that uses a wireless router device on your brain to move your limbs. That's only a few steps beyond how Cleveland resident Bill Kochevar regained the use of his right hand following a bicycle accident that left him paralyzed from the shoulders down. New Brain Prosthetics Earlier this year, researchers at Case Western Reserve University and Brown University published a study in The Lancet that described the new technology, an example of a neuroprosthetic. Kochevar, 53, had two tiny recording devices — smaller than postage stamps — implanted in the motor cortex region of his brain. These microelectrode arrays, known as a brain—computer interface (BCI), are equipped with dozens of tiny metal probes that can listen to neural activity. This is decoded and transmitted to a network of 36 implanted electrodes in the patient's upper and lower right arm that function like a pacemaker, stimulating the muscles in his hand, shoulder and elbow to restore movement. With the help of a flexible, supportive armrest, Kochevar is now able to grasp and move objects, such as feeding himself and bringing a mug to his lips to drink. The researchers wrote that the study "represents a major advance, with a clear translational path for clinically viable neuroprostheses for restoration of reaching and grasping after paralysis." Cochlear Implants Show the Way Scientists have been working on paralysis treatment technologies for decades, trying everything from motorized leg braces to cellular transplants; BCIs have been helping patients since 1998. The significant feature of the Kochevar experiment is that it bypasses the damaged spinal cord to directly connect the brain with target muscles. According to The Mayo Clinic, the technology isn't unlike cochlear implants, which use an external microphone and transmitter to send radio signals to an implanted unit that can receive them and stimulate electrodes inserted into the cochlea, skipping parts of the middle ear where damage has caused deafness. There are hopes of using similar know-how to treat blindness and even restore memories eroded by Alzheimer's disease. Kochevar's newfound movement is the result of two surgeries, physiological training and a lot of engineering. The patient had to train by first watching a virtual representation of his arm doing certain movements. When he tried moving his arm the same way, the resulting brain activity was recorded. The recording served as the basis for a decoding system that would translate his intentions into commands for his arm electrodes.  Enable targeting cookies to view this content. Wi-Fi for the Body While Kochevar has a wired connection from his brain implants, study coauthor John Donoghue, Ph.D., head of the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering at Campus Biotech in Geneva, Switzerland, is working on a wireless link between the brain and muscle groups to help people with paralysis, according to MIT Technology Review. Made of titanium and roughly the size of a matchbox, the device could gather information from the brain at internet speeds. "A radio inside your head" and "the most sophisticated brain communicator in the world" was how Donoghue described it to the news source. That device is also in the early stages of development. While paralysis treatment experts hailed the Kochevar experiment as a breakthrough and the first of its kind in the world, they noted the resulting movements were rudimentary and cautioned that the technology was far from being ready to go from lab bench to widespread clinical use. "We actually have a handle on everything that we need. There are no significant novel discoveries we need to make for the system," Abidemi Bolu Ajiboye, Ph.D., lead author of the study, told CNN. "There were no significant adverse events, the system is safe, so as far as the clinical trial endpoint goes, he has met those." Reversing paralysis is a long-term, complex challenge that requires a combination of medicine, technology and the body's innate power to heal and adapt. If the success of cochlear implants is any guide, BCIs could help restore movement and improve quality of life for countless people. The continued development of these technologies will help people in similar situations and open doors for cures and assistance we once never thought possible.

Paralysis Treatment Set to Be Revolutionized With Neuroprosthetics

Humans have done some amazing things with tools. There's the Aqueduct of Segovia, with its precisely cut Roman stone arches towering above and snaking below the Spanish landscape for miles. Or consider the pyramids at Giza; blocks of stone were cut using copper chisels and drills, "tumbled" using levers and pulled along wooden sledges to the building site. More than 4,500 year later these monuments still stand, with the tallest rising nearly 500 feet to dominate the desert skyline. The origin of these handyman habits is our early hominid ancestor, Homo erectus (H.erectus). In fact, recent discoveries suggest that this prehistoric group may have broadened their building and broken horizons with the use of multiple stone age tools. Here's how they doubled down on DIY. Homo Same-ians? According to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, African H. erectus "are the oldest known early humans to have possessed modern human-like body proportions with relatively elongated legs and shorter arms compared to the size of the torso." These features suggest a body adapted for life on the ground — similar to Homo sapiens (H. sapiens). In fact, these close cousins outpaced our historic span significantly — H. erectus walked the Earth for well over a million years, in contrast to H. sapiens trifling 300,000. These prehistoric people also share a critical human characteristic: tool use. What's more, H. erectus hand axe improvements get the nod for earliest stone age tool tweak, putting them head and shoulders above the competition when it came to conquering the landscape. As noted by Inverse, Homo erectus also enjoyed a diverse diet — recent analysis suggests these proto-people "had a varied, omnivorous diet, dining on eggs, insects, plants and more." But considerable commonalities come with a question: Why did H. sapiens survive as H. erectus slipped into the sunset? One popular theory posits a lack of flexibility: While our ancestors iterated and innovated, H. erectus stagnated and starved. New discoveries, however, make this suggestion suspect. These early humans may have multi-tasked — and multi-tooled — much better than previously thought. He's a Tool Operator This stone age tools shake-up started with the discovery of multiple skull fragments in Ethiopia dating back 1.26 and 1.5 million years, respectively. As noted by New Scientist, the skulls were found directly alongside stone tools, which, according to research team member Michael Rogers of Southern Connecticut State University, "is good evidence that these hominins were the creators of those artefacts." Since they probably weren't carrying them around as keepsakes, the find offers insight into the tools these H. erectus members actually used day to day. Of no surprise to scientists were the so-called Acheulian tools, which include the classic pear-shaped hand axe used by Homo erectus across the globe. These Acheulian tools — often symmetrical, well-shaped and sharpened on two edges — replaced earlier Oldowan tools, which were much simpler, sharp-edged stone flakes. This is where things go off the rails, since both skulls were found close to both tool types. The discovery lends credence to the notion that H. erectus was more jack-of-all-trades than one-note wonder and suggests the species may have displayed more behavioral flexibility than believed. While Acheulian tools were great for butchering meat, their Oldowan precursors were ideal for chopping and scraping. By deploying a multi-mode model, H. erectus was able to both create — and identify — the right tool for the job. When All You Have Is a Hammer As it turns out, even Homo erectus doesn't have a lock on targeted tool use. According to Science News, Paranthropus boisei (P. boisei) — a distant relative of modern humans that lived between 2.3 and 1.2 million years ago — may have also made stone and bone tools. While they lacked the gripping thumbs of genus Homo, recent P. boisei hand bone discoveries suggest they had enough dexterity to create and wield simple tools. If further research and evidence bears out this theory, it follows that common problems lead to similar solutions: multi-purpose tools that made it possible to hammer down on cultural nails ranging from crafting to cutting to scraping and slicing. Modern tools can raise buildings of steel and glass at speed and scale. Ancient implements carved out constructive marvels that still stand as testament to human ingenuity. But whatever we've done, however far we've come — our handy human history remains written in stone.

Homo Erectus Were the First Historical Handymen

Rome rises again — literally. This trip into the engineering wonders of our world takes us almost 30 meters (nearly 100 feet) off the ground to analyze the Aqueduct of Segovia, one of the best-preserved Roman aqueducts. Nearly two millennia old, the structure may not match the pyramids for sheer longevity but remains an enduring symbol of Rome's commitment to building functional and almost frighteningly over-engineered edifices of efficiency.   Let's dive in and discover the why, what, where and how of this ancient Roman engineering feat.   Water, Water Everywhere   Roman aqueducts were designed to carry water from local springs or rivers to cities or towns. As noted by Interesting Engineering, during the early Roman imperial era, these aqueducts delivered water to more than a million people across the empire.   The Aqueduct of Segovia is a classic example of Roman water transport architecture, with parts of the original system still in use today. Located in Segovia, Spain, this system starts at the Frio River, approximately 15 kilometers (almost 10 miles) from the city itself, according to the World Monuments Fund. Partially buried underground and using the natural landscape to direct water flow, the aqueduct eventually reaches a 30-meter (nearly 100 feet) deep valley; to cross the span, Roman engineers built what is commonly referred to as the Aqueduct of Segovia — a two-tiered set of arches and channels with foundations 6 meters (about 20 feet) deep.   While the exact time of construction is unknown — some sources suggest 50 A.D., others push the data forward to 100 or 120 A.D. — any variance pales in comparison to overall longevity; few modern structures make it past the 100-year mark, let alone two millennia.   Duct and Cover   Likely built under the rule of either Emperor Domitian, Nerva or Trajan, the Segovia aqueduct was a critical infrastructure project. While the town itself was small and isolated, Ancient Origins notes that Segovia was located on the main road between two larger Roman settlements, making it an important stop for goods and travelers alike.   According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the aqueduct bridge was constructed using more than 24,000 granite blocks — also called ashlars — held together without mortar. Its highest point is almost 30 meters (nearly 100 feet) above ground, with a six meter (about 20 feet) deep foundation to support the nearly 20,000-ton span of arches. While most Roman aqueducts relied on a single tier of arches to reach the necessary height, the sharp drop-off into the valley just before Segovia itself required a second level to ensure water flow. The sheer scope of the bridge project helped cement its place in history and explains why many descriptions of the aqueduct focus on the span itself, which represents just 5% of the project's complete length.   Focusing on the bridge in isolation also ignores essential Roman innovation: desanding basins, known as "desarenadors," at multiple points along the aqueduct route. By slowing the flow of water through these basins, Roman engineers were able to leverage the process of decantation and remove the bulk of river sand from their water supply, improving both quality and safety. Building the aqueduct system likely took between two and five years, from initial planning stages that included water quality testing, slope analysis and evaluation of the physical condition of locals who regularly drank from the source. Slaves were the typical source of labor, and would have been required to both move heavy blocks by hand and dig massive trenches to support channels and foundations.   The original bridge work contained three niches with bronze plaques that listed builder names and construction dates. One included an image of Hercules — supposed founder of the city — but all have since been lost.   Liquid Longevity   Now a World Heritage Site, the Aqueduct of Segovia is both a tourist attraction and testament to Roman ingenuity. But the waterway hasn't always fared so well — while later projects used more resilient Roman cement, the granite blocks of Segovia began to erode over time. This was especially evident in the desanding chambers, which required regular cleanings to remove sand buildup and replace damaged stonework. After the fall of the Roman Empire, many fell into disrepair.   In 1072 A.D., an invasion by Yahya ibn Ismail Al-Mamun destroyed approximately 36 arches; some of the dislodged stones were then used to rebuild the castle of King Alfonso VI. In the late 15th century the damaged aqueduct sections were rebuilt, with further preservation efforts in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Between 1803 and 1806, all buildings adjacent to the bridge were demolished to make repairs easier and increase structural integrity.   While the Aqueduct of Segovia doesn't hold the title of Rome's biggest aqua architecture project — Pont du Gard gets the nod for highest bridge and Constantinople gets the most sophisticated system award — the waterway is nonetheless a feat of ancient Roman engineering that represents a high water mark in the empire's ability to streamline, strengthen and support critical infrastructure. 

Why Segovia Stands Out Among Roman Aqueducts as an Engineering Marvel

A fundamental question has pestered genetic scientists for decades: Do identical twins have the same DNA? Until recently, scientists thought the answer was yes. That's because so-called monozygotic twins form when one egg fertilized by one sperm becomes an embryo and divides in two. (Fraternal twins form from two different eggs fertilized by two different sperm.) Slight differences between identical twins — including physical characteristics, personality and health — have been mainly attributed to environmental factors or to chemical markers that attach to genes. These markers act like a dimmer switch on a light and influence how strongly genes turn on or off, according to the University of Miami Miller School of Health. Now, new research published in the journal Nature Genetics offers more to the story. Of 381 pairs of identical twins studied and two sets of identical triplets, scientists found that 15% of them had a "substantial number of mutations" specific to one twin but not the other, the researchers write. Nearly 40 pairs had more than 100 genetic mutations while 38 pairs showed no mutations at all. "One particularly surprising observation is that in many twin pairs, some mutations are carried by nearly all cells in one twin but completely absent in the other," Ziyue Gao, an assistant professor of genetics at the University of Pennsylvania (who was not involved in the research), told staff writer Nicoletta Lanese of Live Science. Building on previous research from members of this group and other scientific teams, this DNA discovery shakes up long-held views about identical twins. To the question, "Do identical twins have the same DNA?" the answer is shifting to no, and it will likely influence future studies that explore the role environmental factors play in disease and human development. "This certainly places a new kind of burden on those who use identical twins to establish the separation between nature and nurture," lead author on the study, Ké¡ri Stefé¡nsson, CEO and founder of the Iceland-based genetics company deCODE, told Catherine Offord of The Scientist. DNA Discovery For his team's research, Stefé¡nsson leveraged the unique population of Iceland, which has been voluntarily participating in DNA studies for decades, according to Science. Because few ancestors account for a large portion of Icelanders compared with other countries, genetic variants are easier to find in genomic sequences. Secondly, people there have kept detailed genealogical records that, for some, go back to the 9th century. Stefé¡nsson's company deCODE manages the records at the website Islendingabok.is. The researchers uncovered mutations that differed between monozygotic twins by taking advantage of what the scientists already knew about the earliest stages of human development. For instance, once fertilized, an egg becomes a zygote that replicates itself by dividing to create more copies of its cells. Sometimes, the enzyme tasked with copying the billions of genetic building blocks of DNA, called base pairs, makes mistakes. Cells have ways of correcting these mistakes, but errors — or mutations — do slip through. Minor ones do no harm and result in indiscernible changes, if any. Major ones can show up as observable differences, such as hair color, or as diseases. Every person starts life this way, including monozygotic twins. The difference is that the zygote divides, eventually becoming two separate embryos. Twinning typically occurs between one and seven days after fertilization, but in rare cases, it can happen up to 13 days later. The longer it takes for the zygote to divide, the more abundant its accumulated cells. To tease out the extent of genetic differences between twins, Stefé¡nsson and his colleagues sequenced the DNA of 381 pairs of twins and two sets of triplets, as well as the DNA from their parents, spouses and children, according to Live Science. This allowed the scientists to pinpoint whether a mutation was handed down to a child. If it was, it meant it had occurred very early in development, before cells had differentiated into either germline cells (found in eggs and sperm) or somatic cells (found in non-reproductive cells). The researchers also analyzed mutations that twins shared but not uniformly across all cells. This phenomenon, known as mosaicism, suggests the pair may have split apart a little later. With these clues in hand, the scientists were able to determine the number of mutations that separated monozygotic twins, their type and the timing of their occurrence. As Stefé¡nsson told Live Science, the study does not conclude where in the genome a mutation occurred. But it offers a caution to avoid overestimating the influence of the environment when, in reality, a genetic mutation may be the source of a given disease or trait. Nature Versus Nurture The degree to which genetics plays a role in making humans human is controversial. Early notions that natural selection and heritable traits directed one's path in life led to theories such as Social Darwinism, which arose in the late 19th century and promoted "survival of the fittest" theories for humans. It justified imperialism and racism and gave rise to pseudoscientific ideas such as eugenics, which rationalized sterilization and genocide. As Robert Plomin explained in a Scientific American article, by the early 20th century, theories around nurture arose from the field of psychology, suggesting that family life played a bigger role. Geneticists pushed back again sometime around the 1960s, and it's been a polite tug-of-war ever since. Enter twin studies. In an article for the Atlantic, Erika Hayaski introduces Nancy Segal, a psychologist at California State University, Fullerton, who is a fraternal twin and has studied twins her entire career. A fascinating case involves the "Jim twins" — Jim Springer and Jim Lewis — who became the subject of Segal's book "Born Together — Reared Apart." Both Jims were adopted by different families and raised in Ohio. They lived just 40 miles apart and did not meet until they were 39 years old — but it was like they had lived similar lives. Both were named James, got migraines, bit their nails, smoked Salem cigarettes, drove light blue Chevrolet cars, had a pet dog named "Toy," married a woman named Linda, got divorced and then married a woman named Betty. "The Jim twins inspired the Minnesota Twins Reared Apart study, which Segal also worked on from 1982 to 1992. This research once again showed surprising similarities in identical twins' habits, interests, intelligence, and religion despite their separate upbringings," wrote Hayaski. Long-term studies of monozygotic twins allow scientists to explore the different ways that genetics and the environment influence human development. The thinking has been that, because identical twins come from the same egg and sperm, researchers can hold genetics as constant and delve into other explanations for behavior, health and appearance. It was believed that differences between them could have more to do with other factors such as diets, exercise, stress, relationships and where they live. But the results of these studies are not so black and white. Over time, scientists have seen the lines between nature and nurture blur, and although debates continue, they are more nuanced. "A strict dichotomy between genes and environment is no longer relevant; they work in concert," said Segal.

Do Identical Twins Have the Same DNA?

Engineers solve problems by creating new solutions or improving current processes. While every engineer leans on the lessons of professionals past, individuals in this industry are known for thinking outside the box and developing innovative approaches that change the world for the better.
 
If you have an interest in engineering, however, the scope and scale of this career choice can be daunting. To help home in on your best fit, here’s a breakdown of the five types of engineering — civil, chemical, electrical, industrial and mechanical — along with their industry outlooks and potential position possibilities.
 
Building a Better Future: How to Get Started as an Engineer
 
If you’re considering a career in engineering, education comes first. Most entry-level engineering positions expect a bachelor’s degree, while more in-depth roles may require a master’s degree. Post-secondary engineering programs are typically four years long, but some schools offer condensed two-year programs. Once you’ve obtained an engineering degree, you may be required to apply for a professional license certification in your state before you can begin work as a professional engineer.
 
Equipped with the basics of education and licensing expectations, prospective problem-solvers should consider which type of engineering aligns with their preferences, passion and potential.
 
1. Civil Engineering
 
Civil engineers are responsible for designing, building and maintaining infrastructure projects. These may include transportation corridors, freeway interchanges, new neighborhood planning or efforts to repair and modernize existing infrastructure. Projects such as the Lincoln Tunnel, the Interstate Highway System and Boston’s “Big Dig” were made possible in part thanks to the efforts of civil engineers.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the job market for civil engineers is growing as fast as average (7%) and the median salary is $88,050 per year as of 2021. Subdisciplines within civil engineering include transportation, environmental and structural engineering.
 
Transportation
 
Transportation engineers are often found building or improving road, train, subway or waterway systems. From increasing the efficiency of current transport frameworks to building better and safer options, transportation engineers keep traffic moving.
 
Environmental
 
Environmental engineers look to reduce the impact of issues such as air and water pollution while finding ways for businesses to become more sustainable. This could look like developing new practices that adjust material compositions or changing current processes to help companies achieve environmental goals set out by internal policies or required by compliance legislation.
 
Structural
 
Structural engineers design and assess construction plans to ensure buildings, bridges and other pieces of infrastructure can stand the test of time. They can often be found overseeing construction sites to monitor progress or double-checking calculations to ensure end results align with initial designs.
 
2. Chemical Engineering
 
Chemical engineers use a combination of skills from the disciplines of chemistry, physics, mathematics and microbiology to help create and improve products. These products may include pharmaceuticals, foods, plastics and fuels.
As noted by the BLS, job opportunities for chemical engineers are growing much faster than average (14%), and the median salary is $105,550. Types of engineers under the chemical branch include biochemical, process safety and pharmaceutical engineering.
 
Biochemical
 
Biochemical engineers look for new and more efficient ways to convert chemical compounds into usable products. They also investigate methods to improve sustainability and reduce environmental impact.
 
Process Safety
 
Process safety engineers are tasked with evaluating current chemical processes and determining where they can be improved. Common improvements include reduced risk to staff, reduced environmental impact or greater product yields.
 
Pharmaceutical
 
Pharmaceutical engineers focus on all aspects of the pharmaceutical process, from the safety of manufactured drugs to the labeling and bottling of these products for use.
 
3. Electrical Engineering
 
If a product or system contains electrical connections or electronic parts, electrical engineers were likely involved in its creation. These engineers have expertise in everything from IT components to communications systems and the underlying connections present in cars, airplanes and spacecraft.
BLS data indicates that current electrical engineering job growth is slightly slower than average (3%), and the average salary is $101,780 per year. Career paths within electrical engineering include computer, IT and controls engineering.
 
Computer
 
Computer engineers are often tasked with designing, testing and improving computer hardware. They may find roles as developers of new hardware for technology companies or as quality and efficiency testers within enterprise IT departments.
 
IT
 
These types of engineers focus on the software and systems side of technology to help companies improve the performance of their information technology systems. For example, they may be responsible for pinpointing and resolving system issues or developing new software to streamline business processes.
 
Controls
 
Controls engineers are responsible for the design, development and testing of control systems found in manufacturing plant systems, vehicles or communication solutions.
 
4. Industrial Engineering
 
Industrial engineers focus on improving the efficiency of complex environments, such as manufacturing or processing plants, by developing new processes and systems. For example, an industrial engineer might explore new ways to reduce waste on a manufacturing line without negatively impacting output performance.
According to the BLS, industrial engineering jobs are growing faster than average (10%), and the median salary is $95,300. Potential options for industrial engineers include manufacturing, supply chain and systems engineering.
 
Manufacturing
 
Manufacturing engineers may specialize in a variety of areas, including everything from the design and development of industrial robots to the creation of specialized machinery that improves process efficiency.
 
Supply Chain
 
Supply chain engineers are now in high demand owing to the significant supply chain challenges brought on by Covid-19. These engineers help create and implement supply chain strategies that reduce the risk of delays or unexpected complications.
 
Systems
 
Systems engineers focus on the implementation and assessment of systems within an organization. These systems may include software, hardware and machinery or a combination of all three. The goal of systems engineers is to ensure disparate components of business systems work in unison.
 
5. Mechanical Engineering
 
One of the broadest engineering disciplines, mechanical engineering includes the design, creation and testing of machinery, equipment and sensors that are used in everything from industrial processes to day-to-day applications.
Although the BLS reports that the mechanical engineering field is growing more slowly than average (2%), the median pay is $95,300 per year. Common mechanical engineering opportunities include acoustic, automotive and aerospace engineering.
 
Acoustic
 
Acoustic engineers focus on sound and its impact in the real world. For example, they might assess the vibration of bridges caused by car travel and the impact of those vibrations on the structural integrity of the surrounding infrastructure.
 
Automotive
 
Automotive engineers help design, develop and test new processes in vehicle manufacturing. These engineers may be responsible for creating new vehicle features, assessing current vehicle performance or evaluating existing safety protocols.
 
Aerospace
 
Aerospace engineers may design aircraft, spacecraft or satellites and their components, and are typically responsible for the testing of these designs to ensure they meet functional expectations and can perform under real-world conditions.
 
Engineering is a broad field with myriad career possibilities, but every type of engineering can make an impact on the way we live. It’s an exciting space — and one that’s perfect for someone looking to flex both their creative and technical skills.
 


Ready to explore the different types of engineering opportunities? Come build the future with Northrop Grumman. Discover our engineering jobs here.
 

The 5 Types of Engineering: Exploring Creative Career Opportunities

Radiation is one of the greatest threats to spacecraft — scorching circuits, eating electronics and wreaking havoc on delicate components. In addition to radiation, spacecraft must also contend with other space challenges — like orbital debris, micrometeoroids and the extreme forces of launch — and crucial military space systems must further be prepared to operate under humanmade challenges, in addition to environmental ones. So, how do satellites survive in space?Spacecraft must endure all these conditions and still operate flawlessly. That's where radiation and survivability engineers come in. Their critical job is to design and test spacecraft to ensure they can survive space's harsh environment.Northrop Grumman has been a leader in radiation and survivability engineering since the earliest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program efforts in 1963. Today, the company's radiation testing (RTO) lab — which evaluates materials and products for exposure to various forms of radiation — has supported the James Webb Space Telescope, Next-Generation Polar, SDA Tranche programs, Sentinel ICBM and more. Northrop Grumman has also tested sea systems, ground systems, communication systems and airborne platforms, such as the B-21.Read on for five ways scientists and engineers prepare spacecraft for survival.1. The Big PictureRadiation and survivability engineering is rooted in electrical engineering and physics. However, because every component of a spacecraft is exposed to radiation, it's really an all-hands-on-deck exercise in systems engineering."It's not just space, it's not just electronics — it's a lot more variety," said Northrop Grumman Radiation Test Engineer Taylor Fry.2. Designing for PerformanceThe first step in preparing a spacecraft for space is defining the radiation effects requirements. All spacecraft have specific radiation and survivability needs, depending on their mission."You have to calculate how intense the radiation might be," said Jonny Avila, a Northrop Grumman radiation engineering manager. "That can depend on orbit, altitude and inclination. Then we can start with requirements with how to survive the environment."3. The Right StuffAs the design becomes reality, the spacecraft is tested every step of the way."You perform testing as circuits and enclosures are being designed to figure out if your devices are good for the mission," Jonny said.Radiation effects engineers work closely with electrical engineers, mechanical design engineers, and parts, materials and process engineers to analyze the spacecraft's materials and electronic components. This analysis ensures the spacecraft can withstand ionizing radiation, micrometeoroids, orbital debris, UV exposure and even atomic oxygen. If needed, engineers adjust the design, adding shielding or reorienting components to better protect them from radiation.4. Achieving No-FailSome programs — such as some military space systems — have heightened requirements and must be able to operate through manmade threats, too. Radiation effects engineers analyze the spacecraft's cabling, connectors and boxes to confirm they could handle the electrical current from an electromagnetic pulse, and leverage Northrop Grumman's RTO lab to test how the spacecraft's electronic components respond to increasing radiation levels. Some electronic components must also be tested to ensure they could work through a catastrophic event like a nuclear detonation, keeping the spacecraft online and performing its mission even in the direst circumstances.5. Meeting the NeedToday, the demand for radiation and survivability services is increasing. The commercial space industry is flourishing, the transition to next-generation military satellite communication systems is underway, human spaceflight is entering its next chapter and, through the CHIPS and Science Act, we are onshoring electronic technologies and foundry capabilities. All these technologies and products will need to be verified and validated against radiation requirements to accomplish their missions."As technology advances and access to space gets cheaper, more and more companies want to put things in space that are novel, and they will need testing," said Taylor. "As the threat increases, critical space systems will need not only to survive in space but also operate through anything."Learn more about our radiation and survivability engineering services.

How Do Satellites Survive in Space?

Often, the small-scale or hidden technologies that make modern life work are the easiest to overlook — and those who discover them sometimes don't get the spotlight they deserve. Sumio Iijima is a Japanese physicist and inventor who was the first to clearly describe the formation of carbon nanotubes and imagine their potential. Iijima's 1991 discovery and subsequent work sparked a revolution in nanotechnology, which uses materials measured in nanometers (one billionth of a meter). Now, nanotechnology is becoming ubiquitous in modern life, with use in electronics, cars, medical devices and many more applications. The Early Life of an Exemplary Scientist In 1939, Sumio Iijima was born in rural Saitama Prefecture, which is now considered a suburb of Tokyo.  "I loved nature," he explained when asked about his childhood in an NEC article. "I collected plants and insects, I fished, and I kept a menagerie of small animals, including pigeons, rabbits, snakes, frogs, and crabs. I learned many things from my experiences with nature, and I believe that this helped me develop both sensitivity and insight. In high school and university, I was in the mountaineering club and the music club, and spent my youth exploring nature and challenging the limits of my creativity." With all of these outside interests, his classroom work took a back seat in his formative years. "I didn't have very good grades ... because I never studied," Iijima told Bloomberg. He ended up failing his university entrance exams. Iijima spent a year "memorizing facts" to pass the exams and was accepted into the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo. Iijima found the school's focus on communications engineering to be a poor fit for him. After switching to a chemistry major in his last year, Iijima became engaged in his studies. "For the first time in my life, I studied very hard," he told Bloomberg. He was accepted into a Master's Degree program at Tohoku University. Based on the admissions interview, Iijima was placed in a lab that specialized in using high-resolution microscopes to study the atomic structure of materials. "This one interview determined the rest of my life," Iijima said. "It wasn't that I had a particularly strong desire to do research with electron microscopes at the time, but I found that I was perfectly suited to research in the field." Iijima's Career Gains Momentum Iijima earned a Master's Degree in 1965 and a PhD in solid-state physics in 1968, both from Tohoku University in Japan. From 1970 to 1982, he was a post-doctoral fellow and senior research associate at Arizona State University. There, he developed high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) with the late Professor John M. Cowley in 1979. HRTEM can show the structure of materials down to the atomic level. At Arizona State, Iijima studied the atomic structure of carbon. He also spent time in 1979 as a visiting senior scientist at the University of Cambridge in England, using electron microscopy to study graphite. All these experiences, especially the development of HRTEM, would play a role in Iijima's discovery of nanotubes in 1991. In 1982, Iijima returned to Japan to study ultrafine particles at the Research Development Corporation of Japan (now Japan Science and Technology Agency) as a government employee. In 1987, he joined the NEC Corporation in Tokyo as a research fellow at the age of 47. As Iijima explained in an NEC article, he made the switch because the company "agreed to purchase an expensive, high-performance electron microscope." His initial work at NEC was focused on cutting-edge semiconductor materials. Captivated by the Discovery of Nanoscale Spheres With his background in carbon structures, Iijima was inspired by the 1985 discovery of fullerenes (hollow, nanoscale spheres of pure carbon), which would win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996. Fullerenes were revealed with electron microscopy methods that Iijima helped to develop. At a 1990 academic conference, Iijima joined a small group that ended up discussing fullerenes late into the night, as he explained to Bloomberg. When he returned to Japan, Iijima immediately started to apply the methods used to create fullerenes to his nanotube experiments. Less than a year later, Iijima used his trusty electron microscope to observe tiny carbon tubes stacked within tubes, which were the multi-walled carbon nanotubes that would be described in his ground-breaking 1991 Nature paper. These multi-walled nanotubes contained 2 to 50 graphite tubes, with diameters of up to 100 nanometers. In 1993, Iijima discovered that adding a metal catalyst would result in the formation of single-walled carbon nanotubes. His later discoveries would reveal how carbon nanotubes can be capped with fullerenes or intentionally uncapped and how single-walled carbon nanotubes could be prepared without toxic metal catalysts. The Amazing Attributes of Nanotubes Carbon nanotubes are man-made materials that consist of flat sheets of pure carbon rolled into tubes with a diameter as small as 0.8 nanometers. The length of a tube can be up to several millimeters (1 millimeter = one million nanometers). Each carbon atom bonds to three other carbon atoms, forming a hexagonal arrangement, similar to a honeycomb. When laid in flat sheets, carbon atoms in a hexagonal arrangement form graphite, a material used in everyday pencils. However, when a hexagonal carbon sheet forms a tube at the nanometer scale, it exhibits unique physical and chemical properties. These properties can vary with the diameter of the tube and the helical orientation of the hexagonal rings within the tube. These nanotubes are exceptionally light and strong — being one-sixth as dense as steel, but 400 times stronger, according to Nanowerk. They are harder than diamonds (which is another form of pure carbon) and are a better thermal conductor. Carbon nanotubes are chemically stable and very flexible. They can have extraordinary electrical conductivity (1,000 times more conductive than copper) or function as a semiconductor. The tiny space in the tube can carry other nanoscale materials. It's hard to overestimate the impact of Iijima's 1991 Nature paper first describing nanotubes. It ranks #36 in Nature's 2014 list of the top 100 most-cited research papers of all time. Iijima has continued to be a highly prolific researcher who is very much in the conversation for a Nobel Prize in physics or chemistry. His awards and honors include the 2002 Japan Academy Award, the 2002 Benjamin Franklin Institute Medal in Physics, the 2008 Navli Prize in Nanoscience and the 2015 European Inventor Award. Microsoft Academic also credits Iijima with 755 publications and 144,885 citations. Bringing Materials to Market Sumio Iijima firmly believes that "new materials only have value when they are used." While carbon nanotechnologies have entered the market, their full potential has not yet been reached. As the European Patent Office explains, current products incorporate bulk nanotubes, which are masses of unorganized nanotubes that are used as composite fibers to bolster mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. These products include smartphone touch pads and a material called Vantablack, known as the blackest substance on Earth, which is used in telescopes and cameras to absorb excess light. As Iijima explains in an interview for NEC, "We need a technique that orients and aligns the tangled weaves of just-created carbon nanotubes in the same direction" and that allows for mass production. Many companies and research organizations are developing nanotube materials and products, including lightweight but strong industrial materials (e.g. for aircraft hulls), tiny yet powerful computer chips, super compact fuel-cell batteries, highly efficient power lines and drug delivery systems for carrying medications into the body. At 82 years young, Sumio Iijima remains a leader in this nanotechnology research. Are you interested in all things related to technology? We are, too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

Sumio Iijima: Inventor of Carbon Nanotubes and Pioneer of Modern Tech

Activities conducted using spacecraft have become a ubiquitous part of our society. From monitoring hurricanes to measuring the ozone layer to a host of defense missions, U.S. government agencies today rely heavily on satellites and aerospace technology to conduct their day-to-day activities. But how are satellites conceived, designed, produced and deployed? NASA describes a spacecraft as "a vehicle or device designed for travel or operation outside the Earth's atmosphere." A satellite is described as "a type of spacecraft that orbits the Earth, the moon or another celestial body." In this series, we will use the terms spacecraft and satellite interchangeably. * * * Before a new spacecraft can be launched, its main structural, electronic and propulsion components must be attached to the satellite structure, connected to each other electrically, and then tested as an integrated system, a process called integration and test (I&T). In the very competitive aerospace industry, it's no surprise that the planning behind these steps begins long before the space vehicle has even been designed. After all, you can't afford to design a spacecraft that can't be assembled, integrated and tested in a straightforward and cost-effective manner. Burning Down Risk "Typically, a few members of the integration and test team come on board a program very early to support the initial requirements development and flow-down process. We're there to identify and help reduce or 'burn-down' risk for the program," says Marty Sterling, a director of engineering for integration and test for Northrop Grumman. "We also work with the design folks on issues such as accessibility and testability, and help them by laying out notional test schedules which we will mature as the design matures."  Once a company wins a spacecraft production contract, she adds, the I&T process begins to gain momentum. Her team begins working closely with the systems engineering and space vehicle engineering teams, helping them write theI&T plans and recommending small design changes to flight hardware that will allow I&T to proceed more smoothly. "In those early days, we'll also be designing the electrical ground support equipment used to test the space vehicle, and the mechanical ground support equipment used to support the structural build of the satellite and any ground testing prior to launch," says Sterling. Satellite production doesn't begin in earnest, she clarifies, until a program has successfully passed its critical design review (CDR), a point at which most design details have been finalized and the customer has given their approval for production to begin. But the actual space vehicle I&T process doesn't start until all of the satellite's structural and electronic components have been fabricated, assembled and individually tested, a process that can take a year or more. Assembling the Pieces The procurement of the major components that make up a satellite is typically handled by a joint manufacturing and space vehicle team. This team acquires major satellite support subsystems such as propulsion, electrical power, and command and data handling, and fabricates the satellite bus, i.e. the physical structure that houses these subsystems and the mission payloads. The team is also responsible for the fabrication of hinges, gears, and gimbals used in movable or deployable subsystems; antenna and solar array structures; and radiators, which provide thermal control for different zones of the spacecraft. Spacecraft boxes or units are fabricated, assembled and tested either by outside vendors or by manufacturing organizations within the spacecraft contractor's company. "We start fabricating circuit boards as soon as possible after CDR," explains Ken Weber, communications payload deputy for a current Northrop Grumman satellite program. "Each board is populated with components, tested at the board level, then inserted into a mechanical frame to create what we call a slice, or plugged into a backplane that holds multiple circuit cards. The slices - the backplane and its plug cards - are then bolted together or enclosed in a housing and then tested as a single unit." For boxes manufactured in-house, Weber adds, unit-level testing is done under the supervision of the engineer responsible for the design of that unit. For units produced by outside vendors, the spacecraft contractor will typically send a team to the vendor's site to inspect each flight unit, review its test data and confirm its readiness to be delivered to the contractor's I&T facility. Powering Up The same is generally true of a satellite's electrical power subsystem (EPS), which comprises of solar arrays, batteries and electronic units that generate, store, process and distribute power within the spacecraft. "It can take about 18 to 24 months to fabricate, assemble and test the electrical boxes, both functionally and environmentally," says Tommy Vo, the EPS manager for a current Northrop Grumman satellite program. "Assembly and test of a satellite's solar arrays can take upward of 54 months." Vo's team tests EPS boxes and solar arrays vigorously to ensure that each one meets its specification — a process called unit verification — before delivering them to the integration and test team. Boosting Reliability A satellite's propulsion system, which includes propellant tanks, thrusters, valves, heaters and precision metallic fuel lines, is treated differently from other subsystems, partly because of its critical role in satellite operations. As such, it is assembled and integrated with the bus by a team of propulsion specialists before the bus is delivered to the I&T team. "The propulsion assembly team provides special expertise in handling, installing and welding the system together," explains Arne Graffer, a senior satellite propulsion specialist with Northrop Grumman. "This work includes alignment of thrusters, electrical and functional checkouts, and proof and leak testing of the completed system. We have to demonstrate that the system will perform reliably under all flight conditions." Growing the Satellite Once the propulsion system has been installed in the satellite bus, the integrated structure is delivered officially to the integration and test team. "Typically, the bus is delivered to us as a main structure and a series of panels that form the outer 'walls' of the bus," explains Sterling. "We begin by installing bus electronics into the bus structure, and attaching payload electronics onto these individual panels." This process includes installing all the cabling required to interconnect the satellite's electronics, she adds. And then comes the moment of truth. "We start the integration process by flowing voltage through one of the cables to make sure we get the expected signal out the other end," says Sterling. "If it all looks good, we know it's okay to mate that cable to the next box. Then we check the signal coming out of that box to make sure it's what we expect." This validation process continues, she adds, until all the bus electronic units and wire harness cables have been tested and mated. Sterling's team next performs a series of functional checks on the integrated system, still at ambient temperature, to make sure that all of the bus electronics units are communicating and interacting with each other as expected. The integration process is then expanded to include auxiliary payloads such as sensors and other mission-specific electronics. Sterling's team conducts this satellite checkout process with the aid of ground support test equipment. The test equipment functions, in effect, like a "ground station" sending and receiving data to and from the satellite. This communication also helps verify, therefore, the ability of the satellite bus and mission payloads to talk to the "Earth." The integration and test team also installs a satellite's mechanical systems, such as its solar arrays, antennas, radiators and launch vehicle separation system, and then tests the ability of these systems to deploy properly. To ensure their proper operation on orbit, the team aligns these systems with a precision of .002" or about half the thickness of a standard sheet of paper. Simulating Launch and Deployment Once a satellite is fully assembled, and its electrical systems have been proven functional at ambient temperature, the I&T team begins a series of rigorous environmental stress tests. Collectively, these tests are designed to prove (1) that the satellite can survive the extreme acoustic and vibration environment of launch, (2) that it can sustain the explosive shock associated with separation from the launch vehicle, and (3) that once on orbit, its electronic subsystems can operate successfully in the extreme temperature and radiation environments of space. During vibration testing, the satellite is placed on a large shaker table and shaken for several minutes at frequencies expected during launch. For acoustic testing, the satellite is placed in a large chamber, then exposed to high-intensity sound waves that simulate the acoustic environment of launch. Shock testing involves exploding the ordnance that's used on orbit to release the mechanical pins that hold deployable devices in their stowed position. During acoustic, vibration and shock testing, Sterling noted, the satellite's electronic systems are all placed in their launch configuration. For many of the satellite's systems, such as mission payloads, that means the electronics are switched off completely. Testing the Extremes of Space Another key phase of environmental testing within integration and test is called thermal vacuum (thermal vac) testing. For this testing, the entire satellite is placed in a special chamber that can be pumped down to near-vacuum conditions. The chamber also includes high-performance heating and cooling equipment. As the I&T team "exercises" the satellite's electronics functionally, the temperature inside the chamber is cycled repeatedly — typically six or seven times — between extremely hot and cold temperatures (+180 to -200 degrees C) over the course of several days. In conjunction with thermal vac testing — either before or after — the I&T team also conducts electromagnetic interference/electromagnetic compatibility (EMI/EMC) testing to ensure that no devices on the satellite are emitting significant amounts of electromagnetic energy. Such emissions could interfere with the proper operation of the satellite bus or its mission payloads. Wrapping Up When all of the functional and environmental tests are complete, the I&T team puts the satellite into its shipping configuration with all mechanical appendages stowed, tests it one last time for electrical "aliveness" and then packs and ships the satellite by truck or cargo plane to the launch site. But the I&T team's work doesn't end when the satellite leaves the factory. At the launch site, explains Sterling, the I&T team unpacks the satellite and performs post-delivery health checks on its bus electronics and payloads to verify that the transportation process didn't harm them. Then her team works closely with the launch vehicle team to integrate the satellite to the launch vehicle in preparation for launch. "I think it's safe to say that the I&T process never really ends until the launch vehicle clears the tower," she advises. If you're ready to assemble and test out a new career with Northrop Grumman's space team, check out our latest opportunities at www.northropgrumman.com/careers.

How Spacecraft Are Created: Assembly, Integration and Test

More than fifty years ago, the dreams of stargazers and the grand ambitions of a nation were realized when NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong crunched his left foot on lunar soil and became the first human to walk on the moon. But before Armstrong could utter his famed phrase, "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind," and before the five subsequent missions to explore the moon would be possible, aerospace engineering had to move forward at a furious and daring pace in order to make the Apollo 11 mission possible. NASA had to make good on President John F. Kennedy's promise in 1961 to transport people to the moon, a challenge that intensified when the Soviet Union bested the U.S. in the race to put the first man, woman and dog in space. The Soviets couldn't win the moon, too. Battling the clock, NASA and its contractors had to create and improvise machinery and technology to withstand the harsh conditions of space and the unique challenge of landing on and relaunching from the moon. Images of Armstrong and fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin hopping around the lunar surface are just as remarkable now as they were on July 20, 1969. But for years, engineers back on Earth worked without fanfare to piece together the many components that would make the moon landing less of a miracle and more an achievement of science. Here are a few of their accomplishments. A Powerful Thrust Was Needed to Reach the Moon It can be argued that every mechanical component of Apollo 11 was an essential piece of the first mission to the moon. But without the thrust to push the spacecraft some 240,000 miles to the moon, and at least another 240,000 miles back home (distance depends on the moon's orbit around Earth), a lunar mission would have remained a distant dream. Thanks to a heavy lift vehicle rocket called Saturn V, Apollo 11 had the power to travel 953,054 round-trip miles in eight days. At 363 feet, Saturn V stood 60 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty. At 6.2 million pounds, including a big belly of fuel, the rocket weighed as much as 400 elephants before liftoff. The thrust it generated at launch — 7.6 million pounds — created 85 times more power than the Hoover Dam. But three is the number that best illustrates the worth of Saturn V. Because most of the mission's fuel would be needed for Apollo's push out of Earth's orbit, the spacecraft didn't have to be heavy for the rest of the mission. NASA designed Saturn V to separate into three sections, each breaking off the main section as it expended its fuel. The first two stages fell into the ocean, but NASA isn't sure where the third one went: either it stayed in space or hit the moon. The remainder of Apollo was relatively nimble, consisting of the command and service module (CSM) where astronauts would pilot the craft, as well as sleep and eat, and the lunar module (LM) that touched down on the moon. With Saturn V serving as an ideal taxi to the moon, the five subsequent Apollo missions also relied on the three-stage propulsion system. It was used once more in 1973, carrying the Skylab space station into orbit. Apollo Had Small but Strong Computing Power Landing on the moon called for precision. Yet, NASA recognized it would be difficult from the mission control center to navigate Apollo onto the moving moon, so it got creative and designed two computerized guidance and navigation systems instead of one. According to a history of the space agency's computing systems, NASA installed separate computing systems on the CSM and LM. This had a twofold effect. If the command module system failed, Apollo astronauts could still find their way home because the on-board computer and its guidance system accepted data from the ground to aid with manual flight. If contact with mission control was lost, the system had autonomous return capability. Also, by having a separate computing system on the Apollo 11 lunar module, navigating a moon landing from the craft itself was more manageable than doing so from the CSM. It's long been noted that a single iPhone has more computing power than all that NASA had for each Apollo mission. But NASA's computers had a feature that no modern consumer electronic product can claim. The computing system couldn't — and didn't — crash. A Perfect Landing Set the Stage for More Exploration With the three-section Saturn V shedding weight, and with separate computing systems making navigation easier, the stage was set for an eagle to take flight. Named "Eagle" for the Apollo 11 mission, the LM was designed, developed and built by Grumman Corporation, as were those for the next five missions. The Apollo 11 lunar module featured an environmental control system that maintained the module interior temperature between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It also had a landing radar and computer system that measured the delay between the microwaves from the moon's surface so that it could calculate the distance for landing. As the U.S. and other countries once again aim to explore the moon, some of the technological feats of the Apollo missions can be applied decades later. At a recent Universities Space Research Association conference, one expert suggested building a rocket like Saturn V. More tellingly, National Space Council Executive Director Scott Pace intimated that the successful aerospace engineering of the Apollo race proved that the current five-year timeline for the next mission to the moon could provide a "clarifying nature" to the hard work involved. There is a lot to learn from what transpired on July 20, 1969. As millions watched on Earth, the Eagle landed four miles away from its predicted touchdown point but on a spot befitting the safe journey, the Sea of Tranquility. Years in the making, the U.S. had won the biggest prize of the space race, but Armstrong's reflection about a giant leap was a reminder that this accomplishment was for everyone. Interested in all things in outer space and exploration? We are, too. Take a look at open positions at Northrop Grumman and consider joining our team.

Apollo 11 Demonstrated the Daring of Aerospace Engineering

Key Takeaways Time travel to the future might be less complicated than going back to the past. Einstein's equation on special relativity articulates the interaction between energy and matter, and also governs the physics of time travel. Time travel's first travellers will most likely be information.We're all time travelers.Granted, we're not very good at it. We're only moving in one direction at a fixed rate — but we're never in the same moment twice. And while time's arrow seemingly puts spacetime second helpings out of reach, humans have a habit of breaking the rules.What if we could do an about-face and discover what came before? Or push past our present pace to see what comes next? Astrophysicist Ron Mallett from the University of Connecticut says he's got the theoretical receipts to take on time travel.Wondering how to build a time machine? It takes just 4e2Q=X easy steps! Simple, right?Future TenseNot all time travel is created equal. While heading back into the past poses a host of problems — such as changing the course of history by altering key events, or encountering your past self and making choices that could lead to your non-existence in the present — moving forward is less complicated. Relatively speaking.As with most things spacetime related, E=MC2 gets involved. Einstein's equation articulates the interaction between energy and matter: Put simply, if matter goes fast enough, it becomes energy. It also becomes much more massive the closer it gets to the speed of light, providing a hard stop for objects trying to surpass this universal limit. But the theoretical framework that gave rise to this famous function — special relativity — also includes the fundamentals of future time travel.Here's how it works: The faster you go, the greater your mass. And the greater your mass, the greater your disruption of local space — and time. As a result, time passes more slowly for someone traveling near the speed of light than those of us back on Earth. As noted by Scientific American, a spaceship accelerating continuously at one g — equal to the value of gravitational acceleration at Earth's surface, or 9.81 m/s2 — would approach the speed of light around the one-year mark. From the perspective of an astronaut on the ship, a trip to the center of our galaxy and back would take about 40 years. Upon returning home, however, our intrepid explorer might have trouble reporting their adventure to mission control, unless NASA was still up and running after 60,000 years.Of course, it's not quite that easy. The energy requirements for the acceleration described above would be "greater than a planetary mass," and steering the ship at near-light speed might be problematic. Still, the basic science is there, though it's worth mentioning a critical caveat: This isn't the flash-forward in time we're familiar with when Marty McFly hits 88 miles per hour in his DeLorean. Perceptually, both observer and actor see no change in the passage of time. Observationally, there's a significant difference.Fire Up the Flux CapacitorProfessor Mallet is looking the other direction, having spent the latter decades of his career looking for backward-facing loopholes. And while our equation for how to build a time machine is pure nonsense, he's created one that posits the potential physics of actual travel through time.By using a ring laser — what he describes as a "circulating beam of laser lights" — he believes its possible to bend both space and time. Do it right, and the machine should be able to bend time back on itself, creating a portal to the past. If this sounds vaguely familiar, it is — Mallett's machine bears a striking similarity to the concept of spacetime wormholes: Theoretical tunnels of space and time that could let explorers travel across massive volumes of miles and moments in the blink of an eye. Professor Mallett has developed a prototype and hopes to conduct a feasibility study, even as he does more research into the potential mechanics of a time machine at scale.Keeping the Lights OnLet's get it out of the way right now: Professor Mallett's time travel technology won't head back into the past anytime soon. Information, rather than individuals, will make the trip and hopefully come out unscathed — but where? Or more accurately, when? This is another limitation of the Mallett machine: The farthest information can travel back in time is to the moment the machine was turned on. Turn it off, and you'd have to start over.There's also the issue of empirical verification. Let's say the device turns on this year. You'd want continuous monitoring to ensure that if information arrived you're ready to capture it and take appropriate action. But if it works, it makes sense that future scientists would send data back to the origin point — so information should arrive immediately after the device is turned on. Or should it?Physicist Richard Muller doesn't think so. He argues that the future doesn't exist — meaning there are no scientists to send data back — and the past is literally a foreign country. For Muller, the intertwined nature of spacetime is responsible: "Every moment, the universe gets a little bigger, and there is a little more time, and it is this leading edge of time that we refer to as now."Because we're on the leading edge of spacetime, nothing exists beyond it so there's no one to send data back. But it's all about perspective — what about the "us" of two years from now? If the machine is turned on in 2020, couldn't scientists in 2022 use the device? Muller says this also isn't possible because the machine doesn't simply exist in another time — it exists in another spacetime. "To reverse time you would have to decrease, at least locally, the amount of space in the universe." Not exactly an easy task.Time, and Time AgainWhether Professor Mallet's project works or not is worth watching, but it's hardly the final word on time travel theory. Human effort to adjust the aim — or outright avoid — the arrow of time won't stop just because the universe doesn't like the idea. From pushing particles to near-light speed in high-powered accelerators to work on wormholes, efforts to both backtrack and fast-forward are scientifically inevitable.Will time travel ever be a reality? In some form, probably. Are we on the road to a picnic in the past or a foray into the future? Don't pack your bags just yet.Discover how Northrop Grumman's Disruptive Concepts and Technologies (DC&T) organization is incorporating emerging developments in the quantum technology field to provide capabilities not found in the realm of classical physics.

How to Build a Time Machine in Just 4 
<em>e</em>²Q=X Easy Steps

Frances Allen was a pioneer in computer science. Recruited to IBM in 1957, Allen was an early computer scientist who was a human-to-machine translator and a trailblazer for women in STEM.  She died on her 88th birthday on Aug. 4, 2020. Who Was Frances Allen? Born in 1932, she spent her childhood on her family's farm in upstate New York. According to IBM, she studied mathematics and intended to be a teacher. Allen earned her undergraduate degree from The New York State College for Teachers (now SUNY Albany) and then a master's from the University of Michigan. She started her career as a high school math teacher in her hometown, but in order to repay her student loans, she took a position as a programmer at IBM Research. To her surprise, she ended up staying with the company for her entire career. Building the Foundations of Computer Science She specialized in early programming languages and compilers, the software programs that convert code that humans understand into binary code that machines understand. Her many notable contributions to computing include:   FORTRAN: A high-level programming language that made coding much more productive. The Turing Award notes that she started at IBM just two months after FORTRAN was released. She had to learn it and teach it to her colleagues all at once.  Compilers: Programs that translate code written in languages that humans understand into machine language that a computer's processor can use.  High-performance computing: An example is the STRETCH project, one of the first super computers, which the U.S. National Security Agency used to decode messages. Computers were primitive at the time, and she helped create STRETCH in 1961, which was by far the fastest computer in the world at the time.  Pioneering Women in STEM In an interview archived by IEEE, Allen described her early years at IBM as "a golden era for computing" when many women in STEM were employed doing highly technical work. In the early years of computing, female coders were common, but as the field matured in the late-1960s through the 1980s, women were pushed out. "As it became a profession and as processes and requirements emerged," Allen said, "there were structures that were put in place, many of which were management structures and process structures." She added, "It became an avenue that women were pretty much shut out of, in general." Allen was the first female IBM Fellow, the highest honor for a technical person at IBM. The original certificate form misgendered her, since the default had always been men.  She spent many years mentoring women who were early in their careers. In 2000, IBM established the Frances E. Allen Women in Technology Mentoring Award in her honor, according to The Washington Post. She was the first woman to win the Turing Award, a prestigious award that is akin to the Nobel Prize in computing. During her many awards acceptance speeches, Allen expressed that women were not celebrated enough for their work in computer science and was an outspoken advocate for pioneering women in STEM. Her contributions to computer science provide the foundation for today's advanced computing.

Remembering Computer Science Pioneer Frances Allen

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, men still outnumber women in American STEM. Many programs have been created to introduce women to science and medicine at a younger age, and female scientists of the past are finally getting the recognition they so richly deserve. But still, the odds can feel like they are against women who want to work in STEM fields. That's what makes these five game-changing female scientists so impressive. These famous women in STEM are role models who are paving the way for the next generation of female scientists. Michele Koppes, Glaciologist Koppes studies our earth's response to climate change, focusing primarily on glaciers. Her recent projects include quantifying the glacier changes caused by climate change, looking at the effects of climate change on meltwater resources and understanding glacier dynamics — how they move, carve and melt. "I am fascinated with all rates of geomorphic change, particularly the effects of humans on the landscape and how we compare to other natural geomorphic agents such as glaciers and rivers," Koppes writes in her bio for the University of British Columbia, where she is an associate professor. Koppes has also been vocal about the struggles famous women in STEM face. "I constantly need to prove I am not only scientifically capable, but hardy enough to thrive in the field, in the harsh environments of my research," Koppes told TED Fellows. "Doing science properly is rife with failed attempts â€Š—â€Š on top of this, women must stand up for their legitimate seat at the table." Renee Hlozek, Cosmologist Hlozek, a South African scientist, studies the cosmic microwave background, which is the radiation left over from the Big Bang. She hopes to understand the initial conditions of the universe and how it grew into what we see today, according to TED Fellows. She developed BEAMS, a scientific method for understanding contaminated cosmological data, and has won numerous fellowships and awards, including a TED fellowship and Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford. She's currently a professor at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics. Ayanna Howard, Robot Scientist Howard once worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a senior robotics researcher. She is now a robotics professor at Georgia Institute of Technology. One of her most well-known successes was the design of "SnoMote," a robot that could work in remote ice environments inaccessible to humans. In 2013, she founded Zyrobotics, a company that produces technology for kids living with special needs, she told PC Magazine. According to Howard's Georgia Tech bio, "her academic career is highlighted by her focus on technology development for intelligent agents that must interact with and in a human-centered world, as well as on the education and mentoring of students in the engineering and computing fields." Peggy Whitson, Astronaut Whitson is the most experienced female astronaut at NASA. She's spent 665 days in space, which is "longer than any American ever and more time than any woman worldwide," according to NPR. Whitson has taken 10 space walks, and she takes the lead as the first woman to command the ISS twice. Katrin Amunts, Neuroscientist Amunts works at the University of Dusseldorf, where her current project is creating a 3-D map of the human brain. She is one of the most prominent brain-mapping neuroscientists in the world. Amunts and her team constructed the most detailed map of the human brain to date. It could help us understand more about the brain, how it works and how it affects human behavior, according to Motherboard. The 3-D brain atlas has "50 times the resolution of previous such maps," reported the MIT Technology Review. "The atlas, which took a decade to complete, required slicing a brain into thousands of thin slices and digitally stitching them back together with the help of supercomputers ... It is a major step forward in understanding the brain's three-dimensional anatomy." Honoring Women in STEM  These women are creating brighter futures for generations of female scientists. Their groundbreaking research and developments shed light on the mysteries of the world as we know it — and their leadership in their respective fields heralds great things to come for women in STEM.

5 Famous Women in STEM Paving the Way

Every time we use our cell phone or personal computer to query the internet, stream a movie or retrieve photos from the cloud, we're asking a worldwide network of high-speed computers to locate and deliver data instantly to our device.  Unfortunately, the digital infrastructure that performs these tasks — thousands of computers housed in data centers (aka server "farms") — also consumes enormous amounts of electricity, much of it from non-renewable sources. To shrink this carbon footprint and create a more sustainable future, large data center owners including Amazon, Facebook and Google are creating green data centers.  How Data Centers Work  A modern data center typically houses thousands of powerful and very small computer servers networked together. This network collects, stores, processes, distributes and allows access to large amounts of data. If you have personal data "in the cloud," that data is actually stored on a physical computer disk drive in one of these data centers.  A metric commonly used to measure the energy efficiency of a data center is called its power usage effectiveness (PUE), a ratio of its total power consumption divided by the amount of power consumed by its computing infrastructure. PUE was developed by the Green Grid, a consortium of policymakers, technology providers, facility architects and utility companies dedicated to improving IT and data center efficiency.  In a perfect world, PUE would be 1.0, meaning that all of the power consumed by a data center is being used to power its servers. In reality, however, a data center must also provide power to cool its computers, and maintain other aspects of its infrastructure such as facility lighting, heating and cooling. According to the Uptime Institute, the average PUE for data centers in 2019 was 1.67. In recent years, Facebook and other large data center operators have reported PUEs as low as 1.1.  How to Reduce Energy Consumption  Companies intent on lowering their carbon footprint usually have two major energy goals for their green data centers: (1) reduce the total energy usage of the centers, and (2) increase the amount of renewable energy used by those facilities.  Total energy usage for a data center includes energy consumed by servers and by facility overhead functions such as heating and cooling.  Google has turned to machine learning to help reduce the total amount of energy used to power its data centers. In 2016, a company efficiency expert named Jim Gao teamed up with Google's artificial intelligence (AI) research group, Deep Mind, to develop an algorithm that could optimize the use of energy at various data centers. The algorithm used historical data from data center sensors — temperature, pump speeds power, setpoints, etc. — to train a collection of deep neural networks to predict the appropriate future temperature and pressure conditions for each facility.  Google claims that its AI algorithm has produced a "40 percent reduction in the amount of energy used for cooling and 15 percent reduction in overall energy overhead."  The Department of Energy also recommends several steps data center operators can take to reduce energy consumption by their facilities. These suggestions include:    Server virtualization (using one physical server to conduct the workload of multiple virtual servers)  Decommissioning unused servers  Consolidation of lightly used servers  Better management of data storage (which reduces the number of servers needed)  Purchasing more energy-efficient servers and other power equipment   Shrinking Water Use  A sustainable future for green data centers also relies on optimizing the use of water involved in creating proper temperature- and humidity-controlled environments for servers.  Historically, data centers have used air- or water-cooled chillers to create the cool air that circulates among racks of servers. This approach, however, is very power- and water-intensive. Chillers, for example, rely on refrigerant and electricity-hungry compressors to create a supply of cool water. A computer room air handling system blows warm air over coils filled with this water, cooling the air to the desired temperature. The heat transferred by the air to the chilled water is ultimately released to the external environment via one or more cooling towers.  By contrast, Facebook uses a more water- and power-efficient approach called evaporative cooling to cool many of its data centers. Evaporative cooling blows fresh, outside air through a water-soaked membrane. The incoming air warms the water in the membrane, turning it into vapor. This transfer of energy cools and humidifies the incoming air, which is then directed to the data center's air handling system. Facebook claims that evaporative cooling techniques allow its data centers to use about 50% less water than a typical data center.  In more severe environments — locations where the incoming air could introduce high levels of dust, extreme humidity or high levels of salinity, all of which could contaminate the server environment — Facebook uses a more water-intensive air-cooling process called StatePoint Liquid Cooling to maintain its data centers at the optimum temperature.  Sticking With Recycling  Not all data center operators are as advanced in their efforts to drive down PUE as Facebook. Companies such as Evoque Data Center Solutions, which acquired AT&T's portfolio of data centers in 2019, however, are still conscientious about their use of water to cool their data centers.  "Many of our data centers, which rely on water-cooled chillers, are using gray water as part of the mix of water used in their cooling towers," said John Diamond, Evoque's vice president of engineering. "We've also engaged a national chemical treatment contractor to help us maximize the number of times we can cycle water through the cooling towers before flushing its chemicals out of the system."  Water used in cooling towers, he explained, must be periodically treated with chemicals to keep it free of biological and chemical contaminants that could foul cooling tower equipment.  Expanding Access to Renewables  Of course, a PUE of 1.0 can still be damaging to the planet if the power being consumed by server farms is not coming from renewable sources.  Unfortunately, the large energy demands of a typical data center usually make it impractical for its operators to maintain on-site renewable energy farms (wind or solar). And historically, the federal regulatory environment has made it difficult for companies to purchase renewable energy directly from their local utility company.  One way to overcome this regulatory problem is for operators of green data centers to purchase renewable energy at the wholesale level in the same electric grid where a data center resides. The power is then sold back into the local grid in exchange for renewable energy credits. The use of these credits adds renewable energy to the local grid while reducing the carbon footprint of data centers.  Another way to bring more renewable energy to green data centers is through an emerging concept called green energy tariffs. Offered by local utility companies, green tariffs allow a company such as Facebook or Google to effectively invest in a new renewable energy project by agreeing to purchase energy at a specified rate for a specified amount of time. In return, the local utility can direct electricity output from that new wind or solar facility to one or more of its local customers.  Matching Energy Demands  It's important to point out that green data centers will likely never be powered exclusively by renewable energy. Their high energy consumption and 24/7 workload demand that they stay connected to local, reliable sources of power, whether that power comes from renewable energy sources or not.  In this context, Google claims to have matched 100% of its annual electricity consumption in 2017 and 2018 with purchases of renewable energy. Similarly, Facebook claims that 75% of its power purchases came from renewable sources in 2018 and that it expects that number to reach 100% in 2020, largely by continuing to invest in renewable energy projects located on the same electric grid as its data centers.  Amazon Web Services also claims that more than 50% of its operations were powered by renewable sources of energy in 2018. The company expects to reach 100% renewable energy sources within several years.  Building in Sustainability  Another less discussed aspect of green data centers, but one that goes to the heart of creating a sustainable future concerns the purchase, utilization and disposal of server hardware. Data centers can house as many as 80,000 servers, each with an average lifespan of three to five years.  Given this math, there are incentives to minimize the amount of non-renewable materials used to produce hardware and to maximize opportunities to recycle or refurbish that hardware when it reaches the end of its useful life within the data center environment.  Facebook takes a holistic approach to reduce the amount of non-renewable, petroleum-based plastics used to produce its computer servers. For example, the company identified a material called natural fiber-filled polypropylene (NFFPP), a plastic composite material manufactured in part from natural, renewable jute fibers, that could be used to produce many small components used in server manufacturing such as cable clips and bus bar covers. The company is also conscientious about how it reuses, recycles and remarkets its servers and server components.  Facing Down Climate Change  As society's demand for data and the forces of climate change continue to grow, so too will the demand for green data centers and their focus on a sustainable future. It may or may not be too late to avoid a showdown with climate change, but every owner of a digital device and every operator of a data center still has the opportunity to make a difference in the fight.  If you'd like to see how green your future could be working for one of the world's great technology companies, please contact us at https://www.northropgrumman.com/careers/.  

Green Data Centers Power a More Sustainable Planet

The existence of dark matter was first proposed in 1933 to explain anomalies in the movement of galaxies. As described in Nature, the observed movements couldn't be fully explained by the gravitational pull of visible objects. Rather, objects seemed to be reacting to gravity from some invisible unknown source, which scientists named "dark matter." Dark matter is now thought to make up about 80% of the matter in the universe, Space.com notes — but what it is remains a mystery. The search for dark matter recently received a boost from quantum technology. The two leading candidates are currently weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) and axions. Both these subatomic particles were proposed in the 1970s, but neither one has been proven to exist. But a new quantum breakthrough may provide an opening to unpack the mystery. Axion Detectors Recently, the search for axions gained speed by incorporating technology that was developed for quantum computers. This new approach was adopted for the HAYSTAC experiment, which stands for the Haloscope At Yale Sensitive to Axion CDM (cold dark matter). HAYSTAC was launched in 2010 to advance the search for axions and is a collaboration between Yale, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Colorado Boulder. The first results from HAYSTAC were published in 2017. The dark matter detector was then rebuilt in 2018 to take advantage of new quantum-enhanced detection technologies, which led to a Nature publication in 2021. Axions are predicted to have no charge, no spin and a minuscule amount of mass, with a single axion perhaps billions to trillions of times smaller than an electron. Therefore, for axions to account for the perceived dark matter in the universe, there must be 10 trillion to 100 trillion axions per cubic centimeter. However, axions almost never interact with ordinary matter, so extremely sensitive techniques are required to detect them. The process is analogous to looking for a needle in a haystack. As explained in Berkeley News, if axions in a microwave cavity pass through a strong magnetic field, a small number of them should theoretically transform into microwave-frequency photons, which can be detected as particles of light. The photon frequency is determined by axion mass, which is unknown. The predicted frequency is anywhere between 300 hertz and 300 billion hertz, so the goal of HAYSTAC and similar projects is to carefully and systematically scan through that range, to eliminate possibilities until axions are either found or disproved. The Quantum Limit Unless new technologies are adopted and developed, it could take thousands of years to scan through all the possible axion frequencies, as a HAYSTAC collaborator discusses in The Conversation. When the first HAYSTAC paper was published in 2017, the existing technology had essentially reached the limits imposed by a fundamental law of quantum mechanics. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle indicates that it's impossible to know the exact value of two different properties of a quantum system — such as a photon — at the same time. In axion searches, the quantum limit introduces excessive noise into the measurement process. Even at temperatures near absolute zero, photons are ubiquitous and produce random electromagnetic fluctuations. The more noise there is, the longer a dark matter detector must sit at each frequency to listen for an extremely faint axion signal. The HAYSTAC experiment started by exploring the lower end of the possible axion frequency range and was able to rule out a subset of predicted axion models. The noise would only increase as higher frequencies were explored. Researchers had essentially exhausted options to amplify the signal and sort it from noise, so the HAYSTAC team decided to develop a new axion detector that could circumvent the quantum limit. Quantum Squeezing Axion detectors measure two quadratures (two properties of incoming light waves). The Heisenberg uncertainty principle stipulates that measuring both quadratures at the same time would result in some uncertainty in both measurements. The HAYSTAC team reasoned that it would be better to measure one quadrature at a time, if they could increase the accuracy of that measurement while decreasing accuracy for the other quadrature. A noise manipulation technique called quantum squeezing was applied, which was originally developed for quantum computing. While ordinary computer chips hold bits of data in an "on" or "off" position, quantum computer chips ("qubits") can hold data in an intermediate position, which will make them ideal for situations involving uncertainty. Quantum computers are still in the early stages of development, but tools designed to handle the challenges of quantum computing are finding applications elsewhere. One such tool is the Josephson Parametric Amplifier (JPA), which was developed to improve the fast readout fidelity of quantum computers. The HAYSTAC team used the JPA to "squeeze" the light they were getting from their axion detection experiment, to reduce uncertainty in one dimension while increasing it in another. Reduced Noise, Increased Bandwidth The new HAYSTAC detector uses a microwave cavity held at a temperature near absolute zero (to decrease noise) and placed in a strong magnetic field. The detector takes advantage of the uncertainty principle by reducing the uncertainty of the X component of the cavity electromagnetic (EM) field by squeezing with a JPA. The squeezed X component is then amplified with a second JPA. If an axion field is present, it should displace the amplified squeezed state in a random direction. "The detection process is based on detecting the weakly coupled oscillating axion field, rather than individual particles, since the axion is assumed to be many orders of magnitude lighter than the known standard-model particles and would be unlikely to be directly detectable as a particle," explains Dr. Mike Fitelson, a consulting engineer for Northrop Grumman Mission Systems who was not involved in the study. By decreasing background noise and increasing bandwidth, this new dark matter detector was able to scan two times faster than the old detector. While no axions were detected in the 100-day trial run, doubling the speed of the dark matter detector is a major step in the right direction. The HAYSTAC team believes that additional improvements to the quantum squeezing system could allow scanning to occur 10 times faster, and advances in other areas could add even more speed. Additional Implications of Quantum Technology Verifying the existence of axions would also solve the "strong charge-parity (CP) problem" in particle physics. If a neutron's positive and negative charges are inverted, it exhibits mirror-image behavior in terms of electrical charge and other properties. The strong force — which explains why atomic nuclei don't fly apart from the repulsive force between positively charged protons — obeys CP symmetry. This is problematic because symmetry isn't required by the Standard Model of particle physics. The axion was first proposed to explain this symmetry. Dr. Jonathan Green, director of Disruptive Concepts & Technologies for Northrop Grumman Mission Systems who was not involved in the HAYSTAC study, describes the work of the HAYSTAC team as "fundamental research focused on establishing our basic understanding of the mechanisms of nature." "This can be contrasted with applied research where our understanding of nature is applied to creating a useful technology," he continues. "The main benefit from this work could be the design of new detectors that are more sensitive," adds Dr. Fitelson. "For example, instead of exotic particles, this technology might be adaptable to single radio-frequency (RF) photon detection and the detection of very weak electric fields." Dr. Greene also points out that the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is also using quantum squeezing to detect gravitational waves, as MIT News describes. "We currently live in exciting times for scientific discovery," he enthuses. "In the past decade, we've observed the Higgs boson, detected gravitational waves and directly imaged a black hole. There still remain many fundamental questions about the nature of matter and the universe that our technology may allow us to answer in the near future." Are you interested in all things related to technology? We are, too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

Quantum Technology Accelerates the Search for Dark Matter

By 2021, global cybersecurity expenditures are expected to exceed $1 trillion, according to CSO. By 2022, there will be 265,000 more cybersecurity jobs in North America than workers to fill them, according to a Frost and Sullivan report outlined in The Wall Street Journal. Many organizations rely on outsourcing because experts in the field migrate to the private sector. The market need for cybersecurity talent is acute, which is why the Cyber Security Engineering Bachelor of Science degree being offered by George Mason University's Volgenau School of Engineering is so important. While there are other cybersecurity programs — Purdue University, New York University and University of Maryland offer such degrees — George Mason University's is the first to tackle engineering cybersecurity systems. What's a Cybersecurity Engineer? The average cybersecurity engineer's salary is $131,059, per Glassdoor. Not only does the position pay well, it is applicable to any industry. As George Mason University said, "Students who earn their degree from the first such program in the U.S. will be uniquely positioned for high-demand careers protecting physical systems from cyber attacks. Graduates will find jobs in government, defense, transportation, telecommunications, or almost any field they choose." The Cyber Security Engineering undergraduate program is "focused on the cyber security engineering of integrated cyber-physical systems," according to the university. "This degree provides a foundation in cyber security engineering, and is most appropriate for students with a strong mathematics and science background."  The program promises to teach students how to safeguard existing systems against cyberattacks and to build resilient new systems. It allows students to study and explore transportation systems, RF communications, a healthy dose of physics and more.  What Is the Value of a Cybersecurity Degree? The risks of cyberattacks weigh heavily on businesses. A successful attack — like the ones executed against Target, The Home Depot, Equifax and Sony in recent years — can undermine a brand's image among consumers and ruin executives' reputations. That's one reason for corporate interest in George Mason University's cybersecurity degree. Mike Papay, chief information security officer for Northrop Grumman, was instrumental in developing the program. Executives from Applied Systems Analytics and Robison International also contributed. Papay's involvement was organic: When GMU's Peggy Brouse — now the director of the program — read about hackers sabotaging the engine of a cruising Jeep Cherokee, she emailed Papay. That incident confirmed the need for such a program, according to GMU's blog. Brouse said she felt she needed to educate students to prepare and fight such attacks. In recent years, the risk for attacks on U.S. infrastructure and financial systems has increased, with Russia eyeing attacks on the U.S. power grid, according to The New York Times. It's easy to see how the loss of electrical power and internet access could cripple American society. Unfortunately, the power grid is just one of many hacker targets. Against that backdrop, the GMU program is an encouraging development. We can only hope that other schools follow suit.

George Mason University's Cybersecurity Engineering Degree Addresses an Increasingly Pressing Need

Are car/plane hybrids the next "big thing" in transportation? Are jetpacks on the horizon? Or is this just wishful thinking? When it comes to the future of personal aerospace technology, is the sky really our limit? The Wright Brothers' 1903 flight of a heavier-than-air powered craft answered a question: Yes, it is possible for humans to fly. It also created an obsession. For more than a century, we've been pushing the boundaries and looking for new ways to touch the sky. With commercial and military air travel now firmly commonplace, innovator focus has once again turned to personal aviation. Historical Precedent In December 1903, Wilbur Wright managed a flight of 852 feet in just under a minute; not far or fast, but a massive milestone for human ingenuity, explained Wright-Brothers.org. By 1914 the first commercial air service began operating between St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida; by World War I, propeller planes dotted the sky, according to Space.com. Craft capable of carrying thousands of pounds in cargo and hundreds of people, and breaking the sound barrier, followed as the science of flight was developed and refined. Personal Interest In a callback to the first powered flights, consumer desire for personal aviation has remained largely unanswered. It makes sense: Strapping yourself to a rickety craft at high speed doesn't seem like a great idea for continued health or sanity. But the dream persists. Consider the massive, continual interest in small-scale aerospace technology like Marty McFly's hoverboard from "Back to the Future II," which, despite decades of trying, never materialized. Some "personal" options are available; small Cessna-type crafts are a cool $9 million, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal, but these aren't really in reach of the average aviation enthusiast. Increasing gridlock, rising gas prices and the development of AI-driven automobiles, however, have reignited the dream of personal aviation. So what's next? Not-So-High Flyer First up is a formerly secret project from Google founder Larry Page aptly called the Flyer. It's a single-seater craft that is designed for water landings and takeoffs, weighs 250 pounds and uses 10 battery-powered propellers. According to The Verge, the Flyer "looks sort of like a bobsled mounted on a couple of pontoons" and isn't designed to go more than 10 feet above water or fly faster than 20 miles per hour. Still, there's already a waiting list for the vehicle. While it doesn't offer total aerial freedom, it's certainly a unique take on personal aviation. Sound and Fury? Jetpacks are another area of interest. The idea of truly personal flight has ignited continual desire for this kind of freedom. JetPack Aviation is trying to make this a reality, for both the public and the military. In 2015, CEO David Mayman flew a jetpack around the Statue of Liberty, which sparked additional public flights. Another option for personalized power takeoffs? Flying cars. CNet points to the AeroMobil flying car, which can fly 465 miles on a tank of fuel but also fold up its wings and take to the roads at up to 100 miles per hour. The caveat? Predicted cost is north of $1.5 million. As noted by New Atlas, meanwhile, the CityHawk VTOL out of Israel is also taking on personal aerial transport — its six-seater vehicle uses contra-rotating props instead of wings to achieve flight and can reach speeds of 170 miles per hour. The first manned tests are slated for 2021-2022. Infrastructure Issues According to Wired, many of these new vehicles don't fit into any current FAA classifications, meaning they'll need to jump through bureaucratic hoops to secure regulatory approval. Nasdaq noted that the German government recently approved flying taxi testing in the city of Ingolstadt, while ride-sharing service Uber is exploring the safety and regulatory challenges in taking its business to the skies. Tech Crunch cuts to heart of the matter: How will personal aviation devices be integrated with public airspace? This requires decisions about autonomy versus AI-piloted craft, as well as infrastructure to track vehicles in real-time and autonomous technology to coordinate thousands of flight paths simultaneously while mitigating collision risk. The Future of Flight Bottom line? Personal flight is possible. It might not take the form of hoverboards, but innovators are still finding ways to soar.

The Future of Personal Aviation: Sky's the Limit?

From space travel to the World Wide Web, email to nanoscale robotics, humanity's constant drive for improvement and innovation has changed the course of history. So hop aboard and get comfortable — the time machine is all fired up and ready to relive the greatest scientific discoveries of decades past. Let's go! First stop? Space-race technology from the 1960s that put humans on the moon and laid the foundation for computer development at breakneck speed: the microchip. To the Moon! Today, travel to the moon and Mars is the subject of governmental funding debates, executive orders and the drive to recapture public interest. But in the mid-1960s, the United States was fully committed to winning the space race against the Soviet Union, and NASA brought its A-game with Apollo 11. On July 20, 1969, NASA's Mission Control got its first message from the surface of the moon: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." It was the culmination of a decade's worth of hard work, political one-upmanship and — perhaps most importantly — technological innovation. To reach the stars, NASA needed computer technology that was lightweight and scalable and that could out-perform anything on the market, but nothing like that had ever existed. At $10,000 a pound, it's astronomically expensive to put anything into lower Earth orbit, says Computer World. It was important to keep Apollo's weight low to reduce the amount of fuel needed and free up budget for other projects. Computing speed was also a big hurdle: According to NASA, Apollo required "a small, lightweight guidance and navigation unit that could process complex trajectory equations and issue guidance commands to the Apollo spacecraft in 'real time' during the flight." The Integration Generation In the late 1950s, transistor technology was struggling to stay ahead of shrinking device sizes, but a revolution was coming. In July 1958, electric engineer Jack Kilby realized that entire circuits — transistors and all — could be integrated onto silicon crystals, offering both better performance and significantly reduced size. Months later, Robert Noyce had the same idea, but he refined the chip by linking component parts with copper lines printed on an oxide layer to create a monolithic circuit, reports Computer History. On April 12, 1961, the first patent for an integrated circuit was issued. Harvey Cragon, Kilby's colleague, designed a demo computer for the U.S. Air Force showing that 587 integrated circuits could replace 8,500 transistors and deliver the same functionality. Noyce's company and MIT were chosen by NASA to build the Apollo Guidance Computer, says Computer World. While there's no doubt that integrated circuit technology from the 1960s helped the U.S. win the space race, microchips were just getting started. Innovation at Scale Much like the transistor technology that preceded it, microchip manufacturing took off, allowing companies to scale down the size of components and create computing products small enough — and cheap enough — for consumers. It's the natural second stage of the greatest scientific discoveries: leveraging what began as something revolutionary to drive mass production at scale. From microwaves to personal computers, portable cassette players to advanced touchscreen tablets, microchips are now the mainstay of electronic design. Consider smartphones. This computer-in-your-pocket revolution wouldn't have been possible without the use of tiny, high-performance microchips capable of carrying massive amounts of information at speed. Competition among manufacturers has led to increasingly small transistors and smaller chips. According to The Verge, scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have managed to create a transistor that's just 1 nanometer long — a feat that pushes right up against the notion of what physical laws suggest is possible. Commercially, the result of integrated circuit innovation is stunning. As reported by Venture Beat, there are more than 3 billion smartphone users worldwide. Emerging products such as wearable devices and injectable microchips that can track bodily drug and alcohol levels, meanwhile, are helping to expand the microchip market in new (and sometimes worrisome) ways. Breaking Moore's Law Moore's Law was conceived in 1965 when Gordon Moore observed that the number of transistors on microchips doubled each year even as prices were halved. As noted by TechRadar, however, silicon is reaching its physical limits. The time it takes for chips to shrink is increasing — up to 18 months and counting. Threshold transistors won't work properly past a certain size because there isn't enough room for both "on" and "off" states. In addition, new devices and applications now require reduced latency, increased speed and enhanced light detection not possible with existing silicon chips. Is this the end for integrated circuits? Not quite. New, compound semiconductors made of elements such as gallium and nitrogen (GaN) could offer 100 times improvements to current silicon capabilities. While this (probably) won't break any immutable physical laws, it could bridge the gap between emerging device demands and existing circuit limitations. It All Starts Here There's no denying it: Microchip technology from the 1960s was not only the greatest scientific discovery of the decade but laid the groundwork for generations of human advancement, ingenuity and innovation. Ready for another ride? Flash forward to the disco-driven discoveries of the 1970s.

Microchips and Moon Landings: Technology From the 1960s

Medicine has started to think smaller — specifically in the case of nanotechnology, much, much smaller.
Nanomedicine a billion times smaller than a standard meter has already saved millions of lives. But what is nanomedicine? And how does a robot, drug or fiber only 100 times bigger than a water molecule have the power to fight human disease?
What Is Nanomedicine? When Good Things Come in Really Small Packages
To effect life-saving change, nanomedicine utilizes pharmaceuticals, tissues and robots as small as cells themselves. In just one example, a research team made a nanorobot that could cut off cancer's blood supply. The itty-bitty "robot" was essentially a capsule made of DNA folded up like origami.
On the outside of the nanorobot was a protein designed to fasten itself to cancer, whether it was breast, ovarian, lung or melanoma cancer. On the inside was a single tiny but powerful thrombin molecule that, when exposed near the cancer, could cause clotting to cut off the cancer's source of nutrients and oxygen without hurting the person with cancer. In the study published in Nature Biotechnology, the host human's blood and brain remained clot-free.
In theory, a nanorobot with an anchoring protein made from a certain cancer could swim around, latch onto that cancer everywhere it was found in the body and, no matter how small the metastasis, eliminate all current disease, radically decreasing the odds of future disease.
Size Sometimes Matters
Like human cells, nanotechnology in medicine varies in scale depending on its target and function. At 30 nanometers (nm) a human skin cell is about a million times smaller than a grain of salt at 0.5 millimeters. A red blood cell is 8 nm in diameter on average. The messenger RNA (mRNA) that made up the COVID-19 vaccines? Each cell-soluble package of instructions for identifying variants of COVID-19 is about 500 nm in diameter, and every vaccine dose contains many lipid-based molecule packages of mRNA.
Likewise, nanorobots vary in size depending on where they are designed to go and what they are designed to do and carry with them. Nanofibers follow the same principle. According to a study in Int J Nanomedicine, to prevent rejection of donor tissue and eliminate waiting lists for organs, humans could have their own cells harvested and grown on a matrix of nanofibers that act as a scaffold. When the organ or tissue in question is finished, the fibers would be cued to degenerate, leaving only the patient's new bladder, bowel, cornea or Achilles tendon behind.
In other words, using nanotechnology in medicine, not only could organs and tissues be potentially replaced wholesale, but with nanofibers, new cartilage could be induced to grow over surfaces that have worn out, decreasing the need for some types of joint replacements.
Delivering Medicine to the Source
By replacing organs and tissues, nanotechology in medicine can be a bit larger than the bacteria it's trying to kill — but it can also be smaller or just about the same size. As published in Cureus, a recent systematic review of nanotechnology applications in the control of sepsis, a deadly condition leading to multi-organ failure, determined that nanotechnology can help save human life and improve health in numerous ways.
The review determined that nanosensors can quickly and accurately detect the presence of elevated blood markers of illness and that nanoformulations — highly specific drug therapy targeted at the exact bacteria causing disease in a particular patient — could be more beneficial, faster-acting and less harmful than antibiotics designed to wipe out whatever bacteria they find.
While conducting targeted therapy to cure disease, these nanomedicines could also deliver anti-inflammatory medication to prevent our bodies from overreacting to the presence of the foreign, harmful bacteria. All the while, nanoformulations would spare the bacteria that live in our gut, helping the digestion of food, the absorption of nutrients and the maintenance of health and hygiene.
Downsizing and Scaling at the Same Time
Though the practical applications and possibilities of nanomedicine are vast, with the exception of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, implementation has been slow. Despite this slow progress on the implementation side, the ever-growing field of tiny medical technology is rapidly evolving as a whole, and it promises a bright future where the biggest health concerns can be solved with the smallest tools.
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What Is Nanomedicine? When a Little Goes a Long Way 

  The world of travel may be on the verge of getting faster — a lot faster. Researchers and industry are putting a new emphasis on hypersonics, the technology of atmospheric flight at more than five times the speed of sound, or about a mile per second. While the challenges of hypersonic flight are great, the potential is enormous, ranging from intercontinental passenger flights taking less than two hours, to achieving the dream of an aircraft that can fly into orbit and return to do it again.Breaking the Speed Barrier ... Again Only one human-piloted airplane has ever achieved hypersonic flight. As Douglas Messier writes at Space.com, this was the legendary X-15 research plane, which made its last hypersonic flight 50 years ago in 1967.  All orbital spacecraft briefly enter the hypersonic regime during their climb into space, and again when returning to Earth's atmosphere. The Space Shuttle operated as a hypersonic aircraft during re-entry, before slowing down to merely supersonic speeds. But otherwise, since 1967, hypersonic flight has been limited to a handful of unpiloted research vehicles. This limited role has been due to the technology challenges of hypersonics, which center largely around heat. Any object passing through the air at Mach 5 and above produces intense frictional heating as it pushes the air out of its path. Keeping this sheer heat from melting the airframe is the first great challenge of sustained hypersonic flight. The second heat-related challenge is keeping the heat from melting critical parts of a jet engine. This is not a problem for rocket planes such as the X-15, but the intakes of conventional jet engines and even ramjets are limited to about Mach 6 — toward the "slow" (relatively speaking!) end of the hypersonic range. So-called scramjets (for supersonic combusting ramjet, a technology that limits heat buildup) have shown promise in sustaining higher speeds without burning up.Hypersonics — Military and Civilian Potential After half a century on the back burner, what has put hypersonics back in the technology spotlight? The most immediate concerns relate to national defense, as Patrick Tucker outlines at Defense One. Like spacecraft, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) reach hypersonic speeds in the upper atmosphere. But they cannot be steered, or change course beyond very narrow limits, rendering them inflexible. In contrast, a hypersonic aircraft could change course to evade enemy attack or in response to a changing mission requirement. This is what makes hypersonic performance attractive to defense planners. What makes it critical for them is the growing capability of air defense systems that can target and shoot down merely supersonic aircraft, potentially even stealthy ones. The only way for U.S. aircraft to avoid these systems is to outrun them by reaching and sustaining hypersonic speeds. But while the first operational hypersonic planes will be military, a new generation of hypersonic airliners could follow them through the speed barrier. Supersonic transports such as the now-retired Concorde did not sufficiently reduce intercontinental travel times enough to transform commercial flying. A hypersonic transport would be another matter — making a transcontinental flight take no longer than a regional hop does today. And beyond the hypersonic transport lies the possibility of a true spaceplane, an aircraft that could take off and land like an ordinary jet, but capable of carrying payloads — and astronauts — into orbit. A hypersonic orbital spaceplane would make space travel as affordable as air travel is today. The technology of hypersonics calls for flying outside the box. This is something that Northrop Grumman has been doing since its pioneering Flying Wing took to the air in the 1940s. And as Darren Orf reports at Gizmodo, it continues to fly outside the box with proposals for hypersonic test aircraft such as the XS-1.

Hypersonics — The Far, Far Side of the Sound Barrier

A humble bacterium discovered in river mud is actually an energy harvesting dynamo. New research shows that protein filaments from a microbe called Geobacter sulfurrenducens can be made into a paper-thin device that pulls electricity from humid air. This innovative renewable energy, which came about serendipitously in the lab, works in air of normal ambient humidity (about 40% to 50% relative humidity), but also works in air as dry as the Sahara Desert's or as humid as Florida's. "We found a way to continuously produce electricity from the ambient environment — anywhere, anytime," says electrical engineer Jun Yao, an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In laboratory experiments, Yao and his team linked 17 energy harvesting films together to generate 10 volts of electricity, which is enough to power a cellphone. He says that because humidity is ubiquitous, this renewable energy solution can produce electricity day and night, no matter the environmental conditions. It can also be stacked vertically to take up less space than solar panels, for instance. He and his team published their research in February 2020 in the journal Nature. Based on the energy density in a thin film, Yao estimates that a multi-layered device the size of a refrigerator could power an average home, provided that the environment has the right humidity. He envisions stacks turned into a variety of shapes ranging from artistic and futuristic to those that blend seamlessly with the natural environment. "The potential is endless," he says. Accidental Discovery Yao and his team didn't set out to invent a renewable energy device. It happened by chance after a university colleague, microbiologist Derek Lovley, introduced Yao to the Geobacter microbe and described how it grew tiny wires made of protein in order to transfer charges to other microbes. When Lovley showed Yao images of the protein nanowires, Yao says he was amazed by the bacterium. "I didn't know it existed or that it was conductive," he says. As an electrical engineer, Yao figured that an obvious use for protein nanowires was to turn them into a wearable health sensor that could, for instance, monitor a person's respiratory rate or their skin hydration or detect how well a wound was healing. Yao enlisted first-year graduate student at the time, Xiaomeng Liu, to test the feasibility of such a device by sandwiching a thin film of the nanowires between two electrodes plugged into an electrical outlet and then measure how much charge the nanowires conducted. By accident, Liu forgot to plug the device in one day but noticed that the device was still getting power and could recharge itself. After conducting some investigations and ruling out a handful of explanation, the scientists discovered that when they put the protein nanowire device in a chamber and lowered the humidity, the current decreased. After exposing the energy harvesting device to different levels of humidity, the team found that it worked in a wide range of humidity from different geographical environments. As long as part of the film is exposed to the air and can absorb moisture, a moisture gradient develops, with water molecules constantly diffusing in and out of the top. At that spot, charges begin to build up. The difference in charge between the top and bottom of the film causes electrons to flow, Yao told Science. His colleague Derek Lovley suggested he name the device Air Gen. Making More Calculations showed that they could increase energy harvesting by putting more devices together, just like connecting many solar panels together in solar cells. To do this, they needed more protein nanowires from the bacteria. But growing massive amounts of Geobacter microbes in order to harvest their nanowires is difficult. These bacteria live in environments that have little to no oxygen and so culturing lots of them in a lab requires an expensive chamber that can create anaerobic conditions. Lovley, who had discovered the microbes, found that he could genetically engineer the easy-to-grow bacterium Escherichia coli to produce protein nanowires that have the same diameter and conducting power as Geobacter's. They're also just as durable. Yao says that the organic protein nanowire is more robust than those made of inorganic substances like silicon. Lovley conducted experiments showing that the nanowires remain stable in harsh solutions ranging from vinegar to saltwater, which quickly corrodes metal. "That's attractive in terms of practical implementation," says Yao. He says that the device could be shaped into interesting forms, too, to give off the appearance of art or even merge with the natural surroundings. Imagine a power plant that, at first glance, looks like a tree orchard, for instance. Many questions remain about the protein nanowires, says Yao. Some of them are around the fundamental mechanisms and why they conduct as they do. No one really knows for sure. Other questions have to do with the efficiency of this new green technology and discovering its upper limits. But that's where Yao thrives. "From a research perspective, it's good because we want to continue to investigate this," says Yao.

Energy Harvesting Tech Pulls Electricity From the Air

 Today's technology companies offer many nontraditional incentives to attract, develop and retain the most talented employees. Flexible floor plans and fun company outings are becoming more common in the workplace, especially in startup environments. But large, well-established companies can offer a more dramatic job perk by providing opportunities for employees to work overseas.Why Employees Want to Work Overseas College students want to study abroad for many reasons: to see the world, experience a new culture, learn a new language and get a fresh start. Many adults have these same desires, but a foreign work assignment has the added benefits of a salary and invaluable professional development. When a local position feels too traditional but a job transfer seems too drastic, a rotational stay can be just right. By taking a foreign assignment, employees face exciting challenges that keep their jobs interesting and fulfilling. Or, to put it simply, they get paid to travel to exotic places. Living abroad can give employees a fresh perspective that is vital to personal growth and professional development. It is a chance to explore the world while learning new skills and gaining international business experience that will continue to be useful when they continue their careers upon returning to the United States. Northrop Grumman offers a two-year Global Engineer Rotation Program to select members of the aerospace division. One participant in this program, Kathryn Williams, says that working as the Australia aerospace program's technical lead for Aerospace Systems helped her think more broadly about both her personal life and her career. She is spending two years working with Australian government representatives toward a future acquisition of the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial system. "As an engineer who mainly supported programs in the execution phase, working on a program that isn't yet on contract is a great growth experience," she says. "The whole perspective is different. Although the concept of promoting customer confidence through technical excellence — combined with strong relationship building — is the same."How Employers Benefit A change of scenery helps boost creativity and productivity, which helps individuals and organizations alike. Clearly, there are many reasons for employees to consider working overseas. Therefore, foreign exchange programs can help large technology companies recruit and retain top talent. Today's job seekers are looking for a dynamic workplace, and what could be more exciting than moving to a new country? The best employees can also be recruited by competitors or look for new opportunities if they don't feel challenged. An overseas assignment can help keep things interesting and avoid boredom. Tyler Tamashiro is a Northrop Grumman engineer working to expand the company's presence in Tokyo. The engineering rotation has given him the opportunity to be the primary technical contact to customers and industry partners in Japan. "As a conduit between Northrop Grumman and the customer, I work to gain a mutual understanding and resolution on a range of subjects," he explains. "Face-to-face interaction is particularly important in a country such as Japan, where there is a greater chance of details and subtleties being lost in translation." Overseas exchange programs like Northrop Grumman's engineering rotation can help a company expand in target markets and participate in a global economy. Sending employees to live abroad can help increase business opportunities overseas and unite global teams. While international business travel is good enough for many transactions, it doesn't allow company representatives to go deep enough to make big changes. By living abroad, employees can uncover a country's uniqueness and discover subtle cultural differences that could make or break a deal.

Work Overseas: Give Your Career that International Intrigue

Despite the tragic disaster that was the voyage of the Titanic, shipping company Blue Star Line is looking to replicate the ship, with Titanic II construction now underway. In 1912, the original Titanic was the largest passenger ship of its time, and even though the builders called it "unsinkable," five days after launch, it hit an iceberg and sunk in less than three short hours. Approximately 1,500 people died in this famous tragedy. The disaster was even more famous with the 1997 film "Titanic." So why would anyone want to repeat one of the biggest failures in history? A Replica With Modern Technology The new project could potentially have the same grandeur of the original ship, but with modern marine technology to keep all passengers safe. Australian businessman Clive Palmer is backing Titanic II construction, with a price tag of approximately $500 million, according to Business Insider. The new version would maintain the cabin layout, class categories, restaurants, dining rooms and length of the original. It would have the same architecture, including the smoking room, indoor pool and iconic grand staircase that made the ship so appealing. The plan is to sail along the same route as the original â€¦ but with today's navigation systems and safety equipment. What Went Wrong the First Time Around? History reports that several problems caused Titanic to sink, even though the ship was equipped with the best technology of its time, such as a sophisticated electrical control panel and an advanced wireless communications system that could transmit Morse code. Despite these precautions, the Titanic was not as safe as it appeared. The ship was traveling too fast, the wireless radio operator ignored a key iceberg warning and hazy environmental conditions contributed to the tragedy. The ship's construction wasn't perfect, and the Titanic broke apart on the ocean's surface. The ship's 3 million rivets had "a high concentration of 'slag,' a smelting residue that can make metal split apart," according to History.com. This defect could have weakened the part of the hull that hit the iceberg. How Is Titanic II Different? The new ship will have a sturdier welded hull instead of a riveted one, according to Business Insider. The original was equipped with only 20 lifeboats, which was enough for one-third of the passengers. Titanic II will have a new safety deck to hold the right number of lifeboats for all passengers and crew, just in case of a disaster scenario. For added stability, Blue Star says the new version will be a few meters wider than the original. Big boats are common now, and Business Insider points out that today's cruise ships are actually much bigger than the Titanic. While there are some construction improvements that should help make the new vessel sturdier, the main improvements are not aimed at surviving an iceberg but avoiding one in the first place. There have been many technological improvements since the disaster that should keep the second ship from suffering the same fate. Technology Improvements Today's boat captains have the aid of global positioning system (GPS) to guide navigation. Marine Insight points out that marine radar is the most used equipment on the ship's bridge. Radar technology was introduced in World War II, and it has improved since then. While the original Titanic relied on a human lookout aided with binoculars, today's ships benefit from radar that is enhanced with computer technology. The result: Boats can be equipped with automatic collision avoidance and detection data. Now we also have data about iceberg locations. After the disastrous Titanic sinking, The International Ice Patrol was established. Today, the group monitors 500,000 square miles of ocean, watching for icebergs in shipping lanes so that captains can know in advance where the danger is and they can plan the route accordingly. According to Popular Science, the only recent issues with iceberg collisions have happened to ships that didn't heed the Ice Patrol's warnings. With today's communication systems, navigation, radar technology and safety regulations, large passenger ships are far better prepared to avoid icebergs. Titanic II construction might look like its predecessor, but vintage furnishings will be underpinned by advanced marine technology. The new ship is expected to set sail in 2022. 

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