Latest Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Stories
WARREN, Mich., Dec. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Great hands. Elite athletes have them, and they are a standout characteristic of Robonaut 2. In fact, R2 as he is known to his creators is one of the most dexterous robots ever built because of his very human-like hands. Engineers from the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, MI and NASA's Johnson Space center in Houston collaborated to produce a robot that could work side-by-side with human astronauts at the International Space Station as...
The unmanned X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle has successfully landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, marking the end of the miniature space shuttle's secret seven month mission for the US Air Force, various media outlets reported on Friday.The landing occurred at the military facility located some 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles at 1:16 am PST, Vandenberg spokesman Jeremy Eggers told the Associated Press (AP). Eggers called the landing "very exciting" and added that the...
A miniature, unmanned space shuttle could return to Earth as soon as Friday after completing a nine-month classified mission for the Air Force, military officials announced on Tuesday.The space plane, the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, will land at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Los Angeles sometime between Friday and Monday, Air Force officials said in a statement. The exact time of touchdown will depend on weather conditions and technical factors, they noted.Preparations for the landing began on...
Scientists with the US Department of Defense are on track to conduct a second test launch next year of the Falcon HTV-2 experimental superweapon after the maiden test flight ended abruptly when the autopilot crashed the unmanned glider into the ocean as a safety measure. The Falcon Hypersonic Test Vehicle was designed to fly at the top of the atmosphere just below space, and is an important element of the Pentagon's Conventional Prompt Global Strike program, which centers on building...
KINSTON, N.C., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Spatial Integrated Systems, Inc. (SIS) announced that it has won a major proof-of-concept contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in response to its recent solicitation for the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program. The award builds on SIS's successful development to date of an autonomous maritime navigation and control system in partnership with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL) and...
CANOGA PARK, Calif., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne a contract, with a value up to $1 million, to design an engine for the Transformer (TX), a vertical take-off and landing, road-worthy concept study vehicle. The engine design will use technology from the EnduroCORE(TM) engine developed by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company....
LAS VEGAS, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- TopCoder®, Inc., the leader in online programming competition, skills assessment and competitive software development platforms, today announced the company has been awarded a $5.57 million contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the development of a new Internet-based platform for competitions and educational resources that will focus on realizing computer science, science, technology, engineering and math...
EAST HARTFORD, Conn., Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Pratt & Whitney received a $33.8 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop Constant Volume Combustion (CVC) engine technology under Phase II of the Vulcan advanced propulsion program. Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company. CVC technology has the potential to significantly decrease the fuel consumption of U.S. Navy surface combatants and increase overall...
Nvidia announced Monday that it will be leading a team awarded a 25-million-dollar contract by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to create a microchip that it hopes will "leave today's supercomputers in the dust," accfording to a recent AFP report.DARPA wants to make supercomputers as much as a thousand times more powerful with technology from graphics processing units (GPUs) used to power realistic video gaming action. GPUs break complex tasks into separate parts...
Getting into space isn't necessarily easy for astronauts, and it's not much easier for a robotic astronaut, either.Cocooned inside an aluminum frame and foam blocks cut out to its shape, Robonaut 2, or R2, is heading to the International Space Station inside the Permanent Multipurpose Module in space shuttle Discovery's payload bay as part of the STS-133 mission.Once in place inside the station, R2, with its humanlike hands and arms and stereo vision, is expected to perform some of the...
