Latest JASON Defense Advisory Group Stories

In an effort to monitor the behavior of the world's oceans, Europe has committed to build the next Jason altimeter spacecraft -- a decision that should guarantee the continuation of a remarkable 18-year record of sea-surface shape until late in the decade, BBC News reported.The recent steady 3mm per year rise in global sea level has been tracked by the Jason series. The data has become invaluable to oceanographers, weather forecasters and climatologists.Eumetsat, which looks after Europe's...

In a move that would have any astrophysicist scratching his head, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) commissioned a report to assess whether gravitational waves could threaten national security. The JASON Defense Advisory Group was also asked to investigate other potential applications for high-frequency gravitational waves, such as imaging the Earth's core or uses in telecommunications.Gravitational waves are wrinkles in space-time caused by the movement of objects with tremendously...

LIVERMORE, Calif. (AP) -- Ed Moses talks of the "grand challenge" that has consumed him for the past five years, comparing it to trying to hit the strike zone with a baseball from 350 miles away or tossing a dime into a parking meter from 40 miles. "That's the precision we have to have," says Moses, the director of a high-energy physics adventure to produce the world's most powerful laser - one that scientists hope will create in a laboratory the energy found at the center...