ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is doing what it hasn’t done in decades: extending the life of a nuclear warhead at the same time the U.S. Air Force develops a replacement cruise missile that will carry the weapon. The goal of the W80-4 Life Extension Program (LEP) is refurbishing the W80 warhead with replacement […]
Author Archives: Sue Holmes
Techniques could create better material, design in high-consequence uses
September 23, 2015 – 1:00 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Imagine a table with sinuous legs resembling the twisting shape of an inverted swamp cypress trunk. Those flowing legs might make the table stronger, better able to handle whatever someone piles on it. Sandia National Laboratories researchers believe such organically shaped designs, achieved through a technology called topology optimization, could enable better […]
Hardware from old nuclear weapons systems becomes valuable teaching resource
July 30, 2015 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is preserving the history of nuclear weapons in hardware developed since the start of the nuclear era as a way to connect new generations of weapons engineers to the engineering work of past generations. “Tremendous amounts of knowledge are represented by this hardware, and being able to pick up […]
Whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on
July 22, 2015 – 5:00 am
Sandia’s new vibration table promises different ways of testing ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It took decades for technology to catch up with the math David Smallwood worked out to control vibration table shakers. Smallwood, a retired Sandia National Laboratories researcher who consults at the labs, knew that shaking in all directions at once was the key […]
Tracing the evolution of a drug-resistant pathogen
July 15, 2015 – 1:25 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — To fight a pathogen that’s highly resistant to antibiotics, first understand how it gets that way. Klebsiella pneumoniae strains that carry a particular enzyme are known for “their ability to survive any antibiotics you throw at them,” said Corey Hudson of Sandia National Laboratories in California. Using Sandia’s genome sequencing capabilities, Hudson […]
Sandia, UNM ink pact to promote research, recruiting
July 13, 2015 – 10:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The nation’s largest national laboratory and New Mexico’s flagship university on Monday expanded their commitment to work together to help redefine the future of science and engineering for national security, partner on research and jointly recruit top researchers. Sandia National Laboratories President and Director Paul Hommert and University of New Mexico Provost […]
Always/Never: Sandia documentary tells story of nuclear weapons safety, security
June 15, 2015 – 11:45 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories’ documentary, Always/Never: The Quest for Safety, Control & Survivability, showcases rare historical footage and interviews with a wide range of experts to describe how national security laboratories improved the safety and security of nuclear weapons from the dawn of the nuclear age to the end of the Cold War. […]
Tests with Sandia’s Davis gun aid B61-12 life extension effort
May 11, 2015 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Three years of design, planning and preparation came down to a split second, a loud boom and an enormous splash in a successful impact test of hardware in the nose assembly of an unarmed, mock B61-12 nuclear bomb. The Sandia National Laboratories test also captured data that will allow analysts to validate […]
Digital in-line holography helps researchers ‘see’ into fiery fuels
April 27, 2015 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Transportation accidents, such as trucks crashing on a highway or rockets failing on a launch pad, can create catastrophic fires. It’s important to understand how burning droplets of fuel are generated and behave in those extreme cases, so Sandia National Laboratories researchers have developed 3-D measurement techniques based on digital in-line holography. […]
MESA complex starts largest production series in its history
March 25, 2015 – 11:45 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories has begun making silicon wafers for three nuclear weapon modernization programs, the largest production series in the history of its Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Applications complex. MESA’s silicon fab in October began producing base wafers for Application-Specific Integrated Circuits for the B61-12 Life Extension Program, W88 Alteration 370 and […]
The quest for efficiency in thermoelectric nanowires
February 2, 2015 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Efficiency is big in the tiny world of thermoelectric nanowires. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories say better materials and manufacturing techniques for the nanowires could allow carmakers to harvest power from the heat wasted by exhaust systems or lead to more efficient devices to cool computer chips. Sandia researchers published a paper, […]
New leadership named for Sandia nuclear weapons work
December 4, 2014 – 3:23 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories has appointed Stephen Rottler as deputy director and executive vice president for National Security Programs effective March 6. He succeeds Jerry McDowell, who will retire in July after 35 years at Sandia. McDowell has been executive vice president since 2010. Rottler is vice president of Sandia’s California laboratory and […]
Studies look at long-term aging of electronics in nuclear weapons
December 4, 2014 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is studying how environments, including radiation that originates from a nuclear weapon itself, could affect the performance of electronics in the W76-1 warhead as they age. Sandia, which is responsible for most non-nuclear components in U.S. nuclear weapons, is helping replace W76 warheads in the nation’s stockpile with a […]
W88 warhead program performs successful tests
October 28, 2014 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The first flight and drop tests for the latest variant of the W88 nuclear warhead are providing data for Sandia National Laboratories to validate designs, improve computer modeling and update component specifications. The two successful tests, which were conducted this summer, provide data for the program, the W88 ALT 370 (alteration), to […]
A better prosthesis: Sandia invents sensor to learn about fit; system to make fit better
October 14, 2014 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As an amputee walks on a prosthetic leg during the day, the natural fluid in the leg shifts and the muscles shrink slightly. Now imagine the problem that poses for the fit of the prosthesis. There’s a growing need for a solution. The national Amputee Coalition says nearly 2 million people in […]