ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — If radars wore pants, a lot of them would still be sporting bell-bottoms. Significant aspects of radar haven’t fundamentally changed since the 1970s, said Kurt Sorensen, a senior manager who oversees the development of high-performance radio frequency imaging technologies at Sandia National Laboratories. Like a record player, most military-grade systems are still […]
Category Archives: Military / Defense
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Sandia researchers receive two EO Lawrence Awards
July 14, 2022 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories pulsed-power physicist Daniel Sinars and quantum information scientist Andrew Landahl have each received 2021 Ernest Orlando Lawrence Awards, the U.S. Department of Energy’s highest scientific mid-career honor. Sinars won in the category “National Security and Nonproliferation;” Landahl in “Computer, Information and Knowledge Sciences.” Susan Seestrom, associate laboratories director for […]
Powerful Sandia machine-learning model shows diamond melting at high pressure
January 26, 2022 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Sandia National Laboratories supercomputer simulation model called SNAP that rapidly predicts the behavior of billions of interacting atoms has captured the melting of diamond when compressed by extreme pressures and temperatures. At several million atmospheres, the rigid carbon lattice of the hardest known substance on Earth is shown in SNAP (Spectral […]
US Department of Labor recognizes Sandia Labs for hiring veterans
January 24, 2022 – 10:26 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — U.S. Secretary of Labor Martin J. Walsh recently recognized Sandia National Laboratories as one of 849 recipients of the 2021 HIRE Vets Medallion Award during a virtual award ceremony presented by the Department of Labor. The Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing American Military Veterans Act Medallion Program recognizes employers who successfully […]
This device could usher in GPS-free navigation
October 26, 2021 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Don’t let the titanium metal walls or the sapphire windows fool you. It’s what’s on the inside of this small, curious device that could someday kick off a new era of navigation. For over a year, the avocado-sized vacuum chamber has contained a cloud of atoms at the right conditions for precise […]
1 day. 3 rockets. 23 experiments.
October 22, 2021 – 12:18 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — One year to design, build and test three rockets. Six weeks to unpack, assemble and test them at the flight range. One day to launch them. Sandia National Laboratories launched three sounding rockets in succession for the Department of Defense on Wednesday. The triple launch was conducted at NASA’s launch range at […]
Imaging tool under development exposes concealed detonators — and their charge
July 22, 2021 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Behold the neutron, the middle child of subatomic particles. At times overshadowed by its electrically charged siblings the proton and the electron, neutrons quietly play important roles in national security. They start nuclear reactions for weapons and power plants. They bombard materials for nuclear safety tests. And now they have a new […]
Experimental Impact Mechanics Lab at Sandia bars none
May 25, 2021 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — There’s a tiny hidden gem at Sandia National Laboratories that tests the strength and evaluates the impact properties of any solid natural or manmade material on the planet. From its humble beginnings as a small storage room, mechanical engineer Bo Song has built a singular Experimental Impact Mechanics Lab that packs a […]
Black engineer awards expand Sandia Labs spotlight
March 3, 2021 – 11:11 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Ten Sandia National Laboratories engineers received Black Engineer of the Year Awards, including Most Promising Scientist, Modern Technology Leaders and Science Spectrum Trailblazers. Honorees include Sandia systems, chemical, computer, electrical, petroleum, manufacturing and mechanical engineers who excel in their respective fields, powering innovation while flexing their technological muscles for U.S. national security. […]
Sandia hosts Education With Industry officer
December 8, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — With the resiliency and determination that earned her the U.S. Air Force call sign “Fenix,” Capt. Justine Wolff is using her position as an Education With Industry student at Sandia National Laboratories to better herself and the Air Force. “How great of an opportunity this is to understand our lab partners,” she […]
Flight tests to show B61-12 will work on Air Force’s newest fighter jet
November 23, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A mock B61-12’s strike in the dusty Nevada desert successfully completed the first in a series of flight tests with the U.S. Air Force’s newest fighter jet, demonstrating the bomb’s first release from an internal bomb bay at greater than the speed of sound. The flight test of the B61-12 with the […]
Virtual support from Sandia enabled B61-12 flight test on F-35A jet fighter
November 9, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Overcoming COVID-19 pandemic challenges through virtual means, teams from Sandia National Laboratories and the U.S. Air Force under the guidance of the National Nuclear Security Administration performed a critical B61-12 flight test aboard the F-35A Lightning II jet fighter. The flight test at Edwards Air Force Base in the California desert took […]
Record neutron numbers at Sandia Labs’ Z machine fusion experiments
October 27, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— A relatively new method to control nuclear fusion that combines a massive jolt of electricity with strong magnetic fields and a powerful laser beam has achieved its own record output of neutrons — a key standard by which fusion efforts are judged — at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z pulsed power facility, the most […]
Machine-learning technique from Sandia Labs could improve fusion energy outputs
October 12, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Machine-learning techniques, best known for teaching self-driving cars to stop at red lights, may soon help researchers around the world improve their control over the most complicated reaction known to science: nuclear fusion. Fusion reactions are typically hydrogen atoms heated to form a gaseous cloud called a plasma that releases energy as […]
50 million artificial neurons to facilitate machine-learning research at Sandia
October 2, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Fifty million artificial neurons — a number roughly equivalent to the brain of a small mammal — were delivered from Portland, Oregon-based Intel Corp. to Sandia National Laboratories last month, said Sandia project leader Craig Vineyard. The neurons will be assembled to advance a relatively new kind of computing, called neuromorphic, based […]