ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is setting up a collaborative facility to help researchers worldwide study low-temperature plasmas, the most pervasive state of matter in the universe. The 5-year, $5.5 million project, called the Sandia Low Temperature Plasma Research Facility, is sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Participants will be selected […]
Category Archives: Military / Defense
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Sandia establishes collaborative research facility for low-temperature plasmas
December 20, 2019 – 5:00 am
AI center to combine hardware, software for practical gains
October 31, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, and the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta are launching a research center that combines hardware design and software development to improve artificial intelligence technologies that will ultimately benefit the public. AI is an emerging field with eventual applications ranging from autonomous […]
Armoring satellites to survive and operate through attacks
October 21, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Satellites do a lot of things — they help people navigate from one place to another, they deliver television programming, they search for new stars and exo-planets and they enable the U.S. nuclear deterrence strategy. But until recently, one thing they haven’t done — or needed to do — is defend themselves. […]
Sandia launches a bus into space
May 23, 2019 – 8:23 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories recently launched a bus into space. Not the kind with wheels that go round and round, but the kind of device that links electronic devices (a USB cable, short for “universal serial bus,” is one common example). The bus was among 16 total experiments aboard two sounding rockets that […]
Terrorist, timed scenarios challenge bomb squads at Sandia’s Robot Rodeo
May 13, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Bomb squad teams from New Mexico and beyond are converging at Sandia National Laboratories for a five-day Robot Rodeo and Capability Exercise where emergency preparedness skills will be put to the test. Twelve challenges for 10 military and civilian teams have been set up for the 13th annual event that provides opportunities […]
Future hypersonics could be artificially intelligent
April 18, 2019 – 4:52 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A test launch for a hypersonic weapon — a long-range missile that flies a mile per second and faster — takes weeks of planning. So, while the U.S. and other states are racing to deploy hypersonic technologies, it remains uncertain how useful the systems will be against urgent, mobile or evolving threats. […]
700,000 submunitions demilitarized by Sandia-designed robotics system
February 21, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — More than 700,000 Multiple Launch Rocket System submunitions have been demilitarized since the Army started using an automated nine-robot system conceptualized, built and programmed by Sandia National Laboratories engineers. “This is by far the most complex, automated robotic demilitarization system that Sandia has built in the last 20 years,” said computer scientist […]
Quantum computing steps further ahead with new projects at Sandia
January 7, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Quantum computing is a term that periodically flashes across the media sky like heat lightning in the desert: brilliant, attention-getting and then vanishing from the public’s mind with no apparent aftereffects. Yet a multimillion dollar international effort to build quantum computers is hardly going away. And now, four new projects led by […]
Sandia microneedles technique may mean quicker diagnoses of major illnesses
January 2, 2019 – 12:00 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When people are in the early stages of an undiagnosed disease, immediate tests that lead to treatment are the best first steps. But a blood draw — usually performed by a medical professional armed with an uncomfortably large needle — might not be quickest, least painful or most effective method, according to […]
Wind tunnel and lasers provide hypersonic proving ground at Sandia National Laboratories
November 7, 2018 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It’s about speed, and Sandia National Laboratories, with a hypersonic wind tunnel and advanced laser diagnostic technology, is in an excellent position to help U.S. defense agencies understand the physics associated with aircraft flying five times the speed of sound. With potential adversaries reporting successes in their own programs to develop aircraft […]
Veterans hired at Sandia Labs triples over past year
November 6, 2018 – 1:00 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The number of military veterans hired at Sandia tripled the last fiscal year, and marked the highest veteran hiring rate in the history of Sandia National Laboratories. As part of a broader laboratories recruiting strategy, Sandia engaged in a new deliberate and strategic military veteran hiring initiative that paid off. Sandia hired […]
Sandia delivers first DOE sounding rocket program since 1990s
October 22, 2018 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A new rocket program could help cut research and development time for new weapons systems from as many as 15 years to less than five. Sandia National Laboratories developed the new program, called the High Operational Tempo Sounding Rocket Program, or HOT SHOT, and integrated it for its first launch earlier this […]
Blast tube tests at Sandia simulate shock wave conditions nuclear weapons could face
September 10, 2018 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — You can learn a lot from a blast tube. You can learn more when you couple blast experiments with computer modeling. Sandia National Laboratories researchers are using a blast tube configurable to 120 feet to demonstrate how well nuclear weapons could survive the shock wave of a blast from an enemy weapon […]
Large supercrystals promise superior sensors
August 1, 2018 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Using an artful combination of nanotechnology and basic chemistry, Sandia National Laboratories researchers have encouraged gold nanoparticles to self-assemble into unusually large supercrystals that could significantly improve the detection sensitivity for chemicals in explosives or drugs. “Our supercrystals have more sensing capability than regular spectroscopy instruments currently in use, just like a […]
Solar tower exposes materials to intense heat to test thermal response
June 21, 2018 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is using its solar tower to help assess the impact of extreme temperature changes on materials. The tests, now in their second year, take advantage of the ability of Sandia’s National Solar Thermal Test Facility to simulate a very rapid increase in temperature followed by an equally rapid decrease. […]