Sophisticated features may influence eventual Z-machine rebuild ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A new Sandia National Laboratories accelerator called Thor is expected to be 40 times more efficient than Sandia’s Z machine, the world’s largest and most powerful pulsed-power accelerator, in generating pressures to study materials under extreme conditions. “Thor’s magnetic field will reach about one million […]
Category Archives: Military / Defense
Older posts | Newer postsSandia researcher elected physics fellow after ‘remarkable impact’ in pulsed power
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researcher Daniel Sinars has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) through its Division of Plasma Physics. The distinction is awarded to no more than one half of one percent of the society’s membership. Sinars’ citation reads, “For scientific contributions and leadership in the development of […]
Managing the data deluge for national security analysts
Sandia Labs research rethinks finding patterns in motion, makes sensor images searchable ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — After a disaster or national tragedy, bits of information often are found afterward among vast amounts of available data that might have mitigated or even prevented what happened, had they been recognized ahead of time. In this information age, national […]
Sandia teams with industry to improve human-data interaction
Research to create tools to improve how intelligence analysts gather visual information ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Intelligence analysts working to identify national security threats in warzones or airports or elsewhere often flip through multiple images to create a video-like effect. They also may toggle between images at lightning speed, pan across images, zoom in and out […]
Service dog helps Wounded Warrior on the job at Sandia Labs
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For the first time, Sandia National Laboratories has welcomed a service dog to its New Mexico campus as a workplace accommodation for a veteran living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Three years ago, Rob Mitchell rescued Hunni, a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, from Animal Humane New Mexico as a pet for his family. […]
Warning Area in Arctic airspace to aid research and exploration
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A 700-mile-long airspace that stretches north from Oliktok Point — the northernmost point of Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay — to about 400 miles short of the North Pole has been put under the stewardship of Sandia National Laboratories by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Oliktok Point […]
New fog chamber provides testing options that could improve security cameras
Controlled fog at Sandia Labs makes testing optics more cost-effective, efficient ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Fog can play a key role in cloaking military invasions and retreats and the actions of intruders. That’s why physical security experts seek to overcome fog, but it’s difficult to field test security cameras, sensors or other equipment in fog that […]
Starving cancer instead of feeding it poison
Simulation offers hope of killing cancers without sickening patients ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A patent application for a drug that could destroy the deadly childhood disease known as acute lymphoblastic leukemia — and potentially other cancers as well — has been submitted by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories, the University of Maryland and the MD Anderson […]
Tests with Sandia’s Davis gun aid B61-12 life extension effort
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 […]
Pulsed-power physicist receives IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Science award
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — William Stygar, manager of Sandia National Laboratories’ Advanced Accelerator Physics department, has been selected to receive the Erwin Marx Award by the Pulsed Power Science and Technology Committee of the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Science Society. The award’s previous recipients “are a who’s who of the leaders in pulsed power science and […]
Explosive Destruction System begins first stockpile project
Unit will lead destruction of munitions at the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot LIVERMORE, Calif. — This week the Explosive Destruction System (EDS), designed by Sandia National Laboratories for the U.S. Army, began safely destroying stockpile chemical munitions. The project to destroy 560 chemical munitions at the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado with […]
New vice president appointed to oversee defense research at Sandia Labs
Peery to lead effort to deliver innovative science, technology for national security ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — James Peery was appointed vice president for defense research to lead Sandia National Laboratories’ longstanding work in this national security area. Peery had been director of Sandia’s Information Systems Analysis Center and was responsible for the research and development of […]
From Vietnam with love: Sandia Labs retiree works to return wartime greetings
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — If you were, or know, a New Mexico Air National Guardsman stationed in Tuy Hoa,Vietnam, in 1968, Art Sena is looking for you. The reason goes back to a long-ago wish to make Christmas merrier for servicemen at war, and a long-lost box of film. Sena, a Sandia National Laboratories retiree, tracked […]
Adaptive zoom riflescope prototype has push-button magnification
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When an Army Special Forces officer-turned-engineer puts his mind to designing a military riflescope, he doesn’t forget the importance of creating something for the soldiers who will carry it that is easy to use, extremely accurate, light-weight and has long-lasting battery power. Sandia National Laboratories optical engineer Brett Bagwell led the development […]
IED detector developed by Sandia Labs being transferred to Army
Copperhead Synthetic Aperture Radar system helps troops by detecting IEDs day or night, in any weather ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Detecting improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan requires constant, intensive monitoring using rugged equipment. When Sandia researchers first demonstrated a modified miniature synthetic aperture radar (MiniSAR) system to do just that, some experts didn’t believe it. But […]