ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An early milestone for developing missile technologies is to show they can work in computer-simulations or large-scale field tests that shake and spin components without falling to pieces. “Screws can back out; things can break,” said Greg Tipton, a structural dynamics engineer at Sandia National Laboratories. Similar tests are performed in the […]
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Sandia abuses batteries for better energy storage
August 13, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — They crush ‘em. They pierce ‘em. They roast ‘em, soak ‘em in saltwater and short circuit ‘em. They overcharge and even over-discharge ‘em. Heck, they can even shoot them with lasers. Those poor batteries never really stand a chance against Sandia National Laboratories researchers whose job is to test the cells beyond […]
How a chicken farmer landed a job in cybersecurity
August 8, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Logan Carpenter teases his co-workers when they complain about work. Growing up in rural Madison County, Virginia, he worked on a chicken farm through high school and took up landscaping and painting jobs on the side. Tending poultry, performing menial labor for low wages, and being consumed daily by bugs and southern […]
Earthquake or underground explosion?
August 7, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researchers, as part of a group of National Nuclear Security Administration scientists, have wrapped up years of field experiments to improve the United States’ ability to differentiate earthquakes from underground explosions, key knowledge needed to advance the nation’s monitoring and verification capabilities for detecting underground nuclear explosions. The nine-year […]
Sandia Labs manufacturing spinoff steps into national market
July 29, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Joe Beck and Eric Branson’s business grew so fast it took them a year just to find time to put up a sign. “It’s since gone way beyond our expectations,” said Beck, president and CEO of Albuquerque-based Advanced Manufactured Power Solutions, or AMPS. The custom manufacturing company builds battery packs, cables and […]
Materials for hydrogen service advanced by new multilab consortium
July 25, 2019 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Researchers at Sandia and Pacific Northwest national laboratories are leading a collaborative effort to investigate how hydrogen affects materials such as plastics, rubber, steel and aluminum. The Hydrogen Materials Compatibility Consortium, or H-Mat, will focus on how hydrogen affects polymers and metals used in diverse sectors including fuel cell transportation and hydrogen […]
What do dragonflies teach us about missile defense?
July 24, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Be grateful you’re not on a dragonfly’s diet. You might be a fruit fly or maybe a mosquito, but it really wouldn’t matter the moment you look back and see four powerful wings pounding through the air after you. You fly for your life, weaving evasively, but the dragonfly somehow tracks you […]
Personalized medicine software vulnerability uncovered by Sandia researchers
July 1, 2019 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — A weakness in one common open source software for genomic analysis left DNA-based medical diagnostics vulnerable to cyberattacks. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories identified the weakness and notified the software developers, who issued a patch to fix the problem. The issue has also been fixed in the latest release of the software. […]
Portable gas detection shrinks to new dimensions
June 27, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A sensor for detecting toxic gases is now smaller, faster and more reliable. Its performance sets it up for integration in a highly sensitive portable system for detecting chemical weapons. Better miniature sensors can also rapidly detect airborne toxins where they occur, providing key information to help emergency personnel respond safely and […]
Sandia Labs to double assistance to small businesses
June 26, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories will be doubling the amount of technical assistance it provides to small businesses, following legislation signed into New Mexico state law this year. The new law raises the cap on the value of services Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories can offer a company through the New Mexico Small […]
Don’t set it and forget it — scan it and fix it with tech that detects wind blade damage
June 24, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Drones and crawling robots outfitted with special scanning technology could help wind blades stay in service longer, which may help lower the cost of wind energy at a time when blades are getting bigger, pricier and harder to transport, Sandia National Laboratories researchers say. As part of the Department of Energy’s Blade […]
Rooftop solar panels get boost from Sandia tool that previews a year on grid in minutes
June 20, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Homeowners and businesses may now have an easier time getting solar panels on rooftops thanks to software developed at Sandia. The new software can run a detailed, second-by-second simulation, known as quasi-static time series analysis, that shows utility companies how rooftop solar panels at a specific house or business would interact with […]
New look at old data leads to cleaner engines
June 10, 2019 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — New insights about how to understand and ultimately control the chemistry of ignition behavior and pollutant formation have been discovered in research led by Sandia National Laboratories. The discovery eventually will lead to cleaner, more efficient internal combustion engines. “Our findings will allow the design of new fuels and improved combustion strategies,” […]
Thwarting oil-pipeline corrosion by identifying a nanoscale villain
June 6, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Steel pipes rust and eventually fail. To preempt disasters, oil companies and others have created computer models to predict when replacement is needed. But if the models themselves go wrong, they can be modified only through experience, a costly problem if detection comes too late. Now, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories, the […]