News Briefs

A team of researchers and engineers has won the U.S. Defense Department's $1 million Wearable Power Prize competition. The DuPont/Smart Fuel Cell team beat out six other teams by building a lightweight wearable system providing an average of 20 watts of power for more than 96 hours and weighing less than 8.8 pounds. All of the finalists used either fuel-cell or battery technologies or a combination of the two to meet the Defense Department's exacting standards. The goal of the effort is to develop a long-endurance, lightweight power pack for soldiers in the field.

The U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) has extended its cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) between Microsoft Corporation and the command's Joint Center for Operational Analysis Knowledge and Information Fusion Exchange (KnIFE) program for one year. KnIFE answers questions from and provides training materials to deployed and predeployment units using a database of the latest enemy tactics, techniques and procedures. The extension allows KnIFE and Microsoft to complete efforts initiated under the original agreement. In addition, the command hopes to explore new experiments involving service-oriented architecture and business intelligence.

An experimental solid-state laser successfully passed a series of repeated test firings. Developed by the Boeing Company, the thin-disk laser is part of the company's effort to develop a weapons-capable solid-state laser as a tactical weapon. Relying on electricity rather than volatile chemicals for power, the weapon achieved power levels of more than 25 kilowatts in several-second durations. Company officials note that the successful tests demonstrate the laser's potential to scale up to 100 kilowatts, the U.S. Defense Department's threshold for a tactical energy weapon.

The U.S. Army displayed its newest weapons system in Washington, D.C., this month. The non-line-of-sight cannon (NLOS-C) is the first new vehicle type in a family of eight new manned ground vehicles planned for the Future Combat Systems. The mobile artillery piece features a fully automated cannon, allowing troops to engage targets more quickly than current artillery systems. A hybrid-electric engine that requires less fuel than current vehicles powers the NLOS-C vehicle.

The preliminary design of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope sunshield has reached a major milestone. The five-layer shield is the size of a tennis court and is composed of specially coated reflective membranes and a support structure. It is designed to block solar heat to keep the telescope's instruments operating at cryogenic temperatures.

The Webb telescope will feature a mirror that is 21.3 feet in diameter. Because of the large size of the mirror and sunshield, the telescope will be folded to fit into a rocket and will be opened once in space. The telescope will reside in an orbit that is approximately 1 million miles from the Earth and used to explore distant galaxies as well as nearby planets and stars at the near- and mid-infrared wavelengths.

With the preliminary design review of the sunshield now complete, the work on the detailed engineering design of the instrument will now progress toward the scheduled launch in 2013. Northrop Grumman Corporation's space technology sector, prime contractor for the telescope, built the sunshield under a design and development contract from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.

The U.S. Joint Forces Command has opened the doors of its Joint Intelligence Laboratory, a focal point for partnerships across the U.S. Defense Department, intelligence community, industry and academia.