This is the European Space Agency’s test spaceplane, which is planned to go on a 100 minute mission without a crew on February 11. It will blast off from Kourou, French Guiana. Read more…
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This Gleaming Monolith May Spawn the Next Space Shuttle
Used to be that even the smallest tweaks to an upcoming automobile’s design could require weeks of fabrication to produce the modified clay, wood, and metal models. And while physical representations of prototype vehicles are still a big part of the production process today, a new 4K UHD monitor wall from Chevrolet could soon supplant them all. Read more…
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Chevy’s Insane PowerWall Display Has More Pixels Than an IMAX Theater
American forces in Afghanistan have long complained of a significant drawback in their M320 rifle-mounted grenade launchers : enemies positioned behind the low, mud brick walls ubiquitous to the region’s architecture could easily avoid incoming 40mm grenade rounds simply by ducking. You’d need a direct line of sight to enemy forces in order to inflict maximum damage. But not anymore. Read more…
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The Army’s Grenade Launchers Are About to Become Twice as Deadly
The US military is undergoing a radical change in its communications capabilities. Not only is DARPA’s Persistent Close Air Support cutting response times by nearly 90 percent, but a new satellite-based comm system will soon deliver a 3G smartphone experience to soldiers anywhere on the planet. Read more…
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This New Global Satellite System Is Bringing 3G to the Battlefield
Having already proven its value defending the skies over Tel Aviv—shooting down 85 percent (735 rockets) of incoming fire during the recent Gaza War—Rafael’s Iron Dome missile defense shield is taking its talents to the high seas. Read more…
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Israel’s Iron Dome Now Protects Maritime Airspace Too
Getting a fully-laden cargo ship across an entire ocean requires enormous amounts of energy—usually derived from pollutant-rich diesel fuel. But one environmentally-minded shipping company has bucked that convention and instead begun construction on a pair of hybrid containerships—the first of their kind—that run primarily on cleaner burning liquefied natural gas. Read more…
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The World’s Largest Natural Gas-Powered Ships Are Almost Ready to Sail
As the number and variety of air, space, and surface-based threats to our naval fleets continue to proliferate, defending against them all is getting harder and harder. But equipped with this new unified threat detection system from Raytheon, our Arleigh Burke-class destroyers will know what’s coming from 30 times farther away. Read more…
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Raytheon’s Modular Missile Defense Snaps Together Like Lego Bricks
It’s been half a century since Belgium’s famed Sarolea motorcycle brand last put out a bike but they’re clearly making up for lost time with the incomprehensibly gorgeous, all-electric-and-carbon-fiber SP7. And to prove they’re back in the superbike game, Sarolea is entering this black beauty into next month’s electric-only, Isle of Man TT Zero race. Read more…
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The Sarolea Superbike Is a Lightning-Powered Speed Demon
Getting crews out to patch roads is sometimes more trouble than its worth. It snarls traffic for hours at a time, costs counties and states hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, and typically only fixes the problem for a short time. But this gravel-blasting utility truck aims to make the permanent patch process faster than firing a gunstick. Read more…
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This Utility Truck Can Exterminate a Pothole Every 120 Seconds
Most helicopters are built for hovering, not for speed. But the Eurocopter X3 is built for both. The demonstrator tilt-rotor aircraft proved as much when it set a pair of air speed records earlier this month. Read more…
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The New Fastest Helicopter on Earth Can Fly at an Insane 300MPH