PUDDLE HOPS: Moon vehicles | Cybersecurity research | Air Force Tech
General Motors Co. goes to the moon
DETROIT, MI—GM is not just interested in putting four wheels on the blacktop. The automaker will be working with Lockheed Martin Corp. to develop a new generation of Moon-ready vehicles as part of NASA’s Artemis program. This is not the first foray into space for GM; it helped develop the chassis and wheels for the rover used in Apollo’s 15-17 missions.
Getting the computer to ‘read’ an image
DES MOINES, IA—On the Internet, it’s fairly straightforward to index and search text, but doing so for images isn’t. To get the most out of image data, computers need to “see” an image and understand the content. Computer Vision (CV) uses complex machine learning and artificial intelligence to build computer vision models. CV startup Roboflow simplifies the process of building those models by letting you annotate images right within your browser.
Ocean bacteria and carbon dioxide
ST. LOUIS, MO—Global oceans absorb about 25% of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis published a study in the ISME Journal that describes how certain bacteria can “eat” electricity and lock away climate-warming carbon dioxide.
Building cybersecurity concepts
BLOOMINGTON, IN—The Indiana Innovation Institute has opened the Cyber Physical Systems lab, which will be a place for developers and researchers to create working prototypes in the national defense realm. The state-of-the-art facility should benefit engineers from smaller companies that might not otherwise have the resources to build and test their cybersecurity concepts.
Dayton’s $38M research chamber
DAYTON, OH—How do humans handle high altitude, strong acceleration and disorientation? The Air Force unveiled a $38 million research chamber at Wright-Patterson that will be used to test altitude conditions on humans and equipment.
Cold food in microgravity
WEST LAYFAYETTE, IN—Like everything else in microgravity, you have to make adjustments. Historically, astronauts’ food choices run the short gamut from canned to freeze-dried. A team at Purdue University is working on a prototype of a refrigerator that can work as well in space as it does on Earth.