Novel rocket design flight tested
Alan Novak (Left) and Bryce Tappan load the LANL designed rocket motor into the rocket body prior to a test launch. LANL photo."What we're trying to do is break the performance versus sensitivity curve, and make a rocket that's both very high-energy, as well as very safe," said Bryce Tappan, an energetic materials chemist at the Laboratory. "Typically, when you look at a propellant that's high-performance, it's not as safe a material."
The new rocket fuel and motor design adds a higher degree of safety by separating the fuel from the oxidizer, both new formulations that are, by themselves, not able to detonate. (Full Story)
Rocket Design Offers High-Performance and Safety
Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists recently flight tested a new rocket design that includes a high-energy fuel and a motor design that also delivers a high degree of safety.
"What we're trying to do is break the performance versus sensitivity curve, and make a rocket that's both very high-energy, as well as very safe," said Bryce Tappan, an energetic materials chemist at the Laboratory. "Typically, when you look at a propellant that's high-performance, it's not as safe a material." (Full Story)
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The innovative, unlikely idea that could save America’s forests
Burned area of Cochiti Canyon, from Take PartNate McDowell is one of the scientists trying to figure out what’s killing the trees. On a warm July afternoon, the 42-year-old tree physiologist, who works for Los Alamos National Laboratory, roamed Technical Area 49, a plot of land located off a lonely highway in the Jemez, taking measurements for a tree mortality study he started two years ago. He was sunburned and sweaty, his sandy brown hair tucked under a baseball cap. A portable radio attached to the waistband of his khaki shorts squawked safety announcements: testing of explosives is also done in Area 49. (Full Story)
Verdesian signs deal with Los Alamos National Lab
On the heels of a media day hosted at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) sponsored by Verdesian Life Sciences,comes the announcement the Verdesian has signed a licensing agreement with LANL to develop and market their latest nitrogen enhancement technology for plants. The agreement extends the current relationship with LANL, under which Verdesian is marketing and distributing the research institution’s Take Off® crop nitrogen assimilator. (Full Story)Also in Agriculture.com
NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter watches comet fly near
NASA's Mars Odyssey was out of communications with Earth, as planned, while conducting observations of comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring on Sunday, Oct. 19, as the comet flew near Mars.
Mars Odyssey has worked at the Red Planet longer than any other Mars mission in history. Odyssey’s Neutron Spectrometer, provided by Los Alamos National Laboratory, is part of the mission’s Gamma Ray Spectrometer suite. (Full Story)
Release of transcripts gives Oppenheimer’s reputation a boost
J. Robert Oppenheimer in 1945. From the Journal. The release of transcripts of the AEC’s secret hearings from 1954, which made headlines earlier this month, provided disclosures that reaffirmed the once-questioned loyalty of the Los Alamos Manhattan Project mastermind.
The hearings took place against the backdrop of 1950s Red-scare America, fueled by factors including the fact that Oppenheimer’s brother and wife had been communists and his lack of enthusiasm for building the more powerful hydrogen or “super” bomb. (Full Story)
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