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Air Force Research Laboratory

Government lab that provided support and funding alongside company internal investment during engine development.

Known aliases

  • AFRL
  • Air Force Research Lab

Current stories

scienceOne report1 publisher

Four countries are lining up space solar power test launches inside five years

Programs in China, Japan, the UK and the US are each targeting test launches of space-based solar power within five years, Live Science reports. Whether the power can be delivered at a price anyone would pay is a separate question.

Publishers:livescience.com

Reality

Evidence35
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+30
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence40
scienceOne report1 publisher

Chip-scale ring-laser gyroscope from UCSB and Caltech senses rotation at 37 degrees per hour

UCSB and Caltech researchers built a CMOS-compatible ring-laser gyroscope on a chip that senses rotation as slow as 37 degrees per hour. It uses milliwatts of optical power and could eventually serve navigation where GPS is unavailable, the report says.

Publishers:phys.org

Reality

Evidence62
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+25
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence58
productConfirmed2 publishers

Pentagon offers PsiQuantum up to $150m to expand prototype testing in Milpitas

PsiQuantum has won a conditional Pentagon commitment for a loan of up to $150m to expand its plant in Milpitas, California. PsiQuantum says the money would buy test, assembly and cryogenic equipment for prototypes, The Next Web reported, so it mainly adds capacity to check hardware.

Reality

Evidence60
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+10
Incentives60
Confidence65
scienceOne report1 publisher

JQI-led team builds a chip frequency comb driven by two lasers in a microring

JQI and Auckland researchers report in Nature a two-laser chip frequency comb that, they say, matches tabletop combs on routine measurement tasks. Portable atomic clocks are the goal, though the reported tests are bench measurements.

Publishers:phys.org

Reality

Evidence45
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+25
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence50
productOne report1 publisher

Army lab predicts its light-absorbing molecules before making them; the speed-up is unquantified

ARL, VMI and West Point tuned iridium chromophores by calculation first, aiming at chemical-agent warning and fuel made on site. What they published is a method, not a device, and not a cycle time.

Reality

Evidence40
Adoption8
Hype gap+30
Incentives62
Confidence45
productOne report1 publisher

The Air Force's JASSM bet: a second engine source beats a better engine

Kratos and GE Aerospace's GEK800 is now the F143-ZZ-100, with an EMD contract to become a second propulsion source for JASSM rather than a replacement for the incumbent.

Reality

Evidence42
Adoption24
Hype gap+22
Incentives72
Confidence45