Jane Edwards
The U.S. Air Force has awarded contracts to three teams to perform research and development work on long-range radio communications through the use of small satellites or CubeSats designed to release plasma bombs in the ionosphere, New Scientist reported Tuesday.
David Hambling writes General Sciences and Drexel University have teamed up to develop a technique that aims to induce a chemical reaction between a vaporized metal and atmospheric oxygen in order to generate plasma.
Enig Associates has partnered with University of Maryland researchers to further develop a method that seeks to use a heated metal to detonate a bomb and turn the blast into electrical energy.
The service branch plans to evaluate the experimental plasma generators through vacuum chamber tests and space flights under the program’s second phase, Hambling reports.
The Air Force also plans to investigate approaches to block communications from hostile satellites and reduce the impact of solar winds on GPS signals, according to the report.
