Free Republic

Peter Hughes of Highway Energy Systems Ltd. is an electrical and mechanical engineer responsible for many sustainable technological innovations. He spent years as an environmental consultant to the United Nations. Hughes developed ways to use solar-powered cooking at night for third world countries, and ways to force water into arid climates. But none of his accomplishments is as impressive as his most recent innovation. The electro-kinetic road ramp, or as he refers to it, his “prized jewel in the crown,” is already making an impact in the UK and will soon be coming to the United States. In development for...

A team of scientists led by University of Maryland physics professor James Drake appear to have solved a key remaining mystery about how the interaction of magnetic fields produce the explosive releases of energy seen in solar flares, storms in the Earth’s magnetosphere and many other powerful cosmic events. In recent years, researchers have answered many questions about this process, but one thing they have been unable to explain is data from solar observing satellites indicating that up to half of the energy released during solar flares is in the form of energetic electrons. Large numbers of these low-mass particles...

The U.S. Navy is preparing to break ground on a program dedicated to testing the science behind electromagnetic rail guns. The Navy will begin the construction of a new building devoted to the project this summer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren, Va. The Navy said it hopes it can develop an electromagnetic rail gun by 2010, and possibly deploy it aboard the electric-powered DD-X destroyer. Rail guns require a pulse power system to get instant electrical charges needed to accelerate projectiles to hypersonic velocities. Its rapid flight time and 200-kilometer range make these guns a tempting option...

Ballistic missile defense has undergone fundamental changes over the past few months. Global politics, technology, budgets and inter-service rivalries are all playing their part in shaping the new landscape. Some-where in this mixture are the needs of the military forces and civilian populations that face an increasing threat, writes Mark Hewish In a series of recent interlinked moves, the US has reshuffled the cards in its ballistic missile defense (BMD) pack. The outcome is still uncertain, with shifts in direction occurring almost daily. In January 2002, the country's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) was redesignated the Missile Defense Agency (MDA)....