By Chris Lavers Space Flight Laboratory (SFL), a developer of microspace missions for over 21 years, has announced a new line of high-performance, low-cost CubeSat buses. The 3U (“THUNDER”), 6U (“SPARTAN”) and 12U/16U (“JAEGER”) CubeSats complement SFL’s legacy suite of space-heritage nano-satellites and micro-satellites, fulfilling mission size requirements from 3 kg to 500 kg.… Continue reading SPACE FLIGHT LABORATORY ANNOUNCES NEW LINE OF COST-EFFECTIVE CUBESATS TO EXPAND ITS CURRENT SATELLITE MISSION RANGE
DCSS STRATEGY AND SECURITY WEBINARS
In the framework of the MA programme in Applied Strategy and International Security, Dr Fotios Moustakis, Associate Professor in Strategic Studies and Director of Dartmouth Centre for Sea Power and Strategy, in collaboration with the Hellenic National Defence College, organised four webinars over the last three months, with distinguished academic speakers and professionals. The webinars… Continue reading DCSS STRATEGY AND SECURITY WEBINARS
DARTMOUTH CENTRE FOR SEAPOWER AND STRATEGY STAFF MEMBER ACHIEVES PRESTIGIOUS OXFORD UNIVERSITY COLLEGE FELLOWSHIP
DR CHRISTOPHER LAVERS, a Plymouth University at BRNC Engineering Faculty member, has just started a Visiting Fellowship at the Changing Character of War Centre, Pembroke College Oxford, successful against strong global competition. Chris obtained approval for his research proposal Comparative Evaluation of Ethical Smart Sensing Environmental UAV Platform Design, for Military and Civilian Applications from… Continue reading DARTMOUTH CENTRE FOR SEAPOWER AND STRATEGY STAFF MEMBER ACHIEVES PRESTIGIOUS OXFORD UNIVERSITY COLLEGE FELLOWSHIP
US ARMY FUNDS OFF-ROAD AUTONOMOUS RESEARCH UNDER THE SARA PROGRAMME
By Chris Lavers The US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s (CCDC) Army Research Laboratory has just announced funding for a new round of off-road autonomy research under the Scalable Adaptive and Resilient Autonomy (SARA) programme. Under this partnered research programme the US Army has awarded 8 academic and industry partners $2.9m each as the first-year… Continue reading US ARMY FUNDS OFF-ROAD AUTONOMOUS RESEARCH UNDER THE SARA PROGRAMME
COVID-19 IMPACTS MARITIME NAVAL OPERATIONS, A TIME TO PRESS FORWARD WITH AUTONOMOUS SOLUTIONS OR NOT?
In the long tradition of Hollywood disaster movies it has often fallen to the United States Navy to rally the final defensive line, or provide the rescue platform solution to one of the world’s impending Apocalypses, with a long line of contenders for most deadly, including: ‘The Day of the Triffids’, ‘Battleship’, ‘Voyage to the… Continue reading COVID-19 IMPACTS MARITIME NAVAL OPERATIONS, A TIME TO PRESS FORWARD WITH AUTONOMOUS SOLUTIONS OR NOT?
DRONES AND SOCIAL USE ETHICS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19
By Chris Lavers * In recent weeks there has been a lot of television and internet footage of widespread Chinese drone use in a range of COVID-19 related applications. Many have seen YouTube video footage [1] showing food and vegetables, being delivered by drones to ‘quarantined’ residents. In Zhejiang, province in Eastern China, the local… Continue reading DRONES AND SOCIAL USE ETHICS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19
DEEPWATER HORIZON A DECADE ON, AND DCSS’s 2020 VISION FOR SENSORS ENGINEERED FOR MARINE POLLUTION DETECTION
By Christopher Lavers Crude oils, fuels and petroleum derivatives and their decay products clearly adversely impact earth’s natural environment. It is now almost exactly a decade on from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010, yet recent published research from the University of Miami [1] has shown a toxic and invisible oil spill spread… Continue reading DEEPWATER HORIZON A DECADE ON, AND DCSS’s 2020 VISION FOR SENSORS ENGINEERED FOR MARINE POLLUTION DETECTION
NATO ΑNNOUNCES FIRST COVID-19 STAFF INFECTION
Α decade on, are there lessons to be learned from Icelandic Eyjafjallajökull’s eruption and past SARS infections to predict the scale of COVID-19’s global impact? As of 9th March 2020 NATO has confirmed that one NATO staff member working at NATO’s HQ in Brussels tested positive for COVID-19. The staff member came back from a… Continue reading NATO ΑNNOUNCES FIRST COVID-19 STAFF INFECTION
NATO MARITIME COMMAND AND UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH HOST 3RD SEA POWER CONFERENCE
The Dartmouth Centre for Seapower and Strategy (DCSS) at University of Plymouth and the NATO Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM) co-hosted the Third MARCOM-DCSS Sea Power Conference at Warren House, Kingston-Upon- Thames, Surrey UK on Monday, 10 February 2020. The Conference explored what the critical operational dilemmas in delivering Allied deterrence are in the 2020s. A… Continue reading NATO MARITIME COMMAND AND UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH HOST 3RD SEA POWER CONFERENCE
UK MILITARY ASSESSMENT OF SOLAR TSUNAMI
The United Kingdom military is taking the threat posed by space weather extremely seriously. The up and coming “Military Space Situational Awareness Conference 2020”, in London (UK), 29-30 April, organised by the MOD and the Air and Space Power Association, will consider how best to tackle the various threats including space weather, in anticipation of… Continue reading UK MILITARY ASSESSMENT OF SOLAR TSUNAMI