(fittingly – today is Jam Band Friday and Carlos is up – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ml3NUIDpFg  )

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is a black agency in the sense that much of what it does is shrouded in some secrecy. Its a Think Tank at one level. It is a contractor at another. It is a black site in the sense that it has no budget. But heh, they got a webpage and a Facebook Page too. How Hip and Modern.

http://www.darpa.mil/

http://www.facebook.com/DARPA

:}

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rRlBmJiz5k&feature=related )

 http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/09/darpa-seeks-to-tap-waters-power-potential/

Danger Room What’s Next in National Security

Darpa Seeks to Tap Water’s Power Potential

 

• By Katie Drummond
• September 9, 2009  |
• 12:30 pm  |
• Categories: DarpaWatch, Miscellaneous, Science!

The quest for limitless energy has preoccupied military researchers for years, and Darpa, the Pentagon’s far-out science arm, has often led the way. Now the agency is looking for yet another method to harness cheap and environmentally friendly energy that would be as simple as turning on the tap.

Well, sort of. Darpa is soliciting proposals for using seawater to create liquid fuel. Their hope is to harvest the abundance of carbon and hydrogen in ocean water, and somehow convert the molecules, via chemical reaction, into usable energy. Since fuel is mostly made up of hydrocarbons, the right interplay between water molecules and the carbon dioxide lurking among them would — in theory — yield fuel compounds.

Sounds good, right? Except Darpa’s not entirely sure what reaction needs to take place, or how to make it happen. That’s the first step for researchers: coming up with an efficient, effective catalyst, and one that won’t be affected by water pollutants, pH levels or the carbon dioxide concentrations of different water samples.

Of course, this isn’t the only out-there energy proposal the military’s got researchers working on. In July, the Air Force started investigating purple bacteria whose pigment could power flying drones. And Darpa’s already throwing money at another water-based energy source: last year, they spent $20 million dollars on converting algae into jet fuel. No word yet on how that worked out.

:}

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAf3gqdCrDs&feature=related )

They even have a Wikipedia Page now. You used to have to turn over rocks and stuff to find out anything about them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA

DARPA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Formed	1958
Headquarters	Arlington, Virginia
Employees	240
Annual budget	$3.2 billion
Agency executive	Regina Dugan[1], Director
Website
www.darpa.mil

 

 

DARPA headquarters in the Virginia Square neighborhood of Arlington.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military. DARPA has been responsible for funding the development of many technologies which have had a major effect on the world, including computer networking, as well as NLS, which was both the first hypertext system, and an important precursor to the contemporary ubiquitous graphical user interface.

Its original name was simply Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), but it was renamed DARPA (for Defense) during March 1972, then renamed ARPA again during February 1993, and then renamed DARPA again during March 1996.

DARPA was established during 1958 (as ARPA) in response to the Soviet launching of Sputnik during 1957, with the mission of keeping U.S. military technology more sophisticated than that of the nation’s potential enemies. From DARPA’s own introduction:^[2]

DARPA’s original mission, established in 1958, was to prevent technological surprise like the launch of Sputnik, which signaled that the Soviets had beaten the U.S. into space. The mission statement has evolved over time. Today, DARPA’s mission is still to prevent technological surprise to the US, but also to create technological surprise for our enemies.

DARPA is independent from other more conventional military R&D and reports directly to senior Department of Defense management. DARPA has around 240 personnel (about 140 technical) directly managing a $3.2 billion budget. These figures are “on average” since DARPA focuses on short-term (two to four-year) projects run by small, purpose-built teams.

:}

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yoGTVzgow8&feature=related )

Here is a little bit of the things they are working on that we know of:

http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Technology-Article.asp?ArtNum=59

Here’s a listing of the DARPA-related projects presented on the Technovelgy site:

Silent Talk ‘Telepathy’ For Soldiers
‘…allow user-to-user communication on the battlefield without the use of vocalized speech through analysis of neural signals.’

TASC – DARPA’s Psychohistory
The agency is seeking whitepapers to fuel the development of a scientific approach to predicting the actions of large masses of people.

Guided Bullets By Exacto From DARPA
How is it possible that a bullet could redirect its own course in mid-flight?

DARPA Seeks Self-Repairing Hunter-Killers?
Tests to date have seen small aerial robots lose large chunks of themselves to hostile fire, yet carry on with their mission.

DARPA Gandalf Project And Philip K. Dick
A new defense department project to locate enemies precisely, and target them, by phone.

EATR – DARPA’s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot
Project to develop a robotic platform able to perform long missions while refueling itself by foraging.

You Can’t Hide From DARPA
Harnessing Infrastructure for Building Reconnaissance (HIBR).

Squishy SquishBot ChemBots Desired By DARPA
ChemBots are soft, flexible robots that are able to alter their shape to squeeze through small openings and then regain their full size.

Fracture Putty For Compound Fractures – DARPA
An alternative to today’s standard treatments, which often lead to further complications, and are not fully load-bearing,

Submersible Aircraft – DARPA’s Flying Sub?
The minimal required airborne tactical radius of the sub-plane is 1000 nautical miles (nm).

MAHEM Metal Jets Like Clarke’s Stiletto Beam
Create compressed magnetic flux generator (CMFG)-driven magneto hydrodynamically formed metal jets and self-forging penetrators (SFP).

Precision Urban Hopper Robot Must ‘Stick’ Landings
Intended to give wheeled robots an additional edge; the ability to jump up onto or over obstacles up to nine meters high.

Katana Mono-Wing Rotorcraft Nano Air Vehicle
The Katana Mono-Wing Rotorcraft is a coin-sized one-bladed helicopter.

Micro Imagers For Sensing On Nano Air Vehicles
With the impetus toward micro-air and -ground vehicles for military applications, there is a compelling need for imaging micro-sensors compatible with these small platforms.

RESURRECT High-Fidelity Computer Battlefield Simulations
Create high-fidelity computer simulations of in-theatre events for tactical, operational and strategic review

Aqua Sciences Water From Atmospheric Moisture
The program focused on creating water from the atmosphere using low-energy systems.

Shape-Shifting Bomber In Need Of Plowsharing
Shape-shifting supersonic bomber fans are feeling bereft this weekend.

:}

for the old school

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnamP4-M9ko&feature=related )
Oh and for another high tech energy firm across the pond try:

http://www.entity-group.com/About-Us.aspx

:}