Video
The technologies of tomorrow will exist because of the “basic research” of today.
Basic research is the foundation of all scientific and engineering discovery and progress. It is what leads to new inventions and concepts—many of which are revolutionary. And the great thing about basic research is the mystery of it: while basic research investigators may start off trying to prove a particular theory, many times they end up going off in an entirely new direction, or their results are ultimately employed in a dramatically different way than they initially envisioned.
SUCCESS STORIES
AEROMORPH
An AFRL University Center of Excellence (UCoE) that performs fundamental multidisciplinary research to endow future supersonic and hypersonic weapons with game-changing performance through active morphing without significant size, weight, or power penalties.
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COGNITIVE & COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE PROGRAM
The Air Force Office of Scientific Research’s (AFOSR) Cognitive & Computational Neuroscience program funds high-risk/high-impact basic research on the mechanisms of perception, cognition, and behavior and at the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence.
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FALCON NEURO
Falcon Neuro is an experiment flying on the International Space Station (ISS) designed and built by cadets and faculty at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA).
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BOLT II
The BOLT II flight experiment launched in March 2022 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
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Space University Research Initiative
The Space University Research Initiative (SURI) program is sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Chief Technologist Office and encourages participation between academia, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) space focused technology directorates, and industry. One of AFOSR’s top priorities is to bolster Space Force […]
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OMNISSA – CAMERA FOR SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
What is Space Situational Awareness? Space SituationalAwareness (SSA) is the all-encompassing term for the study, monitoring and mitigation of the Earth’s orbital environment, typically related to satellites. Space and space assets directly affect all critical parts of day-to-day military operations including those involving command & control, communications, intelligence & surveillance, weather forecasting and geolocation. As […]
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Origami Design for Engineering Innovation
Researchers are developing origami antennas deployable in space….all thanks to basic research!
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