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"BALLS 17 is a venue for projects that should NOT be flown publicly due to safety and legal restrictions. This may include, but is not limited to, LARGE rockets, complex staging or clustering, metal rockets, self designed and/or fabricated rocket motors and new technologies being developed or proven."
After a test satellite launch (Iran: success! USA: failure!) this past weekend carried out with one of their many, many missiles, Iran is rolling with the momentum and announcing plans to put a man in space within 10 years. While the feasibility of such a plan remains up in the air, it of course isn't the first time such an audacious goal has been set.
After the START II--the second strategic weapons reduction treaty with the former URSS--was signed, the US Navy had to reconvert many of their Ohio-class nuclear submarines, giving new uses to their missile bays. They talked with Lockheed Martin about it, who came up with the idea of the Cormorant: a Halo-looking plane that launches from a submerged submarine, does its mission stealthily and then returns to the water, where it's retrieved by a robot. As the video shows, the idea looks out of a sci-fi movie:
Gizmodo readers aren't the only people who love digitally altering photos using Photoshop -- so does Iranian state media! You may have seen the above photo yesterday, which features four scary missiles being fired off as a test/example of the size of Iran's dick. Guess what? One of those missiles is a fake. Here's what the original photo looks like:
Hey Mr. Pentagon Guys, John Mayer here. Remember those plans to invade Iran because of their missiles and weapons of mass destruction and the long fugly beards and a musical taste that doesn't include me? Yeah? Well, just take your time. Watch the video. All will be clearer afterwards. Thanks yous, John.
Anti-missile systems have popped up often on Giz, but until now none of them have promised what Lockheed Martin's excellently-named Multiple Kill Vehicle-L will do: tackle all the threats inside an ICBM. Each ICBM contains a bunch of Multiple Independently targetable Reentry Vehicles, some containing genuine warheads, some dummies to confuse defence systems.
Remember how the Navy fired a missile at that spy satellite a few months ago and made it go boom in one shot? Not surprisingly, they were quite proud of their accomplishment—which is why they have compiled footage of their exploits in a series of tense behind-the-scenes moments. The video after the break even shows the missile leaving the ship on its way to a victorious rendezvous with the pesky satellite. It is a definite must-see for any fan of explosions and the work that goes into making those explosions happen.
So, multitouch has some interesting applications, but all pale in comparison to playing a two player version of Missile Command. The clone was installed by Steve Mason at the Obscura Digital production studios massive 8'X4' multitouch wall—and as you can see in the video after the break, It looks like a good time, not to mention a decent workout.
Apparently the latest twist in an ongoing tussle over separatist Abkhazia, this video shows an "unarmed, umanned aerial vehicle" belonging to the Georgian Interior Ministry performing "basic reconnaissance over Georgian territory," according to the Georgians. Whether or not you believe the details in that statement, it's pretty hard to argue with what happens at around 30 seconds into the clip. A Russian MiG29 fighter aircraft shows up, looses off an air to air missile and blows the UAV out of the sky ... on camera. Though we imagine the political fallout is going to be messy, the sight of the missile streaking toward the lens is both chilling and awe-inspiring. [Danger Room]
USB Missile Launchers have been around for years and years and years, but why did it take this long for someone to stick a webcam on it? Seriously, what could be better for aiming a foam dart at that punk Bob from accounting than being able to see where you're aiming in first person view? If I had one of these instead of a standard Missile Launcher, I could have nailed Dvorak through the heart and recorded the thing at the same time. Oh technology, why are you never here when we need you? [IWOOT via Shiny Shiny]
