WHAT HAS GOVERNMENT EVER DONE FOR US?:

What's the best way to power the remote bases of the future? The U.S. military has looked at all sorts of options, from algae-based diesel to small nuclear reactors. On Tuesday, the Air Force Research Lab, or AFRL, announced a breakthrough in a long-envisioned method: solar power collected in space and streamed to Earth in the form of microwaves. 

There's more solar energy to be harvested in orbit than on the ground, where the sun's rays are attenuated by atmospheric gases and dust. The problem is getting that power to where it needs to be. AFRL's, Space Solar Power Incremental Demonstrations and Research, or SSPIDR, program seeks to beam it down to Earth in the form of microwave energy that can penetrate dust and clouds and be collected a special antenna called a rectenna. From there it can be converted into DC power to run a base. 

AFRL and Northrop Grumman are developing a tile to convert light energy, which has a wavelength of about 400 to 700 nanometers, into microwaves (about 1 to 300 millimeters). On Tuesday, the lab announced that the tile had passed a critical test. 

"This is what makes us believe that we can do this, that this is actually feasible now," said Rachel Delany, a mechanical engineer with AFRL, in conversation wth Defense One. 

Within weeks, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research expect to announce that they have developed a vaccine that is effective against COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as from previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide. 

The achievement is the result of almost two years of work on the virus. The Army lab received its first DNA sequencing of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020. Very early on, Walter Reed's infectious diseases branch decided to focus on making a vaccine that would work against not just the existing strain but all of its potential variants as well.

Walter Reed's Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine, or SpFN, completed animal trials earlier this year with positive results. Phase 1 of human trials, which tested the vaccine against Omicron and the other variants, wrapped up this month, again with positive results that are undergoing final review, Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, director of Walter Reed's infectious diseases branch, said in an exclusive interview with Defense One. 

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