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85-571: The station was built by the Naval Research Laboratory in the early 1960s for a 600 ft (180 m) fully-steerable radio telescope intended to gather intelligence on Soviet radar and radio signals reflected from the Moon and radioastronomical data from outer space , but the project was halted in 1962 before the telescope was completed. The site was then developed as a radio receiving station. Naval Radio Station Sugar Grove

170-632: A Master of Science degree typically is hired at a salary in the GS-11 range; someone with a PhD typically is hired at a salary in the GS-12 range. NRL has the flexibility to offer partial student loan repayments for new hires. According to the NRL Fact Book (2016), of NRL civilian full-time permanent employees, 870 had a doctorate, 417 had a master's, and 576 had a bachelor's as their highest degree. The laboratory also hosts post-doctoral researchers and

255-706: A big-picture view, with more emphasis on societal implications than engineering details. Nanomaterials can be classified in 0D, 1D, 2D and 3D nanomaterials . Dimensionality plays a major role in determining the characteristic of nanomaterials including physical , chemical , and biological characteristics. With the decrease in dimensionality, an increase in surface-to-volume ratio is observed. This indicates that smaller dimensional nanomaterials have higher surface area compared to 3D nanomaterials. Two dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have been extensively investigated for electronic , biomedical , drug delivery and biosensor applications. The atomic force microscope (AFM) and

340-488: A debate among advocacy groups and governments on whether special regulation of nanotechnology is warranted. The concepts that seeded nanotechnology were first discussed in 1959 by physicist Richard Feynman in his talk There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom , in which he described the possibility of synthesis via direct manipulation of atoms. The term "nano-technology" was first used by Norio Taniguchi in 1974, though it

425-437: A field in the 1980s occurred through the convergence of Drexler's theoretical and public work, which developed and popularized a conceptual framework, and high-visibility experimental advances that drew additional attention to the prospects. In the 1980s, two breakthroughs sparked the growth of nanotechnology. First, the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope in 1981 enabled visualization of individual atoms and bonds, and

510-729: A fuel catalyst. In the electric car industry, single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) address key lithium-ion battery challenges, including energy density, charge rate, service life, and cost. SWCNTs connect electrode particles during charge/discharge process, preventing battery premature degradation. Their exceptional ability to wrap active material particles enhanced electrical conductivity and physical properties, setting them apart multi-walled carbon nanotubes and carbon black. Further applications allow tennis balls to last longer, golf balls to fly straighter, and bowling balls to become more durable. Trousers and socks have been infused with nanotechnology to last longer and lower temperature in

595-436: A larger scale and come under the description of microtechnology . To put that scale in another context, the comparative size of a nanometer to a meter is the same as that of a marble to the size of the earth. Two main approaches are used in nanotechnology. In the "bottom-up" approach, materials and devices are built from molecular components which assemble themselves chemically by principles of molecular recognition . In

680-683: A mansion on the highlands to the east. Zachariah Berry purchased the land in 1827, who rented it out for various purposes including a fishery at Blue Plains . The mansion was demolished during the Civil War to build Fort Greble . In 1873 the land was purchased by the federal government as the Bellevue Annex to the Naval Gun Factory , and several buildings were constructed including the Commandant's house, "Quarters A", which

765-472: A manufacturing technology based on the mechanical functionality of these components (such as gears, bearings, motors, and structural members) that would enable programmable, positional assembly to atomic specification. The physics and engineering performance of exemplar designs were analyzed in Drexler's book Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation . In general, assembling devices on

850-630: A marking dye to help locate survivors of disasters at sea. A thermal diffusion process was conceived and used to supply some of the U-235 isotope needed for one of the first atomic bombs. Also, many new devices that developed from booming wartime industry were type tested and then certified as reliable for the Fleet. As a result of the scientific accomplishments of the WWII, the United States emerged into

935-761: A protein . Thus, components can be designed to be complementary and mutually attractive so that they make a more complex and useful whole. Such bottom-up approaches should be capable of producing devices in parallel and be much cheaper than top-down methods, but could potentially be overwhelmed as the size and complexity of the desired assembly increases. Most useful structures require complex and thermodynamically unlikely arrangements of atoms. Nevertheless, many examples of self-assembly based on molecular recognition in exist in biology , most notably Watson–Crick basepairing and enzyme-substrate interactions. Molecular nanotechnology, sometimes called molecular manufacturing, concerns engineered nanosystems (nanoscale machines) operating on

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1020-673: A public debate between Drexler and Smalley in 2001 and 2003. Meanwhile, commercial products based on advancements in nanoscale technologies began emerging. These products were limited to bulk applications of nanomaterials and did not involve atomic control of matter. Some examples include the Silver Nano platform for using silver nanoparticles as an antibacterial agent, nanoparticle -based sunscreens, carbon fiber strengthening using silica nanoparticles, and carbon nanotubes for stain-resistant textiles. Governments moved to promote and fund research into nanotechnology, such as American

1105-610: A range of R&D facilities. 2014 additions included the NRL Nanoscience Institute's 5,000 sq ft (460 m ) Class 100 nanofabrication cleanroom; quiet and ultra-quiet measurement labs; and the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR). The Naval Research Laboratory has a long history of spacecraft development. This includes the second, fifth and seventh American satellites in Earth orbit,

1190-588: A small squadron of research aircraft termed Scientific Development Squadron (VXS) 1 . Its missions include, for example, Rampant Lion, which used sophisticated airborne instrumentation (gravimeters, magnetometers and hyperspectral cameras) to collect precise 3D topography of two-thirds of Afghanistan and locate natural resources (underground gas and mineral deposits, vegetation types, etc.) there and in Iraq and Colombia. The Division of Plasma Physics conducts research and development into ionized matter. NRL currently holds

1275-607: A special waveguide receiver and a 150 ft (46 m) dish (largest telescope on site). The site was part of the ECHELON communications network operated by the United States and its allies to intercept and process electronic telecommunications. The network operates many sites around the world including Waihopai Valley in New Zealand , Menwith Hill in the United Kingdom and Yakima, Washington . Sugar Grove

1360-983: A surface with scanning probe microscopy techniques. Various techniques of lithography, such as optical lithography , X-ray lithography , dip pen lithography, electron beam lithography or nanoimprint lithography offer top-down fabrication techniques where a bulk material is reduced to a nano-scale pattern. Another group of nano-technological techniques include those used for fabrication of nanotubes and nanowires , those used in semiconductor fabrication such as deep ultraviolet lithography, electron beam lithography, focused ion beam machining, nanoimprint lithography, atomic layer deposition , and molecular vapor deposition , and further including molecular self-assembly techniques such as those employing di-block copolymers . In contrast, bottom-up techniques build or grow larger structures atom by atom or molecule by molecule. These techniques include chemical synthesis, self-assembly and positional assembly. Dual-polarization interferometry

1445-401: A useful conformation through a bottom-up approach. The concept of molecular recognition is important: molecules can be designed so that a specific configuration or arrangement is favored due to non-covalent intermolecular forces . The Watson–Crick basepairing rules are a direct result of this, as is the specificity of an enzyme targeting a single substrate , or the specific folding of

1530-696: A wide variety of basic research and applied research relevant to the US Navy. NRL scientists and engineers author over 1200 openly published research papers in a wide range of conferences, symposia, and journals each year. It has a history of scientific breakthroughs and technological achievements dating back to its foundation in 1923. In some instances the laboratory's contributions to military technology have been declassified decades after those technologies have become widely adopted. In 2011, NRL researchers published 1,398 unclassified scientific and technical articles, book chapters and conference proceedings. In 2008,

1615-463: A wide variety of useful chemicals such as pharmaceuticals or commercial polymers . This ability raises the question of extending this kind of control to the next-larger level, seeking methods to assemble single molecules into supramolecular assemblies consisting of many molecules arranged in a well-defined manner. These approaches utilize the concepts of molecular self-assembly and/or supramolecular chemistry to automatically arrange themselves into

1700-530: A winning bid of $ 11.2   million. The transaction later failed and bidding was reopened that September. In 2017, the second auction resulted in a $ 4   million purchase by an Alabama-based investment group with plans to convert the base into a healthcare facility for active-duty military, veterans, and their families. 38°30′54″N 79°16′48″W  /  38.515°N 79.280°W  / 38.515; -79.280 Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory ( NRL )

1785-682: Is also involved in weather forecasting models such as the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting model released in 2007. NRL has a long history of contributions to materials science, dating back to the use of Industrial radiography with gamma rays for the nondestructive inspection of metal casings and welds on Navy vessels beginning in the 1920s. Modern mechanical fracture mechanics were pioneered at NRL and were subsequently applied to solve fracture problems in Navy vessels, commercial aircraft and Polaris missiles. That knowledge

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1870-518: Is also used for high-efficiency solar cells like those aboard NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers currently on Mars. NRL discovered solar-wind hydrogen in Apollo lunar soil samples provided by a NASA-funded research mission. Fundamental aspects of stealth technology were developed at NRL, including the radar absorption mechanisms in ferrite-containing materials. Metal bearing surface treatments using Cr ion implantation researched at NRL nearly tripled

1955-795: Is common to see the plural form "nanotechnologies" as well as "nanoscale technologies" to refer to research and applications whose common trait is scale. An earlier understanding of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal of precisely manipulating atoms and molecules for fabricating macroscale products, now referred to as molecular nanotechnology . Nanotechnology defined by scale includes fields of science such as surface science , organic chemistry , molecular biology , semiconductor physics , energy storage , engineering , microfabrication , and molecular engineering . The associated research and applications range from extensions of conventional device physics to molecular self-assembly , from developing new materials with dimensions on

2040-1059: Is controlled via changing voltage: a nanotube nanomotor , a molecular actuator, and a nanoelectromechanical relaxation oscillator. Ho and Lee at Cornell University in 1999 used a scanning tunneling microscope to move an individual carbon monoxide molecule (CO) to an individual iron atom (Fe) sitting on a flat silver crystal and chemically bound the CO to the Fe by applying a voltage. Many areas of science develop or study materials having unique properties arising from their nanoscale dimensions. The bottom-up approach seeks to arrange smaller components into more complex assemblies. These seek to create smaller devices by using larger ones to direct their assembly. Functional approaches seek to develop useful components without regard to how they might be assembled. These subfields seek to anticipate what inventions nanotechnology might yield, or attempt to propose an agenda along which inquiry could progress. These often take

2125-593: Is equivalent to GS-11 Step 1 through GS-13 Step 10. NRL's Pay Band IV corresponds to the GS-14 Step 1 to GS-15 Step 10 pay grades, inclusive, while NRL's Pay Band V can pay above GS-15 Step 10 and corresponds to the Senior Technologist (ST) pay grade elsewhere in the civil service. For new graduates, someone with a Bachelor of Science degree typically is hired at a salary in the GS-7 range; someone with

2210-935: Is in Washington, D.C., near the southernmost part of the District. It is on the Potomac River and is immediately south of (but is not part of) Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling . This campus is immediately north of the Blue Plains site of the DC Water Authority. Exit 1 of northbound I-295 leads directly to Overlook Avenue and the NRL Main Gate. The U.S. Postal Service operates a post office on the NRL main campus. In addition, NRL operates several field sites and satellite facilities: Artifacts found on

2295-565: Is in widespread use today in applications ranging from design of nuclear reactors to aircraft, submarines and toxic material storage tanks. NRL developed the synthesis of high-purity GaAs crystals used in a myriad of modern high frequency transceivers including cellular phones, satellite communication systems, commercial and military radar systems including those aboard all US combat aircraft and ARM, Phoenix, AIM-9L and AMRAAM missiles. NRL's GaAs inventions were licensed by Rockwell, Westinghouse, Texas Instruments and Hughes Research. High-purity GaAs

2380-761: Is located in the National Radio Quiet Zone covering 13,000 square miles (34,000 km) in West Virginia and Virginia . The zone was established by Congress in 1958 to facilitate its mission and that of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory located 30 miles (48 km) away at Green Bank in Pocahontas County , West Virginia . On July 26, 2016, it was reported that the online auction for Sugar Grove Naval Station concluded on July 25 with

2465-434: Is one tool suitable for characterization of self-assembled thin films. Another variation of the bottom-up approach is molecular-beam epitaxy or MBE. Researchers at Bell Telephone Laboratories including John R. Arthur . Alfred Y. Cho , and Art C. Gossard developed and implemented MBE as a research tool in the late 1960s and 1970s. Samples made by MBE were key to the discovery of the fractional quantum Hall effect for which

2550-435: Is responsible for research and development in support of the Navy's tactical electronic warfare requirements and missions. These include electronic warfare support measures, electronic countermeasures, and supporting counter-countermeasures, as well as studies, analyses, and simulations for determining and improving the performance of Electronic Warfare systems. NRL TEW includes aerial, surface, and ground EW within its scope. NRL

2635-489: Is responsible for the identification, friend or foe (IFF) system and a number of other advances. The Information Technology Division features an information security R&D group, which is where the IETF's IP Security ( IPsec ) protocols were originally developed. The Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) protocol developed at NRL is widely used for virtual private network (VPN) connections worldwide. The projects developed by

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2720-663: Is still a slow process because of low velocity of the microscope. The top-down approach anticipates nanodevices that must be built piece by piece in stages, much as manufactured items are made. Scanning probe microscopy is an important technique both for characterization and synthesis. Atomic force microscopes and scanning tunneling microscopes can be used to look at surfaces and to move atoms around. By designing different tips for these microscopes, they can be used for carving out structures on surfaces and to help guide self-assembling structures. By using, for example, feature-oriented scanning approach, atoms or molecules can be moved around on

2805-510: Is still in use today. The Naval Research Laboratory came into existence from an idea that originated from Thomas Edison . In a May 1915 editorial piece in the New York Times Magazine , Edison wrote; "The Government should maintain a great research laboratory... In this could be developed...all the technique of military and naval progression without any vast expense." This statement addressed concerns about World War I in

2890-602: Is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps . It was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, applied research, technological development and prototyping. The laboratory's specialties include plasma physics , space physics , materials science , and tactical electronic warfare . NRL is one of the first US government scientific R&D laboratories, having opened in 1923 at

2975-403: Is the science and engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale. In its original sense, nanotechnology refers to the projected ability to construct items from the bottom up making complete, high-performance products. One nanometer (nm) is one billionth, or 10 , of a meter. By comparison, typical carbon–carbon bond lengths , or the spacing between these atoms in a molecule , are in

3060-546: The 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded. MBE lays down atomically precise layers of atoms and, in the process, build up complex structures. Important for research on semiconductors, MBE is also widely used to make samples and devices for the newly emerging field of spintronics . Therapeutic products based on responsive nanomaterials , such as the highly deformable, stress-sensitive Transfersome vesicles, are approved for human use in some countries. As of August 21, 2008,

3145-595: The NP pay system, 103 civilian technicians in the NR pay system, 383 civilian administrative specialists/professionals in the NO pay system, and 238 civilian administrative support staff in the NC pay system. NRL scientists & engineers typically are in the (NP) pay group in NRL's Pay Band system. The NP-II pay band is equivalent to GS-5 Step 1 through GS-10 Step 10. The NP-III pay band

3230-691: The National Nanotechnology Initiative , which formalized a size-based definition of nanotechnology and established research funding, and in Europe via the European Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development . By the mid-2000s scientific attention began to flourish. Nanotechnology roadmaps centered on atomically precise manipulation of matter and discussed existing and projected capabilities, goals, and applications. Nanotechnology

3315-655: The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies estimated that over 800 manufacturer-identified nanotech products were publicly available, with new ones hitting the market at a pace of 3–4 per week. Most applications are "first generation" passive nanomaterials that includes titanium dioxide in sunscreen, cosmetics, surface coatings, and some food products; Carbon allotropes used to produce gecko tape ; silver in food packaging , clothing, disinfectants, and household appliances; zinc oxide in sunscreens and cosmetics, surface coatings, paints and outdoor furniture varnishes; and cerium oxide as

3400-579: The Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) are two versions of scanning probes that are used for nano-scale observation. Other types of scanning probe microscopy have much higher resolution, since they are not limited by the wavelengths of sound or light. The tip of a scanning probe can also be used to manipulate nanostructures (positional assembly). Feature-oriented scanning may be a promising way to implement these nano-scale manipulations via an automatic algorithm . However, this

3485-521: The Technion in order to increase youth interest in nanotechnology. One concern is the effect that industrial-scale manufacturing and use of nanomaterials will have on human health and the environment, as suggested by nanotoxicology research. For these reasons, some groups advocate that nanotechnology be regulated. However, regulation might stifle scientific research and the development of beneficial innovations. Public health research agencies, such as

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3570-788: The " quantum size effect" in which the electronic properties of solids alter along with reductions in particle size. Such effects do not apply at macro or micro dimensions. However, quantum effects can become significant when nanometer scales. Additionally, physical (mechanical, electrical, optical, etc.) properties change versus macroscopic systems. One example is the increase in surface area to volume ratio altering mechanical, thermal, and catalytic properties of materials. Diffusion and reactions can be different as well. Systems with fast ion transport are referred to as nanoionics. The mechanical properties of nanosystems are of interest in research. Modern synthetic chemistry can prepare small molecules of almost any structure. These methods are used to manufacture

3655-421: The "top-down" approach, nano-objects are constructed from larger entities without atomic-level control. Areas of physics such as nanoelectronics , nanomechanics , nanophotonics and nanoionics have evolved to provide nanotechnology's scientific foundation. Several phenomena become pronounced as system size. These include statistical mechanical effects, as well as quantum mechanical effects, for example,

3740-471: The 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry . C 60 was not initially described as nanotechnology; the term was used regarding subsequent work with related carbon nanotubes (sometimes called graphene tubes or Bucky tubes) which suggested potential applications for nanoscale electronics and devices. The discovery of carbon nanotubes is largely attributed to Sumio Iijima of NEC in 1991, for which Iijima won

3825-518: The Manhattan Project and guided the design of Oak Ridge National Laboratory 's Uranium enrichment plant. NRL is currently developing laser focusing techniques aimed at inertial confinement fusion technology. The static discharger seen on trailing edges of virtually all modern aircraft was originally developed by NRL scientists during World War II. After the war, the laboratory developed modern synthetic lubricants initially for use in

3910-533: The NRL campus, such as stone tools and ceramic shards, show that the site had been inhabited since the Late Archaic Period . Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore , granted the tract of land which includes the present NRL campus to William Middleton in 1663. It became part of the District of Columbia in 1791, and was purchased by Thomas Grafton Addison in 1795, who named the area Bellevue and built

3995-482: The NRL jumped from 396 in 1941 to 4400 in 1946, expenditures from $ 1.7 million to $ 13.7 million, the number of buildings from 23 to 67, and the number of projects from 200 to about 900. During World War II, scientific activities necessarily were concentrated almost entirely on applied research. Advances were made in radio , radar , and sonar . Countermeasures were devised. New lubricants were produced, as were antifouling paints, luminous identification tapes, and

4080-1103: The NRL was ranked No. 3 among all U.S. institutions holding nanotechnology -related patents, behind IBM and the University of California . Current areas of research at NRL include, for example: In 2014, the NRL was researching: armor for munitions in transport, high-powered lasers, remote explosives detection, spintronics, the dynamics of explosive gas mixtures, electromagnetic railgun technology, detection of hidden nuclear materials, graphene devices, high-power extremely high frequency (35–220 GHz) amplifiers, acoustic lensing, information-rich orbital coastline mapping, arctic weather forecasting, global aerosol analysis & prediction, high-density plasmas, millisecond pulsars , broadband laser data links, virtual mission operation centers, battery technology, photonic crystals, carbon nanotube electronics, electronic sensors, mechanical nano-resonators, solid-state chemical sensors, organic opto-electronics, neural-electronic interfaces and self-assembling nanostructures. The laboratory includes

4165-930: The Nanoscience Institute while still performing research for their respective divisions. Opened March 2012, the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR) is a 50,000 square foot facility that supports basic and applied research in autonomous systems. The facility supports a wide range of interdisciplinary basic and applied research in autonomous systems to include research in autonomous systems, intelligent autonomy, human-autonomous system interaction and collaboration, sensor systems, power and energy systems, networking and communications, and platforms. LASR provides unique facilities and simulated environmental high bays (littoral, desert, tropical, and forest) and instrumented reconfigurable high bay spaces to support integration of science and technology components into research prototype systems. The main campus of NRL

4250-478: The Navy's jet aircraft but subsequently adopted by the commercial jet industry. In the late 1960s, NRL researched low-temperature physics, achieving for the first time a temperature within one millionth of a degree of absolute zero in 1967. In 1985 two scientists at the laboratory, Herbert A. Hauptman and Jerome Karle , won the Nobel Prize for devising direct methods employing X-ray diffraction analysis in

4335-783: The Strontium Iodide Radiation Instrumentation (SIRI) and RAM Angle and Magnetic field sensor (RAMS) aboard STPSat-5, the Wide-field Imager for Solar PRobe (WISPR) aboard the Parker Solar Probe , and the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment (LASCO) aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST) [formerly called Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST)]

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4420-494: The United States. Edison then agreed to serve as the head of the Naval Consulting Board that consisted of civilians who had achieved expertise. The focus of the Naval Consulting Board was as advisor to the U.S. Navy pertaining to science and technology. The board brought forward a plan to create a modern facility for the Navy. In 1916 Congress allocated $ 1.5 million for implementation. However, construction

4505-482: The ability to make existing medical applications cheaper and easier to use in places like the doctors' offices and at homes. Cars use nanomaterials in such ways that car parts require fewer metals during manufacturing and less fuel to operate in the future. Nanoencapsulation involves the enclosure of active substances within carriers. Typically, these carriers offer advantages, such as enhanced bioavailability, controlled release, targeted delivery, and protection of

4590-780: The atomic scale requires positioning atoms on other atoms of comparable size and stickiness. Carlo Montemagno 's view is that future nanosystems will be hybrids of silicon technology and biological molecular machines. Richard Smalley argued that mechanosynthesis was impossible due to difficulties in mechanically manipulating individual molecules. This led to an exchange of letters in the ACS publication Chemical & Engineering News in 2003. Though biology clearly demonstrates that molecular machines are possible, non-biological molecular machines remained in their infancy. Alex Zettl and colleagues at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories and UC Berkeley constructed at least three molecular devices whose motion

4675-411: The determination of crystal structures. Their methods form the basis for the computer packages used in pharmaceutical labs and research institutions worldwide for the analysis of more than 10,000 new substances each year. NRL has most recently published research on quantum computing, quantum dots, plasma shockwaves, thermodynamics of liquids, modeling of oil spills and other topics. NRL operates

4760-641: The encapsulated substances. In the medical field, nanoencapsulation plays a significant role in drug delivery . It facilitates more efficient drug administration, reduces side effects, and increases treatment effectiveness. Nanoencapsulation is particularly useful for improving the bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs, enabling controlled and sustained drug release, and supporting the development of targeted therapies. These features collectively contribute to advancements in medical treatments and patient care. Nanotechnology may play role in tissue engineering . When designing scaffolds, researchers attempt to mimic

4845-447: The first practical radar equipment built in the United States. They performed basic research, participating in the discovery and early exploration of the ionosphere . The NRL gradually worked towards its goal of becoming a broadly based research facility. By the beginning of World War II , five new divisions had been added: Physical Optics, Chemistry, Metallurgy, Mechanics and Electricity, and Internal Communications. Total employment at

4930-439: The first solar-powered satellite, the first surveillance satellite, the first meteorological satellite and the first GPS satellite. Project Vanguard , the first American satellite program, tasked NRL with the design, construction and launch of an artificial satellite, which was accomplished in 1958. As of 2024 , Vanguard I and its upper launch stage are still in orbit, making them the longest-lived man-made satellites. Vanguard II

5015-465: The full range of the physical sciences. Nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale , surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing properties of matter. This definition of nanotechnology includes all types of research and technologies that deal with these special properties. It

5100-610: The inaugural 2008 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience. In the early 2000s, the field garnered increased scientific, political, and commercial attention that led to both controversy and progress. Controversies emerged regarding the definitions and potential implications of nanotechnologies, exemplified by the Royal Society 's report on nanotechnology. Challenges were raised regarding the feasibility of applications envisioned by advocates of molecular nanotechnology, which culminated in

5185-577: The instigation of Thomas Edison , and is currently under the Office of Naval Research . As of 2016, NRL was a Navy Working Capital Fund activity, which means it is not a line-item in the US Federal Budget. Instead of direct funding from Congress, all costs, including overhead, were recovered through sponsor-funded research projects. NRL's research expenditures were approximately $ 1 billion per year. The Naval Research Laboratory conducts

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5270-436: The laboratory often become mainstream applications without public awareness of the developer; an example in computer science is onion routing , the core principle of the anonymizing Tor software. Nuclear power research was initiated at NRL as early as 1939, six years before the first atomic bomb, for the purpose of powering submarines. Uranium enrichment methods sponsored by NRL over the course of World War II were adopted by

5355-917: The laboratory was divided into four research directorates, one financial directorate, and one executive directorate. All the directorates are headquartered in Washington, D.C. Many directorates have other facilities elsewhere, primarily at either the Stennis Space Center in Bay St Louis, Mississippi or in Monterey, California. Most NRL staff are civilians in the civil service , with a relatively small number of Navy enlisted personnel or officers. Virtually all NRL staff are US citizens and are not dual-nationals. In addition, there are some support contractors that work on-site at NRL. As of 31 December 2015, across all NRL locations, NRL had 2540 civilian employees (i.e., not including civilian contractors). On

5440-443: The molecular scale. Molecular nanotechnology is especially associated with molecular assemblers , machines that can produce a desired structure or device atom-by-atom using the principles of mechanosynthesis . Manufacturing in the context of productive nanosystems is not related to conventional technologies used to manufacture nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes and nanoparticles. When Drexler independently coined and popularized

5525-405: The nanoscale features of a cell 's microenvironment to direct its differentiation down a suitable lineage. For example, when creating scaffolds to support bone growth, researchers may mimic osteoclast resorption pits. Researchers used DNA origami -based nanobots capable of carrying out logic functions to target drug delivery in cockroaches. A nano bible (a .5mm2 silicon chip) was created by

5610-501: The nanoscale to direct control of matter on the atomic scale . Nanotechnology may be able to create new materials and devices with diverse applications , such as in nanomedicine , nanoelectronics , biomaterials energy production, and consumer products. However, nanotechnology raises issues, including concerns about the toxicity and environmental impact of nanomaterials, and their potential effects on global economics, as well as various doomsday scenarios . These concerns have led to

5695-512: The postwar era determined to consolidate its wartime gains in science and technology and to preserve the working relationship between its armed forces and the scientific community. While the Navy was establishing the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in 1946 as a liaison with and supporter of basic and applied scientific research, the Navy encouraged NRL to broaden its scope since it was the Navy Department's corporate research laboratory. NRL

5780-516: The range 0.12–0.15 nm , and DNA 's diameter is around 2 nm. On the other hand, the smallest cellular life forms, the bacteria of the genus Mycoplasma , are around 200 nm in length. By convention, nanotechnology is taken as the scale range 1 to 100 nm , following the definition used by the American National Nanotechnology Initiative . The lower limit is set by the size of atoms (hydrogen has

5865-791: The same date, there were 35 military officers on-board NRL and 58 enlisted on-board NRL, most of whom are with NRL's VXS-1 Scientific Flight Detachment, which is located at the Patuxent River ('Pax River') Naval Air Station (NAS) in southern Maryland. NRL has special authority to use a Pay-Band pay system instead of using the traditional General Schedule (GS) pay system for its civilian employees. This gives NRL more ability to pay employees based on performance and merit, rather than time-in-grade or some other seniority metric. There are several different pay-band groups at NRL, each being for different categories of civilian employees. As of 31 December 2015, NRL had 1615 civilian scientists/engineers in

5950-692: The service life of Navy turbine engine parts and was adopted for Army helicopter parts as well. Fluorinated polyurethane coatings developed at NRL are used to line fuel storage tanks throughout the US Navy, reducing leakage and environmental and fuel contamination. The same polymer films are used in Los Angeles-class submarine radomes to repel water and enable radar operation soon after surfacing. Scientists at NRL frequently contribute theoretical and experimental research on novel materials, particularly magnetic materials and nanomaterials and thermoplastic . The first modern U.S. radar

6035-407: The smallest atoms, which have an approximately ,25 nm kinetic diameter ). The upper limit is more or less arbitrary, but is around the size below which phenomena not observed in larger structures start to become apparent and can be made use of. These phenomena make nanotechnology distinct from devices that are merely miniaturized versions of an equivalent macroscopic device; such devices are on

6120-697: The success of surveillance satellites, the iconic parabolic antenna atop NRL's main headquarters in Washington, D.C. was part of Communication Moon Relay , a project that utilized signals bounced off the Moon both for long-distance communications research and surveillance of internal Soviet transmissions during the Cold War . NRL's spacecraft development program continues today with the TacSat-4 experimental tactical reconnaissance and communication satellite. In addition to spacecraft design, NRL designs and operates spaceborne research instruments and experiments, such as

6205-399: The summer. Bandages are infused with silver nanoparticles to heal cuts faster. Video game consoles and personal computers may become cheaper, faster, and contain more memory thanks to nanotechnology. Also, to build structures for on chip computing with light, for example on chip optical quantum information processing, and picosecond transmission of information. Nanotechnology may have

6290-487: The term "nanotechnology", he envisioned manufacturing technology based on molecular machine systems. The premise was that molecular-scale biological analogies of traditional machine components demonstrated molecular machines were possible: biology was full of examples of sophisticated, stochastically optimized biological machines . Drexler and other researchers have proposed that advanced nanotechnology ultimately could be based on mechanical engineering principles, namely,

6375-665: The world record for most energetic rail gun projectile (33 MJ, 9.2 kWh) and fastest man-made projectile (2.24 million mph, 3.60 million km/h). NRL established the Navy Center for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence in 1981, which conducts basic and applied research in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, autonomy, and human-centered computing. Among its achievements are advances in cognitive architectures , human-robot interaction , and machine learning . As of 2017,

6460-403: Was activated on May 10, 1969, and two Wullenweber AN/FRD-10 Circulary Disposed Antenna Arrays (CDAAs) were completed on November 8, 1969. Numerous other antennas, dishes, domes, and other facilities were constructed in the following years. Some of the more significant radio telescopes on site are a 60 ft (18 m) dish (oldest telescope on site), a 105 ft (32 m) dish featuring

6545-546: Was delayed until 1920 because of the war and internal disagreements within the board. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, the first modern research institution created within the United States Navy, began operations at 1100 on 2 July 1923. The Laboratory's two original divisions – Radio and Sound – performed research in the fields of high-frequency radio and underwater sound propagation. They produced communications equipment, direction-finding devices, sonar sets, and

6630-530: Was designed and constructed at NRL. NRL pioneered the study of the sun Ultraviolet and X-Ray spectrum and continues to contribute to the field with satellites like Coriolis launched in 2003. NRL is also responsible for the Tactical Satellite Program with spacecraft launched in 2006, 2009 and 2011. The NRL designed the first satellite tracking system, Minitrack , which became the prototype for future satellite tracking networks. Prior to

6715-622: Was invented and developed at NRL in Washington, DC in 1922. By 1939, NRL installed the first operational radar aboard the USS New York, in time for radar to contribute to naval victories of the Coral Sea , Midway and Guadalcanal . NRL then further developed over-the-horizon radar as well as radar data displays. NRL's Radar Division continues important research & development contributing to US Navy and US Department of Defense capabilities. NRL's Tactical Electronic Warfare (TEW) Division

6800-530: Was not widely known. Inspired by Feynman's concepts, K. Eric Drexler used the term "nanotechnology" in his 1986 book Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology , which proposed the idea of a nanoscale "assembler" that would be able to build a copy of itself and of other items of arbitrary complexity with atom-level control. Also in 1986, Drexler co-founded The Foresight Institute to increase public awareness and understanding of nanotechnology concepts and implications. The emergence of nanotechnology as

6885-528: Was placed under the administrative oversight of ONR after ONR was created. NRL's Commanding Officer reports to the Navy's Chief of Naval Research (CNR) . The Chief of Naval Research leads the Office of Naval Research, which primarily is located in the Ballston area of Arlington, Virginia. The reorganization also caused a parallel shift of the Laboratory's emphasis to one of long-range basic and applied research in

6970-433: Was successfully used to manipulate individual atoms in 1989. The microscope's developers Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer at IBM Zurich Research Laboratory received a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986. Binnig, Quate and Gerber also invented the analogous atomic force microscope that year. Second, fullerenes (buckyballs) were discovered in 1985 by Harry Kroto , Richard Smalley , and Robert Curl , who together won

7055-632: Was tested at NRL spacecraft testing facilities. NRL scientists have most recently contributed leading research to the study of novas and gamma ray bursts. The Marine Meteorology Division (Naval Research Lab–Monterey, NRL–MRY), located in Monterey, California , contributes to weather forecasting in the United States and around the world by publishing imagery from 18 weather satellites. Satellite images of severe weather (e.g. hurricanes and cyclones) that are used for advanced warning often originate from NRL–MRY, as seen in 2017 during Hurricane Harvey . NRL

7140-423: Was the first satellite to observe the Earth's cloud cover and therefore the first meteorological satellite. NRL's Galactic Radiation and Background I (GRAB I) was the first U.S. intelligence satellite , mapping out Soviet radar networks from space. The Global Positioning System (GPS) was invented at NRL and tested by NRL's Timation series of satellites. The first operational GPS satellite, Timation IV (NTS-II)

7225-527: Was voted #15 in the Best Places to Work PostDocs 2013 survey. The four research directorates within NRL were: The two support directorates were: In April 2001, in a departure from traditional working relationships between NRL scientists, the Institute for Nanoscience was established to conduct multidisciplinary research in the fields of materials, electronics and biology. Scientists may be part of

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