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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center scientists have invented a novel valve actuator where the primary actuating system and return spring system are arranged non-collinearly. In the past, valve actuators...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Novel Vent Design Features Variable Flow Control and Rain Protection
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center scientists have designed a vent that can be useful for purging closed compartments, while preventing backflow and foreign object entry. The technology uses a system of configurable devices to provide variable flow control and prevent water,...
Briefs: Aerospace
Three-Dimensional Radiation Ray-Tracing for Hypersonic Entry Vehicles
Shock layer radiation is a form of aerodynamic heating that becomes significant at some entry velocities, depending on the vehicle trajectory and the planet’s atmosphere. Radiation heating is commonly computed with an appropriate method known as the tangent slab approximate in...
Briefs: Aerospace
NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed aircraft flap tip modifications that reduce noise produced during approach and landing. The modifications are rigid open lattice (honeycomblike) and fin structures...
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Briefs: Aerospace
Separation Assurance Framework for ACES Simulation
National Airspace (NAS)-wide simulations provide modeling to emulate tens of thousands of flights for full days of traffic in the U.S. They allow system-level research to be conducted for the simulated airspace, and are currently being used by NASA, FAA, and industry to study interactions, costs,...
Articles: Energy
The Create the Future Design Contest has helped stimulate and reward engineering innovation over the past 16 years, drawing more than 14,000 product designs from engineers, students, and...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
An orifice element is commonly used in liquid rocket engine test facilities either as a flow metering device, a damper for acoustic resonance, or to provide a large reduction in pressure over a very...
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Articles: Electronics & Computers
This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow. To learn more about each technology, see the contact information provided for that innovation.
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed a new technology for measuring the junction temperature of laser diode arrays (LDAs) that can...
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Articles: Software
As new concepts need to be investigated, and a wide range of operating conditions has to be considered, the design of new products and processes must push the limits of...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Apparatus and Method to Test Abrasion Resistance of Material Using Airborne Particulate
Prior art techniques for testing abrasion resistance, such as the Taber test and the Bayer test, typically use a rubbing or scratching mechanism to test materials for abrasion resistance; specifically, either an abrasive material is rubbed across the test sample...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Electrochemically Enhanced Mechanical Polishing of Optics
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center astrophysicists are developing better instruments to measure high-energy X-rays zipping about space when viewed from above the Earth’s atmosphere. Scientists at MSFC adapted a novel method for material removal and super-polishing to the mandrel...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Particulate matter (PM) exposure and health effects have become top U.S. environmental research agenda items over the past decade. Environmental epidemiological studies rely on information from both...
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Briefs: Materials
NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed a deployable and stowable mechanical design for filling the cavity behind the leading-edge slat (i.e., slat cove) when it is extended upon landing an aircraft....
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Friction Pull Plug Welding (FPPW) is the process necessary to plug the hole that is left behind as a friction stir weld (FSW) joint is completed and the pin tool of the welder retracts from the...
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Facility Focus: Imaging
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, WA, has been operated by Battelle and its predecessors since the lab’s inception in 1965. For more than 50...
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NASA Spinoff: RF & Microwave Electronics
Spinoff is NASA’s annual publication featuring successfully commercialized NASA technology. This commercialization has contributed to the development of products and services in the...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Personal Air Sampler for Collecting Airborne Aerosol Particulates for Molecular Analysis by Size
Air sampling is used to collect samples of airborne particles present in an environment. Analyses of the air samples can provide information concerning potential exposure to harmful respirable agents. Bioaerosol sampling can be used to identify...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Wallops Arc-Second Pointer (WASP)
The Wallops Arc Second Pointer (WASP) is a balloon-borne attitude control system capable of pointing a telescope or instrument with accuracy and stability down to the arc second, or 1/3600 of a degree of angular measurement. When a high-powered telescope is integrated with WASP, it provides a highly precise...
Briefs: Aerospace
Orion Guidance, Navigation, and Control Flight Software
The Orion Spacecraft is NASA’s vehicle for manned exploration outside of low Earth orbit. At the center of the Guidance, Navigation & Control (GN&C) subsystem is the GN&C Flight Software (FSW) that executes on the Vehicle Management Computers (VMCs). This software receives inputs...
INSIDER: Motion Control
Researchers from Florida State University developed a class of motion sensors made using buckypaper. The new technology is versatile, and the sensors are affordable to print.
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INSIDER: Motion Control
Scientists at the University of Exeter have discovered a technique to transform ambient heat into motion in nanoscale devices. This thermal ratchet is made from a material known as “artificial spin...
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Question of the Week
Can Senior Execs Make or Break a Cybersecurity Program?
Our second INSIDER story, a response from infosec expert Michael Morgan, highlighted the importance of "C-Suite" support when implementing a cybersecurity program.
INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Using a commercial printer and some silver ink, researchers from Florida State University have found a novel way of producing motion sensors en masse. The low-profile...
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Sound-Off: Sensors/Data Acquisition
In a live presentation last week, Michael G. Morgan revealed what distinguishes a good cybersecurity program from a bad one: support from the top.
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Blog: Software
Simulation allows NASA researchers to better understand and predict the changes that contribute to aircraft noise.
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INSIDER Product: Imaging
Laser Confocal Scanning Microscope The new Olympus (Waltham, MA) LEXT® OLS5000 3D laser confocal scanning microscope delivers precise imaging in a fast, easy-to-use system for research and development and quality control...
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INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
Physicists at the University of California, Riverside have developed a photodetector by combining two distinct inorganic materials and producing quantum mechanical...
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