Self-Latching Piezocomposite Actuator

NASA Langley has developed a self-latching piezocomposite actuator with power-off, set-and-hold capability. If integrated into an aerodynamic control surface or engine inlet, deflections could be...

Watch Live: A Mars 2020 Briefing with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine

Mars 2020 NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and other NASA experts offer a briefing on this week's launch of the Perseverance rover.

Watch: NASA's Mars 2020 Sample Return Briefing

Watch below as NASA experts review how they plan to return samples from the surface of Mars back to Earth.

Watch: NASA's Mars 2020 Mission Engineering and Science Briefing

Watch NASA experts review this week's preparations, as the Perseverance rover launches and begins its journey to Mars.

Answering Your Questions: How Automated is the Mars Rover Landing?

Can NASA "joystick" the landing of the next Mars rover? A Tech Briefs reader asks our NASA expert.

Robotic Gripper Gets a Handle on a Challenging Object: Cables

We plug in our headphones everyday. Now a robot can perform the task.

Answering Your Questions: How Does the Mars Rover Camera Stay Clean?

The Perseverance rover has an almost human-like way of keeping its lenses clean.

Guided by Light, A Mini Robot Catches Particles Underwater

A tiny underwater robot may someday filter out water contaminants by catching them with its tentacles.

Comb on a Chip Could Revolutionize Clocks, Telescopes, Telecommunications

Just as a meter stick with hundreds of tick marks can be used to measure distances with great precision, a device known as a laser frequency comb, with its...

New Products: July 2020 Photonics & Imaging Insider

Ultraviolet-Enhanced Circular Photodetector

Opto Diode Corporation (Camarillo, CA) has introduced the UVG5S, an ultraviolet-enhanced photodiode with a 5 mm² circular active area....

Using Sunlight to Save Satellites from Becoming ‘Space Junk’

Carolin Frueh is among only a handful of researchers who have persisted in using a complex technique that can diagnose a problem from thousands of miles away based on how a...

Transparent Graphene Electrodes Might Lead to New Generation of Solar Cells

A new way of making large sheets of high-quality, atomically thin graphene could lead to ultra-lightweight, flexible solar cells, and to new classes of...

Answering Your (Mars 2020) Questions: Will the Perseverance Rover Carry Around NASA's Mars Helicopter?

The Mars rover Perseverance has a helicopter. Will the rover have to carry it around?

Here's an Idea: A Morphing Airplane Wing Built by Tiny Robots

Ben Jennet is a PhD student at MIT and a former space research fellow at NASA. He is working with NASA to develop a new kind of aircraft wing that's flexible and changes mid-flight.

Even NASA Needs Effective Parts Sourcing

You can design the best product in the world but what if the parts, assemblies, and sub-components for your idea aren’t there?

Answering Your Questions: Will the 2020 Mars Rover Have Back-Up Features?

A reader asks our NASA expert: "What kind of redundancy is built into the Mars 2020 rover?"

High Quality Optical Surfaces

Make sure the polished optic meets the requirement of a particular application.

Optical In-Line VCSEL Testing

In-line testing of certain LEDs, using nanosecond pulses, will become more and more relevant with time-of-flight applications.

ZERODUR: The Highly Technical Glass-Ceramic

Highly technical glass-ceramic delivers optical precision at nanometer scale.

New Products: July 2020 Photonics & Imaging Technology

High-speed cameras, ultra-stable mounts, automated inspection systems, and more...

Understanding Sensitivity in sCMOS Microscopy Cameras

A new iteration of sCMOS camera technology promises even higher sensitivity than prior designs.

Development Software Handles High-Integrity Space Applications

NASA needed help accurately measuring Earth-reflected sunlight.

Facility Focus: National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

NIBIB is committed to integrating the physical and engineering sciences with the life sciences to advance basic research and medical care.

Enhancing Aircraft System Monitoring and Reducing Unscheduled Maintenance

Aircraft may have a huge amount of data available, but this doesn’t mean it’s the right data to troubleshoot a problem.