Technical Briefs, Design Engineering News

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INSIDER: Motion Control

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 made...

Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control

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.

Question of the Week: Aerospace

Will Electric Aircraft Take-Off in Everyday Aviation?

In May of 2020, the “eCaravan” aircraft, powered by a 750-horsepower electric motor and more than 2000 pounds of lithium-ion batteries, flew to a height of over 2500 feet, at over 100 miles per hour. The all-electric airplane was built by magniX, Seattle-based electric propulsion firm A...

Blog: Aerospace

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.

Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control

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.

Blog: Motion Control

Robotic Gripper Gets a Handle on a Challenging Object: Cables

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

Blog: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

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.

Question of the Week: Robotics, Automation & Control

Will ‘Roboats’ Catch On?

Our July issue of Tech Briefs highlighted a fleet of “roboats” that could someday transport people, collect trash, and self-assemble into floating structures. The Roboat autonomous robotic boats — rectangular hulls equipped with sensors, thrusters, microcontrollers, GPS modules, cameras, and other hardware —...

Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control

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.

INSIDER: Test & Measurement

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 hundreds...

INSIDER Product: Imaging

New Products

Ultraviolet-Enhanced Circular Photodetector Opto Diode Corporation (Camarillo, CA) has introduced the UVG5S, an ultraviolet-enhanced photodiode with a 5 mm² circular active area. The new device is suitable for detection between...

INSIDER: Communications

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...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

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...

Question of the Week: Aerospace

Will Morphing Wings Take Off?

Our lead INSIDER story today showcased a morphing MADCAT aircraft wing. “From a first glance, it literally doesn’t look like anything that anyone’s ever seen before,” said MIT researcher Ben Jennet in our Here's an Idea episode. How about you? Will Morphing Wings Take Off?

Blog: Aerospace

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?

Podcasts: Manufacturing & Prototyping

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.

Question of the Week: Imaging

Can Camera Systems Replace the Wall-Mounted Thermostat?

Our lead INSIDER story today showcased an autonomous 'HEAT' camera system that uses facial temperatures to determine a room's optimum temperature. What do you think? Can Camera Systems Replace the Wall-Mounted Thermostat? Share your questions and comments.

Blog: Aerospace

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?

Blog: Photonics/Optics

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?"

Special Reports: Propulsion

Vehicle Electrification - July 2020

The global transition to electric vehicles presents new design, manufacturing, and infrastructure challenges. To help you keep pace with the rapid changes in vehicle electrification technology, we present...

Special Reports: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Exploring Mars - July 2020

As NASA prepares this week to launch its latest robotic rover to the Red Planet, we are excited to present this commemorative publication chronicling – through historic images and video – six decades of Mars...