Stories

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Briefs: Software
Innovators at NASA’s Glenn Research Center have developed a new means of avoiding and mitigating icing events for aircraft flying above 14,000 feet, dramatically improving aviation safety...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
There is a need for high-volume material testing/qualification but industry and researchers are currently limited by commercially available testing devices. Most wear testers can only handle one sample...
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Articles: Electronics & Computers
Just 54 years ago, the first photograph of Mars from a passing spacecraft appeared to show a hazy atmosphere. Now, decades of exploration on the planet itself has shown it to be a world...
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NASA Spinoff: Aerospace
Spinoff is NASA’s annual publication featuring successfully commercialized NASA technology. This commercialization has contributed to the development of products and...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Aircraft currently fly based on coarse estimations of environment and aircraft state. Real-time measurements are traditionally restricted to laboratory environments (e.g. wind tunnel) due to the size and weight...
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Facility Focus: Test & Measurement
On September 1, 1961, NASA requested appropriations for initial land purchases on Merritt Island on Florida’s east coast to support the Apollo Lunar Landing Program. Designers quickly began developing...
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Application Briefs: Test & Measurement
Humidity Measurement Devices for Mars Are Ready for Final Testing
Vaisala Corp. Helsinki, Finlandwww.vaisala.com The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) is delivering pressure and humidity measuring devices based on Vaisala technology for use on NASA’s next robotic mission to Mars — the Mars 2020 rover. The pressure measurement devices were...
Articles: Propulsion
For the first time in a generation, NASA is building a human spacecraft for deep-space missions that will usher in a new era of space exploration. A...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
3D Printing of Flexible Circuits
A process was developed for 3D printing that can be used to produce transparent and mechanically flexible electronic circuits. The electronics consist of a mesh of silver nanowires that can be printed in suspension and embedded in various flexible and transparent plastics (polymers). This technology can enable new...
Articles: Test & Measurement
Before becoming an astronaut candidate in 1996, Mike Massimino was busy earning degrees — an undergraduate degree from Columbia University and four additional degrees from the...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Multistep Self-Assembly for Reconfigurable Materials
Self-assembling synthetic materials come together when tiny, uniform building blocks interact and form a structure; however, nature lets materials like proteins of varying size and shape assemble, allowing for complex architectures that can handle multiple tasks.
Articles: Test & Measurement
On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced before a special joint session of Congress the dramatic and ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before...
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Briefs: Energy
In the polymer composites industry, cure cycles are typically developed from trial-and-error or a more effective processing science approach to reduce the...
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Briefs: Aerospace
There are many different types of 3D printing technologies. The most familiar — inkjet — has been around for some 20 years. But until now, it has been difficult to...
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Briefs: Medical
For the millions of people every year who have or need medical devices implanted, an advancement in 3D printing technology could enable significantly quicker implantation...
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Briefs: Materials
By capping liquids with graphene (an ultrathin sheet of pure carbon), researchers can easily image and analyze liquid interfaces and the surface of nanometer-scale objects...
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Briefs: Materials
Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion (ShAPE™) allows creation of wire, bar, and tubular extrusions that show significant improvement in material properties; for example, magnesium extrusions have...
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Briefs: Materials
Techniques to prevent frost and ice formation on surfaces rely heavily on heating or on liquid chemicals that need to be repeatedly reapplied because they easily wash away. Even advanced...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
New Technique Tests for Viral Infections
Currently, most U.S. medical offices and hospitals use the ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) test to determine whether or not a person has a viral infection. It’s a common test but ELISA’s sensitivity is relatively low, so clinicians need a fairly high number of antibodies in a person’s blood...
Articles: RF & Microwave Electronics
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: Electronics & Computers
Nearly 70 percent of the energy produced in the United States each year is wasted as heat. Much of that heat is less than 100 °C and emanates from things like computers, cars, or...
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Products: Motion Control
Sensor Controller The induSENSOR MSC7401 sensor controller from Micro-Epsilon, Ortenburg, Germany, is used for displacement and distance measurements and is operated with LVDT and LDR measuring gauges and...
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Briefs: Aerospace
NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed a new aircraft design with the engine nacelle over the wing, improving engine ground clearance and freeing landing gear design. While previous...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Microchannels fabricated into a silicon-Pyrex wafer with a diameter of 75 m and total channel length of 40, 60, 80, or 100 mm — characterized by specialized microbeads...
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Articles: Aerospace
The Moon is a treasure chest of science. The lunar samples returned during the Apollo program dramatically changed our view of the solar system, yet they just scratch the surface...
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Articles: Test & Measurement
On July 20, 1969, humans walked on another world for the first time in history. After a landing that included dodging a lunar crater and boulder...
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A robot is being developed that tracks facial movements to perform human tasks. The robot resembles large, squiggly arms holding tiny cameras. Sitting in a rolling office chair across from one of the arms, the robot's...
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Products: Photonics/Optics
Fully Automated Beam Monitoring System Ophir-Spiricon (North Logan, UT) has announced Ophir® BeamWatch® Integrated, a fully automated, non-contact laser measurement system designed to measure critical beam parameters in...
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Articles: Imaging
Traditionally, prism-based cameras are often selected over trilinear cameras when it comes to bulk material scanning, as the inherent line-shift of a trilinear camera can...
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