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Briefs: Software
Educational Software for OctaSat Nanosatellite Training Kit
Nanosatellites are very small satellites that can conduct various space missions using microelectronics, primarily in near-Earth orbits. Aerospace engineering students need to learn about the working principles and control of nanosatellites. However, the cost of an actual nanosatellite...
Briefs: Software
NASA App
The NASA App showcases a huge collection of the latest NASA content in a mobile optimized format, including images, videos on-demand, NASA Television, mission information, news and feature stories, tweets, ISS sighting opportunities, satellite tracking, Third Rock Radio, featured educational content, and much more for iOS and Android...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Program to Categorize and Count Observations Performed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
CreateMEPReport.pl software is designed to read through a description of observations scheduled to be taken by the instruments onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft to categorize the observations, and then present totals for the categories...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Anomaly Detection in Large Sets of High-Dimensional Symbol Sequences (sequenceMiner)
SequenceMiner was developed to address the problem of detecting and describing anomalies in large sets of high-dimensional symbol sequences. sequenceMiner works by performing unsupervised clustering (grouping) of sequences using the normalized longest common...
Briefs: Information Technology
Time-Scaled Activity Diagram Simulator
The Time-Scaled Activity Diagram Simulator software simulates and animates time-tagged events as an overlay on activity and internal block diagrams in MagicDraw as a plugin application. “Events” are quite generic and include atomic actions, compound actions, signal and message exchanges, invocations, and...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
General-Use Nodal Network Solver (GUNNS)
Crewed space vehicle training has always required highfidelity models of vehicle systems. Many of these systems, particularly of the “flow” variety, benefit from modeling the system as a whole, rather than relying only on the interactions between individual components. In general, system properties...
Briefs: Software
Modularized SIR-to-NetCDF Conversion Command-Line Tool
This innovation reads in a proprietary formatted binary data format known as Scatterometer Image Reconstruction (SIR), and converts these data files to netCDF-classic format. This software is provided as a command-line tool for Linux/UNIX-based systems, and includes built-in regression testing...
Briefs: Imaging
Stereoscopic Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence Imaging for Time-Resolved 3D Movies in Hypersonic Flow
Understanding and predicting transition from laminar to turbulent flow in hypersonic boundary layers is an active and important field of research because transitional and turbulent heating can be four or more times higher than laminar heating on...
Briefs: Imaging
Modified-Wolter-Schwarzschild X-ray Telescope
X-ray survey missions require nested grazing incidence telescopes with a large field of view (1° or larger) and moderately high resolution across the field of view. This cannot be accomplished using flat focal plane detectors. The telescopes have excellent on-axis resolution, but unacceptable...
Briefs: Imaging
Machine Vision-Based Pose Estimation System
During on-orbit servicing of non-cooperative satellites, the relative position of the satellite with respect to the servicing vehicle is needed. Non-cooperative satellites do not have devices to assist the pose estimation (such as markers or reflector), so a system that uses the natural features of the...
Briefs: Imaging
Solar Doppler Shift-Based Solar Tracker
This solar tracker integrates a camera with a field of view (FOV) large enough to easily image the entire solar disc — co-boresited with a narrow-band spectrometer that measures the frequency of a Doppler shifted line — with an algorithm designed to drive zero Doppler shift rotation axis of the Sun.
Briefs: Imaging
Taking measurements in a scramjet engine is particularly challenging because of the harsh testing environment. Any probe inserted in the flow would generate shock waves, strongly...
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INSIDER Product: Photonics/Optics
Optoscribe (West Lothian, Scotland) has introduced an ultra-low crosstalk option to its 3D Optofan series of multicore fiber fanouts. By controlling the 3D waveguide layout inside the component, stray light is minimized...
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News: Test & Measurement
A new low-cost infrared camera makes it possible to quickly and efficiently detect gas leaks that can occur in different industrial facilities. The system can detect gas leaks that are normally...
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News: Energy
Researchers at the University of Washington and Microsoft Research developed HyperCam, a lower-cost hyperspectral camera that uses both visible and invisible near-infrared light to “see”...
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News: Photonics/Optics
A new, all-optical method for compressing narrow electron pulses to a billionth of a billionth of a second could improve real-time movies of chemical reactions and other ultrafast processes.
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News: Imaging
NASA's Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) captured three developing tropical low-pressure areas in the Indian Ocean. The EPIC instrument flies aboard NOAA's Deep Space Climate...
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Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The technologies NASA develops don’t just blast off into space. They also improve our lives here on Earth. Life-saving search-and-rescue tools, implantable medical devices, advances in commercial aircraft safety,...
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Articles: Aerospace
Combustion instability in solid rocket motors and liquid engines is a complication that continues to plague designers and engineers. Many rocket systems experience...
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Application Briefs: Aerospace
Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) Stratasys Direct Manufacturing Valencia, CA 888-311-1017 www.stratasysdirect.com NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is currently leading the...
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Application Briefs: Aerospace
NASA Leverages Analytical Modeling to Improve Astronaut Mission Readiness
Probabilistic modeling Charles River Analytics Cambridge, MA 617-491-3474 www.cra.com NASA has contracted with Charles River Analytics to develop a system to measure and assess astronaut workload. The system for Cognitive Assessment and Prediction to Promote Individualized...
Articles: Aerospace
Top prizes in the 2015 Create the Future Design Contest were awarded on November 6 in New York City. The Grand Prize winner, and winners in seven categories, took home awards for their...
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Articles: Aerospace
Langley Research Center aeronautics engineer Richard T. Whitcomb was 34 when he did something no other single person could do. Whitcomb overcame the aviation challenge of the day — the...
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Articles: Aerospace
Each December, we ask our readers to cast their vote for the annual NASA Tech Briefs Readers’ Choice Product of the Year Awards. Each month, our editors choose a Product of the Month...
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Question of the Week
Will Li-Fi catch on?
This week's Question: A technology called ìLi-Fiî uses light waves from ordinary LED light bulbs to deliver internet connectivity that, according to its creators, is cheaper, more secure, and 100 times faster that broadband internet. Velmini ó a tech company in Tallinn, Estonia ó is the first to test visible light...
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Gamma-Ray Spectroscope Supports Asteroid Mining Missions
A new gamma-ray spectroscope detects the veins of gold, platinum, and rare earths hidden within the asteroids, moons, and other airless objects floating around the solar system. The sensor, developed by teams at Vanderbilt and Fisk Universities, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the...
INSIDER: Energy
Tractor beams are mysterious rays that can grab and lift objects. Now, researchers have built a working tractor beam that uses high-amplitude sound waves to generate an acoustic...
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INSIDER: Communications
Tow tractors, pushback tractors, tankers, luggage carts, air cargo, and catering vehicles crowd airport aprons. Poor weather conditions impede work on the apron even more. Researchers at the...
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INSIDER: Motion Control
Machines that are much smaller than the width of a human hair could one day help clean up carbon dioxide pollution in the oceans. Nanoengineers at the University of...
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