Determining Key Isotopic Ratios In The Field

On August 6th, 2012 the automatic Mars Science Laboratory rover named Curiosity landed on Mars. One of the scientific instruments on board is ChemCam, which has a pulsed laser capable of ablating...

FACT, Mega-ROSA, SOLAROSA

The Flexible Array Concentrator Technology (FACT) is a lightweight, high-performance reflective concentrator blanket assembly that can be used on flexible solar array blankets. The FACT concentrator replaces every...

Consumer Products Category Winner (Winner of an HP Workstation)

LumEN: Luminescent Solar Concentrators for Sustainable, On-Demand Electricity Production Gianmarco Griffini, Massimo Micocci, and Francesca Ostuzzi,
Politecnico di...

Measurement Advance Using LEDs Could Speed Innovation in Solar Devices

A new versatile measurement system devised by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) accurately and quickly measures the electric power...

LED Technology Holds Most Promise To Save Energy and the Environment

Today's light-emitting diode light bulbs have a slight environmental edge over compact fluorescent lamps, and that gap is expected to grow significantly as technology and...

Onboard Sensor Data Qualification in Human-Rated Launch Vehicles

The avionics system software for human-rated launch vehicles requires an implementation approach that is robust to failures, especially the failure of sensors used to monitor...

Compact, Low-Force, Low-Noise Linear Actuator

Actuators are critical to all the robotic and manipulation mechanisms that are used in current and future NASA missions, and are also needed for many other industrial, aeronautical, and space...

Talking Mars

NASA Tech Briefs recently spoke with Doug McCuistion, Director of the Mars Exploration Program, and Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program and Program Scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). We...

Compact, Low-Force, Low-Noise Linear Actuator

Actuators are critical to all the robotic and manipulation mechanisms that are used in current and future NASA missions, and are also needed for many other industrial, aeronautical, and space...

Loop Heat Pipe With Thermal Control Valve as a Variable Thermal Link

Future lunar landers and rovers will require variable thermal links that allow for heat rejection during the lunar daytime and passively prevent heat rejection during the...

Software Creates and Analyzes Lightning Protection Solutions for Wind Turbines

Highvoltage.dk is a Danish consulting engineering firm with expertise in lightning protection and high-voltage engineering. The company, founded in 2005, tackles...

Ensuring Safe Operation and Accurate Characterization of Laser Diodes

Laser diodes are very sensitive to electrostatic discharge (ESD), current/ voltage transients, and temperature changes, and extra care must be taken to ensure the laser...

Real-Time Remote Monitoring with Wireless Sensors

If remote sensors are to be autonomous and report their data in real time, they must have a reliable power source and a stable Ethernet connection. The United States Geological Survey (USGS),...

Discovery Could Lead to More Efficient Solar Cells and Super Bright LEDs

Ateam of physicists headed by Dr. Vinod M. Menon, who is a member of The City University of New York Photonics Initiative and teaches at Queens College, has discovered...

Las Vegas Bets It All On White With Energy-Saving LED Streetlights

Las Vegas is best known for the bright lights of ‘The Strip’ but thanks to new LED fixtures from GE Lighting, the city’s surrounding streets are starting to take on a...

Organic Photovoltaics - Forecasts for the Next Decade

Today there are multiple devices available for harnessing solar energy. Each device offers a different set of characteristics. Wafer-based devices consist of mono or...

Thin-Film Tape Protects Mars Rover Wiring

A high-performance thin-film product created specifically for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, is being used to ensure the electrical currents from the Mars Rover Curiosity’s...

Conquering LED Efficiency Droop Could Lead to Affordable LED Lighting

LEDs seem to reach a point where more electricity no longer imparts the same kick and productivity levels off. A team of researchers from California and Japan has devised...

Improved Whole-Blood-Staining Device

Dramatic improvements have been made in NASA’s Whole Blood Staining Device (WBSD) since it was last described in “Whole-Blood- Staining Device,” (MSC-22614) NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 23, No. 10...

Controlling the Composition and Structure of Nanowires for LED Applications

Nanowires — microscopic fibers that can be “grown” in a lab — have a variety of potential applications, including LEDs and sensors. A team of MIT researchers...

Bringing the Heat

LED, semiconductor, and package designers use complex thermal analysis software to analyze their products, but the analysis is only as good as the data provided. Reliable clarification of heat data upstream and downstream...

Micro-Cavity Arrays

It was not too long ago that basic science lectures began with the three forms of matter: gases, liquids and solids—and somewhere along the line plasmas were occasionally added to the list. But to be precise, a plasma...