Keyword: Historical reference

Articles: Materials

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...

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Articles: Aerospace

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...

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Articles: Aerospace

Before becoming an astronaut candidate in 1996, Mike Massimino was busy earning degrees — an undergraduate degree from Columbia University and four additional degrees from...

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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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NASA Spinoff: Imaging

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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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...

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Articles: Test & Measurement

For six decades, NASA has led the peaceful exploration of space, making discoveries about our planet, our solar system, and our universe. At home, NASA research has made great advances in aviation,...

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Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

The first “A” in NASA stands for aeronautics — the science of travel through the air. It's as much about flying on airplanes and arriving safely at a destination as it is about astronauts in space. NASA's roots...

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Articles: Materials
NASA at 60: Celebrating Success

Over the past 60 years, NASA scientists and engineers have developed many advanced technologies and processes. But NASA has also partnered with industry, using commercially available products to complete its missions. Here, some of those companies join NASA in celebrating these collaborative successes.

Articles: Semiconductors & ICs

The benefits of NASA's space exploration efforts are not limited to the cosmos. NASA technologies provide innovative solutions for people around the world. NASA missions have generated thousands of spinoffs...

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Facility Focus: Electronics & Computers

In 1977, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, Golden, CO) started as the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), spurred by national concern during the 1973 oil embargo that caused long...

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Briefs: Data Acquisition

Analyzing data piecemeal is usually uninformative. Analysts need tools to evaluate multiple pieces of data simultaneously that are related by a common thread. Identifying that...

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Briefs: Materials

When the Deepwater Horizon drilling pipe blew out seven years ago, beginning the worst oil spill in U.S. history, those in charge of the recovery discovered that the millions of gallons of...

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Briefs: Electronics & Computers

NASA technologists have developed a novel, superconducting transition edge sensor (TES). Such TES devices are thermometers that are widely used for...

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Briefs: Information Technology
Mixed-Integer Convex Programming Algorithm for Constrained Attitude Guidance

A general problem in spaceflight since its beginning is attitude guidance: how to turn a spacecraft — also called a slew — so as to point science instruments at their targets. The slew must be done while avoiding pointing sensitive science instruments (e.g., a...

Articles: Imaging

Using a method known as ultrafast electron diffraction (UED), a scientific instrument at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator...

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Briefs: Information Technology
Spitzer Integrated Resource Planning and Scheduling System (SIRPASS)

This decision support system provides an integrated platform for assessing the quality of Spitzer scheduling options. The application aids in scheduling instrument selection, assigns schedule times to specific observation requests, and generates stored sequence products...

Briefs: Test & Measurement
Neutron Spectrometer for Inner Radiation Belt Studies

The Earth’s magnetosphere offers a wealth of information on particle dynamics, acceleration, and trapping. Fast neutrons, produced in the Earth’s atmosphere by the impact of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) and solar energetic particles (SEPs), are an important but poorly measured component of...

Briefs: Software
Context-Based Configuration Management System

This invention provides a visual and textual system, including a set of intuitive icons representing different activities, for indicating status of and/or change in a document or documents and/or in project operations, using the icons to indicate the presence of different classes of changes that have...

Briefs: Information Technology
Processing Time History Data for Display and Analysis

A suite of software tools was developed that enables powerful and efficient processing of time history data. These tools can be used together or independently, offering a variety of capabilities including comparison of time history data files to validate pre-processing activities, conversion...

Briefs: Physical Sciences
Hollow aErothermal Ablation and Temperature (HEAT) Sensor for Tracking Isotherm Through TPS Material

The Hollow aErothermal Ablation and Temperature (HEAT) sensor is a multifunction sensor designed to track an isotherm by making an independent transient measurement at a defined location in the sensor that is equal to the temperature at which its...

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Seal Design Feature for Redundancy Verification

NASA has requirements for redundant seals to protect human-occupied cabin atmospheres, as well as fluid and gas systems in space vehicles exposed to the harsh environments. Comparable requirements have been passed down to the International Space Station (ISS) Program, and are now levied on the...

Application Briefs: Test & Measurement
NU-LHT lunar simulant
Zybek Advanced Products (ZAP)
Boulder, CO
888-469-0110
www.zybekap.com

Lunar simulants are a critical aspect of the return to the Moon...

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Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Volume-phase, holographic-grating Raman
spectrometer
Wasatch Photonics
Logan, UT
435-752-4301
www.wasatchphotonics.com

Raman laser spectroscopy technology from...

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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Physical Causes of Extremely Low Geomagnetic Activity

An analysis of solar, solar wind, and geomagnetic data during the recent solar cycle minimum (2008) has recently been undertaken. It was discovered that the lowest value of the Ap index [this index is an averaged planetary A index based on data from a set of specific magnetometer stations] in...

Briefs: Physical Sciences

Existing observing systems are inadequate to measure a variety of dynamic atmospheric processes. Ground-based or airborne systems do not observe over sufficiently large regions to capture...

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Briefs: Software
Workflow-Based Software Development Environment

The Software Developer’s Assistant (SDA) helps software teams more efficiently and accurately conduct or execute software processes associated with NASA mission-critical software. SDA is a process enactment platform that guides software teams through project-specific standards, processes, and...

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
High-Speed Data Recorder for Space, Geodesy, and Other High-Speed Recording Applications

A high-speed data recorder and replay equipment has been developed for reliable high-data-rate recording to disk media. It solves problems with slow or faulty disks, multiple disk insertions, high-altitude operation, reliable performance using COTS hardware,...

Briefs: Information Technology
Development of the Code RITRACKS

A document discusses the code RITRACKS (Relativistic Ion Tracks), which was developed to simulate heavy ion track structure at the microscopic and nanoscopic scales. It is a Monte- Carlo code that simulates the production of radiolytic species in water, event-by-event, and which may be used to simulate tracks and...