Vehicles, Equipment, and Performance

Gliders

Stories

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Briefs: Propulsion
Putting a satellite into low Earth orbit requires a lot of energy, with ground-launched rockets expending two-thirds of their propellant fighting to get through...
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Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
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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Briefs: Propulsion
Experimental Testbed for 1-MW Turboelectric Distributed Propulsion Aircraft
Researchers at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center are developing a concept aircraft for testing turbo-electric distributed propulsion (TeDP) experiments. TeDP generally involves providing thrust to an aircraft via wing-mounted ducted electric fans, which consist of...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A variable-structure control system designed to enable a fuselage-heavy airplane to recover from spin has been demonstrated in a hand-launched, instrumented model glider airplane (see...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Small, instrumented, expendable robotic aircraft and projectiles have been proposed for use in scouting for targeted new sites by providing closeup images with ~10-cm resolution, covering...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Small instrumented, free-flying (unpowered) rotary aircraft have been proposed for use in gathering scientific data from hazardous or inaccessible terrain on remote planets as well as on Earth. These aircraft...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Biomorphic gliders are small robotic microflyers proposed for use in scientific exploration of planetary atmospheres and terrains that capture some key features of insect and bird flight. Biomorphic gliders as biomorphic...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Personal Cabin Pressure Alarm
Compact instruments, similar in appearance to common personal pagers, have been proposed for warning aircraft crewmembers that cabin air pressure has decreased to a potentially dangerous level. An instrument of this type, called a "personal cabin pressure monitor and warning system" (PCPMWS), implements a warning...

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