Magazine

High-speed complex-amplitude spatial light modulators (SLMs) containing liquid crystals with pixel electronic circuitry on single-crystal-silicon backplanes are undergoing development. The basic approach taken in this project is to use fast-switching liquid-crystal materials and modulation-enhancing...

A continuous-wave CO2 laser has been selected as a source of heat for testing the thermal response of carbon-cloth phenolic like that used as insulating material in a reusable solid-fuel rocket motor (RSRM). The particular thermal response of interest, observed during operation of an RSRM,...

School Internet Manager Over Networks (SIMON) is a software tool, exclusively for use on Macintosh computers, that is designed to provide access to, and management of, Internet information for teachers and students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. By eliminating the requirement for advanced...

Simulated landscapes of Mars have been made of thermoplastic sheets molded to shapes derived from images of the Martian terrain. These simulated landscapes can be used to advantage in scientific experiments, simulations, educational displays, and other applications, in which unitary molded plastic sheets can...

Aerogels with gradients in density have been produced in experiments, as part of an effort to develop materials that will be used in outer space to capture particles traveling at high speeds for the STARDUST mission.

The VrTool computer program enables its user to rapidly develop a prototype virtual-reality (VR) application program. Users of VR application programs need software that can help them keep pace with the rapidly evolving VR field. None of the previously commercially available VR software tool kits...

A two-photon microscope imaging spectrometer has been proposed for use in scanning confocal two-photon microscopy. The proposed instrument would solve a spectrum-overlap that sometimes arises, as explained below.

A computer program establishes an interface between the MATLAB software and the serial data port of a personal computer (PC) that runs either the Windows 95 or the Windows NT operating system. The program makes it possible to utilize the graphical user interface (GUI) and the...

A computer program facilitates the analysis and design of a radio-communication system for transmitting data from an orbiting spacecraft to ground stations. Input data provided by the user include primarily (1) parameters of the spacecraft orbit (including parameters that specify...

The Space Communications Protocol Standards (SCPS) specify a developmental system of international protocols for data communications between spacecraft and points on Earth. SCPS protocols are intended to make a spacecraft appear, to a terrestrial computer user, as just another node on...

An improved method of manufacturing high-temperature superconductors of general composition YBa2Cu3O7— x and various grain structures has been devised. This method involves mixing, pressing, and heating of Y2O3, CuO, and Ba(NO3)2 powders. This method is easier than an older method that...