Stories

The Boeing X-48 Blended Wing Body subscale research aircraft made its 100th flight at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, CA. The unmanned X-48C aircraft was flown on two separate 25-minute flights -- the seventh and eighth flights for the X-48C since it began...

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has developed and demonstrated a new process by tape-wrapping large, unique-shaped carbon-carbon aircraft shells, or aeroshells. Aeroshells are formed into a lifting body shape called Hypersonic Glide Vehicles, which are used as the primary...

Today we're pleased to have a guest blog from Eileen Markowitz, president of Thomas Industrial Network. To engage this new generation of manufacturers, we must restore — and elevate — the perception of manufacturing in America.

Imagine landing on the moon or Mars, putting rocks through a 3-D printer and making something useful – like a needed wrench or replacement part. Three-dimensional fabrication technology, also known as additive manufacturing, allows researchers to produce complex 3-D objects directly from...

Researchers at MIT have developed a new method for optimally combining models and observations to accurately simulate the seasonal extent of Arctic sea ice and the ocean circulation beneath. The team applied its synthesis method to produce a simulation of the Labrador Sea, off the southern...

When John Grotzinger, project scientist for the Mars Curiosity rover, stated that a recent discovery could be "earthshaking ... one for the history books," many speculated that the rover had discovered organic material, which could indicate life on Mars. NASA has since said that these kinds...

Cornell University researchers have created an autonomous flying robot that is as smart as a bird when it comes to maneuvering around obstacles. Able to guide itself through forests, tunnels or damaged buildings, the machine could have tremendous value in search-and-rescue operations. The team is...

A new device invented at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) can absorb 99.75 percent of infrared light that shines on it. When activated, it appears black to infrared cameras. Composed of just a 180-nanometer-thick layer of vanadium dioxide on top of a sheet of sapphire, the...

The more time it takes for an earthquake fault to heal, the faster the shake it will produce when it finally ruptures, according to a new study by engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, who conducted their work using a tabletop model of a quake fault. While the study does...

Imagine navigating through a grocery store with your cell phone. As you turn down the bread aisle, ads and coupons for hot dog buns and English muffins pop up on your screen. The electronics industry would like to make such personal navigators a reality, but, to do so, they need the next...

Stanford University engineers have developed the first solar cell made entirely of carbon - a promising alternative to the expensive materials used in photovoltaic devices today. The thin-film prototype is made of carbon materials that can be coated from solution - a technique that has the potential to...

NASA's Chief Technologist Mason Peck delivered the keynote address, "Technology and the Future," at the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Fall Symposium in Hampton, Virginia. The speech showed that Peck envisions a "spacefaring nation" where our relationship with spacecraft, space hardware, or data from...

NASA technologists have developed a low-cost, low-mass technique for protecting sensitive spacecraft components from outgassed contaminants. The team has created a patent-pending, sprayable paint that adsorbs the gaseous molecules and stops them from affixing to instrument components. Made of...

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara have designed a detector that uses microfluidic nanotechnology to mimic the biological mechanism behind canine scent receptors. The device is both highly sensitive to trace amounts of certain vapor molecules, and able to tell a specific...

Computer engineering students at The University of Alabama in Huntsville have designed a tool that could revolutionize new ways of using electronic devices with just one hand. It’s called a Gauntlet Keyboard, a glove device that functions as a wireless keyboard. Instead of tapping keys on a...

Using a new method for precisely controlling the deposition of carbon, researchers have demonstrated a technique for connecting multi-walled carbon nanotubes to the metallic pads of integrated circuits without the high interface resistance produced by traditional fabrication...

Miniature “bio-bots” developed at the University of Illinois are made of hydrogel and heart cells, but can walk on their own. The key to the bio-bots’ locomotion is asymmetry. Resembling a tiny springboard, each bot has one long, thin leg resting on a stout supporting leg. The thin leg is covered with rat...

If a future hurricane causes power outages, regulators say they could float wireless antennas from balloons or drones to solve problems with telecommunications networks. The Federal Communications Commission is exploring the use of such airborne technology to restore communications after disasters....

Migrating birds, NASCAR drivers and Tour de France bicyclists already get it. And now the Air Force is thinking about flying gas-guzzling cargo aircraft in formation -- 'dragging' off one another -- on long-haul flights across the oceans.

Drawing heavily upon nature for inspiration, a team of researchers has created a new artificial lens that is nearly identical to the natural lens of the human eye. This innovative lens, which is made up of thousands of nanoscale polymer layers, may one day provide a more natural performance in implantable...

Engineers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are building a fuel cell-powered unmanned aerial vehicle and support systems to perform missions such as wildlife surveillance around the complex.The aircraft will carry a small camera and be able to capture precise images and statistics...

Today’s parking assistant systems enable drivers to safely park their cars even in the narrowest of gaps. Such sophisticated parking aids – as well as manufacturing robots – that require millimeter-precision control rely on precise all-around radar distance measurement....

Someday, your auto and the roadway will be in constant communication and able to suggest route changes to avoid accidents, construction, and congestion; coordinate your vehicle with signal lights, other vehicles, and lane markers; and let you know where you can park. Right now, a fleet...

University of Michigan engineering researchers are working on a global satellite project that would help predict the intensity of a hurricane while it is developing. In coordination with NASA, Michigan Engineering Professor Chris Ruf is working on the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite...