Stories

Blog: Aerospace

NASA 2024 Moon Mission Calls for CubeSats

NASA’s big return to the Moon by 2024 will call for the support of small technologies – specifically, the miniature spacecraft known as CubeSats.

Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Readers Select 2019 Products of the Year

The votes are in. Our readers selected top products in data acquisition, software, and ultrasonic sensing.

Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control

The Next Mars Rover Name? 'Perseverance'

The new Mars Rover Name is Perseverance, thanks to a suggestion from Virginia 7th grader Alex Mather.

Blog: Propulsion

Researcher Finds Promising Patterns in ‘Explosive’ Rotating Detonation Engine

University of Washington engineer James Koch observed patterns in a promising, but often-unpredictable rocket part: The rotating detonation engine.

Blog: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Inspection and Simulation Methods: Powdered Metal and Additive Manufacturing

How does testing a metal 3D-printed part compare to testing a casted one? That's the elephant in the room, says industry pro Kevin Brigden.

Blog: Energy

Rain Power: Droplet-Based Energy Generator Lights Up 100 LEDs

An energy breakthrough from the City University of Hong Kong finds power in a single drop of water – up to 140 volts, in fact.

Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control

NASA's SuperCam Set to Look for Evidence of Life On Mars

See what the SuperCam will do when it arrives on Mars in 2021.

Blog: Aerospace

New Discoveries, From Just a Grain of Moon Dust

“We’re analyzing rocks from space, atom by atom,” says researcher Jennika Greer.

INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping

“Pop-Up” Technique Fabricates Microrobots

A bulk-machined “Pop-Up” MEMS process was developed for creating mesoscale machines up to several centimeters in dimension.

INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Robot and Software Create Advanced Materials

Rutgers University engineers have developed an automated way to produce polymers, making it much easier to create advanced materials aimed at improving human health. While a human researcher...

Blog: Photonics/Optics

SPIE Photonics West 2020, Day 2: Sensing LiDAR's Rise

Editor Bruce A. Bennett shares his observations from SPIE Photonics West, including the emergence of LiDAR.

Blog: Photonics/Optics

SPIE Photonics West 2020 – Sights from Day 1

See what caught Bruce A. Bennett's eye during Day 1 of Photonics West 2020 in San Francisco.

Blog: Software

How to Design an Airless Car Tire? Start with Simulation

Researchers from the University of Illinois are looking at all the different ways to create a non-pneumatic automotive tire.

INSIDER: Communications

Microchip Capability Expanded with New 3D Inductor Technology

A team of engineers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has boosted the performance of its previously developed 3D inductor technology by adding as much as three...

INSIDER: Electronics & Computers

Laser Diode Emits Deep UV Light

Nagoya University scientists have succeeded in designing a laser diode that emits deep-ultraviolet light. It emits the world's shortest lasing wavelength, at 271.8 nanometers, under pulsed electric current...

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

New Method Gives Robust Transistors

Scientists at Linköping University (Linköping, Sweden) have described a method to manufacture transistors using gallium nitride and aluminum nitride that have the ability to withstand voltages as...

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Method Detects Defects in 2D Materials for Future Electronics and Sensors

To further shrink electronic devices and to lower energy consumption, the semiconductor industry is interested in using 2D materials, but manufacturers need a...

Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control

A Soft Robot That Can Maintain Its Temperature? No Sweat!

Cornell researcher T.J. Wallin explains what's so cool about a robot that sweats.

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

VIPER Rover to Map Lunar Water Ice

An engineering model of the VIPER lunar rover is being tested at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. About the size of a golf cart, VIPER is a mobile robot that will roam around the Moon’s South Pole...

INSIDER: Motion Control

Tractionless Motion is Possible

Cells are observed to “crawl” by attaching themselves to a surface and using these anchor points to push themselves forward (like crawling on the ground). Scientists have identified a different...

Blog: Green Design & Manufacturing

The Next Building Material for Mars: Fungi?

When astronauts arrive on the Moon, their habitat may be one made out of fungi.

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

New Products: January 2020 Photonics & Imaging Insider

SWIR Camera

Princeton Infrared Technologies, Inc. (PIRT) (Monmouth Junction, NJ) will be introducing its new compact MVCam series shortwave-infrared (SWIR) and visible camera...

INSIDER: Data Acquisition

Simulated Image Demonstrates Power of Nasa's Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope

Imagine a fleet of 100 Hubble Space Telescopes, deployed in a strategic space-invader-shaped array a million miles from Earth, scanning the universe at...