Tech Briefs

A comprehensive library of technical briefs from engineering experts at NASA and major government, university, and commercial laboratories covering all aspects of innovations in electronics, software, photonics, imaging, motion control, automation, sensors, test, materials, manufacturing, mechanical, and mechatronics.

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Briefs: Materials
A new design could extend the shelf-life of single-use metal-air batteries for electric vehicles, off-grid storage, and other applications.
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
Activated carbon made from corn stover filters 98 percent of a pollutant from water.
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
This approach could result in developing chemical sensors that are sensitive at a very low level to a specific chemical in the environment.
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
The method replenishes lithium in electrodes while keeping the existing structure intact.
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
An optimized flash process could reduce carbon emissions.
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Briefs: Motion Control
A new robot developed by Caltech researchers LEO carves out a new type of locomotion somewhere between walking and flying.
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) will usher in a new era of laser communications.
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Briefs: Aerospace
Holographic lenses render visible and infrared starlight into either a focused image or a spectrum.
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Briefs: Imaging
A team at the University of Münster is adapting a cell labelling strategy known as "SNAP-tag" technology.
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
At 3 p.m. on March 5, a gigantic furnace slowly started spinning underneath the stands of Arizona Stadium at the University of Arizona. Fire-engine red, massive in size...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Researchers from SEAS have found "hidden potential" in metasurfaces.
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
The "AOM" performs complex observations with ten observation modes and 175 strategies.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
NASA's NEID tool delivered its first batch of data on the nearest and best-studied star, our Sun.
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Briefs: Imaging
Large machines can breathe in and out cooling blasts of water to keep their systems from overheating.
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Briefs: Packaging & Sterilization
The built-in nanosensors glow to alert patients when a wound is not healing properly.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
These shape memory robotic arms eliminate the need for joints, rigid skeletons, or framework.
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Briefs: Materials
These elastomers have a wide range of uses for the building, automotive, and electronics industries.
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The robots move more quickly on solid surfaces or in the water than previous generations of soft robots.
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Better detection of microwave radiation will enable improved thermal imaging, electronic warfare, radio communications, and radar.
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The suit can be controlled with a double tap to the chest or via an app.
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The handheld printer deposits sheets of skin to cover large burn wounds.
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Briefs: Aerospace
Applications include avionics, data storage, process control, reconfigurable manufacturing lines, and civil and structural engineering.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The sensor technology could also be used to create clothing that detects a variety of pathogens and other threats.
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An ultra-small actuator has nanometer-scale precision.
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Briefs: Energy
The engine is approximately 10 billion times smaller than a car engine.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Neuroprosthetic technology combines robotic control with the user’s voluntary control.
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Briefs: Energy
The device combines with body power to treat tendon disease and damage, and sports injuries.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Biological insights of fruit fly eye movements could enhance robotics.
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Briefs: Communications
The tabletop diagnostic yields results in an hour and can be programmed to detect variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
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