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Briefs: Test & Measurement
NASA’s Langley Research Center has demonstrated a patent-pending method and apparatus for determining the position, in three...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed an innovative magnetic and Raman-based method for macroscopic process control during...
Briefs: Aerospace
NASA’s Glenn Research Center has developed a novel design for a fully premixed, high-pressure burner capable of operating on a variety of gaseous fuels and oxidizers, including...
Briefs: Energy
Selenium Interlayer for High-Efficiency Multi-Junction Solar Cell
Innovators at NASA’s Glenn Research Center have developed a low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell that uses a thin layer of selenium as the bonding material between wafers. Selenium is a semiconductor, and it is also transparent to light at photon energies below the band gap. The...
Briefs: Aerospace
NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed hardware and software to track the flight of tethered vehicles, including kite-like, airborne wind energy (AWE) generation systems. The control system...
Briefs: Energy
Preventing Cell-to-Cell Thermal Runaway in Lithium-Ion Battery Modules
Lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells are increasingly used in high-voltage and high-capacity modules. The Li-ion chemistry has the highest energy density of all rechargeable battery chemistries, but associated with that energy is the issue of catastrophic thermal runaway with a fire. With...
Briefs: Software
NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed a space-allocation and planning software system to allow for more effective and efficient facility usage. It also provides a...
Briefs: Software
Reducing Sensor and Readout Circuitry Noise in Digital Domain Using Reference Pixels
One of the main heritage tools used in scientific and engineering data spectrum analysis is the Fourier Integral Transform and its high-performance digital equivalent — the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The Fourier view of nonlinear mechanics that has existed for...
Briefs: Software
NASA has developed a new software tool for optimizing interior layout designs of highly constrained, highly integrated, and/or confined spaces,...
Briefs: Software
NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed an algorithm, Airborne Wind Profiling Algorithm for Doppler Wind Lidar (APOLO), that offers highly accurate, real-time measurement of wind...
Briefs: Software
The problem that motivated this work was one of analyzing hundreds of thousands of records of historical problem failure reports (aka, problem reports and corrective actions — PRACA) for improved mission safety. Whenever...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Nanotube-Based Device Cooling System
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are being studied for applications in high-strength/low-weight composites and other applications. Recent research on thermal dissipation materials for high-power electronic devices is generating a lot of interest in various industries. NASA has developed a method for cooling a device,...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A Method for Accurate Load/Position Control of Rigidly Coupled Electromechanical Actuators
NASA has developed a technique designed to prevent cross-coupling in systems where two or more linear electro-mechanical actuators (EMA) are rigidly connected and are in danger of becoming cross-coupled. In such systems where the linked EMAs are commanded to...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Ultralight Self-Deployable Solar Sails
Deployment of large structures such as solar sails relies typically upon electromechanical mechanisms, mechanically expandable or inflatable booms, launch restraints, controls, and other mechanisms that drastically increase the total mass, stowage volume, and areal density. The primary performance parameter...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Ultra-Compact Heat Rejection System
Radiator panels are the baseline heat rejection approach for most space systems. This approach is sound, but requires a large amount of surface area to radiate the anticipated heat load. The large panels require support structures to hold them in place and prevent damage. These structures impact mass and cost....
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Transformable and Reconfigurable Entry, Descent, and Landing Systems and Methods
The Adaptable, Deployable Entry Placement Technology (ADEPT) concept is a mechanically deployable, semi-rigid aeroshell entry system capable of achieving low ballistic coefficient during entry for planetary or Earth return missions. The decelerator system offers a...
Briefs: Materials
Shape memory alloys (SMAs), sometimes known as “smart metals,” provide a lightweight, solid-state alternative to conventional actuators and switches, such as...
Briefs: Materials
NASA has developed a class of low-density, flexible ablators that can be fabricated into heat-shields capable of being packaged, stowed, and deployed in space. The key characteristics of this new ablative...
Briefs: Materials
Resistive Heating Method for TPS Property Measurements
A unique ultrasonic-based technique has been developed to measure temperature profiles in materials used in thermal protection systems (TPS). The technology requires measurements of the thermal expansion coefficient and the ultrasonic velocity for these materials as a function of temperature in...
Briefs: Materials
Measuring Bond Site Concentration on the Intrinsic Aerogel Surface Through Chemisorption of Chlorosilanes
This work involves development of aerogel to be used as a passive absorption media — effectively a concentrator of trace organics — that can be detected by optical techniques. Such a trace organic detection scheme is very different from all...
Briefs: Materials
Toughened Uni-piece Fibrous Reinforced Oxidation-Resistant Composite (TUFROC)
The Toughened Uni-piece Fibrous Reinforced Oxidation-Resistant Composite (TUFROC) allows for much more affordable and sustainable operations involving Space Launch Services and other systems that utilize Earth re-entry vehicles. TUFROC has an exposed surface design and...
Briefs: Materials
Effects of Postcure and Associated Design Allowables for M55J/RS-3C Polycyanate Composite
M55J/RS-3C resin composite structures on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) sunshield will concurrently maintain loads and be exposed to temperature extremes throughout the life of the observatory. Increasing the glass transition temperature (Tg) is...
Briefs: Aerospace
Flaps can significantly alter wing aerodynamics for high lift generation. Conventional flaps are mainly deployed for takeoff and landing, but are not suitable for in-cruise flight. It is widely speculated that...
Briefs: Aerospace
Conditionally Active Min-Max Limit Regulators
The control system in modern commercial aircraft engines is designed to operate the engine in a safe manner throughout its operating envelope. In order to utilize the existing safety margins more effectively, innovators at NASA’s Glenn Research Center have developed a modification to current min-max...
Briefs: Aerospace
Community noise has been an ongoing problem for aircraft, and is projected to be a major concern in the future due to increased air traffic. NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles...
Briefs: Aerospace
The Integrated Minimum Drag Solution: New Wing Design Exponentially Increases Total Aircraft Efficiency
Innovators at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center are experimenting with a new wing design that removes adverse yaw and dramatically increases aircraft efficiency by reducing drag. The technology has the potential to significantly increase...
Briefs: Aerospace
X-Plane Communication Toolbox (XPC)
The X-Plane Connect Toolbox is an open-source research tool used to interact with the commercial flight simulator software X-Plane. XPC allows users to control aircraft and receive real-time state information from aircraft simulated in X-Plane using functions written in C, C++, Java, MathWorks’ MATLAB, or...
Briefs: Aerospace
Terminal Airspace Configuration Scheduler (TACS)
In the current National Airspace System (NAS), there are many airports that are capacity-limited during the busiest parts of the day, and air traffic is expected to increase substantially in the future. NASA and the FAA are looking toward technologies that improve the capacity and efficiency of the...
Briefs: Communications
Heterogeneous Spacecraft Networks
Heterogeneous Spacecraft Networks (HSNs) are network environments in which spacecraft from different missions and institutions can communicate with each other at a low cost and with low impact on overall system resources. The technology of heterogeneous wireless networks has yet to be extended to space networks,...
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Webcasts
Upcoming Webinars: AR/AI
The Real Impact of AR and AI in the Industrial Equipment Industry
Upcoming Webinars: Motion Control
Next-Generation Linear and Rotary Stages: When Ultra Precision...
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How Wearables Are Enhancing Smart Drug Delivery
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SAE Automotive Podcast: Solid-State Batteries
Podcasts: Power
