Mechanical/Mechatronics

Propulsion

Explore the key advances impacting propulsion technologies and applications involved in aircraft propulsion, turbo-electric distributed propulsion, and hybrid electric aircraft propulsion systems.

Stories

Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

ARTEMIS I: Our Return to the Moon Begins

Artemis I will launch from Kennedy Space Center into Earth orbit, where it will travel 40,000 miles beyond the Moon.

Articles: Motion Control

2021 Create the Future Design Contest: Automotive/Transportation Category Winner — Afreecar E-kit

The e-kit promises to be a low-cost solution in the developing world.

Articles: Unmanned Systems

ARTEMIS: Back to the Moon

With the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, NASA will return humans to the lunar surface.

Articles: Aerospace

2021 Create the Future Design Contest: Aerospace & Defense Category Winner — How to Keep Drones Flying When a Motor Fails, without GPS

A vision-based control algorithm saves a quadrotor after the complete loss of a single motor.

Blog: Power

Are In-Wheel Motor Systems Catching On?

One EV design is bring power out toward the wheel. But is the design here to stay? A Tech Briefs reader asks an expert at SAE.

Blog: Aerospace

Answering Reader Questions: NASA Prepares for Return to the Moon

A NASA expert answers your questions about the upcoming Artemis mission that will send astronauts back to the Moon.

Special Reports: Electronics & Computers

Space Technology - October 2021

A new era of space exploration is set to begin with Artemis 1, the first in a series of increasingly complex NASA missions that will take humans back to the moon and then on to Mars. Read all about it in this...

Application Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Eddy Current Displacement Sensors for Industry

Eddy current displacement sensors can make measurements in harsh Industrial environments, even where pressure, dirt, or temperature fluctuations occur.

Application Briefs: Motion Control

Improving Overhead Equipment Devices for a New Era of Railway Transportation

See how COMSOL is supporting upcoming modifications to railway infrastructure in India.

Blog: Power

NASA Going Back to the Moon: What are the Biggest Technology Challenges for Artemis?

Before human explorers can head to the Moon and beyond, they need to tackle these three important tasks.

Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Inside Story: Keith Moore, CEO of Pickering Interfaces

CEO Keith Moore tells Tech Briefs about the unique challenges facing testing engineers in aerospace.

Blog: RF & Microwave Electronics

A New Way to Launch Rockets: Microwave Power

A team at the University of Tsukuba used a beam of microwave radiation to a launch a drone into the air. Can this type of propulsion take off?

Special Reports: Robotics, Automation & Control

Medical Robotics - September 2021

Self-propelled nanobots that deliver drugs inside the human body...novel sensors that improve the safety and precision of industrial robots...a dynamic hydrogel material that makes building soft robotic devices...

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Cladding and Freeform Deposition for Coolant Channel Closeout

This method is a faster way to manufacture combustion chambers and nozzles for aerospace propulsion as well as heat exchangers in oil and gas applications.

Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing

Technology Converts Waste Plastics to Jet Fuel

The reaction converts 90% of plastic to jet fuel and other valuable hydrocarbon products within an hour at moderate temperatures.

Briefs: Propulsion

Fuel Cell Boosts Electric-Powered Vehicles

This fuel cell could power a variety of transportation modes such as unmanned underwater vehicles, drones, and eventually electric aircraft.

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Origami Solves Challenge of Storing and Moving Rocket Fuel

A folded plastic bladder could store and pump the fuel.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Centimeter-Long Snail Robot Powered with Light

The soft robot harvests energy from a laser beam and can crawl on horizontal surfaces and climb vertical walls and an upside-down glass ceiling.

Briefs: RF & Microwave Electronics

Service Valve for In-Orbit Cooperative Satellite Fueling

The valve enables telerobotic resupplying of media such as propellant and pressurant.

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Tension Element Damping (TED) with Hydraulics for Large Displacements

Applications include wind turbines, solar arrays, commercial space mobile launchers, and industrial process stacks and equipment.

Briefs: Motion Control

Soft Mate Lifting Device

This below-the-hook device enables gentle crane placement to decrease the risk of property damage.

Question of the Week: Power

Will 'Zero-Impact' Planes Take Off?

Our May issue of Tech Briefs highlighted a hybrid-electric aircraft design from MIT that, according to its creators, could reduce global nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 95 percent.