Next-generation satellite technology is proving instrumental in advancing search and rescue operations in the sky and at sea. New equipment to speed up adoption of the technology has successfully been developed and is now in operation. Rapid search and recovery in plane and ship disasters is crucial for saving lives. From the ill-fated Air France…
GOLD Instrument Captures Its First Image of the Earth
NASA’s Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) instrument powered on and opened its cover to scan the Earth for the first time, resulting in a “first light” image of the Western Hemisphere in the ultraviolet. GOLD will provide unprecedented global-scale imaging of the temperature and composition at the dynamic boundary between Earth’s atmosphere…
Hubble Uncovers Never-before-seen Features Around a Neutron Star
An unusual infrared light emission from a nearby neutron star detected by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope could indicate new features never before seen. One possibility is that there is a dusty disk surrounding the neutron star; another is that there is an energetic wind coming off the object and slamming into gas in interstellar space…
NASA Blasts off Space Laser Satellite to Track Ice Loss
NASA’s most advanced space laser satellite blasted off Saturday on a mission to track ice loss around the world and improve forecasts of sea level rise as the climate warms. Cloaked in pre-dawn darkness, the $1 billion, half-ton ICESat-2 launched aboard a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force base in California at 6:02 am…
Eyes in the Sky Aim to Protect Earth’s Rainforests, Resources
In the Brazilian state of Para, every week, authorities receive alerts showing them which parts of the Amazon forest have been chopped down, with photos to back it up. The pictures are taken every day at 10:30 in the morning by American satellites, offering a detailed view of every three to five meters on the…
Tech-Etch announces sale of the company to its employees
Tech-Etch, Inc. announces the sale of 100% of the company to its employees through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). An ESOP is a qualified defined-contribution employee benefit plan that provides a company’s workforce with an ownership interest in the company. Tech-Etch was founded in 1966 by George E. Keeler. The company was a pioneer…
GRACE-FO Satellite Switching to Backup Instrument Processing Unit
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission team plans to switch to a backup system in the Microwave Instrument (MWI) on one of the twin spacecraft this month. Following the switch-over, GRACE-FO is expected to quickly resume science data collection. A month after launching this past May, GRACE-FO produced its first preliminary gravity…
MarCO Makes Space for Small Explorers
Twenty years ago, CubeSats—a class of boxy satellites small enough to fit in a backpack—were used by universities as a teaching aid. Simpler, smaller and cheaper than traditional satellites, they’ve made space more accessible to private companies and science agencies. This summer, NASA has been flying the first two next-generation CubeSats to deep space. They’re currently…
SpaceX Announces New Plan to Send Tourist Around Moon
SpaceX on Thursday announced a new plan to launch a tourist around the Moon using its Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), a massive launch vehicle that is being designed to carry people into deep space. “SpaceX has signed the world’s first private passenger to fly around the Moon aboard our BFR launch vehicle—an important step toward…
NASA Tests Space Tech on UP Aerospace Rocket
Three NASA technology demonstration payloads launched aboard UP Aerospace’s SpaceLoft 12 mission from Spaceport America in New Mexico on Sept. 12. The suborbital rocket carried an umbrella-like heat shield called Adaptable Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT). Developed by NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, ADEPT’s unique design could be used for planetary lander and…
Engineering Update #277: Pilot Assist System Could Lead to Autonomous Flight
Welcome to this week’s Engineering Update! In this episode we talk about a bee-inspired robot that pollinates flowers, autonomous cars armed with Doppler lidar, and a pilot assist system that could lead to autonomous flight. Head over to the Engineering Update gallery to watch even more exciting video content. To stay up to date on the latest engineering news,…
U.S. Air Force Develops Portable, Self-Sustaining Communication System
At the McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas, the Plans and Programs (XPX) innovation team has constructed a portable, solar-powered communications system. They collaborated with Wichita State University GoCreate lab to complete the project. “It’s a mobile communication system that is set up to communicate with pilots,” says Senior Airman Aaron Walls, 22nd Air Refueling…
The MQ-25: An Unmanned Aerial Refueler for the U.S. Navy
Boeing’s MQ-25 is an unmanned refueler that’s poised to help the U.S. Navy with aerial refueling capabilities. Boeing received an $805-million contract to develop the U.S. Navy’s first operational carrier-based unmanned aircraft August 30, 2018. It’ll extend the combat ranges of several deployed aircraft, such as the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Boeing EA-18G Growler, and Lockheed Martin…
Exploring the Solar System? You May Need to Pack an Umbrella
Gearing up for its first flight test, NASA’s Adaptable Deployable Entry Placement Technology, or ADEPT, is no ordinary umbrella. ADEPT is a foldable device that opens to make a round, rigid heat shield, called an aeroshell. This game-changing technology could squeeze a heat shield into a rocket with a diameter larger than the rocket itself. The design…
Multi-Domain Operations to Exploit Enemy Vulnerabilities, Say Army Leaders
The genius of the new Army concept coined “multi-domain operations” is that it is designed to enable the maneuver commander to strike at the enemy’s most vulnerable point, be that in the air, space, sea, land or cyber domain, said Maj. Gen. William K. Gayler. Gayler, commander, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort…
A Japanese Company is About to Test Tiny Space Elevator in Space
Let’s be honest, launching things into space with rockets is a pretty inefficient way to do things. Not only are rockets expensive to build, they also need a ton of fuel in order to achieve escape velocity. And while the costs of individual launches are being reduced thanks to concepts like reusable rockets and space…
Cool Ways of Studying the Cryosphere
One of the key elements of Earth’s climate system is the cryosphere – the many forms of ice found on Earth. Two new NASA missions use different technologies to help scientists better understand how frozen water is affecting our planet. Both will continue satellite data records that have greatly improved our understanding of Earth’s frozen…
Artificial Intelligence Helps Track Down Mysterious Cosmic Radio Bursts
Artificial intelligence is invading many fields, most recently astronomy and the search for intelligent life in the universe, or SETI. Researchers at Breakthrough Listen, a SETI project led by the University of California, Berkeley, have now used machine learning to discover 72 new fast radio bursts from a mysterious source some 3 billion light years…
Revealing Industrial-Grade Drone with Two-Hour Flight Time
Impossible Aerospace, a company poised to upend the status quo of aviation with long-range electric aircraft, announced its takeoff from stealth mode to viable product. On the heels of a $9.4 million Series A, Impossible Aerospace has unveiled the US-1, an electric commercial-grade drone with a flight time of up to two hours. The battery life of the US-1 outperforms the approximate 25-minute single-charge flight time of other…
Legacy of NASA’s Dawn, Near the End of Its Mission
NASA’s Dawn mission is drawing to a close after 11 years of breaking new ground in planetary science, gathering breathtaking imagery, and performing unprecedented feats of spacecraft engineering. Dawn’s mission was extended several times, outperforming scientists’ expectations in its exploration of two planet-like bodies, Ceres and Vesta, that make up 45 percent of the mass…
Long-Endurance Aircraft Aces First Flight with Autopilot
The Elektra Two Solar Optionally Piloted System (OPS), a long-endurance aircraft developed by Germany’s Elektra Solar, has successfully demonstrated its new autopilot system. A pilot was on board as a safety precaution, but did not have to intervene during the test flights. “We have taken a giant step toward the stratosphere and are very optimistic that…
Army Research Takes Proactive Approach to Defending Computer Systems
A team of researchers from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in the Republic of Korea have taken a step toward the development of moving target defense techniques in software-defined networks. This is a demanding cybersecurity research topic, scientists said. This…
GKN Aerospace Cuts Production Time with Stratasys AM
Stratasys announced that GKN Aerospace is improving production times and removing design constraints for multiple tooling applications since integrating additive manufacturing at its Filton manufacturing site in the UK. GKN serves over 90 percent of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers with aerostructures, engine systems and technologies. According to Tim Hope, Additive Manufacturing Center Manager, at GKN Aerospace,…
Success in Critical Communications Tests for James Webb Space Telescope
When NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launches in 2021, it will write a new chapter in cosmic history. This premier space science observatory will seek the first stars and galaxies, explore distant planets around other stars, and solve mysteries of own solar system. Webb will be controlled from the Mission Operations Center (MOC) at the…
Going Up! Japan to Test Mini ‘Space Elevator’
A Japanese team working to develop a “space elevator” will conduct a first trial this month, blasting off a miniature version on satellites to test the technology. The test equipment, produced by researchers at Shizuoka University, will hitch a ride on an H-2B rocket being launched by Japan’s space agency from southern island of Tanegashima next week.…