Aerospace
Military plans new hypersonic flight after failure
October 25, 2012 2:54 pm | News | CommentsTwo months ago, a problem with a control fin caused an X-51A to lose balance and crash off the Southern California coast. Research on the cause pointed to a mysterious “random vibration issue”. The U.S. military says it is planning a fourth attempt at unmanned hypersonic flight next spring or summer.
U.S. astronaut sees science breakthrough in space
October 22, 2012 11:31 am | News | CommentsAn astronaut departing this week for the International Space Station said Monday that the bulk of the scientific benefits from the orbiting laboratory will be seen over the coming decade, amid questions on whether the estimated $100 billion spent in last 12 years is worth the effort. Portland, Indiana-born Kevin Ford said the station is just now entering the phase where the bulk of science being conducted there will come to fruition.
Atom optics to help detect the imperceptible
October 22, 2012 8:43 am | by Lori Keesey | News | CommentsPredicted by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, the waves occur when massive celestial objects move and disrupt the fabric of space-time. But by the time these waves reach Earth, they are so weak that the planet expands and contracts less than an atom in response. No instrument or observatory has ever directly detected them. A pioneering technology capable of atomic-level precision is now being developed to detect what so far has remained imperceptible.
Mars rover ready for its first soil sample
October 19, 2012 10:12 am | News | CommentsThe ability to ingest solid samples and examine them using X-ray diffraction is a core capability for the Curiosity rover. This week that ability was tested using a small scoop of minerals that has been shaken to remove any residues carried from Earth. These particles have been placed inside CheMin, an analytical instrument about the size of a laptop computer inside a carrying case.
Blue Origin completes rocket engine thrust chamber test
October 16, 2012 12:11 pm | News | CommentsNASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) partner Blue Origin has successfully fired the thrust chamber assembly for its new 100,000 pound thrust BE-3 liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen rocket engine. As part of Blue's Reusable Booster System (RBS), the engines are designed eventually to launch the biconic-shaped space vehicle the company is developing.
How Huygens landed on Titan
October 16, 2012 12:10 pm | by Jia-Rui Cook/JPL and Daniel Stolte/UANews | News | CommentsScientists have pieced together the sequence of events of the farthest touchdown a man-made spacecraft has ever made on an alien world. Their work in tracking the bounces, wobbles, and skids the probe made before coming to rest on Titan reveals new clues about the Saturn moon’s surface and helps plan future missions to moons and planets.
NASA must reinvest in nanotechnology research
October 16, 2012 11:38 am | News | CommentsThe United States may lose its leadership role in space to other countries unless it makes research and development funding and processes—especially in nanotechnology—a renewed and urgent priority, according to a new paper from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.
Jump from 24-miles high provides collective moment
October 15, 2012 1:01 pm | by Juan Carlos Llorca and Oskar Garcia, Associated Press | News | CommentsFelix Baumgartner stood poised in the open hatch of a capsule suspended above Earth, wondering if he would make it back alive. Twenty four miles below him, millions of people were right there with him, watching on the Internet and marveling at the wonder of the moment. Nine minutes later he landed, becoming the world's first supersonic skydiver.
SpaceX Dragon capsule launched to space station
October 7, 2012 9:30 pm | by MARCIA DUNN - AP Aerospace Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsA commercial cargo ship rocketed into orbit Sunday in pursuit of the International Space Station, the first of a dozen supply runs under a mega-contract with NASA. It was the second launch of a Dragon capsule to the orbiting lab by the California-based SpaceX company. This time was no test flight, however, and the spacecraft carried 1,000 pounds of key science experiments and other precious gear.
Skydiver aims to break sound barrier in free fall
October 2, 2012 3:55 am | by Marcia Dunn, AP Aerospace Writer | News | CommentsHis blood could boil. His lungs could overinflate. The vessels in his brain could burst. His eyes could hemorrhage. And, yes, he could break his neck while jumping from a mind-boggling altitude of 23 miles. But the risk of a gruesome death has never stopped "Fearless Felix" Baumgartner it won’t likely stop him next Monday over New Mexico, where he will attempt the highest, fastest free fall in history and try to become the first skydiver to break the sound barrier.
Spaceport is built, but who will come?
September 24, 2012 2:06 pm | by Jeri Clausing, Associated Press | News | CommentsNew Mexico Tourism Secretary Monique Jacobson says it will be New Mexico's Sydney Opera House. Virgin Galactic Chairman Richard Branson has hinted it will host the first of his new brand of lifestyle hotels. But the nearly quarter-of-a-billion-dollar Spaceport America in New Mexico project has yet to attract the sort of industrial and investment activity expected, even as it nears phase one completion.
New airport system facilitates smoother take-offs and landings
September 19, 2012 9:23 am | News | CommentsFor airline passengers who dread bumpy rides to mountainous destinations, help may be on the way. A new turbulence avoidance system, developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, has for the first time been approved for use at a U.S. airport and can be adapted for additional airports in rugged settings across the United States and overseas.
Researchers to test alien soils for use in heat shield
September 17, 2012 8:19 am | News | CommentsAn important test is coming up next week to see whether a heat shield made from the soil of the moon, Mars, or an asteroid will stand up to the searing demands of a plunge through the Earth's atmosphere. At stake is the possibility that future spacecraft could leave Earth without carrying a heavy heat shield and instead make one on the surface of another world and ride it home safely.
Astrophysicists get first images for Dark Energy Camera
September 17, 2012 7:08 am | News | CommentsWhen the Dark Energy Camera opened its giant eye last week and began taking pictures of the ancient light from far-off galaxies, more than 120 members of the Dark Energy Survey eagerly awaited the first snapshots. Those images have now arrived.
NASA awards Tahoe RF SBIR Phase II contract
September 17, 2012 4:59 am | News | CommentsThe NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has awarded a SBIR Phase II program to Tahoe RF Semiconductor Inc. for developing a miniaturized Radiation Hardened Beam-Steerable GPS Receiver Front End for NASA spacecrafts.
4DSP to commercialize NASA-licensed fiber optic technology
September 13, 2012 10:35 am | News | CommentsThis week, design company 4DSP has launched live industry demonstrations of licensed NASA fiber optic sensing and 3D shape rendering technology. Past fiber optic sensing solutions have been limited by both processing speed and high deployment costs, and 4DSP expects the new technology to offer a 20-fold improvement in performance.
U.S. research and development most prevalent in small number of regions
September 13, 2012 4:29 am | News | CommentsAccording to data from a 2008 Business R&D and Innovation Survey by the National Science Foundation, businesses perform the lion's share of their R&D activity in just a small number of geographic areas, particularly the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland area and the New York-Newark-Bridgeport area.
Orbiter finds evidence of ice in lunar crater
August 30, 2012 12:44 pm | News | CommentsScientists using the Mini-RF radar on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have successfully estimated the maximum amount of ice likely to be found inside a permanently shadowed lunar crater located near the moon's South Pole. Their results, which offer more definite support to prior findings, show as much as 5 to 10% of the material, by weight, could be patchy ice.
NASA launches twin satellites to radiation belts
August 30, 2012 8:23 am | by Marcia Dunn, AP Aerospace Writer | News | CommentsTwin U.S. satellites rocketed into orbit Thursday on a quest to explore Earth's treacherous radiation belts and protect the planet from solar outbursts. It's the first time two spacecraft are flying in tandem amid the punishing radiation belts, brimming with highly charged particles capable of wrecking satellites and endangering astronauts.
Space shuttle exhaust reveals behavior of atmospheric winds
August 29, 2012 11:45 am | by Karen C. Fox | News | CommentsWhen the Space Shuttle Atlantis took off from Cape Canaveral on its final flight more than a year ago, a research team took advantage of this opportunity to track the 350-ton plume of water vapor exhaust that it released shortly after launch. Crossing through the paths of seven separate sets of instruments, the vapor spread far faster than expected and quickly moved to the Arctic. Such information will be used to inform global circulation models.
Armstrong's small step a giant leap for humanity
August 27, 2012 7:06 am | by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsWhen man first harnessed fire, no one recorded it. When the Wright Brothers showed man could fly, only a handful of people witnessed it. But when Neil Armstrong took that first small step on the moon in July 1969, an entire globe watched from a quarter million miles away. Although more than half of the world's population wasn't alive then, it was an event that changed and expanded the globe.
Mars rover passes driving test, looks to hit road
August 23, 2012 4:14 am | by Alicia Chang, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsCuriosity’s test drive was a success, allowing scientists at NASA to begin planning their next move. An intriguing spot 1,300 feet will mark the rover’s first attempt to drill into bedrock. The ultimate destination is Mount Sharp, a towering mountain that looms from the ancient crater floor. Signs of past water have been spotted at the base, providing a starting point to hunt for the chemical building blocks of life.
NASA awards Caltech five-year JPL contract
August 20, 2012 7:40 am | News | CommentsNASA has awarded the California Institute of Technology a new five-year contract to manage the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The contractor's primary mission is to support NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) in carrying out specific objectives identified in the SMD Science Plan. The contract is for $8.5 billion.
ChemCam laser sets its sights on first Martian target
August 17, 2012 10:08 am | News | CommentsMembers of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover ChemCam team have received the first photos from the instrument's remote microimager. The successful capture of ChemCam's first 10 photos sets the stage for the first test bursts of the instrument's rock-zapping laser in the near future.
'Microthrusters' could propel small satellites
August 17, 2012 3:55 am | by Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office | News | CommentsA penny-sized rocket thruster may soon power the smallest satellites in space. The device, designed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, bears little resemblance to today's bulky satellite engines, which are laden with valves, pipes, and heavy propellant tanks. Instead, its design is a flat, compact square covered with 500 microscopic tips that, when stimulated with voltage, emit tiny beams of ions.
