INSIDER

INSIDER: Propulsion

Sticking the Landing on the Moon and Mars

Future spacecraft bound for the Moon or beyond will benefit from high-powered computer simulations underway at the University of Michigan that will provide a framework NASA can use to better...

INSIDER: Defense

Mission Will Test Drag Sail to Bring Rocket Back to Earth

A drag sail, developed at Purdue University, will be onboard a rocket and deploy at the end of the rocket’s mission to accelerate the vehicle’s deorbit. A drag sail passively...

INSIDER: Aerospace

NASA and Boeing Partner to Advance Aviation

NASA research projects are flying aboard a Boeing 787 Dreamliner as part of Boeing’s 2020 ecoDemonstrator program. Results from these flights will help continuing development of technology to...

INSIDER: Aerospace

Adranos Secures Government Contracts for Hypersonic Research

Adranos Inc., a Purdue University-affiliated company that has developed a high-performance solid rocket fuel called ALITEC for missile and space launch systems, has obtained...

INSIDER: Materials

Army Fields New Chemical Detection Technology

Chemical weapons pose a serious threat to civilian and warfighter lives, but technology from the U.S. Army Small Business Technology Transfer program reduces those risks. Researchers...

INSIDER: Defense

30mm Airburst Ammo Will Give Soldiers New Capabilities

Northrop Grumman Corporation received a contract from the U.S. Army’s Project Manager for Maneuver Ammunition Systems (PM-MAS) to develop the next generation airburst cartridge for...

INSIDER: Defense

Nontoxic, Salt-Based Propellant Could Power Rockets

In smaller spacecraft such as CubeSat satellites, a salt-based monopropellant is showing promise. The propellant, called FAM-110A, is a mixture of two commercially available salts. It...

INSIDER: Aerospace

Simulating Lunar Human Landing and Urban Air Mobility

NASA Ames researchers in the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) are designing the Human Landing System (HLS) to deliver humans to the lunar surface as part of the Artemis project. The...

INSIDER: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

New Heat Conduction Method for More Efficient Aircraft

An engineer at Virginia Tech has developed an aircraft thermal management technology that stands ready for adaptation into other areas. The planar bridging-droplet thermal diodes...

INSIDER: Aerospace

Unleashing the Potential of Tethered Drones

Wire-connected drones are a powerful new tool for improving cellular phone and Internet networks. Fitted with cellular transceivers, tethered drones could quickly be deployed to replace...

INSIDER: Defense

Commercial UAS Observes Earth for Days or Weeks at a Time

NASA and Swift Engineering of San Clemente, CA, completed a flight test of the Swift High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial system. The 72-foot solar-powered HALE...

INSIDER: Information Technology

Short-Range Air Defense System Will Counter Small Unmanned Aerial System Threats

Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAAD C2) system has been selected by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) as...

INSIDER: Aerospace

U.S. Army Orders Next-Generation Missile Warning Systems

BAE Systems received $179 million in total awards from the U.S. Army as part of the Limited Interim Missile Warning System (LIMWS) Quick Reaction Capability (QRC) program. This...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

New Enhanced Visual Acuity System Will Help Pilots Fly More Safely

Collins Aerospace Systems, a unit of Raytheon Technologies Corp., is helping the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps transition from analog to digital night vision systems with...

INSIDER: Defense

CubeSat to Help Guide Moon-Bound Spacecraft

A microwave oven-sized CubeSat weighing just 55 pounds will serve as the first spacecraft to test a unique, elliptical lunar orbit as part of NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System...

INSIDER: Test & Measurement

New Ways to Test Swarming Drones

The U.S. Army has implemented an outdoor system to test swarming drones that has a capacity of more than 1,500 times the volume of a typical testing facility.

The system tracks motion, creating...

INSIDER: Power

Battery Breakthrough Gives Boost to Electric Flight

To produce a rechargeable battery that power electric aircraft, scientists have endeavored to replace the graphite anodes currently used in batteries with lithium metal anodes. A new...

INSIDER: Test & Measurement

Missile Warning Satellite Completes Thermal Vacuum Testing

The world’s most advanced missile defense satellite recently and successfully came out of almost two months of harsh simulated space environmental testing. The U.S. Space...

INSIDER: Aerospace

Bell Joins U.S. Army Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft Program

Bell Textron Inc. has announced agreements with nine premier aerospace industry leaders to form Team Invictus. The companies are producing the Bell 360 Invictus prototype...

INSIDER: Aerospace

Argonne and Raytheon to Collaborate on Aircraft Engine Design

As fuel is burned in aircraft engines, temperatures reach extremely high levels, necessitating the use of thermal management strategies, such as effusion or film cooling, to...

INSIDER: Defense

Airbus Tests Autonomous Commercial Aircraft

Airbus has concluded tests of its Autonomous Taxi, Take-Off and Landing (ATTOL) project, achieving autonomous taxiing, takeoff, and landing of a commercial aircraft.

The ATTOL project...

INSIDER: Aerospace

NASA to Fly Personnel on Suborbital Spacecraft

For the first time in the agency’s history, NASA has initiated a new effort to enable NASA personnel to fly on future commercial suborbital spaceflights.

Commercial suborbital...

INSIDER: Aerospace

Training Drones for Acrobatic Maneuvers

Pilots have long used acrobatic maneuvers to test the limits of their airplanes – the same goes for flying drones. Researchers have developed a quadrotor helicopter that can learn to fly...

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Army Researchers Augment Combat Vehicles With AI

When soldiers enter a new environment, their mission demands they stay one step ahead of the enemy; however, they may find it challenging to maintain a high level of alertness if they're...

INSIDER: Wearables

Multifunctional Nanofiber Protects Against Explosions

Since World War I, the vast majority of American combat casualties has come not from gunshot wounds but from explosions. Today, most soldiers wear a heavy, bullet-proof vest to...

INSIDER: Aerospace

Nuclear Bomb Proves Compatible With F-15E Strike Eagle

Dropped from above 25,000 feet, the mock B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb was in the air for approximately 55 seconds before hitting and embedding in the lakebed, splashing a 40- to...

INSIDER: Aerospace

Army Drones Change Shape Mid-Flight

Soon, the U.S. Army will be able to deploy autonomous air vehicles that can change shape during flight. A new tool was developed that can rapidly optimize the structural configuration for unmanned...

INSIDER: Aerospace

NASA Helicopter Prepares for Trip to Mars

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter will travel with the Perseverance rover through 314 million miles to get to Mars. Once there, the Mars Helicopter Delivery System will set it free from the...

INSIDER: Aerospace

Drone Traffic Management System Wins NASA Invention of the Year

Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) to Enable Civilian Low Altitude Goods and Service Delivery by UAS technology was awarded 2020 NASA Government Invention...