Category: NASA

By Dipayan Mitra

Researchers from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have developed a novel hypersonic computational fluid dynamics code dubbed VULCAN-CFD and are using AI to optimize the tech. 

The highly capable model named after the Roman god of fire can accurately simulate the behavior of combustion in turbulent airflows in engines operating at subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic speeds. 

A hypersonic missile travels at Mach 5 or higher, which is five times faster than the speed of sound (3836 mph), or about 1 mile per second. Such missiles are extremely destructive in nature as most of the currently available air defense systems, and anti-ballistic systems can not bring them down. 

The major challenge that researchers face while developing hypersonic missiles is to make them travel at hypersonic speed without compromising the missile’s maneuvering capabilities. Developers need to analyze the air flows around the aircraft or weapon and its behavior as it passes through the engines and reacts with fuel, which is quite a tedious task. That is where NASA’s new tool comes into play. 

Continue reading… “NASA is using AI to optimize new Hypersonic Engine”

According to NASA, the spacesuit technologies are being tested for the upcoming Artemis missions on the Moon, which are set to take place in 2025. 

By Bhavya Sukheja

NASA tests spacesuits for upcoming Artemis missions on the Moon.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has recently revealed that it is developing spacesuit technologies for future astronauts on the Moon. In a new YouTube video, the US space agency informed that astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) are testing the new spacesuits with built-in water cooling systems in order to stay safe from Sun’s unfiltered rays. NASA has outlined its upcoming technologies in the clip titled “Keeping Cool in Space”.

“As NASA embraces commercial partnerships to optimize spacesuit technology as part of the Artemis program, the Spacesuit Evaporation Rejection Flight Experiment (SERFE) payload continues to be tested onboard the International Space Station,” NASA wrote in the caption of the clip. 

Continue reading… “NASA Tests Spacesuits With New Cooling System To Save Astronauts From Moon Temperatures”

By Joshua Hawkins

NASA just greenlit the study of several futuristic tech concepts, including one that could let you breathe on Mars. The projects are part of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program. The program wants to foster the exploration of tomorrow. As such, it has approved funding for early-stage studies on multiple types of futuristic tech, including new spacesuits and spacecraft designed to explore outer planets.

Continue reading… “NASA wants to make futuristic tech so we can breathe on Mars”

This “selfie” was created using a specialized pupil imaging lens inside of the NIRCam instrument that was designed to take images of the primary mirror segments instead of images of space. (NASA)

By Denise Chow

A million miles from Earth, the James Webb Telescope has snapped its first selfie from orbit.

NASA released the self-portrait Friday, along with several mosaic images that the telescope captured while gazing at its first star. The images were taken as part of a monthslong process to assess the health of the observatory’s various mirrors and instruments.

Nearly 50 days after Webb launched into space, the photos are early indicators that it is functioning as expected and is ready to begin its mission.

“This amazing telescope has not only spread its wings, but it has now opened its eyes,” Lee Feinberg, Webb’s optical telescope element manager at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said Friday in a news briefing.

But before Webb can begin capturing jaw-dropping images of galaxies, star clusters and planets, mission controllers need to be sure that the observatory’s huge primary mirror is properly aligned.

Measuring more than 21 feet across, its honeycomb-shaped primary mirror is designed to collect and focus light from objects in the cosmos. To fit inside its rocket for launch, however, the telescope’s mirror, along with several other components, were carefully folded up.

Over the course of several weeks, as the telescope journeyed to its final destination in orbit around the sun, it delicately unfurled. Each of the telescope’s 18 gold-coated, hexagonal mirror segments were moved into place.

Continue reading… “A million miles away, NASA’s James Webb Telescope snaps its first space selfie”

Increasing the pressure on the Red Planet would make it warmer and could rejuvenate oceans 

By Adam Smith

Nasa’s outgoing director Jim Green has said that Mars could be terraformed using a giant magnetic shield.

Dr Green had been the space agency’s planetary science division director for 12 years, during which he developed the ‘Confidence of Life Detection (CoLD) scale for verifying signals of potential alien life from other planets as well as publishing works on terraforming the Red Planet.

One of those ideas is blocking the Sun’s rays from Mars, which would allow it to trap more heat and make it habitable. The surface temperature on Mars is -62 degrees Celsius, with an atmosphere 100 times thinner than on Earth.

Continue reading… “Mars and Venus could be terraformed for humans with ‘giant shields’, Nasa director suggests”

By George Leopold

NASA plans to launch a pair of laser communications missions over the next nine months that would demonstrate high-bandwidth optical relays capable of someday transmitting streaming HD video and other data from planetary probes.

The launch of the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) scheduled for Dec. 4 will be followed as early as August 2022 by the launch of the Deep Space Optical Communications flight demonstration, program officials said this week. LCRD, testing laser communications from geosynchronous orbit, is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is overseeing development of the deep space mission that will operate between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter as part of NASA mission to study a giant metal asteroid.

The LCRD payload consists of two optical terminals, each with bi-directional optical communications capability along with switching circuitry that enables one terminal to receive signals, switch data to the second terminal and relay it in real time to one of two ground stations in California and Hawaii.

Continue reading… “NASA’s Laser Demonstrations Extend to Deep Space”

by Florina Spînu

NASA is asking American companies for ideas and solutions to transport Artemis astronauts around the lunar South Pole later this decade. And it says that its next lunar vehicle will not be your grandpa’s old Moon Buggy, but a modern space vehicle ready to conquer our natural satellite. 6 photos

As part of Artemis, NASA will put the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface and establish a long-term presence on the Moon. Once they arrive, the astronauts will need a lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) to navigate the rugged surface. 

The first Moon Buggy was introduced on the Apollo 15 mission. With the LRV, astronauts were able to explore 17.25 miles (27.76 km) of various geological features, improving the scientific return of each mission. They were also capable of gathering more than ten times the amount of samples that they would’ve collected on foot.

Continue reading… “NASA Is Looking for the Next-Gen Lunar Vehicle, Won’t Be Your Grandpa’s Moon Buggy”

The first eVTOL company to join the space agency’s national campaign to validate new technology

By Andrew J. Hawkins

NASA kicked off test flights of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft — colloquially referred to as “flying cars” — with Joby Aviation, the Northern California company that recently went public. The test flights are part of a national campaign by NASA to observe these experimental aircraft in action and gather data. 

Joby, which was founded in 2009, is the first eVTOL company to participate in NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) National Campaign. The test flights commenced Monday, August 30th, at the company’s airfield in Big Sur, California, and will run through September 10th, the agency said. 

Continue reading… “NASA is testing electric air taxis with Joby Aviation”