Latest Astronautics Stories
[Watch Video: Planetary Resources Tech Update] Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online An asteroid mining company this week has unveiled a space telescope it plans to implement in upcoming deep space missions. The telescope, a prototype of its Arkyd-100, is tentatively planned for a 2014 launch with the hopes of aiding in the harvest of precious metals and water from near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) by 2020. Planetary Resources is the company behind this lucrative...
HAMPTON, Va., March 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Is it a mature science or a future of endless possibilities? Have we reached our limits in research and design, or is it still possible to build a better airplane? (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) On Tuesday, March 6, at NASA's Langley Research Center here, Mark Lewis, former Chief Scientist of the Air Force will present, "Expanding the Envelope: Challenges and Opportunities in Aerospace...
NASA Chief Technologist Bobby Braun will present a lecture titled "Investments in our Future: Exploring Space through Innovation and Technology" on Wednesday, May 25, at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Starting at 7:45 p.m. EDT, the lecture will be held in the Kossiakoff Center, located at 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd., in Laurel, Md.Braun serves as the principal advisor and advocate on NASA matters concerning agency-wide technology policy and programs. He...
WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) honored NASA Chief Technologist Bobby Braun with the Von Karman Lectureship in Astronautics. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The award is given annually to someone who has performed notably and distinguished themselves technically in the field of astronautics. Braun was recognized for significantly advancing the understanding of the challenge of Mars...
By Louis Bergeron, Stanford UniversityStanford researchers have completed the first successful tests in zero gravity of a canopy for CubeSats "“ the tiny satellites that hitch rides on rockets sending larger satellites into orbit. The goal is to gather data on what happens when micrometeoroids slam into a satellite. Such impacts often knock out electronic equipment on satellites. The encounters are poorly understood, but the canopies could be a first step in eventually building "black...
Aerospace companies must consider offering newly recruited workers flexible job assignments and a variety of projects to remain competitive with other scientific fields of employment. This was among the conclusions of the "2009 Survey of Aerospace Student Attitudes" discussed at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Joint Societies Capitol Hill Reception, April 13, on Capitol Hill.Presented by Dr. Annalisa Weigel, Charles Stark Draper Career Development...
AMARO, Italy, Feb. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Eurotech, a leading provider of embedded products and technologies, today announces it has entered into a 5 million dollar, multi-year contract with Astronautics for design and delivery of the embedded computing engine for Astronautics' next generation avionics systems. Eurotech Catalyst Module XL, based on the Intel(R) Atom(TM) processor, has been selected as the platform for use in a family of Astronautics' airborne products. (Logo:...
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are developing a rocket aimed at keeping satellites that orbit the Earth on their proper track.The Mini-Helicon Plasma Thruster is a newly designed, smaller rocket that experts say operates on cheaper gas than the current propellants typically used for maintaining a satellite's orbit. In fact, it is the first rocket to run on nitrogen, the most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere."It could slash fuel consumption by 10 times that of...
China, for the first time, has launched and recovered a hybrid rocket, the University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Bejing says.The Beihang-2 was fired Friday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu province, with the head of the rocket parachuting to the ground for recovery about 15 minutes later, Xinhua, China's state-run news agency, reported Saturday.The low-cost and non-explosive rocket was designed by students at the university's School of Aeronautics, Xinhua...
There's a strange wave phenomenon that's plagued rocket scientists for years, a lurking threat with the power to destroy an engine at almost any time. For decades, scientists have had a limited understanding of how or why it happens because they could not replicate or investigate the problem under controlled laboratory conditions.Scientists generally believe that these powerful and unstable sound waves, created by energy supplied by the combustion process, were the cause of rocket failures in...
