Category
Spacecraft and mission hardware designed by an artificial intelligence may resemble bones left by some alien species, but they weigh less, tolerate higher structural loads, and require a fraction of the time parts designed by humans take to develop.
3 minutes read
In this episode, we talk about how a group of researchers at the University of Michigan have gained a thrust output 10x greater than what was thought to be possible by challenging preconceived limitations and how their breakthrough could hold the key for deep space travel.
It was believed that running more propellant through a Hall thruster would wreck its efficiency, but new experiments suggest they might power a crewed mission to Mars.
4 minutes read
Ever since the first close-up picture of Mars captured in 1965, the hazy and pink world has revealed its mysterious veil. The pace of human exploration of the unknown universe has never stopped. Over the past decades, we have discovered that today’s Martian wasteland hints at a once active world where volcanoes raged, and flash floods rushed over the land.
2 minutes read
In January 2023, the Caltech Space Solar Power Project (SSPP) is poised to launch into orbit a prototype, dubbed the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD), which will test several key components of an ambitious plan to harvest solar power in space and beam the energy back to Earth.
6 minutes read
In this episode, we talk about a microsatellite from MIT that is testing autonomous flight while in Earth's orbit. This technology could help improve the agility and robustness of future satellite missions.
Industry leaders gather to share knowledge and reward emerging talent.
Bion Space became one of the finalists in the Stratosphere Satellite research and engineering program. Their project became a part of a research probe sent into the stratosphere on November 19 to analyze the way lower gravity can affect the biomimetic process of bone-like tissue formation.
5 minutes read
In this episode, we talk about how a method leveraging ground data and satellite imagery can help prevent wetland losses.
The student winners of the High-Temperature Carbon-Fiber 3D printing challenge have ambitions to build better rovers.
In this episode, we talk about the moonshot plan to beam energy harnessed from the sun in space to anywhere on planet earth.
The origin of Mars’ two moons, Phobos and Deimos, is still unclear. To unravel this mystery, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is scheduled to launch in 2024.
7 minutes read
New research uses NASA satellite observations and advanced computing to chronicle wetlands lost (and found) around the globe.
Springs, squeegees and soda straws function with a common property — they are rigid in one direction and flexible in another. Structures like these, with properties that vary across dimensions, have played critical roles in human technology from the longbow to the booster rocket.
In this episode, we talk about NASA plans to crash land payloads on Mars to advance our understanding of the red planet.
