In this episode, we talk about a new satellite system from NASA that leverages technologies used in other missions to accomplish the same performance that has been delivered by heritage satellites but smaller and less complex while also being a fraction of the cost.
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In places across the U.S., tree cover is shrinking – forests are burned by wildfires on the West Coast and drowned by rising sea levels along the East. From the ground, it’s hard to assess the scale of the losses and the effects disappearing trees have on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and climate change.
Known as COWVR and TEMPEST, the duo is demonstrating that smaller, less expensive science instruments can play an important role in weather forecasting.
The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is currently working with UARX Space to develop a specialised spacecraft that will transport multiple satellites to different desired orbits after separation from the launch vehicle.
3 minutes read
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.
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.
Like a car’s crumple zone, the experimental SHIELD lander is designed to absorb a hard impact.
4 minutes read
In this episode, we follow up on MIT + JPL’s experiment to make oxygen on Mars - MOXIE - that we first discussed in episode 5.
When you ask people to name a few cutting-edge technologies, they’ll probably mention artificial intelligence, quantum computing, autonomous vehicles, perhaps synthetic biology… but probably not welding. But while welding usually doesn’t make front page headlines, it has many interesting facets. It involves materials science, robotics, metallurgy, and, yes, machine learning. And you need welding for making all kinds of things: buildings, for example; bicycles, ships, aircraft, cars, kitchenware, power plants, turbines, body implants, textiles–and rockets.
3 minutes read
