NASA details best BIG Challenge concepts for future lunar missions
NASA has briefly detailed the eight lunar tech finalist concepts for future missions, ones that provide potential ways to illuminate the dark parts of the Moon, improve exploration, and more. The concepts come from university students across the US and will be presented as part of NASA’s Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge kicking off today.
The BIG Challenge is sponsored by the space agency in its collaboration with the Office of STEM Engagement’s Space Grant and Fellowship project, as well as the Space Technology Mission Directorate’s Game Changing Development.
NASA reports 3D Printed Rocket Engine Parts make it through 23 Hot-Fire Tests
Huntsville, AL – Future lunar landers might come equipped with 3D printed rocket engine parts that help bring down overall manufacturing costs and reduce production time. NASA is investing in advanced manufacturing – one of five industries of the future – to make it possible.
Through a series of hot-fire tests in November, NASA demonstrated that two additively manufactured engine components – a copper alloy combustion chamber and nozzle made of high-strength hydrogen resistant alloy – could withstand the same extreme combustion environments that traditionally manufactured metal structures experience in flight.
Hot-fire testing of an additively manufactured copper alloy combustion chamber and a nozzle made of a high-strength hydrogen resistant alloy. (NASA)
[1] – to make it possible.
Through a series of hot-fire tests in November, NASA demonstrated that two additively manufactured engine components – a copper alloy combustion chamber and nozzle made of high-strength hydrogen resistant alloy – could withstand the same extreme combustion environments that traditionally manufactured metal structures experience in flight.
Hot-fire testing of an additively manufactured copper alloy combustion chamber and a nozzle made of a high-strength hydrogen resistant alloy. (NASA)
“This 3D printed technology is a game-changer when it comes to reducing total hardware manufacturing time and cost,” said Tom Teasley, a test engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The Astrobotic CubeRover traverses the terrain in the Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations Laboratory regolith bin at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. 10, 2020. The regolith bin simulates the mechanical properties of the Moon’s surface. NASA and Astrobotic employees put the CubeRover through a series of more than 150 mobility tests over several days to evaluate and improve wheel design. (Credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett)
by Linda Herridge
NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center
Researchers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida recently put a new, small robotic rover through its paces inside a 120-ton bin of regolith rock and dust that simulates the lunar surface.
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NASA pushes Airport Communications into the Digital Age
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Washington, D.C. – Some of the best entertainment at the airport is all the action outside the window. Loaded luggage carriers zip past on their way to planes. Fuel trucks come and go. Catering trucks restock galleys. During winter, de-icing crews and snowplows add to the bustle.
This organized chaos is overseen by the ground-control managers as part of an airport-wide effort to ensure the safety of all ground operations. And as air travel has increased, the challenge of keeping track of all the moving parts has only grown.