Engineering - Blog Posts

Really Tiny Reactors

I would be keen to see really tiny reactors becoming ubiquitous.  We need more than the typical 1000 MWe class reactors to help solve the world's energy and climate problems.  The problem with this class of Large Reactor is that they cost Billions and take between 4 and 6 years to build.

What if a reactor were the size of a tea kettle and the whole of the reactor, shielding and power production could fit in something the size of a tall refrigerator?  These reactors could be rolled out much more quickly at  low capital cost and very low fuel costs. 

In my opinion the requirements for such a reactor are:

Inherent and passive safety of operation, 

At least 5 years before reactor needs to be refueled, 

An ability to run unattended,

Production of both electricity and heat as required,

Ability to load follow electricity demand,

Use of either naturally occurring Uranium or Low Enriched Uranium.

I would hope that there would be a range of power outputs from this family of reactors.  I would hope that a reactor as small as 3 kW electric could be produced.  The size of 3 kW was chosen as that seems to be the typical small petrol generator size.  

This size of reactor does exist in the form of research reactors.  According to World Nuclear Association web site on research reactors, reactors with heat outputs as low as 0.1 kW thermal exist.  

An example of the kind of reactor (although not for the production of electricity) is the SLOWPOKE reactor designed by Atomic Energy Canada Limited (AECL).  There have been different variations of this reactor but the standard one has an output of 20 kW thermal.  AECL have done the design for a larger one with an output of between 2 and 10 Mw thermal to be used as a source of district heating.  To me this shows that the class of reactors I am interested in is possible from a technical point of view. Of course, like most things associated with Nuclear Power the technical aspects are only a small part of the ability to introduce the technology.

Vent session to all my engineers and women in or out of the field:

So when did a college degree make someone worthy of being in a group chat???? It’s a expensive piece of paper for: 1. An experience 2. To show skills that were learn. Which by time you finish and get a job most of them you don’t use or out of date.

Why is engineering so unexclusive sometimes especially to poc and women. I just don’t get it, sometimes I hate it here. Why did I I pick this field someone please remind me? I swear sometimes in engineering I’m a a**hole magnet. Someone please save me🧐🥺🙄. I’m not going to let a 50+ wash up old man try to tell me I don’t fit into tech because I’m black, don’t have my degree and I’m a woman. 🖕🏾

NASA Langley researchers are working on various projects to improve commercial airliner cockpit simulators to reduce the risk of loss-of-control in flight. This includes improving simulator fidelity for stall training, and also includes a partnership with the U.S. Navy, at the Disorientation Research Device Facility in Dayton, Ohio, to develop and evaluate synthetic vision displays to help pilots recover from upsets or unusual attitudes.

NASA Langley Research Center

NASA Langley researchers are experts in modeling and simulations for entry, descent and landing, working on missions since the Viking lander in 1976. In this episode, we explore the challenges of guiding landers like Mars InSight through the Martian atmosphere for a safe landing. 

NASA InSight launched on March 5, 2018.

For more, visit https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/

Retired Major General Finds Balance as NASA Engineer

In many ways, the military and NASA couldn’t be different. Frank Batts has managed to navigate both worlds with precision, grace and just a bit of humor. After serving as a major general in the Army National Guard, he made the transition to working on computers as an engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

“They’re opposites, but that keeps me balanced,” Batts said. “In the Army, you’re out there blowing things up in the field. Here, you’re trying to build electronic computer components.”

Batts is a senior data-systems engineer with the Advanced Measurement and Data Systems Branch at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. He has been at Langley for 34 years and has seen the tools of the job change.

“Technology has changed tremendously,” said the 63-year-old Batts. “When we started out in the eighties, we were all using proprietary operating systems on real-time computers that were not widely used or understood. Now we’re pretty much using PCs for our work.”

In addition to his NASA career, Batts served his country with distinction in the armed forces – and made history along the way. He retired from the Army National Guard in 2012 as a major general and commander of the 29th Infantry Division in Fort Belvoir, Virginia - the first African-American to hold that post. He also served in the West Virginia and Tennessee national guards.

The adventure begins

Batts’ journey started in 1976, when he was accepted at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro and joined the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) there.

While at the university, Batts entered a cooperative program with the Union Carbide Corp., working in a gaseous diffusion plant in the nuclear division. After graduating from North Carolina A&T, Batts worked fulltime as an electrical engineer with Union Carbide, and as an engineering officer in the West Virginia National Guard.

“Initially when you get out of college, you’re competing with engineers from other schools,” Batts said. “I found out pretty soon that regardless of what school you came from, it got down to who can really deliver projects on time and on budget.”

Batts was pursuing a master’s degree in electronics engineering at North Carolina A&T around the time IBM introduced personal computers. He was told PCs were a fad and not worth investing in, but he glimpsed the future and got on board.

“It looked like to me it was the way to go,” he said.

But then in 1979, the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania experienced a partial core meltdown, releasing radioactive gas into the atmosphere.

The incident changed his professional trajectory, as the Union Carbide-run K-25 facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where Batts was working, enriched uranium for nuclear power plants.

“Prior to Three Mile Island there were plans to construct nuclear plants all over the country, and K-25’s future was secure,” Batts said. “After Three Mile Island, all of those plans were dropped; we had more enriched uranium than was needed and K-25 was slated for closure.”

That meant he needed another job. While looking to move on, Batts found that NASA Langley was using a computing system similar to the one he used while he was with Union Carbide. He sets his sights on Langley, and has been on center as an electronic engineer since 1984 .

Two worlds in one

Batts’ military and NASA worlds were peacefully cohabitating until the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Batts was soon activated and from May 2004 through April 2005, served with the 54th Field Artillery Brigade Headquarters as the mobile liaison team chief in Kabul, Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

“With the Army comes the leadership responsibilities. I managed a few thousand troops, and that’s no fun. I make an effort in my career at NASA to stay on the technical side rather than on the administrative side of things,” he said with a laugh.

What is fun for Batts, besides getting in more rounds at the golf course in his spare time, is serving as an example for engineering students though NASA’s outreach programs.

Batts, as the first engineer in his family, said he realizes the importance of recognizing those who blazed the trail for others.

“I have to pay homage to the people who came before me,” he said. “Before I was able to command a battalion, there was some else who commanded one, and did a credible enough job so that I had an opportunity.”

Batts also enjoys the reaction of people when they learn he works for NASA.

“There’s a lot of prestige that goes with working at NASA,” he said. “When people find out you work at NASA, they seem to look at you a bit differently.”

Eric Gillard NASA Langley Research Center

Langley Research Center Centennial Event

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, right, and Langley Research Center Director, Dr. David E. Bowles, left, poses for a photo with staff dressed in space suits on Langley Research Center's Centennial float on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016, at Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA.

Photo Credit: NASA Langley Research Center

Power of Pink Provides NASA with Pressure Pictures

They say you show your true colors when you’re under pressure.

Turns out the old saying works for models being tested in wind tunnels as well, specifically those coated with a unique Pressure-Sensitive Paint (PSP) that NASA engineers have used for more than 25 years.

Read more: https://www.nasa.gov/aero/power-of-pink-provides-nasa-with-pressure-pictures

The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is one of the largest buildings in the world (525 ft 10 in tall, 716 ft long, and 518 ft wide) . It was originally built for assembly of Apollo/Saturn vehicles and was later modified to support Space Shuttle operations and now, Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for Exploration Mission 1.

In this view looking up from the floor of the VAB at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, four levels of new work platforms are now installed on the north and south sides of High Bay 3. The G-level work platforms were most recently installed, at about the 14th floor level. Below them are the H, J and K level platforms.

The G-level work platforms are the fourth of 10 levels of work platforms that will surround and provide access to SLS. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing upgrades and modifications to VAB High Bay 3, including installation of the new work platforms, to prepare for NASA’s journey to Mars.

Video: Orion Swing Drop at NASA Langley Research Center

A test version of the Orion spacecraft is pulled back like a pendulum and released, taking a dive into the 20-foot-deep Hydro Impact Basin at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Crash-test dummies wearing modified Advanced Crew Escape Suits are securely seated inside the capsule to help engineers understand how splashdown in the ocean during return from a deep-space mission could impact the crew and seats. Each test in the water-impact series simulates different scenarios for Orion’s parachute-assisted landings, wind conditions, velocities and wave heights the spacecraft and crew may experience when landing in the ocean upon return missions in support of the journey to Mars. 

The Future of Monitoring Air Quality from Space

TEMPO’s measurements from geostationary orbit (GEO) will create a revolutionary dataset that provides understanding and improves prediction of air quality (AQ) and climate forcing.

The KORUS-AQ airborne science experiment taking to the field in South Korea this spring is part of a long-term, international project to take air quality observations from space to the next level and better inform decisions on how to protect the air we breathe.

Before a new generation of satellite sensors settle into orbit, field missions like KORUS-AQ provide opportunities to test and improve the instruments using simulators that measure above and below aircraft, while helping to infer what people breathe at the surface.

These geostationary instruments will make up a northern hemisphere air quality constellation to analyze their respective regions.Credits: Image Courtesy of Andreas Richter (University of Bremen) and Jhoon Kim (Yonsei University)

“We want to move beyond forecasting air pollution, we want to influence strategies to improve it,” said Jim Crawford, a lead scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “This is where satellite observations can play an important role.”

Existing low Earth orbit (LEO) instruments have established the benefit of space-based views of air pollution. From space, large areas can be viewed consistently, whereas from the ground only discrete (often single) points can be measured. As Dave Flittner, TEMPO project scientist, explains, a geostationary (GEO) air-quality constellation can accurately track the import and export of air pollution as it is transported by large-scale weather patterns.

TEMPO, or Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution, is one instrument on the road to improving air quality from space. According to Flittner, hardware has recently begun development and TEMPO is on track to be finished no later than fall of 2017, and available for launch on a to be selected commercial communications satellite.

For the first time, TEMPO will make accurate hourly daytime measurements of tropospheric pollutants (specifically ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, formaldehyde, and aerosols) with high resolution over the U.S., Canada and Mexico. With help from related international missions, these observations provide a complete picture of pollution sources in the northern hemisphere and how they influence air quality from local to global scales.

These geostationary instruments will make up a northern hemisphere air quality constellation to analyze their respective regions.

Credits: Image Courtesy of Andreas Richter (University of Bremen) and Jhoon Kim (Yonsei University)

About 22,000 miles above the equator, the Korean Aerospace Research Institute’s GEMS (The Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer), the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-4/UVN, and NASA’s TEMPO, will maintain their positions in orbit as the Earth rotates, covering a majority of the area from East Asia through greater North America and Europe. Together, these instruments will make up a northern hemisphere air quality constellation.. All three of these instruments analyze the same pollutant concentrations in their respective region, from the morning to evening.

Another critical part of the global air quality constellation are the LEO instruments, such as TROPOMI (a.k.a. Sentinel-5P), which will launch in late 2016 and provide a common reference for the three GEO sensors, allowing for a more accurate assessment of air quality within each region. 

Denise Lineberry

NASA Langley Research Center

Curiosity Self-Portrait at Martian Sand Dune

This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at "Namib Dune," where the rover's activities included scuffing into the dune with a wheel and scooping samples of sand for laboratory analysis.

The scene combines 57 images taken on Jan. 19, 2016, during the 1,228th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The camera used for this is the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) at the end of the rover's robotic arm.

Namib Dune is part of the dark-sand "Bagnold Dune Field" along the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp. Images taken from orbit have shown that dunes in the Bagnold field move as much as about 3 feet (1 meter) per Earth year.

The location of Namib Dune is show on a map of Curiosity's route athttp://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=7640. The relationship of Bagnold Dune Field to the lower portion of Mount Sharp is shown in a map at PIA16064.

The view does not include the rover's arm. Wrist motions and turret rotations on the arm allowed MAHLI to acquire the mosaic's component images. The arm was positioned out of the shot in the images, or portions of images, that were used in this mosaic. This process was used previously in acquiring and assembling Curiosity self-portraits taken at sample-collection sites, including "Rocknest" (PIA16468), "Windjana" (PIA18390) and "Buckskin" (PIA19807).

For scale, the rover's wheels are 20 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter and about 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide.

MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover.

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl andhttp://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.

New Gravity Map Gives Best View Yet Inside Mars

A new map of Mars' gravity made with three NASA spacecraft is the most detailed to date, providing a revealing glimpse into the hidden interior of the Red Planet.

"Gravity maps allow us to see inside a planet, just as a doctor uses an X-ray to see inside a patient," said Antonio Genova of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts. "The new gravity map will be helpful for future Mars exploration, because better knowledge of the planet's gravity anomalies helps mission controllers insert spacecraft more precisely into orbit about Mars. Furthermore, the improved resolution of our gravity map will help us understand the still-mysterious formation of specific regions of the planet." Genova, who is affiliated with MIT but is located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is the lead author of a paper on this research published online March 5 in the journal Icarus.

The improved resolution of the new gravity map suggests a new explanation for how some features formed across the boundary that divides the relatively smooth northern lowlands from heavily cratered southern highlands. Also, the team confirmed that Mars has a liquid outer core of molten rock by analyzing tides in the Martian crust and mantle caused by the gravitational pull of the sun and the two moons of Mars. Finally, by observing how Mars' gravity changed over 11 years – the period of an entire cycle of solar activity -- the team inferred the massive amount of carbon dioxide that freezes out of the atmosphere onto a Martian polar ice cap when it experiences winter. They also observed how that mass moves between the south pole and the north pole with the change of season in each hemisphere.

The map was derived using Doppler and range tracking data collected by NASA's Deep Space Network from three NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars: Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), Mars Odyssey (ODY), and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Like all planets, Mars is lumpy, which causes the gravitational pull felt by spacecraft in orbit around it to change. For example, the pull will be a bit stronger over a mountain, and slightly weaker over a canyon.

Slight differences in Mars' gravity changed the trajectory of the NASA spacecraft orbiting the planet, which altered the signal being sent from the spacecraft to the Deep Space Network. These small fluctuations in the orbital data were used to build a map of the Martian gravity field.

The gravity field was recovered using about 16 years of data that were continuously collected in orbit around Mars. However, orbital changes from uneven gravity are tiny, and other forces that can perturb the motion of the spacecraft had to be carefully accounted for, such as the force of sunlight on the spacecraft's solar panels and drag from the Red Planet's thin upper atmosphere. It took two years of analysis and computer modeling to remove the motion not caused by gravity.

"With this new map, we've been able to see gravity anomalies as small as about 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) across, and we've determined the crustal thickness of Mars with a resolution of around 120 kilometers (almost 75 miles)," said Genova. "The better resolution of the new map helps interpret how the crust of the planet changed over Mars' history in many regions."

For example, an area of lower gravity between Acidalia Planitia and Tempe Terra was interpreted before as a system of buried channels that delivered water and sediments from Mars' southern highlands into the northern lowlands billions of years ago when the Martian climate was wetter than it is today. The new map reveals that this low gravity anomaly is definitely larger and follows the boundary between the highlands and the lowlands. This system of gravity troughs is unlikely to be only due to buried channels because in places the region is elevated above the surrounding plains. The new gravity map shows that some of these features run perpendicular to the local topography slope, against what would have been the natural downhill flow of water.

An alternative explanation is that this anomaly may be a consequence of a flexure or bending of the lithosphere -- the strong, outermost layer of the planet -- due to the formation of the Tharsis region. Tharsis is a volcanic plateau on Mars thousands of miles across with the largest volcanoes in the solar system. As the Tharsis volcanoes grew, the surrounding lithosphere buckled under their immense weight.

The new gravity field also allowed the team to confirm indications from previous gravity solutions that Mars has a liquid outer core of molten rock. The new gravity solution improved the measurement of the Martian tides, which will be used by geophysicists to improve the model of Mars' interior.

Changes in Martian gravity over time have been previously measured using the MGS and ODY missions to monitor the polar ice caps. For the first time, the team used MRO data to continue monitoring their mass. The team has determined that when one hemisphere experiences winter, approximately 3 trillion to 4 trillion tons of carbon dioxide freezes out of the atmosphere onto the northern and southern polar caps, respectively. This is about 12 to 16 percent of the mass of the entire Martian atmosphere. NASA's Viking missions first observed this massive seasonal precipitation of carbon dioxide. The new observation confirms numerical predictions from the Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model – 2010.

The research was funded by grants from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission and NASA's Mars Data Analysis Program.

Bill Steigerwald

NASA, Air Force Perform Rescue Operations on Boeing Starliner

NASA astronaut Suni Williams cannonballs off a Boeing CST-100 Starliner test article after NASA engineers and Air Force pararescuemen climbed aboard the spacecraft to simulate rescuing astronauts in the event of an emergency during launch or ascent.

The Starliner is designed for land-based returns, but simulating rescue operations at NASA’s Langley Research Center’s Hydro Impact Basin in Hampton, Virginia, ensures flight crew and ground support are versed in what to do during a contingency scenario.

For more information about rescue and safety operations, see Commercial Crew: Building in Safety from the Ground Up in a Unique Way.

Credit: NASA/David C. Bowman

Nine Notable Facts About the NACA

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) reached a major milestone in 2015.

On March 3, the agency that in 1958 would dissolve and reform as NASA celebrated its centennial.

NASA Langley, established in 1917 as the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, was the NACA's first field center.

During the March 24 talk, Tom Crouch, senior curator of aeronautics; John Anderson, curator of aerodynamics; and Roger Launius, associate director for collections and curatorial affairs discussed the formation of the NACA, the technological breakthroughs it generated, and the evolution of its research and development model.

Here are nine of the more interesting things they shared:

1. Charles Doolittle Walcott, a self-trained scientist and the man whose efforts led to the formation of the NACA, was best known not as an aeronautics expert, but as a paleontologist. "Throughout his long career," Crouch said, "he was really one of the most effective spokesmen for science and technology in the federal government."

2. Walcott was a good friend of aviation pioneer and Wright brothers rival Samuel Pierpont Langley, who was devastated in 1903 when his Aerodrome flying machine twice failed to take flight over the Potomoc River. Langley died in 1906. "One of Charles Doolittle Walcott's aims in life was to resurrect and honor the memory of his old friend Samuel Pierpont Langley," Crouch said — so much so that he once suggested naming all airplanes Langleys. Eventually, Walcott named the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory after his friend.

3. Prior to World War I, aeronautics was not a high priority for the U.S. government. On a list of the aeronautics appropriations for 14 countries in the period from 1908 to 1913, the United States was dead last with $435,000. That put the U.S. behind Brazil, Chile, Bulgaria, Spain and Greece. Topping the list: Germany, with $28 million.

4. In the late 1920s, Fred Weick, a Langley engineer, developed what became known as the NACA cowling, a type of fairing or cover used to reduce drag on aircraft engines. The cowling also improved engine cooling. In 1929, Weick won the Collier Trophy, U.S. aviation's more prestigious award, for this innovation.

5. By the 1930s, the world had entered a golden era of aeronautics — largely due to the NACA. "The NACA was aeronautical engineering," said Anderson. And some of the most important aeronautical innovations were taking place right here at Langley Research Center. It was during the 1930s that Langley aerodynamicist Eastman Jacobs developed a systematic way of designing an airfoil. That systematic design became known as the NACA airfoil, and aircraft makers worldwide began using it.

In 1934, during a high-speed wind tunnel test at Langley, a researcher named John Stack captured the first ever photograph of a shockwave on an airfoil. Credits: NASA

6. Aeronautics researchers in the 1930s were struggling to determine the cause of a peculiar phenomenon — as an object approached the speed of sound, drag greatly increased and lift drastically reduced. In 1934, a young Langley researcher named John Stack figured out why by photographing a high-speed wind tunnel test of an airfoil. The photo captured the culprit — a shockwave. It was the first time a shockwave had ever been photographed on an airfoil. "This was a dramatic intellectual contribution of the NACA that a lot of people don't really appreciate," said Anderson.

7. The woman who developed the format and style guide for the NACA's technical reports was a physicist from North Dakota named Pearl Young. She came to Langley in 1922, the first professional woman employed at the center, and was appointed Langley's first Chief Technical Editor in 1929. "The technical memorandums … became the model worldwide for how to increase knowledge and make it available to the broadest base of people that can use it," said Launius.

8. The NACA used to host an annual Aircraft Engineering Research Conference at Langley. The conferences were "a who's who of anybody involved in aeronautics in the United States," said Launius. "This interchange of information, of ideas, of concerns, becomes the critical component to fueling the research processes that led to some of the great breakthroughs of the early period before World War II." Among the notable attendees at the 1934 conference were Orville Wright, Charles Lindbergh and Howard Hughes.

A photo taken in Langley's Full Scale Tunnel during the 1934 Aircraft Engineering Research Conference at Langley. Orville Wright, Charles Lindbergh and Howard Hughes were in attendance. Credits: NASA

9. Following World War II, according to Launius, the NACA began to change its "model ever so slightly," making its first forays into public-private partnerships. Perhaps the earliest example of these partnerships was the Bell X-1, a joint project between the NACA, the U.S. Air Force and Bell Aircraft Company. The Bell X-1 became the first manned aircraft to break the sound barrier.

NASA Begins Work to Build a Quieter Supersonic Passenger Jet

The return of supersonic passenger air travel is one step closer to reality with NASA's award of a contract for the preliminary design of a "low boom" flight demonstration aircraft. This is the first in a series of 'X-planes' in NASA's New Aviation Horizons initiative, introduced in the agency's Fiscal Year 2017 budget.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced the award at an event Monday at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia.

The return of supersonic passenger travel is one step closer to reality with NASA's award of a contract for the preliminary design of a low boom flight demonstrator aircraft. This is the first in a series of X-planes in NASA's New Aviation Horizons initiative, introduced in the agency’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget.Credits: NASA

"NASA is working hard to make flight cleaner, greener, safer and quieter – all while developing aircraft that travel faster, and building an aviation system that operates more efficiently," said Bolden. "To that end, it's worth noting that it's been almost 70 years since Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 as part of our predecessor agency's high speed research. Now we're continuing that supersonic X-plane legacy with this preliminary design award for a quieter jet that may break the barrier to accessible, affordable supersonic passenger flight."

This is an artist’s concept of a possible Low Boom Flight Demonstration Quiet Supersonic Transport (QueSST) X-plane design. The award of a preliminary design contract is the first step towards the possible return of supersonic passenger travel – but this time quieter and more affordable.Credits: Lockheed Martin

NASA selected a team led by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company of Palmdale, California, to complete a preliminary design for Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST). The work will be conducted under a task order against the Basic and Applied Aerospace Research and Technology (BAART) contract at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

After conducting feasibility studies and working to better understand acceptable sound levels across the country, NASA's Commercial Supersonic Technology Project asked industry teams to submit design concepts for a piloted test aircraft that can fly at supersonic speeds, creating a supersonic "heartbeat" – a soft thump rather than the disruptive boom currently associated with supersonic flight.

"Developing, building and flight testing a quiet supersonic X-plane is the next logical step in our path to enabling the industry's decision to open supersonic travel for the flying public," said Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission.

Lockheed Martin will receive about $20 million over 17 months for QueSST preliminary design work. The Lockheed Martin team includes subcontractors GE Aviation of Cincinnati and Tri Models Inc. of Huntington Beach, California.

The company will develop baseline aircraft requirements and a preliminary aircraft design with specifications, and provide supporting documentation for concept formulation and planning. This documentation would be used to prepare for the detailed design, building and testing of the QueSST jet. Performance of this preliminary design also must undergo analytical and wind tunnel validation.

The detailed design and building of the QueSST aircraft, conducted under the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate's Integrated Aviation Systems Program, will fall under a future contract competition. In addition to design and building, this Low Boom Flight Demonstration (LBFD) phase of the project also will include validation of community response to the new, quieter supersonic design.

NASA's 10-year New Aviation Horizons initiative has the ambitious goals of reducing fuel use, emissions and noise through innovations in aircraft design, ground operations and the national air transportation system.

The New Aviation Horizons X-planes will typically be about half-scale of a production aircraft and likely are to be piloted. Design-and-build will take several years with aircraft starting their flight campaign around 2020, depending on funding.

For more information about NASA's aeronautics research, visit:

www.nasa.gov/aero

NASA Invites Public to Send Artwork to an Asteroid

NASA is calling all space enthusiasts to send their artistic endeavors on a journey aboard NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft. This will be the first U.S. mission to collect a sample of an asteroid and return it to Earth for study.

OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch in September and travel to the asteroid Bennu. The #WeTheExplorers campaign invites the public to take part in this mission by expressing, through art, how the mission’s spirit of exploration is reflected in their own lives. Submitted works of art will be saved on a chip on the spacecraft. The spacecraft already carries a chip with more than 442,000 names submitted through the 2014 “Messages to Bennu” campaign.

“The development of the spacecraft and instruments has been a hugely creative process, where ultimately the canvas is the machined metal and composites preparing for launch in September,” said Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It is fitting that this endeavor can inspire the public to express their creativity to be carried by OSIRIS-REx into space.”

A submission may take the form of a sketch, photograph, graphic, poem, song, short video or other creative or artistic expression that reflects what it means to be an explorer. Submissions will be accepted via Twitter and Instagram until March 20. For details on how to include your submission on the mission to Bennu, go to:

http://www.asteroidmission.org/WeTheExplorers

“Space exploration is an inherently creative activity,” said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, Tucson. “We are inviting the world to join us on this great adventure by placing their art work on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, where it will stay in space for millennia.”

The spacecraft will voyage to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of at least 60 grams (2.1 ounces) and return it to Earth for study. Scientists expect Bennu may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and the source of the water and organic molecules that may have made their way to Earth.

Goddard provides overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. The University of Arizona, Tucson leads the science team and observation planning and processing. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver is building the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program.  NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages New Frontiers for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information on OSIRIS-Rex, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex

See what goes on behind the gates of the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC)!

There are amazing opportunities at each center. Learn more at: https://intern.nasa.gov  

So you want to work at NASA?

An out of this world career or internship might not be as far out of reach as you think. Check out all the ways you can get involved!

If you’re a student…

Our internships are the perfect place to start! We offer paid internships for spring, summer, and fall semesters to U.S. citizens currently attending an accredited university full time. Learn more at: https://intern.nasa.gov

Seriously considering a job in the Federal civil service? Check out the Pathways Internship Program which allows you to do multiple work tours while you finish school: http://nasajobs.nasa.gov/studentopps/employment/iep.htm

If you’re a recent graduate…

If you’re a U.S. citizen who has graduated from an accredited college or university within the past 2 years (or 6 if you have served in the military), then the our Recent Graduates program is just for you. Accepted applicants are placed in a 1 year career development program with the possibility of an additional year, or even granted term or permanent jobs within the agency. Learn more at: http://nasajobs.nasa.gov/studentopps/employment/rgp.htm.

If you’re a professional…

You can search for our job openings any time at USAJobs.com. Create an account, then use the USAJobs resume builder. Want to make sure your resume maximizes your opportunity for a job at NASA? Check out our Applicant Guide: https://applyonline.nasa.gov/applicant_guide.html.

You can then search for our job openings here: https://nasai.usajobs.gov/.

If you want to be an astronaut…

Astronaut candidate applications are accepted every few years- including right now! Get yours in before the current application closes on February 18, 2016.

Do you have a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field and 3 years of related professional experience? You might be eligible. Find out more and apply online at: https://nasai.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/423817000.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Veritasium and I

My second version of wheeled robot on arduino. Here you can find description of the project, designs, sketches and links to used parts: https://vk.com/topic-73778892_35223613

Feel the same during the lectures with Aerospace Eng...

Where are my STEM girls at?

I knew that there was a large difference in the number of guys vs girls in STEM but as an enviromental science (a reletively balanced field) focused student I never really understood or felt its impact. Then I walked into my computer science class today and realised I was the only girl in the room.

I get it now.

“step outside your comfort zone”

What does the title ‘engineer’ mean to you?  What is an engineer? An engineer in my eyes is a collective noun that encompasses a vast array of modern day professionals pushing the boundaries of human evolution. Still too broad for you? A common question I am met with as a professional civil/ structural engineer is ‘what is an engineer’? If you really want to know, grab yourself a cup of coffee, class is in session.

My name is Shaun Howard and i’ve been a professional engineer since June 2013. I graduated at Griffith University on the Gold Coast, Australia with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering. I’m from Brisbane, Australia but I don’t reside anywhere at the moment, on the hop is where I like to be. Since graduating, i’ve worked on a diverse range of projects throughout Australia within the Civil and Structural space. I’m a fitness addict, I love to travel and I love the term ‘engineering’. The term is extremely broad and I am here to explore what it means to be an engineer and the boundaries engineers are currently pushing to evolve the human race. 

Welcome to ‘The Modern Engineer’. Follow my journey as I bounce around the globe to give you a professional perspective on various, significant infrastructure. 

“to broaden the horizon, is to explore the unknown”

#themodernengineer

Confidence gap

This university life is meant to be easy right? My brother occasionally takes the piss and implies I sit around all day doing f’all. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to make my brain remember calculus and partial differentiation, whilst planning PAL sessions for the first years, looking after a family, travelling the 65 miles each way, yada, yada, yada. At least the hubster has apologised for his behaviour yesterday, my psyche feels a bit less fragile and strong enough to keep at it.

Disappointingly today was meant to be a ‘fast day’, but an open packet of flour tortillas and a jar of Nutella put paid to that. At least I skipped lunch and have a low cal dinner so it’s not the end of the world (unless my legs walk me over to the University shop and make me buy chocolate).

I wish I was capable of independent thought, I’m really struggling to get into this whole PAL leader thing. How do I get students who know little to teach each other a new subject? Its got to be fun, a game, and I can’t teach of course. Adult brain needs to kick in so I can break this down into the sum of it’s parts and get through it. I want to it to ‘be’ my comfort zone, rather than be the furthest thing from it.

The Benefits of Civil Engineering Failures

Structural complications, disasters, and failures in general are inevitable in the world of engineering, and have occurred countless times since the development of the modern world. Though a failed project may seem like backtracking, there is perhaps no better field to benefit from the phrase “learn from your mistakes.”

When a building falls, a dam breaks, or a bridge deteriorates sooner than expected, the first step a successful civil engineer takes is going back and reviewing the blueprints, making note of any area where they may have miscalculated or misjudged. Looking back on some of the most infamous civil engineering failures throughout history, the projects that followed them almost always took note of why their precedents fizzled.

Most recently, The Oroville Dam in California experienced structural difficulties after going through heavy storms this past February. A hole in the dam opened up, causing water levels to rise tremendously. Almost 200,000 people were forced to leave their homes to avoid danger. However, thanks to the quick thinking of those in charge, the water levels were dropped before the storms hit in anticipation, leading to much lower levels of flooding.

What’s important to take away from this incident is the fact that much of our country’s structures are now outdated, most having been made in the early 20th century. Engineers now have the opportunity to take a step back and look at the main causes for the Oroville Dam’s failure. What materials can be used to repair and prevent the dam from experiencing another crisis? A question all will be asking, thus changing the way engineers look at dams in the future.

For example, in between the years of 1907 and 1916, the Quebec Bridge underwent several updates before finally being deemed safe. Upon its first completion, the bridge collapsed, killing 86 workers and calling for an overhaul. The second bridge, though much stronger, collapsed again, killing another 13. After their third attempt, engineers chose to use nickel alloy rather than steel, which proved to be the safest, most sound option.

Whenever a structure fails, whether it be a building, dam, or bridge for whatever reason, these should be taken as opportunities for innovation. The reasons for why they were unsuccessful give engineers the chance to reassess the structures, and potentially develop newer, safer means of maintaining their stability.

STIR_LING

Hyperloop in Dubai 2020 services - virtualengineering.teck

My Virtualization technology services!

The future is here – The transition from Dubai to Abu Dhabi in under 12 minutes

IS VIRTUAL RALITY A HINGING FRUIT?

[DIGITAL REALITY] is a writing mix about a universe simulated within a machine, virtual transcendence, and technology without morality. It’s a different sort of future, one where every individual can be The God of the Machine.

This playlist contains 16 of my favorite tracks for writing a futuristic setting, cyberpunk, and science-fiction. The music is heavily digitized, harsh, electronic, and yet… somehow peaceful. You have logged-in to a place without law, to a land without boundaries. But– such a place is full of danger. The System’s watchdogs will be hunting you down. Illegal applications can save you, and kill you. And, of course, sexually transmitted malware is always a possibility. Wear protection. You have a personal firewall, use it.

This is not a game.

♪ Listen to this mix on 8tracks ♪

Looking for more writing playlists? Check out my other mixes:

[Writing In The Dark] Unobtrusive & relaxing!

[Writing About Love] Welcome to Feels City, population: You.

[Writing & Fighting!] Round One, Fight!

[Writing About Horror] Don’t look, it’s right behind you!

[Royalty And Noble Blood] Crowns for thieves, daggers for kings!

Oh, and if you want more writerly content, then follow my blog for your daily dose of prompts, advice, and writer positivity: maxkirin.tumblr.com!

THE MOTION OF PLANETS!

First real footage released from Magic Leap, the 3D visual technology company Google invested in