Imagine trying to photograph wind. That’s similar to what NASA engineers dealt with during a recent effort to study how air moves around planes, rockets, and other kinds of aerospace vehicles. Air is invisible, but our understanding of how it flows is crucial for building better, safer aircraft. For 80 years, researchers used a technique […]
Category: Transformational Tools Technologies
NASA Tests Research Aircraft to Improve Air Taxi Flight Controls
Flying the friendly skies may one day include time-saving trips in air taxis to get from point A to point B – and NASA researchers are currently working to make that future a reality. They are using wind tunnel and flight tests to gather data on an electric Vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) scaled-down small […]
NASA Advances Pressure Sensitive Paint Research Capability
Many of us grew up using paint-by-number sets to create beautiful color pictures. For years now, NASA engineers studying aircraft and rocket designs in wind tunnels have flipped that childhood pastime, using computers to generate images from “numbers-by-paint” – pressure sensitive paint (PSP), that is. Now, advances in the use of high-speed cameras, supercomputers, and […]
NASA Tests Ultralight Antennas to Benefit Future National Airspace
NASA engineers are using one of the world’s lightest solid materials to construct an antenna that could be embedded into the skin of an aircraft, creating a more aerodynamic and reliable communication solution for drones and other future air transportation options. Developed by NASA, this ultra-lightweight aerogel antenna is designed to enable satellite communications where […]
NASA Studies Wind Effects and Aircraft Tracking with Joby Aircraft
NASA engineers began using a network of ground sensors in March to collect data from an experimental air taxi to evaluate how to safely integrate such vehicles into airspace above cities – in all kinds of weather. Researchers will use the campaign to help improve tools to assist with collision avoidance and landing operations and […]