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Piezoelectric-Based Power Conversion for Lunar Surface Systems

By |2025-04-18T12:52:00-04:00April 18th, 2025|Categories: NASA News|Tags: , , , , , |

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) ECF 2024 Quadchart Boles.pdf Jessica Boles University of California, Berkeley This project will develop piezoelectric-based power conversion for small power systems on the lunar surface. These piezoelectric systems can potentially offer high power density to significantly reduce size, weight, and cost. They can also [...]

Lightweight Deployable Solar Reflectors

By |2025-04-18T12:51:00-04:00April 18th, 2025|Categories: NASA News|Tags: , , , , , |

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) ECF 2024 Quadchart Arya.pdf Manan Arya Stanford University This grant will design and develop lightweight, low-cost modular solar reflectors that can be stowed for transport in a compact volume. These reflectors can potentially be used to reflect and concentrate sunlight into a permanently shadowed [...]

Stabilized Z-Pinch Fusion Driven Electromagnetic Propulsion

By |2025-04-18T12:48:00-04:00April 18th, 2025|Categories: NASA News|Tags: , , , , , |

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) ECF 2024 Quadchart Underwood.pdf Thomas Underwood University of Texas, Austin This project will demonstrate a fusion propulsion system based on z-pinch which is a method of compressing plasma by running electrical current though it. The z-pinch will compress and heat the plasma to produce [...]

Origami-inspired Diffractive Sail for Directed Energy Propulsion

By |2025-04-18T12:48:00-04:00April 18th, 2025|Categories: NASA News|Tags: , , , , , |

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) ECF 2024 Quadchart Oguri.pdf Kenshiro Oguri Purdue University This project will investigate one of the key fundamental challenges associated with directed-energy light-sailing technology, similar to solar sails but powered by a laser beam pointed at the sail instead of by the sun. The effort [...]

Concept Demonstration of Directed Energy Propulsion with Metasurface Lightsails

By |2025-04-18T12:47:00-04:00April 18th, 2025|Categories: NASA News|Tags: , , , , , |

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) ECF 2024 Quadchart Ilic.pdf Ognjen Ilic University of Minnesota This effort will aim to demonstrate the feasibility of directed-energy propulsion through a combination of computational simulations and prototype testing. The project will model the interactions between lightsail material and a laser beam that can [...]

Development of a MW-Scale High-Voltage Multiphase Dual-Rotor Generator and Rectifier for a PMAD in an NEP System

By |2025-04-18T12:46:00-04:00April 18th, 2025|Categories: NASA News|Tags: , , , , , |

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) ECF 2024 Quadchart Beik.pdf Omid Beik Colorado School of Mines This project will design a power management and distribution (PMAD) system that can be coupled with a megawatt-scale nuclear power generation system for nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) that is suitable for a Mars mission. [...]

A Fond Farewell: NASA’s C-130 Begins New Mission in California

By |2025-04-18T12:40:00-04:00April 18th, 2025|Categories: NASA News|Tags: , , , , , |

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s C-130, now under new ownership, sits ready for its final departure from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Friday, April 18, 2025. NASA/Garon Clark NASA’s C-130 Hercules, fondly known as the Herc, went wheels up at 9:45 a.m., Friday, April 18, [...]

Hubble Spots a Squid in the Whale

By |2025-04-18T07:00:00-04:00April 18th, 2025|Categories: NASA News|Tags: , , , , , , |

Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights [...]

Origins Uncertain: ‘Skull Hill’ Rock

By |2025-04-17T17:59:00-04:00April 17th, 2025|Categories: NASA News|Tags: , , , , , |

Explore This Section Perseverance Home Mission Overview Rover Components Mars Rock Samples Where is Perseverance? Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Mission Updates Science Overview Objectives Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Perseverance Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter [...]

NASA Studies Wind Effects and Aircraft Tracking with Joby Aircraft

By |2025-04-17T17:00:00-04:00April 17th, 2025|Categories: NASA News|Tags: , , , , , |

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) One of several NASA distributed sensing ground nodes is set up in the foreground while an experimental air taxi aircraft owned by Joby Aviation sits in the background near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on March 12, 2025. NASA is collecting [...]

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