Technology Highlights
Zero-Boil-Off Tank Experiments to Enable Long-Duration Space Exploration
Do we have enough fuel to get to our destination? This is probably one of the first questions that comes to mind whenever your family gets ready to embark on a road trip. If the trip is long, you will…
The CUTE Mission: Innovative Design Enables Observations of Extreme Exoplanets from a Small Package
Of the approximately 5,500 exoplanets discovered to date, many have been found to orbit very close to their parent stars. These close-in planets provide a unique opportunity to observe in detail the phenomena critical to the development and evolution of…
Mighty MURI brings the heat to test new longwave infrared radiometer
NASA's new Multiband Uncooled Radiometer Instrument (MURI) features a novel bolometer that detects infrared radiation without a cryogenic cooler, greatly reducing the cost and complexity of dispatching infrared radiometers into low-Earth orbit.
Digging Deeper to Find Life on Ocean Worlds
In February 2023, researchers from around the country gathered at a NASA-sponsored workshop to discuss the latest developments and a roadmap for a cryobot mission concept to drill through the icy crusts of Europa and Enceladus and search for life.
Deformable Mirrors in Space: Key Technology to Directly Image Earth Twins
Finding and studying Earth-like planets orbiting nearby stars is critical to understand whether we are alone in the universe. To study such planets and assess if they can sustain life, it is necessary to directly image them. However, these planets…
Deploying and Demonstrating Navigation Aids on the Lunar Surface
NASA is developing lunar navigation beacons to be deployed on spacecraft or the lunar surface to aid in localization and help future space vehicles determine position, velocity, and time to high accuracy.
New Software Enables Atmospheric Modeling with Greater Resolution
Next-generation software is making it easier for researchers, policy makers, and citizen scientists to model air quality and greenhouse gases using NASA meteorological data.
Tracing the Origin and Energization of Plasma in the Heliosphere
PROJECT: Solar Wind Pickup Ion Composition Energy Spectrometer (SPICES) SNAPSHOT: SPICES is a new sensor that will help scientists discover where matter originates and how it is energized throughout the solar system Imagine that you have a secret decoder ring…
Growing Yeast on the Moon to Study Radiation Risks to Human Explorers
PROJECT: Lunar Explorer Instrument for space biology Applications (LEIA) SNAPSHOT: An autonomous microfluidic culturing system with CubeSat heritage teams up with two state-of-the-art radiation detectors to measure how biology responds to the radiation and reduced gravity environment on the lunar…
HOTTech Attempts to Tackle Venus
Specialized test rig determines how new technologies fare in extreme conditions PROJECT: Hot Operating Temperature Technology (HOTTech) Program; NASA Glenn Extreme Environment Rig (GEER) SNAPSHOT: Projects in NASA’s HOTTech Program are developing technologies that will operate on the surface of…