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NASA to Hoist Its Sail: Solar Sail Mission Gets Ready for Launch

April 17, 2024

Abby Tabor

A NASA mission testing a new way of navigating our solar system is ready to hoist its sail into space – not to catch the wind, but the propulsive power of sunlight. The Advanced Composite Solar Sail System is targeting launch on Tuesday, April 23 (Wednesday, April 24 in New Zealand) aboard a Rocket Lab Electron…
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Langley Research Center, Tech Industry, Tech News

A Langley Intern Traveled 1,340 Miles to View a Total Solar Eclipse. Here’s What She Saw.

April 10, 2024

Julia L. Bradshaw

Emma Friedman, an Office of Communications intern at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, understood that the total solar eclipse on April 8th, 2024, was an out-of-this-world opportunity she couldn’t miss. Equipped with the proper eye protection, I traveled over one thousand miles to Dallas, Texas, to be in the eclipse’s path of totality.…
Read more: A Langley Intern Traveled 1,340 Miles to View a Total Solar Eclipse. Here’s What She Saw.
Langley Research Center, Tech Industry, Tech News

Media Invited to Learn About NASA’s New Solar Sail Technology

April 10, 2024

Julia L. Bradshaw

Media are invited to learn about NASA’s next-generation solar sail technology – known as the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System – that could enable ambitious lower-cost missions to expand our understanding of the Sun and solar system.  The event will occur from 10-11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 16, at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton,…
Read more: Media Invited to Learn About NASA’s New Solar Sail Technology
Ames Research Center, General, Langley Research Center, Small Spacecraft Technology Program, Space Technology Mission Directorate, Tech Industry, Tech News

NASA Next-Generation Solar Sail Boom Technology Ready for Launch

April 10, 2024

Tara Friesen

Sailing through space might sound like something out of science fiction, but the concept is no longer limited to books or the big screen. In April, a next-generation solar sail technology – known as the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System – will launch aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in…
Read more: NASA Next-Generation Solar Sail Boom Technology Ready for Launch
aeronautics, Airborne Science, Armstrong Flight Research Center, DC-8, Earth science, Langley Research Center, Science in the Air, Tech Industry, Tech News

NASA’s DC-8 Completes Final Mission, Set to Retire

April 9, 2024

Dede Dinius

After 37 years of successful airborne science missions, NASA’s DC-8 aircraft completed its final mission and returned to the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703 in Palmdale, California, on April 1. The DC-8 and crew were welcomed back with a celebratory water salute by the U.S Air Force Plant 42 Fire Department after completing…
Read more: NASA’s DC-8 Completes Final Mission, Set to Retire
aeronautics, Drones & You, Langley Research Center, Tech Industry, Tech News

NASA Langley Team to Study Weather During Eclipse Using Uncrewed Vehicles

April 5, 2024

Julia L. Bradshaw

A six-person team of researchers from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, will travel to Fort Drum, N.Y., to study changes in the Sun’s radiation as it reaches Earth before, during, and after the total solar eclipse April 8. Weather sensors similar to what is used on daily weather balloons by the National Weather…
Read more: NASA Langley Team to Study Weather During Eclipse Using Uncrewed Vehicles
Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, Langley Research Center, Tech Industry, Tech News

NASA Selects University Teams to Compete in 2024 RASC-AL Competition

April 5, 2024

Julia L. Bradshaw

Fourteen undergraduate and graduate teams from across the country were selected as finalists to compete in one of NASA’s longest running student challenges — the Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition. The competition fuels innovation and challenges undergraduate and graduate teams to develop new concepts to improve our ability to operate on…
Read more: NASA Selects University Teams to Compete in 2024 RASC-AL Competition
Advanced Air Mobility, Advanced Air Vehicles Program, aeronautics, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, Ames Research Center, Armstrong Flight Research Center, Drones & You, Flight Innovation, Glenn Research Center, Langley Research Center, Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology, Tech Industry, Tech News

NASA Noise Prediction Tool Supports Users in Air Taxi Industry

April 4, 2024

Dede Dinius

Several air taxi companies are using a NASA-developed computer software tool to predict aircraft noise and aerodynamic performance. This tool allows manufacturers working in fields related to NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission to see early in the aircraft development process how design elements like propellors or wings would perform. This saves the industry time and…
Read more: NASA Noise Prediction Tool Supports Users in Air Taxi Industry
Airborne Science, Langley Research Center, People of NASA, Tech Industry, Tech News, Women at NASA, Women’s History Month

Langley Celebrates Women’s History Month: The Langley ASIA-AQ Team

March 29, 2024

Julia L. Bradshaw

In honor of Women’s History Month, we caught up with the ASIA-AQ team on the other side of the Earth and asked the women from Langley about their inspirations and challenges as scientists. The ASIA-AQ (Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality) mission is an international cooperative field study designed to address local air…
Read more: Langley Celebrates Women’s History Month: The Langley ASIA-AQ Team
Langley Research Center, People of NASA, Tech Industry, Tech News, Women at NASA, Women’s History Month

Langley Celebrates Women’s History Month: Melanie Grande

March 29, 2024

Julia L. Bradshaw

Melanie Grande works in mission design and systems analysis at NASA’s Langley Research Center, where she has contributed to planning for human exploration of both the Moon and Mars. Starting in Langley’s Space Mission Analysis Branch (SMAB) as a Pathways co-op student in 2016, Melanie currently works as an aerospace engineer on the Mars Architecture…
Read more: Langley Celebrates Women’s History Month: Melanie Grande