NASA

Nasa’s Robotic ‘Sniffer’ Confirms Space Station Leak, Repair

Nasa’s Robotic ‘Sniffer’ Confirms Space Station Leak, Repair

By Peter Sooy | Sep 16, 2017 @ 14:47 | In recent operations on the International Space Station, robotic operators were twice able to test and confirm the ability of the Robotic External Leak Locator (RELL) to “smell” in space.  Using the RELL instruments, operators successfully located a small leak from the station’s ammonia coolant loop, and […]

Robotic Gripper For Cleaning up Space Debris

Robotic Gripper For Cleaning up Space Debris

By Taylor Kubota | Jul 1, 2017 @ 18:33 | Researchers combined gecko-inspired adhesives and a custom robotic gripper to create a device for grabbing space debris. They tested their gripper in multiple zero gravity settings, including the International Space Station. Right now, about 500,000 pieces of human-made debris are whizzing around space, orbiting our planet […]

Laser-targeting A.I. Yields More Mars Science

Laser-targeting A.I. Yields More Mars Science

Jun 22, 2017 @ 05:00 | Artificial intelligence is changing how we study Mars. A.I. software on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has helped it zap dozens of laser targets on the Red Planet this past year, becoming a frequent science tool when the ground team was out of contact with the spacecraft. This same software […]

NASA Finds Evidence of Diverse Environments in Curiosity Rover

NASA Finds Evidence of Diverse Environments in Curiosity Rover

Jun 13, 2017 @ 15:01 | NASA has found diverse minerals in rocks examined by the Curiosity rover on lower Mount Sharp, Mars. These suggest that wet environmental conditions there changed over time. NASA scientists have found a wide diversity of minerals in the initial samples of rocks collected by the Curiosity rover in the […]

Unmanned Aircraft Traffic Management

Unmanned Aircraft Traffic Management

Jun 9, 2017 @ 14:03 | Two unmanned aircraft, designed and flown by Project Wing, travel on nearby flight paths thanks to traffic-management software that allows them to share airspace safely. These flights in Blacksburg were part of a national NASA campaign to research unmanned traffic management; the Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership was one […]

NASA Drone Traffic Management Tests Take Off in Reno

NASA Drone Traffic Management Tests Take Off in Reno

May 29, 2017 @ 13:02 | NASA and its partners are in the midst of testing the next, more complex version of its Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Drone Traffic Management (UTM) technologies with live, remotely-operated aircraft, or drones, at six different sites around the nation. The three-week campaign, known as Technology Capability Level 2 (TCL2) […]

Mars Rover Opportunity Begins Study of Perseverance Valley’s Origin

Mars Rover Opportunity Begins Study of Perseverance Valley’s Origin

May 16, 2017 @ 16:15 | NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has reached the main destination of its current two-year extended mission — an ancient fluid-carved “Perseverance Valley”  incised on the inner slope of a vast crater’s rim. As the rover approached the upper end of “Perseverance Valley” in early May, images from its cameras […]