Aerospace Inventions
Innovations in aerospace industry
Hurry-Up Satellites
These Pentagon mavericks want to launch spacecraft within a week of taking the order. Wish them luck.
July 2012 |
By Todd Neff
The Flying Winnebago
For some reason the heli-camper never really caught on.
January 2012 |
By James R. Chiles
Is SpaceX changing the rocket equation?
1 visionary + 3 launchers + 1,500 employees = ?
January 2012 |
By Andrew Chaikin
Just One Word: Plastics
The world's first all-composite airplane may fly again.
November 2011 |
By Stephen Joiner
Lost in America
Airplanes that go missing are often untraceable. Why is effective tracking technology being ignored?
November 2011 |
By Michael Behar
Following the Race to the Moon
In their efforts to "ignite a new era of lunar exploration," the Google Lunar X Prize wants competitors to reach out through social media so the rest of us can follow along.
October 25, 2011 |
By Heather Goss
Distance Runners
Unmanned aerial vehicles redefine the term "nonstop flight."
September 2011 |
By Michael Milstein
It’s Alive!
Robonaut 2—the humanoid robot soon to be tested as an astronaut’s helper on the International Space Station—is being powered up for the first time this morning (screen shot at left). Since arriving on the space shuttle last February, the robot has been sitting on its pedestal, lifeless. It won’t be commanded to move for a [...]
August 22, 2011 |
By Tony Reichhardt
The Perfect Wind Storm
In the 1950s, engineers at Cleveland's brand-new supersonic wind tunnel battled shock waves, unstarts, and the local power company.
August 2011 |
By Jeremy Davis
From Zero to 250
Sikorsky’s X2 is more hot rod than helicopter.
July 2011 |
By George C. Larson, Member, NAA
A Brief History of Unmanned Aircraft
From bomb-bearing balloons to the Global Hawk.
May 18, 2011 |
By Ed Darack
The Mojave Launch Lab
A community of alternative rocketeers who may one day dominate the space biz.
May 2011 |
By Stephen Joiner
Found: Air France Flight 447
You've heard of the UAV (unmanned air vehicle). Now check out the AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle): The REMUS 6000. It looks like a yellow torpedo. It's a lot smarter. And it dives a lot deeper.Yesterday, the tenacious underwater 'bot located at long last the remains of Air France flight 447, w...
April 05, 2011 |
By Mike Klesius
Robo-Gull
Wow. Aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal would have loved this. German automation company Festo has built a "SmartBird" modeled on the herring gull that, according to the company, can take off, fly, and land autonomously—just by flapping its wings.The design features a number of innovations, including...
March 28, 2011 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Moments and Milestones: Can You Hear Me Now?
When radio communication took to the air.
March 2011 |
By George C. Larson, Member, NAA
A 747 for Star-gazing
How engineers altered a jumbo jet to carry the world's biggest airborne telescope.
January 2011 |
By Trudy E. Bell
How Things Work: Whole-Airplane Parachute
When everything else fails, or fails all at once, pull the parachute that saves the whole airplane.
January 2011 |
By Michael Klesius
Cat's Eyes
John Cunningham's wartime nickname concealed a vital military secret—the invention of airborne radar.
November 19, 2010 |
By Gavin Mortimer
