Related papers: Material Girl Launch Report
Micro-X is an X-ray sounding rocket payload that had its first flight on July 22, 2018. The goals of the first flight were to operate a transition edge sensor (TES) X-ray microcalorimeter array in space and take a high-resolution spectrum…
The Micro-X sounding rocket flew for the first time on July 22, 2018, becoming the first program to fly Transition-Edge Sensors and multiplexing SQUID readout electronics in space. While a rocket pointing failure led to no time on-target,…
Model rockets have been employed in student projects, but very few papers in aerospace education offer concise summaries of activities at university-course levels. This paper aims to address this gap in the literature. The rockets used by…
A new idea for reusing rockets, based on the Energia 2 launch vehicle, using deployable wings is proposed. A mission design is planned with an expected maximum altitude of 500 m. Following that systems engineering was used to manage the…
The potential of Martian lava tubes for resource extraction and habitat sheltering highlights the need for robots capable to undertake the grueling task of their exploration. Driven by this motivation, in this work we introduce a legged…
Rocket technology, originally developed for military applications, has provided a low-cost observing platform to carry critical and rapid-response scientific investigations for over 70 years. Even with the development of launch vehicles…
A widely circulated infrared video from 2024 appears to show an air-to-surface missile engaging a small luminous "orb"-like object, producing debris and an apparent deflection of the missile's trajectory. This paper presents a comprehensive…
Ahead of the United States' crewed return to the moon in 2024, Intuitive Machines, under a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services contract, will land their Nova-C lunar lander in October 2021. At 30 meters altitude during the terminal…
The lightweighting and surface accuracy targeted for NGST's 8 m primary mirror has been demonstrated in a 0.5 m prototype. Now a second, 2 m prototype weighing 40 kg in total is being fabricated at the University of Arizona under the NGST…
Material deformation and failure under impact loading is a subject of active investigation in space science and often requires very specialized equipment for testing. In this work, we present the design, operational analysis and application…
This paper describes the process and challenges behind the design and development of a micro-gravity enabling aerial robot. The vehicle, designed to provide at minimum 4 seconds of micro-gravity at an accuracy of .001 g's, is designed with…
POEMMA Balloon with Radio (PBR) is a NASA super-pressure balloon mission building toward the proposed Probe Of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA) dual satellite mission. In its planned 2027 launch, PBR will study…
A 1 cm coin vibrational motor fixed to the center of a 4 cm square foam platform moves rapidly across granular media (poppy seeds, millet, corn meal) at a speed of up to 30 cm/s, or about 5 body lengths/s. Fast speeds are achieved with…
A concept of drone launched short range rockets (DLSRR) is presented. A drone or an aircraft rises DLSRR to a release altitude of up to 20 $km$. At the release altitude, the drone or an aircraft is moving at a velocity of up to 700 $m/s$…
This work presents the simulation results of the radio science experiment onboard the proposed Heavy Metal mission to the M-type asteroid (216) Kleopatra. Earth-based radiometric measurements (range and range-rate), complemented by images…
This paper presents a 3-DOF hopping robot with a human-like lower-limb joint configuration and a flat foot, capable of performing dynamic and repetitive jumping motions. To achieve both high torque output and a large hollow shaft diameter…
Launching large (> 1 g) well-characterized projectiles to velocities beyond 10 km/s is of interest for a number of scientific fields but is beyond the reach of current hypervelocity launcher technology. This paper reports the development of…
Aerospace structures often experience high strain rate events such as ballistic impact, crash, or crush. A material model has been developed that enhances the capability to simulate the dynamic response of composite materials under these…
A miniature robotic blimp, as one type of lighter-than-air aerial vehicle, has attracted increasing attention in the science and engineering field for its long flight duration and safe aerial locomotion. While a variety of miniature robotic…
The Micro-X sounding rocket is a NASA funded X-ray telescope payload that completed its first flight on July 22, 2018. This event marked the first operation of Transition Edge Sensors (TESs) and their SQUID-based multiplexing readout system…