Aerospace

Measuring 'Alien' Particles From Outside Our Solar System

NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft has allowed researchers to measure neutral "alien" particles entering our solar system from interstellar space; a first look at the constituents of the interstellar medium, the matter b ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 31 2012 - 4:00pm

Engineering Roleplaying

Hey, you got simulation in my roleplay! Hey, you got roleplay in my simulation! Wait, it's two great tastes that taste great together! Thus my students surprised me when they tossed in a role-based stance into what I thought was a straightforward sys ...

Article - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Feb 6 2012 - 7:20pm

State Of The Picosatellite Universe

While I've been strangely silent, the space industry is surging ahead.  I have, off the record, been told of small companies looking to invest $10s of millions into launchers, of new picosatellite designs (like Cubesat and Tubesat) being bandied about ...

Article - Project Calliope - Feb 12 2012 - 1:20am

Happy Valentine's Day: Love, European Space Agency

It's Valentine's Day and the wonders of nature are getting in on the act.  Luckily, ESA was there to capture the memories. Here, for your enjoyment, are the numerous ways the cosmos and the Earth hearts you.   If you want to see their slideshow w ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 14 2012 - 1:28pm

Should There Be A New Space Race?

In 1957, when the USSR launched Sputnik, it began a new era in the Cold War.  The Race to Space. Senator Lyndon Johnson worried the commies could rain nuclear bombs down on us from the high ground, making him the perfect guy to run NASA and because it was ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Mar 6 2012 - 1:31pm

A Supersonic Biplane For The 21st Century

Supersonic passenger jets are so 1970s. The Concorde has been gone for almost 10 years and most people don't miss it.  But its fundamental concept- people want to get places faster- has not gone away. Now an MIT researcher says he has come up with a c ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 20 2012 - 3:30pm

Robocopters Versus Pirates- Coming This Summer To A Theater Of War Near You

The Multi-Mode Sensor Seeker (MMSS), a sensor which is a mix of high-definition cameras, mid-wave infrared sensors and laser-radar (LADAR) technology, will start airborne tests this summer. It will be placed on a robotic helicopter called Fire Scout and ca ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 5 2012 - 5:13pm

TWINS Watch A 2 Million MPH Solar Storm

On April 5, 2010, the sun spewed a two million-mile-per-hour stream of charged particles toward  the magnetosphere, the invisible magnetic fields surrounding Earth. As the particles interacted with the magnetic fields, the incoming stream of energy caused ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 12 2012 - 10:30pm

Like Not Hitting Icebergs? Thank The Titanic- And Space

100 years yesterday, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg while crossing the North Atlantic and sank, killing over 1500 passengers and crew.  ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 13 2012 - 2:30pm

Orbital Debris And Space Weather?

I've some background in space weather-- the influence of solar activity on Earth and near-Earth orbits.  My new job as a professor at Capitol College has brought me into contact with several bright students working on using picosatellites to test our ...

Article - Project Calliope - May 8 2012 - 1:10pm