Tag: Astrogram

2024 Year in Review – Highlights from NASA in Silicon Valley by Tiffany Blake As NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley enters its 85th year since its founding, join us as we take a look back at some of our highlights of science, engineering, research, and innovation from 2024. Ames Arc Jets Play Key Role in Artemis I Orion Spacecraft Heat Shield Findings  A block of Avcoat undergoes testing inside an arc jet test chamber at NASA Ames. The test article, configured with both permeable (upper) and non-permeable (lower)…

Read More

TIME Recognizes the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System In October, the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System a project managed at NASA Ames, was recognized by TIME Magazine as a “Top Invention of 2024”! TIME Magazine also recognized two other NASA missions this year: Europa Clipper, and the Deep Space Optical Communications experiment.    The Advanced Composite Solar Sail System is a demonstration of technologies that enable spacecraft to “sail on sunlight,” using solar radiation for propulsion. Results from this mission could provide an alternative to chemical and electric propulsion systems and guide the…

Read More

Swarming for Success: Starling Completes Primary Mission by Tara Friesen After ten months in orbit, the Starling spacecraft swarm successfully demonstrated its primary mission’s key objectives, representing significant achievements in the capability of swarm configurations.  Swarms of satellites may one day be used in deep space exploration. An autonomous network of spacecraft could self-navigate, manage scientific experiments, and execute maneuvers to respond to environmental changes without the burden of significant communications delays between the swarm and Earth.  The four CubeSate spacecraft that make up the Starling swarm have demonstrated success in autonomous…

Read More