technology highlights

Advancing Single-Photon Sensing Image Sensors to Enable the Search for Life Beyond Earth – NASA Science

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Advancing Single-Photon Sensing Image Sensors to Enable the Search for Life Beyond Earth – NASA Science

A NASA-sponsored team is advancing single-photon sensing Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) detector technology that will enable future NASA astrophysics space missions to search for life on other planets. As part of their detector maturation program, the team is characterizing sensors before, during, and after high-energy radiation exposure; developing novel readout modes to mitigate radiation-induced damage; and … Read more

NASA-funded Compact Radar Drives Big Changes in Airborne and Suborbital Radar Capabilities – NASA Science

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NASA-funded Compact Radar Drives Big Changes in Airborne and Suborbital Radar Capabilities – NASA Science

A collaboration between NASA and the small business Aloft Sensing produced a new compact radar system that will enable researchers to leverage High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) platforms to observe dynamic Earth systems. This new radar is small, provides highly sensitive measurements, and doesn’t require GPS for positioning; eventually, it could be used on vehicles … Read more

A New Alloy is Enabling Ultra-Stable Structures Needed for Exoplanet Discovery – NASA Science

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A New Alloy is Enabling Ultra-Stable Structures Needed for Exoplanet Discovery – NASA Science

A unique new material that shrinks when it is heated and expands when it is cooled could help enable the ultra-stable space telescopes that future NASA missions require to search for habitable worlds. One of the goals of NASA’s Astrophysics Division is to determine whether we are alone in the universe. NASA’s astrophysics missions seek … Read more

A New Hybrid System Could Enable Spacecraft Attitude Control Systems to Perform Scientific Measurements – NASA Science

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A New Hybrid System Could Enable Spacecraft Attitude Control Systems to Perform Scientific Measurements – NASA Science

A NASA-sponsored team is creating a new approach to measure magnetic fields by developing a new system that can both take scientific measurements and provide spacecraft attitude control functions. This new system is small, lightweight, and can be accommodated onboard the spacecraft, eliminating the need for the boom structure that is typically required to measure … Read more

c-FIRST Team Sets Sights on Future Fire-observing Satellite Constellations – NASA Science

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c-FIRST Team Sets Sights on Future Fire-observing Satellite Constellations – NASA Science

Two NASA-developed technologies are key components of a new high-resolution sensor for observing wildfires: High Operating Temperature Barrier Infrared Detector (HOT-BIRD), developed with support from NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), and a cutting-edge Digital Readout Integrated Circuit (DROIC), developed with funding from NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. A novel space-based sensor for … Read more

Unearthly Plumbing Required for Plant Watering in Space – NASA Science

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Unearthly Plumbing Required for Plant Watering in Space – NASA Science

NASA is demonstrating new microgravity fluids technologies to enable advanced “no-moving-parts” plant-watering methods aboard spacecraft. Crop production in microgravity will be important to provide whole food nutrition, dietary variety, and psychological benefits to astronauts exploring deep space. Unfortunately, even the simplest terrestrial plant watering methods face significant challenges when applied aboard spacecraft due to rogue … Read more

Quantum Sensing via Matter-Wave Interferometry Aboard the International Space Station – NASA Science

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Quantum Sensing via Matter-Wave Interferometry Aboard the International Space Station – NASA Science

Future space missions could use quantum technologies to help us understand the physical laws that govern the universe, explore the composition of other planets and their moons, gain insights into unexplained cosmological phenomena, or monitor ice sheet thickness and the amount of water in underground aquafers on Earth. NASA’s Cold Atom Lab (CAL), a first-of-its-kind … Read more

Entrepreneurs Challenge Winner PRISM is Using AI to Enable Insights from Geospatial Data – NASA Science

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Entrepreneurs Challenge Winner PRISM is Using AI to Enable Insights from Geospatial Data – NASA Science

NASA sponsored Entrepreneurs Challenge events in 2020, 2021, and 2023 to invite small business start-ups to showcase innovative ideas and technologies with the potential to advance the agency’s science goals. To potentially leverage external funding sources for the development of innovative technologies of interest to NASA, SMD involved the venture capital community in Entrepreneurs Challenge … Read more

Atomic Layer Processing Coating Techniques Enable Missions to See Further into the Ultraviolet – NASA Science

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Atomic Layer Processing Coating Techniques Enable Missions to See Further into the Ultraviolet – NASA Science

Astrophysics observations at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths often probe the most dynamic aspects of the universe. However, the high energy of ultraviolet photons means that their interaction with the materials that make up an observing instrument are less efficient, resulting in low overall throughput. New approaches in the development of thin film coatings are addressing this … Read more

Ultra-low-noise Infrared Detectors for Exoplanet Imaging – NASA Science

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Ultra-low-noise Infrared Detectors for Exoplanet Imaging – NASA Science

One of the ultimate goals in astrophysics is the discovery of Earth-like planets that are capable of hosting life. While thousands of planets have been discovered around other stars, the vast majority of these detections have been made via indirect methods, that is, by detecting the effect of the planet on the star’s light, rather … Read more