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Science At NASA

ScienceCasts: Horn-rims and Funny Stockings on the Space Station

About three quarters of ISS astronauts experience changes in the structure and function of their eyes.  An experiment on the space station called the “Fluid Shifts Study” is investigating these vision problems in space.

Visit http://science.nasa.gov/ for more.

http://www.nasa.gov/station

Voyager 2 Photograph of Jupiter

A photo of Jupiter. Took by Voyager with VGISS on July 02, 1979 at 06:01:35. Detail page on OPUS database.

Nine Notable Facts About the NACA

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) reached a major milestone in 2015.

On March 3, the agency that in 1958 would dissolve and reform as NASA celebrated its centennial.

NASA Langley, established in 1917 as the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, was the NACA's first field center.

During the March 24 talk, Tom Crouch, senior curator of aeronautics; John Anderson, curator of aerodynamics; and Roger Launius, associate director for collections and curatorial affairs discussed the formation of the NACA, the technological breakthroughs it generated, and the evolution of its research and development model.

Here are nine of the more interesting things they shared:

1. Charles Doolittle Walcott, a self-trained scientist and the man whose efforts led to the formation of the NACA, was best known not as an aeronautics expert, but as a paleontologist. "Throughout his long career," Crouch said, "he was really one of the most effective spokesmen for science and technology in the federal government."

2. Walcott was a good friend of aviation pioneer and Wright brothers rival Samuel Pierpont Langley, who was devastated in 1903 when his Aerodrome flying machine twice failed to take flight over the Potomoc River. Langley died in 1906. "One of Charles Doolittle Walcott's aims in life was to resurrect and honor the memory of his old friend Samuel Pierpont Langley," Crouch said — so much so that he once suggested naming all airplanes Langleys. Eventually, Walcott named the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory after his friend.

3. Prior to World War I, aeronautics was not a high priority for the U.S. government. On a list of the aeronautics appropriations for 14 countries in the period from 1908 to 1913, the United States was dead last with $435,000. That put the U.S. behind Brazil, Chile, Bulgaria, Spain and Greece. Topping the list: Germany, with $28 million.

4. In the late 1920s, Fred Weick, a Langley engineer, developed what became known as the NACA cowling, a type of fairing or cover used to reduce drag on aircraft engines. The cowling also improved engine cooling. In 1929, Weick won the Collier Trophy, U.S. aviation's more prestigious award, for this innovation.

5. By the 1930s, the world had entered a golden era of aeronautics — largely due to the NACA. "The NACA was aeronautical engineering," said Anderson. And some of the most important aeronautical innovations were taking place right here at Langley Research Center. It was during the 1930s that Langley aerodynamicist Eastman Jacobs developed a systematic way of designing an airfoil. That systematic design became known as the NACA airfoil, and aircraft makers worldwide began using it.

In 1934, during a high-speed wind tunnel test at Langley, a researcher named John Stack captured the first ever photograph of a shockwave on an airfoil. Credits: NASA

6. Aeronautics researchers in the 1930s were struggling to determine the cause of a peculiar phenomenon — as an object approached the speed of sound, drag greatly increased and lift drastically reduced. In 1934, a young Langley researcher named John Stack figured out why by photographing a high-speed wind tunnel test of an airfoil. The photo captured the culprit — a shockwave. It was the first time a shockwave had ever been photographed on an airfoil. "This was a dramatic intellectual contribution of the NACA that a lot of people don't really appreciate," said Anderson.

7. The woman who developed the format and style guide for the NACA's technical reports was a physicist from North Dakota named Pearl Young. She came to Langley in 1922, the first professional woman employed at the center, and was appointed Langley's first Chief Technical Editor in 1929. "The technical memorandums … became the model worldwide for how to increase knowledge and make it available to the broadest base of people that can use it," said Launius.

8. The NACA used to host an annual Aircraft Engineering Research Conference at Langley. The conferences were "a who's who of anybody involved in aeronautics in the United States," said Launius. "This interchange of information, of ideas, of concerns, becomes the critical component to fueling the research processes that led to some of the great breakthroughs of the early period before World War II." Among the notable attendees at the 1934 conference were Orville Wright, Charles Lindbergh and Howard Hughes.

A photo taken in Langley's Full Scale Tunnel during the 1934 Aircraft Engineering Research Conference at Langley. Orville Wright, Charles Lindbergh and Howard Hughes were in attendance. Credits: NASA

9. Following World War II, according to Launius, the NACA began to change its "model ever so slightly," making its first forays into public-private partnerships. Perhaps the earliest example of these partnerships was the Bell X-1, a joint project between the NACA, the U.S. Air Force and Bell Aircraft Company. The Bell X-1 became the first manned aircraft to break the sound barrier.

At Hangar, Raptors Find Shelter from the Storm

As Tropical Storm Hermine charged up the East Coast Sept. 2, 2016, Langley Air Force Base reached out to the Research Services Directorate and NASA Langley Research Center hangar manager Dale Bowser to see if NASA Langley could store a few F-22 Raptors. Even though the hangar in Hampton, Virginia, already had a large visitor — a C-130 from the Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore — the hangar was able to carefully sandwich in more than a dozen Air Force fighters and offer them protection from the wind. NASA Langley photographer David C. Bowman captured the image using a fish-eye lens and shooting down from the hangar's catwalk some 70 feet above the building's floor.

The hangar provides 85,200 square feet (7,915 square meters) of open space and large door dimensions that allow for entry of big aircraft such as Boeing 757s and other commercial or military transport-class planes. The hangar normally is home to 13 of NASA Langley's own research aircraft, when they are not out doing atmospheric science or aeronautics research. Still, there is enough space to share with neighboring Langley Air Force Base during emergencies. The facility is rated for at least a Category 2 hurricane. Built in the early 1950s, it was designed to fit a B-36. It can also accommodate the Super Guppy, which visited NASA Langley in 2014. 

Image credit: NASA/David C. Bowman

Curiosity Self-Portrait at Martian Sand Dune

This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at "Namib Dune," where the rover's activities included scuffing into the dune with a wheel and scooping samples of sand for laboratory analysis.

The scene combines 57 images taken on Jan. 19, 2016, during the 1,228th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The camera used for this is the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) at the end of the rover's robotic arm.

Namib Dune is part of the dark-sand "Bagnold Dune Field" along the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp. Images taken from orbit have shown that dunes in the Bagnold field move as much as about 3 feet (1 meter) per Earth year.

The location of Namib Dune is show on a map of Curiosity's route athttp://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=7640. The relationship of Bagnold Dune Field to the lower portion of Mount Sharp is shown in a map at PIA16064.

The view does not include the rover's arm. Wrist motions and turret rotations on the arm allowed MAHLI to acquire the mosaic's component images. The arm was positioned out of the shot in the images, or portions of images, that were used in this mosaic. This process was used previously in acquiring and assembling Curiosity self-portraits taken at sample-collection sites, including "Rocknest" (PIA16468), "Windjana" (PIA18390) and "Buckskin" (PIA19807).

For scale, the rover's wheels are 20 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter and about 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide.

MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover.

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl andhttp://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.

Life at the Lab: Dummies Crash Planes!

Get a behind-the-scenes look at how test dummies at NASA's Langley Research Center contribute to making the planes we fly on safer and developing space exploration vehicles. Work ranges from next-generation aircraft to water-impact tests that evaluate the splashdown of Orion astronaut crew capsules returning from space. 

Credit: NASA/Videographer: Gary Banziger; Writer and Co-Producer: Lily Daniels; Editor and Co-Producer: Kevin Anderson

NASA Weighs, Balances Orion for Ascent Abort Test

Researchers conducted mass property testing of the Orion crew module for the Ascent Abort Test-2 Friday, Feb. 16, at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The crew module, built at Langley, was lifted and rotated on its side to determine its weight and center of gravity, known as balance. To get accurate results during the uncrewed flight test planned for April 2019 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, this simplified crew module needs to have the same outer shape and approximate mass distribution of the Orion crew module that astronauts will fly in on future missions to deep space. The markings on the sides and bottom of the capsule used for the test will allow cameras to follow the spacecraft’s trajectory as well as the orientation of the spacecraft relative to the direction of travel for data collection.

Next, it will be shipped to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston where engineers will outfit it with the avionics, power, software, instrumentation and other elements needed to execute the flight test. This test will help ensure Orion’s launch abort system can carry astronauts to safety in the event of an emergency with its rocket during launch.

Image Credit: NASA/David C. Bowman

This is where they 3D print cool pieces that are needed for the ISS! They use cool carbon fiber materials to make the final product look smooth and flawless. They are also 3D printing that payload attachment fitting for the SLS Block 1B rocket!! I took a video of it actually printing so be on the lookout for that!

NASA Langley researchers and engineers are:

Playing key roles in the development of both the Space Launch System and the Orion crew capsule, which will carry astronauts beyond the moon to an asteroid, and eventually to the dusty surface of the Red Planet.

Leading the aerodynamic design of the Space Launch System by doing analysis and extensive testing in facilities such as the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel and Transonic Dynamics Tunnel.

Performing water impact testing and doing critical aerosciences and structural analyses for the Orion crew capsule. We also assist in analyzing and practicing recovery operations for Orion.

Developing Orion's Launch Abort System, or LAS, which is designed to protect astronauts in the unlikely event a problem arises during launch.

Spearheading work on advanced entry, descent, and landing (EDL) systems for planetary robotic missions and eventual human-scale missions to the surface of Mars. Understanding the aerodynamics and heating of atmospheric entry will enable more precise landing missions, while testing of new technologies will enable much larger missions to reach the Martian surface.

Developing safe and reliable autonomous systems to supplement human operations, including mechanisms that can work in deep space to maneuver, assemble and service structures. In the 2020s, NASA plans to use this kind of technology to retrieve an asteroid.

Leading the development of materials and structures for lightweight and affordable space transportation and habitation systems.

Solving the problems of deep space radiation protection, including leadership of the Human Research Program to develop a better understanding of space radiation on crew health and safety. Langley is also building prototype designs for habitats and storm shelters for use in space.

Working on sensor systems, known as Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT), that will equip future planetary landers with the ability to assess landing hazards and land safely and precisely on many different planetary surfaces, including the moon, Mars and other planetary bodies.

Developing the Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator, or HIAD, a device that could some day help cargo, or even people, land on another planet. HIAD could give NASA more options for future planetary missions, because it could allow spacecraft to carry larger, heavier scientific instruments and other tools for exploration.