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By NASA
NASA’s RASSOR (Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot) undergoes testing to extract simulated regolith, or the loose, fragmental material on the Moon’s surface, inside of the Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations Lab at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 27. Ben Burdess, mechanical engineer at NASA Kennedy, observes RASSOR’s counterrotating drums digging up the lunar dust and creating a three-foot berm.
The opposing motion of the drums helps RASSOR grip the surface in low-gravity environments like the Moon or Mars. With this unique capability, RASSOR can traverse the rough surface to dig, load, haul, and dump regolith that could later be broken down into hydrogen, oxygen, or water, resources critical for sustaining human presence.
The primary objective was testing the bucket drums that will be used on NASA’s IPEx (In-Situ Resource Utilization Pilot Excavator). The RASSOR robot represents an earlier generation technology that informed the development of IPEx, serving as a precursor and foundational platform for the advanced excavation systems and autonomous capabilities now being demonstrated by this Moon-mining robot.
Image credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft is seen during its “aluminum bird” systems testing at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. The test verified how the aircraft’s hardware and software work together, responding to pilot inputs and handling injected system failures. Lockheed Martin / Garry Tice NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft successfully completed a critical series of tests in which the airplane was put through its paces for cruising high above the California desert – all without ever leaving the ground.
“The idea behind these tests is to command the airplane’s subsystems and flight computer to function as if it is flying,” said Yohan Lin, the X-59’s lead avionics engineer at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.
The goal of ground-based simulation testing was to make sure the hardware and software that will allow the X-59 to fly safely are properly working together and able to handle any unexpected problems.
Any new aircraft is a combination of systems, and identifying the little adjustments required to optimize performance is an important step in a disciplined approach toward flight.
“We thought we might find a few things during the tests that would prompt us to go back and tweak them to work better, especially with some of the software, and that’s what we wound up experiencing. So, these tests were very helpful,” Lin said.
Completing the tests marks another milestone off the checklist of things to do before the X-59 makes its first flight this year, continuing NASA’s Quesst mission to help enable commercial supersonic air travel over land.
Simulating the Sky
During the testing, engineers from NASA and contractor Lockheed Martin turned on most of the X-59’s systems, leaving the engine off. For example, if the pilot moved the control stick a certain way, the flight computer moved the aircraft’s rudder or other control surfaces, just as it would in flight.
At the same time, the airplane was electronically connected to a ground computer that sends simulated signals – which the X-59 interpreted as real – such as changes in altitude, speed, temperature, or the health of various systems.
Sitting in the cockpit, the pilot “flew” the aircraft to see how the airplane would respond.
“These were simple maneuvers, nothing too crazy,” Lin said. “We would then inject failures into the airplane to see how it would respond. Would the system compensate for the failure? Was the pilot able to recover?”
Unlike in typical astronaut training simulations, where flight crews do not know what scenarios they might encounter, the X-59 pilots mostly knew what the aircraft would experience during every test and even helped plan them to better focus on the aircraft systems’ response.
NASA test pilot James Less sits in the cockpit of the X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft as he participates in a series of “aluminum bird” systems tests at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California.Lockheed Martin / Garry Tice Aluminum vs. Iron
In aircraft development, this work is known as “iron bird” testing, named for a simple metal frame on which representations of the aircraft’s subsystems are installed, connected, and checked out.
Building such a testbed is a common practice for development programs in which many aircraft will be manufactured. But since the X-59 is a one-of-a-kind airplane, officials decided it was better and less expensive to use the aircraft itself.
As a result, engineers dubbed this series of exercises “aluminum bird” testing, since that’s the metal the X-59 is mostly made of.
So, instead of testing an “iron bird” with copies of an aircraft’s systems on a non-descript frame, the “aluminum bird” used the actual aircraft and its systems, which in turn meant the test results gave everyone higher confidence in the design,
“It’s a perfect example of the old tried and true adage in aviation that says ‘Test what you fly. Fly what you test,’” Lin said.
Still Ahead for the X-59
With aluminum bird testing in the rearview mirror, the next milestone on the X-59’s path to first flight is take the airplane out on the taxiways at the airport adjacent to Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, where the X-59 was built. First flight would follow those taxi tests.
Already in the X-59’s logbook since the fully assembled and painted airplane made its public debut in January 2024:
A Flight Readiness Review in which a board of independent experts from across NASA completed a study of the X-59 project team’s approach to safety for the public and staff during ground and flight testing. A trio of important structural tests and critical inspections that included “shaking” the airplane to make sure there were no unexpected problems from the vibrations. Firing up the GE Aerospace jet engine for the first time after installation into the X-59, including a series of tests of the engine running with full afterburner. Checking the wiring that ties together the X-59’s flight computer, electronic systems, and other hardware to be sure there were no concerns about electromagnetic interference. Testing the aircraft’s ability to maintain a certain speed while flying, essentially a check of the X-59’s version of cruise control. The X-59 Tests in 59
Watch this video about the X-59 aluminum bird testing. It only takes a minute. Well, 59 seconds to be precise. About the Author
Jim Banke
Managing Editor/Senior WriterJim Banke is a veteran aviation and aerospace communicator with more than 40 years of experience as a writer, producer, consultant, and project manager based at Cape Canaveral, Florida. He is part of NASA Aeronautics' Strategic Communications Team and is Managing Editor for the Aeronautics topic on the NASA website.
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Last Updated May 15, 2025 EditorJim BankeContactMatt Kamletmatthew.r.kamlet@nasa.gov Related Terms
Aeronautics Advanced Air Vehicles Program Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Ames Research Center Armstrong Flight Research Center Commercial Supersonic Technology Glenn Research Center Integrated Aviation Systems Program Langley Research Center Low Boom Flight Demonstrator Quesst (X-59) Quesst: The Vehicle Supersonic Flight View the full article
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By NASA
5 min read
Ultra-low-noise Infrared Detectors for Exoplanet Imaging
A linear-mode avalanche photodiode array in the test dewar. The detector is the dark square in the center. Michael Bottom, University of Hawai’i 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 than detecting the planet’s light directly. For example, when a planet passes in front of its host star, the brightness of the star decreases slightly.
However, indirect methods do not allow for characterization of the planet itself, including its temperature, pressure, gravity, and atmospheric composition. Planetary atmospheres may include “biosignature” gases like oxygen, water vapor, carbon dioxide, etc., which are known to be key ingredients needed to support life as we know it. As such, direct imaging of a planet and characterization of its atmosphere are key to understanding its potential habitability.
But the technical challenges involved in imaging Earth-like extrasolar planets are extreme. First such planets are detected only by observing light they reflect from their parent star, and so they typically appear fainter than the stars they orbit by factors of about 10 billion. Furthermore, at the cosmic distances involved, the planets appear right next to the stars. A popular expression is that exoplanet imaging is like trying to detect a firefly three feet from a searchlight from a distance of 300 miles.
Tremendous effort has gone into developing starlight suppression technologies to block the bright glare of the star, but detecting the light of the planet is challenging in its own right, as planets are incredibly faint. One way to quantify the faintness of planetary light is to understand the photon flux rate. A photon is an indivisible particle of light, that is, the minimum detectable amount of light. On a sunny day, approximately 10 thousand trillion photons enter your eye every second. The rate of photons entering your eye from an Earth-like exoplanet around a nearby star would be around 10 to 100 per year. Telescopes with large mirrors can help collect as much of this light as possible, but ultra-sensitive detectors are also needed, particularly for infrared light, where the biosignature gases have their strongest effects. Unfortunately, state-of-the-art infrared detectors are far too noisy to detect the low level of light emitted from exoplanets.
With support from NASA’s Astrophysics Division and industrial partners, researchers at the University of Hawai’i are developing a promising detector technology to meet these stringent sensitivity requirements. These detectors, known as avalanche photodiode arrays, are constructed out of the same semiconductor material as conventional infrared sensors. However, these new sensors employ an extra “avalanche” layer that takes the signal from a single photon and multiplies it, much like an avalanche can start with a single snowball and quickly grow it to the size of a boulder. This signal amplification occurs before any noise from the detector is introduced, so the effective noise is proportionally reduced. However, at high avalanche levels, photodiodes start to behave badly, with noise exponentially increasing, which negates any benefits of the signal amplification. Late University of Hawai’i faculty member Donald Hall, who was a key figure in driving technology for infrared astronomy, realized the potential use of avalanche photodiodes for ultra-low-noise infrared astronomy with some modifications to the material properties.
University of Hawai’i team members with cryogenic dewar used to test the sensors. From left to right, Angelu Ramos, Michael Bottom, Shane Jacobson, Charles-Antoine Claveau. Michael Bottom, University of Hawai’i The most recent sensors benefit from a new design including a graded semiconductor bandgap that allows for excellent noise performance at moderate amplification, a mesa pixel geometry to reduce electronic crosstalk, and a read-out integrated circuit to allow for short readout times. “It was actually challenging figuring out just how sensitive these detectors are,” said Michael Bottom, associate professor at the University of Hawai’i and lead of development effort. “Our ‘light-tight’ test chamber, which was designed to evaluate the infrared sensors on the James Webb Space Telescope, was supposed to be completely dark. But when we put these avalanche photodiodes in the chamber, we started seeing light leaks at the level of a photon an hour, which you would never be able to detect using the previous generation of sensors.”
The new designs have a format of one megapixel, more than ten times larger than the previous iteration of sensors, and circuitry that allows for tracking and subtracting any electronic drifts. Additionally, the pixel size and control electronics are such that these new sensors could be drop-in replacements for the most common infrared sensors used on the ground, which would give new capabilities to existing instruments.
Image of the Palomar-2 globular cluster located in the constellation of Auriga, taken with the linear-mode avalanche photodiode arrays, taken from the first on-sky testing of the sensors using the University of Hawai’i’s 2.2 meter telescope. Michael Bottom, University of Hawai’i Last year, the team took the first on-sky images from the detectors, using the University of Hawai’i’s 2.2-meter telescope. “It was impressive to see the avalanche process on sky. When we turned up the gain, we could see more stars appear,” said Guillaume Huber, a graduate student working on the project. “The on-sky demonstration was important to prove the detectors could perform well in an operational environment,” added Michael Bottom.
According to the research team, while the current sensors are a major step forward, the megapixel format is still too small for many science applications, particularly those involving spectroscopy. Further tasks include improving detector uniformity and decreasing persistence. The next generation of sensors will be four times larger, meeting the size requirements for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, NASA’s next envisioned flagship mission, with the goals of imaging and characterizing Earth-like exoplanets.
Project Lead: Dr. Michael Bottom, University of Hawai’i
Sponsoring Organization: NASA Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) Program
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Last Updated Feb 18, 2025 Related Terms
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