Jump to content

Recommended Posts

  • Publishers
Posted
A banner for the 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 

jsc2024e078233-copy.jpg?w=2048
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) Avcoat sections for comparison, helped to confirm understanding of the root cause of the loss of charred Avcoat material that engineers saw on the Orion spacecraft after the Artemis I test flight beyond the Moon.
photo credit: NASA

Researchers at Ames were part of the team tasked to better understand and identify the root cause of the unexpected char loss across the Artemis I Orion spacecraft’s heat shield. Using Avcoat material response data from Artemis I, the investigation team was able to replicate the Artemis I entry trajectory environment — a key part of understanding the cause of the issue — inside the arc jet facilities at NASA Ames. 

Starling Swarm Completes Primary Mission

The four CubeSat spacecraft that make up the Starling swarm have demonstrated success in autonomous operations, completing all key mission objectives.
The four CubeSat spacecraft that make up the Starling swarm have demonstrated success in autonomous operations, completing all key mission objectives.
Image credit: NASA

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 in low Earth orbit, including distributing and sharing important information and autonomous decision making. 

Another Step Forward for BioNutrients 

acd24-0001-011.webp?w=2048
Research scientists Sandra Vu, left, Natalie Ball, center, and Hiromi Kagawa, right, process BioNutrients production packs.
Image credit: NASA

NASA’s BioNutrients entered its fifth year in its mission to investigate how microorganisms can produce on-demand nutrients for astronauts during long-duration space missions. Keeping astronauts healthy is critical and as the project comes to a close, researchers have processed production packs on Earth on the same day astronauts processed production packs in space on the International Space Station to demonstrate that NASA can produce nutrients after at least five years in space, providing confidence it will be capable of supporting crewed missions to Mars.  

Hyperwall Upgrade Helps Scientists Interpret Big Data

The newly upgraded hyperwall visualization system provides four times the resolution of the previous system.
The newly upgraded hyperwall visualization system provides four times the resolution of the previous system. 
Image credit: NASA/Brandon Torres Navarrete

Ames upgraded its powerful hyperwall system, a 300-square foot wall of LCD screens with over a billion pixels to display supercomputer-scale visualizations of the very large datasets produced by NASA supercomputers and instruments. The hyperwall is just one way researchers can utilize NASA’s high-end computing technology to better understand their data and advance the agency’s missions and research. 

Ames Contributions to NASA Artificial Intelligence Efforts 

screenshot-2024-12-20-at-11-53-45 am.png
This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth.
Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Ames contributes to the agency’s artificial intelligence work through ongoing research and development, agencywide collaboration, and communications efforts. This year, NASA announced David Salvagnini as its inaugural chief artificial intelligence officer and held the first agencywide town hall on artificial intelligence sharing how the agency is safely using and developing artificial intelligence to advance missions and research. 

Advanced Composite Solar Sail System Successfully Launches, Deploys Sail

solar sail
Illustration: NASA

NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System successfully launched from Māhia, New Zealand, in April, and successfully deployed its sail in August to begin mission operations. The small satellite represents a new future in solar sailing, using lightweight composite booms to support a reflective polymer sail that uses the pressure of sunlight as propulsion. 

Understanding Our Planet 

Samuel Suleiman, an instructor on NASA’s OCEANOS student training program, gathers loose corals to place around an endangered coral species to help attract fish and other wildlife, giving the endangered coral a better chance of survival
Samuel Suleiman, an instructor on NASA’s OCEANOS student training program, gathers loose corals to place around an endangered coral species to help attract fish and other wildlife, giving the endangered coral a better chance of survival
photo credit: NASA/Milan Loiacono

In 2024, Ames researchers studied Earth’s oceans and waterways from multiple angles – from supporting NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem, or PACE, mission to bringing students in Puerto Rico experiences in oceanography and the preservation of coral reefs. Working with multiple partners, our scientists and engineers helped inform ecosystem management by joining satellite measurements of Earth with animal tracking data. In collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey, a NASA team continued testing a specialized instrument package to stay in-the-know about changes in river flow rates

Revealing the Mysteries of Asteroids in Our Solar System 

Mars' moons
Image credit: NASA

Ames researchers used a series of supercomputer simulations to reveal a potential new explanation for how the moons of Mars may have formed: The first step, the findings say, may have involved the destruction of an asteroid. 

Using NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope, another Ames scientist helped reveal the smallest asteroids ever found in the main asteroid belt. 

Ames Helps Emerging Space Companies ‘Take the Heat’

A heat shield made by NASA is visible on the blunt, upward-facing side of a space capsule after its landing in the Utah desert.
A heat shield made by NASA is visible on the blunt, upward-facing side of a space capsule after its landing in the Utah desert.
Image credit: Varda Space Industries/John Kraus

A heat shield material invented and made at Ames helped to safely return a spacecraft containing the first product processed on an autonomous, free-flying, in-space manufacturing platform. February’s re-entry of the spacecraft from Varda Space Industries of El Segundo, California, in partnership with Rocket Lab USA of Long Beach, California, marked the first time a NASA-manufactured thermal protection material, called C-PICA (Conformal Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator), ever returned from space. 

Team Continues to Move Forward with Mission to Learn More about Our Star

This illustration lays a depiction of the sun’s magnetic fields over an image captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on March 12, 2016.
This illustration lays a depiction of the sun’s magnetic fields over an image captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on March 12, 2016.
Image credit: NASA/SDO/AIA/LMSAL

HelioSwarm’s swarm of nine spacecraft will provide deeper insights into our universe and offer critical information to help protect astronauts, satellites, and communications signals such as GPS. The mission team continues to work toward launching in 2029. 

CAPSTONE Continues to Chart a New Path Around the Moon 

CAPSTONE
CAPSTONE revealed in lunar Sunrise: CAPSTONE will fly in cislunar space – the orbital space near and around the Moon. The mission will demonstrate an innovative spacecraft-to-spacecraft navigation solution at the Moon from a near rectilinear halo orbit slated for Artemis’ Gateway.
Illustration credit: NASA Ames/Daniel Rutter

The microwave sized CubeSat, CAPSTONE, continues to fly in a cis-lunar near rectilinear halo orbit after launching in 2022. Flying in this unique orbit continues to pave the way for future spacecraft and Gateway, a Moon-orbiting outpost that is part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, as the team continues to collect data. 

NASA Moves Drone Package Delivery Industry Closer to Reality 

A drone is shown flying during a test of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) technical capability Level 2
A drone is shown flying during a test of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) technical capability Level 2 (TCL2) at Reno-Stead Airport, Nevada in 2016. During the test, five drones simultaneously crossed paths, separated by different altitudes. Two drones flew beyond visual line of sight and three flew within line-of-sight of their operators. More UTM research followed, and it continues today. 
Image credit: NASA Ames/Dominic Hart

NASA’s uncrewed aircraft system traffic management concepts paved the way for newly-approved package delivery drone flights in the Dallas area. 

NASA’s uncrewed aircraft system traffic management concepts paved the way for newly-approved package delivery drone flights in the Dallas area. 

NASA Technologies Streamline Air Traffic Management Systems 

aviation version of a smartphone navigation app
This image shows an aviation version of a smartphone navigation app that makes suggestions for an aircraft to fly an alternate, more efficient route. The new trajectories are based on information available from NASA’s Digital Information Platform and processed by the Collaborative Departure Digital Rerouting tool.
Illustration credit: NASA

Managing our busy airspace is a complex and important issue, ensuring reliable and efficient movement of commercial and public air traffic as well as autonomous vehicles. NASA, in partnership with AeroVironment and Aerostar, demonstrated a first-of-its-kind air traffic management concept that could pave the way for aircraft to safely operate at higher altitudes. The agency also saw continued fuel savings and reduction in commercial flight delays at Dallas Fort-Worth Airport, thanks to a NASA-developed tool that allows flight coordinators to identify more efficient, alternative takeoff routes.

Small Spacecraft Gathers Big Solar Storm Data from Deep Space 

Illustration of NASA’s BioSentinel spacecraft as it enters a heliocentric orbit.
Illustration of NASA’s BioSentinel spacecraft as it enters a heliocentric orbit.
Illustration credit: NASA Ames/Daniel Rutter

BioSentinel – a small satellite about the size of a cereal box – is currently more than 30 million miles from Earth, orbiting our Sun. After launching aboard NASA’s Artemis I more than two years ago, BioSentinel continues to collect valuable information for scientists trying to understand how solar radiation storms move through space and where their effects – and potential impacts on life beyond Earth – are most intense. In May 2024, the satellite was exposed to a coronal mass ejection without the protection of our planet’s magnetic field and gathered measurements of hazardous solar particles in deep space during a solar storm. 

NASA, FAA Partner to Develop New Wildland Fire Technologies

Artist’s rendering of remotely piloted aircraft providing fire suppression, monitoring and communications capabilities during a wildland fire.
Artist’s rendering of remotely piloted aircraft providing fire suppression, monitoring and communications capabilities during a wildland fire. 
Illustration credit: NASA

NASA researchers continued to develop and test airspace management technologies to enable remotely-piloted aircraft to fight and monitor wildland fires 24 hours a day.  

The Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project seeks to use drones and advanced aviation technologies to improve wildland fire coordination and operations. 

NASA and Forest Service Use Balloon to Help Firefighters Communicate

Aerostar Thunderhead balloon
The Aerostar Thunderhead balloon carries the STRATO payload into the sky to reach the stratosphere for flight testing. The balloon appears deflated because it will expand as it rises to higher altitudes where pressures are lower.
Image credit: Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control Center of Excellence for Advanced Technology Aerial Firefighting/Austin Buttlar 

The Strategic Tactical Radio and Tactical Overwatch (STRATO) technology is a collaborative effort to use high-altitude balloons to improve real-time communications among firefighters battling wildland fires. Providing cellular communication from above can improve firefighter safety and firefighting efficiency.

A Fully Reimagined Visitor Center 

The NASA Ames Visitor Center includes exhibits and activities, sharing the work of NASA in Silicon Valley with the public.
The NASA Ames Visitor Center includes exhibits and activities, sharing the work of NASA in Silicon Valley with the public.
Image credit: NASA Ames/Don RIchey

The NASA Ames Visitor Center at Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, California includes a fully reimagined 360-degree experience, featuring new exhibits, models, and more. An interactive exhibit puts visitors in the shoes of a NASA Ames scientist, designing and testing rovers, planes, and robots for space exploration. 

Ames Collaborations in the Community

Former NASA astronauts Yvonne Cagle and Kenneth Cockrell pose with Eli Toribio and Rhydian Daniels at the University of California, San Francisco Bakar Cancer Hospita
Former NASA astronauts Yvonne Cagle and Kenneth Cockrell pose with Eli Toribio and Rhydian Daniels at the University of California, San Francisco Bakar Cancer Hospital. Patients gathered to meet the astronauts and learn more about human spaceflight and NASA’s cancer research efforts
Image credit: NASA Ames/Brandon Torres Navarrete

NASA astronauts, scientists, and researchers, and leadership from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) met with cancer patients and gathered in a discussion about potential research opportunities and collaborations as part of President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative on Oct. 4. During the visit with patients, NASA astronaut Yvonne Cagle and former astronaut Kenneth Cockrell answered questions about spaceflight and life in space. 

Ames and the University of California, Berkeley, expanded their partnership, organizing workshops to exchange on their areas of technical expertise, including in Advanced Air Mobility, and to develop ideas for the Berkeley Space Center, an innovation hub proposed for development at Ames’ NASA Research Park. Under a new agreement, NASA also will host supercomputing resources for UC Berkeley, supporting the development of novel computing algorithms and software for a wide variety of scientific and technology areas.

NASA’s Ames Research Center Celebrates 85 Years of Innovation

by Rachel Hoover

Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley pre-dates a lot of things. The center existed before NASA – the very space and aeronautics agency it’s a critical part of today. And of all the marvelous advancements in science and technology that have fundamentally changed our lives over the last 85 years since its founding, one aspect has remained steadfast; an enduring commitment to what’s known by some on-center simply as, “an atmosphere of freedom.” 

aerial of Ames
The NACA Ames laboratory in 1944.
Image credit: NASA

Years before breaking ground at the site that would one day become home to the world’s preeminent wind tunnelssupercomputerssimulators, and brightest minds solving some of the world’s toughest challenges, Joseph Sweetman Ames, the center’s namesake, described a sentiment that would guide decades of innovation and research: 

“My hope is that you have learned or are learning a love of freedom of thought and are convinced that life is worthwhile only in such an atmosphere,” he said in an address to the graduates of Johns Hopkins University in June 1935.

That spirit and the people it attracted and retained are a crucial part of how Ames, along with other N.A.C.A. research centers, ultimately made technological breakthroughs that enabled humanity’s first steps on the Moon, the safe return of spacecraft through Earth’s atmosphere, and many other discoveries that benefit our day-to-day lives.

Russell Robinson momentarily looks to the camera while supervising the first excavation at what would become Ames Research Center.
Russell Robinson momentarily looks to the camera while supervising the first excavation at what would become Ames Research Center.
Image credit: NACA

“In the context of my work, an atmosphere of freedom means the freedom to pursue high-risk, high-reward, innovative ideas that may take time to fully develop and — most importantly — the opportunity to put them into practice for the benefit of all,” said Edward Balaban, a researcher at Ames specializing in artificial intelligence, robotics, and advanced mission concepts.

Balaban’s career at Ames has involved a variety of projects at different stages of development – from early concept to flight-ready – including experimenting with different ways to create super-sized space telescopes in space and using artificial intelligence to help guide the path a rover might take to maximize off-world science results. Like many Ames researchers over the years, Balaban shared that his experience has involved deep collaborations across science and engineering disciplines with colleagues all over the center, as well as commercial and academic partners in Silicon Valley where Ames is nestled and beyond. This is a tradition that runs deep at Ames and has helped lead to entirely new fields of study and seeded many companies and spinoffs.

Before NASA, Before Silicon Valley: The 1939 Founding of Ames Aeronautical Laboratory

“In the fields of aeronautics and space exploration the cost of entry can be quite high. For commercial enterprises and universities pursuing longer term ideas and putting them into practice often means partnering up with an organization such as NASA that has the scale and multi-disciplinary expertise to mature these ideas for real-world applications,” added Balaban.

“Certainly, the topics of inquiry, the academic freedom, and the benefit to the public good are what has kept me at Ames,” reflected Ross Beyer, a planetary scientist with the SETI Institute at Ames. “There’s not a lot of commercial incentive to study other planets, for example, but maybe there will be soon. In the meantime, only with government funding and agencies like NASA can we develop missions to explore the unknown in order to make important fundamental science discoveries and broadly share them.”

For Beyer, his boundary-breaking moment came when he searched – and found – software engineers at Ames capable and passionate about open-source software to generate accurate, high-resolution, texture-mapped, 3D terrain models from stereo image pairs. He and other teams of NASA scientists have since applied that software to study and better understand everything from changes in snow and ice characteristics on Earth, as well as features like craters, mountains, and caves on Mars or the Moon. This capability is part of the Artemis campaign, through which NASA will establish a long-term presence at the Moon for scientific exploration with commercial and international partners. The mission is to learn how to live and work away from home, promote the peaceful use of space, and prepare for future human exploration of Mars. 

“As NASA and private companies send missions to the Moon, they need to plan landing sites and understand the local environment, and our software is freely available for anyone to use,” Beyer said. “Years ago, our management could easily have said ‘No, let’s keep this software to ourselves; it gives us a competitive advantage.’ They didn’t, and I believe that NASA writ large allows you to work on things and share those things and not hold them back.” 

When looking forward to what the next 85 years might bring, researchers shared a belief that advancements in technology and opportunities to innovate are as expansive as space itself, but like all living things, they need a healthy atmosphere to thrive. Balaban offered, “This freedom to innovate is precious and cannot be taken for granted. It can easily fall victim if left unprotected. It is absolutely critical to retain it going forward, to ensure our nation’s continuing vitality and the strength of the other freedoms we enjoy.”

Ames Aeronautical Laboratory.
Ames Aeronautical Laboratory.
Image credit: NACA

Today Marks the Retirement of the Astrogram Newsletter

by Astrid Albaugh

For 66 years, the Astrogram has told the story of NASA’s Ames Research Center. Over those six-plus decades, the newsletter has documented hundreds of missions led by Ames, the progression of Hangar One’s reclamation, space shuttle launches with Ames’ payloads aboard them, countless VIP visits, and everything in between.

Ames published the first edition of the Astrogram in October 1958, coinciding with the transition of the center from its original incarnation as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Ames Aeronautical Laboratory to a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) research center.

The newsletter has evolved over time, alongside the center. From October 1958 through January 2016, the Astrogram was published in print, before a digital edition was developed. In January 2016, the Astrogram transitioned to a digital-only format. Below are examples of some of the Astrogram issues from over the years. More are forthcoming from 1998 and prior once they are retrieved from the archives.

Oct2014AstrogramFronPage
October 2014 Astrogram
September 2010 Astrogram
September 2010 Astrogram

I have served as the editor of the Astrogram since February 1998. Over the past quarter century, it has been an interesting, and sometimes quite challenging, task for me to capture the breadth and depth of Ames’s story and ensure that we always published the newsletter on time. I still remember trekking over to the center’s imaging office to review the physical negatives and images that the Ames photographers had taken of events onsite and select the most compelling photos. I used a very early version of visual design software to craft the layout. When the paper was completed, I’d file it onto a CD and then hand it to the courier who would drive from the San Francisco printshop to pick it up from me. Once and awhile, someone would request to have an additional feature added, requiring multiple trips up the 101 and back. Sometimes I’d come in on the weekends to work on the paper, due to late submissions, much to the chagrin of my kids.

July 2007 Astrogram
July 2007 Astrogram

It has been a pleasure serving as the editor over the past quarter century, almost as many years as my kids are old. A person once asked me if I had changed my name to Astrid since it’s so like the word Astrogram. Any relationship between the newsletter and my name is simply serendipity. I have enjoyed being behind the scenes, mostly working diligently at my computer. Many at Ames know my name because of the newsletter but may have never met me in person. It’s been amusing sometimes when I encounter someone who can’t put a finger as to why they knew my name but didn’t recognize me standing in front of them. Their usual response when they realized why they know me was, “Ah, Astrid of the Astrogram.”

March 20, 1998 Astrogram
March 20, 1998 Astrogram

Just as NASA innovates, the content of the Astrogram has to innovate as well. Many of the stories that you used to read in the Astrogram, you can now find on our NASA Ames web page here. If you would like to access past, archived issues of the Astrogram, going back to 1958, please consult the Ames Research Center Archives. I will continue to help tell Ames’s story, just using new platforms.

Whether this is your first issue or you have been an Astrogram supporter for decades, thank you for reading!

Astrid of the Astrogram officially signing off

View the full article

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Similar Topics

    • By Amazing Space
      Live Video from the International Space Station (Seen From The NASA ISS Live Stream)
    • By Amazing Space
      Live Video from the International Space Station (Seen From The NASA ISS Live Stream)
    • By NASA
      Credit: NASA NASA has selected Troy Sierra JV, LLC of Huntsville, Alabama, to provide engineering, research, and scientific support at the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.  
      The Test Facility Operations, Maintenance, and Engineering Services III contract is a cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a maximum potential value of approximately $388.3 million. The performance period begins Jan. 1, 2026, with a three-year base period followed by a two-year option, and a potential six-month extension through June 2031.
      This contract will provide and manage the engineering, technical, manufacturing, development, operations, maintenance, inspection, and certification support services needed to conduct aerospace testing in NASA Glenn’s facilities and laboratories.
      For information about NASA and other agency programs, visit:
      https://www.nasa.gov
      -end-
      Tiernan Doyle
      Headquarters, Washington
      202-358-1600
      tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov
      Jan Wittry
      Glenn Research Center, Cleveland
      216-433-5466
      jan.m.wittry-1@nasa.gov
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Sep 12, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
      Glenn Research Center View the full article
    • By NASA
      5 Min Read NASA’s X-59 Moves Toward First Flight at Speed of Safety
      NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft is seen at dawn with firetrucks and safety personnel nearby during a hydrazine safety check at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, on Aug. 18, 2025. The operation highlights the extensive precautions built into the aircraft’s safety procedures for a system that serves as a critical safeguard, ensuring the engine can be restarted in flight as the X-59 prepares for its first flight. Credits: Lockheed Martin As NASA’s one-of-a-kind X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft approaches first flight, its team is mapping every step from taxi and takeoff to cruising and landing – and their decision-making is guided by safety.
      First flight will be a lower-altitude loop at about 240 mph to check system integration, kicking off a phase of flight testing focused on verifying the aircraft’s airworthiness and safety. During subsequent test flights, the X-59 will go higher and faster, eventually exceeding the speed of sound. The aircraft is designed to fly supersonic while generating a quiet thump rather than a loud sonic boom.
      To help ensure that first flight – and every flight after that – will begin and end safely, engineers have layered protection into the aircraft.
      The X-59’s Flight Test Instrumentation System (FTIS) serves as one of its primary record keepers, collecting and transmitting audio, video, data from onboard sensors, and avionics information – all of which NASA will track across the life of the aircraft.
      “We record 60 different streams of data with over 20,000 parameters on board,” said Shedrick Bessent, NASA X-59 instrumentation engineer. “Before we even take off, it’s reassuring to know the system has already seen more than 200 days of work.”
      Through ground tests and system evaluations, the system has already generated more than 8,000 files over 237 days of recording. That record provides a detailed history that helps engineers verify the aircraft’s readiness for flight.
      Maintainers perform a hydrazine safety check on the agency’s quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, on Aug. 18, 2025. Hydrazine is a highly toxic chemical, but it serves as a critical backup to restart the engine in flight, if necessary, and is one of several safety features being validated ahead of the aircraft’s first flight.Credits: Lockheed Martin “There’s just so much new technology on this aircraft, and if a system like FTIS can offer a bit of relief by showing us what’s working – with reliability and consistency – that reduces stress and uncertainty,” Bessent said. “I think that helps the project just as much as it helps our team.”
      The aircraft also uses a digital fly-by-wire system that will keep the aircraft stable and limit unsafe maneuvers. First developed in the 1970s at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, digital fly-by-wire replaced how aircraft were flown, moving away from traditional cables and pulleys to computerized flight controls and actuators.
      On the X-59, the pilot’s inputs – such as movement of the stick or throttle – are translated into electronic signals and decoded by a computer. Those signals are then sent through fiber-optic wires to the aircraft’s surfaces, like its wings and tail.
      Additionally, the aircraft uses multiple computers that back each other up and keep the system operating. If one fails, another takes over. The same goes for electrical and hydraulic systems, which also have independent backup systems to ensure the aircraft can fly safely.
      Onboard batteries back up the X-59’s hydraulic and electrical systems, with thermal batteries driving the electric pump that powers hydraulics. Backing up the engine is an emergency restart system that uses hydrazine, a highly reactive liquid fuel. In the unlikely event of a loss of power, the hydrazine system would restart the engine in flight. The system would help restore power so the pilot could stabilize or recover the aircraft.
      Maintainers perform a hydrazine safety check on NASA’s quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, on Aug. 18, 2025. Hydrazine is a highly toxic chemical, but it serves as a critical backup to restart the engine in flight, if necessary, which is one of several safety features being validated ahead of the aircraft’s first flight. Credits: Lockheed Martin Protective Measures
      Behind each of these systems is a team of engineers, technicians, safety and quality assurance experts, and others. The team includes a crew chief responsible for maintenance on the aircraft and ensuring the aircraft is ready for flight.
      “I try to always walk up and shake the crew chief’s hand,” said Nils Larson, NASA X-59 lead test pilot. “Because it’s not your airplane – it’s the crew chief’s airplane – and they’re trusting you with it. You’re just borrowing it for an hour or two, then bringing it back and handing it over.”
      Larson, set to serve as pilot for first flight, may only be borrowing the aircraft from the X-59’s crew chiefs – Matt Arnold from X-59 contractor Lockheed Martin and Juan Salazar from NASA – but plenty of the aircraft’s safety systems were designed specifically to protect the pilot in flight.
      The X-59’s life support system is designed to deliver oxygen through the pilot’s mask to compensate for the decreased atmospheric pressure at the aircraft’s cruising altitude of 55,000 feet – altitudes more than twice as high as that of a typical airliner. In order to withstand high-altitude flight, Larson will also wear a counter-pressure garment, or g-suit, similar to what fighter pilots wear.
      In the unlikely event it’s needed, the X-59 also features an ejection seat and canopy adapted from a U.S. Air Force T-38 trainer, which comes equipped with essentials like a first aid kit, radio, and water. Due to the design, build, and test rigor put into the X-59, the ejection seat is a safety measure.
      All these systems form a network of safety, adding confidence to the pilot and engineers as they approach to the next milestone – first flight.
      “There’s a lot of trust that goes into flying something new,” Larson said. “You’re trusting the engineers, the maintainers, the designers – everyone who has touched the aircraft. And if I’m not comfortable, I’m not getting in. But if they trust the aircraft, and they trust me in it, then I’m all in.”
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Sep 12, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactNicolas Cholulanicolas.h.cholula@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms
      Armstrong Flight Research Center Advanced Air Vehicles Program Aeronautics Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Ames Research Center Glenn Research Center Langley Research Center Low Boom Flight Demonstrator Quesst (X-59) Supersonic Flight Explore More
      3 min read NASA, War Department Partnership Tests Boundaries of Autonomous Drone Operations
      Article 20 minutes ago 3 min read NASA, Embry-Riddle Enact Agreement to Advance Research, Educational Opportunities
      Article 24 hours ago 4 min read NASA Glenn Tests Mini-X-Ray Technology to Advance Space Health Care  
      Article 1 week ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Armstrong Flight Research Center
      Humans in Space
      Climate Change
      Solar System
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      3 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      Researchers in the Verification and Validation Lab at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley monitor a simulated drone’s flight path during a test of the FUSE demonstration.NASA/Brandon Torres Navarrete Through an ongoing collaboration, NASA and the Department of War are working to advance the future of modern drones to support long distance cargo transportation that could increase efficiency, reduce human workload, and enhance safety.  
      Researchers from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley recently participated in a live flight demonstration showcasing how drones can successfully fly without their operators being able to see them, a concept known as beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).  
      Cargo drones, a type of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), carried various payloads more than 75 miles across North Dakota, between Grand Forks Air Force Base and Cavalier Space Force Station. This demonstration was conducted as part of the War Department’s UAS Logistics, Traffic, Research, and Autonomy (ULTRA) effort. 
      NASA’s UAS Service Supplier (USS) technology helped to demonstrate that cargo drones could operate safely even in complex, shared airspace. During the tests, flight data including location, altitude, and other critical data were transmitted live to the NASA system, ensuring full situational awareness throughout the demonstration. 
      Terrence Lewis and Sheryl Jurcak, members of the FUSE project team at NASA Ames, discuss the monitoring efforts of the FUSE demonstration at the Airspace Operations Lab. NASA/Brandon Torres Navarrete The collaboration between NASA and the Department of War is known as the Federal USS Synthesis Effort (FUSE). The demonstration allowed FUSE researchers to test real-time tracking, situational awareness, and other factors important to safely integrating of drone traffic management into U.S. national airspace. The FUSE work marks an important step towards routine, scalable autonomous cargo drone operations and broader use for future military logistics. 
      “NASA and the Department of War have a long and storied partnership, collaborating with one another to contribute to continued advancement of shared American ideals,” said Todd Ericson, senior advisor to the NASA administrator. “FUSE builds upon our interagency cooperation to contribute enhanced capabilities for drones flying beyond the visual line of sight. This mission is the next big step toward true autonomous flight and will yield valuable insights that we can leverage as both the commercial drone, cargo and urban air taxi industries continue to expand and innovate. As always, safety is of paramount importance at NASA, and we are working with our partners at the FAA and Department of Transportation to ensure we regulate this appropriately.” 
      Autonomous and semi-autonomous drones could potentially support a broad range of tasks for commercial, military, and private users. They could transport critical medical supplies to remote locations, monitor wildfires from above, allow customers to receive deliveries directly in their backyards. NASA is researching technology to further develop the infrastructure needed for these operations to take place safely and effectively, without disrupting the existing U.S. airspace. 
      “This system is crucial for enabling safe, routine BVLOS operations,” said Terrence Lewis, FUSE project manager at NASA Ames. “It ensures all stakeholders can see and respond to drone activity, which provides the operator with greater situational awareness.” 
      NASA Ames is collaborating on the FUSE project with the War Department’s Office of the Undersecretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment. The NASA FUSE effort is also collaborating with ULTRA, a multi-entity partnership including the Office of the Secretary of War, the County of Grand Forks, the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, the Grand Sky Development, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and several other commercial partners, aiming to bolster capabilities within the National Airspace System. 
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Sep 12, 2025 Related Terms
      Ames Research Center Aeronautics Aeronautics Research General Explore More
      5 min read NASA’s X-59 Moves Toward First Flight at Speed of Safety
      Article 5 minutes ago 1 min read Drag Prediction Workshop Series
      Article 8 hours ago 2 min read NASA Ames Science Directorate: Stars of the Month – September 2025
      Article 23 hours ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Missions
      Humans in Space
      Climate Change
      Solar System
      View the full article
  • Check out these Videos

×
×
  • Create New...