Shark Skin-Inspired Designs Improve Aerodynamic Performance
To build more aerodynamic machines, researchers are drawing inspiration from an unlikely source: the ocean. A team of evolutionary biologists and engineers at Harvard University,…
Aeronautical Engineering
New Chip Design Method May Result in Miniature Smart Drones
A team of engineers at MIT has developed a method for designing efficient computer chips may get miniature smart drones off the ground. In recent…
NASA Runs First-Ever Test of New “Propulsor” Jet Engine Tech
Aerospace engineers believe they can reduce fuel consumption by embedding an aircraft’s engines into the boundary layer to ingesting the boundary layer air flow. Car,…
New “Morphing” Wing Could Enable More Efficient Plane Flight
Engineers at MIT and NASA have developed a new kind of bendable, “morphing” wing that could enable more efficient plane manufacturing and flight. When the…
MIT Aerospace Engineers Develop Carbon Nanotube “Stitches” to Strengthen Composites
Using carbon nanotube “stitches,” aerospace engineers from MIT have found a way to strengthen composites, helping make airplane frames lighter and more damage-resistant. The newest…
NASA Invests in Next Stage of Visionary Technology Development
Using a peer-review process that evaluated innovativeness and technical viability, NASA has selected eight technology proposals for investment that have the potential to transform future…
NASA to Begin Historic New Era of X-Plane Research
NASA’s aeronautical innovators are preparing to put in the sky an array of new experimental aircraft, each intended to carry on the legacy of demonstrating…
Refueling at the Moon May Be the Best Option for a Piloted Mission to Mars
New research from MIT shows that stopping at the moon may be the best option for a piloted mission to Mars, revealing that fueling up…
Distributed Electric Propulsion May Usher in a New Era of Flight
NASA scientists believe distributed electric propulsion is set to usher in a new era of aviation, allowing engineers to do things that they have wanted…
NASA Begins Testing Electric Propulsion Technologies
Over the next several months, NASA researchers will perform ground testing on the electric propulsion technologies from the Leading Edge Asynchronous Propeller Technology project. The…
Algorithm Enables Robots to Learn and Adapt to Help Complete Tasks
A new algorithm created by MIT researchers enables a robot to quickly learn an individual’s preference for a certain task and adapt accordingly to help…
Engineers Use Supercomputers to Tackle the Challenges of Hypersonic Flight
With a $20 million U.S. Department of Energy grant, Stanford researchers plan to use some of the world’s fastest supercomputers to model the complexities of…