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Textiles that float return astronauts, research and more safely to Earth
September 1st, 2024
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft floats down to its landing spot at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, in New Mexico in 2022. As the issue went to press, Starliner, on its certification flight and first with astronauts, remained at the International Space Station. Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls When it comes to the study of Earth and […]
Aerospace textiles: To the moon and back … and beyond
October 1st, 2023
Jan. 21, 2022, the waning gibbous moon is pictured above the Earth's horizon as the International Space Station orbited 272 miles above the Atlantic Ocean in between the tips of South America and South Africa. Photo: NASA Explorers may not yet have achieved Buzz Lightyear’s ability to go “to infinity and beyond,” but with innovative […]
Researchers expand study on muscle atrophy
July 1st, 2023
Researchers at The Ohio State University have fabricated a wearable sensor designed to detect and monitor muscle atrophy, a condition that’s typically caused by degenerative disease, aging or muscle disuse. The practice of using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess muscle size and volume can require frequent testing, but this can be time consuming and […]
New spacesuit from Axiom is built for moonwalking
June 1st, 2023
NASA selected Axiom Space to deliver a moonwalking system for the Artemis III mission, currently planned for 2025, which will land Americans on the surface of the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Axiom participated in the reveal of the first prototype spacesuit March 15, 2023, during an event at Space […]
Out of this world inflatables
March 1st, 2023
NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) demonstrated inflatable heat shield technology. After launch LOFTID inflated and deployed in space. It was released and re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. Photo: NASA When you hear the phrase “inflatable structure,” the first image that comes to mind is likely to […]
Textile solutions for space missions
January 1st, 2023
Drew Hoyle, an aerospace textile engineer at NASA says renewed interest in space exploration has resulted in the search for textiles that can resolve problems encountered on earlier lunar missions decades ago. Among the needs to be addressed for a new lunar mission are textiles for spacesuits that provide better dust mitigation. The environment makes […]
Karen Nyberg creates fabric designs from space images
June 1st, 2022
A display of the 30 “colorways,” photographs of earth that make up the Earth Views line. Recently retired NASA astronaut and artist Karen Nyberg has launched a new fabric line called “Earth Views” in collaboration with the Calif.-based Robert Kaufman Fabrics. Nyberg spent more than 180 days in space over two missions flying on both […]
Advanced textiles rocketing into the future
August 1st, 2021
During a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Aug. 22, 2019, astronaut Nick Hague debuted the Artemis program identity in space. Hague and fellow crewmember Andrew Morgan installed the second International Docking Adapter on the complex to enable commercial spacecraft from Boeing and SpaceX to carry astronauts to the station. NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration […]
AR Tech supports U.S. Space Force launch
August 1st, 2021
Multilayer insulation (MLI) is composed of 12 layers of thin sheets and is used on the spacecraft of AR Tech’s customers. A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket launched in April from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, with AR Tech supporting the mission with its multilayer and single-layer insulation blankets. Based in […]
Heathcoat Fabrics delivers a soft landing on Mars
May 1st, 2021
The supersonic parachute that landed NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars in February undergoes testing in a wind tunnel at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ames. When the Perseverance rover successfully landed on Mars on Feb. 18, NASA engineers and space enthusiasts around the world celebrated—along with the fabric engineers and production […]