NASA Announces Preliminary Winners of 2019 Student Launch Competition
History-making rockets have been developed for nearly six decades at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and on April 6, 45 student teams from 20 states created their own history at the 2018-2019 NASA Student Launch competition. After eight months of designing, building, testing, launching and documenting, the preliminary winners of the annual challenge were announced at an awards ceremony April 6 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville.
NASA Achieves Rocket Engine Test Milestone Needed for Moon Missions
NASA is a step closer to returning astronauts to the Moon in the next five years following a successful engine test on Thursday at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The latest “hot fire” was the culmination of four-plus years of testing for the RS-25 engines that will send the first four Space Launch System (SLS) rockets into space.
Composite Overwrap 3D-Printed Rocket Thruster Endures Extreme Heat
It’s rocket science: One NASA project is revolutionizing how liquid rocket engines are made. Additive manufacturing, better known as 3D printing, combined with advanced composite technology, could help rocket engines be lighter, cheaper and easier to make. Engineers at NASA tested a 2,400 lbf thrust 3D-printed copper rocket thrust chamber with composite overwrap to see if the uniquely made hardware could withstand the heat and structural loads from testing.
Black Hole Image Makes History; NASA Telescopes Coordinated Observations
A black hole and its shadow have been captured in an image for the first time, a historic feat by an international network of radio telescopes called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). EHT is an international collaboration whose support in the United States includes the National Science Foundation.
For more information or to learn about other happenings at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, visit NASA Marshall. For past issues of the ICYMI newsletter, click here.