University of Alabama, Huntsville

Aerospace Engineering

“I started to grow an interest in space when my mom would take me outside and teach me about the night sky. I became greatly interested in the technologies man designed to utilize and study space. This led me to the easy decision to major in aerospace engineering.”

Read More

Filed under: Aerospace, Meet More Students | 2 Comments »

Tags: Aerospace, SMART

Have you ever wondered what air travel might look like in the year 2050? Aircraft manufacturers at Airbus have, and to them the future looks exceedingly bright (and comfortable).

Their new Concept Cabin, a futuristic design created for the 49th biennial Paris Air Show, features a transparent roof that can adjust its opacity, giving passengers a panoramic view of the skies. The streamlined web that supports this canopy will be made of a lightweight titanium modeled after bird bones. Airbus engineers even predict that much of the cabin will be able to be 3D printed.

Read More

Filed under: Aerospace, e-News, Transportation | 11 Comments »

Tags: Aeronautics, Aerospace, Biomimicry, Transportation

An artist’s rendering of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touching asteroid RQ36

When the Earth was young, asteroids bombarded the planet and possibly deposited compounds that later formed the first molecules of life.

In an attempt to learn more about the formation of the solar system and the origins of life, NASA is preparing a billion-dollar mission that will send a probe to collect dust from the surface of a nearby asteroid.

Read More

Filed under: Aerospace, e-News | 1 Comment »

Tags: Aerospace

Anna-Maria McGowan assures a flight-phobic comedian that air travel is the safest mode of transportation

Anna-Maria R. McGowan works on designing cutting-edge technology for air vehicles of the future as project manager for NASA’s Morphing Project.

Instead of building actual airplanes, McGowan is working on futuristic technologies such as active materials for aircraft structures or wings that can change shape on command.

Read More

Filed under: Aerospace, e-News, Trailblazers, Transportation | 1 Comment »

Tags: Aerospace, NASA, Trailblazers, Transportation

Plans to develop an inflatable space station may soon be given the green light, FoxNews reports. A deputy administrator at NASA recently visited the Bigelow Aerospace facility in Las Vegas to discuss future additions to the International Space Station.

NASA has endorsed the concept of inflatable habitats and Bigelow Aerospace has already built, tested, and launched prototypes, hoping to have the first fully-developed space station in orbit by 2015. One of the main advantages to these new modules is cost reduction, as the lightweight yet impact-resistant material of the inflatable shells would allow them to be larger and less expensive than heavier structures.

Read More

Filed under: Aerospace, Architectural, e-News, Transportation | 4 Comments »

Tags: Aerospace, Architectural, NASA, Space, Transportation