Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




TECH SPACE
NASA Seeks Big Ideas from Students for Inflatable Heat Shield Technology
by Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 22, 2015


Artist's rendering of a hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator technology concept. Image courtesy NASA. For a larger version of this image please go here.

NASA is giving university and college students an opportunity to be part of the agency's journey to Mars with the Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge.

NASA's Game Changing Development Program (GCD), managed by the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington, and the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) are seeking innovative ideas for generating lift using inflatable spacecraft heat shields or hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator (HIAD) technology.

"NASA is currently developing and flight testing HIADs - a new class of relatively lightweight deployable aeroshells that could safely deliver more than 22 tons to the surface of Mars," said Steve Gaddis, GCD manager at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. "A crewed spacecraft landing on Mars would weigh between 15 and 30 tons."

The NASA's Mars Curiosity rover is the heaviest payload ever landed on the Red Planet - weighing in at only one ton. To slow a vehicle carrying a significantly heavier payload through the thin Martian atmosphere and safely land it on the surface is a significant challenge.

NASA is addressing this challenge through the development of large aeroshells that can provide enough aerodynamic drag to decelerate and deliver larger payloads. HIAD technology is a leading idea because these kinds of aeroshells can also generate lift, which would allow the agency to potentially do different kinds of missions.

Interested teams of three to five undergraduate and/or graduate students are asked to submit white papers describing their concepts by Nov. 15. Concepts may employ new approaches such as shape morphing and pneumatic actuation to dynamically alter the HIAD inflatable structure.

Selected teams will continue in the competition by submitting in the spring of 2016 full technical papers on the concept. Up to four teams will present their concepts to a panel of NASA judges at the BIG Idea Forum at Langley in April 2016.

Each finalist team will receive a $6,000 stipend to assist with full participation in the forum. BIG Idea Challenge winners will receive offers of paid internships with the GCD team at Langley, where they can potentially work toward a flight test of their concept.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
BIG Idea website
Space Technology News - Applications and Research






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News





TECH SPACE
Big Iron gets technology boost
Paris (ESA) Sep 18, 2015
ESA deploys 'big iron' to communicate with its deep-space missions: three 35 m-diameter dishes employing some of the world's most advanced tracking technology. And it's about to get a boost. ESA's three Deep Space Antenna stations at New Norcia, Australia, Cebreros, Spain and Malargue, Argentina, beam commands and receive data from spacecraft voyaging hundreds of millions of kilometres int ... read more


TECH SPACE
NASA's LRO discovers Earth's pull is 'massaging' our moon

Moon's crust as fractured as can be

China aims to land Chang'e-4 probe on far side of moon

China Plans Lunar Rover For Far Side of Moon

TECH SPACE
Expect Martian Colonies to Build Themselves First

Record-breaking astronauts return to Earth

Supervising two rovers from space

Team Continues to Operate Rover in RAM Mode

TECH SPACE
Making a difference with open source science equipment

NASA, Harmonic Launch First Non-Commercial UHD Channel in NAmerica

Russian cosmonaut back after record 879 days in space

New Life for Old Buddy: Russia Tests Renewed Soyuz-MS Spacecraft

TECH SPACE
China launches new type of carrier rocket: state media

Long March-2D carrier rocket blasts off in NW China

Progress for Tiangong 2

China rocket parts hit villager's home: police, media

TECH SPACE
US astronaut misses fresh air halfway through year-long mission

Andreas Mogensen lands after a busy mission on Space Station

ISS Crew Enjoy Kharcho Soup, Mare's Milk in Orbit

Slam dunk for Andreas in space controlling rover on ground

TECH SPACE
Boeing rejects Aerojet bid for United Launch Alliance

Russia Launches Telecoms Satellite on Board Proton-M Rocket

SpaceX Signs New Commercial Launch Contracts

Arianespace to launch BSAT-4a - 30th GEO launch contract for Japan

TECH SPACE
Study: 'Hot Jupiter' exoplanets formed extremely rapidly

Europlanet 2020 launches new era of planetary collaboration in Europe

Watching an exoplanet in motion around a distant star

Stellar atmosphere can be used to predict the composition of rocky exoplanets

TECH SPACE
Big Iron gets technology boost

Tokyo videogame show transports fans to new realities

A new type of Au deposits: The decratonic gold deposits

DARPA seeks new composite process for making small parts




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.