Aerospace

News and Updates

Red fire extinguisher is attached to pipes and hoses inside a vehicle.

NIST Tool Will Help Military Vehicles Fight Fires Using Less Harmful Chemicals

March 2, 2021

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new, interactive spreadsheet that will help the U.S. military

SBIR funds internationally marketable quality audit instrument

November 1, 2019

En’Urga Inc., an advanced diagnostic equipment company, recently found success with a Small Business Innovation Research award from the National Institute of

Room covered with spiky white insulation with large blue robotic arms located on the left and the right. Small horn antenna is attached to tip of left robotic arm.

Two Robots Are Better than One for NIST’s 5G Antenna Measurement Research

April 16, 2018

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) continue to pioneer new antenna measurement methods, this time for future 5G wireless

Projects and Programs

Hierarchical Materials

Ongoing

Nature utilizes a hierarchy of length scales and tiered structure to build lightweight, strong, and tough materials. Engineers look to exploit the advantage of

Metrology for Real-Time Monitoring of Additive Manufacturing

Completed

Part quality in additive manufacturing (AM) is highly variable due to inadequate dimensional tolerances, surface roughness, and defects, thereby limiting its

Data Driven Decision Support for Additive Manufacturing

Completed

“Digital disruption is a change in industry triggered by advances in information and communications technology. During the next few years, the technologies

Qualification for AM Feedstocks, Machines and Processes

Completed

Machines and processes used to produce critical components for defense, aerospace, and medical applications must first be formally qualified. While

Publications

Metallurgical Analysis and Conservation of Turbine Blades from Recovered Apollo F-1 Engines

March 4, 2024

Author(s)

Adam Creuziger, Claudia Chemello, Paul Mardikian, Jerrad Alexander

Turbine blades from a recovered F-1 engine from the Apollo 16 Saturn V rocket were examined to determine an appropriate conservation protocol. Significant

Reconstruction of Parent Microstructures in TRIP Titanium Alloys

December 28, 2022

Author(s)

Alec Saville, Ben Ellyson, Jake Benzing, Amy Clarke

The metastable β-Ti titanium alloy Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al (wt%) exhibits transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) (or the transformation of the parent β phase to

Flexible Assemblies of Electrocapacitive Volume Tomographic Sensors for Gauging Fuel of Spacecraft

April 30, 2021

Author(s)

Seung H. Yang, Yong Sik Kim, Nicholas Dagalakis, Yicheng Wang

Gauging propellant fuel of spacecraft in outer space has been an issue, because their liquid fuels tend to float, slosh, adhere to the tank walls, and form

Optical and Mechanical Design of a Telescope for Lunar Spectral Irradiance Measurements from a High-Altitude Aircraft

September 8, 2020

Author(s)

Clarence Zarobila, Steven Grantham, Steven W. Brown, John T. Woodward IV, Stephen Maxwell, Dana R. Defibaugh, Thomas C. Larason, Kevin Turpie

We have designed a non-imaging telescope for measurement of the spectral irradiance of the moon. The telescope was integrated into a wing pod of a NASA ER-2

Tools and Instruments

X-ray Backscatter Systems

X-ray backscatter systems are used for the screening of personnel for hidden weapons and other contraband. Unlike conventional radiographic x-ray systems

Thermal infrared transfer radiometer (TXR)

The NIST Thermal-infrared Transfer Radiometer (TXR) is used for measuring the radiance temperature in the thermal-infrared spectral region of extended-area