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Radar Applied to Missions Large and Small—Part 2

Radars have a place amongst the stars and inside the home, with cutting-edge research highlighting uses that benefit from this century-old technology.

June 01, 2023 by Aaron Carman

Essential Antenna on the ‘Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer’ (Finally) Deploys

When critical radar gear aboard JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) fails because of a stuck pin, engineers try various tricks to fix the problem.

May 29, 2023 by Arjun Nijhawan

The Microcomputer Compensated Crystal Oscillator Is Finally Ready for Space

The latest advances in radiation-hardened digital components have enabled the development of MCXOs that, for the first time, can replace larger, high-power-consuming OCXOs in low-earth orbit (LEO) New Space applications.

May 18, 2023 by Ronald Stephens, Q-Tech Corporation

Robert Watson-Watt, the Engineer Who Saved Great Britain

Britain’s fight for survival in World War II may have ended differently without Robert Watson-Watt’s contributions to radar technology.

May 09, 2023 by Robert Keim

Rudolf Kalman: The Creator of Kalman Filters and Modern Control Theory

Rudolf Kalman is remembered for his fundamental impact on control systems and noise filtering—namely, through the invention of Kalman filters.

February 11, 2023 by Biljana Ognenova

Microchip Builds Radiation-tolerant LDO Regulator for LEO Satellites

Targeting low-earth orbit satellites, Microchip has released its first radiation-tolerant power device.

January 23, 2023 by Aaron Carman

New Slip Ring Assembly Meets the High-voltage Needs of Satellites

The new component promises to triple the operational voltage of high-voltage satellites.

November 07, 2022 by Jake Hertz

How, Exactly, Did NASA Smash Its DART Spacecraft Into an Asteroid?

NASA’s $308 million spacecraft crashed into a deep space asteroid, and the scientific community couldn’t be happier with the results.

September 29, 2022 by Aaron Carman

NASA Taps SiFive’s RISC-V Core for its Spaceflight Processor

NASA has selected SiFive’s X280 RISC-V device as the CPU core for its upcoming High-Performance Spaceflight Computer (HPSC) project.

September 09, 2022 by Jake Hertz

Mapping the Moon—NASA Announces LiDAR-based Lunar Backpack

The focus is back on the moon, with NASA, backed by Aeva's LiDAR technology, creating a backpack to help map the moon.

April 28, 2022 by Jake Hertz

Basics of Millimeter Wave Technology

What is millimeter wave technology and how is it characterized compared to other lower-frequency technologies?

October 24, 2021 by Dale Wilson

Knock on Wood: Researchers Turn to Wood as a Surprising Electronic Substrate

Wood and electronics seem an unlikely duo. But researchers are finding promise in cellulose substrates in energy-harvesting wooden floors and even "Woodsat" satellites.

September 10, 2021 by Ikimi .O

Messages Through the Cosmos: A Review of Data Transfer in Space

Space data transfer has come a long way since those early calls to Houston. Here's a forward-looking glance at space communication technology.

September 01, 2021 by Tyler Charboneau

In Its First Public Acquisition, SpaceX Snatches Up Satellite Startup Swarm

SpaceX is known to create almost all of its technology in-house. What inspired the tech giant to acquire Swarm's technology?

August 12, 2021 by Adrian Gibbons

A Week of GaN: 3 MMICs Target Ka-band, Reduced Area, and 5G Base Stations

Qorvo, Microchip, MaxLinear, and Cree Wolfspeed have gone wide, electrically wide-band that is, with newly released GaN-based RF products for 5G and satellite communications.

June 28, 2021 by Adrian Gibbons

How Current-Sense Amplifiers Monitor Satellite Health

How do we know how a satellite in space is doing from here on Earth? Learn how current-sense amplifiers or CSAs are a crucial part of several satellite monitoring systems.

June 10, 2021 by Kyle Stone, Texas Instruments

Public Design Competitions Accelerate Open Innovation for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Government actors around the globe continue a trend of challenging public-sector innovators to accelerate the development of various technologies, including a recent surge in interest in autonomous underwater vehicles

May 01, 2021 by Lianne Frith

3 Ways the EE Industry Is Affecting Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Programs

With life cycles under five years, LEO satellite rollouts require trusted technology and rapid development windows where industry partnerships are key.

April 27, 2021 by Adrian Gibbons

u-blox’s Key to Centimeter-level GNSS Precision? “Real-time Kinematic Corrections”

ArduSimple and u-blox are teaming up with a module and single-board computer for real-time kinematic calculations. The result, they claim, is accurate m^-2 GPS measurements.

April 12, 2021 by Adrian Gibbons

Landing on Mars Today, the Perseverance Rover Hosts New Tech to Search for Ancient Life

As the fifth rover sent to Mars, Perseverance is outfitted with a whole suite of new technologies to search for microbial life.

February 18, 2021 by Jake Hertz