System Bits: June 18


Another win for aUToronto Photo credit: University of Toronto The University of Toronto’s student-led self-driving car team racked up its second consecutive victory last month at the annual AutoDrive Challenge in Ann Arbor, Mich. The three-year challenge goes out to North American universities, offering a Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle to outfit with autonomous driving technology.... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 4


Probing Mars Equipped with a CCD camera, a temperature probe and a seismic instrument, NASA's robotic system or lander recently landed on Mars. On Nov. 26, the robotic system--dubbed the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight)--landed on Mars after nearly a seven-month, 300-million-mile (485-million-kilometer) journey from Earth. The lander t... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: May 15


Space metrology NASA is developing a mini-electron probe based on an array of carbon nanotube dots. The probe would be used in an instrument, which would analyze the chemical properties of rocks and soils on asteroids, moons and planets. For years, NASA has been working with carbon nanotubes in various applications. Carbon nanotubes are hard, cylindrical nanostructures with good electrical ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Nov. 25


Asteroid mining and metrology The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a new space bill. The bill, entitled H.R. 2262— U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness, includes a provision that discusses the rights for companies that mine any materials on asteroids. In simple terms, the bill recognizes the right of U.S. companies to own asteroid resources that they mine in space, accordin... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: March 25


Proving the Big Bang theory A team of cosmologists using the BICEP2 telescope at the South Pole have discovered the first direct evidence of the Big Bang theory. The team includes Harvard University, the University of Minnesota, the California Institute of Technology/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University/SLAC and others. Using the BICEP2, researchers found direct evidence of a cosm... » read more