mechanical and aerospace engineering

Undulating flight saves Monarchs energy, says UAH study with drone implications

February 7, 2020 sarah Jonas Drone, mechanical and aerospace engineering, UAH, University of Alabama in Huntsville

In a finding that could benefit drone design, award-winning research by a doctoral student at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) shows that the undulating flight paths of Monarch butterflies are actually more energy efficient than a straight-line path.

Feature

UAH Space Hardware Club’s liquid fuel rocket readies for inaugural engine test

January 22, 2020 sarah Jonas 0 Comments mechanical and aerospace engineering, UAH, UAH Propulsion Research Center, University of Alabama in Huntsville

The new year brings new tests for an ambitious liquid propellant rocket being engineered by the Space Hardware Club (SHC) at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).

Feature

UAH modeling the spacecraft for NASA’s nuclear thermal propulsion idea

November 13, 2019 sarah Jonas 0 Comments mechanical and aerospace engineering, Modeling, NASA, nuclear thermal propulsion, Spacecraft, UAH, University of Alabama in Huntsville

NASA has a research grant with The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) to model how a spacecraft might be engineered to work with nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP), en route to an eventual test flight.

Research Results

These new soft actuators could make soft robots less bulky

October 11, 2019 sarah Jonas 0 Comments mechanical and aerospace engineering, Robotics

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a way to build soft robots that are compact, portable and multifunctional. The advance was made possible by creating soft, tubular actuators whose movements are electrically controlled, which makes them easy to integrate with small electronic components. As a proof of concept, engineers used these new actuators to build a soft, untethered, battery-powered, walking robot and a soft gripper.