Engineering New Technology

Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology are developing new ion thrusters with a boost of electric propulsion to help keep satellites orbiting longer.

Lead investigator for the project, Mitchell Walker (MI G ’99), discuss the improved reliability of the developing ion thrusters,
“The current design relies on servomotors and joints, but each one is a possible failure point. There are no moving parts with the non-mechanical way, and you get the same impact.”
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The 2009 edition of NASA’s Spinoff is now available. The publication features commercialized NASA technology as a result of the NASA Innovative Partnership Program.

There are 49 technologies highlighted in this year’s edition, including “technologies that were originally developed for the Apollo program.” Learn more

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A new company created by a professor at UCLA focuses on “converting cellphones into devices that diagnose diseases.”

The most recent effort uses software and only $10 or so of “off-the-shelf hardware” to adapt a cellphone to substitute for a microscope. Read article from The New York Times

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