Feature Channels: Aviation and Aeronautics

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The National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va., will host family-friendly activities throughout the summer to meet every staycationer’s needs. The popular “Innovations in Flight Family Day and Aviation Display” will return June 17. Visitors will learn about science behind the total solar eclipse that will cross the United States later this summer at Your Eclipse family day July 15. Movies, story times and Smithsonian TechQuest round out the summer activities and ensure there is something for every age group.

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Sandia National Laboratories tells the history of rocket testing and aerospace work at the labs through a new documentary, "It Really Is Rocket Science!"

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Your long-awaited vacation is right around the corner. As the calendar days peel away and you compile your to-do checklist, the issue of jet lag looms if your getaway involves crossing multiple time zones. “Anyone who has ever suffered jet lag knows firsthand that our bodies are persistent in how they keep track of time,” says Dr. Alon Avidan, director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center. “During jet lag, a rapid shift in the light-dark cycle temporarily disrupts one’s normal sleep-wake pattern, and our bodies become desynchronized.”

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Namiko Yamamoto, assistant professor of aerospace engineering at Penn State, was recently awarded $447,663 through the Office of Naval Research Sea-Based Aviation Airframe Structures and Materials program to study fundamental toughening mechanisms of novel ceramic composites and their use as alternative materials for high-temperature applications in the aerospace industry.

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Cal Poly Pomona has received a $1.67 million gift from the National College Resources Foundation. The university's aerospace engineering department will use the funding for liquid rocket development.

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American Chiropractic Association offers tips to avoid muscle soreness when traveling

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A Cal Poly Pomona team has won the NASA Glenn Research Center’s first University Student Design Challenge. During the four-month competition, 16 teams of students designed concepts for using aeronautics vehicles as a means to travel within city limits.

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It's often said that airline mergers lead to more headaches for travelers, including more flight delays, late arrivals and missed connections. But an analysis of 15 years of U.S. Department of Transportation statistics found that airline consolidation has had little negative impact on on-time performance.

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PATT will contain a “sensored” layer capable of measuring the amount of pressure applied to various areas of the mannequin during a standardized pat-down procedure.

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This travel season, a new book is out that features economic concepts that all travelers should understand. The author uses real-life examples throughout the pages of the book, hoping readers learn to think deeply about what they see.

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Former Apollo astronauts at a space symposium on May 8 doubted whether commercial companies will be able to accomplish human space travel, while representatives of those companies talked about redefining what it means to succeed—or fail—in such grand endeavors.

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Penn State is a member of a multi-university research team led by researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Tickle College of Engineering that was selected by NASA to explore transformative system-level aviation innovations as part of NASA Aeronautics’ University Leadership Initiative.

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Mounting anti-terrorism security procedures and the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) screening processes have launched numerous debates about the protection of civil liberties and equal treatment of passengers. A new study published in Risk Analysis has successfully quantified how much potential air passengers value equal protection when measured against sacrifices in safety, cost, wait time, and convenience.

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Technion researchers have a developed safe and efficient way to produce hydrogen on board a plane in flight. Using aluminum particles and (fresh or waste), the technology could one day help meet in-flight energy needs on commercial aircraft.

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Beginning Monday, May 1, private and recreational pilots across the country operating certain light aircraft will be able to seek medical qualification through BasicMed, a new pathway offered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Mayo Clinic will be one of two organizations in the nation to offer a course necessary to obtain this alternative medical qualification

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The drop of a mock nuclear weapon on Tonopah Test Range in Nevada marked the start of a new series of test flights for the nation's B61-12 weapon refurbishment program.

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Beck's, the largest family-owned retail seed company in the United States, announced today a collaboration with Indiana State University to train pilots to operate unmanned aerial vehicles within the new legal structure established by the Federal Aviation Administration.

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AHS International, The Vertical Flight Technical Society, recently awarded Vertical Flight Foundation scholarships to five Penn State Aerospace Engineering students.

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Tulane University engineering students’ innovative idea for a flower-shaped, solar-powered space ferry won the top prize in NASA’s BIG Idea Challenge, a national contest to design better ways to assemble spacecraft in space.