May 21, 2024 AFRL, NASA unlock innovation, propel universities forward as 2nd year of Mission Concept Program takes off The program, sponsored by AFRL's Space Vehicles Directorate and which falls under the University Nanosatellite Program, or UNP, began in 1999 and has collaborated with 53 universities and 8,000 students since its inception.
April 20, 2024 AFRL researchers pave the way to lighter, faster additively manufactured rocket engines The Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, Rocket Propulsion Division, recently designed, printed, built and hot fired a first-ever, single-block rocket-engine thrust chamber additively manufactured using a process called laser powder directed energy deposition, or DED.
Feb. 9, 2024 AFRL helps NASA wrap up equipment testing for Artemis II mission Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include human testing of the suit and seat from the article originally published May 30, 2023, click here to view.
Nov. 28, 2023 AFWERX, NASA collaborate to develop digital Advanced Air Mobility operations center AFWERX is partnering with NASA to develop a digital operations center for future Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) efforts through the Civilian Commercialization Readiness Pilot Program (CCRPP) awardee, ResilienX.
Sept. 21, 2023 Organizational designation change reflects fierce focus on warfighter for AFRL unit The Air Force Research Laboratory's, or AFRL's, Airman Systems Directorate recently changed its organizational title to the Human Effectiveness Directorate to better reflect the scale of AFRL's reach across the Department of Defense and its mission partners, as well as the scope of its mission. The
Sept. 1, 2023 AFWERX, NASA strengthen interagency partnership After a series of capability site visits, AFWERX and NASA have strengthened their partnership to better reach advanced air mobility goals.
May 30, 2023 AFRL helps NASA test equipment for Artemis II mission The Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, and NASA worked together over the last two weeks of April 2023 along with other industry partners, such as Lockheed Martin, to test the most current iteration of an astronaut crew seat and flight suit that will be used in the Orion spacecraft during future
May 12, 2023 AFRL, NASA partner with 8 universities for new Mission Concept Program The Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, and NASA announced their collaboration with eight universities for a new Mission Concept Program, or MCP, from Jan. 5 to Feb. 3, 2024. The program, sponsored by AFRL's Space Vehicles Directorate, is held under the University Nanosatellite Program, or UNP,
Feb. 1, 2023 AFRL partners with NASA in CubeSat navigation, communication mission The Air Force Research Laboratory’s, or AFRL, newest sensor experiment deployed from the International Space Station Dec. 29, 2022, hosted on NASA’s six-unit cube satellite named petitSat, or Plasma Enhancements in the Ionosphere-Thermosphere Satellite. The CubeSat’s mission is to study a layer in
Nov. 16, 2022 AEDC conducts tests for Orion ahead of Artemis launch After several years in the making, NASA launched Artemis 1, an unmanned maiden flight of the integrated Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, as part of its Artemis space program.Since the early flight missions to the moon, teams of