NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia recently offered a fascinating peek at its work to make aviation safer for us all, from passengers in airplanes to astronauts in space capsules.
A video posted on YouTube explains how the team’s work “ranges from next-generation aircraft to water-impact tests that evaluate the splashdown of Orion astronaut crew capsules returning from space.”
Many of the experiments involve the use of crash-test dummies, similar to the ones used by car safety designers working on ways to improve the protection of a vehicle’s occupants in the event of a collision.
NASA’s dummies are packed with sensors that provide engineers with a slew of data from each impact test.
With crash scenarios aplenty, the video clips may not offer the best viewing experience for nervous fliers, but for those interested in the team’s work, the brief insight is sure to prove fascinating.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.