Mentor Blogs

Not-for-profit organization Mars One in the Netherlands is offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: a one-way trip to Mars. Human space flight is expensive. It’s a fact that Americans and many others throughout the world have heard over and over. During trying economic times in the U.S., NASA’s budget often comes under scrutiny and, lately, human space exploration has taken an economic hit—yet, commercial … Read More

Mil-Aero, Mentor.com, Milaero, Geek, IMG, Aerospace, nasa, Mentor, reality TV, Mentor Graphics, Interplanetary Media Group, Technology, Mars One

Aerospace engineers and enthusiasts, as well as science-fiction fans, are the latest Eagleworks experiment. The White-Juday warp field interferometer was designed and developed to record warped space and help scientists better understand the space-time bubble that would be required to break Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Albert Einstein theorized that a particle cannot travel faster than … Read More

Mentor Graphics, Mentor, Mentor.com, Albert Einstein, Quantum Vacuum Plasma Thruster, QVPT, Alcubierre drive, Aerospace, Mil-Aero, Geek, Milaero, Harold "Sonny" White, nasa, Eagleworks, plasma, Engineer

This mil/aero geek is ecstatic that NASA has the resources, since the decommissioning of the shuttles, to start acting as a catalyst for the development of game-changing, space-related technologies. A couple really interesting stories have surfaced recently that have intrigued aerospace geeks, myself included. The most noteworthy is…wait for it…warp speed research! That’s right. You read that correctly. … Read More

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NASA, for the second consecutive year, is actively seeking proposals for suborbital technology payloads and spacecraft capability enhancements capable of potentially revolutionizing future space missions. NASA will help test selected technologies before they are used for their intended purpose and environment—being launched into and functioning in the dark, cold reaches of outer space. After the selected … Read More

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Aerospace engineers and executives will be happy to hear that, for the second year, NASA plans to assist makers of space-related technologies, such as advanced payloads and spacecraft systems. This month, NASA announced that it is soliciting proposals from aerospace technology companies from far and wide. NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program is sponsoring the solicitation for proposals, which … Read More

nasa, Military, Mentor Graphics, Computer, Mentor.com, Mil-Aero, Milaero, Aerospace, electrical, Geek, Hardware, Electronic, James Reuther, Design Automation, Mentor, Electric, Flight Opportunities Program, Engineer, Game Changing Opportunities in Technology Development, suborbital

On 17 December 2012 at 5:28 p.m. and 5:29 p.m. Eastern Time, NASA JPL scientists in California will set the twin probes Ebb and Flow on a shallow angle collision course with the rim of an impact crater on the moon. At the time of the impact, the chosen crash site will be shrouded in darkness; yet, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will be on location to photograph the impact site before and after the … Read More

JPL, Hardware, Lunar, nasa, Moon, Ebb, Mentor Graphics, electrical, Mentor.com, Mil-Aero, Aerospace, Milaero, Lunar Prospector, Flow, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Geek, Maria Zuber, Electronic, Mentor, Engineer

Engineers and Scientists at NASA JPL in California are again making headlines in the military/aerospace (mil/aero) community. Aerospace engineers and enthusiasts the world over are talking about NASA’s plan to crash Ebb and Flow, two spacecraft on a moon-mapping mission throughout 2012, into the moon’s surface. Not since the Curiosity rover landed on Mars has the mil/aero industry been so focused on … Read More

JPL, Hardware, Lunar, Crash, Milaero, Ebb, Moon, nasa, Aerospace, Software, Mentor, GRAIL, Mentor Graphics, gravity, Mentor.com, Flow, Mil-Aero, Geek

What does a longtime space agency do with lunar research satellites when they have run out of fuel? If you’re the space geeks at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena, California, you do something unforgettable: You crash them into moon! Ebb and Flow are appliance-sized probes (or spacecraft) in NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) … Read More

Military, Milaero, Mentor, Delta II, Mentor Graphics, Mentor.com, Mil-Aero, Aerospace, Ebb, Geek, GRAIL, electrical, JPL, Design Automation, Lockheed Martin, Discovery Program, Engineer, Embedded Systems, Flow, nasa, The Boeing Company

Following a flight on the back of a modified Boeing 747 aircraft to LAX and traversing Los Angeles roads, the historic NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour is on temporary display in the Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion California Science Center, also called the California ScienCenter, in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California. The California Science Museum is in the process of building … Read More

Hardware, Geek, Mentor, Military, electrical, nasa, Software, Aerospace, Warfighters, Mentor Graphics, Endeavour, Mentor.com, Engineer, Mil-Aero, Electronic, Milaero, Embedded Systems

Three out of four decommissioned NASA space shuttle orbiters have found new homes at museums in the United States. Endeavour, built as a replacement for Space Shuttle Challenger, recently arrived at its new home in Los Angeles, and the world was watching. This geek was impressed and moved by the thousands of people who shared in Endeavour’s journey, logging its path in real time (and even sharing photos) … Read More

Geek, Engineer, Hardware, Warfighters, Toyota, Milaero, CrewMax, Military, nasa, Aerospace, Software, Mentor, Embedded Systems, Mentor Graphics, Endeavour, Mentor.com, electrical, Mil-Aero, Electronic

Marking the end of an era, Space Shuttle Endeavor—the fifth and final NASA space shuttle constructed—arrived at Los Angeles Airport (LAX) on September 21, 2012 to begin its journey on the streets of LA to its final resting place at the California Science Center. NASA offered up three of its four decommissioned space shuttles as donations to museums; many museums competed for the honor of displaying … Read More

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After 25 missions to outer space and 4,671 orbits around planet Earth, Space Shuttle Endeavour has completed its final voyage, dubbed mission number 26. Mission 26 entailed Endeavour’s move from its previous home in Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) 2 at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), headquartered in Merritt Island, Florida, to its final resting place at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, … Read More

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“By NASA’s tally, the United States, the former Soviet Union, Russia, the European Space Agency, China, and Japan have tried to reach Mars 43 times. Of those attempted flybys, orbits, and landings, fewer than one third succeeded,” writes Marc Kaufman, journalist and author, in USA Today. “Only six missions to the surface of Mars have successfully landed, sent home data, and completed their tasks. “What … Read More

Mount Sharp, Military, Mentor Graphics, @MarsCuriosity, Aerospace, Mentor.com, Mil-Aero, Milaero, 7 minutes of terror, Geek, EDL, Japan, JPL, china, Mentor, European Space Agency, Engineer, Gale Crater, MSL, Viking 1, Viking 2, Twitter, United States, social media, Soviet Union, nasa, Russia

NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover is the biggest, most expensive, and most technologically advanced planetary expedition ever attempted. At the same time, Curiosity’s entry, descent, and landing (EDL) was, without a doubt, the most ambitious. The EDL phase started when the spacecraft reached the Martian atmosphere, at a distance of roughly 125 kilometers or 78 miles above the surface, … Read More

social media, nasa, Milaero, @MarsCuriosity, Aerospace, Military, Mount Sharp, MSL, 7 minutes of terror, EDL, Mentor, Mentor Graphics, Engineer, Mentor.com, Mil-Aero, Geek, Gale Crater, JPL, Twitter

Avid space geeks everywhere cheered and breathed a collective sigh of relief when news arrived that the NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover, a roughly $2.5 billion investment in space exploration, had landed safely on the surface of the Red Planet. Enthusiasts the world over had waited with bated breath for 14 minutes to receive confirmation of the one-ton robot’s successful landing. … Read More

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