Cozy Dark emerging technology began work in 2010 as a skunkworks-style engineering firm and is registered with CCR and NSPIRES.
Our early engineering & design efforts have focused on orbital debris solutions and electrodynamic tether technology.
Zach Urbina founded Cozy Dark with the cooperation of technical, research, and academic colleagues in the Southern California AeroAstro community.
Search
Loading Tweet...
Tag Results
72 posts tagged tech
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program
newest video from NASA Kennedy. not a fan of the music, but nice visualization.
The developers behind the Tokyo Sky Tree, Japan’s soon-to-be tallest building, are planning to build a 22,370-mile high space elevator by 2050.
(via architizer)
(via itsfullofstars)
Dinosaur Robots (seriously): Paleontologist and Mechanical Engineer Team Up at Drexel University |
Could Tyrannosaurus rex run down its prey or did the eight-ton “tyrant lizard” shuffle its feet on the ground like an elephant? How did large dinosaurs lay eggs? Could they kneel down or did they simply drop off their offspring from 2 1/2 stories in the air and hope they survived?
Short of the wildly advanced genetic engineering imagined in Jurassic Park, robots might be the best tools that we have for answering these kinds of questions. Hence the partnership between paleontologist Dr. Kenneth Lacovara and mechanical engineer James Tangorra, both of Drexel University, who are using 3D printing to create the most advanced dinosaur models the world has ever known.
“We’re hitting the point where we’re going to be able to study extinct creatures in the same way a biologist can study a raccoon or tuna,” says Lacovara. “It’s going to go beyond informed guesswork to testable hypotheses.” continue reading
Masten Space Systems’ Xaero 61m Free Flight |
Masten Space Systems: “Upon completion of Xaero’s free flight hover earlier this month, she performed yet another successful free flight to an altitude of 61 meters on February 17th, 2012. The exterior view of the flight reveals a bobble at apogee, as well as a slight rocking motion after touchdown. Despite these imperfections, the flight was a complete success, with all test objectives reached or exceeded.”
Google looks to build satellite farm in Iowa to receive high speed data |
Google is looking to build an array of 4.5 meter wide satellite dishes in the town of Council Bluffs, Iowa. Company subsidiary Google Fiber — which recently announced plans to lay down fiber optic cable in Kansas City — has filed an FCC Public Notice seeking to build two earth stations in Council Bluffs, which would be used for “analog and digital audio, data, and video services.” Each proposed station would be receive-only, with one covering C-band and the other Ku-band. While a small town on the western edge of Iowa may seem like a strange place for a high-tech satellite farm, Google also currently operates a data center in Council Bluffs that has seen $600 million in investment. continue reading
For Space Mess, Scientists Seek Celestial Broom |
…
NASA just gave $1.9 million to Star Technology and Research, a small company in South Carolina, to develop and test technologies for a spacecraft it calls the ElectroDynamic Debris Eliminator — Edde, for short. Powered by a 6-mile-long wire — make that “space tether” — that generates energy as it is pulled through the Earth’s magnetic field, Edde would sidle up to a piece of junk, whip out a disposable net to catch it and then move to a lower orbit, where air friction would coax the item to re-enter the atmosphere. Edde, staying in orbit, would then move on to its next target.
Jerome Pearson, the president of Star Technology, says it would take only a few years and a few hundred million dollars for a fleet of Eddes to clean up the near-Earth neighborhood. continue reading
XCOR’s Doug Jones at the LA Space Salon |
Known as the Rocket Whisperer, Doug Jones is a Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at XCOR Aerospace. He handles test design and analysis of test results for the company’s liquid rocket engine development and facilitates the development and operation of rocket engine test apparatus. Before joining XCOR, Doug was responsible for sizing the fluid injector elements in Rotary Rocket Company’s (RRC) rocket engine design. Prior to RRC, Doug designed, built, and tested a 400 lb thrust nitrous oxide/propane engine, it’s test facility, and a 300,000 cubic foot balloon system for Vela Technology. Doug also flew multiple times as flight test engineer in the X-Racer rocket powered aircraft! via @SpaceVidCast
Vomit Comet Zero G Roller Coaster |
California-based attraction design and production firm BRC Imagination Arts, has proposed a zero gravity roller coaster designed to mimic the weightless sensations created by nasa’s ‘weightless wonder’ (colloquially nicknamed the ‘vomit comet’), the KC-135A aircraft used to test space equipment and train astronauts.
The attraction relies on an extremely precise linear acceleration system to continually accelerate and decelerate the craft, adjusting its speed and direction relative to the weight and distribution of passengers in order to achieve the sensation of microgravity.
In the first phase, coined ‘the throw’, the vehicle accelerates, reaching a speed of over 100 miles per hour directly upwards and causing passengers to experience 2 g. The craft then slightly and gradually slows its upward speed so as to precisely match the upward trajectory of its contents, thus causing the sensation of zero gravity.
In the third step, the ‘going down’, the vehicle moves downward at a pace equivalent to that of the now ‘falling’ passengers, extending the experience of microgravity. Lastly, ‘the catch’ involves rapid deceleration, causing passengers to again experience 2 g as they slow to a stop.
via unknownskywalker
