Southwest Research Institute explains significance of new images from NASAโs James Webb Space Telescope
NASAโs newly released high-resolution color images from the James Webb Space Telescope are a snapshot of our universe millions of years ago and the result of 120 hours of observation or about five daysโ worth of data.
SwRI to test AI-created flying car designs
SAN ANTONIO โ Editorโs note: This story was published through a partnership between the San Antonio Business Journal and KSAT. Southwest Research Institute received a four-year, $7.2 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency to test air taxi designs created by artificial intelligence systems, according to a Tuesday news release. The project is part of DARPAโs Symbiotic Design for Cyber Physical Systems program, created in August 2019 to streamline design though AI-enabled tools. In many ways, itโs the perfect concept to test an AIโs design capabilities,โ Whittington said in the release, adding that there is less room for human error through such designs. Read more on this story at the San Antonio Business Journal.
Southwest Research Institute awarded $1 million contract to maintain aging Air Force aircraft
SAN ANTONIO โ Southwest Research Institute has received a $1 million contract from the U.S. Air Force, with Sabreliner Aviation, to continue maintaining an aging fleet of military aircraft. โWork like this is vital to extending the lifetime of these aircraft,โ Smith said. $1.9M contract awarded to Southwest Research Institute to develop COVID-19 cureThe A-10 came into service in the late 1970s, and the fleet is currently set to continue service until at least 2040. โItโs important to understand the stresses on the aircraft because that will tell us where cracks will grow and how fast,โ Smith said. โThat also feeds into deciding how often inspections are needed.โSwRI has provided technical engineering support to the Air Force for several decades.
SwRI: Testing reveals โcounterfeitโ KN95 masks
SAN ANTONIO โ Southwest Research Institute has revealed that 8 of 11 different brands of counterfeit KN95 masks tested by the organization were manufactured in China, according to Dr. Imad Khalek, the programโs senior program manager. Khalek said KN95 is the Chinese version of the American-made N95 masks that are now hard to find. He said 73% of the counterfeit masks failed and were only 63% efficient, instead of 95% or higher that you get with real N95 masks. Soon after the COVID-19 pandemic began, SwRI switched from testing engine emissions to testing emission of particles through masks. โMaybe hundreds of millions of dollars are spent by various healthcare systems in hospitals on counterfeit KN95 masks,โ Khalek said.
$1.9M contract awarded to Southwest Research Institute to develop COVID-19 cure
SAN ANTONIO Researchers and scientists around the world are working tirelessly to come up with a cure or vaccine for COVID-19. A new $1.9 million contract is helping the Southwest Research Institute in their effort to beat the novel coronavirus. Accelerating this project in terms of getting it funded is faster than Ive ever seen in my career, Dr. Jonathan Bohmann, principal scientist at the Southwest Research Institute said. Southwest Research Institute to host course for rocket engineers this fallDr. Bohmann has been a scientist for 25 years and in February he and his team started working on the fight against the coronavirus. At the Southwest Research Institute scientists are virtually screening millions of drug compounds to search for and test possible treatment options in what is a collaborative effort.
Southwest Research Institute to host course for rocket engineers this fall
San Antonio Engineers and developers at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio said theyre hoping a new course theyll offer this fall will help those in the rocket engineering field. An introductory course on liquid propellant system design and analysis for launch vehicles will be held in October. The course is for rocket engineers who are familiar with the fuel system that makes rockets go but need to learn the complex process of doing it in outer space. One of the reasons why we're doing this course is because there really isn't a good place to get this kind of training anywhere. We've got a number of test rigs that have supported some of the NASA work on sloshing, Musgrove said.
Southwest Research scientists to 'chase the moon's shadow' in planes
"We are flying a couple of NASA's WB-57 high altitude research jets,โ Dr. Amir Caspi, with the Southwest Research Institute, said. Traveling at 450 mph, scientists from the San Antonio-based SwRI will be chasing the moonโs shadow. With two planes, it will allow for around seven and half minutes underneath the total solar eclipse. "A total eclipse provides a unique opportunity to study the solar corona,โ said Caspi. Itโs millions of degrees hotter than the solar surface,โ Caspi said.