INSIDER
HUD releases playbook addressing extreme heat resilience as parts of US continue showing high temperatures
Read full article: HUD releases playbook addressing extreme heat resilience as parts of US continue showing high temperaturesAs cities, including San Antonio, continue to battle extreme heat exacerbations, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced a strategy to curb heat’s effect on the housing system and offer clear guidance on active heat mitigation efforts.
How researchers in San Antonio are using helmet padding to protect athletes, soldiers
Read full article: How researchers in San Antonio are using helmet padding to protect athletes, soldiersA team of researchers from the University of Texas San Antonio and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) have been working for the last year and a half to develop new helmet padding technology.
Profiles in clean energy: Former Shell VP helps create a new way of making clean electricity
Read full article: Profiles in clean energy: Former Shell VP helps create a new way of making clean electricityAt oil and gas giant Shell, Cindy Taff was in charge of drilling wells that are considered unconventional because the oil or natural gas is difficult to access.
San Antonio to host three-day conference aimed at transportation, technology sectors
Read full article: San Antonio to host three-day conference aimed at transportation, technology sectorsMobility leaders and advocates from across Texas will descend on San Antonio for a conference geared toward transportation and technology innovations.
Experimental power plant using CO2 in San Antonio could be future of energy production
Read full article: Experimental power plant using CO2 in San Antonio could be future of energy productionSouthwest Research Institute built a power plant from the ground up, and its energy production is attracting attention.
SwRI breaks ground on new facility for research, development of high-speed aerospace engines
Read full article: SwRI breaks ground on new facility for research, development of high-speed aerospace enginesSouthwest Research Institute (SwRI) on Monday celebrated the groundbreaking of a new facility that will support research and development for tomorrow’s high-speed aerospace engines.
SwRI begins work on ‘spacecraft bus’
Read full article: SwRI begins work on ‘spacecraft bus’Southwest Research Institute has won a position on Denver-based Astroscale U.S.’s contract with the U.S. Space Force to build and test a small demonstration spacecraft as part of a $25.5 million Space Mobility and Logistics prototyping project.
Southwest Research Institute engineers test hydrogen combustion engines in diesel trucks
Read full article: Southwest Research Institute engineers test hydrogen combustion engines in diesel trucksEngineers at the Southwest Research Institute have retrofitted a traditional diesel truck engine to run on hydrogen combustion.
San Antonio scientists eager to unlock sun’s mysteries during upcoming solar eclipse
Read full article: San Antonio scientists eager to unlock sun’s mysteries during upcoming solar eclipseDr. Amir Caspi of the Southwest Research Institute says the upcoming total solar eclipse will provide scientists with a unique opportunity to study the sun.
Tech SA: Southwest Research Institute developing self-driving shuttle for research, campus tours
Read full article: Tech SA: Southwest Research Institute developing self-driving shuttle for research, campus toursA team of engineers at the Southwest Research Institute hope their latest invention can help solve some of San Antonio’s infrastructure and mobility challenges.
Southwest Research Institute explains significance of new images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope
Read full article: Southwest Research Institute explains significance of new images from NASA’s James Webb Space TelescopeNASA’s 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 days’ worth of data.
San Antonio students watch and learn as Jeff Bezos, crew successfully complete historic space launch
Read full article: San Antonio students watch and learn as Jeff Bezos, crew successfully complete historic space launchA group of San Antonio middle schoolers say they're excited for the future after watching Jeff Bezos' historic spaceflight with crew members on Tuesday morning.
Southwest Research Institute engineers turn piles of plastic into useful chemicals, fuels
Read full article: Southwest Research Institute engineers turn piles of plastic into useful chemicals, fuelsBillions of particles of plastic waste are choking our oceans and piling up on land, but a team of researchers has a solution that they think can help the environment and produce useful chemicals and fuels.
SwRI to test AI-created flying car designs
Read full article: SwRI to test AI-created flying car designsSAN ANTONIO – Editor’s 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 DARPA’s Symbiotic Design for Cyber Physical Systems program, created in August 2019 to streamline design though AI-enabled tools. In many ways, it’s the perfect concept to test an AI’s design capabilities,” 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
Read full article: Southwest Research Institute awarded $1 million contract to maintain aging Air Force aircraftSAN ANTONIO – 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. “Work like this is vital to extending the lifetime of these aircraft,” 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. “It’s important to understand the stresses on the aircraft because that will tell us where cracks will grow and how fast,” Smith said. “That also feeds into deciding how often inspections are needed.”SwRI has provided technical engineering support to the Air Force for several decades.
SwRI: Testing reveals ‘counterfeit’ KN95 masks
Read full article: SwRI: Testing reveals ‘counterfeit’ KN95 masksSAN ANTONIO – 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 program’s 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. “Maybe hundreds of millions of dollars are spent by various healthcare systems in hospitals on counterfeit KN95 masks,” Khalek said.
$1.9M contract awarded to Southwest Research Institute to develop COVID-19 cure
Read full article: $1.9M contract awarded to Southwest Research Institute to develop COVID-19 cureSAN 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
Read full article: Southwest Research Institute to host course for rocket engineers this fallSan 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
Read full article: 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,” Dr. Amir Caspi, with the Southwest Research Institute, said. Traveling at 450 mph, scientists from the San Antonio-based SwRI will be chasing the moon’s 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,” said Caspi. It’s millions of degrees hotter than the solar surface,” Caspi said.