Technology Today

SwRI’s Internal Research and Development Program supports scientists and engineers exploring unproven ideas or concepts. The program’s researchers are making impactful discoveries that evolve into solutions for the Institute’s government and industry clients. Over the past decade, SwRI has invested more than $77 million into research and development to benefit humankind, including space instruments, autonomous driving technology, clean energy initiatives and more. The IR&D Program gives curious researchers the freedom and resources to experiment, test and investigate with the goals of advancing science, investing in the future and creating business development opportunities. Listen now as SwRI Executive Vice President and COO Walt Downing, IR&D program administrator, discusses some of the program’s top achievements, how projects are selected for funding and the program’s world-changing contributions to science and discovery.

NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will investigate a vast saltwater ocean beneath the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. The spacecraft, equipped with nine instruments, will gather data in search of ingredients that support life. SwRI designed and built two of the instruments onboard Clipper, the Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph and the Mass Spectrometer for Planetary Exploration. The mission could help answer big questions about the origin of life on Earth and whether that process can occur elsewhere in our solar system. The launch window for Clipper opens October 10 and the spacecraft is expected to enter Jupiter’s orbit in 2030. Listen now as SwRI space scientists Dr. Jim Burch and Dr. Kurt Retherford, principal investigators of SwRI’s Clipper instruments, talk about preparations before launch, mission goals, and the SwRI instruments contributing to our understanding of astrobiology, the study of the potential for life beyond our planet.

When dense concentrations of pavement and buildings replace green spaces, a community risks becoming an urban heat island (UHI). UHI temperatures can be up to 20 degrees higher than surrounding areas, causing heat-related health and safety problems for people in the community. SwRI is working with the city of San Antonio to rapidly identify UHIs and pinpoint areas where people will most benefit from solutions like covered bus stops, water features, green spaces and more. An SwRI-designed tool is integrating and analyzing information from more than 200 sources to strategically combat high temperatures. Listen now as SwRI engineers Shane Siebenaler and Justin Long discuss SwRI’s data fusion tool used to identify areas that most need relief from the scorching summer heat.

SwRI is designing, building and operating the QuickSounder satellite, a collaborative mission between NASA and NOAA and the first in a new generation of low-Earth orbit environmental satellites. NOAA’s low-Earth orbit satellites collect weather data and provide information for the 3-to-7-day forecasts we use to plan our days and stay safe in severe weather. QuickSounder will also provide weather data, but what makes this prototype unique is the fast production timeline and the low construction cost. It is being developed in one-fifth of the time and at one-tenth of the cost of previous weather satellite technology. Listen now as QuickSounder Program Manager Keith Smith and Lead Systems Engineer Steve Thompson explain what the advanced production timeline means for weather forecasting and the challenges of designing and building the weather satellite in record time.