NASA JPL’s Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) project, a partnership with the California Institute of Technology, delivers timely data products for disaster response. ARIA combines near real-time GPS, radar, optical, and seismic observation with state-of-the-art processing to produce damage and flood maps. With satellite data that can see through clouds, ARIA has helped organizations like the UN World Food Programme monitor events, like flooding from the 2020 tropical cyclones in Bangladesh and India. From local California wildfires to the massive explosion in Beirut, ARIA’s openly-accessible maps, produced in collaboration with the Earth Observatory of Singapore, have been used to help identify severely damaged areas where assistance may be required. ARIA’s ground deformation maps have also been used to identify a complex web of fault ruptures and damage from the 2019 Ridgecrest, CA earthquakes.

Through NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, California’s Swift Engineering, with support from NASA Ames, has developed a high-altitude, long-endurance uncrewed aircraft to carry science instruments and other small payloads. It is designed to stay aloft for 30 days at 65,000 feet, and its recent first flight provided critical data to prove that design requirements were met. Such aircraft can complement satellites with data on regional scales, and NASA is exploring their use for Earth system science and disaster response. These platforms have the potential to provide imagery similar to a geostationary satellite. During or after a natural disaster, they could gather real-time data or provide a communications relay. Read More.

Scientists at SLAC are developing a new type of pocket-sized antenna, that could enable communication in situations where traditional radios do not work, such as rescue missions that require high mobility. The 4-inch-tall device is capable of emitting radio waves with wavelengths as large as tens to hundreds of miles. In contrast to traditional shorter wavelength radio waves, these waves can maintain their strength over longer distances or travel through obstructions such as water or layers of rock. Read More.

Sandia/California’s microgrid team is helping communities hit by natural disasters to recover and rebuild with resilience in mind. A microgrid is a decentralized system of electricity generators that can provide power to buildings and infrastructure even if the power grid goes down. They are a powerful tool in responding to natural disasters, particularly in the critical days after a disaster strikes, when access to power is vital to emergency response. In the wake of Hurricane Maria’s devastating impacts in Puerto Rico, Sandia’s team worked alongside local groups to deploy six microgrid demo sites across the island, generating power to key buildings, such as hospitals. Additionally, the team worked with local communities on capacity building and workforce development, paving the way for the deployment of more microgrids across Puerto Rico, increasing the island’s resilience to future events. Read More.

A rapid and non-invasive screening tool could “sniff out” COVID-19 in patients’ breath with a spaceflight-proven, re-usable electronic nose (E-Nose) technology from NASA Ames. Originally developed for trace chemical detection in space, its sensors are being tuned to detect COVID-19 through breath analysis. Using an instrument attached to a smartphone – and NASA expertise in advanced machine-learning methods – the results from the E-Nose will combine with body temperature and other non-invasive symptom screening to provide more accurate on-the-spot answers. The screening results can then be transmitted via cellphone or WiFi networks.

A multidisciplinary team of biologists and engineers at LLNL has developed a 3D “brain-on-a-chip” device capable of sustain and record activity from hundreds of thousands of interconnected, human-derived neurons as they communicate with each other. These devices can potentially be used to study how healthy or sick networks of neurons change in response to disease or infection, toxins, or drugs, without using animal models. The team has recently developed computational tools to analyze the data coming from the devices, bringing brain-on-a-chip devices another large step closer to widescale use. Read More.

When faced with a chemical or biological threat, the safety of soldiers and first responders depends on protective equipment. Unfortunately, the existing materials that provide protection from these threats also inhibit breathability. A LLNL-led team of scientists have developed a smart fabric that breathes, blocks all biological threats, and dynamically blocks chemical threats by closing its pores only in the presence of organophosphate threats. The team is improving the new fabric by incorporating stretch and protection from additional chemical threats. Read More.

Drones could help reduce the impacts of natural disasters by assisting emergency responders: they can make interventions faster, more targeted, and better able to adapt to changing circumstances. They can also multitask in unique ways, for instance making logistics deliveries during a wildfire (of water, radio batteries, first aid, etc.) while using onboard sensors to scan the terrain for hotspots and provide near-real-time information to firefighters. NASA Ames’ Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations (STEReO) project builds on the center’s expertise integrating these vehicles into the airspace to develop the tools and systems to make this a reality. Read More.