NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland is up and running 100 Research and Development Awards 2025 for developing a system that provides high-speed Internet in space, as well as for co-inventing the technology of a new class of soft magnetic nanocrystalline materials designed to operate at extreme temperatures. This brings NASA Glenn's total number of awards to 130 R&D 100 Awards.
High-speed, latency-tolerant network
Daniel Rabel and Rachel Dudukovich from NASA Glenn led a team of engineers to create High-speed, latency-tolerant network (HDTN), a cutting-edge software solution designed to revolutionize data streaming and communications in space. HDTN provides reliable, high-speed data transmission between space and Earth—even in extreme space environments—while minimizing system loss and latency.
“The HDTN software protocol enables faster, more automated, and smoother data transfer between spacecraft, even between communications systems operating at different connection speeds,” Raible said. “This is up to 10 times faster than today’s delay-tolerant networks (DTNs).”
This cutting-edge technology has far-reaching implications beyond NASA. Being open source, HDTN paves the way for collaboration, innovation and adoption in the rapidly evolving commercial space industry by offering near real-time communications capabilities.
Looking to the future, HDTN could become the backbone of a solar-wide Internet system, supporting data exchange between Earth, spacecraft, and even future missions involving human travel to the Moon and Mars.
VulcanAlloy
In a project led by the University of Pittsburgh, researchers at NASA Glenn, including Nick Bruno, Grant Feuchter, Vladimir Kalin, Alex Leary and Ron Noebe, partnered with CorePower Magnetics to develop VulcanAlloy, a revolutionary soft magnetic nanocrystalline material.
Developed by NASA's High Temperature Technologies program using technology capabilities created by the Advanced Air Transport Technology project, VulcanAlloy operates at temperatures in excess of 500°C, far exceeding the limits of conventional soft magnetic materials. Its nanoengineered structure maintains efficiency at high temperatures and frequencies.
Thanks to its tunable magnetic properties, it can replace multiple materials in components such as inductors, transformers, motors and sensors, while reducing the need for bulky cooling systems – ideal for extreme environments.
Raytheon has tested VulcanAlloy cores, highlighting their potential in electrified aircraft, defense and aerospace systems.
This innovation also promises major impacts in electric vehicles, data centers, microgrids and power systems, where smaller, lighter and more efficient components are key to the development of next-generation power electronics.
The R&D 100 Awards, a global competition for science and innovation, received entries from organizations around the world. Now in its 63rd year, this year's jury included industry professionals from around the world who assessed breakthrough innovations in technology and science.
