The Invisible Network

"Form follows function" is an oft-cited architectural axiom. In space, form doesn’t necessarily follow function. Human space habitation is rooted, by necessity, in pragmatism. The architectures of Earth won’t work in space, but there is plenty to learn from Earthbound architectural theories as we extend our reach among the stars.

In recent years, NASA has renewed its focus on the Moon. Soon, we will look up at the Moon and rediscover a magic first experienced in 1969. It’s a magic that will flow through networks more sophisticated than ever before — an appreciation for the technological wonders that lay ahead, just above and all around us.

Every summer, fresh faces flood NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. They are the interns. Each new face comes with an idea to share — a contribution to make to the agency. Space Communications and Navigation interns contribute across many diverse disciplines, from cybersecurity to public outreach.

CubeSats are small satellites, some weighing as little as 3 pounds. They provide opportunities for small-scale research in space, and an avenue for young scientists — some as young as middle school-aged — to see their curiosity take literal flight.

The technologies that fuel NASA's exploration don't just stay in space. They benefit humanity in everyday life — sometimes in surprising ways, like how a NASA communications engineer helped create a system that freezes bone marrow.

In the telephone switchboard’s earliest days, the late 1800s, operators served a limited number of customers within their own communities. As telephone use expanded, automation helped switchboards keep up. NASA is working on a similar approach, infusing its satellite networks with a sort of artificial intelligence.

Whether you're relying on the careful observations of 1950s amateur astronomers and backyard telescopes or state-of-the-art GPS tracking and navigation technology: knowing where you are in space means needing to know what time it is.

The mythic hunter Orion, son of the sea-god Poseidon, was himself mortal, but his godly lineage enabled impossible heroic feats, earning him a place in the night sky as a constellation. NASA has developed its own Orion, a hunter for knowledge not of this Earth: a spacecraft designed for humanity’s return to the Moon and exploration of deep space.

Just south of the equator lies a tiny plot of volcanic soil, a thousand miles from the nearest continent. This bizarre, remote island had mammoth importance to America’s first efforts in space.

NASA presents The Invisible Network, a podcast giving you a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the feats of engineering that make possible humanity's ambitions among the stars. Join us October 16, as we reveal these invisible networks.