Southwest Research Institute

The Southwest Research Institute is a non-profit R&D organization based in San Antonio, Texas. It is leading a consortium of major players in the engine, automotive and energy industries to produce a demonstration hydrogen combustion powered class-8 truck. IDTechEx spoke with an institute engineer at SwRI about the hydrogen engine.

Southwest Research Institute in collaboration with Malta Inc has completed assembly and commissioning of the first-of-its-kind pumped heat (or thermal) energy storage demonstration facility.

More than 60 engineers and scientists are gathered at Southwest Research Institute to kick off the launch vehicle collaboration for NASA's Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission. PUNCH, which will study the inception of the solar wind, has secured its ride into Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, sharing a ride into space with NASA's Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Re-ionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission.

Researchers used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe Jupiter's moon, Europa, at ultraviolet wavelengths, filling in a "gap" in the various wavelengths used to observe this icy water world. The team's near-global UV maps show concentrations of sulfur dioxide on Europa's trailing side.

NASA has selected the CubeSat Imaging X-Ray Solar Spectrometer, led by Southwest Research Institute, to measure the elemental composition of hot, multimillion-degree plasmas in the Sun's corona - its outermost atmosphere. The nanosatellite is expected to be launched in 2024 as a secondary payload on another satellite launch. CubIXSS will determine the origins of hot plasma - highly ionized gas - in solar flares and active regions.