Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Mark Anderson

Mark Anderson is a journalist and technology copywriter based in Northampton, Massachusetts. His website is markawriter.com.

Stories from this author

At Mach 1, shock waves coming off a T-38 (seen using Schlieren photography) will coalesce to form a mighty boom.

Lower the Boom

NASA’s new supersonic X-plane won’t rattle your windows.

At Aerogel Technologies, a new process enables techs to make “airloy” structures at ambient temperatures.

Super Stuff

More than 99 percent air and able to withstand forces thousands of times its weight.

One of Google’s Project Loon balloons launched in June 2013 over Christchurch, New Zealand’s south island.

How Aerial Tech is Bringing the Internet to Everyone, Everywhere

Access brought to you by drones, sats, and balloons.