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Quantifiable and Reliable Structural Health Management Systems

Award Information
Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Branch: N/A
Contract: NNX09CA20C
Agency Tracking Number: 075597
Amount: $600,000.00
Phase: Phase II
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: X1.04
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2007
Award Year: 2009
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2009-03-09
Award End Date (Contract End Date): 2011-11-30
Small Business Information
835 Stewart Drive
Sunnyvale, CA 94085-4514
United States
DUNS: 043688410
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: Yes
Principal Investigator
 Shawn Beard
 Principal Investigator
 (408) 745-1188
 sjb@acellent.com
Business Contact
 Irene Li
Title: President
Phone: (408) 745-1188
Email: irene_li@acellent.com
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

Under Project Constellation, NASA is developing a new generation of spacecraft for human spaceflight. A significant percentage of the structures used in these spacecraft will be made of composite materials, and the Ares V payload shroud will be one of the largest composite structures ever built. This offers many challenges, not only for design and manufacturing, but also for inspection and maintenance. Inspection of large composite structures using traditional NDE methods is time consuming, expensive, and often not possible when access is limited (e.g. covered by a thermal protection system), resulting in a conservative (higher weight) design. Acellent proposes to develop a robust, state-of-the-art structural health monitoring (SHM) system to overcome these concerns. The Phase II will optimize the design and quantify the benefits for SHM on the Ares V payload shroud, and then expand the results to include other Ares V components such as the Altair Lunar Lander Structure, Earth Departure Stage (EDS) payload adapter, forward skirt and intertank, and the Core-to-EDS interstage. The proposed solution will be capable of detecting and quantifying damage with a high probability of detection (POD), accurately predicting the residual strength and remaining life of the structures with confidence, and providing information that will allow appropriate preventative actions on the monitored structure.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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