Award Data

This Phase I SBIR will lead to the development of a bandwidth tailored pump source for high purity photon pair generation. Spontaneous parametric down conversion can be used to generate high purity photon pairs at wavelengths of interest to NASA and the broader scientific community. However, these sources are highly dependent on pulsed pump laser parameters. Traditional pulsed laser sources are la ...

Advances in aviation offer significant potential benefits in the transportation of packages and passengers by uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS). These aircraft can improve efficiency, reduce costs, increase safety, and provide new capabilities in various industries. However, before uncrewed aircraft can be widely adopted, they must be shown to be safe. New advances in artificial intelligence and rob ...

Deep-space missions will require spacecraft to overcome unknown problems and unexpected system failures in novel regimes without the support of Earth-based communication or resources. Reliable autonomous systems are needed to assist crew with managing and executing missions, and responding to unanticipated system failures and anomalies, thereby reducing cognitive burden of the crew and time spent ...

This Phase II project aims to prototype a novel technology that can advance the state-of-the-art in high performance space computing.nbsp; The base computer technology, called ldquo;RadPCrdquo;, brings together a suite of fault recovery mechanisms that enable Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) to operate reliably in the presence of space radiation that causes si ...

In this Phase I proposal, Remcom proposes a complete, end-to-end modeling and simulation solution for predicting wireless propagation and network coverage for lunar scenarios. Our solution builds on mature, existing capabilities previously developed for the wireless industry and the U.S. government, specifically enhanced to include 4G and 5G technologies. Under this effort, we will perform researc ...

One of the greatest challenges with large scale power systems is the ability to transmit power over long distances while minimizing inefficiencies and loss. Just as it is on Earth, the most effective method of long-distance lunar power transfer will involve installation of cables for high voltage power transfer. However, unlike Earth, lunar cable installation systems will face extreme environments ...

Astrobotic proposes the development of ldquo;Floatinator,rdquo; a one-of-its-kind tunable lunar and planetary gravity simulator for terrestrial testing of plume-surface interactions (PSI) and cratering. In its initial lunar configuration, Floatinator will consist of a hot-fire test chamber capable of being dropped at a controlled acceleration of 5/6g, thereby providing a 1/6g gravity reference fra ...

The Plume-Surface Interaction Combined Hot-fire Imaging Camera (PSICHIC) is a novel imaging sensor that will advance the state of plume-surface interaction (PSI) observation by combining the capabilities of a high-speed camera, a thermal camera, and an event camera into a single, compact system designed to be used in stereo. PSICHIC leverages advances in camera technology to study and measure plum ...

The Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environmental Technology (HEEET) project started as a solution to the difficult entry temperatures and conditions. Its design is robust for the extreme environments that it needs to survive. HEEET Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) is fabricated with two different layers. The first is a dense carbon layer that is meant to be thermally ablative (forebody) and the seco ...

Nuclear electric propulsion systems provide a variety of benefits including increased science payload, reduced flight times and longer mission lifetimes. These advantages enable a wide range of missions such as manned missions to Mars, unmanned missions to the outer planets and deep-space. The thermal management system linking the reactor to the hot end of the power conversion system must be effic ...