Award Data

A catalytic post-processor is the last unit operation that reclaimed water typically sees before being consumed by the crew, therefore the entire sub-system must be safe, reliable and well-understood. The key innovation required to provide a sub-system for longer-term missions is to develop catalyst technologies that maintain a high degree of activity and physical stability over multi-year operati ...

Accurate estimates of the radiative effects of clouds and aerosols are essential for an understanding of the Earth's climate system. Under the EOS program, NASA has placed into orbit a series of satellites devoted to long term observations of the climate state. Central to the observation of the radiation balance are the CERES instruments that fly on both the Terra (2000 - present) and Aqua (2002 ...

Radiation Hardened Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) provide the highest performance, lowest power and smallest size ICs for Space Missions. To dramatically reduce the development cycle, and reduce cost to tape out, Micro-RDC proposes a Structured ASIC approach. In this methodology, we fix an array of complex logic cells and provide a fixed area array for I/O pads supporting in exce ...

This STTR project delivers a compact vibration-based Energy Conversion Module (ECM) that powers sensors for purposes such as structural health monitoring (SHM). NASA customers include the Rocket Propulsion Test (RPT) program, the ISS, and the Orion deep space vehicle, all of which need wireless sensors to monitor and assess structural health. The ECM represents a major advancement in the use of wi ...

Terminal Velocity Aerospace, LLC (TVA) proposes to enable commercial space activity and improve utilization of the International Space Station (ISS) through use of small reentry devices (REDs) for high-temperature materials flight testing and small payload return missions. TVA is presently developing two RED systems with a high degree of technological similarity. The first is RED-Data2, a 1.7 kg c ...

Proposed is the development and validation in a laboratory environment of a photovoltaic (PV) array design of unique and enabling characteristics. Namely, smoothly deployed from compact stowage with one single, continuous sweep of motion, a total PV surface area up to and beyond 4000~m2 (the area associated with 1~MW power) is provided by two wings, with mechanical performance objectives also met ...

Advanced space propulsion systems are a critical need for future NASA deep space missions. High thrust engines could revolutionize space exploration. Nuclear Thermal Propulsion ("NTP") is a high thrust/high Isp propulsion technology. Reduced or Zero Boil Off of LH2 propellant for long duration missions is among the critical technology advancements needed for cryogenic propellant storage for both N ...

The proposed innovation advances the ability to apply the Holomorphic Embedding Load Flow Technology (HELM™) method to provide deterministic load flow modeling for spacecraft power systems. Future deep-space vehicles need intelligent, fault-tolerant and autonomous control of power management and distribution. Due to communications latency, control algorithms for future autonomous space power ...

Military personnel must be protected from diseases transmitted by ticks and fleas, including Lyme disease. Effective surveillance of tick and flea vectors is vital to determine the population present, whether they are carrying disease, and whether control campaigns are working. Unfortunately, current surveillance tools are ineffective. In Phase I TDA designed, prototyped, and tested a novel ti ...

An on-board oxygen concentrator is required during long duration manned space missions to supply medical oxygen. The commercial medical oxygen generators based on pressure swing adsorption (PSA) are large and highly power intensive. TDA Research, Inc. (TDA) proposes to develop a small, lightweight, portable oxygen generator based on a vacuum swing adsorption (VSA) to produce concentrated medical ...