Award Data

Nanosatellites are receiving increased interest since they are proving reliable for surveillance, communication and other space missions. Also, the possibility of launching "constellations" of them offers unique capabilities for low-cost experimentation, sensing and communications in space. In comparison to larger spacecraft, their development time and costs have reduced and their launch costs a ...

A spacecraft thermal control system must keep the cabin (both air and its structure if manned) and electronic equipment within a narrow temperature range even though the environment may vary from very cold to warmer than room temperature. Since water is safe to use and an excellent coolant (other than its high freeze point and volumetric expansion during freeze), a water coolant loop often is use ...

Aircraft are susceptible to ballistic and other projectile damage. They are particularly vulnerable to damage to their fuel tanks. As a result, most jet fighters and all U.S. military rotary wing aircraft employ some type of seal-sealing fuel tank technology. Unfortunately, the existing self-sealing fuel tank technologies are heavy and offer unreliable reproducibility in the self-sealing layer res ...

In common terminology, chaos refers to a state of randomness or unpredictability. Chaos has a different meaning in physics and mathematics. In physics, chaos is a structured but irregularly patterned behavior displaying an extraordinary sensitivity to initial conditions. Work done by the principals of the proposal has proven that logic elements can be built with chaotic elements and can replicate ...

A subtle and often unrecognized assumption lies behind the use of the terms salience and perception when they appear in the context of human information processing. Although it has become commonplace to blend the language of low-level physiological process with the language of high-level cognition, there is a substantive theoretical step to be taken before we can claim that, for instance, the abi ...

The development of new, robust, lightweight systems for CO2 removal during EVA is a crucial need for NASA. Current activity is focused on extending mission times without increasing the size and weight of the portable life support system (PLSS). Although CO2 sorbents that can be regenerated during EVA are being studied, these system add "on back" hardware, increasing weight and complexity, and re ...

Ophir's Phase I research was highly successful and all contract objectives and tasks were successfully completed. In Phase II, Ophir proposes to continue this important research by developing and flight testing a multifunction, low-cost, laser radar capable of enhancing aviation safety by accurately measuring kinetic air hazards, providing supplemental air data, and enhancing ride comfort. The i ...

LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) systems have proven their value in the remote measurement of spatially resolved atmospheric wind velocities in a number of applications, including the detection of clear-air turbulence, wind shear, aircraft wake vortices, and microbursts. The capacity of coherent LIDAR systems to produce a continuous, real-time 3D scan of wind velocities via detection of the Mi ...

LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) systems have proven their value in the remote measurement of spatially resolved atmospheric wind velocities in a number of applications, including the detection of clear-air turbulence, wind shear, aircraft wake vortices, and microbursts. The capacity of coherent LIDAR systems to produce a continuous, real-time 3D scan of wind velocities via detection of the Mi ...

An integral component of many NASA missions involves remote sensing of the environment, both terrestrial and celestial. This is a challenging problem, since quantities of interest typically can not be directly measured but instead must be inferred. These inferences are made by solving inverse problems, where complex forward models are inverted to estimate parameters of the model. These parameters ...