Award Data

This NASA Phase I STTR effort will establish the feasibility of developing a compact broadband near to mid-IR programmable optical comb for use in laser based remote sensing and communications. The comb generator will use a waveguide-based optical parametric gain block technology that can have ultra wideband (>250nm) operation with very high gain (>25dB) in a very compact footprint. This approach ...

ORBITEC proposes to develop the Advanced Carbothermal Electric (ACE) reactor to efficiently extract oxygen from lunar regolith. Unlike state-of-the-art carbothermal reactors that use concentrated solar energy or laser energy to heat the regolith, the ACE reactor uses new innovative electric resistant elements to heat the regolith. The ACE reactor eliminates the problems encountered with traditiona ...

The overall objective of this proposal (Phases I and II) is to develop a robust and accurate solver for fluid-structure interaction computations capable of addressing multi-body flexible structures as well as rigid body motion. The fluid flow solution will be performed using our unstructured solution-adaptive flow solver TETHYS. We propose to develop a structural solver based on the Galerkin finit ...

This project researches and develops natural support mechanisms for people with intellectual disabilities that facilitate greater opportunities and independence in employment settings. This project demonstrates the technical merit, feasibility, and cost effectiveness of combining state-of-the-art portable wireless technology and sensor technology with an innovative approach to develop the first se ...

Simulation-based design optimization has been steadily maturing over the past two decades, but not without its own unique and persistent challenges. The proposed project will develop a novel solution to one of the long-standing bottlenecks in simulation-based design optimization. Particularly, we will develop a flexible geometry toolkit for shape parameterization and modification as required for d ...

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are assuming more numerous and increasingly important roles in global environmental and atmospheric research. There is a corresponding growth in equipment needs for UAVs so that they may meet their mission goals. Some critical measurement needs can only be satisfied by in-situ measurements. Key examples of such measurements include detailed atmospheric profiles, ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I effort will investigate the feasibility of using electro-optic (EO) beam scanning element to control coupling into a fiber as a fiber coupled pulse shaper. The goal of the pulse shaper is to reduce a 4-6ns pulse to 0.4-0.6ns pulse at 1064nm and/or 532nm at input powers at the 2mJ level. The highest utility of the proposed pulse shaper is its progr ...

Recent National Assessment of Educational Progress reports indicate that high percentages of students – especially English Language Learners, those with reading deficiencies, and those with learning disabilities – struggle to make adequate progress toward science standards. This problem is particularly manifested in middle school students where these reports indicate that there is a decline in ...

ORBITEC proposes to develop processes and waste heat recovery techniques to be incorporated into the existing Plastic Melt Waste Compactor (PMWC) to increase efficiency and throughput. The end goal will be to incorporate these processes and techniques into the PMWC system developed by Ames Research Center (ARC). The PMWC has shown to be the best technology for waste management for space applicati ...

To provide reliably secure communications, development of quantum optical devices for encrypted ground-to-space communications is a necessity. The overall goal of this NASA effort is to develop and deliver efficient, single-pass quantum optical waveguide sources capable of backward quasi-phase-matched interactions for generation of high purity photon pairs for use in an on-demand photon source to ...