Award Data

Ironically people who are blind or have visual impairments that should benefit the most from technology, have great difficulty in interacting with modern home appliances and electronics. This is primarily due to a combination of a lack of accessible features, device complexity, or the lack of a centralized strategy. Current strategies do not incorporate reminders, the possible fixed income status ...

Modern aircraft gas turbine engines utilize highly loaded airfoils in both the compressor and turbine to maximize performance while minimizing weight, cost, and complexity. However, high airfoil loading increases the likelihood of flow separation at lower mass flow rates. Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma actuators have been shown to be a very promising technique for compressor stall con ...

Refueling spacecraft in space offers tremendous benefits for increased spacecraft payload capacity and reduced launch cost. A key technology challenge for space refueling is the storage of liquid cryogenic fuel in space. To meet this need, we propose to develop a reliable, compact, efficient cryogenic mixing pump with no moving parts. The mixing pump will prevent thermal stratification of the c ...

Future NASA space missions require advanced systems to convert thermal energy into electric power. These systems must be reliable, efficient, and lightweight. In response, we propose to develop a turbo-Brayton power converter with high efficiency and specific power. The converter will use gas bearings to provide reliable, maintenance-free, long-life operation. It will also consist of discrete ...

NASA's future science missions to investigate the structure and evolution of the universe require efficient, very low temperature coolers for low noise detector systems. We propose to develop a highly efficient, lightweight Active Magnetic Regenerative Refrigeration (AMRR) system that can continuously provide remote/distributed cooling at temperatures of about 2 K with a heat sink at about 1 ...

Creare and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University propose to design, develop, test, and deliver an ultra compact star tracker specifically intended for small satellites such as the CubeSat platform. Our design is based on proprietary "folded optics" technology previously developed by our partner for use in military and commercial optical applications that require a compact footprint ...

NASA has recognized the need to develop new on-orbit analysis capabilities. This need arises because of the high cost associated with returning samples to Earth for analysis, the limited availability of crew time, and the relatively modest capabilities and interfaces of the existing hardware on the International Space Station (ISS). The goal of this project is the development of a miniature vari ...

Future manned spacecraft and lunar or Mars outposts will need a condensing heat exchanger (CHX) to control humidity in the cabin atmosphere. Condensing surfaces must be hydrophilic to control the condensate flow and ensure efficient operation, and biocidal to prevent growth of microbes and formation of biofilms on condensing surfaces. Coatings must be extremely stable, adhere to the condensing s ...

Bridger Photonics Inc. (Bridger) proposes to develop the most compact, efficient and low-cost ultra-violet ozone differential absorption lidar (DIAL) transmitter available. This system will use a frequency-doubled, conductively-cooled, q-switched Nd:YAG laser to pump a combination optical parametric oscillator (OPO) and sum frequency generation (SFG) cavity to deliver 6 ns, 1.5 mJ and 1 kHz puls ...

This SBIR Phase I effort proposes to establish the feasibility of leveraging advances in compact laser technology with integration of space qualified techniques into AdvR's Planar Lightwave Circuit (PLC) and iodine reference cell technology for the design of a space qualifiable, frequency stabilized seed laser system in support of NASA Langley's High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) pr ...