Award Data

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to develop a novel prototype system for privacy protection in the information sharing and data mining environment. This research addresses our society's growing concerns about invasions to individual privacy by information technology in general, and by data mining in particular. The intellectual merit of the proposed project is four-fol ...

Ultrasensitive sensors used in NASAs scientific missions (for example infrared sensors) typically require operation at deep cryogenic temperatures for optimum performance. However, to make full use of their performance requires an ultralow-noise preamplifier co-located in the same, or a nearby, cryogenic environment at liquid-helium (~1-4 K) or sub-Kelvin temperatures. A severe impediment to makin ...

NASA, DoD, DHS, and commercial industry have a pressing need for miniaturized, rugged, low-cost high-vacuum systems. Recent advances in sensor technology at NASA and other government laboratories, in academia, and in industry have led to the development of very small mass spectrometer detectors as well as other analytical instruments such as scanning electronic microscopes. However, the vacuum s ...

For lunar-based fission power systems that will support In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) or Mars robotic and manned missions, power requirements may vary from 10s to 100s of kWe to support initial human missions and longer term lunar bases. Due to the large amounts of waste heat generated by these systems, a key consideration is the development of lightweight, highly efficient heat rejection s ...

A personal air ventilation system (PAVS) can dramatically improve the environment inside chemical/biological protective clothing, protecting the health and safety of soldiers and enabling peak physical/mental performance for long periods. However, existing air blowers that can produce the flow rate and pressure drop needed for a PAVS are too heavy, inefficient, and noisy for a man-portable system ...

Manned lunar exploration will require extravehicular activity (EVA) suits that surpass existing technology. We propose an innovative thermal control system for EVA suits that uses an absorption heat pump with a flexible radiator that offers reduced size, lighter weight, conformability, rugged construction, and freeze tolerance. The heat pump absorbs a crew member's metabolic heat and rejects it ...

Environmental control systems for manned lunar and planetary bases will require condensing heat exchangers to control humidity in manned modules. Condensing surfaces must be hydrophilic to ensure efficient operation and biocidal to prevent growth of microbes in the moist, condensing environment. The coatings must be extremely stable and adhere to the condensing surface for many years. We propos ...

Creare proposes to develop a novel, laser-assisted, pre-finishing process for chemical vapor deposition (CVD) coated silicon-carbide ceramics. Our innovation will enable the affordable single-point turning of CVD silicon carbide from a near-net shape blank to a pre-finished aspheric optic. We will use our extensive experience and expertise in the advanced machining of ceramics to establish the p ...

Long-life, high-capacity cryocoolers are a critical need for future space systems utilizing stored cryogens. The cooling requirements for planetary and extraterrestrial exploration missions, Crew Exploration Vehicles, extended-life orbital transfer vehicles, and space depots will range from 10 to 50 W at temperatures between 20 and 120 K. Turbo-Brayton cryocoolers are ideal for these systems bec ...

NASA's future missions to investigate the structure and evolution of the universe require highly efficient, very low temperature coolers for low-noise detector systems. We propose to develop a highly efficient, lightweight space magnetic cooler that can continuously provide remote/distributed cooling at temperatures in the range of 2 K with a heat sink at about 15 K. The proposed magnetic cooler ...