Award Data

Diode-Pumped Alkali Lasers (DPALs) have great potential for high-energy lasers. Proper design of these systems is challenging because many interrelated processes impact their performance, and critical kinetic rate coefficients are not well known. In response, our team is developing a comprehensive physics-based analysis/design tool, and experimentally determining key kinetic rate coefficients. The ...

Future MDA space missions will utilize small spacecraft with correspondingly small, advanced sensor systems. Cooling of these sensors is required to decrease detector noise and increase detector sensitivity by maintaining the detector at a reduced operating temperature. The cooling system comprises a mechanical cryocooler and its control electronics, both of which are critical technologies to enab ...

Exothermics and their Phase 2 partner Northrop Grumman Space Technology seek to increase the reliability, producibility and performance of cryocoolers which cool Long and Very Long Wave Infrared (LWIR and VLWIR) focal planes in space surveillance systems. The materials proposed for investigation address the regenerator, a critical thermodynamic component in pulse tube and Stirling cryocoolers. In ...

During this Phase 2 program, which has been submitted under Pre-2002 MDA Phase 2 Guidelines, we propose to transition the status of potentially ultrahigh temperature-capable, highly cost-effective, HfN-based monolithic ceramics and cermets (two-phase ceramic + metallic) materials from the laboratory scale to engineering status. It is our hope and expectation that follow-on funding for our Phase 1 ...

We propose to develop an innovative high-capacity multistage cryocooler for dual cooling loads at temperatures of 85 K and 35 K. The cooler is based on proven turbo-Brayton technology that has been flight demonstrated and qualified for use on the Hubble Space Telescope. This technology will be adapted to the unique requirements of DOD infrared sensor applications at lower temperatures and at sig ...

The focus of this proposal is to continue the R&D efforts of the Si3N4 radome solution. In Phase I, MSI demonstrated the ability to produce near theoretical density conventional RBSN, as well as RBSN reinforced with Nextel 610 Alumina chopped fibers. In Phase II, MSI proposes to refine these approaches, fabricate multiple samples to create a materials property database, and scale up the processing ...

The focus of the Phase I SBIR effort, SMDC Contract DASG60-03-C-0093, was to initiate a study of this same material for different RF frequencies, specifically, X-Band. The preliminary results are very promising. Purposely, MSI utilized its core competencies to develop a viable X-band candidate solution and leapfrogged the bulk of the material properties analysis to evaluate the electrical stabil ...

Current production of thermal batteries relies heavily on touch labor practices. The assembly of the battery stack relies exclusively on touch labor, which has been shown to be the major insertion point for battery defects that are discovered during post-production evaluations of batteries. In Phase I, Creare successfully demonstrated the critical subsystems of an innovative approach to battery ...

Reliable and accurate thermal battery nondestructive evaluation during production and as part of pre-acceptance qualification procedures is central to ensuring that the quality of thermal batteries remains high. Current production inspection practices are inadequate because not only batteries with defects continue to enter the stockpile, but also productivity is adversely impacted. In Phase I, w ...

Progress in missile defense relies heavily on large software packages such as BEST. BEST creates scene simulations for modeling sensor response in the battlespace environment. Sensitivity analysis of the package's predictions is essential due to uncertainties associated with the input parameters. However, performing such an analysis is hindered by the large number of parameters and the complex ...