Award Data

Hybrid turbo-electric aircraft with gas turbines driving electric generators connected to electric propulsion motors have the potential to transform the aircraft design space by decoupling power generation from propulsion. Resulting aircraft designs such as blended-wing bodies with distributed propulsion can provide the large reductions in emissions, fuel burn, and noise required to make air tran ...

We propose a high-performance broadband infrared focal plane array (FPA) for the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on NASA's LANDSAT satellite. The FPA will feature a cutoff wavelength of 13 microns, operate at>55K, have a format of 640x512, quantum efficiency>30%, and will be realized using Type-II InAs/GaSb strained layer superlattice (SLS) photodiodes. In Phase I we will develop the basic d ...

Thermal and environmental control systems for future exploration spacecraft must meet challenging requirements for efficient operation and conservation of resources. Regenerative CO2 removal systems are attractive for these missions because they do not use consumable CO2 absorbers. However, these systems also absorb water and vent it to space along with the carbon dioxide. This water loss can b ...

Future space exploration missions require advanced thermal control systems (TCS) to dissipate heat from spacecraft, rovers, or habitats to external environments. We propose to develop a lightweight, reliable TCS to effectively maintain cabin and equipment temperatures under widely varying heat loads and ambient temperatures. The proposed system uses freeze-tolerant radiators, which eliminate the ...

In situ resource utilization (ISRU) is essential for several of NASA's future flagship missions. Currently envisioned ISRU plants include production of oxygen from hydrogen reduction of lunar regolith and extraction of water from Martian regolith or asteroid material. These ISRU processes require heating of the regolith to high reaction temperatures. To support ISRU activities, NASA requir ...

The objective of this proposal is to develop, implement and evaluate a set of accurate and robust algorithms specifically designed to capture and measure multilateral social interactions automatically through audio-based methods based on asymmetric data design. We propose to accomplish this by: 1) Developing a novel method that uses multiple microphones interfaced with a smartphone and placed on a ...

State-of-the-art software protection and anti-tamper systems move critical software and data"out-of-band"to the adversary, by using a hypervisor or on"secure"hardware. Unfortunately, the systems running this software are built using untrusted commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) parts. Supply chain threats to critical components, such as hardware or firmware Trojans, have invalidated the assumption tha ...

Longwave infrared focal plane arrays (FPAs) based on Type-II InAs/GaSb-based strained layer superlattice (SLS) photodiodes show good performance at the current time. A key remaining challenge is the reduction of dark current, dominated by pixel surface leakage in FPAs and low minority carrier lifetime in the bulk material. We propose to address the former in this Phase I and develop a unique sche ...

ABSTRACT: Inspection of machined composite laminate parts is currently performed using a precision milling machine (PMM) to maneuver a touch probe. When performed on complex parts, this inspection process is extremely time consuming and ties up the PMM for longer time periods than the actual machining. PMM throughput needs to be increased to achieve the F-35 FY2017 program goal of one aircraft ...

ABSTRACT: Future airborne imaging sensors will utilize next-generation focal plane technology that must operate at temperatures from 25 to 30 K. Passive cooling techniques such as stored cryogens are heavy and logistically undesirable. Current airborne cryocoolers are too inefficient in this temperature range and space-borne cryocoolers are prohibitively expensive. On this program, Creare prop ...