Award Data

Ecovative Design uses grown mycelium structures to bind agricultural and wood byproducts into inherently nontoxic_x000D_ products containing no added urea formaldehyde or flame-retardant chemicals. This research program focuses_x000D_ on maturing mycelium technology for use in the production of large scale board products, from low density (LD) particle board to acoustic panels and thermal insulati ...

NASA wants a cost-effective atmospheric remote sensing system providing accurate temperature and humidity profiles to least 10 km height in clear and cloudy conditions. Radiometrics Microwave Profiler (MP) products currently provide accurate temperature and humidity profiles in good agreement with radiosondes to 3 km height. Good agreement can be extended beyond 10 km height using variational retr ...

Regenerative space life support will undoubtedly require food production, to recover nutrients and close the carbon loop in a spacecraft habitat. Aquatic plants have enormous potential for edible biomass production but have been little studied as potential food crops for space applications. The proposed μG-LilyPond™ is an autonomous environmentally controlled floating plant cultivation system ...

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have received considerable attention due to their toxicity, ubiquitous presence and recalcitrance. Manufacture and disposal of PFAS-containing products has resulted in PFAS contamination of numerous water supplies. Recent reports indicate the Air Force alone is expecting to spend > $2.25 billion for cleanup for PFAS-contaminated sites. Thus, there is a huge market ...

NAI has a strategy to identify plant species best suited for proof-of-concept testing for phytoremediation of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) via phytoextraction. Phytoextraction refers to the uptake and translocation of contaminants in the soil by plant roots into the aboveground portions of plants. Once the phytoextraction concepts are proven at the bench-scale (Phase I) and followed with succe ...

This green approach to manufacturing plastic with decorative chrome will eliminate health and environmental hazards from the chrome electroplating process. The US and global market for decorative chrome on plastic is 12 million m2/year and 84 million m2/year respectively, with 80% in automobile trim, 10% in appliances and 10% in sanitary fixtures. Without a viable commercial alternative, US provid ...

This proposed project will develop a highly modularized green rooftop system that is not only longlasting but also assemble-able/disassemble-able. At roofs' end-of-life, it can be disassembled and_x000D_ 100% recycled. At buildings' end-of-life, if the roof still has enough useable life, it can be disassembled and reused elsewhere. Major environmental benefits of this technology are 1) nothing fro ...

Swarm robotics is one of the key enabling technologies for significantly extending mankind's reach beyond the Earth's surface. However, when bringing theory to practice, challenging problems related to the coordination and control of these swarms quickly arise. Vecna Robotics proposes a collaboration with MIT to extend existing autonomy behaviors and test platforms to address a class of pl ...

Reducing the allowable concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in spacecraft is a critical need for NASA. The system now used on the International Space Station (ISS) is the carbon dioxide removal assembly (CDRA). While it has performed well on the ISS, managers have concluded that using the device to reach the new ppCO2 limit of 2.0 mm Hg is not practical and a new method is needed.In this projec ...

NASA has been investigating morphing aircraft for multi-mission capabilities and performance improvements in existing fixed-wing aircraft. In addition, the design of aeroelastic aircraft that can control the structural flexibility to their advantage, is an open area of research and development. In spite of the plethora of work on morphing aircraft and long slender wings, the goal of fielding such ...