Award Data

Advanced turbomachinery components play a critical role in launch vehicle and spacecraft liquid rocket propulsion systems. To achieve desired efficiencies, extremely tight tolerances are often imposed between inducer blades and shrouds or other system components which sets up strong interactions that influence both the aerodynamics and the structural performance of blades and vanes. These transien ...

Chemical contamination of spacecraft components as well as thermal and force loading from firing liquid propellant thrusters are critical concerns for in-space propulsion applications. Gas molecular contamination and liquid droplet deposition due to incomplete combustion threaten to damage surface materials, sensitive instruments and optical sensors, and poses major risks for mission success. Liqu ...

NASA recognizes the importance of conservation, smart utilization and reuse of resources for their deep space missions to address the need for regeneration of air, water and waste with highly reliable systems to reduce mission payload. Additionally, energy for life support and other systems needs to be obtained from renewable energy sources or waste streams. In order to address NASA's requirements ...

Fibertek, Inc. in partnership with researchers at the Pennsylvania State University Center for Innovative Materials Processing through Direct Digital Deposition (CIMP-3D) are proposing to develop a state of the art, space-qualifiable laser transmitter that meets the requirements of the flash lidar transmitter defined in the 2016 STTR subtopic T9.01, Navigation and Hazard Avoidance Sensor Technolog ...

This NASA Phase I SBIR program would fabricate wireless networked nanomembrane (NM) based surface pressure sensors for remote monitoring in propulsion systems, using SOI (Silicon on Insulator) NM techniques in combination with our pioneering HybridSil ceramic nanocomposite materials. Such low-modulus, conformal nanomembrane sensor skins with integrated interconnect elements and electronic devices ...

Through the proposed STTR program, NanoSonic and Virginia Tech will create an innovative low viscosity, high Tg copolymer injection repair material and methodology that enables fiber reinforced composite repair within a short time frame in areas with limited user access. The proposed injection repair material will consist of fluidic HybridSil poly(siloxane imide) resins that are molecularly engine ...

Newly developed phase-engineered and low dimensional materials have opened the door to the design of materials structures that exhibit extremely efficient ionic transport. Recently, a new type of electro-filtration system designed to convert thermal power into purified water from salt water (or other ionic pollutants) has been demonstrated in the lab. The system is based on a bi-phasic nanoplate ...

Future long-duration, crewed space habitat systems will be inflatable structures. This type of structure is advantageous in that it is not limited to the diameter of the launch vehicle and can therefore provide a greater volume of living and work space. Unlike conventional metal structures, however, softbody inflatables require support members to maintain their desired shapes. Despite their robust ...

The proposed 9-month research project aims for the development of additive manufacturing techniques for the creation of electronic devices. It will develop an innovative additive manufacturing technique that combines the ink-based printing with laser melting technology to directly print a three-dimensional (3D) system with built-in electrical properties and functioning as an electronic device. Th ...

Prime Photonics proposes to team with Dr. Duke of Virginia Tech to develop a multi-mode, enhanced piezoelectric acoustic emission sensing system to couple large damage events to local distribution of damage accommodation. Our system will be centered around an instrument designed to accept the output of a piezoelectric transducer sensitive to in-plane acoustic events. The signal processing path w ...