Award Data

High-energy space radiation from Galactic Cosmic Rays and Solar Particle Events (SPEs) pose significant risks to equipment and astronaut health in NASA missions. Energetic particles from SPEs associated with flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) may adversely affect not only beyond-Low-Earth-Orbit missions, but also aircraft avionics, communications, and airline crew/passenger health. It is cru ...

Establish a radiation-aware analysis capability in a commercial EDA design flow that will enable first-pass success in radiation-hardened by design (RHBD) for DoD ASICs in much the same way that existing EDA design suites ensure first pass functionality and performance success of complex ASICs destined for commercial applications. Layout-aware, calibrated single-event radiation models that captur ...

Research in Flight is proposing to advance the capabilities of its surface vorticity solver for aerodynamic loads on subsonic aircraft to include more robust solutions for high lift configurations. A compelling capability to accurately calculate lift for high lift configurations such as the NASA EET geometry and the DLR-F11 geometry. Generally, there is an upper limit on lifting surface incident ...

Concerns in recent years about the toxicity and safe handling of the storable class of propellants have led to efforts in greener monopropellants and bi-propellants. CFDRC has worked with researchers in designing and synthesizing propellants called ionic liquids. These are generally not as high-performing as traditional storables and still have toxicity issues. Other work by CFDRC and Army rese ...

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 ...

WxOps patent pending OpsTablet(TM) software and 4D geospatial data are used by Hawaiian Airlines to achieve unprecedented Airline Operation Control (AOC) in a geobrowser-based Common Operating Environment (COE). Dispatchers and pilots coordinate flight operations in real time using identical Google Earth based visualizations on desktops and tablets both on the ground and in the cockpit during fli ...

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) has been identified as a critical technology needed for human missions to Mars due to its increased specific impulse (Isp) as compared to traditional chemical propulsion systems. A critical aspect of the program is to develop a robust, stable nuclear fuel. One of the nuclear fuel configurations currently being evaluated is a cermet-based material comprised of ura ...

NASA MSFC, GSFC and JPL are interested in Ultra-Stable Mirror Support Structures for Exoplanet Missions. Telescopes with Apertures of 4-meters or larger and using an internal coronagraph require a telescope wavefront stability that is on the order of 10 pico-meters RMS per 10 minutes. Interest is also for IR/FIR missions requiring 8-meter or larger diameter mirrors with cryogenic deformations

This Phase 1 SBIR is to demonstrate feasibility of using selective laser melting (SLM) to produce a 3-meter symmetrical radius of curvature (ROC) isogrid mirror substrate which will significantly reduce traditional mechanical machining of the mirror surface before and after nickel plating. The technique in accomplishing this is by fabricating the lens facesheet as the top most layers in the meltin ...