Award Data

A critical step in the extraction of elements from ore, especially rare earth elements that are found in complex minerals, is separation. Froth flotation is a highly versatile method for physically separating particles based on differences in the ability of air bubbles to selectively adhere to specific mineral surfaces in a mineral/water slurry. The particles with attached air bubbles are then ca ...

Empirical-based mathematical framework and computer algorithms, for representing human perception and cognition processes and limitations, which influence the recognition of salient information about rapidly changing events.

Due to the limited amount of rhenium present in the earths crust (approximately 1-2 part per billion) there is a significant benefit to be realized in recovering for reuse the rhenium from scrap material, spent catalysts, or end-of-life superalloys. Rhenium is found in molybdenum-copper porphyry deposits. If rhenium is present in ore that is processed, it will show up in the resulting molybdenum ...

HJ Science & Technology (HJS&T) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) propose a highly integrated, programmable, and miniaturized microfluidic automation platform capable of running rapid and complex synthetic biology and bioengineering processes for engineering life supporting microbes in space exploration missions. Our approach combines the microfluidic automation technology of HJS&T ...

NASA's future human exploration missions will include remotely operated rovers performing surface exploration and science, as well as free-flyers to reduce the need for human Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA). As astronauts move deeper into space, it will be necessary for them to manage these robotic assets with less support from ground controllers. A flexible approach is needed to build and revise p ...

Communication technologies support all NASA space missions, among which autonomous communication technologies are extremely beneficial to future missions, including the Asteroid Redirect Mission, and human expedition to Mars and beyond. Low-cost, high gain, light-weight, and flexible active antenna systems are highly desired. In this program, we propose to develop a fully flexible ink-jet printed ...

Silicon Carbide based ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) offer the potential to fundamentally change the design and manufacture of aeronautical and space propulsion systems to significantly increase performance and fuel efficiency over current metal-based designs. Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) and our team members at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) are developing, designing and fabr ...

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are routinely used by NASA to optimize the design of propulsion systems. Current methods for CFD modeling rely on general materials properties to determine fluid structure interactions. This introduces uncertainty when modeling extreme conditions, where materials degrade and properties may change as a consequence. This also limits the use of CFD as a ...

Space Micro and its partner research institution, the University of Arizona bring together innovations in channelization and network protocol development. Together, these innovations will provide improved hopping radios (with digital, rapidly reconfigurable implementation, wider bandwidth and reduced overhead penalty for hopping) and improved spectrum and link quality sensing. We will demonstrate ...

Control of extremely lightweight, long endurance aircraft poses a challenging aeroservoelastic (ASE) problem due to significantly increased flexibility, and aerodynamic, structural, and actuator nonlinearities. To obtain the benefits of increased aerostructural efficiency, the controller needs to trim at a specified optimal shape while minimizing structural fatigue from gust disturbances. Tao Syst ...