Award Data

ABSTRACT: Space solar power systems range in size from the International Space Station with 8 solar arrays producing 84,000 watts all the way down to body-mounted single wafers on individual cubesats. The current state-of-the-art relies on multi-junction gallium arsenide or inverted metamorphic cells affixed to rigid structural panels. The need for a low-mass, high energy output solar array for ...

ABSTRACT: Solar arrays play a key role in the operation of spacecrafts and unmanned aerial vehicles. Traditionally, inorganic semiconductor based solar arrays have been used for space applications because of their highest efficiencies. However, these solar arrays have several major limitations like extremely high cost, low specific power and large stowage volume. Organic photovoltaic (OPV) module ...

ABSTRACT: This Phase I effort will involve the development of an ultra low cost, high specific power, modular and flexible solar array module using currently available thin-film solar cells, innovative interconnects, and flexible encapsulation. The high efficiency thin-film solar cells will enable high specific power and flexibility in the module. The interconnect scheme and encapsulation will a ...

The goal of the proposed research is to develop self-healing embedded communication antennas to be used in transparent armori.e., ground vehicle windows. Embedded antennas are known to delaminate from their host structures after impact; this allows an empty space to form around the antenna and as a result detunes the antenna. A sandwich structure will be designed, fabricated, and tested whereby th ...

Physical Sciences Inc. and Colorado State University will develop an innovative sensor that enables low-cost infrared hyperspectral imaging though the use of novel sampling algorithms which provide real-world chemical plume detection capability with compressed data and a hardware configuration which enables high frame rate capture of full 2D spatial and 1D spectral data. Compressive sensing techn ...

ABSTRACT: Busek Co. Inc. and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) propose to explore the physical limits of ionic liquid propulsion via development of new theory to explain effects of close packing emission density and to predict performance limits. The research is motivated by observations and tests demonstrating that emission from 2-dimensional porous surfaces yields order of magnitude g ...

ABSTRACT: The Tai-Yang Research Company (TYRC) of Tallahassee, FL in collaboration with Dr. Justin Schwartz of the North Carolina State University (NCSU) in Raleigh, NC propose in this Phase 2 effort to develop the critical technologies necessary for the implementation and operation of an airborne high temperature superconductor (HTS) superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) device with par ...

Our objective is to significantly increase the electron transfer efficiency of the enzyme-catalyzed reactions at electrodes and thereby establish a new state-of-the-art power source for military and commercial systems. The approach is to develop a novel method for orienting enzymes immobilized onto the electrode surface that results in facilitated charge transfer. The proposed bio-electrode techn ...

In this STTR project we aim to build software interfaces and enhancements to existing parallel mesh adaptation libraries for applications in high performance flow modeling. In Phase-I we demonstrated a preliminary implementation of such a system and identified technology needs. Phase-II development will include both open source, as well as commercially supported mesh adaptation software and interf ...

ABSTRACT: The ability of plasmas to modify combustion has been known for more than 50 years. Recent advances in plasma generation technology and measurement diagnostics have led to extensive efforts to understand both the kinetics of the plasma-flame interaction and the enhancement of combustion properties such as ignition, extinction, flame speed and dynamics. Combustion Science & Engineering, ...