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Autonomous planning of space-based unmanned craft is at the cutting edge of science and technology. Problems associated with planning arise when multiple independent agents each on separate spacecraft must work in a coordinated fashion for a combined mission. This proposal examines the ramifications of cooperating and independent autonomous agents controlling unmanned craft toward a common cause. ...

Great strides have been made in developing diagnostic systems for detecting and identifying specific pathogens and their toxins. However, these systems may be too specific and unable to detect newly emerging pathogens whose immunological or genetic profile is different than the normal complement of pathogens. The ideal system in an isolated environment such as a spacecraft would be one that provid ...

Conventional fluorescence-activated cell sorters (FACSs) are widely used to study eukaryotic cell populations. Although they provide impressively efficient sorting, they are costly, mechanically complex, and require large sample volumes and trained personnel for operation and maintenance. In addition, the footprint per unit separation is considerable and they typically require large input populati ...

The innovation proposed here is the use of carbon thin film cathodes as an electron source for electric propulsion for microspacecraft applications. Hall and ion thrusters are two types of electric propulsion systems that are commonly used on earth-orbiting spacecraft and very recently on interplanetary probes. These propulsion systems use hollow cathodes to thermionically emit electrons that are ...

The innovation proposed here is the use of carbon thin film cathodes as an electron source for electric propulsion for microspacecraft applications. Hall and ion thrusters are two types of electric propulsion systems that are commonly used on earth-orbiting spacecraft and very recently on interplanetary probes. These propulsion systems use hollow cathodes to thermionically emit electrons that are ...

We propose to develop single-mode DFB lasers at 1.8 to 2.2 um based on InGaAsP materails at room temperature with a linewidth of 0.1 to 0l.2 MHz. MBE regrowth technology will be used for the grating. We will also study the device reliability. A compact mid-IR single mode laser could be extremely useful for the enviromental monitoring and pollutant sensing. We have a lot of experience in the IR las ...

Infrared photodetectors operating in the wavelength range of 3-20 mm and beyond are of great importance to a wide variety of ongoing and future NASA missions, as well as many commercial and military applications in infrared (IR) imaging and sensing. Hence, there is a constant pursuit of advances in detector technologies and enabling technologies related to increasing detector performance. In recen ...

This proposal concerns the fabrication and delivery of the Quantum Cascade (QC) semiconductor laser as a coherent light source operating in the mid-infrared region of the optical spectrum. This laser is unique as a semiconductor laser in that it utilizes only one carrier type, electrons, from recycled intersubband transitions to efficiently generate photons [1]. The photon emission energy itself i ...

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