Award Data

Gradient metal alloy structures possess multi-functional properties that conventional monolithic metal counterparts do not have. Such structures can potentially change the paradigm of material selections and mechanical designs to enable more efficient space vehicles to be built. Existing laser-based additive manufacturing techniques for gradient metal alloy fabrication suffer from the following tw ...

To address the urgent need for 3D flash-lidar technology for landing on solar system bodies and for spacecraft rendezvous and docking with satellites, an effort is proposed to fabricate, characterize, and test a versatile, high-sensitivity InGaAs APD 3D flash lidar and to advance the technology-readiness level (TRL) of lidar technologies suitable for NASA mission requirements. Leveraging an existi ...

In response to NASA?s solicitation for light-weight and power efficient instruments that enable in situ compositional analysis, Q-Peak in partnership with the University of Hawaii proposes to develop a compact, robust, and efficient instrument to combine all laser based spectroscopies capable of performing imaging, Raman, Laser Induced Breakdown, Laser Induced Fluorescence and LIDAR The main adva ...

A robust system level design process will be used to identify the design of transparent tapered resistive (TTR) elements, including the materials, fabrication processes, and lifecycle costs. The transparent tapered resistive film will be designed to provides a tapered resistive layer across the film while remaining transparent in the visual and near-infrared optical bands for use in radio-frequenc ...

Category theory has recently been successfully applied to translate information from one computer system to another. Researchers at MIT have developed a prototype software tool based on category theory for solving information-integration programs. The tool has successfully solved small-scale information-integration problems including a problem identified by NIST about enriching the manufacturing s ...

Magnetic nanoparticles are powerful tools over a wide range of industries, but have particularly powerful biomedical applications for clinical and research diagnostics, clinical therapy, and basic life science research. These applications require consistent sources for magnetic nanoparticles with narrow distributions of magnetic properties, but no technology is now commercially available for manuf ...

Conductive films that maintain transparency are a key element in many current products and industries, including electronic devices for touch screens and automobiles to defrost windows. Such films are also useful in military applications. By introducing a resistive taper in conductive films or antennas, overall performance can be improved by reducing backscattering and increasing sensitivity in an ...

Innovative Imaging and Research (I2R) proposes to develop a 21st Century high-speed, color extreme high dynamic range (Color-XHDR) video recording system that will produce calibrated, engineering-grade video to accurately document rocket motor firings, at close range within a test cell, without image saturation. This novel imaging system will include a compact, single camera/single focal plane ar ...

In this SBIR, USNC will develop an accident tolerant reactor shut-down system for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) systems that will guarantee sub-criticality in the event of a water submersion accident. Reactor shut down during a water submersion accident is a crucial issue that must be addressed in NTP systems. The technology that USNC will develop in this SBIR is a low risk design feature that ...

The next generation of wide-field survey instruments with improved angular and energy resolution for research into astrophysical transient X-ray phenomena is currently under development. A scalable detector plane architecture has been developed at Harvard using CZT detector arrays for use in high resolution coded-aperture telescopes. Despite decades of research, the yield of device grade CZT is st ...