Award Data

This proposal addresses the development and use of lightweight, low thermal-capacity reformable tooling materials for high-temperature composite processing evaluation, parts prototyping, trial production and full-rate production of PMC engine components. The weight-saving promise of high-temperature polymer matrix composites (PMCs) for engine components is offset by the very high costs of parts ma ...

Fires in dry bays of military aircraft present a significant hazard that must be addressed with advanced fire suppression systems. The USAF is interested in concepts that do not require power or active sensing of fire for proper operation. ADA Technologies, Inc. has been developing fine water mist fire suppression technology for the past 10 years, and proposes a solution for this problem that inco ...

Development of a general purpose software interface between cognitive models and 3D virtual environments requires innovation and research in cognitive abstractions and interfaces, as well as a thoughtful application of software architecture and engineering principles. We propose to embed these innovative cognitive abstractions in a middleware layer that offers “plug-and-play” operation for ar ...

There is a need to monitor the structural health of aerospace components operating in extreme temperatures ranges (e.g. -60 to +300C) and with high accelerations. Ideally the sensors employed for this task should be passive (i.e. not powered through batteries), permanently placed on the critical components and transmit the relevant data to a remote data processing center wirelessly.  Albido is pr ...

Polymers in space are subjected to various threats including hyperthermal oxygen atoms, UV and VUV photons, and ions.  These threats can degrade the polymer and lead to static charge accumulation.  This Phase II proposal will build on the Phase I work which demonstrated that inorganic films grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) can protect polymers such as Kapton, Teflon and PMMA.  Al2O3 ALD f ...

Aqwest proposes to develop novel, high-performance thermal energy storage (TES) technologies and a TES integration concept for thermal management (TM) of directed energy weapons (DEW). In particular, we will develop a packed bed (PB) and sorption-based (SB) TES concepts, and a TES integration into a high-performance (HP) thermal management system (TMS), each offering unparalleled compactness and ...

Aqwest proposes to develop an advanced thermal management for cooling of electronic components using a variable conductance heat sink (VCHS) offering unparalleled capabilities in high-heat flux handling and temperature control. The project will produce a cooling system with the following benefits to wide band gap amplifiers and high-power laser diodes (HPLD): 1) Heat flux handling > 1200 W/cm2 2) ...

Ascent Solar Technologies (AST) proposes to take the next step in spacecraft solar array development, building upon previous development to make the definitive thin-film photovoltaic (TFPV) device for high-efficiency (> 20%) and high-specific power (greater than 2000 W/kg) when combined with lightweight and flexible substrates. AST will develop wide-bandgap cadmium selenide (CdSe) as a high-effic ...

The proposed effort is to build a high resolution, high speed spatial light modulator (SLM) to be used in infrared (IR) spectral projectors. An IR spectral projector produces programmable spectra by dispersing light onto a programmable array, currently digital micromirror devices (DMDs), which either transmit or block selected components of the light. the light is then recombined to form complex s ...

This proposal describes the development and fabrication of a step and stare mid-wave infrared (MWIR) imaging system. The system employs ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) optical shutters and a 3x3 array of lenses for imaging one of nine different look directions onto a focal plane array. Each image tile represents approximately a 6 degree by 6 degree field of view. By virtue of its architectur ...