Award Data

Pyrolysis processing can be used in near term missions for volume reduction, water recovery (drying), stabilization, and enhanced water and oxygen recovery through thermochemical reactions. For longer term missions, the added benefits include production of fuel, multi-purpose carbon, and reactants for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). The objective of the Phase I SBIR program was to demonstrate ...

Robotic sample acquisition is essentially grasping. Multi-finger robot sample grasping devices are controlled to securely pick up samples. Equations have been developed to provide optimal grasps for perfectly modeled objects, but grasping unmodeled objects like a random sample on planetary surfaces is an open research problem. Approaches to grasping unmodeled objects use various sensors, such as ...

An important consideration of long duration space flight operations is interpersonal dynamics that effect crew cohesion and performance. Flight surgeons have stated the need for unobtrusive monitoring to help detect if crews are having difficulties with coping with long duration spaceflight environments. The long-term goal of this project is to develop a set of applied technologies that can monito ...

The prevailing approach to non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of aircraft components is to set an inspection schedule based on what is generally known about the component in question. Engineers perform tests on samples, get field reports, and include a safety factor based on criticality. Then, when the schedule dictates, the component is inspected and a binary decision is made: Back in service? O ...

NASA has expressed the need to assess crew autonomy relative to performance and evaluate an optimal level of autonomy that maximizes individual and team performance. For this project, we propose to leverage our Automated Behavior and Cohesion Assessment Tools (ABCAT) system, which we designed for NASA for a recent project. The ABCAT system was designed in part to assess crew performance, which we ...

Develop Small Satellite Analysis Laboratory (SatLab): A simulation-of-simulations framework to integrate component and engineering simulations into a single larger simulation capable of full satellite system trade analysis and optimization, in order to reduce the cost and increase the quality of design and development of new small satellites and space vehicles, and test system upgrades and modific ...

Advances in high power, photovoltaic technology has enabled the possibility of reasonably sized, high specific power, high power, solar arrays. New thin film solar arrays have demonstrated specific powers of over 4000 W/kg (exceeding the current SOA of ~130 W/kg). At high specific powers, power levels ranging from 50 to several hundred kW are feasible for communication satellites. Coupled with ...

Heat shield technology is a critical component of manned spaceflight. In particular, the new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) requires thermal protection systems (TPS) beyond the current state of the art. While new TPS shields are under development, a key difficulty is the ability to diagnose TPS performance. In Phase-I SBIR research carried out by EDA and Penn State, we developed a low intrusive ...

NASA has a need to develop higher performance ablative thermal protection systems (TPS) than is currently available for future exploration of our solar system's inner and outer planets. Potential missions for these new and/or improved TPS materials include Mars Entry, Descent & Landing, and Mars Sample Return, but the general desire is that these new technologies be capable of cross-cutting missi ...

During this program Fiber Materials, Inc. (FMIREG) will develop practical methods for preparing Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) materials for joining thermal protection system (TPS) segments and penetrations of the heat shield assembly. Current and future mission flight environments and designs, such as those for Mars Science Laboratory Aeroshell (MSLA) and anticipated for New Frontier ...