Award Data

Phase II work will build upon results of Phase I investigations into the performance of cooperative adsorbents for life-support on Mars. The work will focus on the creating of a prototype EMU unit sized to support a single person (1 kg/day of CO2 removal. Tasks in support of this effort include in depth investigations of the role of water on CO2 adsorption mechanism. Improved pellet formulations w ...

DISCUS is a generic Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) system for swarms of SmallSats. It integrates communications and relative localization with innovative Density Control Algorithms (DCA) enabling robust operation in a variety of uncertain environments. As such, it presents a key enabling technology for future Deep Space missions including space apertures at Lagrangian points, and orbiting ...

To support development at NASA’s Stennis Space Center (SSC) testing facilities and infrastructure for the monitoring of remote or inaccessible measurement locations, American GNC Corporation (AGNC) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) have developed the Through Wall Wireless Intelligent Sensor and Health Monitoring (TWall-ISHM) System. This technology allows deploying flexible instrumentat ...

The objective of this Phase 2 proposal is to provide a new set of sensitivity analysis theory and codes, the Sensitivity Analysis for Design Optimization (SADO) software that integrates with the existing NASA O3 Tool. In this Phase II effort, the sensitivity codes developed in Phase I will add functionality to simplify Ground Vibration Test, or model tuning, by calculating a number of error metric ...

The proposed innovation is a membrane bioreactor system to produce a biopolymer from methane gas that is applicable in outer space environments. This new methane fermentation process will expand and advance current gas delivery techniques to create affordable fermentation methods on Earth and beyond. Mango Materials is currently working to scale up and commercialize the production of polyhydroxyal ...

We will extend our previous work to create artificial intelligence (AI) Reasoning Modules for planning, scheduling, characterization, machine learning, and fault detection/diagnosis/reconfiguration for spacecraft and their subsystems, each able to operate in standalone fashion or be easily integrated with one another to execute in a variety of computational environments, including in highly distri ...

The Bifunctional Regenerative Electrochemical Air Transformation for Human Environments (BREATHE) for life support and habitation is part of the atmosphere revitalization equipment necessary to provide and maintain a livable environment within the pressurized cabin of crewed spacecraft. nbsp;BREATHE is a low-power electrodialysis-based concept for regenerating a liquid carbon dioxide scrubbing mat ...

Next generation optical modems for NASA will be based on the RZ-DPSK modulation format. This modulation format is robust, delivers high quantum efficiency and allows burst-mode operation, key when using a power limited transmitter in combination with a fixed delay line DPSK demodulator. Freedom Photonics approach in this proposed program is to integrate the laser, modulator, and amplifier into a s ...

We propose that the key to robotic automation in unstructured environments is compliant robotic manipulators that can tolerate, sense, and leverage contact in a feedback loop. We have demonstrated proof of concept of an instrumented end-effector capable of enhanced perception through observed and controlled contact in phase I. We will now expand the project to develop highly capable state and cont ...

In this work, Freedom Photonics will team with University of California, Santa Barbara to develop a hybrid integration platform that integrates yielded, best-of-breed active optical components with low-cost, high functionality Silicon Photonics components in a manner that is compatible with foundry fabrication (such as AIM Photonics). This will be performed in a highly manufacturable manner, using ...