Award Data

Solar Particle Events (SPEs) represent a major hazard for extravehicular maneuvers by astronauts in Earth orbit, and for eventual manned interplanetary space travel. They can also harm aircraft avionics, communication and navigation. We propose to develop a system to aid forecasters in the prediction of such events, and in the identification/lengthening of "all clear" time periods when there is a ...

Solar Particle Events (SPEs) represent a major hazard for extravehicular maneuvers by astronauts in Earth orbit, and for eventual manned interplanetary space travel. They can also harm aircraft avionics, communication and navigation. We propose to develop a system to aid forecasters in the prediction of such events, and in the identification/lengthening of "all clear" time periods when there is ...

It is critically important that a physics based ADR SAAT prototype be developed that can be refined and used across the community to study and analyze various remote (non-contact) orbital debris stabilization concepts and architectures prior to investing significant commercial or public funding into technology development, technology and system level demonstrations, and development and deployment ...

Soar Technology, Inc. (SoarTech) and Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) will research and develop a digital assistant (quot;Adaquot;) that can help NASA experts search for and effectively use scientific and technical information (STI) in their work. Ada can provide cognitive support in high-effort search tasks, like examining details of more sources, and use tasks, like applying search results ...

The goal of this project is to develop a medium-fidelity, engineering level computational tool that will provide NASA researchers with an efficient instrument for testing, optimizing, and finalizing the E-Sail configuration, and further assist in the navigation and control design. The core of the tool is a computationally efficient parallel 3Dnbsp;Particle-In-Cell (PIC)nbsp;code. The relatively sl ...

The primary goal of thisnbsp;STTR Phase II project is predictive modeling ofnbsp;E-sail spacecraft thruster performancenbsp;usingnbsp;a high-fidelity computational approach. We plan to develop parallel 3D Particle-In-Cell (PIC) codesnbsp;with improved boundary conditions to simulate interactions between the solar wind plasma and E-sail, which will be validated against thrust-stand measurements of ...

CU Aerospace (CUA) and the Univ. of Michigan (UM) propose the continued development of the Cycle Automated Mass Flow (CAMFlow) system for reliable and well-regulated flow control. CAMFlow uses an innovative control scheme that enables stable operation using only Boolean valve states, even for the low flow rates necessary for sub-kW Hall thrusters. This methodology removes system complexity and pla ...

Advanced space suits require lightweight, low-power, durable sensors for monitoring critical life support materials. No current compact sensors have the tolerance for liquid water that is specifically required for portable life support systems (PLSS). Intelligent Optical Systems (IOS) will develop a luminescence-based optical sensor probe to monitor carbon dioxide, oxygen, and humidity, and select ...

The gas sensor in the PLSS of the ISS EMU will meet its projected life in 2020, and NASA is planning to replace it. At present, only high TRL devices based on infrared absorption are candidate replacements, because of their proven long-term stability, despite their size and power consumption and failures in the presence of liquid water. No current compact sensor has the tolerance for liquid water ...

The gas sensor in the PLSS of the ISS EMU will meet its projected life in 2020, and NASA is planning to replace it. At present, only high TRL devices based on infrared absorption are candidate replacements, because of their proven long-term stability, despite their size and power consumption and failures in the presence of liquid water. No current compact sensor has the tolerance for liquid water ...