Award Data

Laser Technology Inc. (LTI) proposes a Phase II SBIR research project to further develop a Compact Shearography System, Analysis Method and Software for micro-crack detection in concrete. There is an urgent need to detect and characterize fine cracks in concrete that form because of various damage mechanisms including alkali-silicate reaction, delayed ettringite formation or frost damage. Fine s ...

The observation missions for the New Millennium Program will utilize new materials and sensor technologies that will require cooling to temperatures in the 40K to 150K range. A space radiator with high conductivity at low temperatures that is lightweight and has high stiffness is required. The opportunity presented in this Phase I proposal is to demonstrate a space radiator that will have high con ...

Radiation or passively cooled thrust chambers are used for a variety of chemical propulsion functions including apogee insertion, reaction control for launch vehicles, and primary propulsion for planetary spacecraft. The performance of these thrust chambers is limited by the operating temperature and thermal-chemical response of the available materials. The Phase I efforts focused on performing ...

The Phase I project successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the vapor compression hybrid two-phase loop (VCHTPL). The test results showed the high temperature-lift capability and robust operation under transient heat loads of the VCHTPL. At the end of Phase I, the VCHTPL technology reached the NASA's defined Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4 (Component/breadboard validation in a laboratory e ...

Simulation technology plays an important role in propulsion test facility design and development by assessing risks, identifying failure modes and predicting anomalous behavior of critical systems. This is true for facilities such as the proposed A-3 that will operate at low pressures in conjunction with steam ejectors and the B-2 facility where flame deflector cooling and plume impingement dynami ...

We have investigated the feasibility of employing a hazard detection and mitigation system based upon a polarization discriminating range-gated Lidar system. This dual use system will be capable of both imaging targets in low visibility scenarios, such as smoke, fog, haze, light rain, and low light levels, and providing an early warning of in-flight hazards, primarily icing conditions in clouds. ...

TRS Technologies, Virginia Tech., and MTech, Inc. propose to develop high torque (>1.5 kg-cm), lightweight (< 250 g), low power (< 2 watts), high precision (

k Technology Corporation (kTC) proposes to develop a high performance satellite radiator material system that satisfies both structural and thermal management requirements. The proposed material system has a honeycomb core with carbon fiber composite encapsulated thermal pyrolytic graphite (TPG) face sheets. The encapsulated TPG face sheets have high conductivity (up to 1300 W/mK), low mass densit ...

The recent performance increases in graphics processing units (GPUs) have made graphics cards an attractive platform for implementing computationally intense applications. With their numerous parallel computational pipelines and SIMD architecture, modern GPUs can outperform high-end microprocessors by one to three orders of magnitude, depending on the problem. Most work to date at EM Photonics a ...

In-space valves are required to provide precise mass flow control, wide throttling range and handle rapid on-off control. These requirements can result in significant unsteady, transient effects both on the fluid mass flow rate, as well as the torque required. However, there currently are no analytical or numerical modeling tools that can predict the unsteady/transient performance of these valves; ...