Award Data

New engine diesel pollution is addressed in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Diesel Truck and Buses, low sulfur diesel, and nonroad diesel rules. Unfortunately, slow fleet turnover will extend full implementation. EPA is interested in both retrofit technologies that reduce emissions (particulate matter, volatile organic pollutants, NOx) from diesel sources and new ...

Range surveillance is a critical component of space exploration because of its implications on safety, cost, and overall mission timeline. However, launch delays, due to the difficulty of verifying a cleared range, are common and will increase as spaceports are developed in new areas. In order to expedite range clearance, it is vital to see "through" the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the quality ...

We propose to develop a novel thermal interface material (TIM) that is based on an array of vertical carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for high heat flux applications. For high precision, spaceborne lasers and other high power devices critical to NASA's Science Mission Directorate, heat flux levels are projected to reach 100 W/cm2. The state-of-the-art in space-compatible thermal interface materials (TIMs ...

Future missions to investigate the structure and evolution of the universe require highly efficient, low-temperature cryocoolers for low-noise detector systems. We propose to develop a highly efficient low-cost regenerator for regenerative cryocoolers with cooling temperatures in the range of 15 K and below. The proposed regenerator uses an innovative non-rare-earth material to achieve a volumetri ...

Future manned spacecraft will require thermal management systems that effectively and safely control the temperature in inhabited modules. Interface heat exchangers will be required that isolate the heat transfer fluid in the spacecraft thermal bus from the circulating water used to cool inhabited modules. We propose to develop an innovative heat exchanger that provides two completely independen ...

A laser-based acoustic emission (AE) detection device is proposed for structural stability assessment of buildings in order to provide warning of structural instability or pending collapse. It will help to reduce injuries and fatalities during emergency mitigation operations. This new device will take advantage of innovations in laser ultrasonics, artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced acoustic ...

A low cost Swimmer Detection Sonar Network (SDSN) is now being developed under an ONR Phase 2 SBIR and as a joint project between the USA and Singapore. The SDSN is a network of inexpensive sonar nodes where narrow sonar beams are formed using airbacked parabolic reflectors. The feasibility of the system has been proven through trials conducted in Singapore harbor and full development is well unde ...

This novel technology can simultaneously remove particulate matter smaller than 10 microns (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NO X), and mercury (Hg) from the flue gases of oil and coal-fired small industrial boilers. The technology uses ozone to oxidize NO into high oxides, and applies an innovative catalytic sorbent material to convert high nitrogen oxides and SO2 into nitric acid an ...

Electronic waste (e-waste) is one of the most rapidly growing waste problems worldwide. Improper handling of e-waste results in vast amounts of toxic waste being sent to landfills and leaching into the water supply. Because of these concerns, e-waste recycling is a rapidly growing industry. Unfortunately, most current e-waste recycling processes rely on manual hand sorting or differential density ...

Reduced mass composite materials are crucial to the success of aerospace systems, but their adoption is inhibited because they require autoclave consolidation, a process that is prohibitively expensive for large aerospace structure. To remedy this, NASA-LaRC has been developing cost-effective high-performance thermoplastic composite processing equipment that enables out-of-autoclave tape placemen ...