Award Data

Atmospheric disturbances are a major performance-limiting factor in long-range optical systems. In particular, for the Airborne Laser (ABL) the ability of distinguish targets from a long distance is crucial for mission success. Despite the progress in optics and sensor technology, blurring in long-range imaging caused by atmospheric movements and density changes will remain an issue. Digital si ...

Thermal Batteries are reliable, high energy density power sources that have very long shelf lives. Optimal performance of these batteries depends on the insulation material and detailed design. There have been many studies that have investigated the use of a particular type or class of insulation. These investigations have been useful in demonstrating insulation concepts, but they have not prov ...

Future aluminized propellant boost missile systems for DoD and MDA applications will create extremely severe conditions (temperature, pressure and particle impingement) in the nozzle region that will prevent conventional nozzle materials and designs to achieve the performance levels and costs that are being targeted for next-generation solid rocket motor (SRM) boost systems. The demonstration of z ...

Future generation propellants earmarked for DoD and MDA boost vehicles will create increasingly severe conditions (temperature, pressure and particle impingement) in the nozzle region that will prevent state of the art materials and designs from achieving the performance levels and costs being targeted for next-generation solid rocket motors. The demonstration of zero or near-zero erosion in the t ...

Presently, no standard rain erosion reference (code, document(s), database, etc) exists for system designers and engineers to predict the material behavior of candidate materials for sub-sonic, sonic, and hypersonic mission profiles. Historically, individual companies have taken a shoot and look approach to this subject, and relied on past performance for flight predictions. Within the community ...

Our overall objective is to improve the performance of turbo-Brayton space cryocoolers by reducing mass and increasing reliability in high-radiation environments. To achieve this objective, we will develop and demonstrate advanced cryocooler compressor drive and control electronics suitable for high radiation space applications. Our technical objectives are to: (1) incorporate components which ...

A high-performance cooling system for gimbal-mounted infrared sensors is a critical need for future space-based target acquisition and tracking systems. A candidate approach uses a high performance cryocooler remotely located on the spacecraft platform combined with a high conductance, cryogenic heat transport system to exchange heat from the sensors to the cryocooler. The heat transport system ...

We will demonstrate a dramatic 3x to 5x increase (over the state of the art) in the external quantum efficiency (QE) of longwave infrared (LWIR) focal plane arrays (FPAs) fabricated from quantum well infrared photodetectors. We will develop AND DELIVER a 320x256 LWIR FPA with this improved performance in Phase 1 itself. In Phase 2, we will develop and deliver a sensor engine consisting of a 640x ...

In Phase 1 of this SBIR program, we developed and delivered a small-format 320x256 dual-band infrared focal plane array (IRFPA) with pixel-registered and simultaneous imaging in the midwave and longwave infrared (MWIR/LWIR) spectral bands. In Phase 2, we will build on this and accomplish two major tasks. Our first goal is to dramatically increase both the pixel resolution as well as the pixel co ...

The projected cost for the Mentis Sciences, Inc., (MSI) prototype PAC3 radome is 1/6th of the total cost of the present system. A Pareto analysis of the current MSI process indicates that the two largest costs in radome production are the direct labor associated with fabrication and the cost of the raw materials. In Phase I MSI demonstrated that COTS paint spraying technology reduced the direct ...