Award Data

As expected, the STTR Phase I investigation confirmed that the Digital Virtual Human (DVH) and Robonaut technologies can be merged, and that haptic and autostereoscopic technologies can be integrated in the robotic control systems, effectively and productively. This feasibility study verified and validated interactions of Robonaut with the DVH in operator response to and performance with haptic d ...

The proposed innovation is a wireless laser power transmission system employing a dual-use photovoltaic concentrator at the receiving end. Specifically, the laser receiver/converter employs thin stretched-membrane Fresnel lenses to focus continuous or pulsed laser light onto small photovoltaic cells, thereby reducing cell cost and improving cell conversion efficiency. The dual-use approach can be ...

GRID has had a successfully completed Phase I 'Mobile Online Intelligent Decision Support System' (MOIDSS). The system developed into a total solution that supports the ability to send and receive digital and analog data from sensors such as photography cameras, spectrometers, infrared and thermal scanners and other system sensors using the 'cube' computers and mobile Personal Data Adapters (PDA' ...

Maintaining a healthy atmosphere in closed life support systems is essential for crew well being and success of space missions. Current trace contaminant control (TCC) systems for removal of trace contaminant gases from cabin air are based on activated carbon filters and high temperature catalytic oxidation (HTCO). However, HTCO suffers from poisoning, and activated carbon suffers from absorbent s ...

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used as an analysis tool to help the designer gain greater understanding of the fluid flow phenomena involved in the components being designed. The next step in the design process is to modify the design to improve the components performance, typically performed manually by the designer in a trial and error fashion. The innovations proposed herein will provide ...

Supercritical air at cryogenic temperature is an attractive source of breathing air because of its very high density and low pressure. However, heat leak into the cryogenic tank causes the stored air to expand and vent, thus limiting the storage life of a charged system. We propose to develop a storage system for supercritical air packs that provides cryogenic cooling that will enable long-term ...

The Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) engine currently being developed at NASA Johnson is an attractive technology for minimizing transit time and crew harm during future space exploration missions. One of the critical challenges in developing a flight engine is thermal management of the high-temperature, superconducting electromagnets used to constrain and accelerate the pl ...

Lightweight, high-temperature radiators are needed for future, high-efficiency power conversion systems for Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP). Creare has developed flexible radiators that are extremely lightweight, stowable in small volumes, and deployable with small forces, but are limited by materials to temperatures below 350 K. These novel radiators incorporate integral micrometeorite protect ...

The goal of this proposed research is to investigate and develop a workflow based tool, the Software Developers Assistant, to facilitate the collaboration between different participants of multiple activities within a Software Development Process. Distributed development teams are becoming the norm for today?s software projects. These distributed teams are faced with the challenge of keeping softw ...

Field emission electric propulsion (FEEP) thrusters have gained considerable attention for spacecrafts disturbance compensation because of excellent characteristics. The application of current FEEP has been slow in developing mainly caused by high specific power, which limit the milli-Newton thruster development due to insufficient onboard power. Dramatic field improvement from nanometer carbon ...