Award Data

Future lunar and planetary explorations will require the storage of cryogenic propellants, particularly liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid hydrogen (LH2), in low earth orbit (LEO) for periods of time ranging from days to months, and possibly longer. LEO is a relatively warm thermal environment and without careful thermal management, significant quantities of stored liquid cryogens can be lost due to ...

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project is for the development of ultrahigh thermal conductivity carbon fiber for use in graphite-metal composites. The use of graphite fiber in a metal matrix produces a composite with high thermal conductivity and controlled CTE, the two key requirem ...

Carbon dioxide is monitored worldwide at hundreds of monitoring stations. However, existing methods rely on the use of high pressure calibration gas cylinders, which are both labor intensive and expensive. Thus, there is a pressing need for an affordable, highly accurate (at least 1 part in 3000) carbon dioxide monitor for the ambient atmosphere that can operate unattended for several months or ...

We propose to design, construct and test a first implementation of a non-dispersive technique for the measurement of atomic absorption in the plumes of liquid rocket engines in altitude test facilities. Led by NASA Stennis Space Center (SSC), the observation of metal atom emission from liquid rocket engine exhausts at sea level conditions has become a highly successful health monitoring technique ...

Aerodyne Research, Inc. (ARI) and MIT are collaborating to establish the feasibility of fully characterizing the complex chemistry of JP-10 high temperature decomposition, in the presence of oxygen, using a novel automatic reaction mechanism generation tool (RMG) developed at MIT. JP-10 is a very attractive fuel for missile and other air-breathing propulsion applications due to its high energy den ...

We propose to realize a new class of microbolometer FPA technology with significantly reduced 1/f noise by replacing the sensing material (e.g. VOx) with colossal magnetoresistive (CMR) oxides. The program uniquely combines Agiltron’s experience in novel IR imager development and leading academic research on CMR at Los Alamos National Lab (LANL). The LANL Team has developed a breakthrough pro ...

In this Phase I STTR research program Agiltron will demonstrate that low-cost, micro-contact printing is suitable for the fabrication of large area, thin-film, flexible metamaterials with unique optical properties for wavelengths between 2 and 14 microns. Our research partner, the University of Michigan, will use roll-to-roll micro-contact printing to pattern the fine structure of the metamaterial ...

Leveraging on our extensive production experience in fiber optical components and fiber lasers, AGILTRON proposes to develop a new novel high pulse energy tunable blue laser with doped ZBLAN fiber. Based on enhanced blue upconversion by properly selected co-doped materials, the proposed blue fiber laser will be able to generate high power. Furthermore, by using Agiltron’s proprietary beam combin ...

This program will demonstrate, for the first time, a commercial prototype high power fiber laser in the 3-5µm band, based on Agiltron chalcogenide glass infrared optical fiber technology. High power IR lasers that emit multiwatt output at various infrared wavelengths in the 212µm region are a long-standing technical challenge. Fiber lasers, widely considered the choice for almost all high power ...

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project will develop a low cost manufacturing process for a carbon nanotube based (CNT) dry adhesive that emulates the mechanical properties of gecko feet and that can be scaled up to a large scale. The superior performance of CNT dry adhesives will si ...