Award Data

Solid rocket motor (SRM) design requires detailed understanding of the slag accumulation process in order to: predict thrust continuity, optimize propellant conversion efficiency, predict coning effects from sloshing, and to assess potential orbital debris (slag) hazard. Current state-of-the-art models for SRM environment do not have the capability to simulate the accumulation and dynamics of slag ...

Launch vehicles experience extreme acoustic loads dominated by rocket plume interactions with ground structures during liftoff, which can produce damaging vibro-acoustic loads on the vehicle and payloads if not properly understood and mitigated against. Existing capabilities for modeling turbulent plume physics are too dissipative to accurately resolve the acoustic propagation and detailed vehicle ...

The innovation proposed here is a Pareto-Efficient Combustion (PEC) model for fidelity-adaptive combustion modeling capability implemented into the Loci-STREAM CFD code for use at NASA for simulation of rocket combustion. This work will result in a high-fidelity, high-performance multiphysics simulation capability to enhance NASA’s current simulation capability of unsteady turbulent reacting flo ...

This Multiband Software Defined Radio (SDR) sensor system proposal will demonstrate the ability to operate within multiple frequency bands and across multiple technology platforms in a single transceiver. The center frequencies and bandwidths chosen are representative of current demonstrated commercial or research devices and bands used: 400 MHz, 900 MHz, and 2.4 GHz ISM bands, with bandwidths of ...

Sensatek Propulsion Technology, Inc. proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of a wireless, passive, nanoparticle-based sensor system. The sensor in its current form can be used to measure real time temperatures and pressures wirelessly without the need of an external energy source. It should be noted that the same sensing principle can be used for strain monitoring as well. It comprises of a micr ...

Niobium alloy (C-103) reaction control system (RCS) chambers have been used on numerous NASA programs. However at elevated temperatures, the strength of C-103 decreases significantly. Higher strength niobium alloys have been developed, but these alloys lack the formability of C-103. Recently, Additive Manufacture (AM) of niobium and C-103 has been demonstrated using powder bed electron beam me ...

Design and manufacture of a Liquid fuel injector optimized for Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing. UAM delivers aerospace parts today at 97% of bulk material property and foil laydown rates at speeds significantly better then powder or filament process. UAM has traditionally been applied to 2-D planar surfaces. We will extend UAM into complex geometries and constructs suitable for rocket engine inj ...

The landing surface damage and liberation of debris particles caused by rocket plume impingement flow during spacecraft propulsive landing on unprepared surfaces of Moon, Mars, and other celestial bodies poses a high risk for robotic and human exploration activities. Simply determining whether the plume induced loads exceed the bedrock bearing capacity threshold is not sufficient. An integrated m ...

The goal of the proposed Phase I work is to demonstrate the feasibility of the coordination and control of a low cardinality (n=12) swarm of smallsats that realizes a distributed Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) in low Earth orbit. Preliminary mission and spacecraft design work has shown that the swarm can support SAR imaging in the L-band (1.35 GHz) with a ground range resolution finer than 10 m wi ...

Spacecraft propulsive landings on unprepared regolith present in extra-terrestrial environments pose a high risk for space exploration missions. Plume/regolith interaction results in (1) the liberation of dust and debris particles that may collide with the landing vehicle and (2) craters whose shape itself can influence vehicle dynamics. To investigate such gas-granular interactions for large-scal ...