Award Data

This program will develop an innovative software tool for optimizing control of heterogeneous swarming systems using Swarm Signal Temporal Logic (SSTL) specifications. The proposed solution will enable task prioritization and scheduling, and distributed optimization of heterogeneous multi-agent systems (MAS) with the ability to scale the agent team, environment, and degree of heterogeneity with mi ...

Current state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods for the fabrication of thermal protection systems (TPS) for spacecraft is costly, labor-intensive, and limited to on-Earth production. To address these shortcomings, Mainstream, in collaboration with the Design, Research, and Education for Additive Manufacturing Systems (DREAMS) lab at Virginia Tech (VT), proposes to develop a large-format additive manufactu ...

Digital assistants represent a set of artificial intelligence capabilities utilizing natural language capabilities that reduce user cognitive burden through task automation and information processing. While digital assistants can be utilized to assist NASA analysts and engineers in performing many different functions (e.g., requirements verification, literature review, Qamp;A), our proposal focuse ...

The Controls and Load Alleviation Simulation Platform (CLASP) framework was developed in the NASA STTR Phase I activity preceding this Phase II proposal. CLASP has been created to perform time-domain simulations of gust and turbulence encounters with a focus on UAM and VTOL aircraft concepts. The centerpiece of CLASP is a Simulink flight simulation model that has been developed with significant mo ...

NASA is seeking propulsive capability for SmallSats and modular CubeSats for several lunar, interplanetary, and deep space missions. Because of their small size, CubeSats can be transported into orbit, using excess capacity of large launch vehicles ridesharing as secondary payloads. A downside of ridesharing is that satellites are often released into unfavorable trajectories/orbits that require hi ...

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 ...