Award Data

Current modeling of Lunar and Martian soil erosion and debris transport caused by rocket plume impingement lacks essential physics from the peculiar granular characteristics of highly irregular regolith particles. Current granular mechanics models are based on mono-disperse spherical particles empiricism unsuitable for capturing the poly-disperse irregularly shaped grain mechanics. CFDRC and the U ...

The Keystone and MSU team propose to build on the successful feasibility demonstration conducted during Phase I to complete the development of solid-state joining of high strength and temperature alloys utilizing the Thermal Stir Welding process. The focus alloy for this project is Haynes 230; the alloy of choice typically utilized in rocket engine nozzel skirts. This class of alloy is difficult t ...

Superconducting 3-30 MVA transformers for the Navy will have reduced size and weight, lower AC losses, and be liquid cryogen free. The smaller size and lower weight will have benefits in increasing capacity in limited ship spaces or reducing the area requirements for existing capacities. In addition to these more conventional attributes, the superconducting transformer has the potential of havin ...

A new modular solar powered rocket engine is proposed to provide a few milligrams to a few kilograms of thrust at 1100-1600 seconds of specific impulse by heating hydrogen propellant to average temperatures ranging from 2750 to 3250K. The proposed design utilizes one or several sunflower-like clusters of non-imaging concentrators coupled to optical fiber bundles that guide the solar energy with a ...

In this NASA Phase II STTR program Powdermet/Northwestern will fabricate a lightweight (2.4 g/cc, or equivalent to 0.8 kg/m2) thin-wall (0.3-0.5mm ) functional mirror with an angular resolution approaching one arc second. Phase I results demonstrated a composite mirror structure with a density a factor of two lower than the solid nickel with high strength , low CTE, and good optical figure. The Ph ...

The innovation of this project is to bring the power and flexibility of a wireless computer network to harsh-environment fieldwork. By integrating a small computer with GPS and a multi-channel digitizer we have created a network node which is low cost, low power, adaptable to practically any electronic instrumentation, and capable of storing large volumes of data over long field deployments. The n ...

Our Fused-Realities-Assessments-Modules(FRAM) enables innovative new levels and types of automated quantification strategies for combining human and system performance in real-time for fused performance monitoring and after-action-review purposes. FRAM accomplishes this by fusing output of normative models of behaviors (cognitive/procedural/team), human states (physiological/affective), system sta ...

The proposed work seeks to clearly demonstrate the advantage of the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar architecture over a similar single-input multiple-output (SIMO) or phased array system; the benefit of applying data-adaptive signal processing techniques in favor of their data-independent counterparts; and the utility of transmitting advanced probing waveforms as opposed to conventiona ...

TBD

In recent years, the need for highly reliable, durable and non-intrusive systems for monitoring the health condition of naval structures becomes more and more recognized. Of particular importance is the condition based maintenance of Navy rotating machinery (motors, generators, pumps, gear systems, etc.). Such Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems should be able to detect failures in their ea ...