Award Data

The Radiator Free Engine (RFE) is a new technology enabling very high power to mass ratio nuclear electric propulsion. In the RFE, cold water propellant or hydrogen used as the heat rejection dump for a dynamic cycle heated by a nuclear reactor, enabling Carnot efficiencies as high as 0.79 for water or 0.99 for hydrogen. Some of the propellant that is boiled or sublimated off is then sent to an el ...

This NASA Phase I SBIR program would develop ultra-wide bandwidth, conformal nanomembrane based strain sensors for nondestructive evaluation applications, using silicon on insulator techniques in combination with nanocomposite materials. The team has recently demonstrated the conformal strain sensors with a frequency response from DC to 5MHz. The team will perform synthesis of sensor skin material ...

NASA mission planners continue to develop plans for investigating celestial bodies including Europa, Enceladus, and Mars for potential life detection. Contamination Control and Planetary Protection requirements focus on both forward and backward contamination from such bodies where NASA has shown that vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP) is an effective method for sterilizing samples and surfaces. Ho ...

The National Academiesrsquo; blueprint for advancing air mobility found that public safety (PS) applications provide opportunities to build experience, refine technology and establish acceptance of AAM technology.nbsp; Information-sharing gaps currently hinder scalability for a broad range of interagency PS responses, from frequent local incidents to less common widespread disasters. Echoing UAM/A ...

Precise radial velocity (PRV) measurements play a critical role in the strategic goal of NASA to find planetary bodies and habitable Earth-like planets. Ground based telescopes currently achieve ~1 m/s single measurement precision. New generation visible PRV systems have demonstrated ~30 cm/s, but in order to reach the sensitivity of 1-10 cm/s, as expressed in the NASA Decadal Survey, advances nee ...

Airborne measurements of cloud particle size, shape, and optical properties such as extinction cross-section are critical for validating satellite remote sensing measurements and weather and climate models. To address the current and future needs of the scientific community making and using these measurements, we propose a multispectral single-particle holographic imaging system which offers sever ...

Through the proposed NASA SBIR program, NanoSonic and Virginia Tech will create highly flame resistant, environmentally robust HybridSilreg; polyamide fibers that will provide the next generation of fire resistant textiles employed within apparel fabrics used during intravehicular missions and space habitat occupation. NanoSonicrsquo;s HybridSil polyamide fibers will be molecularly engineered for ...

This SBIR addresses the NASA subtopic Z3.03, Development of Advanced Joining Technologies. Humanityrsquo;s future in space requires technologies that enable long-duration, long-endurance missions to support human exploration and habitation. Essential to this goal is servicing, assembly, and manufacturing outside of earthrsquo;s gravity. Upon completion of the proposed work, Temper hopes to provide ...

Space missions continue to increase in number, complexity, and time amp; cost constraints. To lead technological advancements and successfully execute these missions, NASA desires new amp; robust onboard automated fault management technologies that address the full range of hardware amp; software faults, are transparent amp; reusable across platforms. This will lead to reduced costs and improved a ...

This proposal addresses subtopic S4.04 Extreme Environments Technology and specifically the listed interest in long life bearings, tribological surfaces, and lubricants. NASA is interested in expanding its ability to explore deep atmosphere and surface of giant planets, moon surfaces, asteroids, and comets through use of long-lived (days or weeks) balloons and landers. Dragonfly will launch in 202 ...