Award Data

In Phase I MER demonstrated the superior performance and power-to-weight ratios of the VS-Rotary engine. In Phase II MER will team with the University of Arizona who will provide engine modeling, simulation, and analysis along with advanced precision machining and fabrication. MER will also team with NCE of Tucson to provide test and systems integration development of the engine to the applicatio ...

Legacy refractory materials that have origins dating to the original Saturn program are commonly used in current launch facilities. Although they fail to meet the target requirements, they are the only approved material. Our research team has demonstrated a baseline system during the Phase I effort that combines a non-cement binder, a high temperature macro aggregate, and reactive nano aggregates ...

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a novel process of fabricating components in a layer-by-layer method under the control of computer-aided design (CAD) information rather than by the traditional casting methods. The transition of AM technology from production of prototypes to production of critical parts is hindered by a lack of confidence in the quality of the part. In the push to commercialize the ...

Clear Science Corp. and Duke University propose to develop and demonstrate new and efficient computational methods of modeling nonlinear aeroelastic systems. The methods will extend the scope of multi-disciplinary computational tools like NASA Dryden's STARS by augmenting linear eigenmode stability algorithms and coupled time-marching techniques. The objective is low-dimensional models that acc ...

Automated Contingency Management (ACM), or the ability to confidently and autonomously adapt to fault conditions with the goal of still achieving mission objectives, can be considered the ultimate technological goal of a health management system. In an innovative Phase I STTR program, Impact Technologies and Georgia Institute of Technology developed a prototype Test Bench software for developing ...

Deep-ultraviolet (UV) Raman spectroscopy is a powerful method to collect chemically specific information about complex samples because deep-UV (?? < 250 nm) excitation shows an over 200-fold greater efficiency compared to commonly used 785 nm excitation and has the ability to avoid fluorescence background in the Raman spectra. The availability of compact, robust, and reliable deep-UV laser source ...

Current state of the art inertial measurement units (IMUs) co-locate a set of accelerometers and gyroscopes into a single package. CU Aerospace (CUA), in partnership with the University of Illinois, propose to develop a scalable and distributed IMU for space robotics and CubeSat applications. The user can choose to include an arbitrary number of inertial sensors beyond the minimal number of sensor ...

Alphacore Inc. will develop a high-accuracy built-in self-test (BIST) system for characterization of aging, degradation, available power and in-situ diagnosis of photovoltaic and multi-pack battery systems using low-complexity single-chip impedance spectroscopy (IS) approach. Alphacore will collaborate with Arizona State University (ASU) scientists to develop a low complexity single-chip photovolt ...

New technologies in imaging and manufacturing, including Additive Manufacturing (AM), are opening possibilities for mimicking biological structures in a way that has been unprecedented in human history. The primary innovation proposed here is the development of a tool that generates bio-inspired, parametrically optimized cellular materials for integration into the design of Additively Manufactured ...

In response to NASA’s topic T12.02 of “Extensible Modeling of Metallurgical Additive Manufacturing Processes”, Sentient proposes to incorporate its DigitalClone technique to develop a multiscale and multiphysics computational modeling suite to predict comprehensive outcomes from AM building processes, including geometrical accuracy, and resulting microstructure and defects. Figure 1 shows th ...