Award Data

One of NASA's primary goals for the next decade is the design, development and launch of a spacecraft aimed at the in-situ exploration of the deep atmosphere and surface of Venus. The success of this mission, called VISE (Venus In-Situ Explorer), is reliant on the development of effective thermal insulation solutions capable of protecting spacecraft for extended periods of time from the extreme h ...

Payload Systems Inc. (PSI) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were selected to jointly develop the Rule-based Analytic Asset Management for Space Exploration System (RAMSES) in this NASA STTR project. This system implements a modular layered architecture that enables automated multi-level asset tracking and management for both space and ground applications based on state-of-the-ar ...

Many NASA space and Earth programs in the infrared range 1060-1550 nm are limited by the detector performance that require long exposure time due to their low sensitivity and/or high noise. Large format infrared photon counting arrays with ranging capability would provide a valuable tool to many space missions. Current state of the art fabrication of photon counting infrared detector arrays on non ...

The Phase II program will concentrate on manufacturing of qualified low-current, light-weight, 10K ADR magnets for space application. Shielded ADR solenoidal magnets will be compared with self-shielding toriodal magnets in terms of overall weight, volume, and cooling capacity. Models of both toroidal and shielded solenoidal magnet systems will be built and tested to compare the two options at prac ...

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) proposes to develop a plant lighting system which collects, transmits and distributes photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) for biomass production in planetary and transit missions. In this system, solar light or electric lamp light is collected by reflector optics and focused at the end of an optical fiber cable. The light is filtered by a selective wavelength f ...

During the Phase I effort, OPTRA developed object detection, tracking, and identification algorithms and successfully tested these algorithms on computer-generated objects of various shapes and sizes and on sample real-world image sequences of a DeltaII booster separation. The algorithms currently identify six basic shapes (sphere, disk, cone, thin rectangle, tube, and cube) with better than 90% ...

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) foresee extension of exploratory space missions to the Moon, Mars, Venus and beyond. To reach these outer locations will require development of a range of advanced technologies including life support systems. Food represents one of the most crucial components of life support, as the ability to supply safe, nutritious and organoleptically p ...

Spire Corporation is developing a key component for thermophotovoltaic (TPV) power technology for deep space missions. We are developing InGaAs monolithically interconnected modules (MIMs) that convert thermal photons from the ~1100C General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) into electrical power. The innovation is that these MIMs are designed to operate at higher cell temperatures (150C) and be more rad ...

Stereochemistry is an essential element of our organic life. Only certain enantiomers are useful as drugs for the human body. Raman optical activity (ROA) provides stereochemical information down to the bond levels. Many biomolecules like proteins and DNA can be studied to understand their structural chemistry and structure related dynamics. These methods do not require material in the crystal ...

ElectroChem proposes a Phase II program to advance its very successful SBIR Phase I PEM fuel cell (PEMFC) program. In Phase I, the unique integrated-flow-field design (IFF) has been shown to provide highly superior passive water management that results in a H2/O2 PEMFC that is gravity independent, achieves higher voltage efficiencies than conventional PEMFC designs, can be operated safely at high ...