Award Data

The future capabilities of sensors and instrumentation deployed in space will continue to increase, resulting in increasing amounts of collected data. To reach these higher speed data rates, increases to the overall system gain of the communication link will be required. A deterministic method to increase system gain of a RF communication link is to provide higher transmitted RF power. However, ...

The use of automated robotic tooling is required in a number of space missions. It is possible to have better tool control if the robotic arm could report loads experienced by the tooling.ATI Industrial Automation proposes to develop and prove technologies to be used in a low weight, low outgassing multi-axis force and torque transducer that can be used at cryogenic temperatures. The transducer wi ...

Sierra Engineering Inc. and Purdue University propose to develop a non-intrusive plume instrument capable of detecting and diagnosing combustion instability. This Stability Diagnostic System (SDS) will be designed, assembled, and tested during this effort. The SDS will include a high-speed video camera and multiple photodiode detectors for observing the plume. It will also include a software pa ...

For NASA exploration missions to the Moon and Mars, medical grade water generation is a necessity. Adsorption filter technology has shown some promise, but requires transport of disposable/replacement filter cartridges, which adds to the overall mass/volume of the system for medical grade water generation. Distillation and reverse osmosis are other techniques that are used to generate medical grad ...

Reaction wheel disturbances are some of the largest sources of noise on sensitive telescopes. Such wheel-induced mechanical noises are not well characterized. Disturbances can be amplified by wheel and other structural dynamics (for example, isolator modes), that are coupled to gyroscopic effects and therefore are wheel speed dependent. Tonal disturbances and wheel structural modes thus sweep acro ...

Future planetary exploration missions such as those planned by NASA and other space agencies over the next few decades require advanced chemical and biological marker measurement technologies that will help answer fundamental questions about the composition of the Solar System and the possibility of past and present extraterrestrial life. Electrical/electrochemical array-based systems are highly s ...