Award Data

An Advanced Microgravity Compatible, Integrated laundry System (AMCILS) is proposed that uses a two phase water / water vapor system to allow good agitation of clothing during the wash & rinse cycle. Drying will be accomplished utilizing microwave energy addition and "jet" air flow to fluff and move clothing in the washing chamber. Operation in a two phase water / water vapor system precludes th ...

The Area-I team has developed and flight tested the unmanned Prototype-Technology Evaluation and Research Aircraft or PTERA ("ptera" being Greek for wing, or wing-like). The PTERA flew successfully during Phase I of this program, and stands to enhance the already capable NASA Aeronautics Test Program (ATP) by enabling the low-cost, low-risk, flight-based evaluation of everything from advanced aero ...

In Phase II, Propagation Research Associates, Inc., (PRA) proposes to complete the development of a real-time nowcast of ionospheric scintillation impacts on GPS users. Continuing its partnership with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, PRA will implement real-time production of a map of ionospheric scintillation parameters over the United States using real-time data streamed from the National Geo ...

Area-I, Incorporated personnel have led the design, fabrication, and flight testing of twelve unmanned aircraft and one manned aircraft. Partnered with NASA and Boeing, Area-I has developed the unmanned Prototype-Technology Evaluator and Research Aircraft or PTERA ("ptera" being Greek for wing/wing-like). The PTERA, a high-quality flight research testbed, bridges the gap between wind tunnel and ma ...

We build a system that supports the weather information needs of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) planning to fly in the National Airspace System (NAS). This weather information service will supply information to UAS Ground Control Stations (GCSs) from the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) 4D Weather Data Cube, the Single Authoritative Source (SAS) for aviation weather informati ...

We build a tool that accelerates Research and Development (R & D) aimed at introducing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS). In the proposed effort, FACET will form the basis of a collaborative R & D platform, an environment where users can share open source software modules (software and data sets developed to reside outside the FACET Application Programmers In ...

Scandate cathodes are proposed as a way to boost performance and life for electric space propulsion systems. This company has recently demonstrated breakthrough performance on these cathodes in other formats. We have demonstrated emission of 5 Amps/cm2 at 850 degrees CB, which is 200 degrees C below that of conventional cathodes. At this temperature they should live at least 100,000 hours. Thi ...

A compact microgravity and hypogravity compatible vacuum device is proposed to provide medical suction and containment of extracted fluids. The proposed aspirator will draw up to 40 L/min of air and produce a nominal vacuum of 500-mm Hg, which is comparable to commercially available medical aspirators. The unit will also provide a means for separation and containment of up to 1000 mL of aspirate ...

For the purposes of advancing integral field spectrograph (IFS) microlens capabilities, a new class of high-quality optics-grade nanostructured organic-inorganic nanocomposite three-dimensional (3D) gradient index (GRIN) microlens optical materials is proposed. In the Phase I program, solid state freeform (SFF) fabrication of high contrast 3D-gradient-index microlens array elements will be demonst ...

Acute challenges are faced by the designers of fluid systems for spacecraft because of the persistently unfamiliar and unforgiving low-g environment. For example, most fluid systems aboard spacecraft are impacted by the presence of capillary forces?a poor understanding of which has led to poorly performing life support equipment. Despite an increasing number of flight investigations concerning cap ...