Award Data

NASA plans to use intelligent planetary rovers to improve the productivity and safety of human explorers. A key challenge in using robots to support human exploration is orienting remote personnel about robot operations as latency and communication constraints make real-time monitoring impractical. Communication bandwidth will be limited, making it essential to downlink important information early ...

Prime Research LC (PPLC) and Virginia Tech (VT) propose to develop an energy harvesting wireless strain node technology that utilizes single-crystal piezoelectric fiber-based energy harvesting, highly sensitive and low power piezoresistive strain gages, and ultra wide-band (UWB) ultra low power radio communication. Single crystal piezoelectric fibers promise to improve piezoelectric harvesting po ...

Lynntech proposes a novel flow control methodology for airfoils undergoing dynamic stall. Dynamic stall refers to an aerodynamic phenomenon that is experienced by airfoils that undergo rapid changes in the flow angle of attack such as rotorcraft based airfoils, flapping wing technologies as well as fixed wing aircrafts undergoing sudden angle of attack changes. Dynamic stall is inherently an unste ...

As the aerospace industry continues to push for greater vehicle efficiency, performance, and longevity, properties of wing aeroelasticity and flight dynamics have become increasingly important. Both the study and the active control of wing dynamics require advanced sensing technology to inform the design process on the ground and provide feedback for aeroservoelastic systems in the sky. Existing ...

Flight control, structural reliability, and efficiency depend critically on the ability to assess the time-accurate unsteady aerodynamic loads and moments for each lifting surface under nominal and adverse flow conditions. Tao Systems and California Institute of Technology propose to develop a flow control system that utilizes advanced sensors and a vorticity state estimator (VSE) to reach flow st ...

Balcones Technologies, LLC proposes to adapt technologies developed by and resident in The University of Texas at Austin Center for Electromechanics (CEM) in the areas of dynamically controlled precision actuators and flywheel energy storage systems to address STTR 2011-1 Subtopic T3.01, Technologies for Space Power and Propulsion. In particular, our team will develop a concept design for a repla ...

Research suggests that: (1) orbital debris has reached an unstable point whereby, even with no future launches, the amount of debris will continue to grow through collisions among large-body debris, and (2) removing as few as five large objects each year can stabilize debris growth. For large-body active debris removal (ADR), active technologies are required to safely and efficiently stabilize and ...

The objective of this Phase I STTR program is to adapt NanoSonic's HybridSil?nanocomposite technology for the creation of next generation highly flexible, fire resistant foams capable of extended operational lifetimes within demanding aerospace platforms. Phase I optimized nanocomposite foams would have immediate utility within a broad spectrum NASA applications as non-halogenated fire proof ...

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is an additive manufacturing technology that allows fabrication of complex three-dimensional geometries layer-by-layer. The goal of the present proposal is to extend FDM technology to create new polymer matrix composites (PMCs) comprising of polymers and inorganic matrices. Innovative design coupled with novel PMCs can be used for cryogenic and high temperature appl ...

The NASA Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) has identified a "carbon-carbon nozzle (domestic source)" as a "Top Technical Challenge" in the 2011-2016 timeframe in the "Launch Propulsion Systems Roadmap" document. This program, by utilizing a demonstrably capable team with a deep history in the manufacture, testing, and analysis of C/C materials, will address this need by developing a Lyocell ...