Award Data

The objective of this proposal is the development and demonstration of a cost-effective high-fidelity aeroacoustic design tool for future commercial supersonic nozzle designs and installations. Although eddy-resolving CFD methods for computing high-speed jet noise are available, such methods are computationally expensive and are currently deemed impractical for use in a design optimization loop. ...

NASA has demonstrated a resolve for a flagship mission in the coming years to revisit Venus and land instruments on the surface. Venus has a corrosive, high-pressure (~100 bar), high-temperature (470°C) environment. A motor drive is the major theme that runs through the most critical needs for optimum geological and atmospheric exploration on Venus.An electronically-controlled motor, operating at ...

The concept describes a booster for a launch vehicle that is simpler to make, transport and launch than current launch vehicles. It is composed of two major components. The first being a booster structure and the second being a liquid rocket engine that uses a thermodynamic cycle that is a combination of two common cycles.Furthermore, the engine is actually fairly simple when compared to modern li ...

NASA manned and robotic missions to the surface of planetary or airless bodies require Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL). For many of these missions, EDL represents one of the riskiest phases of the mission. Despite the criticality of the EDL phase, NASA has historically gathered limited engineering data from such missions, and use of the data for real-time Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) ...

A receiver system for use in LIDAR consisting of an optical filter and optical spectrometer based upon two-photon absorption is proposed. The filter and spectrometer both use dispersion from excited state transitions of atomic rubidium to create a birefringent medium. The birefringent medium of the optical filter rotates the polarization of light so that it is transmitted through crossed polariz ...

A cylindrical, low-mass, high-efficiency, leak-proof cryogenic valve will be designed using composites and exotic metals. Based upon cryogenically-proven Venturi Off-Set Technology (VOST) the valve has no stem-actuator, few moving parts, and an overall cylindrical shape. The valve geometry will help reduce launch vehicle complexity and facilitate assembly and test. Reliability and safety and wi ...

Next generation General Aviation (GA) Sport Class air vehicles limited to 1200lbs, represent the first opportunity to overhaul the FAA certification process necessary to manufacture affordable aircraft. With propulsion representing over one-third of the direct manufacturing costs of the entire aircraft, dramatic reductions in aircraft engine costs must be achieved by design, economy of scale, and ...

The proposed PAVE propulsion system technology demonstration combines an innovative high-speed aero-diesel engine with a novel ducted fan assembly resulting in a low noise/cost and high performance propulsion system. The core engine makes extensive use of a novel self-injection, compression ignition/combustion system capable of high-speed operation on kerosene-based fuels without degradation due ...

Premature breakdown is a key obstacle in developing AlGaN-based avalanche photo diodes (APD) for ultraviolet (UV) light detection. Novel materials growth techniques, such as Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy (HVPE) allows for reduction of dislocation density only to approximately 10^7 cm-2. In order to reduce the number of growth defects and dislocation density in AlGaN-based APDs we will use single cry ...

A laboratory-on-a-chip design based on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) microfluidics and integrated microelectrochemical detection is proposed. The proposed device is well-suited for the rapid, automatic and highly sensitive detection of a wide variety of biomolecules of potential interest to NASA. Interest in MHD microfluidic devices has previously been limited by their tendency to generate obstructi ...