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Our First Contact Polymer (FCP) is an easy-to-apply, residue-less, peelable strip coat that protects and cleans optics, detectors, and other sensitive surfaces, restoring them to a pristine condition. Using FCP is as simple as spraying or brushing it on a surface of interest, allowing it to dry for 15 minutes, and stripping off the rugged coating when desired. Multiple measurements, including at N ...

The Zero Gravity Mass Measurement Device (ZGMMD) provides the ability to measure the mass of samples in a microgravity environment, like that found on the International Space Station (ISS). One of the primary measurements often taken during science experiments is mass. This is even more relevant in biology, where mass is often one of the key measurements taken for analysis. During the Phase I effo ...

The innovation is a high-frequency single-stage pulse tube cryocooler (PTC) that operates at a heat rejection temperature of 150 K. It employs a flexure-bearing cold compressor operating at that same heat rejection temperature. High frequency, low temperature pulse-tube cryocoolers are a promising technology for future NASA missions. Such missions will require cryocoolers providing cooling capacit ...

ORBITEC's Non-Thermal Sanitation by Atmospheric Pressure Plasma technology sanitizes fresh fruits and vegetables without the use of consumable chemicals and without significantly raising the temperature of the food, so food taste and quality are not affected. Atmospheric pressure plasma is well known to be highly effective in promoting oxidation, enhancing molecular dissociation, and producin ...

The innovative High Efficiency, High Output Plastic Melt Waste Compactor (HEHO-PMWC) is a trash dewatering and volume reduction system that uses heat melt compaction to remove nearly 100% of water from trash and reduce the volume by up to 11 times. The HEHO-PMWC system incorporates novel methods to compress the trash, recover water, and remove the resultant plastic tiles. This system requires acce ...

ORBITEC proposes to develop and test new, non-toxic ionic liquid fuels for propulsion applications. Vintage propulsion systems frequently use highly toxic propellants such as MMH. The toxicity of these propellants increases not only the risk of the missions but also the expense, due to special handling required during the entire lifetime of the propellant. Replacing toxic propellants with stron ...

The overall objective of the Phase 1 effort was to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the Advanced Carbothermal Electric (ACE) Reactor concept. Unlike state-of-the-art carbothermal reactors that use concentrated solar energy and/or laser energy to heat the regolith, the ACE Reactor uses an innovative method to electrically heat the regolith to temperatures over 1800ºC within a thermally ins ...

The severity of the lunar dust problems encountered during the Apollo missions were consistently underestimated by ground tests, illustrating the need to develop significantly better lunar dust simulants and simulation facilities. ORBITEC is proposing to continue developing high-fidelity lunar dust simulants that better match the unique properties of lunar dust than existing regolith simulants (s ...

The purpose of the Enhanced Brine Dewatering System (EBDS) is to provide a scalable means of completely recovering usable water from byproducts created by reverse osmosis water purification systems without the use of consumable wicks. Extended duration Lunar and Mars missions will require the conservation and recovery of water to allow for autonomous closed environments that dramatically reduce la ...