Award Data

First generation mid-infrared lasers contribute to the prohibitively high life cycle cost of infrared countermeasures systems, precluding their broad application in helicopters. We propose to develop a fiber amplifier-based IRCM laser transmitter that will contain all optical beams within optical fiber, eliminating adjustable, discrete optical mounts to significantly increase the laser’s MTBF. ...

Andrews Space, Inc. proposes an innovative high altitude, long endurance (HALE) wing structural concept. The approach will be a careful optimization of the flexible and rigid structure to minimize mass. Additionally, a manufacturing feasibility study will be undertaken in order to determine if current industry tooling and methods are adequate. The effectiveness of HALE aircraft is highly depend ...

Aerobraking to reduce velocity for planetary capture and landing has long been assumed for use on Mars missions because Mars has an atmosphere, and the use of aerobraking minimizes the amount of propellants required from the Earth's surface. For Mars exploration missions, where large quantities of equipment will be required, an aerobrake that is adequate for the size and amount of equipment will n ...

Andrews Space, Inc. proposes an innovative transpiration cooled aerobrake TPS design that is thermally protective, structurally flexible, and lightweight. This innovative design will meet launch volume constraints and satisfy terminal aerobraking requirements. The approach will focus on transpiration cooling of a flexible material and employs preceramic polymers and active filler technologies as ...

NASA has many needs for maintenance and repair technologies for long-duration human space missions. We propose to develop a compact, portable, vacuum-compatible, multi-axis Manipulator/Machining Center (M/MC) to satisfy many of NASA's needs. Our M/MC will provide complex manipulation during: layer-additive manufacturing; collection of geometric data for reverse-engineering; real-time non-destruc ...

In order to address the NASA lunar mission, DESC proposes to develop a proton exchange membrane (PEM) closed-loop pure oxygen fuel cell for application to lunar surface exploration, building upon DESC's expertise and fundamental demonstrations in closely related technology. Building upon the recent NASA SBIR Phase II and Navy SBIR Phase I work, the static feed URFC hardware will be converted for ...

Typically, the electro-optical Mach-Zehnder interferometric intensity modulator is the key optical component that determines the ultimate performance of an externally-modulated high-performance analog RF fiber-optic link. Intrinsically, the device has a symmetric structure and has a transmission peak at zero bias. In order to operate at the maximum linearity quadrature point, the optical symmetr ...

The interest in formation and cluster-based satellite applications has grown considerably in recent years, especially as launch costs have dropped and the availability of secondary rides have increased. Unfortunately, the realization of these applications has proven difficult because of challenges such as station keeping and collision avoidance. In this proposed Phase I effort, TUI will demonstrat ...

High peak power, high efficiency, high reliability lightweight, low cost QCW laser diode pump modules with up to 1000W of QCW output become possible with nLight's new laser diode package methodology. Following the design principles from our Phase I results, we propose an innovative packaging architecture to provide NASA with highly reliable 808nm laser diode pump sources for space based LADAR sys ...

nLight developed high-power, high-efficiency laser diodes emitting at 1907nm for the pumping of solid-state lasers during the Phase I. The innovation brought to bear at 19-xxnm wavelengths nLight's design knowledge and experience from its highly successful 9xx-nm and 14xx-nm, high-efficiency and high-power laser diode programs. The expected performance for the laser at the conclusion of the phase ...