Award Data

A Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) flight experiment will demonstrate Next Generation Navigation Techniques and Advance SDR/STRS Communications Technology to TRL-7. Scintillation-hardening techniques will be applied to an open-source waveform ported to the SCaN platform. This will result in improved GPS navigation during geomagnetic storms. The ported waveform will be STRS-compliant a ...

The Compound Specific Analyzer – Combustion Products, used on the International Space Station as a warning monitor of smoldering or combustion events, is being phased out of service. Southwest Sciences Inc. proposes to develop a replacement laser-based analyzer using wavelength modulation spectroscopic absorption. This device would be capable of real-time measurements of the four most important ...

In the Phase I program, Busek Co. Inc. tested an existing Hall thruster, the BHT-8000, on iodine propellant. The thruster was fed by a high flow iodine feed system, and supported by an existing Busek hollow cathode flowing xenon gas. The Phase I propellant feed system was evolved from a previously demonstrated laboratory feed system. Throttling of the thruster between 2 and 11 kW at 200-600V wa ...

In Phase I project, by leveraging on Agiltron's experience in optical fiber components and our unique fabrication procedure of fiber array, we successfully designed and fabricated the samples of the gradient index fiber (GIF) lens arrays and single mode (SM) fiber arrays for composing a coherent single-mode fiber (SMF) spatial filter array (SFA), which demonstrated the promising results to meet NA ...

Photodetectors and focal plane arrays (FPAs) covering the middle-wave and longwave infrared (MWIR/LWIR) are of great importance in numerous NASA applications, including earth remote sensing for carbon-based trace gases, Lidar mapping for earth resource locating, and environment and atmosphere monitoring. Existing MWIR/LWIR photodetectors have a low operating temperature of below 77K. The requireme ...

The overall technical objective of the proposed Phase II NASA program is to demonstrate the ability of the WaMM™-based static vapor feed electrolyzer to generate enough low moisture content oxygen to support the life of 5 astronauts (9.0 lbs/day). To achieve this, the stack must be designed for risk mitigation and operation in the simplified Giner system. Stack size must also increase five fold ...

Project involves development of new flexible FR polyurethane (PU)insulation foams through a non-toxic environmentally friendly composite approach. Foams have bound-in polymeric phosphonate FRs, with added synergists and smoke suppressants. Such foams will not leach FR. Foams have fine cell structure and excellent flexible foam properties. Cone performance of the identified foam family (368 peak ...

The evolution of the National Airspace System via the Next Generation Air Transportation System program depends on enabling new operational concepts to increase efficiency. Decreasing the spacing between aircraft on takeoff and landing would increase the throughput of airports. On-board sensing capability for wake vortices could allow aircraft to operate with reduced spacings. Wake vortices can b ...

Exploration of planetary environments with current robotic technologies relies on human control and power-hungry active sensors to perform even the most elementary low-level functions. Ideally, a robot would be able to autonomously explore novel environments, memorize locations of obstacles or objects, learn about objects, build and update an environment map, and return to a safe location. All of ...

Gamma-ray and neutron spectroscopy are well established techniques for determining the chemical composition of planetary surfaces, and small cosmic bodies such as asteroids and comets; however, new technologies with the potential to significantly improve the performance of planetary nuclear spectroscopy are emerging. We propose to develop new gamma-ray and neutron detectors based on wide-band-gap ...