Award Data

AeroAstro and the University of Colorado propose to develop an autonomous satellite power control system to dynamically monitor, schedule and distribute power resources on microsatellites , while remaining sensitive to the mission objectives. The Autonomous Power Scheduler (APS) will maximize power efficiency and availability while being situationally-aware of bus conditions. The concept system wo ...

A low cost, high performance propulsion system does not exist that can support small and micro-satellite requirements, that is not burdened with severe hazard and toxicity issues. The VACCO Micro Propulsion System (MPS) represents a leap forward in the application of ChEMS? (metal MEMS) propulsion technology for nanosat and picosat missions, however its capability is limited by reliance on low-Isp ...

Drag reduction for aerial vehicles has a range of positive ramifications: reduced fuel consumption with the associated economic and environmental consequences, larger flight range and endurance and higher achievable flight speeds. Recent numerical results yielded solid evidence that very small disturbances in the form of a spanwise traveling force wave on a surface could reduce drag by 70%. Our pa ...

This proposal describes a plan for the Design and Development of line of sight area averaged rain measurements using microwave backscatter techniques. The line averaged (and area covered) could be made variable, from as low as 100m to several km. The individual units can thus be used for both local measurements as well as for extending the observation over rain-cells. The techniques might be exten ...

A critical danger of space flight programs is contamination of the spacecraft environment. Assessing environmental health requires monitoring technologies to mitigate the risk of infectious disease among the crew before, during, and after flights. The danger of infectious diseases in space is amplified by the limited medical facilities available to the crew during a mission. The contained spacecra ...

The proposal approaches to a revolutionary new approach to providing very compact, lightweight, non-RFI/EMI ignition system to be integrated with pulsed plasma thruster (PPT) used for spacecraft attitude control. The design eliminates for the first time conventional discharge capacitor and electromagnetic transformers (heavy and EMI noisy) with a compact and highly efficient novel technology - the ...

Limitations with existing cloud cover detection (CCD) techniques for large dataset processing and new challenges presented by the increase in the quantity and quality of data in the commercial realm, offer an opportunity for R&D into new and improved methods for the detection of clouds and cloud shadows in acquired imagery. We propose to develop innovative software for automated pixel-based cloud ...

Large X-ray generators using gas fill loads are a key element in the DTRA simulator program. Consistent relative timing between the injection of the gas shell and the generator current pulse is crucial to producing consistent, high-yield x-ray pulses.To that end HY-Tech proposes replacing existing high voltage trigger pin technology, with a sensitive, all fiber-optic heterodyne interferometer ba ...

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are considered suitable for use in components for high-strength structural composites used in spacecrafts. However, structurally similar boron nitride (BN) nanotubes that promise both mechanical and electronic superiority over CNTs have not been studied in great detail so far due to the absence of facile preparative techniques. BN nanotubes exhibit good mechanical strength, ...

Metron Aviation, Inc. builds a tool for Traffic Flow Management (TFM) that integrates existing and emerging technologies in the areas of modeling and operations analysis to enable the evaluation of proposed TFM initiatives (Figure 1). The key innovation of this effort is the integration of the Post Operations Evaluation Tool (POET) and the Future ATC Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET) in order to ac ...