Award Data

The objective of this NASA Phase II program is to develop and increase the Technology Readiness Level of multifunctional Metal RubberTM (MRTM) materials that can be used as 1) large strain sensors, and 2) strain-insensitive electrical interconnects for aerospace systems and structures. The aerospace systems-level problem these materials would help solve is the inability of currently available met ...

NanoSonic has developed revolutionary nanostructured, yet macroscale, multifunctional Metal RubberTM films. In support of NASA's Vision for Space Exploration, low cost Metal RubberTM freestanding or conformal skins are being optimized as protective coatings for human and robotic space exploration. Specifically, ultra-lightweight, nanostructured coatings with protection against electrostatic char ...

This Phase II proposal by Phoenix Integration is intended to refine and bring to market the NASA Bi-Level Integrated System Synthesis (BLISS) technology. BLISS is a method to address the above difficulty by defining engineering system optimization problems in terms of subsystems and disciplines that correspond to a natural structure of engineering team in specialty groups. Making the BLISS method ...

Advanced development of mesoporous catalysts for ambient temperature oxidation of dissolved organic contaminants is proposed. Mesoporous materials consist of highly ordered three-dimensional structures with precisely controlled pore size distributions, relatively high surface areas, and surface affinities which promote the adsorption of aqueous organic contaminants. When used as a catalyst suppor ...

A Microwave Powered Solid Waste Stabilization and Water Recovery system is proposed as the primary step in the treatment of solid waste materials generated during extended manned space missions. The system will recover water initially contained within wastes and stabilize the residue with respect to microbial growth. Dry waste may then be safely stored or passed to the next waste treatment proces ...

Development of an innovative microwave-based continuous flow sterilization system for the energy efficient gravitationally independent production of Medical Grade Water (MGW) is proposed. During the Phase I, microwaves were very efficiently coupled to a single-phase flowing water stream using an antenna based microwave sterilization chamber that rapidly heated water to temperatures well above nor ...

Development of a microgravity and hypogravity compatible microwave plasma methane pyrolysis reactor is proposed to recover hydrogen which is lost as methane in the conversion of carbon dioxide to water via the Sabatier process. This will close the hydrogen loop which currently requires 50% resupply. Efficient production of hydrogen from methane was conclusively demonstrated during Phase I using m ...

UTD proposes to develop a lightweight, tethered autonomous small diameter core drill capable of reaching 10 and even 200 m in depth. The proposed approach is consistent with the planetary protection requirements and can be used to extract intact and tailings samples for biological and geological research on Mars. While the proposed drill is optimized for Mars environment, it can be used on other ...

To develop reliable THz sources with high power and high DC-RF efficiency, Virginia Diodes, Inc. will develop a thorough understanding of the complex interactions that occur within a chain of nonlinear frequency multipliers. These nonlinear interactions can cause rapid variations in power as the frequency or input power are tuned, including nulls and power surges that can damage individual compone ...

In the future, exploration missions will benefit greatly from advanced metrology capabilities, particularly structural health monitoring systems that provide real time in-situ diagnostics and evaluation of structural integrity. Safety- and mission-critical components and systems will be instrumented with embedded sensors to provide a real-time indication of health, helping to ensure that America's ...