Award Data

To overcome the communication gap to Venus, TUI proposes to develop the Venus or Titan Exploratory (VORTEX) Gimbal to point a meter scale diameter, high gain antenna. The VORTEX Gimbal is a highly advanced adaptation of the COBRA gimbal developed by TUI for the nanosatellite market. The VORTEX Gimbal will be capable of providing performance characteristics that are unmatched in the current high-fi ...

New technology is needed to collect, stabilize, recover useful materials, and store human fecal waste for long duration missions, both for crew safety, comfort and resource requirements and planetary protection. The proposed SBIR Phase I project addresses an innovative torrefaction (mild pyrolysis) processing approach that can be used to sterilize feces, control odor, and produce a stable, free fl ...

In-situ analysis of solar system bodies plays a crucial role in understanding the evolution of our planet, setting the stage for life's origins. As has been demonstrated by several NASA interplanetary missions, there is no replacement for in-situ observations, like spectral imaging, that prove critical for understanding the context of solar system bodies. There is, however, a conflict between more ...

The Positrusion ISS Recycler enables recycling of scrap and waste plastics into high-quality filament for 3D printers to enable sustainable in-situ manufacturing on the ISS and future deep-space manned missions. In order to minimize astronaut time required for recycling, mitigate safety risks, and improve the quality of product relative to conventional filament extrusion methods, Tethers Unlimite ...

Noise measurement of aerospace vehicles is difficult and usually requires expensive, specialized facilities. With the proliferation of UAVs there is need for noise data, both for ISR and non-military vehicles. Wind tunnel testing is common and much less expensive. The innovation is a novel in-flow microphone array combined with the start of the art Functional Beamforming algorithm that makes it p ...

The proposed model-based Fault Management system addresses the need for cost-effective solutions that enable higher levels of onboard spacecraft autonomy to reliably maintain operational capabilities. The system will provide onboard off-nominal state detection and isolation capabilities that are key components to assessing spacecraft state awareness. The ability to autonomously isolate spacecraft ...

There is a need for viable and practical solutions for utilizing chemical thrusters operating with green monopropellants on small- and micro-satellites and cubesats (100 kg-500 kg and less than 100 kg). Conventional approaches scale down poorly, due to the size, mass, and power requirements of components needed for high pressure propellant storage and flow control. For small spacecraft already f ...

Liquid rocket developers have identified advanced engine concepts that are not feasible due to manufacture due to limitations in currently available technologies. Specifically, engine developers are in need of a manufacturing technology that is capable of generating cooling channels in liquid rocket nozzles and combustion chambers at low cost, while supporting increasingly complex designs (see a ...

Shortly after NASA made the most recent planetary science SBIR topics public, we began discussing the possibility of translating our experience in maximizing momentum transfer by specialized electrospray jets into a vacuum for micro-satellite propulsion as a new alternative to the diffusion pump concept. Indeed, what is currently being done for "colloidal propulsion" parallels the requirements for ...

Conventional solar cells are limited in efficiency, require heavy weight for high power applications, and tend to degrade rapidly in the harsh radiation environment in space. nVizix LLC proposes to demonstrate a novel concept for high-efficiency solar cells (patent pending), based on the phenomenon of vacuum photoemission (with thermionic enhancement). Recent advances in the technology of optical ...