Award Data

Innovative research is proposed in integrating fundamental aircraft design processes with an emphasis on composite structures. Efficient, lightweight composite laminate structural design requires highly integrated structural analyses on the laminate and stiffened panel levels, while incorporating manufacturing processes and limitations. Laminate optimization is only one of the many design variable ...

X-Ray detector technologies that possess improved number of readout pixels, lower power, faster readout rates, greater quantum efficiency, and enhanced energy resolution are critical to space exploration and scientific research missions. This proposal identifies a transformative new approach for X-ray detection using ion-sensitive nanomaterials. Recent work has shown that certain nanomaterials are ...

Icing is one of the most significant hazards to aircraft. There is still much research to be completed with regard to developing remote-sensing technologies for accurately identifying where icing conditions exist in clouds. There is a need to provide in-situ measurements of cloud liquid water content to validate the remote measurements.Anasphere, Inc. proposes to develop a modernized version of ...

Flux measurements of trace gases and other quantities, such as latent heat, are of great importance in scientific field research. One typical flux measurement setup involves placing measurement equipment (sonic anemometers and associated sensors or samplers) on rigid towers (rigidity being required to provide a stable platform for the sonic anemometers). These towers are relatively immobile, and ...

Dropsondes are one of the primary in-situ measurement tools available to research aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Unlike sensors mounted on aircraft, dropsondes allow a vertical profile of the atmosphere to be taken below the aircraft. A guided dropsonde which could glide away from the launch aircraft will allow profiles to be taken away from the aircraft flight path, and would off ...

Radiative transfer properties of clouds play an important role in the energy balance of the Earth. Numerous NASA programs and experiments are directed to measuring these effects. In-situ measurements are critical for supporting satellite-borne instruments. While research aircraft carry the best in-situ instruments, the aircraft and instruments are too expensive to provide sufficient coverage. ...

We design and demonstrate the feasibility of extending the open source Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) to support the full range of capabilities now available to Java developers but for Fortran. We have experience in this process from having done analogous SBIR work for the Ada language with the Navy and Missile Defense Agency. As was the case for Ada, there is an existing but ins ...

The failure of metallic parts due to hydrogen embrittlement has been a constant challenge for many industries for decades, and for NASA in particular. The hydrogen embrittlement problems endemic to industries that require heavy use of hydrogen have been solved in various ways. Most of these solutions involve the careful development of alloys that are less susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement. Unf ...

The Environmental Mapping Autonomous free-flyer Payload (EMAP) Module is proposed to enable on-demand mapping of intravehicular environmental conditions by the Astrobee platform on the International Space Station (ISS). The proposed solution is an integrated multi-sensor module that enables collection and 3D visualization of environmental data, and robot-robot communication. This payload module bu ...

Generating land and ocean data products from NASA multispectral and hyperspectral imagery missions requires atmospheric correction, the removal of atmospheric transmission and scattering effects that contaminate the measurements. This program led by Spectral Sciences, Inc. (SSI) addresses the challenges of high-speed, high-accuracy atmospheric correction for NASA's current (e.g., Hyperion, A ...