Award Data

THE PROPOSED PROJECT WILL DEVELOP MATERIALS AND SUPPORTING THERMAL TECHNOLOGY LEADING TO DESIGN OF HIGH POWER PULSE CONDUCTORS FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS. IN PHSE I WE WILL EVALUATE AN EM GUN SYSTEM, IDENTIFY ALTERNATIVE MATERIALS AND THERMAL APPROACHES FOR SELECTED COMPONENTS, AND IDENTIFY TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS. COMPONENT DEVELOPMENT FEASIBILITY AND BENEFITS WILL BE DEFINED.

THE NEED FOR INCREASING THE SENSITIVITY OF SPACE-BORNE SENSORS WILL REQUIRE DEVELOPMENT OF LONG-LIFE, HIGHLY EFFICIENT HELIUM LIQUIFIERS. CONVENTIONAL HELIUM LIQUIFIERS EMPLOY A JOULE-THOMSON EXPANSION VALVE TO EXPAND THE HELIUM AT TEMPERATURES BELOW ABOUT 10 DEG K. IT HAS BEEN SHOWN THAT GAINS OF UP TO 30% IN OVERALL CYCLE EFFICIENCY CAN BE OBTAINED IF THE JOULE-THOMSON VALVE IS REPLACED BY AN EX ...

NASA CURRENTLY HAS SEVERAL ASTROPHYSICS MISSIONS PLANNED IN WHICH HELIUM REPLENISHMENT IS IMPORTANT. ONE OF THE TWO LEADING CANDIDATE REPLENISHMENT SYSTEMS REQUIRES A MECHANICAL PUMP. THIS PROGRAM IS INTENDED TO DEVELOP A LONG-LIFE CENTRIFUGAL PUMP TO MEET THESE REQUIREMENTS. IN PHASE I, A PRELIMINARY DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF A SMALL HIGH SPEED CENTRIFUGAL PUMP WILL BE PERFORMED. THE PUMP WILL BE DE ...

WIDESPREAD CONTROVERSY CURRENTLY EXISTS REGARDING METHODS USED IN THE IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT OF GIFTED CHILDREN. RESEARCH INDICATES THAT TEACHER NOMINATIONS, THE MOST WIDELY USED METHOD, FAIL ALMOST 50% OF THE TIME TO IDENTIFY THE TRULY GIFTED.THIS PROPOSAL RECOMMENDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXPERT COMPUTER SYSTEM THAT INTEGRATES ACHIEVEMENT, APTITUDE, AND PERSONALITY TESTS ALONG WITH OTHER P ...

THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES PHASE I OF A THREE-PHASE PROGRAM TO DEVELOP AND COMMERCIALIZE A RESPONSE TESTER (RESTER) TO DETERMINE ALCOHOL-INDUCED IMPAIRMENT OF DRIVING SKILLS. IMPAIRMENT WILL BE ASSESSED USING COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS THAT REQUIRE RESPONSES TO VISUAL DISPLAY. THE DEVICE WILL PAIR CRITICAL FLICKER FREQUENCY (CFF) WITH A SECOND TIME-SHARED TASK AND YIELD A QUANTITATIVE MEASURE OF IMPAIRMENT. ...

THE MICROGRAVITY ENVIRONMENT OF EARTH ORBIT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY AND INCREASE THE YIELD OF MATERIALS GROWN BY CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (CVD). THE DEVELOPMENT OF CVD IN SPACE WOULD BENEFIT GREATLY FROM THE CAPABILITY TO PREDICT THE IMPORTANT PROCESS HEHAVIOR, ESPECIALLY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF VARYING GRAVITY FIELDS. THIS CAPABILITY WOULD NOT ONLY FOSTER COMPARISON OF MICROGRAVI ...

CREARE WILL DESIGN AND PROTOTYPE A PORTABLE, EXTENDED VERSION OF THE MLAB MODELING LABORATORY TO BE IMPLEMENTED INTHE C PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE IN A 32-BIT UNIX ENVIRONMENT. INPHASE I, THE MLAB FUNCTIONALITY WILL BE REDESIGNED FOR THE NEW SYSTEM, ALONG WITH EXTENSIONS FOR MORE ROBUST OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES. A DEVICE-INDEPENDENT GRAPHICS MODULE WILL ALSO BE DESIGNED TO SUPPORT TWO-DIMENSIONAL AND THR ...

TWO-PHASE THERMAL TRANSPORT LOOPS OFFER SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT AND PERFORMANCE ADVANTAGES OVER CONVENTIONAL SINGLE-PHASE SPACECRAFT THERMAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS. KEY COMPONENTS IN TWO-PHASE THERMAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ARE THE CONDENSING AND EVAPORATING HEAT EXCHANGERS TO COUPLE THE LOADS TO THE TWO-PHASE THERMAL BUS, AND TO TRANSFER HEAT BETWEEN THE THERMAL BUS AND THE SPACECRAFT RADIATOR. THE MAIN REQUI ...

DURING THE LAST 25 YEARS THE DENSITY OF COMPUTER ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY HAS INCREASED BY FIVE ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE. THIS DRIVE TOWARD MORE DENSELY PACKAGED MICROELECTRONICS HAS RESULTED IN A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN THE AMOUNT OF WASTE HEAT WHICH MUST BE DISSIPATED. HEAT FLUX RATES IN CURRENT LSI CIRCUITRY ARE ALREADY AS HIGH AS 20 W/CM2 AND PROJECTED LEVELS FOR VLSI AND FUTURE ADVANCED CIRCUITRY CONFIGU ...

COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS (CFD) OFFERS SIGNIFICANT OPPORTUNITIES IN THE DESIGN OF V/STOL FIGHTER AIRCRAFT. THERE IS ENORMOUS SCOPE FOR A SYNERGISM BETWEEN CFD AND WIND TUNNEL TESTING, AFFORDING GREATER EFFICIENCY IN THE REDUCTION OF DATA AND A QUICKER GRASP OF ITS SIGNIFICANCE. MOREOVER, CFD SHOULD BE ABLE TO DRASTICALLY REDUCE THE NUMBER OF TESTS THAT ARE NEEDED. THE OVERALL PROJECT OBJECTIVE ...