Award Data

DEC-Shield technology offers the means to generate electric power from cosmic radiation sources and fuse dissimilar systems and functionality into a structural component to create a Multi-functional Structure (MFS). DEC-Shield integrated into MFS technology can be used to generate electric power and provide radiation protection in a space vehicle; even maximizing that protection by spreading the ...

Advanced turbomachinery components play a critical role in launch vehicle and spacecraft liquid rocket propulsion systems. To achieve desired efficiencies, extremely tight tolerances are often imposed between inducer blades and shrouds or other system components which sets up strong interactions that influence both the aerodynamics and the structural performance of blades and vanes. These transien ...

Chemical contamination of spacecraft components as well as thermal and force loading from firing liquid propellant thrusters are critical concerns for in-space propulsion applications. Gas molecular contamination and liquid droplet deposition due to incomplete combustion threaten to damage surface materials, sensitive instruments and optical sensors, and poses major risks for mission success. Liqu ...

We propose that the key to robotic automation in unstructured environments is compliant robotic manipulators that can tolerate, sense, and leverage contact in a feedback loop. We will demonstrate an instrumented end-effector that will be capable of enhanced perception through observed and controlled contact. This approach requires: (i) a network of sensors capable of capturing the highly compliant ...

Newly developed phase-engineered and low dimensional materials have opened the door to the design of materials structures that exhibit extremely efficient ionic transport. Recently, a new type of electro-filtration system designed to convert thermal power into purified water from salt water (or other ionic pollutants) has been demonstrated in the lab. The system is based on a bi-phasic nanoplate ...

HJ Science & Technology (HJS&T) and Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) propose to develop a novel penetrator-compatible technology capable of detecting key organic molecules, biomarkers, and indicators of habitability on primary astrobiological targets including icy moons like Europa and Enceladus. The proposed innovation is a novel combination of microfluidic automated colorimetric and fluo ...

The proposed innovation is a membrane bioreactor system to produce a biopolymer from methane gas. This new methane fermentation process will expand and advance current gas delivery techniques to create affordable fermentation methods on Earth and beyond. Mango Materials is currently working to scale up and commercialize the production of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) from methane, but its scaled-up ...

The objective of this program is to develop, demonstrate and implement an integrated optical transmitter for RZ-DPSK modulation for integration into modems for the international space station (ISS). Conventional optical transmitters are based on commercially available discrete components. These have several fiber interconnects which leads to increased optical loss, reduced reliability in a space e ...

Space Micro and its partner research institution, the University of Arizona bring together innovations in channelization and network protocol development. Together, these innovations will provide improved hopping radios (with digital, rapidly reconfigurable implementation, wider bandwidth and reduced overhead penalty for hopping) and improved spectrum and link quality sensing. We will demonstrate ...

High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft have garnered increased interest in recent years as they can serve several purposes, including many of the objectives of satellites while incurring a fraction of the cost to deploy. Examples applications include Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, communications relay systems, and environmental and atmospheric sensing. The requirements for H ...