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 ...

A FEASIBILITY STUDY IS PROPOSED ON A NOVEL IDEA FOR A DESIGN OF A SEMI-SMART PROJECTILE FOR KINETIC ENERGY WEAPONS, AND IN PARTICULAR, EML WEAPONS. THE TECHNOLOGY FOR THIS DESIGN IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE. IT WOULD BE INTRINSICALLY HARD TO THE 100000 G ACCELERATIONS EXPERIENCE BY AN EML PROJECTILE AND WOULD HAVE A GREATLY IMPROVED PROBABILITY OF HIT (AND KILL) OVER A CLASSICAL DUMB PROJECTILE AGAINST ...

A NEW SYSTEM, THE ANNULAR FLOW ELECTROTHERMAL PLUG RAMJET, IS PROPOSED AS A ALTERNATIVE TO CHEMICAL ROCKETS AND ELECTROMAGNETIC LAUNCHERS AS A KINETIC ENERGY WEAPON. THIS SYSTEM APPEARS TO BE CAPABLE OF ACHIEVING THE HYPERVELOCITIES NECESSARY IN REASONABLE LAUNCHER LENGTHS, PRIMARILY BECAUSE IT DOES NOT ACCELERATE EITHER THE PROPELLANT OR THE PROPULSION SYSTEM REQUIRED TO ACHIEVE HYPERVELOCITIES. ...