Award Data

Luna is addressing NASA?s need to develop new multifunctional textiles for improved Environmental Protection Garments (EPG). Previous protective suits such as the Apollo era EPG or currently used Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) provide thermal and micrometeoroid protection, but are intended only for short duration use. NASA plans for a future manned Mars mission will potentially require exten ...

Despite the rapid commercialization of additive manufacturing technology such as selective laser melting, SLM, there are gaps in models for material microstructure and property prediction that slow qualification and certification. Improvements in coupling microstructure prediction models to local process conditions, validation, and control of material microstructure are required to mature the stat ...

The innovation proposed here is a fidelity-adaptive combustion model (FAM) implemented into the Loci-STREAM CFD code for use at NASA for simulation of rocket combustion. This work will result in a high-fidelity, high-performance multiphysics simulation capability to enhance NASA's current simulation capability of unsteady turbulent reacting flows involving cryogenic propellants. This novel FAM m ...

Sentix and Brigham Young University propose the research and development of embedded payload intelligence for inflight optimization of surveillance, reconnaissance, and scientific missions. The current proposal leverages a substantial body of scientific and experimental knowledge derived from the Tactical Seeability™ System developed by Sentix' staff and BYU researchers to provide fully automated ...

The tiltwing class of aircraft consists of vehicles with the ability to rotate the wing and propulsion system as a unit a full 90 degrees from the standard fixed wing configuration to one in which the wing and thrust axis become perpendicular to the body axis. This thrust vectoring capability allows the aircraft to utilize thrust borne flight for vertical takeoff and landing as well as the convent ...

While much attention is necessarily focused on the evaluation and certification of the materials and processes involved in adhesive bonding, development is still needed in decreasing the cost, time, and complexity of the current repair concepts. A material and processing system is needed that allows the design, infusion, and cure of composite repairs without the current roadblocks imposed by ovens ...

The RINGS project (Resonant Inductive Near-field Generation Systems) was a DARPA-funded effort to demonstrate Electromagnetic Formation Flight and wireless power transfer in microgravity. Integration inconsistencies in both hardware and software prevented the experiment from achieving its objectives during the planned test sessions. A later project supported by NASA ARC focused on the assessment, ...

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 ...

Launch vehicles experience extreme acoustic loads dominated by rocket exhaust plume interactions with ground structures during lift-off, which can produce damaging vibro-acoustic loads on the vehicle and payloads if not properly understood and mitigated against. Existing capabilities for modeling the turbulent plume physics during early lift-off are too dissipative to accurately resolve the propag ...

Wrong decisions during the missions can lead to an unsafe condition or immediate failure, while correct decisions can help continue the missions even from faulty conditions. In view of the lessons learned from mishaps, i.e., failed space missions, it is imminent that reliability analysis and risk assessment are kept in sync with space system design as it evolves from the concept through preliminar ...