Award Data

Parabilis Space Technologies, Inc. (Parabilis), in collaboration with Utah State University (USU), proposes a low cost, high performance launch vehicle upper stage using oxygen and a novel additively manufactured polymer fuel grain as propellants in response to solicitation T1.01, Affordable Nano/Micro Launch Propulsion Stages. This technology will fulfill the ever-growing mission demands of the C ...

NASA recognizes the importance of conservation, smart utilization and reuse of resources for their deep space missions to address the need for regeneration of air, water and waste with highly reliable systems to reduce mission payload. Additionally, energy for life support and other systems needs to be obtained from renewable energy sources or waste streams. In order to address NASA's requirements ...

The Apollo 15 Lunar Module rocket plume excavated regolith which sandblasted at speeds in excess of 1000 m/s the Surveyor 2 lander 200 m away. A Curiosity rover instrument was permanently damaged during SkyCrane landing on Mars. Any future human surface missions to planetary bodies covered in regolith (e.g. Mars, Moon) would need to address ejecta created during landing or takeoff. The intent of ...

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 ...

The technical innovation proposed here is the design during Phase I of a high performance upper stage for a two-stage "20 / 450" Nanosat Launch Vehicle (NLV) that is configured to deliver up to 20 kg to a 450 km low Earth orbit (Figure 1). Parallel tasks prepare for the Phase II development and sub-orbital flight testing of a prototype vehicle that is directly traceable to the orbital-capable ...

The proposed 9-month research project aims for the development of additive manufacturing techniques for the creation of electronic devices. It will develop an innovative additive manufacturing technique that combines the ink-based printing with laser melting technology to directly print a three-dimensional (3D) system with built-in electrical properties and functioning as an electronic device. Th ...

The technical innovation proposed here is the introduction of torch-augmented spark ignition for high performance liquid oxygen (LOX) / propylene rocket engines now in development for a future two-stage nanosat launch vehicle. Spark ignition is critical for reliably achieving multiple in-flight restarts of NLV upper stage engines. In addition, this new capability will generate immediate R&D benef ...

The paradigm of exploration is changing. Smaller, smarter, and more efficient systems are being developed that could do as well as large, expensive, and heavy systems in the past. The 'science' fiction becomes reality fueled by advances in computing, materials, and nano-technology. These new technologies found their way into CubeSats – a booming business in the 21st century. CubeSats are no l ...

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 ...

There is growing recognition that success in a variety of space mission types can be greatly enhanced by making current communication transceivers and networks evolve towards networked communication systems that are intelligent, self-aware and thus can support greater levels of autonomy. This will be especially relevant as networked clusters of smaller-size satellites, made of CubeSats or microsat ...