Award Data

Rotorcrafts form a unique subset of air vehicles in that a rotorcraft's propulsion system is used not only for propulsion, but it also serves as the primary source of lift and maneuvering of the vehicle. No other air vehicle relies on the propulsion system to provide these functions through a transmission system employing a single critical load path without duplication or redundancy. Thus i ...

Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc., (RMD) proposes to develop an alternative very long term, radioisotope power source with thermoelectric power conversion with greater than 10% energy efficiency for deep space applications. The proposed technology is based on a betavoltaic generator which can be produced in bulk form, allowing the construction of generators with power output similar to radioisot ...

Sample and return missions desire and missions like Saturn Observer require a low power Hall thruster that can operate at high thrust to power as well as high specific impulse in order to close mission time, mass and delta velocity requirements. This type of thruster is commonly referred to as a dual mode Hall thruster. While the traditional geometry commonly used in a Hall thruster can achieve ...

Colloid thrusters have long been known for their exceptional thrust efficiency and ability to operate over a range of specific impulse due to easily variable charge-to-mass ratio of emitted particles. They have also been considered limited to only very low thrust levels, able to produce few microNewtons from individual emission sites. This has motivated significant research into developing large ...

Physical Sciences Inc. and AMPAC In-space Propulsion propose to develop a unique chemical propulsion system for the next generation NASA science spacecraft and missions that is compact, lightweight, and can operate with high reliability over extended periods of time and under wide range of thermal environments. The system uses a storable, low toxicity, monopropellant as its working fluid. Under ...

Physical Sciences Inc. proposes to design, develop, and demonstrate, a novel high performance monopropellant for application in future planetary ascent vehicles. Our non-carcinogenic, non-cryogenic, monopropellants will significantly augment specific impulse and density specific impulse over conventional monopropellant and bi-propellant systems. In Phase I, the proposed investigation will focus up ...

We propose to design, model, build, and test a novel flash cracking reactor to convert plastic waste, and potentially other unconventional hydrocarbon feedstocks, into tunable molecular weight fuels. The innovative reactor technology "flashes off" desired hydrocarbon products as they form, thus preventing the over-cracking of the polymers into more volatile hydrocarbons. This leads to improved s ...

To enhance NASA systems, Spire proposes a novel technique for growing a graded nanocrystalline ZrON/ZrO2 protective coating with superior heat tolerance on relevant in-space substrates. The proposed coating technology will adhere to and protect engine components such as injectors, combustion chambers, nozzles, and nozzle extenders. Conventional high temperature coatings applied by chemical vapor ...

ElectroChem proposes to develop oxidation resistant, electrically conductive, hydrophilic coatings in PEM fuel cells and in PEM electrolyzers. The use of hydrophilic coatings can improve the transport of the water within the cells resulting in higher electrochemical performance. However, the successful development of oxidation resistant hydrophilic coatings will be the key requirement due to the ...

Polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis units are currently designed to require active water flow and phase separation, or are based on a passive vapor transport mechanism that inherently limits performance due to mass-transport limitations. ElectroChem has developed and successfully demonstrated a passive water transport Integrated Flow Field concept (its IFF Structure) that controls the ...