Award Data

"The need for low mass, cost and complexity electric propulsion systems driven by the growing interest in microsatellites to perform high delta-V missions requiring north/south station keeping, orbit transfer, inclination changes and precise formationflying can be enabled by Busek's multi-mode low power Hall thruster. However, state-of-the-art electric propulsion technology is complex and costly ...

"In many situations, it is necessary to identify a target rapidly. Here, we offer to demonstrate a novel device that can search through more than ten million images, stored in a one terabyte holographic memory unit (HMU), in a millisecond. Called the superparallel holographic optical correlator (SPHOC), this device can be viewed as nearly two thousands holographic optical correlator (HOC) running ...

"A high-performance cooling system for gimbal-mounted infrared sensors is a critical need for future space-based target acquisition and tracking systems. The optimal approach uses a high performance cryocooler remotely located on the spacecraft platformcombined with a high conductance, cryogenic heat transport system to exchange heat from the sensors to the cryocooler. The heat transport system ...

"We propose to develop an innovative high capacity multistage cryocooler for dual cooling loads at temperatures of 85 K and 35 K. The cooler is based on proven turbo-Brayton technology that has been flight demonstrated and qualified for use on the HubbleSpace Telescope (HST). This technology will be adapted to the unique requirements of DoD infrared sensor applications at lower temperatures and ...

"Radiation-transport (RT) codes constitute the core component of the target, plume, background, and atmospheric signature models utilized by BMDO and virtually every other government agency and commercial company involved in developing optically-basedweapons, surveillance, and remote sensing systems. Critical to the accuracy and range of application of the RT codes are the accuracy and completenes ...

"Novel bio-organic/inorganic hybrid materials for use in optically addressed light modulators is proposed. Supramolecular chemistry will be used to prepare previously unknown materials for light modulation. If successful, the proposed research willimprove the speed, pixel count, resolution and contrast of spatial light modulators while simultaneously reducing their size, weight and cost. Phase ...

"This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will investigate a promising new technique for fabricating periodic domain gratings in stoichiometric lithium tantalate(SLT). The key innovation in this SBIR effort is the use of externally mountedmicro-electrodes to electrically pole the material. This poling technique, made possible because of the low coercive field found in SLT, will sign ...

"This Phase I study proposes to address the objective of configuring a Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) system suitable for missile defense interceptors which realizes order-of-magnitude reductions in mass, volume and cost relative to current GN&Csystems. These improvements will be sought through a combination of conceptual advances and use of components which benefit from cost reductions ...

"The technical objectives of Phase I are to: (1) demonstrate potential EKV TOM (Target Object Map) metric and IR/visible discriminants available from simultaneously collected multi-spectral data, and (2) demonstrate the feasibility of improving TOM metricand discrimination algorithm performance attributable to the simultaneous collection of GBR-P and AMOS AEOS IR and visible observations.Ryan Ass ...

"Emitech, Inc. proposes an innovative approach aimed at the development of carbon nanotube (CNT)-based thin film actuators/sensors possessing gravimetric work density up to 24000 J/kg per cycle, operating at frequencies up to 1 MHz, and at temperatures upto 700 C. This new concept is based on the quantum chemical effect of nanotube dimension change under charge doping/injection.The ability to move ...