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At least 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2002

[Equipment Inventory Report of Inventions and Subcontracts]

This was a joint award to the PI, then of Texas A&M University, and Gerald Heymsfield of NASA GSFC, with co-I's Robbie Hood and Richard Blakeslee of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Although the PI moved to the University of Utah during year-2 of this grant, it continued to be administered through Texas A&M for the convenience of the Ph.D. student Daniel Cecil until after he defended his dissertation in late 2000. Cecil has assembled a subset of this database for 261 Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) passes over 45 hurricanes or tropical cyclones. It consists of TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) ice scattering signatures and TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR) reflectivity profiles and Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) flash locations for the rain features associated with all tropical cyclones observed by TRMM from Dec. 1997 through Dec. 1998. Each rain feature has been subjectively cataloged as belonging to a hurricane eyewall, inner rainband, outer rainband, or the inner or outer regions of a developing or non-developing tropical cyclone. This database quantifies the relative abundance of lightning in outer rainbands compared to eyewalls and inner rainbands. The TRMM data set permits studies that can seek more specific physical relationships than Cecil and Zipser were able to find when they related some SSM/I measures of ice scattering to hurricane intensity change.

Zipser, Edward J.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Mothers of Invention: Hubble Engineers Push Robotic 'Evolution' to Save Telescope, Enable New Exploration

Robotic technology being developed out of necessity to keep the Hubble Space Telescope operating could also lead to new levels of man-machine team-work in deep-space exploration down the road-if it survives the near-term scramble for funding. Engineers here who have devoted their NASA careers to the concept of humans servicing the telescope in orbit are planning modifications to International Space Station (ISS) robots that would leave the humans on the ground. The work. forced by post-Columbia flight rules that killed a planned shuttle-servicing mission to Hubble, marks another step in the evolution of robot-partners for human space explorers. "Hubble has always been a pathfider for this agency," says Mike Weiss. Hubble deputy program manager technical. "When the space station was flown and assembled, Hubble was the pathfinder. not just for modularity, but for operations, for assembly techniques. Exploration is the next step. Things we're going to do on Hubble are going to be applied to exploration. It's not just putting a robot in space. It's operating a robot in space. It's adapting that robot to what needs to be done the next time you're up there."

Morring, Frank, Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Inventing and improving ribozyme function: rational design versus iterative selection methods

Two major strategies for generating novel biological catalysts exist. One relies on our knowledge of biopolymer structure and function to aid in the 'rational design' of new enzymes. The other, often called 'irrational design', aims to generate new catalysts, in the absence of detailed physicochemical knowledge, by using selection methods to search a library of molecules for functional variants. Both strategies have been applied, with considerable success, to the remodeling of existing ribozymes and the development of ribozymes with novel catalytic function. The two strategies are by no means mutually exclusive, and are best applied in a complementary fashion to obtain ribozymes with the desired catalytic properties.

Review, Tutorial↗
NASA NTRS2007

'NASA Invention of the Year' Controls Noise and Vibration

Developed at NASA's Langley Research Center, the Macro-Fiber Composite (MFC) is designed to control vibration, noise, and deflections in composite structural beams and panels. Smart Material Corporation specializes in the development of piezocomposite components, and licensed the MFC technology from Langley in 2002. To date, Smart Material Corporation has sold MFCs to over 120 customers, including such industry giants as Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda, BMW, General Electric, and the tennis company, HEAD. The company estimates that its customers have filed at least 100 patents for their various unique uses of the technology. In addition, the company's product portfolio has grown to include piezoceramic fibers and fiber composites, piezoceramic actuators and sensors, and test equipment for these products. It also offers a compact, lightweight power system for MFC testing and validation. Consumer applications already on the market include piezoelectric systems as part of audio speakers, phonograph cartridges and microphones, and recreational products requiring vibration control, such as skis, snowboards, baseball bats, hockey sticks, and tennis racquets.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2015

Flow Diode and Method for Controlling Fluid Flow Origin of the Invention

A flow diode configured to permit fluid flow in a first direction while preventing fluid flow in a second direction opposite the first direction is disclosed. The flow diode prevents fluid flow without use of mechanical closures or moving parts. The flow diode utilizes a bypass flowline whereby all fluid flow in the second direction moves into the bypass flowline having a plurality of tortuous portions providing high fluidic resistance. The portions decrease in diameter such that debris in the fluid is trapped. As fluid only travels in one direction through the portions, the debris remains trapped in the portions.

Dyson, Rodger W↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Sustaining NASA-Invented Thermal Protection System Materials for Future Missions

TPS is needed for NASA and many emerging commercial space missions and is dependent on an industrial base for future availability. Supply chains are dynamic and global. Change to constituent availability, after the fact, can impact missions. In addition to external vendor capability, NASA needs to maintain the in-house expertise and use SMEs to engage industry to assess the risk of atrophy on a constant basis and propose risk mitigation options to the Leadership as needed.

Matt Gasch↗
DOE OSTI2018

Inventing Nanoscience: Exploring Materials at Atomic Scale

By 2001, the potential for nanoscience to transform many areas of science was increasingly clear. A Presidential Nanoscience Initiative was launched. Working in collaboration with other federal science agencies, the Basic Energy Sciences (BES) office of DOE proposed and supported the creation of five Nanoscale Science Research Centers open to all scientists, located at DOE National Laboratories to also enable access to existing X-ray and neutron probes. In the decade since these shared research facilities came into full operation, they have enabled an explosion of discoveries in physics, chemistry, materials science and biology, which in turn have begun to yield important new technologies.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2003

NASA Patent Abstracts Bibliography: A Continuing Bibliography

Several thousand inventions result each year from research supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA seeks patent protection on inventions to which it has title if the invention has important use in government programs or significant commercial potential. These inventions cover a broad range of technologies and include many that have useful and valuable commercial application. NASA inventions best serve the interests of the United States when their benefits are available to the public. In many instances, the granting of nonexclusive or exclusive licenses for the practice of these inventions may assist in the accomplishment of this objective. This bibliography is published as a service to companies, firms, and individuals seeking new, licensable products for the commercial market. The NASA Patent Abstracts Bibliography is a semiannual NASA publication containing comprehensive abstracts of NASA owned inventions covered by U.S. patents. The citations included in the bibliography arrangement of citations were originally published in NASA's Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports (STAR) and cover STAR announcements made since May 1969. The citations published in this issue cover the period July 2002 through. December 2002. This issue includes 10 major subject divisions separated into 76 specific categories and one general category/division. (See Table of Contents for the scope note of each category, under which are grouped appropriate NASA inventions.) This scheme was devised in 1975 and revised in 1987 in lieu of the 34 category divisions which were utilized in supplements (01) through (06) covering STAR abstracts from May 1969 through January 1974. Each entry consists of a STAR citation accompanied by an abstract and, when appropriate, a key illustration taken from the patent or application for patent. Entries are arranged by subject category in ascending order. A typical citation and abstract presents the various data elements included in most records cited. This appears after the table of contents.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2015

Methods for Stem Cell Production and Therapy

The present invention relates to methods for rapidly expanding a stem cell population with or without culture supplements in simulated microgravity conditions. The present invention relates to methods for rapidly increasing the life span of stem cell populations without culture supplements in simulated microgravity conditions. The present invention also relates to methods for increasing the sensitivity of cancer stem cells to chemotherapeutic agents by culturing the cancer stem cells under microgravity conditions and in the presence of omega-3 fatty acids. The methods of the present invention can also be used to proliferate cancer cells by culturing them in the presence of omega-3 fatty acids. The present invention also relates to methods for testing the sensitivity of cancer cells and cancer stem cells to chemotherapeutic agents by culturing the cancer cells and cancer stem cells under microgravity conditions. The methods of the present invention can also be used to produce tissue for use in transplantation by culturing stem cells or cancer stem cells under microgravity conditions. The methods of the present invention can also be used to produce cellular factors and growth factors by culturing stem cells or cancer stem cells under microgravity conditions. The methods of the present invention can also be used to produce cellular factors and growth factors to promote differentiation of cancer stem cells under microgravity conditions.

Claudio, Pier Paolo↗
DOE OSTI2013

Burners and combustion apparatus for carbon nanomaterial production

The invention provides improved burners, combustion apparatus, and methods for carbon nanomaterial production. The burners of the invention provide sooting flames of fuel and oxidizing gases. The condensable products of combustion produced by the burners of this invention produce carbon nanomaterials including without limitation, soot, fullerenic soot, and fullerenes. The burners of the invention do not require premixing of the fuel and oxidizing gases and are suitable for use with low vapor pressure fuels such as those containing substantial amounts of polyaromatic hydrocarbons. The burners of the invention can operate with a hot (e.g., uncooled) burner surface and require little, if any, cooling or other forms of heat sinking. The burners of the invention comprise one or more refractory elements forming the outlet of the burner at which a flame can be established. The burners of the invention provide for improved flame stability, can be employed with a wider range of fuel/oxidizer (e.g., air) ratios and a wider range of gas velocities, and are generally more efficient than burners using water-cooled metal burner plates. The burners of the invention can also be operated to reduce the formation of undesirable soot deposits on the burner and on surfaces downstream of the burner.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗