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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 613 records · Page 34
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2010

Stitching Techniques Advance Optics Manufacturing

Because NASA depends on the fabrication and testing of large, high-quality aspheric (nonspherical) optics for applications like the James Webb Space Telescope, it sought an improved method for measuring large aspheres. Through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards from Goddard Space Flight Center, QED Technologies, of Rochester, New York, upgraded and enhanced its stitching technology for aspheres. QED developed the SSI-A, which earned the company an R&D 100 award, and also developed a breakthrough machine tool called the aspheric stitching interferometer. The equipment is applied to advanced optics in telescopes, microscopes, cameras, medical scopes, binoculars, and photolithography."

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NASA NTRS2010

Rocket-Powered Parachutes Rescue Entire Planes

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts with Langley Research Center helped BRS Aerospace, of Saint Paul, Minnesota, to develop technology that has saved 246 lives to date. The company s whole aircraft parachute systems deploy in less than 1 second thanks to solid rocket motors and are capable of arresting the descent of a small aircraft, lowering it safely to the ground. BRS has sold more than 30,000 systems worldwide, and the technology is now standard equipment on many of the world s top-selling aircraft. Parachutes for larger airplanes are in the works.

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NASA NTRS2010

Technologies Advance UAVs for Science, Military

A Space Act Agreement with Goddard Space Flight Center and West Virginia University enabled Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation, of Manassas, Virginia, to develop cost-effective composite manufacturing capabilities and open a facility in West Virginia. The company now employs 160 workers at the plant, tasked with crafting airframe components for the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program. While one third of the company's workforce focuses on Global Hawk production, the rest of the company develops advanced UAV technologies that are redefining traditional approaches to unmanned aviation. Since the company's founding, Aurora s cutting-edge work has been supported with funding from NASA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.

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NASA NTRS2010

Inflatable Antennas Support Emergency Communication

Glenn Research Center awarded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts to ManTech SRS Technologies, of Newport Beach, California, to develop thin film inflatable antennas for space communication. With additional funding, SRS modified the concepts for ground-based inflatable antennas. GATR (Ground Antenna Transmit and Receive) Technologies, of Huntsville, Alabama, licensed the technology and refined it to become the world s first inflatable antenna certified by the Federal Communications Commission. Capable of providing Internet access, voice over Internet protocol, e-mail, video teleconferencing, broadcast television, and other high-bandwidth communications, the systems have provided communication during the wildfires in California, after Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi, and following the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

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NASA NTRS2010

Programs Model the Future of Air Traffic Management

Through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts with Ames Research Center, Intelligent Automation Inc., based in Rockville, Maryland, advanced specialized software the company had begun developing with U.S. Department of Defense funding. The agent-based infrastructure now allows NASA's Airspace Concept Evaluation System to explore ways of improving the utilization of the National Airspace System (NAS), providing flexible modeling of every part of the NAS down to individual planes, airports, control centers, and even weather. The software has been licensed to a number of aerospace and robotics customers, and has even been used to model the behavior of crowds.

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NASA NTRS2010

Modeling Tools Predict Flow in Fluid Dynamics

"Because rocket engines operate under extreme temperature and pressure, they present a unique challenge to designers who must test and simulate the technology. To this end, CRAFT Tech Inc., of Pipersville, Pennsylvania, won Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts from Marshall Space Flight Center to develop software to simulate cryogenic fluid flows and related phenomena. CRAFT Tech enhanced its CRUNCH CFD (computational fluid dynamics) software to simulate phenomena in various liquid propulsion components and systems. Today, both government and industry clients in the aerospace, utilities, and petrochemical industries use the software for analyzing existing systems as well as designing new ones."

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NASA NTRS2010

Systems Analyze Water Quality in Real Time

A water analyzer developed under Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts with Kennedy Space Center now monitors treatment processes at water and wastewater facilities around the world. Originally designed to provide real-time detection of nutrient levels in hydroponic solutions for growing plants in space, the ChemScan analyzer, produced by ASA Analytics Inc., of Waukesha, Wisconsin, utilizes spectrometry and chemometric algorithms to automatically analyze multiple parameters in the water treatment process with little need for maintenance, calibration, or operator intervention. The company has experienced a compound annual growth rate of 40 percent over its 15-year history as a direct result of the technology's success.

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NASA NTRS2010

Composite Sandwich Technologies Lighten Components

Leveraging its private resources with several Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts with both NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense, WebCore Technologies LLC, of Miamisburg, Ohio, developed a fiber-reinforced foam sandwich panel it calls TYCOR that can be used for a wide variety of industrial and consumer applications. Testing at Glenn Research Center?s Ballistic Impact Facility demonstrated that the technology was able to exhibit excellent damage localization and stiffness during impact. The patented and trademarked material has found use in many demanding applications, including marine, ground transportation, mobile shelters, bridges, and most notably, wind turbines.

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NASA NTRS2010

Toolsets Maintain Health of Complex Systems

First featured in Spinoff 2001, Qualtech Systems Inc. (QSI), of Wethersfield, Connecticut, adapted its Testability, Engineering, and Maintenance System (TEAMS) toolset under Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts from Ames Research Center to strengthen NASA's systems health management approach for its large, complex, and interconnected systems. Today, six NASA field centers utilize the TEAMS toolset, including TEAMS-Designer, TEAMS-RT, TEAMATE, and TEAMS-RDS. TEAMS is also being used on industrial systems that generate power, carry data, refine chemicals, perform medical functions, and produce semiconductor wafers. QSI finds TEAMS can lower costs by decreasing problems requiring service by 30 to 50 percent.

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NASA NTRS2010

Tools Automate Spacecraft Testing, Operation

"NASA began the Small Explorer (SMEX) program to develop spacecraft to advance astrophysics and space physics. As one of the entities supporting software development at Goddard Space Flight Center, the Hammers Company Inc. (tHC Inc.), of Greenbelt, Maryland, developed the Integrated Test and Operations System to support SMEX. Later, the company received additional Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding from Goddard for a tool to facilitate the development of flight software called VirtualSat. NASA uses the tools to support 15 satellites, and the aerospace industry is using them to develop science instruments, spacecraft computer systems, and navigation and control software."

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NASA NTRS2010

Terahertz Tools Advance Imaging for Security, Industry

Picometrix, a wholly owned subsidiary of Advanced Photonix Inc. (API), of Ann Arbor, Michigan, invented the world s first commercial terahertz system. The company improved the portability and capabilities of their systems through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) agreements with Langley Research Center to provide terahertz imaging capabilities for inspecting the space shuttle external tanks and orbiters. Now API s systems make use of the unique imaging capacity of terahertz radiation on manufacturing floors, for thickness measurements of coatings, pharmaceutical tablet production, and even art conservation.

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NASA NTRS2010

Smart Sensors Assess Structural Health

NASA frequently inspects launch vehicles, fuel tanks, and other components for structural damage. To perform quick evaluation and monitoring, the Agency pursues the development of structural health monitoring systems. In 2001, Acellent Technologies Inc., of Sunnyvale, California, received Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding from Marshall Space Flight Center to develop a hybrid Stanford Multi-Actuator Receiver Transduction (SMART) Layer for aerospace vehicles and structures. As a result, Acellent expanded the technology's capability and now sells it to aerospace and automotive companies; construction, energy, and utility companies; and the defense, space, transportation, and energy industries for structural condition monitoring, damage detection, crack growth monitoring, and other applications.

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NASA NTRS2010

Burnishing Techniques Strengthen Hip Implants

In the late 1990s, Lambda Research Inc., of Cincinnati, Ohio, received Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards from Glenn Research Center to demonstrate low plasticity burnishing (LPB) on metal engine components. By producing a thermally stable deep layer of compressive residual stress, LPB significantly strengthened turbine alloys. After Lambda patented the process, the Federal Aviation Administration accepted LPB for repair and alteration of commercial aircraft components, the U.S. Department of Energy found LPB suitable for treating nuclear waste containers at Yucca Mountain. Data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration confirmed LPB to completely eliminate the occurrence of fretting fatigue failures in modular hip implants.

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NASA NTRS2010

Do-It-Yourself Additives Recharge Auto Air Conditioning

In planning for a return mission to the Moon, NASA aimed to improve the thermal control systems that keep astronauts comfortable and cool while inside a spacecraft. Goddard Space Flight Center awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to Mainstream Engineering Corporation, of Rockledge, Florida, to develop a chemical/mechanical heat pump. IDQ Inc., of Garland, Texas, exclusively licensed the technology and incorporates it into its line of Arctic Freeze products for automotive air conditioning applications. While working on the design, Mainstream Engineering came up with a unique liquid additive called QwikBoost to enhance the performance of the advanced heat pump design.

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NASA NTRS2010

Compact Radiometers Expand Climate Knowledge

To gain a better understanding of Earth's water, energy, and carbon cycles, NASA plans to embark on the Soil Moisture Active and Passive mission in 2015. To prepare, Goddard Space Flight Center provided Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding to ProSensing Inc., of Amherst, Massachusetts, to develop a compact ultrastable radiometer for sea surface salinity and soil moisture mapping. ProSensing incorporated small, low-cost, high-performance elements into just a few circuit boards and now offers two lightweight radiometers commercially. Government research agencies, university research groups, and large corporations around the world are using the devices for mapping soil moisture, ocean salinity, and wind speed.

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NASA NTRS2010

Sensor Systems Collect Critical Aerodynamics Data

With the support of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts with Dryden Flight Research Center, Tao of Systems Integration Inc. developed sensors and other components that will ultimately form a first-of-its-kind, closed-loop system for detecting, measuring, and controlling aerodynamic forces and moments in flight. The Hampton, Virginia-based company commercialized three of the four planned components, which provide sensing solutions for customers such as Boeing, General Electric, and BMW and are used for applications such as improving wind turbine operation and optimizing air flow from air conditioning systems. The completed system may one day enable flexible-wing aircraft with flight capabilities like those of birds.

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NASA NTRS2010

Solid-State Recorders Enhance Scientific Data Collection

Under Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts with Goddard Space Flight Center, SEAKR Engineering Inc., of Centennial, Colorado, crafted a solid-state recorder (SSR) to replace the tape recorder onboard a Spartan satellite carrying NASA's Inflatable Antenna Experiment. Work for that mission and others has helped SEAKR become the world leader in SSR technology for spacecraft. The company has delivered more than 100 systems, more than 85 of which have launched onboard NASA, military, and commercial spacecraft including imaging satellites that provide much of the high-resolution imagery for online mapping services like Google Earth.

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NASA NTRS2011

Wireless Sensor Networks for Developmental and Flight Instrumentation

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) based on the IEEE 802.15.4 Personal Area Network and ZigBee Pro 2007 standards are finding increasing use in home automation and smart energy markets providing a framework for interoperable software. The Wireless Connections in Space Project, funded by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center, is developing technology, metrics and requirements for next-generation spacecraft avionics incorporating wireless data transport. The team from Stennis Space Center and Mobitrum Corporation, working under a NASA SBIR grant, has developed techniques for embedding plug-and-play software into ZigBee WSN prototypes implementing the IEEE 1451 Transducer Electronic Datasheet (TEDS) standard. The TEDS provides meta-information regarding sensors such as serial number, calibration curve and operational status. Incorporation of TEDS into wireless sensors leads directly to building application level software that can recognize sensors at run-time, dynamically instantiating sensors as they are added or removed. The Ames Research Center team has been experimenting with this technology building demonstration prototypes for on-board health monitoring. Innovations in technology, software and process can lead to dramatic improvements for managing sensor systems applied to Developmental and Flight Instrumentation (DFI) aboard aerospace vehicles. A brief overview of the plug-and-play ZigBee WSN technology is presented along with specific targets for application within the aerospace DFI market. The software architecture for the sensor nodes incorporating the TEDS information is described along with the functions of the Network Capable Gateway processor which bridges 802.15.4 PAN to the TCP/IP network. Client application software connects to the Gateway and is used to display TEDS information and real-time sensor data values updated every few seconds, incorporating error detection and logging to help measure performance and reliability in relevant target environments. Test results from our prototype WSN running the Mobitrum software system are summarized and the implications to the scalability and reliability for DFI applications are discussed. Our demonstration system, incorporating sensors for life support system and structural health monitoring is described along with test results obtained by running the demonstration prototype in relevant environments such as the Wireless Habitat Testbed at Johnson Space Center in Houston. An operations concept for improved sensor process flow from design to flight test is outlined specific to the areas of Environmental Control and Life Support System performance characterization and structural health monitoring of human-rated spacecraft. This operations concept will be used to highlight the areas where WSN technology, particularly plug-and-play software based on IEEE 1451, can improve the current process, resulting in significant reductions in the technical effort, overall cost and schedule for providing DFI capability for future spacecraft. RELEASED -

Alena, Richard↗