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At least 91 records · Page 5

Marshall Space Flight Center Faculty Fellowship Program

The 2018 Marshall Faculty Fellowship Program involved 16 faculty in the laboratories and departments at Marshall Space Flight Center. These faculty engineers and scientists worked with NASA collaborators on NASA projects, bringing new perspectives and solutions to bear. This Technical Memorandum is a compilation of the research reports of the 2018 Marshall Faculty Fellowship program, along with the Program Announcement (Appendix A) and the Program Description (Appendix B). The research affected the following five areas: (1) Materials (2) Propulsion (3) Spacecraft systems (4) Vehicle systems (5) Space science The materials investigations includes Lunar Regolith for habitats, friction stir welding, and composite joints. Propulsion studies included cryogenic tank pressurization, transmitted torque in a cryogenic environment, and condensation in presence of noncondensables, Europa Lander Deorbit Stage, and catalyst development for a hybrid rocket. Spacecraft systems include wireless sensor networks and printed electronic inks. Vehicle systems studies were performed on Mars ascent vehicle analysis, architecture models, and Space Launch System manual steering. Space science studies included planetary lava flow. Our goal is to continue the Marshall Faculty Fellowship Program funded by Center internal project offices. Faculty Fellows in this 2018 program represented the following minority-serving institutions: Alabama A&M University, Southern University, Delgado Community College, and Dillard University.

Six, N. F.↗

Printed Flexible Sensors for NASA Applications

As human spaceflight pushes beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO), resupply of consumables becomes a significant challenge. One solution to this problem is In-Space Manufacturing (ISM), the capability to perform on-demand manufacturing and repair of consumables in an in-space environment. ISM offers significant flexibility to missions as it allows for a high degree of tailorability and reduction in launch mass. Leveraging advancements in fabrication, repair and recycling, ISM provides a highly sustainable and affordable solution to Exploration mission operations and logistics. In this talk, advances in printed electronics and sensors, ranging from nanomaterial ink development and hands-free fabrication methodologies to devices will be presented. Applications presented will include sensors for crew health monitoring, structural health monitoring and power generation.

sensors↗

In-Space Manufacturing to Support Human Spaceflight

As human spaceflight pushes beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO), resupply of consumables becomes a significant challenge. One solution to this problem is In-Space Manufacturing (ISM), the capability to perform on-demand manufacturing and repair of consumables in an in-space environment. ISM offers significant flexibility to missions as it allows for a high degree of tailor ability and reduction in launch mass. Leveraging advancements in fabrication, repair and recycling, ISM provides a highly sustainable and affordable solution to exploration mission operations and logistics. In this talk, advances in printed electronics and sensors, ranging from nanomaterial ink development and hands-free fabrication methodologies to devices will be presented. Applications presented will include sensors for crew health monitoring along with supporting electronics. In the future, these devices will be fabricated and characterized on the International Space Station and the approach will be evaluated for future in-space manufacturing to support human spaceflight.

nanotechnology↗

The Repair Maintenance and Fabrication Facility in the Common Habitat Architecture

The Common Habitat Architecture seeks to increase the habitability of long-duration human spaceflight systems. A key aspect of this is vehicle survivability. Missions beyond low Earth orbit need onboard capabilities for Repair, Maintenance, And Fabrication (RMAF) to overcome potential contingency scenarios. Strategies employed in historic human spaceflight such as redundancy management, reliability, sparing, orbital replacement units, and aborts may be insufficient by themselves. Based on subject matter input, a list of 53 critical failures defining a set of incidents that can render a key spacecraft subsystem inoperable were generated. A subsequent analysis found that a robust in-space RMAF system capable of performing 14 key functions can potentially repair a subsystem plagued by any of these failures. An ancillary benefit is this capability may provide psychological benefits to the crew, by enabling greater self-sufficiency in earth-independent problem solving. A basic RMAF facility has been defined for the Common Habitat, consisting of five workstations. A work bench and computer workstation provide a multipurpose horizontal work surface, computing interface, and tools storage. A CNC machining center provides a subtractive manufacturing capability for metals and plastics. A multi-material 3D printing facility provides additive manufacturing capabilities for plastic, metals, and printed electronics. A welding facility is used for joining metal components where a higher strength is needed than can be achieved with fasteners or adhesives. A glovebox facility is used to perform work that is too hazardous for any of the other workstations. This may include hardware brought in from outside the spacecraft that could potentially contaminate the cabin environment. Forward work includes considering the accommodation of additional manufacturing processes not modeled in the current system, assessing the ability of systems to operate in partial gravity and microgravity environments, incorporation of the system into the Common Habitat Computer Aided Design (CAD) model, bottoms-up mass estimating, and a crew time analysis.

Habitat↗

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet as a Dry Alternative to Inkjet Printing in Flexible Electronics

We have developed an atmospheric pressure plasma jet printing system that works at room temperature to 50 deg C unlike conventional aerosol assisted techniques which require a high temperature sintering step to obtain desired thin films. Multiple jets can be configured to increase throughput or to deposit multiple materials, and the jet(s) can be moved across large areas using a x-y stage. The plasma jet has been used to deposit carbon nanotubes, graphene, silver nanowires, copper nanoparticles and other materials on substrates such as paper, cotton, plastic and thin metal foils.

Printable electronics↗

Position Sensor with Integrated Signal-Conditioning Electronics on a Printed Wiring Board

A position sensor, such as a rotary position sensor, includes the signal-conditioning electronics in the housing. The signal-conditioning electronics are disposed on a printed wiring board, which is assembled with another printed wiring board including the sensor windings to provide a sub-assembly. A mu-metal shield is interposed between the printed wiring boards to prevent magnetic interference. The sub-assembly is disposed in the sensor housing adjacent to an inductor board which turns on a shaft. The inductor board emanates an internally or externally generated excitation signal that induces a signal in the sensor windings. The induced signal represents the rotary position of the inductor board relative to the sensor winding board.

Alhorn, Dean C.↗

Requirements for Conformal Coating and Staking of Printed Wiring Boards and Electronic Assemblies

In order to maintain the high standards of the NASA conformal coating and staking program, this publication: prescribes NASA's requirements for assuring reliable conformal coating and staking for printed wiring boards and electronic assemblies; describes and incorporates basic considerations necessary to assure reliable conformal coating and staking; establishes the supplier's responsibility to train and certify personnel; provides for supplier documentation of the fabrication and inspection procedures to be used for NASA work, including supplier innovations and changes in technology; and provides visual workmanship standards to aid those responsible for determining quality conformance to the established requirements.

Source record↗

Prevention of cracking of soldered joints in electronic assemblies

Printed circuit board design allows for thermal stressing of the soldered joints during many thermal cycles. Components' leads should be cleaned, tinned, and freed of particles that prevent solder adherence, have a thin conformal coating, and have an air space between the coating and the body of the component.

Beasley, B.↗

Direct-Write Printing on Three-Dimensional Geometries for Miniaturized Detector and Electronic Assemblies

Aerosol Jet Printing (AJP) and other additive electronics technologies will enable new detector assemblies that were not previously possible with traditional assembly processes. This technology has the potential to reduce mass and volume for fabrication and assembly of detector, instrument and electronics concepts by reducing trace widths down to 10 microns, printing on complex geometries, and allowing new concept production. This poster summarizes development efforts of printed interconnects for space applications.

Printed Hybrid Electronics↗

Charge‐Programmable Photopolymers for 3D Electronics via Additive Manufacturing

Charge‐programmed 3D printing enables the fabrication of 3D electronics with lightweight and high precision via selective patterning of metals. This selective metal deposition is catalyzed by Pd nanoparticles that are specifically immobilized onto the charged surface and promises to fabricate a myriad of complex electronic devices with self‐sensing, actuation, and structural elements assembled in a designed 3D layout. However, the achievable property space and the material‐performance correlation of the charge‐programmed printing remain unexplored. Herein, a series of photo‐curable resins are designed for unveiling how the charge and crosslink densities synergistically impact the nanocatalyst‐guided selective deposition in catalytic efficiency and properties of the 3D printed charge‐programmed architectures, leading to high‐quality 3D patterning of solid and liquid metals. The findings offer a wide tunability of the structural properties of the printed electronics, ranging from stiff to extreme flexibility. Capitalizing on these results, the printing and successful application of an ultralight‐weight and deployable 3D multi‐layer antenna system operating at an ultrahigh‐frequency of 19 GHz are demonstrated.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Urban Biomining Meets Printable Electronics: End-To-End at Destination Biological Recycling and Reprinting

Space missions rely utterly on metallic components, from the spacecraft to electronics. Yet, metals add mass, and electronics have the additional problem of a limited lifespan. Thus, current mission architectures must compensate for replacement. In space, spent electronics are discarded; on earth, there is some recycling but current processes are toxic and environmentally hazardous. Imagine instead an end-to-end recycling of spent electronics at low mass, low cost, room temperature, and in a non-toxic manner. Here, we propose a solution that will not only enhance mission success by decreasing upmass and providing a fresh supply of electronics, but in addition has immediate applications to a serious environmental issue on the Earth. Spent electronics will be used as feedstock to make fresh electronic components, a process we will accomplish with so-called 'urban biomining' using synthetically enhanced microbes to bind metals with elemental specificity. To create new electronics, the microbes will be used as 'bioink' to print a new IC chip, using plasma jet electronics printing. The plasma jet electronics printing technology will have the potential to use martian atmospheric gas to print and to tailor the electronic and chemical properties of the materials. Our preliminary results have suggested that this process also serves as a purification step to enhance the proportion of metals in the 'bioink'. The presence of electric field and plasma can ensure printing in microgravity environment while also providing material morphology and electronic structure tunabiity and thus optimization. Here we propose to increase the TRL level of the concept by engineering microbes to dissolve the siliceous matrix in the IC, extract copper from a mixture of metals, and use the microbes as feedstock to print interconnects using mars gas simulant. To assess the ability of this concept to influence mission architecture, we will do an analysis of the infrastructure required to execute this concept on Mars, and additional opportunities it could offer mission design from the biological and printing technologies. In addition, we will do an analysis of the impact of this technology for terrestrial applications addressing in particular environmental concerns and availability of metals.

Space mission↗

High Resolution Aerosol Jet Printed Components with Electrodeposition-Enhanced Conductance

Aerosol Jet Printing (AJP) is one technique of additive manufacturing used in the printing of electronics components. AJP enables the patterning of features at the ~10 μm–100 μm scale based on hardware and print parameters. Additionally, optimization of print conditions enables the printing of high-resolution features with linewidths approaching 10 μm. The aerosol jet printing of electronic parts can be limited by the conductivities which are achievable by Ag nanoparticle inks (typically 15%–25% of bulk Ag). For certain electronics applications, the increased conductivity produces unacceptable loses during operation and methods are needed to increase the conductance of the devices without sacrificing resolution. Here, we report on the AJP of inductor spirals conductor traces of linewidth 50 μm separated by 55 μm gaps. The conductivity of these features is enhanced by electrodeposition of Cu onto the Ag, resulting in a decrease in resistance of 35–45x. Impedance measurements demonstrate that the addition of Cu by electrodeposition to a 27-turn spiral inductor resulted in an inductance of 3.6 μH. Finally, we demonstrate the use of a lift-off process to produce free-standing, flexible, conductive films using AJP.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Charge-Density-Wave Thin-Film Devices Printed with Chemically Exfoliated 1T-TaS 2 Ink

In this work, we report on the preparation of inks containing fillers derived from quasi-two-dimensional charge-density-wave materials, their application for inkjet printing, and the evaluation of their electronic properties in printed thin-film form. The inks were prepared by liquid-phase exfoliation of CVT-grown 1T-TaS 2 crystals to produce fillers with nm-scale thickness and μm-scale lateral dimensions. Exfoliated 1T-TaS 2 was dispersed in a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and ethylene glycol to allow fine-tuning of filler particles thermophysical properties for inkjet printing. The temperature-dependent electrical and current fluctuation measurements of printed thin films demonstrated that the charge-density-wave properties of 1T-TaS 2 are preserved after processing. The functionality of the printed thin-film devices can be defined by the nearly commensurate to the commensurate charge-density-wave phase transition of individual exfoliated 1T-TaS 2 filler particles rather than by electron-hopping transport between them. The obtained results are important for the development of printed electronics with diverse functionality achieved by the incorporation of quasi-two-dimensional van der Waals quantum materials.

1T-TaS2↗

Test report: Vibration testing of the electron/proton spectrometer structural test unit

The structural test unit of the electron-proton spectrometer was tested to a random vibration spectra and to a sinusoidal resonant search to comply with the requirements of a verification plan for the spectrometer. The test item consisted of mass simulated electronic and printed circuit boards mounted in a flight type electronic housing. The arrangement, center of gravity, and weight were as proposed for flight units.

Vincent, D. L.↗

Additively Manufactured Ink-based Cell Batteries for Flexible Conformational Applications

With the rise of additively manufactured electronics, the importance of thin, flexible printed batteries has increased for shape-conformal electronics. Traditionally, battery cells such as industry-standard lithium-ion batteries, have been rigid and therefore unable to conform to time-variant surfaces such as smart cards/RFID devices, disposable battery-powered skin patches, foldable electronic devices, and IoT nodes. Aligned with the effort to advance technologies on printed electronics for habitat systems and advanced manufacturing, this proof-of-concept will focus on printing a 50 mAh Zn-Ag battery implementing a DIW Technique. After prototype manufacturing, electrical and environmental testing on the flexible battery cell will be conducted to the evaluate energy and power density over 50 charge cycles under standard atmosphere conditions. The project aims to provide PCB designers, fabricators, and assemblers an integrated battery package to eliminate external batteries, external wiring and connectors, and conformational complexity. Potential end uses of the printed battery process will be within Martian and lunar habitat systems, Gateway, and surface vehicles, or aerial robots where space and geometry is a restriction.

Printed Electronics↗

Direct-Write Printing on Three-Dimensional Geometries for Miniaturized Detector and Electronic Assemblies

Direct-write printing techniques will enable new detector assemblies that were not previously possible with traditional assembly processes. Detector concepts were manufactured using this technology to validate repeatability. Additional detector applications and printed wires on a 3-dimensional magnetometer bobbin will be designed for print. This effort focuses on evaluating performance for direct-write manufacturing techniques on 3-dimensional surfaces. Direct-write manufacturing has the potential to reduce mass and volume for fabrication and assembly of advanced detector concepts by reducing trace widths down to 10 microns, printing on complex geometries, allowing new electronic concept production, and reduced production times of complex those electronics.

Direct-write printing↗