Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
Electronic, inexpensive, low-power gas sensors are based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and provide a method for gas detection by...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Radiation Hard By Design (RHBD) Electronics
Current RHBD electronics are limited to speeds that approximate 250 MHz, regardless of the electronic process. The fact that determines the final speed is based on the nature of the current SEU (single-event upsets) radiation-tolerant latches, and the data flow between the latches through combinational...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Detecting Loss of Configuration Access of Reprogrammable FPGA Without External Circuitry
The configuration of the reprogrammable field-programmable gate array (FPGA) currently on the market is very susceptible to single event upset when it operates in radiation environments. The current state-of-the-art approach is to refresh the configuration...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Method for Formal Verification of Polymorphic Heterogeneous Multicore Processors
Amethod was developed to model polymorphic heterogeneous multicore processors at a high level of abstraction, and formally verify them. The Bahurupi polymorphic heterogeneous multi-core architecture allows the combination of multiple simple processor cores — which...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
This method of interconnecting ceramic integrated circuits to organic printed circuit boards (PCBs) is designed to substantially increase the life of the...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Modeling for Partitioned and Multicore Flight Software Systems
The current flight software approach is monolithic in nature. Every module has tentacles that reach deep within dozens of other software modules. Because of these interdependencies between modules, functionality is difficult to extract and reuse for other missions.
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
SEE Mitigation Technique for Self-Timed Circuits and Rad-Hard, Self-Timed Configurable Memory
To enable NASA’s next-generation missions, there is a critical need for a reconfigurable field programmable gate array (FPGA) that can withstand the wide temperature ranges and radiation of the space environment while consuming minimal power without...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Process for Coating Substrates With Catalytic Materials
This invention relates to the process of coating substrates with one or more components to form a catalyst; specifically, the process of layering one or more catalytic components onto a honeycomb monolith to form a carbon monoxide oxidation that combines CO and O2 to form...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Portable Friction Stir Welding Machine
A preliminary design of a portable friction stir welding (FSW) machine for use in space has been developed. The in-space FSW machine takes the form of a handheld router tool that is historically used in woodworking applications. With the design of the in-space FSW machine, the FSW tool is directly connected...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Sidewall Passivation of GaN Avalanche Photodiodes via Atomic Layer Deposition
The visible-blind detection of UV light has important applications in planetary imaging and spectroscopy, astronomy, communications, and defense-related imaging. Future instruments for imaging in the ultraviolet will require improvements in detector capabilities. An...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Multimode, Fiber-Coupled, Tungsten Silicide, Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detector Array
The superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) arrays created in this innovation were fabricated using a WSi nanowire process. A gold mirror layer is deposited on an oxidized silicon wafer, and amorphous-state WSi is sputtered from a...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Cryogenic and Non-Cryogenic Optical Liquid Level Instrument for Stratified Conditions
Typical cryogenic tank metering systems use a series of thermocouple, RTD, or other temperature or resistive devices in a rake or array configurations. Since these operate using the thermal change between the liquid and gas fluid phases, they are limited by...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
A new type of projection schlieren camera system (schlierenscope) is more portable, easier to align, and more versatile than existing systems. The schlierenscope is a projection focusing...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Low-Pressure Ion Chromatography for Planetary Exploration
Ion chromatography is the state-of-the-art technique for anion separation and analysis on Earth, but it typically requires a large, powerful pump to operate at high pressures in order to speed up analysis time. The weight and power requirements of the pump interfere with creating an ideal...
News: Robotics, Automation & Control
After more than a decade traveling through space, a robotic lander built by the European Space Agency has made the first-ever soft landing of a spacecraft on a comet. Mission controllers at ESA's mission...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
The goals of this research are to develop a relatively inexpensive, compact, and modular power package for deep offshore oil drilling or other undersea applications that provides 2 to 5 MW...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Mars-Optimized Solar Cells
Commercial triple junction solar cell designs were modified in their junction thicknesses, contact grid densities, and anti-reflective (AR) coating thicknesses to better match the Mars surface solar spectrum. Resulting cells show up to approximately 8% relative improvement in efficiency under the Mars solar spectrum,...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Alternating Magnetic Field Forces for Satellite Formation Flying
Orbiting a large number of satellites in fixed formations will be critical to many future space missions, especially large-scale interferometers, telescopes, antennas, and gravity wave detectors. Consequently, extensive research has been devoted over the last 20 years to formation...
News: Test & Measurement
It has long been understood that acoustic nonlinearity is sensitive to many physical properties including material microstructure and mechanical damage. The lack of effective...
News: Test & Measurement
After 116 days of being subjected to extremely frigid temperatures like those in space, the heart of the James Webb Space Telescope, the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) and its...
News: Materials
Stanford engineers have invented a wireless pressure sensor that has already been used to measure brain pressure in lab mice with brain injuries. The underlying technology has such...
Briefs: Software
Enterprise Middleware Solution
An enterprise middleware solution allows disparate information technology (IT) systems to be integrated into one seamless, efficient system. As software and database platforms continue to develop at an accelerated pace, legacy systems can be a drain on resources, requiring complex workarounds and major code...
Briefs: Software
Peak-Seeking Control Method
Peak-seeking algorithms optimize physical processes in real time and are widely used throughout a variety of industries. However, measuring associated parameters in changing conditions, and responding to them appropriately, is difficult because the measurements are typically distorted by noise. This technology...
Briefs: Software
Processing Time History Data for Display and Analysis
A suite of software tools was developed that enables powerful and efficient processing of time history data. These tools can be used together or independently, offering a variety of capabilities including comparison of time history data files to validate pre-processing activities, conversion...
Briefs: Software
Prototype Genomics-Based Keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code Protocol
Cryptography and molecular biology share certain aspects and operations that allow for a set of unified principles to be applied to problems in either venue. A DNA-inspired hash code system is presented that utilizes concepts from molecular biology. It is a keyed-Hash...
Briefs: Information Technology
Station Spacewalk
The Station Spacewalk game enables players to virtually conduct NASA repair work on the International Space Station, including jobs critical to help power up the space station so it can continue to operate. Players are provided with a limited quantity of oxygen during which they must complete extravehicular activities (EVAs)...
News: Materials
Stanford engineers have invented a revolutionary coating material that can help cool buildings, even on sunny days, by radiating heat away from the buildings and sending it directly into...
News
The first detailed, high-resolution 3D maps of Antarctic sea ice have been developed using an underwater robot. Scientists from the UK, US, and Australia say the new technology provides...
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