Stories
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Briefs: Energy
Separating Ethanol From Water Via Differential Miscibility
The differential miscibility of castor oil in ethanol and water would be exploited to separate ethanol from water, according to a proposal. Burning the separated ethanol would produce more energy than would be consumed in the separation process. In contrast, the separation of a small amount...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A seven-element microstrip patch antenna is designed to operate with circular polarization and high gain at a frequency of 2.2875 GHz. The antenna was developed in the early 1990s as a potential...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Monolithic microwave integrated-circuit (MMIC) frequency converters have been developed for use in satellite- and ground-based communications (see figure) at frequencies from about 18 to about...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Mars Ascent Propulsion System
A report presents an overview of continuing efforts to develop an advanced propulsion system for a spacecraft that would ascend from Mars to bring samples to Earth. The system is required to be smaller and to weigh and cost less, in comparison with a conventionally designed system of equal capability. The development...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A process for the fabrication of a polycrystalline diamond membrane involves chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of diamond onto a silicon substrate, followed by conventional...
Briefs: Medical
Portable Device for Chemical Fixation of a Biological Sample
The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) fixation tube is a device for chemical fixation of a biological sample. It is mechanically resilient, small, and easy to use, and is thus well suited to use in the field as well as in the laboratory. Because typical chemical fixatives are extremely...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A proposed extension of the impressed-current method of cathodic protection of metal against corrosion in wet environments would reduce the current and power needed. The proposal involves (1) the...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Development of Gear Technology and Theory of Gearing
A NASA Reference Publication discusses gear technology from mathematical and historical perspectives. Following a preface containing historical and philosophical observations, the first of three chapters presents mathematical details of the theory of gearing, including recent developments...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Integrated Environmental Monitoring System for Clean Rooms
A system of electronic monitoring equipment under central computer control records and displays the readouts of environmental-quality instrumentation in clean rooms in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. The instruments include airborne-particle counters,...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Improved successive-approximation analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuits are undergoing development for eventual incorporation into focal-plane arrays of photodetectors. These...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A series-connected boost regulator (SCBR) is, as its name suggests, an electronic circuit for boosting a power-supply voltage to a higher and regulated value. The distinguishing feature of an SCBR is an...
Briefs: Medical
A material developed for space suits has been found useful in a completely different application: making wicks to support seedlings and to carry water and nutrients to them during the initial stages of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Redundant fiber-optic transceivers have been incorporated into the High Speed Data Acquisition System (HSDAS) at Stennis Space Center, where they are used to communicate data acquired by...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
There are a number of important OEM photonic applications based on the detection of low incident light levels, including flow cytometry, PET (positron emission tomography) imaging,...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Improved circuits that generate high-voltage pulses for driv-ing Q-switched lasers have been devised. To extract maximum energy from a laser cavity in the form of consistent laser pulses, the Q-switch pulses must rise...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
NASA's F-15B #836 is a two-seat version of the F-15, which is a high-performance, supersonic, all-weather fighter airplane. The F-15B is used as a test-bed aircraft for a wide variety of...
Briefs: Materials
Separating Ethanol From Water Via Differential Solubility
The differential solubility of sulfur in ethanol and water could be exploited to separate ethanol from water. The energy that could be produced by burning the separated ethanol would be more than that required in the separation process. In contrast, the separation of a small amount of...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A special-purpose multispectral video camera has been designed to provide an enhanced capability for viewing hydrogen fires. Hydrogen fires do not emit sufficient visible light to be seen...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Space structures in general experience free-free vibrational boundary conditions that are not readily replicable on the ground. To conduct vibration tests of such structures on Earth,...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A laboratory apparatus called a "vacuum damper investigation and performance evaluation robot" ("V-DIAPER") affords capabilities for vacuum dynamic testing of torsional dampers. The apparatus was...
Briefs: Software
The OMNI time and attendance system is a workstation software system for automated, centralized recording of work time and attendance, and for flexible scheduling of work by...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A technique for determining inhomogeneities in a specimen of a high-critical-temperature superconductor involves scanning a small eddy-current probe over a flat surface of the...
Briefs: Materials
Flexible thermal-insulation blankets made of ceramic fibers can be protected against weather and handling by attaching thin metal face sheets. In applications in which the blankets are exposed to gas...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Corrugated quantum-well infrared photodetector (C-QWIPs) arrays are sensitive and high-resolution thermal imaging devices. They are not only suitable for a wide range of conventional...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
An automated heating/cooling laboratory apparatus enables the accelerated thermal-cycle life testing of thin-film samples and other small material samples. In the original application for which...
Briefs: Information Technology
Documents on Flight Software for the SAMPEX Spacecraft
A collection of four documents contains information on various aspects of the flight software of the Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX) spacecraft. The first document is part of a longer paper that presents design requirements for the software; the information in...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Up a creek without a paddle? Not if you're an International Space Station astronaut with a CRV. That's short for Crew Return Vehicle, and it's being developed following an innovative approach in the X-38...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A change in the design of the engine inlets of the T-38 airplane significantly reduces takeoff distances while increasing safety margins. Although the newer inlet design (see Figure 1) is based on well-known...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Some changes in the design and construction of the leading edges of metal airplane wings have shown promise as means to suppress laminar-to-turbulent flow transitions. The significance...
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