A radio communication and ranging system has been proposed for determining the relative position and orientations of two approaching spacecraft to provide guidance for docking maneuvers. On Earth, the system could be used similarly for guiding approaching aircraft and for automated...

A scheme for protection against short circuits has been devised for series strings of lithium electrochemical cells that contain built-in short-circuit protection devices, which go into a high-resistance, current-limiting state when heated by excessive current. If cells are simply...

PPT Vision, Eden Prairie, MN, has introduced IMPACTTM Software Suite Version 8.0 machine vision software. New features include the ability to drag and drop tools and controls, snap-to-grid alignment on the control panel canvas, and easy data linking between vision tools and controls. The IMPACT Vision Program Manager (VPM)...

A theoretical and experimental study was conducted of the limit imposed by photon-detector jitter on the capacity of a pulse-position- modulated optical communication system in which the receiver operates in a photon-counting (weak-signal) regime. Photon-detector jitter is a random delay between...

The term “electromagnetically clean solar array” (“EMCSA”) refers to a panel that contains a planar array of solar photovoltaic cells and that, in comparison with a functionally equivalent solar-array panel of a type heretofore used on spacecraft, (1) exhibits less electromagnetic interference to and...

A system for removing pollutants — primarily sulfur dioxide and mixed oxides of nitrogen (NOx) — from incinerator exhaust has been demonstrated. The system is also designed secondarily to remove particles, hydrocarbons, and CO. The system is intended for use in an enclosed environment, for...

Subsystem Multiplexer (Sub-MUX) Quintron Systems Santa Maria, CA 805-928-4343 www.quintron.com NASA has awarded Quintron Systems an Indefinite-Delivery- Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract, and the first task order is for a command and control communications system that...

A C-language computer program accepts, as input, a set of scientific data and metadata from an Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite and converts the set from (1) the format in which it was created and delivered to (2) another format for processing and exchange of data on Earth. The first-mentioned format...

The HDF-EOS 2 and HDF-EOS 5 Compatibility Library contains C-language functions that provide uniform access to HDF-EOS 2 and HDF-EOS 5 files through one set of application programming interface (API) calls. (“HDF-EOS 2” and “HDF-EOS 5” are defined in the immediately preceding article.) Without...

Rapidly evolving eBook technology promises to deliver books, catalogs, newspapers, or magazines anywhere electronically on compact, easy-to-carry readers. eBooks face challenges that physical books do not: file security during transmission, speed of transmission, and the risk of piracy. The...

Able to withstand abrasion even with steel wool, these antireflective coating formulations for display applications offer high durability and reflectivity that ranges from 1.2% down to 0.5%. Reducing ambient light reflectance significantly improves image clarity on LCD and PDP displays and rearprojection...

A shell script has been written as a means of automatically making HDF-EOS-formatted data sets available via the World Wide Web. (“HDF-EOS” and variants thereof are defined in the first of the two immediately preceding articles.) The shell script chains together some software tools developed by the Data Usability Group at...

A company seeks technology to mask ingredient bitterness in its oral delivery system. Specifically, it seeks materials and/or methods to increase the ability of their oral delivery mechanism to carry a given ingredient, while removing any associated bitterness. Possible solution areas include masking bitter components...

A computer program partly automates the task of determining whether an HDF-EOS 5 file is valid in that it conforms to specifications for such characteristics as attribute names, dimensionality of data products, and ranges of legal data values. [“HDF-EOS” and variants thereof are defined in “Converting EOS Data From HDF-EOS...

An Extensible Markup Language (XML) document type definition (DTD) standard for the structure and contents of HDF-EOS files and their contents, and an equivalent standard in the form of schemas, have been developed. (“HDF-EOS” and variants thereof are defined in the first two of four related articles immediately...

A computer program recreates an HDF-EOS file from an Extensible Markup Language (XML) representation of the contents of that file. (“HDF-EOS” and variants thereof are defined in the first of five related articles that immediately precede this article.) This program is one of two programs written to enable testing...

A computer program called “42” simulates the attitudes and trajectories of multiple spacecraft flying in formation anywhere in the Solar System. The rotational dynamics are represented by high-fidelity models of spacecraft, each comprising as many as three connected rigid bodies and...

A company seeks technology to replace wood fiber in paper with a bulk filler material having less mass. The company seeks to make small, micron-scale, low-density particles. The filler material would have no negative impact on today’s lightweight paper specifications, including bulk...

This Mathematica script defines a color function to be used with Mathematica’s plotting modules for differentiating data attaining both positive and negative values. Positive values are shown as shades of blue, and negative values are shown in red. The intensity of the color reflects the...

Global Alert Resolution Network (GARNET) is a software system for delivering emergency alerts as well as less-urgent messages to members of the Goddard Space Flight Center work force via an intranet or the Internet, and can be adapted to similar use in other large organizations. Messages can be...

LiCoO2 and LiNiO2 fibers have been investigated as alternatives to LiCoO2 and LiNiO2 powders used as lithium-intercalation compounds in cathodes of rechargeable lithium-ion electrochemical cells. In making such a cathode, LiCoO2 or LiNiO2 powder is mixed with a binder [e.g.,...

A room-temperature electrocatalytic process that effects the overall chemical reaction CO2 + 2H2O → CH4 + 2O2 has been investigated as a means of removing carbon dioxide from air and restoring oxygen to the air. The process was originally intended for use in a spacecraft life-support system,...

A modicum of progress has been made in an effort to exploit single-walled carbon nanotubes as fibers in epoxy-matrix/fiber composite materials. Two main obstacles to such use of carbon nanotubes are the following: (1) bare nanotubes are not soluble in epoxy resins and so they tend to...