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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Multifunctional Tanks for Spacecraft
A document discusses multifunctional tanks as means to integrate additional structural and functional efficiencies into designs of spacecraft. Whereas spacecraft tanks are traditionally designed primarily to store fluids and only secondarily to provide other benefits, multifunctional tanks are designed to...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
An electronic absolute Cartesian autocollimator performs the same basic optical function as does a conventional all-optical or a conventional electronic autocollimator but differs in the nature of...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
The instrument-pointing frame (IPF) Kalman filter, and an algorithm that implements this filter, have been devised for calibrating the focal plane of a telescope. As used here,...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Lightweight, Segmented, Mostly Silicon Telescope Mirror
A document presents the concept of a curved telescope primary reflector structure, made mostly of silicon, that would have an areal mass density = 1 kg/m2 and would be deployed in outer space, where it would be operated at a temperature in the cryogenic range. The concept provides for...
Briefs: Energy
Anion-IntercalatingCathodes for High-Energy-Density Cells
A report discusses physicochemical issues affecting a fluoride-intercalating cathode that operates in conjunction with a lithium ion-intercalating anode in a rechargeable electrochemical cell described in a cited prior report. The instant report also discusses corresponding innovations made...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Narrow-band filters in the form of phase-shifted Fabry-Perot Bragg gratings incorporated into optical fibers are being developed for differential-absorption lidar (DIAL) instruments...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Magnetic Field Solvers
The Magnetic Field Solver computer program calculates the magnetic field generated by a group of collinear, cylindrical axisymmetric electromagnet coils. Given the current flowing in, and the number of turns, axial position, and axial and radial dimensions of each coil, the program calculates matrix coefficients for a...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
According to a proposal, a silicon dioxide layer in a high speed, low power, silicon-based electro-optical modulator would be replaced by a layer of lead zirconate titanate or other...
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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Multiplexing and differential transducers based on tunnel-diode oscillators (TDOs) would be developed, according to a proposal, for operation at very low and/or widely varying...
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Briefs: Software
Scheduling With Automatic Resolution of Conflicts
DSN Requirement Scheduler is a computer program that automatically schedules, reschedules, and resolves conflicts for allocations of resources of NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) on the basis of ever changing project requirements for DSN services. As used here, "resources" signifies, primarily, DSN...
Briefs: RF & Microwave Electronics
Computing for Aiming a Spaceborne Bistatic-Radar Transmitter
BISTAT is a computer program for use in aiming a spaceborne bistatic-radar transmitting antenna at a remote planet that has an atmosphere, such that after refraction by the atmosphere and reflection from the surface of the planet, the radar signal travels toward a receiver on Earth....
Briefs: Software
Symbolic Constraint Maintenance Grid
Version 3.1 of Symbolic Constraint Maintenance Grid (SCMG) is a software system that provides a general conceptual framework for utilizing pre-existing programming techniques to perform symbolic transformations of data. SCMG also provides a language (and an associated communication method and protocol) for...
Application Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Precision temperature data loggers Veriteq Instruments Richmond, BC, Canada 604-273-6850 www.veriteq.com
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Application Briefs: Software
FlexPlan mission planning and scheduling tool GMV Space Systems Rockville, MD 301-216 3840 www.gmvspacesystems.com
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Briefs: Software
Thermal Model of a Current-Carrying Wire in a Vacuum
A computer program implements a thermal model of an insulated wire carrying electric current and surrounded by a vacuum. The model includes the effects of Joule heating, conduction of heat along the wire, and radiation of heat from the outer surface of the insulation on the wire. The model takes...
Briefs: Software
Compressible Flow Toolbox
The Compressible Flow Toolbox is primarily a MATLAB-language implementation of a set of algorithms that solve approximately 280 linear and nonlinear classical equations for compressible flow. The toolbox is useful for analysis of one-dimensional steady flow with either constant entropy, friction, heat transfer, or Mach...
Briefs: Software
Code for Multiblock CFD and Heat-Transfer Computations
The NASA Glenn Research Center General Multi-Block Navier-Stokes Convective Heat Transfer Code, Glenn- HT, has been used extensively to predict heat transfer and fluid flow for a variety of steady gas turbine engine problems. Recently, the Glenn-HT code has been completely rewritten in Fortran...
Briefs: Software
General Flow-Solver Code for Turbomachinery Applications
Phantom is a computer code intended primarily for real-fluid turbomachinery problems. It is based on Corsair, an ideal-gas turbomachinery code, developed by the same authors, which evolved from the ROTOR codes from NASA Ames. Phantom is applicable to real and ideal fluids, both compressible...
Briefs: Software
Probabilistic Prediction of Lifetimes of Ceramic Parts
ANSYS/CARES/PDS is a software system that combines the ANSYS Probabilistic Design System (PDS) software with a modified version of the Ceramics Analysis and Reliability Evaluation of Structures Life (CARES/Life) Version 6.0 software. [A prior version of CARES/Life was reported in "Program for...
Briefs: Software
STRANAL-PMC Version 2.0
Version 2.0 of the Strain Rate Dependent Analysis of Polymer Matrix Composites (STRANAL-PMC) software has been released. A prior version was reported in "Analyzing Loads and Strains in Polymer-Matrix Composites" (LEW- 17227), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 26, No. 11 (November 2002), page 36. To recapitulate: Modified versions of...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Dewetron, Charlestown, RI, has introduced the DA-130 ruggedized notebook computer that includes the company's proprietary SideHAND® battery power system, allowing it to run indefinitely without any external...
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Briefs: Software
Micromechanics and Piezo Enhancements of HyperSizer
The commercial HyperSizer aerospacecomposite- material-structure-sizing software has been enhanced by incorporating capabilities for representing coupled thermal, piezoelectric, and piezomagnetic effects on the levels of plies, laminates, and stiffened panels. This enhancement is based on a...
Briefs: Software
Loci-STREAM Version 0.9
Loci-STREAM is an evolving computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software tool for simulating possibly chemically reacting, possibly unsteady flows in diverse settings, including rocket engines, turbomachines, oil refineries, etc. Loci-STREAM implements a pressure-based flow-solving algorithm that utilizes unstructured grids....
Briefs: Software
Reconfigurable Software for Controlling Formation Flying
Software for a system to control the trajectories of multiple spacecraft flying in formation is being developed to reflect underlying concepts of (1) a decentralized approach to guidance and control and (2) reconfigurability of the control system, including reconfigurability of the software...
Briefs: Software
Analyzing Aeroelastic Stability of a Tilt-Rotor Aircraft
Proprotor Aeroelastic Stability Analysis, now at version 4.5 (PASTA 4.5), is a FORTRAN computer program for analyzing the aeroelastic stability of a tilt-rotor aircraft in the airplane mode of flight. The program employs a 10-degree-of-freedom (DOF), discrete- coordinate, linear mathematical...
Briefs: Software
Tracking Positions and Attitudes of Mars Rovers
The Surface Attitude Position and Pointing (SAPP) software, which runs on computers aboard the Mars Exploration Rovers, tracks the positions and attitudes of the rovers on the surface of Mars. Each rover acquires data on attitude from a combination of accelerometer readings and images of the Sun...
Briefs: Software
Simulating Responses of Gravitational-Wave Instrumentation
Synthetic LISA is a computer program for simulating the responses of the instrumentation of the NASA/ESA Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission, the purpose of which is to detect and study gravitational waves. Synthetic LISA generates synthetic time series of the LISA fundamental...
Briefs: Software
SOFTC: A Software Correlator for VLBI
SOFTC is an advanced software implementation of a signal correlator for verylong- baseline interferometry (VLBI) for measuring positions of natural celestial objects and distant spacecraft. Because of increases in processing speeds of general- purpose computers, software VLBI correlators have become viable...
Briefs: Software
Program for Analyzing Flows in a Complex Network
Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program (GFSSP) version 4 is a generalpurpose computer program for analyzing steady-state and transient flows in a complex fluid network. [GFSSP version 2.01 was reported in a prior issue of NASA Tech Briefs.] The program is capable of modeling compressibility,...

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