Safety

Radiation

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Application Briefs: Aerospace
Brimrose Corporation of America Sparks, MD 410-472-7070 www.brimrose.com Brimrose is developing radiation detectors that can improve NASA’s ability to determine...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Dual I²C and SPI Slave Core for FPGA and ASIC Implementations
The I2C/SPI Verilog core consists of a combined register transfer logic (RTL) Verilog code for a general-purpose I2C and serial-to-parallel interface (SPI) slave for implementations targeting field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)....
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Uniformly Etched Lateral Gratings Applied to Pre-existing Ridge Waveguides
There is great difficulty in implementing lateral gratings in GaSb-based lasers. Commercially, single-frequency GaSb lasers have been fabricated using metal gratings deposited laterally to the ridge-waveguide (RWG) stripe. The disadvantage of this is that the laser...
Briefs: Medical
Use of Osteoclast-Inhibiting Compounds to Prevent Radiation-Induced Bone Loss
This technology features a method for preventing or treating radiation-associated loss of bone mass, bone density, or bone strength in a subject. This technology involves administering to the subject an amount of anti-resorptive or osteoclast-inhibiting compound...
Articles: Imaging
Using a method known as ultrafast electron diffraction (UED), a scientific instrument at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator...
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Briefs: Materials
Multifunctional B/C Fiber Composites for Radiation Shielding
A versatile, novel, multifunctional hybrid structural composite of a high-hydrogen epoxy matrix (UN-10) coupled with boron and carbon fibers (IM-7) has been developed. Prototype laminates of 18×18 in. (≈46×46 cm), with the nominal areal density of 0.35 g/cm2, were fabricated in this...
Briefs: Materials
Using Black Polyimide/Kevlar as a Metering Structure Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI)
Metering structures of remote sensing instruments often have large openings or access holes. Shear panels that are X-shaped, such as those proposed for the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), generally consist of C-channels and L-brackets to minimize...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Radiation Design of Ion Mass Spectrometer for Europa
An ion mass spectrometer was developed (IMS) that can operate in the high radiation environment of Jupiter’s magnetosphere and its icy moons. If successful, this instrument will provide the first plasma composition measurements within Jupiter’s magnetosphere. This entails development of GEANT...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
ATMS Antenna Beam Analysis Software
The Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) Antenna Beam Analysis Software uses a suite of test data to calculate the ATMS instrument beam pointing, and secondarily, the polarization state, in the coordinates of the onboard optical cube. The software uses measurement inputs of RF radiation pattern...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Fault Recovery for Multi-Phase Power Converters
A fault recovery method for multiphase power converters enables delivery of reduced output power of as much as 66% of normal power in the event of a shorted power switch component. The need for redundant power converters in conventional multi-phase space power systems is reduced, if not eliminated....
Articles: Lighting
Because NASA is planning for future visits to distant locations like Mars, the agency is researching how to grow plants in space. Live plants on space missions provide a nutritious food source...
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Articles: Photonics/Optics
Optoelectronic components must be protected from the radiation they are exposed to in military, space and nuclear environments to prevent malfunction and damage. Radiation hardening electronics...
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INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
In today’s smart home, technologies can track how much energy a particular appliance like a refrigerator or television or hair dryer is gobbling up. What they don’t typically show is which...
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INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Space is cold, dark, and lonely. Deadly, too, if any one of a million things goes wrong on your spaceship. It’s certainly no place for a computer chip to fail, which can happen due to the abundance...
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Briefs: Medical
Intravehicular Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (TEPC) Flight Software
The ISS (International Space Station) Medical Operations Requirements Document (MORD) establishes the medical support requirements for ionizing radiation exposure, including common dose limits, radiation monitoring, recordkeeping, and management of radiation exposure...
Briefs: Materials
Strong and Flexible Carbon Fiber Reinforced Phenolic Composites
A new class of phenolic and carbon-fiber-reinforced phenolic composites has been developed for thermal protection systems. The new materials have the advantage of being lightweight, strong, and tough, yet heat resistant and flexible. They retain excellent mechanical strength at high...
INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
The heat that builds up in the shuttling of current in electronics is an important obstacle to packing more computing power into ever-smaller devices; excess heat can cause them to...
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Briefs: Materials
Nanocomposites for Radiation Shielding
Currently, lead and lead-based materials are used to fabricate shields not only for X-rays, but also for other types of radiation. With the growing environmental concern about the toxicity of lead, and the high costs associated with transporting heavy lead-based shields in spacecraft, alternatives are needed...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Future cryogenic far-infrared (IR) missions will require moderate-resolution far-IR spectrometers operating at the photon background limit. Full utilization of these facilities requires compact,...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Improved Detection of Kidney Stones Using S-mode Ultrasound
Ultrasound has been a useful tool in the detection of kidney stones. It is a low-cost solution that does not require ionizing radiation that would be harmful to vulnerable populations such as children and recurrent stone formers. However, it suffers from a broad range of sensitivity (78 to...
Briefs: Medical
Chromosomal inversions, such as those occurring following exposure to ionizing radiation, are especially difficult to detect by current techniques. Therefore, their true frequency and...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Enhancing Neutron Imaging with Grazing Incidence Optics
A low-cost optical element was developed specifically for neutron optics applications. The technology operates as a reflective lens — similar to proven grazing incidence optics used for x-ray imaging — and improves neutron imaging resolution for applications using low-energy (<1...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Nanoscale Vacuum Channel Transistor
This invention presents a nanoscale vacuum tube or vacuum transistor fabricated entirely using current silicon integrated circuit manufacturing techniques. Vacuum is better for electron transport than any semiconductor since there is no electron scattering. In addition, vacuum devices are immune to radiation....
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A standard solar array is a flat panel configured of many individual solar cells, wired in series or parallel, depending on their junction configuration and material. Since...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Neutron Spectrometer for Inner Radiation Belt Studies
The Earth’s magnetosphere offers a wealth of information on particle dynamics, acceleration, and trapping. Fast neutrons, produced in the Earth’s atmosphere by the impact of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) and solar energetic particles (SEPs), are an important but poorly measured component of...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
High-Energy Instrumentation for Small Satellite Platforms
Given the increased availability of small satellite opportunities either through CubeSats or the Air Force’s University Nanosat program, and the limited availability of larger platforms, it is challenging to develop new instrumentation that not only fits within the envelope of small...
NASA Spinoff: Manufacturing & Prototyping
To understand the Sun’s impacts on Earth, NASA initiated the Living with a Star program in 2001, and began developing a key research satellite: the Solar Dynamics...
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Briefs: Materials
White, Electrically Conductive, Radiation-Stable, Thermal Control Coating
A highly reflective, white conductive coating system was developed using a layered approach with a combination of commercially available white conductive pigments within a conductive binder system. The top coating is a space-stable, radiation-resistant, highly reflective...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Dual-Cavity Rayleigh Scattering Measurement System
Molecular-based optical diagnostics techniques capable of obtaining simultaneous measurements of multiple fluid properties are critically important for characterizing hypersonic air-breathing engines, such as scramjet engines and scramjet-rocket combined cycle engines. Correlations between those...

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Upcoming Webinars: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Beyond AI-Copy-Paste Engineering: Advanced AI-Integration Success...

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Upcoming Webinars: Test & Measurement

Battery Abuse Testing: Pushing to Failure

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Upcoming Webinars: AR/AI

A FREE Two-Day Event Dedicated to Connected Mobility

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Upcoming Webinars: RF & Microwave Electronics

Choosing the Right N-Port Strategy: Multiport VNAs vs. Switch...

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Upcoming Webinars: Power

2026 Battery & Electrification Summit (Online)

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Upcoming Webinars: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

The Over-Engineering Trap: Aligning Custom Equipment Specs with...

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