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Briefs: Materials
Some success has been achieved in a development program directed toward improving the mechanical properties of electroformed copper-alloy structural components. Typical of such components are bundles...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Experiments have shown that an assembly of multiple free-piston Stirling engines can be designed and constructed in such a way as to both (1) make the vibrations of the engines balance...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
An important secondary topic addressed in the research and development effort described in the preceding article is the use of artificial neural networks to improve the monitoring and...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A special-purpose grinding tool and fixtures have been developed for reworking an edge of a seal surface on a nozzle-throat-support housing in a rocket engine (see Figure 1) to remove...
Briefs: Information Technology
Cascade error projection (CEP) is an improved learning algorithm for artificial neural networks. CEP is reliable and suitable for efficient implementation in very-large-scale integrated...
Briefs: Information Technology
The Thermal Expert System (TEXSYS) computer program exerts real-time control over a complicated thermal-regulatory system that includes evaporators, condensers, a pump, valves, and sensors....
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Biomorphic gliders are small robotic microflyers proposed for use in scientific exploration of planetary atmospheres and terrains that capture some key features of insect and bird flight. Biomorphic gliders as biomorphic...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A process and a laboratory setup to implement the process (see figure) have been devised to enable the acquisition of time-resolved data on the thermal decomposition of a specimen of a...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Laser thermogravimetric analysis (laser TGA) is a technique that yields time-resolved data on the thermal decomposition of a specimen of a solid material exposed to a heat flux comparable to the...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Stable Microwave-Beam-Riding Spacecraft
The work considers passive dynamic stability of sail craft, propelled by microwave beams. Such systems are under consideration as low-cost means of interstellar travel. Sail-craft shapes offering passive dynamic (neutral) stability are identified. Passive stability is a key mission-enabling attribute. Very...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Ultralight Balloon Systems for Exploring Uranus and Neptune
A report proposes ultralight balloon systems to carry a 10-kg payload, including scientific instruments for exploring the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune. The system masses to be transported to those planets would be kept low by not transporting balloon-inflating gases. Each system...
Briefs: Materials
Foaming in Place for Outer-Space Applications
A report discusses the adaptation of foaming-in-place techniques and materials to outer-space applications. Foaming in place is used commercially in terrestrial sealing, insulating, bonding, and retrofitting applications. The room-temperature outer-space versions of foaming in place are expected...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Complementary metal oxide/semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors would be capable of operation in a time-delayed-integration (TDI) mode. Heretofore, the only semiconductor electronic image...
Briefs: Information Technology
A technique of partial subtractive dither has been developed to improve the performance of any of a variety of near-lossless data-compression algorithms. The technique may be applicable to...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Acquisition, Tracking, and Pointing in Optical Communication
A document in the form of lecture slides outlines a program of development of capabilities for acquisition of signals, tracking of signal sources, and pointing of transmitters and receivers in deep-space optical communications. Topics addressed on the first few slides include the...
Briefs: Information Technology
Software for Preprocessing of Raw SAR Data
The SAR Processing System Raw Data Processor (SPS RDS) computer program is used in the Alaska SAR Facility (ASF) to scan and decode raw data that have been downlinked from the European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS), the Japanese Earth Resources Satellite (JERS), and the RADARSAT (a Canadian...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
In a scheme to increase the overall data return from a phase-modulation, suppressed-carrier telemetry transmitter, the telemetry playback symbol rate is adjusted essentially...
Briefs: Information Technology
Software for Locating Heterogeneous Data in Different Places
The Object Oriented Data Technology group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is developing software for locating data — especially scientific data — stored in various formats on heterogeneous computer systems at different locations. The software is intended to exploit and extend...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Figure 1 depicts an apparatus that simultaneously and synchronously records magnified ordinary top-view video images and laser-shadowgraph video images of a sessile...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An improved Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, which processes an encrypted P-code signal without knowledge of the encryption code (denoted here as A-codeless mode), includes an auxiliary antenna...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Low-Power, Sparse-Sampling GPS Receiver
The term "microGPS" denotes a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver design concept that combines relatively simple, lightweight, low-power-consumption hardware with portable, efficient software. The power demand of a microGPS receiver can be made low because it is designed to sample sparsely; that is, to...
Briefs: Software
Software Models Spacecraft Dynamics and Space Environment
The Spacecraft Control Toolbox (SCT) helps design control systems and attitude estimators, analyze station-keeping requirements, generate fuel and pointing budgets, and analyze spacecraft dynamics. The SCT provides a comprehensive set of over five hundred functions including:
Briefs: Software
Web-Based Software for Distributed Planning
The RecDel System is a low-cost software application that helps different groups of a complex project negotiate interfaces between interdependent schedules. The RecDel system is based on a concept of distributed planning, wherein the cognizant persons retain control over, and responsibility for, their...
Briefs: Software
Software for Detecting Tones in Beacon Monitoring
A software package for use in a ground receiving station detects a beacon-monitor tone transmitted by a spacecraft. To recapitulate from previous NASA Tech Briefs articles on beacon monitoring: An onboard computer processes data from onboard sensors to summarize the condition of the spacecraft in...
Briefs: Software
Automated Real-Time Spacecraft Navigation System
The Automated Real-Time Spacecraft Navigation (ARTSN) system is a prototype of a class of software systems for automated navigation and monitoring of spacecraft from stations on the Earth. The system processes radio metric tracking data (principally, range and Doppler measurements) in real time to...
Briefs: Materials
Metal-supported catalyst beds with improved thermal and flow characteristics for promoting endothermic chemical reactions are undergoing development. In the proposed original application,...
Briefs: Materials
In catalytic flow-through chemical reactors being explored for space vehicle applications, the catalysts would be supported on the surfaces of wires, instead of on particles, as are typically used in...
Briefs: Materials
In an extension of the concept reported in the preceding article, catalytic flow-through chemical reactors of a proposed type would contain catalyst-coated microtubes, possibly in combination with...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Extensive redundancy is designed into aircraft flight-control systems to ensure a low probability of failure. During recent years, however, major failures of flight-control systems have...
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