Magazine

The Fresh Stripe multi-layer indicator for meats is manufactured or incorporated into packaging using conventional roll-to-roll processes. The polymer layer biodegrades at a predictable rate in the presence of the same hydrolytic bacterial enzymes that degrade meat. As the indicator degrades, it changes...

A new security technology provides a hologram invisible to the naked eye. The tool requires viewing with a prism to discover the holographic image. The product also supplies a primary and complementary hologram for applications where visibility is required or desired. Both approaches offer robust...

A new food-grade heat-seal adhesive is needed for roll-coated film lids. New chemistries must be formulated into a waterbased matrix to seal transparent film onto plastic trays containing food or medical materials. The organization deals primarily with polyester films (APET/CPET) and trays, and containers made from polystyrene...

An organization wants to use less corrugate in its shipping operations. Unique designs or processes must reduce the amount of corrugate material required, while maintaining the same level of protection for the products being shipped. Replacing corrugate with another material may be considered, but the replacement material will...

Analog and digital electronic control architecture has been combined with an operating methodology for an optical trace gas sensor platform that allows very low power consumption while providing four independent gas measurements in essentially real time, as well as a user interface and digital...

Certain selected chemicals associated with terrorist activities are too unstable to be prepared in final form. These chemicals are often prepared as precursor components, to be combined at a time immediately preceding the detonation. One example is a liquid explosive, which usually requires an...

Hydrogen fluoride (HF) is a primary evolved combustion product of fluorinated and perfluorinated hydrocarbons. HF is produced during combustion by the presence of impurities and hydrogen-containing polymers including polyimides. This effect is especially dangerous in closed...

A document describes an algorithm created to estimate the mass placed on a sample verification sensor (SVS) designed for lunar or planetary robotic sample return missions. A novel SVS measures the capacitance between a rigid bottom plate and an...

Laser remote sensing measurements of trace gases from orbit can provide unprecedented information about important planetary science and answer critical questions about planetary atmospheres. Methane (CH4) is the second most important anthropogenically produced...

Hardware and algorithms have been developed to transfer electrical power and data connectivity safely, efficiently, and automatically from an identified damaged/defective wire in a cable to an alternate wire path. The combination of online cable testing capabilities, along with intelligent signal rerouting...

An InGaAs-based three-junction (3J) tandem thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cell has been investigated to utilize more of the blackbody spectrum (from a 1,100 °C general purpose heat source — GPHS) efficiently. The tandem consists of three vertically stacked subcells, a 0.74-eV InGaAs cell, a...

A multichannel electrometer voltmeter has been developed that employs a mechanical resonator with voltage-sensing capacitance-probe electrodes that enable high-impedance, high-voltage, radiation-hardened measurement of an Internal Electrostatic Discharge Monitor (IESDM) sensor. The IESDM is...

A method has been developed for machining MgO crystal blocks into forms for containing metallic and silicate liquids at temperatures up to 2,400 ºC, and pressures up to at least 320 kilobars. Possible custom shapes include tubes, rods, insulators, capsules, and guides. Key differences in this innovative...

The goal of the Mars Aqueous Processing System (MAPS) is to establish a flexible process that generates multiple products that are useful for human habitation. Selectively extracting useful components into an aqueous solution, and then sequentially recovering individual constituents, can obtain a suite of refined or...