Briefs : Energy
Green Jet Fuel Additive Made from Acetone Plus Light
Briefs : Motion Control
Power System for Hybrid Heavy-Duty Trucks
Briefs : Electronics & Computers
CubeSat Form Factor Thermal Control Louvers
Briefs : Energy
In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU): Methylotrophic Microorganisms Expressing Soluble Methane Monooxygenase Proteins
Briefs : Electronics & Computers
Superconductivity in a Nickel Oxide Material
Briefs : Electronics & Computers
Metallization for SiC Semiconductors
Briefs : Propulsion
De-Orbit Device for SmallSats
Briefs : Software
Software Accelerates Engine Development for Hypersonic Flight
A numerical modeling tool allows for a better understanding of rotating detonation engines (RDEs).
Briefs : Robotics, Automation & Control
Microrobots Activated by Laser Pulses for Treating Tumors
Microrobots that can deliver drugs to specific spots inside the body while being monitored and controlled from outside the body have been developed that also can treat tumors in the...
Briefs : Automotive
Origami-Inspired Material Softens Impact Forces
Landing is stressful on a rocket’s legs because they must handle the force from the impact with the landing pad. One way to combat this is to build legs out of materials that absorb some of...
Briefs : Electronics & Computers
Inductive Power Transfer for Spaceflight Systems
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has developed technology that uses inductive power transfer (IPT) for wireless power interfaces between spaceflight elements (such as the payload, vehicle, and pad). Current spaceflight systems require traditional hardwire connections for power interfaces. This...
Briefs : Propulsion
Double-Fed Induction Linear Alternator
This technology was developed to address the limitations of traditional, single-fed linear alternators that require permanent magnets, adhesive bonding organics, and heavy iron laminations for flux control. They experience eddy-current losses and require electromagnetic interference protection. Furthermore,...
Briefs : Materials
Generating Electrical Power from Waste Heat
Directly converting electrical power to heat is easy; however, converting heat into electrical power is not as easy. To address this issue, a tiny silicon-based device was developed that can...
Briefs : Propulsion
Improved Directed Flux Motor
Electromagnetic motors typically convert electrical energy into rotational mechanical energy and are employed across a wide array of applications. While motors represent relatively mature technology, practitioners continue to seek ways to enhance motor operation including a decrease in cost, drop in size/weight,...
Briefs : Propulsion
Transforming Flat Elastomers into 3D Shapes
Mechanical systems such as engines and motors rely on two principal types of motions of stiff components: linear motion, which involves an object moving from one point to another in a straight...
Briefs : Materials
Directly Cooled Electric Motor Made from Polymer Materials
Making electric cars lighter also involves reducing the weight of the motor. One way to do that is by constructing it from fiber-reinforced polymer materials. A new cooling concept...
Briefs : Energy
Achieving Carbon Footprint Reduction with Flywheel Technology
Recent technical advances have enabled flywheel energy storage systems (FESS) to become more compact and able to support higher-power applications. Due to their proven...
Briefs : Data Acquisition
New Engine Optics to Fuel Future Research
An optical setup developed by researchers at Sandia's Combustion Research Facility and the Technical University of Denmark can now quantify the formation of soot — particulate matter consisting...
Briefs : Sensors/Data Acquisition
Interoperable Intelligent Controllers for Process Management and Control Networks
NASA Johnson Space Center developed reprogrammable and interchangeable electronic controllers that can attach to a system or subsystem wirelessly or through plug-and-play capability. Originally designed to work with rocket engines, this technology can control...
Briefs : Energy
Green Electric Monopropellant (GEM)-Fueled Pulsed Plasma Thruster
NASA required a rocket thruster able to produce a number of pulses at high specific impulse at a relatively low voltage (~300 to 400V). The key problem was that existing propellants for liquid-fueled pulsed plasma thrusters (LPPTs) required high voltages to ablate and accelerate...
Briefs : Aerospace
Real-Time, Fuel-Optimal, Powered Descent Guidance Using Interpolated Time-of-Flight and Propellant Mass
Soft landing using rockets requires a trajectory to be planned for the lander from rocket ignition — typically several kilometers in altitude and moving at up to 200 m/s — to the point near the surface with near-zero velocity. The exact...
Briefs : Software
Small-Body Dynamics Toolkit Version 5.0
The Small-Body Dynamics Toolkit (SBDT) v5.0 is a collection of primitive-body-specific trajectory design and analysis tools written in MATLAB®. The SBDT gives the user the capabilities to propagate, analyze, and visualize spacecraft trajectories and the dynamical environment near realistic asteroid,...
Briefs : Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Sublimable Propellant Source for Iodine-Fed Ion Propulsion System
NASA Marshall has developed a system for generating iodine vapor from solid iodine for use as a propellant in a Hall or ion thruster propulsion system. Xenon has generally been the preferred propellant for these spacecraft ion propulsion systems but more recently, iodine-based...
Briefs : Propulsion
Fuel Cell/Fuel Cell Hybrid System
Fuel cells can deliver clean, reliable, and uninterrupted power nearly 100 percent of the time. Fuel cells offer the advantage of efficiency by converting chemical energy directly to electricity. They have no moving parts, thereby eliminating failures associated with pumps, blowers, heat exchangers, and other...
Briefs : Software
Effects of Reynolds and Mach Numbers in Large Eddy Simulation of Supersonic Round Jets
Rockets/landers arrive on the Moon with supersonic speed and impact lunar regolith. There is no reliable software to computationally simulate in an effective way the supersonic plumes escaping from these rockets/devices. A Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model and...
Briefs : Power
High-Voltage Power Line Multi-Sensor System
Government infrastructure facilities such as water treatment facilities, power plants, laboratories, and the like may be targets for terrorist attacks. Similarly, oil pipelines, power grids,...
Briefs : Software
Rocket Nozzle Side-Load Analysis Software
Lateral nozzle forces are known to cause severe structural damage during testing of any new rocket engine configuration under development. While three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD)...
Briefs : Aerospace
Modular, Multi-Mode-Propulsion, Unmanned Aerial Concept
NASA's Langley Research Center has developed an unmanned aerial vehicle concept for long-range, distributed aerial presence and delivery applications. This aircraft concept is capable...
Briefs : Propulsion
Ducted Fuel Injection for Soot Reduction
Typical direct-injection engines, such as diesel engines, can produce soot due to fuel-rich combustion conditions. Filters and catalytic converters are currently used to reduce soot and harmful...
Briefs : Manufacturing & Prototyping
Submarine Swims Without an Engine
Researchers have developed a new propulsion concept for swimming robots that exploits temperature fluctuations in the water for propulsion without the need for an engine, propellant, or power supply.
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High-Powered Directed Energy Laser Projects: Destroy the Target,...
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