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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Passive Voice-Enabled RFID Devices
Radio-Frequency IDentification (RFID) is a technology that provides automatic identification of objects, and relies on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. The RFID tag is an object that can be applied to and/or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the...
Briefs: Materials
Lightweight, Flexible, Energy-Manageable Polymer Nanocomposites
Solar energy has attracted keen attention because it is a unique, clean, and sustainable energy resource. It is also widely utilized as a power source in space exploration. A lightweight, durable, deployable, and highly efficient all polymer-based solar power panel was developed...
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: Materials
Lightweight, High-Strength Nanocomposite Magnesium for Radiators
The next generation of radiators will be designed using a composite with the combination of the lowest density, highest thermal conductivity, and highest strength. A scalable, low-cost process was developed to advance state-of-the-art metal matrix thermal conductors to reach a...
Briefs: Materials
Advanced Protective Coatings for Graphite Substrates
The purpose of this innovation is to develop advanced multilayered coating architectures to protect graphite substrates from hot hydrogen attack. The concept consists of coating the graphite substrate with metallic and non-metallic layers consisting of ZrC; Nb, Mo, and/or Nb-Mo alloy; and/or...
Briefs: Materials
Plasma Extraction of Oxygen from the Martian Atmosphere
Extraction of oxygen from the abundant carbon dioxide present on Mars (96% atmospheric composition) is an important objective in preparation for missions to the planet. Oxygen is not only a fundamental reactant with high-specific-energy chemical fuels such as hydrogen and methane, but, along...
Briefs: Materials
Application of Carbon Nanotube Hold-Off Voltage for Determining Gas Composition
In this innovation, a method and associated system have been created to vary a voltage applied to an exposed end of a carbon nanotube for a selected time interval to promote gas discharge, and to estimate a gas component involved in the discharge. Each component of a...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A component-level DC transformer was developed in which no alternating currents or voltages are present. It operates by combining features of a homopolar motor and a homopolar generator, both DC devices, such that the output...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Wallops Flight Facility 6U Advanced CubeSat Ejector (ACE)
Six-unit (6U) CubeSats are recognized as the next nanosatellite to be considered for standardization. The CubeSat standard established by California Polytechnic University (Cal Poly), which applies to 1U–3U sizes, has proven to be a valuable asset to the community. It has both provided...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Improved Attachment Design for Ceramic Turbine Blades Via Hybrid Concepts
This innovation is a hybrid metal-ceramic matrix composite (CMC) turbine blade in which a SiC/SiC CMC airfoil section is bonded to a single-crystal superalloy root section in order to mitigate risks associated with an all-CMC blade inserted in a superalloy disk. This will...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
This work involved designing a liquid nitrogen cold-plate heat exchanger with a high thermal mass using code-standard, high-pressure tubing. High thermal mass requires a substantial amount of material,...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Surface Densification of Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator
PICA (phenolic impregnated carbon ablator) was developed for the forebody heat shield of the Stardust Return Capsule. Conventional thermal protection system (TPS) materials of the time (primarily carbon phenolics) had high densities and thermal conductivities, yielding a TPS mass fraction...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Low-Density Flexible Ablators
NASA has developed a class of low-density, flexible ablators that can be fabricated into heat shields capable of being packaged, stowed, and deployed in space. Several flexible versions have been developed by infiltrating a pyrolyzing silicone resin into flexible, low-density felts made of carbon, polymer, or ceramic...
Briefs: Energy
Solar-Powered Carbon Dioxide Conversions with Thin-Film Devices
A nanomaterial thin-film device provides a low-cost, facile fabrication pathway to commercialize the technology to the sustainable energy market. Metal oxide thin films have been fabricated to a photoelectrochemical cell by solar energy. The prototype device uses both low energy cost...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Fiber metal laminates (FMLs) are multicomponent materials utilizing metals, fibers, and matrix resins. Tailoring their properties is readily achievable by varying one or more of these components....
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Method to Produce Copper Nanowires for Interconnect Applications
Copper replaced aluminum nearly two decades ago as interconnect material in integrated circuit manufacturing due to its better electrical conductivity. The size of the interconnect wire has been steadily decreasing as Moore’s law has been progressing through various feature size...
Briefs: Information Technology
Web Application: Ground Hardware Management Tool
An integrated ground support equipment (GSE) tracking and management tool is designed for tracking and managing GSE data used in support of KSC/Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) planning and launch campaigns. This software (the Ground Hardware Management Tool, GHMT) will be fully...
Briefs: Software
About 2.5 seconds after the launch of STS-114, the first Return to Flight launch after the Columbia accident, a large bird struck the external tank and fell into the exhaust plume. While this particular bird strike did not...
Briefs: Information Technology
Fully Implicit Ablation and Thermal Analysis Program, Version 3 (FIAT v3)
FIAT v3 simulates one-dimensional thermal energy transport through a multilayer stack of thermal protection materials, bonding materials, metallic or composite structures, air gaps, and/or insulations. The outer surface encounters aerothermal heating from hypersonic flow, and...
Briefs: Information Technology
CFD Utility Software Library
Originating as the Aerodynamics Division Software Library of the 1980s and -90s, this software is a collection of more than 100 software applications, many of them for manipulating the grids and flow solutions associated with computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Underlying these applications are about 30 libraries...
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: Test & Measurement
Vector Network Analyzer Calibration for Quasi-Optical Dual Ports
It is desirable to measure the electromagnetic properties of devices and materials in the millimeter part of the spectrum. For guided wave-based devices and materials (waveguides, coaxial devices), a vector network analyzer (VNA) is an excellent tool for this purpose since it provides...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
The measurement of structural properties of materials at cryogenic temperatures is a daunting task. The measurement of thin films at low temperatures is...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Estimation of Algae Growth Stage, Growth Rate, and Lipid Content
This invention provides a method using light of different wavelengths to estimate freshwater and marine algae growth stage and algae growth rates as well as lipid content in standard media. Light absorption by the algae is measured for a specified light intensity in each of two or...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Isotopic Biomarkers for Rapid Assessment of Bone Mineral Balance in Biomedical Applications
Development of new treatments for metabolic bone disease, and evaluation of the effectiveness of existing therapies in individual patients, are severely hampered by the lack of any reliable tool for quickly measuring changes in bone mineral balance in...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Optically Modulated Miniature Magnetometer
The optically modulated miniature magnetometer (OMMM) is intended to replace two separate instruments (each with their respective mass and power allotments) that are commonly needed together for scientific studies of magnetic fields — a triaxial fluxgate vector magnetometer and an optically pumped alkali...
Briefs: Imaging
Image Processing Software Environment (QuIP)
The QuIP interpreter is a software environment for QUick Image Processing that features an interactive scripting language designed to facilitate use by non-expert users through features such as context-sensitive automatic response completion. The package includes a number of script packages that...
Briefs: Imaging
CubeSat-Compatible, High-Resolution, Thermal Infrared Imager
A small, adaptable, and stable thermal imaging system was developed that can be flown on an aircraft, deployed on the International Space Station as an attached payload, launched on a ride-share as an entirely self-contained 3U CubeSat, flown on a small satellite, or be a co-manifested...
Briefs: Imaging
Frequency combs derived from optical microresonators are required to reach an octave in span. This is required for self-referencing a comb. Presently, the frequency comb...
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