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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Laser-Ranging Transponders for Science Investigations of the Moon and Mars
An active laser was developed ranging in real-time with two terminals, emulating interplanetary distances, and with submillimeter accuracy. In order to overcome the limitations to ranging accuracy from jitters and delay drifts within the transponders, architecture was...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Structural health monitoring (SHM) is one of the most important tools available for the maintenance, safety, and integrity of aerospace structural systems. Lightweight,...
Briefs: Software
Stereo and IMU-Assisted Visual Odometry for Small Robots
This software performs two functions: (1) taking stereo image pairs as input, it computes stereo disparity maps from them by cross-correlation to achieve 3D (three-dimensional) perception; (2) taking a sequence of stereo image pairs as input, it tracks features in the image sequence to...
Briefs: Software
Global Swath and Gridded Data Tiling
This software generates cylindrically projected tiles of swath-based or gridded satellite data for the purpose of dynamically generating high-resolution global images covering various time periods, scaling ranges, and colors called “tiles.” It reconstructs a global image given a set of tiles covering a...
Briefs: Software
GOES-R: Satellite Insight
GOES-R: Satellite Insight seeks to bring awareness of the GOES-R (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite — R Series) satellite currently in development to an audience of all ages on the emerging medium of mobile games. The iPhone app (Satellite Insight) was created for the GOES-R Program. The app describes in...
Briefs: Software
Aquarius iPhone Application
The Office of the CIO at JPL has developed an iPhone application for the Aquarius/SAC-D mission. The application includes specific information about the science and purpose of the Aquarius satellite and also features daily mission news updates pulled from sources at Goddard Space Flight Center as well as Twitter. The...
Briefs: Information Technology
Monitoring of International Space Station Telemetry Using Shewhart Control Charts
Shewhart control charts have been established as an expedient method for analyzing dynamic, trending data in order to identify anomalous subsystem performance as soon as such performance would exceed a statistically established baseline. Additionally, this leading...
Briefs: Information Technology
Time Manager Software for a Flight Processor
Data analysis is a process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and modeling data to highlight useful information and suggest conclusions. Accurate timestamps and a timeline of vehicle events are needed to analyze flight data. When data is gathered onboard a rocket, precise time stamping is even more...
Briefs: Information Technology
Simulation of Oxygen Disintegration and Mixing With Hydrogen or Helium at Supercritical Pressure
The simulation of high-pressure turbulent flows, where the pressure, p, is larger than the critical value, pc, for the species under consideration, is relevant to a wide array of propulsion systems, e.g. gas turbine, diesel, and liquid rocket engines....
Briefs: Information Technology
Theory of a Traveling Wave Feed for a Planar Slot Array Antenna
Planar arrays of waveguide-fed slots have been employed in many radar and remote sensing applications. Such arrays are designed in the standing wave configuration because of high efficiency. Traveling wave arrays can produce greater bandwidth at the expense of efficiency due to power...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A Superfluid Pulse Tube Refrigerator Without Moving Parts for Sub-Kelvin Cooling
A report describes a pulse tube refrigerator that uses a mixture of 3He and superfluid 4He to cool to temperatures below 300 mK, while rejecting heat at temperatures up to 1.7 K. The refrigerator is driven by a novel thermodynamically reversible pump that is capable of...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Sapphire Viewports for a Venus Probe
A document discusses the creation of a viewport suitable for use on the surface of Venus. These viewports are rated for 500 °C and 100 atm pressure with appropriate safety factors and reliability required for incorporation into a Venus Lander. Sapphire windows should easily withstand the chemical, pressure, and...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
The Mobile Chamber
A document discusses a simulation chamber that represents a shift from the thermal-vacuum chamber stereotype. This innovation, currently in development, combines the capabilities of space simulation chambers, the user-friendliness of modern-day electronics, and the modularity of plug-and-play computing. The Mobile Chamber is a...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Electric Propulsion Induced Secondary Mass Spectroscopy
A document highlights a means to complement remote spectroscopy while also providing in situ surface samples without a landed system. Historically, most compositional analysis of small body surfaces has been done remotely by analyzing reflection or nuclear spectra. However, neither provides...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Radiation-Tolerant DC-DC Converters
A document discusses power converters suitable for space use that meet the DSCC MIL-PRF-38534 Appendix G radiation hardness level P classification. A method for qualifying commercially produced electronic parts for DC-DC converters per the Defense Supply Center Columbus (DSCC) radiation hardened assurance...
Briefs: Medical
A readily portable miniature microscope weighing less than 2 grams and tiny enough to balance on your fingertip has been developed. The scope is designed to see fluorescent markers,...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Actuators are critical to all the robotic and manipulation mechanisms that are used in current and future NASA missions, and are also needed for many other industrial, aeronautical, and space...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Ultra-Compact Motor Controller
This invention is an electronically commutated brushless motor controller that incorporates Hall-array sensing in a small, 42-gram package that provides 4096 absolute counts per motor revolution position sensing. The unit is the size of a miniature hockey puck, and is a 44-pin male connector that provides many I/O...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Low-Power Architecture for an Optical Life Gas Analyzer
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...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Detection of Chemical Precursors of Explosives
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...
Briefs: Information Technology
Rugged, Portable, Real-Time Optical Gaseous Analyzer for Hydrogen Fluoride
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...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A Probabilistic Mass Estimation Algorithm for a Novel 7-Channel Capacitive Sample Verification Sensor
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...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Detecting Methane From Leaking Pipelines and as Greenhouse Gas in the Atmosphere
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...
Briefs: Information Technology
The avionics system software for human-rated launch vehicles requires an implementation approach that is robust to failures, especially the failure of sensors used to monitor...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A three-frequency millimeter-wave feed horn was developed as part of an advanced component technology task that provides components necessary for higher-frequency radiometers to meet the...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Online Cable Tester and Rerouter
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...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Inverted Three-Junction Tandem Thermophotovoltaic Modules
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...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Capacitance Probe Resonator for Multichannel Electrometer
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...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Fabrication of Single Crystal MgO Capsules
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...
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