-1
6030
30
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Pressure Regulator With Internal Ejector Circulation Pump, Flow and Pressure Measurement Porting, and Fuel Cell System Integration Options
An advanced reactant pressure regulator with an internal ejector reactant circulation pump has been developed to support NASA’s future fuel cell power systems needs. These needs include reliable and safe...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Two-Stage Centrifugal Fan
Fan designs are often constrained by envelope, rotational speed, weight, and power. Aerodynamic performance and motor electrical performance are heavily influenced by rotational speed. The fan used in this work is at a practical limit for rotational speed due to motor performance characteristics, and there is no more space...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Combined Structural and Trajectory Control of Variable-Geometry Planetary Entry Systems
Some of the key challenges of planetary entry are to dissipate the large kinetic energy of the entry vehicle and to land with precision. Past missions to Mars were based on unguided entry, where entry vehicles carried payloads of less than 0.6 T and landed...
Briefs: Materials
Temperature-Sensitive Coating Sensor Based on Hematite
A temperature-sensitive coating, based on hematite (iron III oxide), has been developed to measure surface temperature using spectral techniques. The hematite powder is added to a binder that allows the mixture to be painted on the surface of a test specimen. The coating dynamically changes its...
Briefs: Materials
Detection of Carbon Monoxide Using Polymer-Carbon Composite Films
A carbon monoxide (CO) sensor was developed that can be incorporated into an existing sensing array architecture. The CO sensor is a low-power chemiresistor that operates at room temperature, and the sensor fabrication techniques are compatible with ceramic substrates.
Briefs: Materials
Substituted Quaternary Ammonium Salts Improve Low-Temperature Performance of Double-Layer Capacitors
Double-layer capacitors are unique energy storage devices, capable of supporting large current pulses as well as a very high number of charging and discharging cycles. The performance of double-layer capacitors is highly dependent on the nature of...
Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
Economics is a key factor for application of organic light emitting diodes (OLED) in general lighting relative to OLED flat panel displays that can handle...
Briefs: Materials
Standardization of a Volumetric Displacement Measurement for Two-Body Abrasion Scratch Test Data Analysis
A limitation has been identified in the existing test standards used for making controlled, two-body abrasion scratch measurements based solely on the width of the resultant score on the surface of the material. A new, more robust method is...
Briefs: Materials
Sustainably Sourced, Thermally Resistant, Radiation Hard Biopolymer
This material represents a breakthrough in the production, manufacturing, and application of thermal protection system (TPS) materials and radiation shielding, as this represents the first effort to develop a non-metallic, nonceramic, biomaterial-based, sustainable TPS with the...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Future astrophysics and planetary experiments are expected to require large focal plane arrays with thousands of detectors. Feedhorns have excellent performance, but their mass, size,...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Validating Phasing and Geometry of Large Focal Plane Arrays
The Kepler Mission is designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover hundreds of Earth-sized and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone. The Kepler photometer is an array of 42 CCDs (charge-coupled devices) in the focal plane of a 95-cm Schmidt camera onboard the...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
180-GHz Interferometric Imager
A 180-GHz interferometric imager uses compact receiver modules, combined high- and low-gain antennas, and ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) correlator technology, enabling continuous, all-weather observations of water vapor with 25-km resolution and 0.3-K noise in 15 minutes of observation for numerical...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Maturation of Structural Health Management Systems for Solid Rocket Motors
Concepts of an autonomous and automated space-compliant diagnostic system were developed for conditioned- based maintenance (CBM) of rocket motors for space exploration vehicles. The diagnostic system will provide real-time information on the integrity of critical structures...
Briefs: Information Technology
Achieving Exact and Constant Turnaround Ratio in a DDS-Based Coherent Transponder
A report describes a non-standard direct digital synthesizer (DDS) implementation that can be used as part of a coherent transponder so as to allow any rational turnaround ratio to be exactly achieved and maintained while the received frequency varies. (A coherent...
Briefs: Information Technology
Surface Modeling to Support Small-Body Spacecraft Exploration and Proximity Operations
In order to simulate physically plausible surfaces that represent geologically evolved surfaces, demonstrating demanding surface-relative guidance navigation and control (GN&C) actions, such surfaces must be made to mimic the geological processes themselves....
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The single-photon counting imaging sensor is typically an array of silicon Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes that are monolithically integrated with CMOS (complementary metal oxide...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Qualification of Fiber Optic Cables for Martian Extreme Temperature Environments
Means have been developed for enabling fiber optic cables of the Laser Induced Breakdown Spectrometer instrument to survive ground operations plus the nominal 670 Martian conditions that include Martian summer and winter seasons. The purpose of this development was to...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Transverse Pupil Shifts for Adaptive Optics Non-Common Path Calibration
A simple new way of obtaining absolute wavefront measurements with a laboratory Fizeau interferometer was recently devised. In that case, the observed wavefront map is the difference of two cavity surfaces, those of the mirror under test and of an unknown reference surface on...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Solid-State Spectral Light Source System
A solid-state light source combines an array of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with advanced electronic control and stabilization over both the spectrum and overall level of the light output. The use of LEDs provides efficient operation over a wide range of wavelengths and power levels, while electronic...
Briefs: Lighting
Economics is a key factor for application of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) in general lighting relative to OLED flat panel displays that can handle...
Briefs: Lighting
A new mobile lighting system features a fuel cell running on pure hydrogen, resulting in zero-emission electrical power. The fuel cell produces electricity for an advanced, power-saving...
Briefs: Lighting
High-Performance LED Comprised of Organic and Quantum Dot-Based Layers
New research paves the way to manufacturing efficient, stable, and low-cost quantum dot-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which is important for the widespread commercial use of these LEDs in large-area, full-color flat-panel displays or as solid-state lighting sources to...
Briefs: Medical
Improved Devices for Collecting Sweat for Chemical Analysis
Improved devices have been proposed for collecting sweat for biochemical analysis — especially for determination of the concentration of Ca2+ ions in sweat as a measure of loss of Ca from bones. Unlike commercially available sweat-collection patches used previously in monitoring...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Optical Sensors for Monitoring Gamma and Neutron Radiation
For safety and efficiency, nuclear reactors must be carefully monitored to provide feedback that enables the fission rate to be held at a constant target level via adjustments in the position of neutron- absorbing rods and moderating coolant flow rates. For automated reactor control, the...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Rapid-Response Semiconductor Sensor With Resistance Detection Determines Partial Pressure of Oxygen
In the past, solid electrolytes have mainly been used as oxygen sensors for automobiles. This type of sensor measures the difference between the oxygen partial pressures of a reference electrode and a measurement electrode, and always requires a...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Laser line illumination systems may be used for numerous applications including imaging systems in which the laser line is directed toward a light modulator to reflect or...
Briefs: Medical
Cytometer on a Chip
A cytometer now under development exploits spatial sorting of sampled cells on a microarray chip followed by use of grating-coupled surface-plasmon-resonance imaging (GCSPRI) to detect the sorted cells. This cytometer on a chip is a prototype of contemplated future miniature cytometers that would be suitable for rapidly...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Qualifications of Bonding Process of Temperature Sensors to Deep- Space Missions
A process has been examined for bonding a platinum resistance thermometer (PRT) onto potential aerospace materials such as flat aluminum surfaces and a flexible copper tube to simulate coaxial cables for flight applications. Primarily, PRTs were inserted into a...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Compliant Tactile Sensors
Tactile sensors are currently being designed to sense interactions with human hands or pen-like interfaces. They are generally embedded in screens, keyboards, mousepads, and pushbuttons. However, they are not well fitted to sense interactions with all kinds of objects.
Top Stories
Blog: Lighting
A Stretchable OLED that Can Maintain Most of Its Luminescence
INSIDER: Energy
Advancing All-Solid-State Batteries
Blog: Power
My Opinion: We Need More Power Soon — Is Nuclear the Answer?
Quiz: Energy
Blog: Lighting Technology
Microscopic Swimming Machines that Can Sense, Respond to Surroundings
Blog: Data Acquisition
Webcasts
On-Demand Webinars: Electronics & Computers
Advantages of Smart Power Distribution Unit Design for Automotive &...
Upcoming Webinars: Automotive
Quiet, Please: NVH Improvement Opportunities in the Early Design...
Upcoming Webinars: Test & Measurement
From Spreadsheets to Insights: Fast Data Analysis Without Complex...
Upcoming Webinars: Defense
Cooling a New Generation of Aerospace and Defense Embedded...
Upcoming Webinars: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Beyond AI-Copy-Paste Engineering: Advanced AI-Integration Success...
Upcoming Webinars: Power
