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Briefs: Medical
A novel treatment for retinal degenerative disorders involving transplantation of cells into the eye is currently under development at NASA Ames Research Center and Stanford...
Briefs: Materials
Fuels Containing Methane or Natural Gas in Solution
While exploring ways of producing better fuels for propulsion of a spacecraft on the Mars sample return mission, a researcher at Johnson Space Center (JSC) devised a way of blending fuel by combining methane or natural gas with a second fuel to produce a fuel that can be maintained in liquid form...
Briefs: Energy
Mats of free-standing manganese oxide (MnxOy ) nanowires have been fabricated as experimental electrode materials for rechargeable electro-chemical power cells and capacitors....
Briefs: Materials
Personal Radiation Protection System
A report describes the personal radiation protection system (PRPS), which has been invented for use on the International Space Station and other spacecraft. The PRPS comprises walls that can be erected inside spacecraft, where and when needed, to reduce the amount of radiation to which personnel are exposed. The...
Briefs: Imaging
A new software equipped with novel image processing algorithms and graphical-user-interface (GUI) tools has been designed for automated analysis and processing of...
Briefs: Software
Prioritizing Scientific Data for Transmission
A software system has been developed for prioritizing newly acquired geological data onboard a planetary rover. The system has been designed to enable efficient use of limited communication resources by transmitting the data likely to have the most scientific value. This software operates onboard a...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
In a free-space optical communication system, the mitigation of transient out-ages through the incorporation of error-control methods is of particular concern, the...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Analyzing Spacecraft Telecommunication Systems
Multi-Mission Telecom Analysis Tool (MMTAT) is a C-language computer program for analyzing proposed spacecraft telecommunication systems. MMTAT utilizes parameterized input and computational models that can be run on standard desktop computers to perform fast and accurate analyses of telecommunication...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A proposed computer architecture would exploit the capabilities of commercially available field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) to enable computers to detect and recover from bit errors. The...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Ultralow-Power Digital Correlator for Microwave Polarimetry
A recently developed high-speed digital correlator is especially well suited for processing readings of a passive microwave polarimeter. This circuit computes the auto-correlations of, and the cross-correlations among, data in four digital input streams representing samples of in-phase (I)...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Grounding Headphones for Protection Against ESD
A simple alternative technique has been devised protecting delicate equipment against electrostatic discharge (ESD) in settings in which workers wear communication headsets. In the original setting in which the technique was devised, the workers who wear the headsets also wear anti-ESD grounding...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Highly Efficient Vector-Inversion Pulse Generators
Improved transmission-line pulse generators of the vector-inversion type are being developed as lightweight sources of pulsed high voltage for diverse applications, including spacecraft thrusters, portable x-ray imaging systems, impulse radar systems, and corona-discharge systems for sterilizing...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Lightweight Stacks of Direct Methanol Fuel Cells
An improved design concept for direct methanol fuel cells makes it possible to construct fuel-cell stacks that can weigh as little as one-third as much as do conventional bipolar fuel-cell stacks of equal power. The structural-support components of the improved cells and stacks can be made of...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A laser cooling apparatus that generates a cold beam of rubidium and cesium atoms at low pressure has been constructed as one of several intermediate products of a continuing program...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The figure depicts a miniature cantilever- type anemometer that has been developed as a prototype of compact, relatively nonintrusive anemometers that can function at temperatures up to...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Inlet Housing for a Partial-Admission Turbine
An inlet housing for a partial-admission turbine has been designed to cause the inlet airflow to make a smooth transition from an open circular inlet to an inlet slot. The smooth flow is required for purposes of measuring inlet flow characteristics and maximizing the efficiency of the turbine.
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Small Active Radiation Monitor
A device, named small active radiation monitor, allows on-orbit evaluations during periods of increased radiation, after extravehicular activities, or at predesignated times for crews on such long-duration space missions as on the International Space Station. It also permits direct evaluation of biological doses, a...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
A portable electronic apparatus records electromyographic (EMG) signals in as many as 16 channels at a sampling rate of 1,024 Hz in each channel. The apparatus (see figure) includes 16 differential EMG electrodes (each...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Part 1 of a Computational Study of a Drop-Laden Mixing Layer
This first of three reports on a computational study of a drop-laden temporal mixing layer presents the results of direct numerical simulations (DNS) of well-resolved flow fields and the derivation of the large-eddy simulation (LES) equations that would govern the larger scales of a...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Selected Papers on Protoplanetary Disks
Three papers present studies of thermal balances, dynamics, and electromagnetic spectra of protoplanetary disks, which comprise gas and dust orbiting young stars. One paper addresses the reprocessing, in a disk, of photons that originate in the disk itself in addition to photons that originate in the stellar...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A module that dissolves oxygen in water at concentrations approaching saturation, without generating bubbles of oxygen gas, has been developed as a prototype of improved oxygenators for...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Arrays of multiple, nominally identical sensors with sensor-output-processing electronic hardware and software are being developed in order to obtain accuracy, reliability, and lifetime...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Integrated-Optic Oxygen Sensors
Compact optical oxygen sensors with self-calibration capabilities are undergoing development. A sensor of this type features a single-chip, integrated-optic design implemented by photolithographic fabrication of optical waveguides in a photosensitive porous glass. The porosity serves as both a matrix for retention of...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Hybrid Piezoelectric/Fiber-Optic Sensor Sheets
Hybrid piezoelectric/fiber-optic (HyPFO) sensor sheets are undergoing development. They are intended for use in nondestructive evaluation and long-term monitoring of the integrity of diverse structures, including aerospace, aeronautical, automotive, and large stationary ones. It is anticipated that the...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Laser Ablation of Materials for Propulsion of Spacecraft
A report describes experiments performed as part of a continuing investigation of the feasibility of laser ablation of materials as a means of propulsion for small spacecraft. In each experiment, a specimen of ablative material was mounted on a torsion pendulum and irradiated with a laser...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A technique that involves the use of thermoformed plastics has been developed to enable the design and fabrication of ultra-lightweight structural components and mirrors for use in outer...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
An improved method of dot-projection photogrammetry and an extension of the method to encompass dot-projection videogrammetry overcome some deficiencies of dot-projection...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The Coastal Research Imaging Spectrometer (CRIS) is an airborne remote sensing system designed specifically for research on the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of coastal waters. The CRIS...
Briefs: Information Technology
Hybrid Image-Plane/Stereo (HIPS) manipulation is a method of processing image data, and of controlling a robotic manipulator arm in response to the data, that enables the manipulator arm to place an...
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