Micro-tubular fuel cells that would operate at power levels on the order of hundreds of watts or less are under development as alternatives to batteries in numerous products — portable power tools, cellular telephones, laptop computers, portable television receivers, and small robotic vehicles, to name a few...

A report presents a theoretical approach to designing a low-energy transfer of a spacecraft from an orbit around the Earth to ballistic capture into an orbit around the Moon. The approach is based partly on the one presented in “Low-Energy Interplanetary Transfers Using Lagrangian...

The proposed rocket engine includes a combustion chamber actively cooled by liquid oxygen: Heat from the combustion chamber vaporizes the flowing liquid oxygen, and the absorption of latent heat of vaporization contributes to cooling of the combustion-chamber wall. The resulting high-vapor-quality (mostly vapor)...

A system that samples gases at multiple remote locations and delivers the gases to two or possibly more gas-monitoring instruments (e.g., mass spectrometers) has been developed. The system includes a transport (suction) pump that draws the gases from the sampling locations, through...

A method that exploits rapid prototyping has been conceived to reduce the time and cost associated with the production of small quantities of composite-material parts that have complex shapes. In this method, mandrels and dies used in forming composite layups are sized and shaped by...

Computer-controlled laboratory apparatuses for real-time monitoring and control of the growth of protein crystals are undergoing development. By use of an apparatus of this type, one can monitor and control several parameters that affect the growth of protein crystals; these parameters...

A paper summarizes early findings from a continuing study of the dynamics of the transport and distribution of matter within the Solar system. In the study, the stable and unstable manifolds of the periodic and quasi-periodic orbits around the Lagrangian points L1 and L2 of the...

An improved design for a biplate in a methanol fuel cell provides increased efficiency in the removal of water, relative to older designs. For reasons explained below, this design both improves the performance of the fuel cell and increases the overall energy efficiency of the...