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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 145 records · Page 8

A New Way of Doing Business: Reusable Launch Vehicle Advanced Thermal Protection Systems Technology Development: NASA Ames and Rockwell International Partnership

NASA Ames Research Center and Rockwell International are partners in a Cooperative Agreement (CA) for the development of Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) for the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Technology Program. This Cooperative Agreement is a 30 month effort focused on transferring NASA innovations to Rockwell and working as partners to advance the state-of-the-art in several TPS areas. The use of a Cooperative Agreement is a new way of doing business for NASA and Industry which eliminates the traditional customer/contractor relationship and replaces it with a NASA/Industry partnership.

Carroll, Carol W.↗

Small Business Innovations

The PER-Force Handcontroller was originally developed for the International Space Station under a Johnson Space Center Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract. Produced by Cybernet Systems Corporation, the unit is a force-reflecting system that manipulates robots or objects by "feel." The Handcontroller moves in six degrees of freedom, with real and virtual reality forces simulated by a 3-D molecular modeling software package. It is used in molecular modeling in metallurgy applications, satellite docking research, and in research on military unmanned ground vehicles.

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Small Business Innovations

Under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to Kennedy Space Center, EIC Laboratories invented a Raman Spectrograph with fiber optic sampling for space applications such as sensing hazardous fuel vapors and making on-board rapid analyses of chemicals and minerals. Raman spectroscopy is a laser-based measurement technique that provides through a unique vibrational spectrum a molecular 'fingerprint,' and can function in aqueous environments. EIC combined optical fiber technology with Raman methods to develop sensors that can be operated at a distance from the spectrographic analysis instruments and the laser excitation source. EIC refined and commercialized the technology to create the Fiber Optic Raman Spectrograph and the RamanProbe. Commercial applications range from process control to monitoring hazardous materials.

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Small Business Innovations (Integrated Database)

Because of the diversity of NASA's information systems, it was necessary to develop DAVID as a central database management system. Under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant, Ken Wanderman and Associates, Inc. designed software tools enabling scientists to interface with DAVID and commercial database management systems, as well as artificial intelligence programs. The software has been installed at a number of data centers and is commercially available.

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Small Business Innovations

The purpose of QASE RT is to enable system analysts and software engineers to evaluate performance and reliability implications of design alternatives. The program resulted from two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects. After receiving a description of the system architecture and workload from the user, QASE RT translates the system description into simulation models and executes them. Simulation provides detailed performance evaluation. The results of the evaluations are service and response times, offered load and device utilizations and functional availability.

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Small Business Innovations (Helicopters)

The amount of engine power required for a helicopter to hover is an important, but difficult, consideration in helicopter design. The EHPIC program model produces converged, freely distorted wake geometries that generate accurate analysis of wake-induced downwash, allowing good predictions of rotor thrust and power requirements. Continuum Dynamics, Inc., the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) company that developed EHPIC, also produces RotorCRAFT, a program for analysis of aerodynamic loading of helicopter blades in forward flight. Both helicopter codes have been licensed to commercial manufacturers.

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Conceptual Design of a Supersonic Business Jet Propulsion System

NASA's Ultra-Efficient Engine Technology Program (UEETP) is developing a suite of technology to enhance the performance of future aircraft propulsion systems. Areas of focus for this suite of technology include: Highly Loaded Turbomachinery, Emissions Reduction, Materials and Structures, Controls, and Propulsion-Airframe Integration. The two major goals of the UEETP are emissions reduction of both landing and take-off nitrogen oxides (LTO-NO(x)) and mission carbon dioxide (CO2) through fuel burn reductions. The specific goals include a 70 percent reduction in the current LTO-NO(x) rule and an 8 percent reduction in mission CO2 emissions. In order to gain insight into the potential applications and benefits of these technologies on future aircraft, a set of representative flight vehicles was selected for systems level conceptual studies. The Supersonic Business Jet (SBJ) is one of these vehicles. The particular SBJ considered in this study has a capacity of 6 passengers, cruise Mach Number of 2.0, and a range of 4,000 nautical miles. Without the current existence of an SBJ the study of this vehicle requires a two-phased approach. Initially, a hypothetical baseline SBJ is designed which utilizes only current state of the art technology. Finally, an advanced SBJ propulsion system is designed and optimized which incorporates the advanced technologies under development within the UEETP. System benefits are then evaluated and compared to the program and design requirements. Although the program goals are only concerned with LTO-NO(x) and CO2 emissions, it is acknowledged that additional concerns for an SBJ include take-off noise, overland supersonic flight, and cruise NO(x) emissions at high altitudes. Propulsion system trade-offs in the conceptual design phase acknowledge these issues as well as the program goals. With the inclusion of UEETP technologies a propulsion system is designed which performs at 81% below the LTO-NO(x) rule, and reduces fuel burn by 23 percent compared to the current technology.

Bruckner, Robert J.↗

Small Business Innovations (Photodetector)

Epitaxx, Inc. of Princeton, NJ, developed the Epitaxx Near Infrared Room Temperature Indium-Gallium-Arsenide (InGaAs) Photodetector based on their Goddard Space Flight Center Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract work to develop a linear detector array for satellite imaging applications using InGaAs alloys that didn't need to be cooled to (difficult and expensive) cryogenic temperatures. The photodetectors can be used for remote sensing, fiber optic and laser position-sensing applications.

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Small Business Innovations (Fiber Optics)

Foster-Miller, Inc. Waltham, MA developed the In-Situ Fiber Optic Polymer Reaction Monitor which could lead to higher yields and lower costs in complex composite manufacturing. The monitor, developed under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with Langley Research Center, uses an infrared, fiber optic sensor to track the molecular vibrational characteristics of a composite part while it is being cured. It is the first analytical system capable of directly measuring the chemistry of advanced composite materials.

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Small Business Innovations (Cryostat)

General Pneumatics Corporation, Scottsdale, AZ, developed an anti- clogging cryostat that liquifies gases by expansion for high pressure through a nozzle to produce cryorefrigeration based on their Kennedy Space Center Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) work to develop a Joule-Thomson (JT) expansion valve that is less susceptible to clogging by particles or condensed contaminants in the flow than a non-contaminating compressor in a closed cycle Linde-Hampson cryocooler used to generate cryogenic cooling for infrared sensors, super conductors, supercooled electronics and cryosurgery.

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Small Business Innovations (Robotic Wrist)

Under a Langley Research Center Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract, Ross-Hime Designs, Inc. Minneapolis, MN, developed the Omni-Wrist actuator, which has a 25-pound capacity, 180 degrees of pitch/yaw, and 360 degrees of roll. Company literature calls it "the first successful singularity-free high-precision (robotic) wrist." Applications include spray painting, sealing, ultrasonic testing, welding and a variety of nuclear industry, aerospace and military uses.

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Small Business Innovations (Mass Microbalance)

Femtometrics of Costa Mesa, CA, developed the Model 200-1 SAW Mass Microbalance under a NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with Langley Research Center. The product is described as "the next generation of aerosol mass microbalance technology," because a new type of sensor, the Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) piezoelectric crystal, offers mass resolution two orders of magnitude greater than the Quartz Crystal Microbalance cascade impactor (QCM) (used at Langley since 1979 for collection and measurement of aerosol particles in the upper atmosphere). The Model 200-1 SAW Mass Microbalance, which provides a 400-fold increase in mass sensitivity per unit area over the QCM, can be used for real-time particle monitoring in clean rooms, measuring chemical vapors in very low concentrations, measuring target chemicals in the stratosphere and in industry as a toxic vapor monitor.

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Business Jet

The Citation Jet, developed by Cessna Aircraft Company, Wichita, KS, is the first business jet to employ Langley Research Center's natural laminar flow (NLF) technology. NLF reduces drag and therefore saves fuel by using only the shape of the wing to keep the airflow smooth, or laminar. This reduces friction between the air and wing, and therefore, reduces drag. NASA's Central Industrial Applications Center, Rural Enterprises, Inc., Durant, OK, its Kansas affiliate, and Wichita State University assisted in the technology transfer.

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Small Business Innovations (Crystal Components)

Scientific Materials Corporation, Bozeman, MT developed the SciMax line of improved Nd:Yag crystals under an Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with Langley Research Center. They reduced the amount of water trapped in the crystals during growth to improve the optical quality and efficiency. Applications of the crystals include fiber optics, telecommunications, welding, drilling, eye surgery and medical instrumentation.

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Small Business Innovations (MISER)

Lightwave Electronics Corporation, Mountain View, CA, developed the Series 120 and 122 non-planner diode pumped ring lasers based on a low noise ring laser with voltage tuning that they delivered to Jet Propulsion Laboratory under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract. The voltage tuning feature allows "phase-locking" the lasers, making them "electronic," similar to radio and microwave electronic oscillators. The Series 120 and 122 can be applied to fiber sensing, coherent communications and laser radar.

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Business Graphics

Genigraphics Corporation's Masterpiece 8770 FilmRecorder is an advanced high resolution system designed to improve and expand a company's in-house graphics production. GRAFTIME/software package was designed to allow office personnel with minimal training to produce professional level graphics for business communications and presentations. Products are no longer being manufactured.

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A Wind Tunnel Study of Icing Effects on a Business Jet Airfoil

Aerodynamic wind tunnel tests were conducted to study the effects of various ice accretions on the aerodynamic performance of a 36-inch chord, two-dimensional business jet airfoil. Eight different ice shape configurations were tested. Four were castings made from molds of ice shapes accreted in an icing wind tunnel. Two were made using computationally smoothed tracings of two of the ice shapes accreted in the icing tunnel. These smoothed profiles were then extended in the spanwise direction to form a two-dimensional ice shape. The final two configurations were formed by applying grit to the smoothed ice shapes. The ice shapes resulted in as much as 48% reduction in maximum lift coefficient from that of the clean airfoil. Large increases in drag and changes in pitching moment were also observed. The castings and their corresponding smoothed counterparts yielded similar results. Little change in performance was observed with the addition of grit to the smoothed ice shapes. Changes in the Reynolds number (from 3 x 10(exp 6) to 10.5 x 10(exp 6) and Mach number (from 0.12 to 0.28) did not significantly affect the iced-airfoil performance coefficients.

Addy, Harold E., Jr.↗

A Supersonic Business-Jet Concept Designed for Low Sonic Boom

Ongoing human-response studies of sonic-boom noise indicated that a previous level of 1.0 psf might still be too annoying. This led to studies of a Supersonic Business Jet (SBJ), which might generate lower, more acceptable ground overpressures. To determine whether methods for designing a High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) could be successfully applied, a SBJ concept was designed at the langley Research Center. It would cruise at Mach 2, carry 10 passengers for 4000 nautical miles, and generate a 0.50 psf or less on the ground under the flight path at start of cruise. Results indicated that a 10-passenger, low-boom SBJ design was just as technically demanding as a 300-passenger, low-boom HSCT design. In this report, the sources of these technical problems are identified, and ideas for addressing them are discussed.

Mack, Robert J.↗