Definitive Contract NNL08AA37C

STTR 2006 PHASE II - MICROWAVE DETECTION OF LASER ULTRASONIC FOR NON DESTRUCTIVE TESTING. NONDESTRUCTIVE EVALUATION (NDE) OF SPACE TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES IS PRIMARILY CARRIED OUT ON THE GROUND, BETWEEN SPACE MISSIONS. FOR FUTURE SPACE MISSIONS, AS DURATION AND FREQUENCY INCREASES, MORE INSPECTION WILL NEED TO BE PERFORMED IN SPACE IN ORDER TO MONITOR THE AGING PROCESS OF THE STRUCTURE AND TO ENSURE ITS INTEGRITY. FOR THIS PURPOSE, NDE EQUIPMENT THAT IS COMPACT, LIGHTWEIGHT, EASILY OPERATED BY: 1) A HUMAN WITH LIMITED MOBILITY; OR 2) ROBOT, AND THAT EXHIBITS LOW POWER CONSUMPTION IS REQUIRED. FURTHERMORE, IN ORDER TO MINIMIZE THE QUANTITY OF INSPECTION EQUIPMENT CARRIED IN FLIGHT, THE EQUIPMENT MUST BE FLEXIBLE ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO PERFORM AS MANY NDE TASKS AS POSSIBLE. THE CONTRACTOR S INNOVATIVE RECEIVER IS BASED ON THE INTEGRATION OF A MICROWAVE INTERFEROMETER COUPLED WITH A PULSED LASER TO GENERATE THE ULTRASOUND. THIS COMBINATION OF INSTRUMENTATION WILL ALLOW FOR A COMPACT, LIGHTWEIGHT, NON-CONTACTING, REMOTE SENSING NDE SYSTEM THAT WILL BE ABLE TO DETECT HIDDEN DAMAGE, DELAMINATIONS, VOIDS, AND OTHER FLAWS IN SPACE MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DEVELOP A HIGH-PERFORMANCE, COST-EFFECTIVE AND ROBUST MICROWAVE RECEIVER PROTOTYPE FOR MULTI-PURPOSE NONDESTRUCTIVE EVALUATION OF MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, AS DETAILED BELOW: TASK 1: THE CONTRACTOR SHALL MODEL AND SIMULATE A MICROWAVE INTERFEROMETER TO CHARACTERIZE THE ELECTROMAGNETIC NEAR-FIELD WAVE S AFFECT ON THE INTERFEROMETER. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS TASK IS TO UNDERSTAND THE TYPES OF MODULATIONS INVOLVED IN THE DETECTED SIGNAL TO DESIGN FOR THE OPTIMAL STAND-OFF DISTANCE OF THE INTERFEROMETER FROM THE MATERIAL/STRUCTURE TO BE TESTED. TASK-2: THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DESIGN A RELIABLE, COMPACT, LIGHTWEIGHT MICROWAVE INTERFEROMETER PROTOTYPE THAT HAS POTENTIAL FOR SPACE OPERATIONS. THIS PROTOTYPE WILL BE MORE OPTIMAL AND SENSITIVE THAN THE PRIMITIVE PROTOTYPE TESTED IN THE PHASE 1 CONTRACT. TASK-3: THE CONTRACTOR SHALL ASSEMBLE A NEW PROTOTYPE MICROWAVE INTERFEROMETER INSTRUMENT AND DEVELOP A SET OF SPECIFICATIONS OF THE INSTRUMENT S PERFORMANCE ON A CALIBRATED VIBRATION TARGET. TASK-4: THE CONTRACTOR SHALL TEST THE SYSTEM ABILITY TO DETECT A LASER-GENERATED ULTRASOUND SIGNAL. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL TEST THE SYSTEM ON MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES TO DEMONSTRATE ITS NDE POTENTIAL FOR DETECTING IMPACT DAMAGE, DELAMINATIONS AND FLAWS. TASK-5: THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DELIVER A PROTOTYPE MICROWAVE INTERFEROMETER FOR NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING (NDT) AT THE COMPLETION OF THE CONTRACT.