Recovery - high-speed neutron and gamma flux sensor for monitoring surfacenuclear reactors

SBIR PROGRAM - DEVELOPMENT OF GAS FILTER CORRELATION (GFC) SPECTROSCOPY USINGNON-PERIODIC GRATINGS FOR SPACEBORNE AND AIRBORNE DEPLOYMENT.

SBIR PROGRAM - FOR DEVELOPING LOW IMPEDANCE, MINIATURE BANDPASS RF FREQUENCY FILTERVIA MEMS TECHNIQUE, IN APPLICATIONS OF SMAP, AQUARIUS FOLLOW-ON, DESDYNI, OR ADVANCEDL-BAND SAR AND INTERFEROMETERS.

SBIR/STTR Program - A constant demand exists to improve the sensitivity of tracechemical species measurement systems, which is often limited by the performance of theinfrared photon detector components. The significant cooling required to reduce darkcurrents and increase detectivities is a practical concern associated with these infrareddetectors. For geostationary and low-Earth orbital platforms, passive cooling systemshave been developed to provide a suitable means of incorporating such high-performanceinfrared detectors. The passive cooling system for the Crosstrack Infrared Sounder hasprovided a means to achieve a set point of 81 K for long-wavelength infrared detectoroperation. We will develop in this proposed effort the technology for high-performance,passively-cooled infrared (6-14 microns spectral range) detectors with integratedcapabilites for Fabry-Perot spectroscopy. The proposed sensors will be based on HgCdTematerial for high detectivities and use an Auger-suppression technique to reduce coolingrequirements. HgCdTe detectors capable of operating under passive cooling conditions willbe designed, fabricated and tested. In parallel, Fabry-Perot cavities suitable for futureintegration with the HgCdTe infrared detectors will be designed, fabricated and tested.The infrared detector arrays and tunable Fabry Perot cavities will be integrated in laterphases of the proposed project.

SBIR PROGRAM - TO DEVELOP A HIGHLY SENSITIVE SPECTROMETER BASED ON GLOW DISCHARGEEMISSION FOR THE DETECTION/CLASSIFICATION OF GAS AND AEROSOL SPECIES IN POST-FIRE CLEANUPSCENARIOS.

SBIR/STTR Program - We are proposing to develop high altitude CO2 analyzertechnology that can be deployed on the research aircraft of NASA's Airborne ScienceProgram (ASP). The ultimate scientific goal is the calibration/validation of CO2observations made from spacecraft. Two forms of the analyzer are to be developed, pod forunmanned aircraft and rack for more general purpose platforms. The CO2 payloads are smalland light enough to perform on all 15 platforms of NASA-ASP, some reaching altitudes ofmore than 65,000' ASL and capable of probing at least 95% of the atmospheric column. Byprior work, we have built a prototype having the appropriate levels of sensitivity (0.10ppmv), bias (<0.10 ppmv) and spatial/temporal resolution (1 Hz). Consequently, we caninitiate our program with Technical Readiness Level (TRL) 5-6. Validation of theprototype was on a piloted aircraft by a second airborne AOS analyzer system of the samespecifications and by flask samples analyzed by NOAA/GMD. Observations, some reachingaltitudes of 26,000' ASL, were referred to the WMO scale of CO2 DMF by use of referencegases. As a result of prior technological and scientific work, our Phase I program canpresent a detailed plan for achievement of TRL 9.

SBIR PROGRAM - WIDE AREA COVERAGE WITH MANNED AIRCRAFT, OR EXISTING UAS, REQUIRESEXPENSIVE LOGISTICAL OPERATIONS AND MANY FLIGHT SORTIES, WHICH ARE MADE ESPECIALLYDIFFICULT IF OPERATING FROM REMOTE AIRFIELDS IN INHOSPITABLE CLIMATES.

SBIR/STTR Program - With the ever increasing complexity and duration ofInternational Space Station (ISS) missions, along with planned lunar and Martianmissions, the need for more advance capabilities for monitoring the astronaut crewenvironment becomes ever more critical. Accompanying this is an unprecedented need forreduction in instrumentation size, weight, and power consumption. Recent advances insensor technology have led to the development of miniature analytical instruments.However, many of these systems require a means of producing a vacuum with pressures under1 Torr to either supply a rough vacuum or to back a high vacuum pump such as a moleculardrag pump or turbo pump. Unfortunately, currently available rough vacuum pumps remainlarge, heavy, power hungry and unreliable. Lynntech proposes to develop a long-life,robust, low-power, miniature rough vacuum pump for trace gas contaminant monitors.

SBIR PROGRAM - TO DEVELOP A SUITE OF SOFTWARE TOOLS FOR THE ANALYSIS OF SAR ANDINSAR DATA, FOCUSED ON HAVING A ROBUST AND ADOPTED CAPABILITY WELL IN PLACE FORSCIENTISTS BY THE ERA OF THE NASA DESDYNI SPACEBORNE SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR (SAR)MISSION.

In collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology and its industrialpartners, proposes to develop and demonstrate innovative technologies to integrateanomaly detection and failure prognosis algorithms into automated fault mitigationstrategies for advanced aircraft controls. Traditional reactive fault tolerant controlapproaches fail to provide optimal fault mitigation over a long period of time toguarantee the integrity of the platform for the mission duration. We will create ageneric simulation environment to demonstrate fault detection and progression at thecomponent level, using electromechanical actuators as a testbench. The proposed AnomalyDetection/Mitigation system accepts sensor inputs, extracts features from raw data andemploys an anomaly detection module to determine the presence of an anomaly withperformance guarantees; a prognostic routine, built on Bayesian estimation (particlefiltering) techniques to estimate the remaining useful life of the component; finally, amitigation strategy trades off between performance and control authority to extend thelife of the failing component until the mission is completed. This innovativeprognostics-enhanced approach to fault mitigation uses Model Predictive Controltechniques running in real time. Core algorithms will be implemented on embedded systemsand used in hardware-in-the-loop demonstrations.

SBIR PROGRAM - NUVOTRONICS HAS DEVELOPED AND OPTIMIZED THE POLYSTRATATM PROCESS FORTHE FABRICATION OF INTRICATE MICROWAVE AND MILLIMETER-WAVE DEVICES.

SBIR PROGRAM - TO DESIGN A WATER PROPERTIES SENSOR (WPS) SENSING SYSTEM TOSYNCHRONOUSLY MEASURE THE SPECTRAL INHERENT AND APPARENT OPTICAL PROPERTIES AND THEPHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF OCEANIC, COASTAL, AND FRESH WATER.

SBIR PROGRAM - METAL MATRIX COMPOSITE (MMC) MATERIALS OFFER TREMENDOUS POTENTIALFOR LIGHTWEIGHT PROPELLANT AND PRESSURANT TANKAGE FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS.

To adapt actively controlled suspension technology developed by the University forElectromechanics (CEM) for high performance off-road vehicles. Team will develop aconcept design for an actively controlled dramatically improves mobility for MER and MSLscale rovers.

SBIR PROGRAM - TO EXPAND ITS CURRENT NASA PHASE 2 SBIR HANDHELD FLUOROMETER ANDBONE MARKER FLUORESCENCE RESONANCE ENERGY TRANSFER (FRET)-DNA APTAMER ASSAY SYSTEM TOINCLUDE DETECTION OF BACTERIA, FUNGI, AND PARASITES THAT MAY CONTAMINATE ASTRONAUTS'WATER SUPPLIES.

SBIR PROGRAM - TO INVESTIGATE INFORMATION PROCESSING AND DELIVERY TECHNOLOGIES TOPROVIDE NEAR-REAL-TIME WEB-BASED ACCESS TO SATELLITE DATA FROM THE NATIONALPOLAR-ORBITING ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE SYSTEM (NPOESS) PREPARATORY PROJECT (NPP).

SBIR PROGRAM - TO DEVELOP SELF-DEPLOYING, COMPOSITE STRUCTURES FOR LUNAR HABITATS,BASED ON CRG'S VERITEX TM MATERIALS.

SBIR PROGRAM - NASA needs narrow linewidth lasers in the 1.5 or 2 micron wavelengthregime for Lidar applications. The laser should be tunable by several nm and frequencymodulated by 5GHz.

SBIR PROGRAM - TO DESIGN AND BUILD SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED LASER FREQUENCY LOCKINGAND CONTROL SYSTEMS THAT WILL BE SUITABLE FOR ASCENDS AND OTHER NASA SENSING NEEDS.

SBIR PROGRAM - NEW LASER GAIN MEDIUM BY A REVOLUTIONARY CERAMIC LASER MATERIALTECHNOLOGY WHERE THE HOST CERAMIC IS HIGHLY TRANSPARENT, ACTIVE AND POSSESS ELECTRO-OPTICCHARACTER ITSELF.

SBIR PROGRAM - SIMULATION-BASED DESIGN OPTIMIZATION HAS BEEN STEADILY MATURING OVERTHE PAST TWO DECADES, BUT NOT WITHOUT ITS OWN UNIQUE AND PERSISTENT CHALLENGES.

SBIR PROGRAM - METHODOLOGY TO INCORPORATE VARIABLE FIDELITY STRUCTURAL MODELS INTOSTEADY AND UNSTEADY AEROELASTIC AND AEROSERVOELASTIC ANALYSES IN ORDER TO UTILIZE THEAPPROPRIATE LEVEL OF FIDELITY FOR THE PROBLEM AT HAND. SOME AEROELASTIC PROBLEMS REQUIREDETAILED FINITE ELEMENT MODELING OF THE STRUCTURE AND SERVOELASTIC SYSTEMS, OR A DETAILEDFEM MAY BE THE ONLY STRUCTURAL MODEL AVAILABLE.

SBIR PROGRAM - SURFACE-BORNE TIME-OF-RECEPTION MEASUREMENTS (STORM) SYSTEM AS AMETHOD TO LOCATE THE POSITION OF LIGHTNING STRIKES ON AEROSPACE VEHICLES. INITIALLYDEVELOPED AS A HYPERVELOCITY IMPACT LOCATION SYSTEM, THE BASELINE TECHNOLOGY LENDS ITSELFTO SIMPLE ADAPTATION FOR LIGHTNING LOCATION

SBIR/STTR Program - Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) are critical for futureflagship exploration missions in space and on planetary surfaces. Small improvements inthe RPS performance, weight, size, and/or reliability can have a dramatic effect on thescientific capability of the vehicle and the overall mission costs. RadioisotopeThermophotovoltaic (RTPV) energy converters are a particular type of RPS that directlyconverts the heat produced by a General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) to electrical powerusing a specialized Photovoltaic (PV) cell. A key element in an RTPV system is the powerconversion electronics system that efficiently converts the low-voltage current from eachPV cell into useable, stable bus voltage for powering spacecraft systems despite issuessuch as non-uniform illumination, PV cell degradation, and decay of the GPHS source. Inthis project, Creare and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) propose todevelop an advanced, multi-channel maximum power point tracking module (MPPT) that isoptimized for RTPV systems. The converter will provide stable output voltage from a16-cell PV array that, when coupled with advanced PV technology of the RTPV system, willprovide high system efficiency. In Phase I, we will design a prototype power trackingmodule, which will be fully characterized for conversion efficiency. We will also assessthe impact of this new MPPT on the overall RTPV system design and performance.

SBIR PROGRAM - THIS SBIR PROJECT ADDRESSES THE NEED FOR A SYSTEM THAT WILL PROVIDEAUTOMATED LUNAR SURFACE STABILIZATION VIA HYBRID MICROWAVE HEATING. SURFACE STABILIZATIONIS PARAMOUNT TO FUTURE LUNAR MISSIONS DUE TO SEVERE COMPLICATIONS FROM DUST ON THE APOLLOSPACE MISSIONS.

SBIR PROGRAM - DEVELOPMENT OF PASSIVE SURFACE ACOUSTIC WAVE (SAW) TEMPERATURESENSORS WITH ENHANCED SENSITIVITY AND DETECTION RANGE FOR NASA APPLICATION TO REMOTEWIRELESS SENSING OF TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTIONS IN COMPOSITE OVERWRAPPED PRESSURE VESSELS(COPVS) AND DEVELOPMENT FLIGHT INSTRUMENTATION (DFI) FOR TEST FACILITIES FOR LARGE AREACOMPOSITE COMPONENT VALIDATION TESTING.

SBIR PHASE I - BUILD A COMPACT, RUGGED FIELD DEPLOYABLE LASER PHOTOACOUSTICSPECTROMETRIC SENSOR FOR CONTINUOUS REAL TIME MEASUREMENTS OF MUTLIPLE CHEMICALCOMPONENTS AND PERFORM TESTS TO QUALIFY IT FOR DNAMIC MONITORING.

STTR PHASE I - DEVLOPMENT OF NOVEL METAL-OXIDE-CARBON NANOCOMPOSITES FORAPPLICATION IN PSUEDOCAPACITIVE ELECTROCHEMICAL SUPERCAPACITORS.

STTR PHASE I - DEVELOPMENT OF A WIDE-BANDGAP GAP-BASED SPACE SOLAR CELL CAPABLE OFEFFICIENT OPERATION TEMPERATURES ABOVE 300 DEGREES C.

SBIR PROGRAM - TO DEVELOP THE ADVANCED CARBOTHERMAL ELECTRIC (ACE) REACTOR TOEFFICIENTLY EXTRACT OXYGEN FROM LUNAR REGOLITH. UNLIKE STATE-OF-THE-ART CARBOTHERMALREACTORS THAT USE CONCENTRATED SOLAR ENERGY OR LASER ENERGY TO HEAT THE REGOLITH, THE ACEREACTOR USES NEW INNOVATIVE ELECTRIC RESISTANT ELEMENTS TO HEAT THE REGOLITH.

SBIR/STTR Program - The proposed innovation utilizes carbon nanotubes (CNTs) coatedwith pseudo-capacitive MnO2 material as nano-composite electrode and ionic electrolytefor the construction of ultracapacitors. This novel approach of using nano-structuredCNTs architectures provides high surface area of attachment of MnO2 nano-particles tomaximize the charge efficiency and power capacity and to reduce series resistance.Preliminary results at Vanderbilt University using this CNTs/ MnO2 nano-composite aselectrode of an ultracapacitor has demonstrated enhanced capacitor behavior of >400Xover pristine CNTs as electrode.<P>During Phase I, we will demonstrate in the laboratory that the proposed novel concept isfeasible and measure the power and energy generation capacity, efficiency, andcharging/discharging cycle durability. The key factor to successful exploitation of theCNT/ MnO2 nano-structured composite for ultracapacitor applications is closely related tofurther understanding and control of the physics, materials, and micro-fabricationtechnology. The proposed Phase I work provides a systematic, logical, and coherentinvestigation of the material issue, device fabrication, characterization, simulation,evaluation, and optimization to meet high power requirements.

SPACECRAFT AND LUNAR BASES GENERATE A VARIETY OF WASTES CONTAINING WATER, INCLUDINGFOOD WASTES, FECES, AND BRINES. DISPOSAL OF THESE WASTES, AS WELL AS RECOVERY OF WATER,IS NECCESSARY. HOWEVER, EVAPORATION OF WATER ALSO EVAPORATES COMPOUNDS WITH FOUL ODORS,SOME OF WHICH ARE MUCH MORE VOLATILE THAN WATER.

SBIR PHASE I - INNOVATIVE ADVANCED INSULATION SYSTEM, WRAPPED IMLI WHICH COULDPROVIDE HIGH PERFORMANCE THERMAL INSULATION FOR CRYOGENIC FEED LINES.

SBIR PROGRAM - One of the CO2 reduction technologies currently being developed byNASA is the CO2 and Moisture Removal Amine Swing-bed System (CAMRAS). One of thedisadvantages of the CAMRAS for long duration missions is that it removes moisture inaddition to CO2.

STTR PHASE I - CHEMICAL MICRO-PROPULSION IS BEST SUITED FOR USE AS PRIMARY THRUST,ORBITAL INSERTION AND ATTITUDE CONTROL BECAUSE OF ITS HIGH ENERGY DENSITY.

FIBER BRAGG GRATING INTEGRATED STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING SENSOR SYSTEM CAPABLEOF PROVIDING IN-SITU CRACK DETECTION, LOCATION AND QUANTIFICATION OF DAMAGE, AS WELL ASVALIDATING STRUCTURAL MODELS USING RECENT ADVANCES IN NON-CONTACT, NON-DESTRUCTIVEDYNAMIC TESTING OF COMPOSITE STRUCTURES.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY DESIGN, ANALYSIS, AND OPTIMIZATION TOOLS TODAY PROCESSES LIMITEDDISCIPLINES WITH LITTLE FIDELITY MODELING CAPABLITY. THESE TOOLS ARE TYPICALLY DEVELOPEDAS A SINGLE LARGE SOFTWARE APPLICATION THAT PERFORMS ANALYSIS FOR ALL DISCIPLINES BUT HASLITTLE OR NO CAPABILITY TO INTEGRATE MULTIFIDELITY AND MULTI-DISCIPLINE.

SBIR PHASE I - BETTER PERFORMING ABLATIVE THERMAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS THAN CURRENTLYAVAILABLE ARE NEEDED TO SATISFY REQUIREMENTS OF THE MOST SEVERE CREW EXPLORATIONVEHICLES.

NSSC intends to make several contract awards to procure research and developmentservices in support of the small business program funded under the Recovery Act. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. This announcement will not result in a Request for Proposal; this announcement is forinformational purposes only. All questions and/or concerns must submitted in writing to NSSC-SBIR-STTR@nasa.govTelephone questions will not be accepted. This procurement is a total small business set-aside. See Note 1. An ombudsman has been appointed -- See NASA Specific Note "B".