CIF 2017

Unlocking Memory Metal Power Generation & Energy Conversion

PM: Scott Jensen	Fiscal Year: 2017	Status: Active

Elector-Thermal Power Generator Prototype 1

A previous CIF project entitled "Electro-Thermal Actuation Control for Unlocking Memory Metal Power" achieved a technological breakthrough with thermal actuation solely by Electro Fluid Acceleration. Utilizing the results of lab tests, the goal of this project is to design, build and demonstrate a fully contained, lightweight prototype memory metal generator. This prototype will target a 6000 RPM cyclic rate and a 1 kW electric power output.

Electro-Thermal Power Generator Prototype 1

Radionuclide Adsorption Demonstration System

PM: Glenn Guzik	Fiscal Year: 2017	Status: Completed

Schematic of the test system implemented by USM for nitrogen and helium balance gas flows

The project developed a bench-top system to quantify the adsorption characteristics of krypton on activated charcoal when the krypton is present at low concentrations (under 1000 ppm) in a mixture with a carrier balance gas. The adsorption of krypton is of particular interest because the element is the smallest noble gas and therefore most difficult to separate. Krypton is anticipated to be present in the exhaust produced by a nuclear thermal propulsion engine. The results of the project suggest that the investigated model conservatively predicts breakthrough behavior at low temperatures and could lead to improved adsorption modeling capabilities for future projects.

Schematic of the test system implemented by USM for nitrogen and helium balance gas flows

Autonomous Operations Design Guidelines for Flight Hardware

PM: Fernando Figueroa	Fiscal Year: 2017	Status: Completed

Flight Control Room at JSC

The use of autonomy for exploration and science missions, as well as for ground operations, is a NASA advanced capabilities requirement for travel beyond low earth orbit. It is critical that cutting-edge software that enables thinking-autonomy must run and be certified to operate in flight hardware/software platforms. The objective of this CIF project was to port G2 and the NASA Platform for Autonomous Systems to a Linux operating system and a single board computer path-to-flight hardware; then characterize the performance metrics of the software, including storage, speed, processor, and memory usage.

Flight control room at JSC

Investigation into Propellant Delivery Systems for 1000lbf CubeSat Boost Engine

PM: Jody Woods	Fiscal Year: 2017	Status: Active

Major Hardware Components

Launch services for CubeSats is a new and rapidly growing market with dozens of commercial players and millions of dollars in investment over the past few years. This project seeks to evaluate the performance of a breadboard propellant delivery system based on a novel approach with potential to provide better performance-to-weight, performance-to-price, reliability and reusability.

CubeSats such as Montana State's Explorer 1 can benefit from propulsion for guidence and control.

Development of Advanced Detonation Modeling Methods for Hydrocarbon Propellants

PM: Danny Allgood	Fiscal Year: 2017	Status: Active

Blast resulting from hydrocarbon propellant

Ground-testing and launch of chemical rocket propulsion systems involve the potential for high-energy explosions. The ability to predict severity of explosions and explosive events is critical for safety & success. This project leveraged work from a CIF FY15 project to develop and validate a tool for modeling hydrogen detonation and blast wave propagations in test facilities. This methodology will be extended and validated for hydrogen fuels.

Blast resulting from hydrocarbon propellant during Space-X launch.