Small Business/SBIR

SBIR Success at Marshall

Company Formed: Two Products Commercialized

A SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) agreement with Marshall Space Flight Center and Integrated Systems, Inc. (ISI), of Utica, New York, has resulted in the commercialization of two products. One of the products has led to forming a new company.

A unique Kalman filter that enhances the ability to perform the proximity-sensing phase of the Automated Rendezvous and Capture (AR&C) mission was developed under an SBIR contract. This technology enables a robot supply vehicle to automatically dock with and service Earth-orbiting satellites or the International Space Station.

The company used the technology as the basis of a commercial object position and attitude determination system that simultaneously tracks an object's linear and angular movement in all six degrees of freedom. ISI further extended the technology to develop the ImageExpressª workstation, ultimately forming a separate company, Sensory Applications, Inc. (SAI), to specifically market the system and related technologies. ImageExpress provides a simple-to-use digital mainframe motion analysis workstation for streamlining design and production processes. Governmental and scientific applications include automatic collision avoidance, automated supertanker docking, automated aircraft landing, robot control and machine vision.

Essentially, the filter can be used for any application that measures resolvable angle data from known targets that must estimate relative position and attitude. Viable utilizations also include limb motion analysis, as well as assembly line position and crash dummy motion analyses.

Technology Expected to Save Millions

An SBIR technology being evaluated by the automotive industry could save NASA millions of dollars in air-cleaning space flight life support. Marshall Space Flight Center is field-testing the use of a small, metal monolith as a potential component of the International Space Station's Trace Contaminant Control System. The monolith, a catalyst-coated metal honeycomb of unique geometry that enables more efficient direct electrical heating and enhanced catalytic activity over conventional catalyst substrate technology, will result in energy and mass savings for the International Space Station.

Termed as Microlith®, the technology could save NASA an estimated $31 million over a 15-year period. More than a dozen Microlith-related U.S. patents have been issued, while a number of foreign and other U.S. patents are pending.

Precision Combustion, Inc., of New Haven, Connecticut, is employing a small amount of electrical heating of this novel, ultra-lightweight metal catalyst substrate to achieve more than 99-percent destruction of difficult-to-remove trace organic contaminants at low air inlet temperatures. Current research and development is also under way with NASA on producing a high specific surface area washcoat that would extend the operation of the technology to much lower light-off temperature applications. The washcoat is a specially formulated chemical coating that permits an increased amount of a reactive catalyst to be more evenly and more durably applied to the metal monolith.

Nonheated versions of the technology are being evaluated by major auto makers for automotive emission concerns. For the air-cleaning systems designer, the Microlith enables the use of sophisticated catalysts, while ensuring safe, relatively low-cost, low-temperature operation. A number of major corporations are conducting joint development programs with Precision Combustion on customer-specific applications.

Oxidation System Marketed to Private Sector

An effective catalytic oxidation system to remove contaminants during long-term manned space missions has reached its primary SBIR Phase II goal and is being marketed to the private sector. A contract between Marshall Space Flight Center and Umpqua Research Company in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, originally focused on the stringent water quality requirements of long-term manned space flight, with the manufacture of light hardware as the primary Phase II goal. The main focus for near-term commercialization is the International Space Station. Continued sales are expected for long-term missions to the Moon and Mars.

The U.S. Air Force has also funded the technology for the destruction of environmental contaminants associated with aviation fuel, solvents, soluble propellant and munitions byproducts. The National Science Foundation has supported the effort for phenol, trichlorethylene, methylene blue and benzene contaminants.

The energy-efficient operation of the catalytic oxidation system offers excellent heat recovery, with contaminant destruction depending primarily on operation temperature and catalyst contact time. It destroys most waterborne organic compounds. Soluble alcohols, ketones, amides, amines, aromatics and halocarbon levels have been oxidized using dissolved elemental oxygen to form carbon dioxide, water and constituent inorganic species. At the same time, the system has the capability to eliminate such inorganic contaminants as nitrite.

Umpqua's most recent efforts have been applied to the remediation of ammonium perchlorate–contaminated groundwaters associated with the manufacture of solid rocket fuels, munitions and fireworks. Calgon Carbon Corporation has signed an exclusive license for use of the technology in treating perchlorate-containing brines that have resulted from the regeneration of ion-exchange beds used to remove perchlorate from groundwater. An initial pilot scale test is in progress at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Additional Phase III development work will be funded by Calgon to reduce catalysts' costs and to minimize the formation of unwanted reaction byproducts.

Company Becomes World-Class Developer

This shows a front view (top) and a rear view (bottom) of the catalytic oxidation test unit.

In an SBIR effort with Marshall Space Flight Center, Foster-Miller, Inc., of Waltham, Massachusetts, has established itself as a world-class developer of vapor compressor systems and equipment for novel applications. At the same time, the company has identified ways to utilize waste heat and to reduce thermal management system weight for manned space flight applications.

The contract has resulted in a list of accomplishments for Foster-Miller. Initially, the company constructed a heat pump heater for crew hygiene water. The pump, utilizing waste heat from the thermal bus, reduced water-heating power requirements by 4.9 kilowatts. Then the company developed a proprietary oil-refrigerant separator for use in microgravity, a key component for the use of heat pumps in space. Next came the design and testing of a two-phase spacecraft thermal bus that employed a binary refrigerant mixture. The unique control system developed for the thermal bus resulted in an 85-percent decrease in pumping water.

In addition, Foster-Miller's efforts have developed unique expertise in the fields of refrigerant chemistry and application engineering for the company. Commercial applications of the product include engineering and consultation for the electric utility and supermarket industries to develop and test replacements for ozone-depleting refrigerants for commercial refrigeration and the development of a refrigerant mixture replacement for R-12 in automotive air conditioning.

Research and development activities concern various government agencies. For NASA, efforts entail the design, fabrication and testing of a high-lift heat pump for future lunar and Martian explorations, along with the investigation of modular heat pumps for manned and unmanned space flights. Other government applications include multiple tasks for the Department of Defense. One is a refrigerant replacement for silo-based missile guidance systems, and another focuses on microclimate and human-portable personal cooling systems. The point of contact at Foster-Miller is David H. Walker at 781/684-4237.

For more information, contact Helen Stinson at Marshall Space Flight Center.
Call: 256/544-7239, Fax: 256/544-3151, E-mail: helen.stinson@msfc.nasa.gov
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