NASA Gives 13 Universities Space Tech Research Grants

Thirteen universities recently received grants from NASA’s Space Technology Research Grants Program worth as much as $500,000 each. The goal of this program is to accelerate the development of space technologies in their earliest stages to enable future systems capabilities and missions for NASA, other government agencies, and the commercial space sector.

“NASA’s Early Stage Innovations grants provide U.S. universities the opportunity to conduct research and technology development to advance NASA’s scientific discovery and exploration goals,” said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington. “Partnering with academia in advancing these critical areas of research ensures we are engaging the best and brightest minds in enabling the agency’s future robotic and human space flight missions.”

The following selected proposals address transformational technologies in a variety of areas:

High Fidelity Modeling of Parachute Inflation Dynamics

• An Innovative High Fidelity Multidisciplinary Computational Framework for Parachute Inflation Dynamics–Stanford University
• Adaptive FSI of flexible parachutes under strong dynamic loading using strongly coupled shell mechanics and large-eddy simulation with analytical curvilinear hybrid meshing–University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Modeling and Simulation-Based Certification of Additive Manufacturing Processing Parameters

• Modeling of Microstructure Formation in Additively Manufactured IN718 with Emphasis on Porosity Prediction–Carnegie Mellon University
• Prediction of Microstructure Evolution in DMLM processed Inconel 718 with Part Scale Simulation–University of Pittsburgh
• Certification of Additive Manufacturing Processing Parameters through Physics-Based Predictive Simulation of Process-Defects-Microstructure–The Ohio State University

Electric Propulsion Physics Theory and Model Development

• Modeling of the Nanometric Regime of Cone-Jets to Improve the Design and Understanding of Electrospray Thrusters–University of California, Irvine

Modeling Radiation Failure Mechanisms in Wide-bandgap Semiconductor Materials to Power Devices

• Modeling, Testing, and Simulation of Heavy-Ion Basic Mechanisms in Silicon Carbide Power Devices–Vanderbilt University
• Development of 2D and 3D transient electro-thermal computational models to predict the radiation failures in SiC-based Schottky diodes and power field-effect transistors (FETs)–Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Advanced Telescope Architecture Technologies and Optical Components

• Laser Guide Star for Large Aperture Segmented Space Telescopes–Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• High Spatial and Temporal Frequency Active Surfaces for Diffraction Controlled Telescopes–California Institute of Technology

Autonomous Planning for Human Spaceflight

• Technologies for Mixed-Initiative Plan Management for Human Space Flight–Georgia Institute of Technology
• Explicable Planning and Replanning for Human-in-the-loop Decision Support–Arizona State University
• Explainable and Scalable Planning with Probabilistic Temporal Logic Specifications–University of Texas at Austin

For more information, check out the press release:  https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-announces-early-stage-innovation-space-technology-research-grants.