Advanced Transport Technologies for NASA Thermal Management/Control Systems. The goal of this research is to develop reliable, light-weight, low-power thermal management systems to precisely control the temperatures of critical NASA electronic systems. This research is developing a high-performance, two-phase mechanically pumped fluid loop (2φMPFL; Figure 1) to maintain the temperatures of several components within precise limits, even if their heat generations vary greatly.
The 4 mission patches below were developed by Clark County School District students for the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP) and are headed to the International Space Station on SpaceX-15, which is scheduled to launch on June 28 and may return by the end of July. Please note that the OFK payload is always one of the last payloads unloaded, so the patches will most likely be returned to the communities just before the end of 2018.
Socially Aware Navigation Using Nonlinear Multi-objective Optimization. For socially assistive robots (SAR) to be accepted into complex and stochastic human environments, it is important to account for subtle social norms. For this project, we proposed a novel approach to socially aware navigation (SAN), which garnered significant interest from the Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) community. We used a multi-objective optimization tool called the Pareto Concavity Elimination Transformation (PaCcET) to capture nonlinear human navigation behavior, which is a novel contribution to the community.
Congratulations to Giovanny Vazquez, University of Nevada, Las Vegas for being selected as a Summer 2018 Research Associate (RA) at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center! RA sponsored by Nevada NASA Space Grant Consortium.
Particle Detection and Characterization for Spacecraft Fire Safety. Detecting smoke at the earliest stage of a fire is critical for spacecraft safety. Conventional spacecraft smoke detectors are not optimized for space fires and therefore have lower sensitivity and higher false alarm rates. This project established spacecraft fire safety research capabilities in the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) by extending the combustion laboratory capability and leveraging the expertise of aerosol instrumentation, particle characterization, and fire science in NSHE.
Analysis of Iron-rich X-ray Amorphous Weathering Products on Earth and Comparisons to Measurements from Mars. This funding supported research in the recently deglaciated ultramafic rocks in the Klamath Mountains, as well as in the arid Pickhandle Gulch in Nevada. Weathered materials from these environments were separated and analyzed for comparisons with weathered materials from Mars.
Desert Brine Microorganisms and Abiotic Oxidants: New Analog Research Capacity for Nevada. Our goal is to evaluate rare natural brines for their potential utility as analogs to explore the physiological limits for life.
Knowledge is power: Protecting the desert tortoise featured in “Headlines” in the May 4th, 2018 NSF Science360 News. NEXUS project uses ecological knowledge to enhance the habitat quality for threatened desert wildlife
NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is seeking subject matter experts to serve as mail-in and/or panel reviewers of proposals to ROSES and other SMD solicitations. Just follow the links below to the volunteer review forms and click the boxes to indicate the topics in which you consider yourself to be a subject matter expert. If your skills match our needs for that review, we will contact you to discuss scheduling.