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Award ID | Description | Recipient | Total Value | Awarding Agency | Funding Agency | Set Aside | NAICS | PSC | Award Date | Start Date | End Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) ON BRAYTON CYCLE HEAT ENGINE FOR SATELLITE POWER | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $248,055 | WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICES (WHS) | IMMEDIATE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE | — | 541715Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) | AC11NATIONAL DEFENSE R&D SERVICES; DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE - MILITARY; BASIC RESEARCH | Sep 13, 2022 | Sep 26, 2022 | Jul 31, 2023 | ||
| MULTI-MEGAWATT SUPERCONDUCTING MOTOR FOR ELECTRIC AIRCRAFT | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $124,943 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | 541715Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) | AR11SPACE R&D SERVICES; SPACE FLIGHT, RESEARCH AND SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES; BASIC RESEARCH | Aug 12, 2020 | Aug 31, 2020 | Mar 1, 2021 | ||
| NEURAL SPACE NAVIGATOR | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $124,731 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | 541715Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) | AR11SPACE R&D SERVICES; SPACE FLIGHT, RESEARCH AND SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES; BASIC RESEARCH | Aug 5, 2020 | Aug 31, 2020 | Mar 1, 2021 | ||
| THIS PROPOSAL FOCUSES ON THE SUPERCONDUCTING COILS SUBSYSTEM, A CRITICAL SUBSYSTEM FOR THE PFRC REACTOR AND DIRECT FUSION DRIVE AND OTHER FUSION AND ELECTRIC PROPULSION TECHNOLOGIES. OUR STRATEGY FOR PFRC HAS EVOLVED SINCE OUR PHASE I PROPOSAL, AND WE NOW PROPOSE A HYBRID MAGNET APPROACH: A COMBINATION OF SO-CALLED DRY CONDUCTION-COOLED LOW-TEMPERATURE (LTS) SUPERCONDUCTOR MAGNETS AND HIGH-TEMPERATURE (HTS) MAGNETS THAT ARE OPERATED AT LOW TEMPERATURE FOR MAXIMUM CURRENT AT HIGH FIELDS. CONDUCTION-COOLED LTS MAGNETS ARE BECOMING STATE-OF-THE-ART FOR MRI MACHINES, AND REDUCE COOLANT REQUIREMENTS FROM 1000 S OF LITERS OF HELIUM OVER THE LIFETIME OF THE MACHINE TO A FEW LITERS IN A CLOSED CRYOCOOLER. THIS IS WITH A MASS PENALTY FOR COOLING OF ONLY ABOUT 5%. THESE LOWCOOLANT LTS MAGNETS, PRODUCING A FIELD OF 5 TO 6 T, WILL HAVE EXCELLENT SAFETY MARGIN IN BOTH CRITICAL CURRENT AND FIELD AND WILL HAVE A CLEAR PATH TO SPACE APPLICATIONS. PFRC ALSO REQUIRES HIGHER-FIELD NOZZLE MAGNETS PRODUCING FIELDS OF 20 TO 30 T. THESE WOULD UTILIZE HTS SUPERCONDUCTORS OPERATED AT LOW TEMPERATURES OF ABOUT 10 K. ALL COILS WILL REQUIRE HIGHLY EFFICIENT COOLING SYSTEMS, EXCELLENT MECHANICAL SUPPORT, AND OVERALL LOW MASS INCLUDING STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS. OUR PARTNER, PPPL, IS THE ONLY INSTITUTION IN THE WORLD WHERE ACTIVE RESEARCH ON THE PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY OF SMALL, STEADY-STATE FUSION DEVICES IS BEING PERFORMED. WE PROPOSE A PHASE II EXPERIMENT TO BUILD A 0.5 TESLA LTS MAGNET WITH A SPLIT PAIR OF WINDING PACKS, TO MIMIC A SUBSET OF THE PFRC MAGNETS. A SEPARATE PULSED COPPER TEST COIL TO SIMULATION THE PLASMA WILL BE USED TO STUDY THE EFFECTS ON THE MAGNET OF FRC FORMATION, WHICH WILL OCCUR IN A FRACTION OF A SECOND AND RESULT IN LARGE INCREASES IN MAGNETIC FIELD AT THE WINDINGS. IN PARALLEL, WE WILL CONTINUE TO ADVANCE THE DESIGN OF THE HTS NOZZLE MAGNETS, SEEKING THE LOWEST MASS SOLUTION. | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $749,981 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | 541715Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) | AR11SPACE R&D SERVICES; SPACE FLIGHT, RESEARCH AND SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES; BASIC RESEARCH | Sep 20, 2018 | Sep 20, 2018 | Feb 26, 2021 | ||
| GRC HAS A NEED TO EXPAND ITS SCENIC SIMULATION TOOLSET CAPABILITY TO GENERATE MISSION TRAJECTORY PROFILES BASED ON LOW-ENERGY TRANSFER METHODS, THROUGH A SBIR PH III AWARD TO A PAST SBIR CONTRACT TO PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEM. SCENIC UTILIZES GSFC ORBIT DETERMINATION TOOLBOX (ODTBX) FOR ITS SIMULATION CAPABILITIES. THESE CAPABILITIES REFERENCE USER-PROVIDED BINARY SPICE KERNEL (BSP) FORMAT FILES WHICH PROVIDE MOTION/VELOCITY PROFILE VIA A LOOKUP FUNCTIONALITY AS A FUNCTION OF USER-SELECTED TIME. THERE IS A NEED FOR LOW-ENERGY THRUST TRAJECTORIES THAT CAN OUTPUT MOTION PROFILES USING THE STANDARD BSP FORMAT, SO THOSE MOTIONS CAN BE DIRECTLY UTILIZED IN THE EXISTING SCENIC CAPABILITIES WITHOUT ADDITIONAL MODIFICATIONS. SCENIC/ODTBX USES THE LATEST EPHEMERIS BSP FILES FROM JPL SO SCENIC WOULD WANT THE LOW ENERGY TOOLBOX CAPABILITIES TO ALSO UTILIZE THOSE SAME GRAVITATIONAL BODY DATASETS FOR CONSISTENCY. GRC WOULD LIKE THE LOW ENERGY TOOLBOX CAPABILITY TO BE PROVIDED AS PART OF THE DELIVERABLE, WHILE ALSO PROVIDING DOCUMENTATION AND TRAINING TO SCENIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEM ENGINEERS SO THAT THE TOOLBOX CAN BE UTILIZED AFTER THE COMPLETION OF THE TASK. PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS WILL PORT THE LOW ENERGY MISSION PLANNING TOOLBOX (LEMPT), DEVELOPED UNDER A NASA PHASE I SBIR | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $59,832 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | 541715Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) | AR11SPACE R&D SERVICES; SPACE FLIGHT, RESEARCH AND SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES; BASIC RESEARCH | Sep 7, 2018 | Sep 7, 2018 | Mar 6, 2019 | ||
| THE DIRECT FUSION DRIVE (DFD) CONCEPT PROVIDES GAME-CHANGING PROPULSION AND POWER CAPABILITIES THAT WOULD REVOLUTIONIZE INTERPLANETARY TRAVEL. DFD IS BASED ON THE PRINCETON FIELD-REVERSED CONFIGURATION (PFRC) FUSION REACTOR UNDER DEVELOPMENT AT THE PRINCETON PLASMA PHYSICS LABORATORY. THE MISSION CONTEXT WE ARE PROPOSING IS DELIVERY OF A PLUTO ORBITER WITH A LANDER. DFD PROVIDES HIGH THRUST TO ALLOW FOR REASONABLE TRANSIT TIMES TO PLUTO WHILE DELIVERING SUBSTANTIAL MASS TO ORBIT: 1000 KG DELIVERED IN 4 YEARS. SINCE DFD PROVIDES POWER AS WELL AS PROPULSION IN ONE INTEGRATED DEVICE, IT WILL ALSO PROVIDE AS MUCH AS 1 MW OF POWER TO THE PAYLOADS UPON ARRIVAL. THIS ENABLES HIGH-BANDWIDTH COMMUNICATION, POWERING OF THE LANDER FROM ORBIT, AND RADICALLY EXPANDED OPTIONS FOR INSTRUMENT DESIGN. THE DATA ACQUIRED BY NEW HORIZONS' RECENT PLUTO FLYBY IS JUST A TINY FRACTION OF THE SCIENTIFIC DATA THAT COULD BE GENERATED FROM AN ORBITER AND LANDER. ENGINE MODELING ACCOMPLISHED DURING PHASE I HAS SHOWN THAT WE CAN EXPECT 2.5 TO 5 N OF THRUST PER MEGAWATT OF FUSION POWER, WITH AN ISP OF ABOUT 10,000 SECONDS AND 200 KW AVAILABLE AS ELECTRICAL POWER. WE HAVE EVALUATED THE COMPONENTS OF THE PLUTO TRAJECTORY INCLUDING AN EARTH DEPARTURE SPIRAL, CONSTANT THRUST PLANAR TRANSFER, AND PLUTO INSERTION USING THESE THRUST AND ISP LEVELS, AND CONFIRMED THE PLAUSIBILITY OF THE PROPOSED MISSION. IN FACT, THE MISSION CAN DEPART FROM LEO WITH ABOUT THE MASS WE ORIGINALLY ESTIMATED FOR AN INTERPLANETARY INSERTION, WIDENING THE RANGE OF AVAILABLE LAUNCH VEHICLES AND REDUCING THE COST. THE KEY OBJECTIVE OF THE PHASE II PROPOSAL IS TO FURTHER ADVANCE THE DESIGN AND TRL OF SELECTED SUBSYSTEMS, SUCH AS THE SUPERCONDUCTING COILS, RF HEATING, AND SHIELDING. PPPL WILL PERFORM EXPERIMENTAL WORK ON THE EXISTING PFRC-2 TESTBED USING A GAS PUFF VALVE, TO FURTHER INVESTIGATE THE DYNAMICS OF THE THRUST AUGMENTATION SYSTEM (ADDITIONAL GAW FLOWING THROUGH THE FRC SCRAPE-OFFLAYER). WE WILL EXPLORE THE DESIGN OF A NO-THRUST MODE THAT CAPTURES AND REUSES THE PROPELLANT, POSSIBLY EXTRACTING MORE POWER WHILE IN ORBIT AROUND PLUTO. FINALLY, WE WILL DEVELOP A MODEL OF THE SYNCHROTRON RADIATION THAT IS SPECIFIC TO THE FRC CONFIGURATION, AS AVAILABLE MODELS ARE DERIVED FROM TOKAMAKS. DIRECT FUSION DRIVE IS A UNIQUE FUSION ENGINE CONCEPT WITH A PHYSICALLY FEASIBLE APPROACH THAT WOULD DRAMATICALLY INCREASE THE CAPABILITY OF OUTER PLANET MISSIONS. THE FUSION-ENABLED PLUTO MISSION PROPOSED HERE IS CREDIBLE, EXCITING, AND THE BENEFITS TO THIS AND ALL OUTER PLANET MISSIONS ARE DIFFICULT TO OVERSTATE. THE TRULY GAME-CHANGING LEVELS OF THRUST AND POWER IN A MODESTLY SIZED PACKAGE COULD INTEGRATE WITH OUR CURRENT LAUNCH INFRASTRUCTURE WHILE RADICALLY EXPANDING THE SCIENCE CAPABILITY OF THESE MISSIONS. | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $477,613 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | — | AR21 | Oct 17, 2017 | Oct 17, 2017 | May 9, 2019 | ||
| IGF::OT::IGF THIS PROPOSAL FOCUSES ON THE SUPERCONDUCTING COILS SUBSYSTEM, A CRITICAL SUBSYSTEM FOR THE PFRC REACTOR AND DIRECT FUSION DRIVE AND OTHER FUSION AND ELECTRIC PROPULSION TECHNOLOGIES. OUR GOAL WILL BE TO DESIGN SPACE COILS USING THE LATEST HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS. THE COILS WILL BE OPERATED AT MEDIUM TEMPERATURE, BETWEEN 20 AND 30 K, WHICH EASES THE COOLING REQUIREMENTS AND TEMPERATURE MARGINS COMPARED TO 4K LOW-TEMPERATURE CONDUCTORS. THIS ALSO INCREASES THE CRITICAL CURRENTS PROVIDING MORE MARGIN FOR NEUTRON RADIATION DAMAGE, POSSIBLY REDUCING SHIELDING. THE COILS WILL HAVE HIGHLY EFFICIENT COOLING SYSTEMS, BE LOW MASS AND REQUIRE MINIMUM STRUCTURAL MASS. BATH COOLING AND CONDUIT COOLING WILL BE COMPARED. THERE IS LIKELY AN OPTIMUM OPERATING TEMPERATURE WHICH MINIMIZES THE MASS OF BOTH THE CONDUCTORS, SHIELDING, AND COOLING SYSTEMS. GIVEN THE RAPID ADVANCEMENT OF HTS MATERIALS DETERMINING THE FEASIBILITY OF SUCH AN OPTIMAL COIL DESIGN REQUIRES DETAILED RESEARCH INTO THE STATE-OF-THE-ART. OUR PARTNER, PPPL, WILL PROVIDE EXPERTISE ON COIL SPECIFICATIONS AND MAGNET DESIGN. PPPL IS THE ONLY INSTITUTION IN THE WORLD WHERE ACTIVE RESEARCH ON THE PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY OF SMALL, STEADY-STATE FUSION DEVICES IS BEING PERFORMED. PSS WILL MANAGE THE DESIGN PROCESS AND STUDY CLOSED LOOP COOLING ISSUES. WE WILL DESIGN A PHASE II EXPERIMENT TO BUILD ONE OR MORE 2 TESLA COILS AND POTENTIALLY INTEGRATE THEM INTO THE EXISTING PLASMA EXPERIMENT AT PPPL. OUR EXAMPLE MISSION WILL BE A NEPTUNE ORBITER WHICH IS ON THE NASA ROADMAP AS A HIGH PRIORITY MISSION AND PRESENT A CHALLENGING ON-ORBIT RADIATION ENVIRONMENT. | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $124,973 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | 541712 | AR11SPACE R&D SERVICES; SPACE FLIGHT, RESEARCH AND SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES; BASIC RESEARCH | Jun 1, 2017 | Jun 9, 2017 | Jun 8, 2018 | ||
| IGF::OT::IGF HIGH POWER NUCLEAR FUSION PROPULSION SYSTEMS WILL REQUIRE HIGH EFFICIENCY RADIO-FREQUENCY HEATING SYSTEMS IN THE MHZ RANGE FOR PLASMA HEATING. THIS PROPOSAL IS FOR A NOVEL SCALABLE SOLID STATE CLASS E AMPLIFIER USING SILICON CARBIDE SWITCHING TRANSISTORS FOR PLASMA HEATING. THIS SYSTEM IS POTENTIALLY 100% EFFICIENT COMPARED TO 40% FOR LINEAR AMPLIFIERS AND CAN BE SCALED TO ANY DESIRED SIZE BY ADDING ADDITIONAL SEGMENTS IN PARALLEL. THE SYSTEM INCLUDES A NOVEL CLOSED LOOP FEEDBACK CONTROL SYSTEM AT THE ANTENNA AND FROM THE PLASMA. THIS ELIMINATES THE NEED FOR LOSSY TRANSFORMERS AND OTHER NON-IDEAL COMPONENTS. THE RF AMPLIFIER WILL BE PROTOTYPED IN PHASE I IN PREPARATION FOR A PLASMA HEATING EXPERIMENT IN PHASE II. | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $124,869 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | 541712 | AR11SPACE R&D SERVICES; SPACE FLIGHT, RESEARCH AND SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES; BASIC RESEARCH | Jun 1, 2017 | Jun 9, 2017 | Jun 8, 2018 | ||
| THE DIRECT FUSION DRIVE (DFD) CONCEPT PROVIDES GAME-CHANGING PROPULSION AND POWER CAPABILITIES THAT WOULD REVOLUTIONIZE INTERPLANETARY TRAVEL. DFD IS BASED ON THE PRINCETON FIELD-REVERSED CONFIGURATION (PFRC) FUSION REACTOR UNDER DEVELOPMENT AT THE PRINCETON PLASMA PHYSICS LABORATORY. THE MISSION CONTEXT WE ARE PROPOSING IS DELIVERY OF A PLUTO ORBITER WITH A LANDER. DFD PROVIDES HIGH THRUST TO ALLOW FOR REASONABLE TRANSIT TIMES TO PLUTO WHILE DELIVERING SUBSTANTIAL MASS TO ORBIT: 1000 KG DELIVERED IN 4 YEARS. SINCE DFD PROVIDES POWER AS WELL AS PROPULSION IN ONE INTEGRATED DEVICE, IT WILL ALSO PROVIDE AS MUCH AS 1 MW OF POWER TO THE PAYLOADS UPON ARRIVAL. THIS ENABLES HIGH-BANDWIDTH COMMUNICATION, POWERING OF THE LANDER FROM ORBIT, AND RADICALLY EXPANDED OPTIONS FOR INSTRUMENT DESIGN. THE DATA ACQUIRED BY NEW HORIZONS' RECENT PLUTO FLYBY IS JUST A TINY FRACTION OF THE SCIENTIFIC DATA THAT COULD BE GENERATED FROM AN ORBITER AND LANDER. ENGINE MODELING ACCOMPLISHED DURING PHASE I HAS SHOWN THAT WE CAN EXPECT 2.5 TO 5 N OF THRUST PER MEGAWATT OF FUSION POWER, WITH AN ISP OF ABOUT 10,000 SECONDS AND 200 KW AVAILABLE AS ELECTRICAL POWER. WE HAVE EVALUATED THE COMPONENTS OF THE PLUTO TRAJECTORY INCLUDING AN EARTH DEPARTURE SPIRAL, CONSTANT THRUST PLANAR TRANSFER, AND PLUTO INSERTION USING THESE THRUST AND ISP LEVELS, AND CONFIRMED THE PLAUSIBILITY OF THE PROPOSED MISSION. IN FACT, THE MISSION CAN DEPART FROM LEO WITH ABOUT THE MASS WE ORIGINALLY ESTIMATED FOR AN INTERPLANETARY INSERTION, WIDENING THE RANGE OF AVAILABLE LAUNCH VEHICLES AND REDUCING THE COST. THE KEY OBJECTIVE OF THE PHASE II PROPOSAL IS TO FURTHER ADVANCE THE DESIGN AND TRL OF SELECTED SUBSYSTEMS, SUCH AS THE SUPERCONDUCTING COILS, RF HEATING, AND SHIELDING. PPPL WILL PERFORM EXPERIMENTAL WORK ON THE EXISTING PFRC-2 TESTBED USING A GAS PUFF VALVE, TO FURTHER INVESTIGATE THE DYNAMICS OF THE THRUST AUGMENTATION SYSTEM (ADDITIONAL GAW FLOWING THROUGH THE FRC SCRAPE-OFFLAYER). WE WILL EXPLORE THE DESIGN OF A NO-THRUST MODE THAT CAPTURES AND REUSES THE PROPELLANT, POSSIBLY EXTRACTING MORE POWER WHILE IN ORBIT AROUND PLUTO. FINALLY, WE WILL DEVELOP A MODEL OF THE SYNCHROTRON RADIATION THAT IS SPECIFIC TO THE FRC CONFIGURATION, AS AVAILABLE MODELS ARE DERIVED FROM TOKAMAKS. DIRECT FUSION DRIVE IS A UNIQUE FUSION ENGINE CONCEPT WITH A PHYSICALLY FEASIBLE APPROACH THAT WOULD DRAMATICALLY INCREASE THE CAPABILITY OF OUTER PLANET MISSIONS. THE FUSION-ENABLED PLUTO MISSION PROPOSED HERE IS CREDIBLE, EXCITING, AND THE BENEFITS TO THIS AND ALL OUTER PLANET MISSIONS ARE DIFFICULT TO OVERSTATE. THE TRULY GAME-CHANGING LEVELS OF THRUST AND POWER IN A MODESTLY SIZED PACKAGE COULD INTEGRATE WITH OUR CURRENT LAUNCH INFRASTRUCTURE WHILE RADICALLY EXPANDING THE SCIENCE CAPABILITY OF THESE MISSIONS. | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $21,577 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | — | AR21 | May 23, 2017 | May 10, 2017 | Oct 17, 2017 | ||
| IGF::OT::IGF PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS SOLAR SAIL CONTROL TOOLBOX | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $17,936 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | 511210 | 1677SPACE VEHICLE REMOTE CONTROL SYSTEMS | Jul 6, 2016 | Jul 6, 2016 | Nov 5, 2016 | ||
| FUSION-ENABLED PLUTO ORBITER AND LANDER THE DIRECT FUSION DRIVE (DFD) CONCEPT PROVIDES GAME-CHANGING PROPULSION AND POWER CAPABILITIES THAT WOULD REVOLUTIONIZE INTERPLANETARY TRAVEL. DFD IS BASED ON THE PRINCETON FIELD-REVERSED CONFIGURATION (PFRC) FUSION REACTOR UNDER DEVELOPMENT AT THE PRINCETON PLASMA PHYSICS LABORATORY. THE MISSION CONTEXT WE ARE PROPOSING IS DELIVERY OF A PLUTO ORBITER WITH A LANDER. THE KEY OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL IS TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF THE PROPOSED PLUTO SPACECRAFT USING IMPROVED ENGINE MODELS. DFD PROVIDES HIGH THRUST TO ALLOW FOR REASONABLE TRANSIT TIMES TO PLUTO WHILE DELIVERING SUBSTANTIAL MASS TO ORBIT: 1000 KG DELIVERED IN 4 TO 6 YEARS. SINCE DFD PROVIDES POWER AS WELL AS PROPULSION IN ONE INTEGRATED DEVICE, IT WILL ALSO PROVIDE AS MUCH AS 2 MW OF POWER TO THE PAYLOADS UPON ARRIVAL. THIS ENABLES HIGH-BANDWIDTH COMMUNICATION, POWERING OF THE LANDER FROM ORBIT, AND RADICALLY EXPANDED OPTIONS FOR INSTRUMENT DESIGN. THE DATA ACQUIRED BY NEW HORIZONS' RECENT PLUTO FLYBY IS JUST A TINY FRACTION OF THE SCIENTIFIC DATA THAT COULD BE GENERATED FROM AN ORBITER AND LANDER. WE HAVE EVALUATED THE PLUTO MISSION CONCEPT USING THE LAMBERT ALGORITHM FOR MANEUVERS WITH ROUGH ESTIMATES OF THE ENGINE THRUST AND POWER. THE ACCELERATION TIMES ARE SUFFICIENTLY SHORT FOR THE LAMBERT APPROXIMATION, I.E. IMPULSIVE BURNS, TO HAVE SOME VALIDITY. WE HAVE USED FUSION SCALING LAWS TO ESTIMATE THE TOTAL MISSION MASS AND SHOW THAT IT WOULD FIT WITHIN THE ENVELOPE OF A DELTA IV HEAVY LAUNCH VEHICLE. ESTIMATES OF THE AMOUNT OF HELIUM 3 REQUIRED TO FUEL THE REACTOR ARE WITHIN AVAILABLE TERRESTRIAL STORES. IN THIS PHASE I STUDY, WE PROPOSE TO ANALYZE THE PLUTO MISSION CONCEPT USING NEW MODELS OF THE ENGINE. WE WILL DEVELOP AN OPTIMAL TRAJECTORY INCLUDING LIMITS ON THE THRUST STEERING AND RANGE OF THROTTLE. THE THROTTLING OF THE THRUST AND SPECIFIC IMPULSE WILL AFFECT THE EFFICIENCY, WHICH WE HAVE NOT YET ATTEMPTED TO MODEL. WE WILL GIVE A SUBCONTRACT TO PRINCETON PLASMA PHYSICS LABORATORY TO BEGIN THIS INVESTIGATION THE SUBTASKS ARE: 1. ANALYZE ALL SUBSYSTEMS AND PRODUCE AN IMPROVED MASS MODEL; 2. ANALYZE SHIELDING REQUIREMENTS ON A COMPONENT LEVEL AND PRODUCE AN IMPROVED SHIELDING; DESIGN AND NEUTRON RADIATION MITIGATION STRATEGY 3. ANALYZE THE THRUST AUGMENTATION SYSTEM AND PRODUCE A MODEL OF EFFICIENCY VS. THRUST (SUBCONTRACT TO PRINCETON PLASMA PHYSIC LAB); 4. USING THE NEW MASS AND THRUST AUGMENTATION MODEL GENERATE AN OPTIMAL PLUTO MISSION TRAJECTORY; 5. REVISIT THE SYSTEM DESIGN AND PRODUCE A NEW SPACECRAFT MODEL. DIRECT FUSION DRIVE IS A UNIQUE FUSION ENGINE CONCEPT WITH A PHYSICALLY FEASIBLE APPROACH THAT WOULD DRAMATICALLY INCREASE THE CAPABILITY OF OUTER PLANET MISSIONS. THE FUSION-ENABLED PLUTO MISSION PROPOSED HERE IS CREDIBLE, EXCITING, AND THE BENEFITS TO THIS AND ALL OUTER PLANET MISSIONS ARE DIFFICULT TO OVERSTATE. THE TRULY GAME-CHANGING LEVELS OF THRUST AND POWER IN A MODESTLY SIZED PACKAGE COULD INTEGRATE WITH OUR CURRENT LAUNCH INFRASTRUCTURE WHILE RADICALLY EXPANDING THE SCIENCE CAPABILITY OF THESE MISSIONS. | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $79,529 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | — | AR21 | May 28, 2016 | May 13, 2016 | Aug 9, 2017 | ||
| IGF::OT::IGF SBIR PHASE II PRINCETON U439340 | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $999,363 | DEPT OF THE ARMY | DEPT OF THE ARMY | — | 541712 | AJ46 | Jul 29, 2015 | Jul 26, 2015 | Aug 2, 2017 | ||
| IGF::OT::IGF R&D SERVICES PHASE 1 PROPOSAL ENTITLED MICROSATELLITE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR EXCEPTIONAL POSITIONAL ACCURACY SUBMITTED IN RESPONSE TO ARMY 13.2 SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM SOLICITATION TOPIC A13-073: DEVELOPING METHODS FOR POSITIONAL ACCURACY OF HIGH RESOLUTION SATELLITES. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS TOPIC IS TO INCREASE THE POINTING ACCURACY OF THE KESTREL EYE (AN IMAGING MICROSATELLITE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING VISIBLE IMAGERY AT 1.5 METER GROUND SAMPLE DISTANCE RESOLUTION WHEN THE SATELLITE IS POINTED AT NADIR) TO 10 METERS OR LESS U436440 | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $146,757 | DEPT OF THE ARMY | DEPT OF THE ARMY | — | 541712 | AJ46 | Apr 17, 2014 | Mar 31, 2014 | Jun 27, 2015 | ||
| SOLAR SAIL DESIGN&TRAJECTORY ANALYSIS SOFTWARE | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $11,042 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | 611420Computer Training | 7030 | Jan 9, 2013 | Jan 9, 2013 | Feb 8, 2013 | ||
| DIRECT ASCENT VULNERABILITY AND REACHABILITY SERVICES SUITE | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $741,148 | DEPT OF THE AIR FORCE | DEPT OF THE AIR FORCE | — | 541712 | AC22NATIONAL DEFENSE R&D SERVICES; ATOMIC ENERGY DEFENSE ACTIVITIES; APPLIED RESEARCH | Sep 27, 2011 | Sep 27, 2011 | Dec 27, 2013 | ||
| SBIR PHASE II | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $1,490,135 | DEPT OF THE NAVY | DEPT OF THE NAVY | — | 541712 | AD92 | Sep 17, 2010 | Sep 23, 2010 | Dec 9, 2013 | ||
| AUTONOMOUS THREAT DETECTION FOR SPACE SYSTEMS | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $99,957 | DEPT OF THE AIR FORCE | DEPT OF THE AIR FORCE | — | 541712 | AC21NATIONAL DEFENSE R&D SERVICES; ATOMIC ENERGY DEFENSE ACTIVITIES; BASIC RESEARCH | Mar 2, 2010 | Mar 2, 2010 | Mar 2, 2011 | ||
| DATA MINING DEVELOPMENT FOR OCS/DCS SSA OPERATIONS | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $99,640 | DEPT OF THE AIR FORCE | DEPT OF THE AIR FORCE | — | 541712 | AC21NATIONAL DEFENSE R&D SERVICES; ATOMIC ENERGY DEFENSE ACTIVITIES; BASIC RESEARCH | Mar 2, 2010 | Mar 2, 2010 | Mar 2, 2011 | ||
| THE LOW ENERGY MISSION PLANNING TOOLBOX IS DESIGNED TO SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE THE RESOURCES AND TIME SPENT ON DESIGNING MISSIONS IN MULTI-BODY GRAVITATIONAL ENVIRONMENTS. IT PROVIDES A MEANS FOR QUICKLY PLANNING LOW ENERGY MISSIONS THAT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MULTI-BODY GRAVITATIONAL ENVIRONMENTS. THE HIGH-SPEED, EFFICIENT PROCESS WILL ALLOW RAPID COMPARISON BETWEEN LOW ENERGY METHODS (E.G. BALLISTIC LUNAR CAPTURE TRANSFER TRAJECTORIES) AND THEIR DIRECT COUNTERPARTS (E.G. HOHMANN TRANSFERS). THE TOOLS LEVERAGE RECENT RESEARCH ON LOW ENERGY MISSION DESIGN METHODS TO PRODUCE ALGORITHMS THAT ARE STABLE, HOLD POTENTIAL FOR AUTOMATION IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS, AND CAN BE EASILY INTERFACED WITH THE NASA OPEN SOURCE MISSION PLANING TOOL GMAT. | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $95,336 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | 541712 | AR11SPACE R&D SERVICES; SPACE FLIGHT, RESEARCH AND SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES; BASIC RESEARCH | Jan 26, 2010 | Jan 29, 2010 | Jul 29, 2010 | ||
| SBIR PHASE I 0001 CONDUCT RESEARCH | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $0 | DEPT OF THE NAVY | DEPT OF THE NAVY | — | 541712 | AD91 | Sep 17, 2009 | Sep 1, 2009 | Aug 18, 2010 | ||
| IPP IGNITION FUND SOLAR SAIL ASTRODYN | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $8,500 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | — | 541330Engineering Services | 7030 | Sep 2, 2009 | Sep 2, 2009 | Sep 30, 2009 | ||
| VC ARCHITECTURE FOR TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $0 | DEPT OF THE AIR FORCE | DEPT OF THE AIR FORCE | — | 541712 | AC21NATIONAL DEFENSE R&D SERVICES; ATOMIC ENERGY DEFENSE ACTIVITIES; BASIC RESEARCH | Jan 29, 2009 | Jan 29, 2009 | Aug 1, 2010 | ||
| VISUALCOMMANDER FOR RAPID END-TO-END MISSION DESIGN AND SIMULATION THIS PROPOSAL IS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGHLY EXTENSIBLE AND USER-CONFIGURABLE SOFTWARE APPLICATION FOR END-TO-END MISSION SIMULATION AND DESIGN. WE WILL LEVERAGE THE PLUG-AND-PLAY ARCHITECTURE OF OUR EXISTING SIMULATION, VISUALIZATION AND COMMAND SOFTWARE, DEVELOPING NEW CAPABILITIES FOR DATA FUSION, OPERATIONS PLANNING, PLAN VALIDATION, AND ADJUSTABLE AUTOMATION. THE CORE APPLICATION, VISUALCOMMANDER, HAS BEEN DEVELOPED OVER THE LAST 4 YEARS UNDER SBIR AND IR&D FUNDING AS A REVOLUTIONARY WAY OF PROVIDING INTEGRATED DESIGN AND SIMULATION FROM MISSION CONCEPTION THROUGH MISSION OPERATIONS. THE SOFTWARE DESIGN OF VISUALCOMMANDER (VC) HAS BEEN DRIVEN BY THE GOALS OF EXTENSIBILITY, RE-USE OF FUNCTIONALITY, AND USER-CONFIGURABILITY. AS SUCH, IT SERVES AS AN IDEAL FOUNDATION UPON WHICH TO BUILD ADDITIONAL IN-DEPTH FUNCTIONS THAT ARE VALUABLE FOR THIS PURPOSE. VISUALCOMMANDER IS DESIGNED TO INTEGRATE LEGACY ENGINEERING SOFTWARE WITH USER-GENERATED DESIGN AND SIMULATION TOOLS INTO A SINGLE, USER-FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT. IT AUTOMATES THE FLOW OF DATA BETWEEN ANALYSIS, DESIGN, AND SIMULATION APPLICATIONS WITH MINIMAL USER MANIPULATION. | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $99,681 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | 541712 | AR11SPACE R&D SERVICES; SPACE FLIGHT, RESEARCH AND SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES; BASIC RESEARCH | Jan 8, 2009 | Jan 22, 2009 | Jul 22, 2009 | ||
| SBIR PHASE II YEAR 1 | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $0 | DEPT OF THE ARMY | DEPT OF DEFENSE | — | 541712 | AC23NATIONAL DEFENSE R&D SERVICES; ATOMIC ENERGY DEFENSE ACTIVITIES; EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT | Apr 29, 2008 | Apr 29, 2008 | Apr 9, 2011 | ||
| SBIR II | PRINCETON SATELLITE SYSTEMS, INC | $0 | DEPT OF THE AIR FORCE | DEPT OF THE AIR FORCE | — | 541712 | AC21NATIONAL DEFENSE R&D SERVICES; ATOMIC ENERGY DEFENSE ACTIVITIES; BASIC RESEARCH | Apr 2, 2008 | Apr 2, 2008 | Apr 1, 2011 |