NASA SBIR 2006 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Creare Inc
P.O. Box 71
Hanover, NH 03755-0071
(603) 643-3800

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Jay   Rozzi
jcr@creare.com
P.O. Box 71
Hanover, NH  03755-0071
(603) 643-3800

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT ( Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
For lunar-based fission power systems that will support In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) or Mars robotic and manned missions, power requirements may vary from 10s to 100s of kWe to support initial human missions and longer term lunar bases. Due to the large amounts of waste heat generated by these systems, a key consideration is the development of lightweight, highly efficient heat rejection systems (HRS) that can operate at elevated temperatures (~550 K). Currently, an approach that is being strongly considered is the use of titanium sheathed heat pipe with a carbon composite over-wrap, combined with a carbon composite radiator panel to decrease the system mass. Our innovation is the integration of an ultra-light radiator panel material with a lightweight titanium heat pipe. Our calculations show that our approach will reduce the total mass by as much as 20% compared to the carbon-composite systems under consideration and represents a lower risk approach to achieve a practical HRS.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS ( Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Our innovative heat rejection system, which is based on the integration of an ultra-light radiator panel material with a lightweight titanium heat pipe, will reduce the total mass by as much as 20% compared to the carbon-composite systems under consideration. The results of our work would have far-reaching benefits for government space and military systems. These include nuclear power generation for long-duration interplanetary and planetary-based missions, mobile power systems, and satellites.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS ( Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
While the main applications for our innovation are space-based systems, our novel heat rejection systems can be applied to commercial thermal management systems that are severely weight constrained. Such systems can benefit from the lightweight, high-temperature capability of our unique innovation. These applications can include radar, aerospace, large-scale power systems, and energy recovery applications.

NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Cooling Nuclear Conversion Power Management and Distribution