The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $75,000 - Thursday the 10th of April 2014
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  WE PROPOSE AN IMPROVED CATHODE BASED ON OUR NOVEL THEORY OF THE ROLE OF SCANDIUM OXIDE IN ENHANCING EMISSION IN TUNGSTEN-IMPREGNATED CATHODES. RECENT RESULTS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE EFFICACY OF NANO-PARTICLE SCANDIUM OXIDE, BUT A DETAILED THEORY ON THE MECHANISM OF OPERATION HAS BEEN LACKING. OUR THEORY EXPLAINS PUBLISHED DATA AND POINTS TO AN OPTIMIZED CATHODE, WHICH WE PROPOSE HERE TO BUILD AND TEST. THE CATHODE IS THE PERFORMANCE-LIMITING COMPONENT IN HIGH-FREQUENCY LINEAR BEAM AMPLIFIERS SUCH AS TRAVELING WAVE TUBES AND KLYSTRONS. THE REQUIRED BANDWIDTH, DATA RATE, NUMBER OF CHANNELS, FREQUENCY, AND OUTPUT POWER ARE GOING UP. THE PERFORMANCE OF LINEAR BEAM AMPLIFIERS IS ACUTELY LIMITED BY CURRENT CATHODE PERFORMANCE. SCANDATE CATHODES OFFER A WAY TO INCREASE TOP EMISSION FROM 10 A/CM2 TO AT LEAST 50 A/CM2. PHASE I PROVED THE FEASIBILITY OF APPLYING LAYERS ON UNAGGLOMERATED SCANDIUM OXIDE ON IMPREGNATED CATHODES. PHASE II WILL OPTIMIZE, TEST, AND COMMERCIALIZE THE PROCESS.

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• $599,827 - Monday the 24th of November 2014
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  IGF::OT::IGF OTHER FUNCTION - WE PROPOSE A HOLLOW RESERVOIR CATHODE TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE IN ION AND HALL THRUSTERS. WE WILL ADAPT OUR EXISTING RESERVOIR CATHODE TECHNOLOGY TO THIS PURPOSE. RESERVOIR CATHODES ARE THE ONLY EMISSION SOURCES THAT ARE CAPABLE OF SUPPLYING THE NECESSARY CURRENT DENSITY (>5.0 A/CM2) AND LIFE (>100,000 HOURS) FOR NEXT GENERATION HIGH-POWER THRUSTERS. MORE POWERFUL THRUSTERS ARE NEEDED FOR INTERPLANETARY AND LUNAR MISSIONS, AS WELL AS EARTH ESCAPE AND NEAR-EARTH SPACE MANEUVERS. RESERVOIR CATHODES ARE ABLE TO SUSTAIN HIGH RATES OF BARIUM DIFFUSION TO THE CATHODE SURFACE TO OVERCOME THE HIGH RATE OF BARIUM REMOVAL IN ION ENGINES. THE KEY PHASE I INNOVATION WAS FLEXIBLE SUPPORTS FOR THE CATHODE MATRIX. THIS PREVENTED THE MATRIX FRACTURES AND RESERVOIR LEAKS OF PREVIOUS RESERVOIR CATHODES FOR ION ENGINES. CATHODE OPERATION AND STABILITY WAS VERIFIED. IN PHASE II,THE DESIGN IS REFINED AND TESTED IN ACTUAL ION ENGINES. THE KEY CHALLENGE IS THE STRESSES EXERTED ON THE CATHODE TUBE AND RESERVOIR DUE TO DIFFERENTIAL EXPANSION AND LARGE TEMPERATURE EXCURSIONS. THESE ORIGINATE FROM THE OUTSIDE HEATER AND ALSO FROM HEATING DUE TO COLLISIONS WITH THE CATHODE. THESE STRESSES CAN LEAD TO FRACTURES AND WELD FAILURE. OUR INNOVATION SOLVES THIS PROBLEM. THIS WAS PROVEN ON THE PHASE I DEVICE. IN PHASE II WE FURTHER TEST AND OPTIMIZE THE PHASE I DEVICE AND PERFORM LIFE TESTING ON IT. WE BUILD CATHODE ASSEMBLIES FOR INSERTION INTO ION ENGINES WHICH WE TEST IN AN ION ENVIRONMENT AT E BEAM, JPL AND COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY. THEIR MAXIMUM SPECIFIC IMPULSE WILL BE MEASURED.

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• $54,000 - Thursday the 7th of May 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER
  ACQUISITION OF AN ION SOURCE FOR THE SECOND GENERATION OF THE WIND ION-DRIFT NEUTRAL COMPOSITION SUITE (WINCS)/MODELING DESIGN AND DRAWINGS, PROTOYPE

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• $200,000 - Thursday the 10th of April 2014
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  WE PROPOSE AN IMPROVED CATHODE BASED ON OUR NOVEL THEORY OF THE ROLE OF SCANDIUM OXIDE IN ENHANCING EMISSION IN TUNGSTEN-IMPREGNATED CATHODES. RECENT RESULTS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE EFFICACY OF NANO-PARTICLE SCANDIUM OXIDE, BUT A DETAILED THEORY ON THE MECHANISM OF OPERATION HAS BEEN LACKING. OUR THEORY EXPLAINS PUBLISHED DATA AND POINTS TO AN OPTIMIZED CATHODE, WHICH WE PROPOSE HERE TO BUILD AND TEST. THE CATHODE IS THE PERFORMANCE-LIMITING COMPONENT IN HIGH-FREQUENCY LINEAR BEAM AMPLIFIERS SUCH AS TRAVELING WAVE TUBES AND KLYSTRONS. THE REQUIRED BANDWIDTH, DATA RATE, NUMBER OF CHANNELS, FREQUENCY, AND OUTPUT POWER ARE GOING UP. THE PERFORMANCE OF LINEAR BEAM AMPLIFIERS IS ACUTELY LIMITED BY CURRENT CATHODE PERFORMANCE. SCANDATE CATHODES OFFER A WAY TO INCREASE TOP EMISSION FROM 10 A/CM2 TO AT LEAST 50 A/CM2. PHASE I PROVED THE FEASIBILITY OF APPLYING LAYERS ON UNAGGLOMERATED SCANDIUM OXIDE ON IMPREGNATED CATHODES. PHASE II WILL OPTIMIZE, TEST, AND COMMERCIALIZE THE PROCESS.

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