The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $99,997 - Friday the 18th of November 2011
  Department Of Air Force
  FA9550 AFRL AFOSR
  STTR PHASE I NONINTRUSIVE FIBER INTERFEROMETER FOR ABLATIVE TPS RECESSION MEASUREMENT

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• $99,649 - Wednesday the 13th of June 2012
  Department Of Air Force
  FA9300 AFTC PZR
  PURCHASE ORDER STTR PHASE I

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• $75,000 - Monday the 13th of January 2014
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  EDA, INC., IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PENN STATE, HAS SHOWN PREVIOUSLY THAT THE CONCEPT OF EMBEDDING FIBER OPTICS WITHIN ABLATIVE TPS MATERIAL HAS MERIT AND SHOULD YIELD A SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF A SPECTROMETER "WINDOW" DURING A PHASE-II DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. OPTICAL INSTRUMENTATION, SUCH AS OPTICAL SPECTROMETERS WOULD PROVIDE BENCHMARK DATA FOR FUNDAMENTAL FLOW, RADIATION, AND MATERIALS MODELING AS WELL AS PROVIDE OPERATIONAL CORRELATIONS BETWEEN VEHICLE REENTRY DRAG AND RADIATION IF IMPLEMENTED IN A TPS FLIGHT TEST PROGRAM. WITHOUT FLIGHT SPECTRAL DATA, AND THE APPROPRIATE MODELING EFFORTS, THE POWER OF PREDICTION TO ASSIST IN NEW HEAT SHIELD DESIGN DOES NOT EXIST FOR REENTRY INTO OTHER PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES. THIS IS A SEVERE LIMITATION FOR FUTURE SPACE EXPLORATION MISSIONS WHICH FIBERPLUG HELPS ADDRESS.

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• $25,000 - Thursday the 5th of June 2014
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  ADVANCES IN HIGH POWER, PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGY HAS ENABLED THE POSSIBILITY OF REASONABLY SIZED, HIGH SPECIFIC POWER, HIGH POWER, SOLAR ARRAYS. AT HIGH SPECIFIC POWERS, POWER LEVELS RANGING FROM 50 TO SEVERAL HUNDRED KW ARE FEASIBLE. COUPLED WITH GRIDDED ION THRUSTER TECHNOLOGY, THIS POWER TECHNOLOGY CAN BE MISSION ENABLING FOR A WIDE RANGE OF MISSIONS RANGING FROM AMBITIOUS NEAR EARTH NASA MISSIONS TO THOSE MISSIONS INVOLVING OTHER CUSTOMERS AS WELL SUCH AS DOD AND COMMERCIAL SATELLITE INTERESTS. INDEED THE HEFT CLEARLY IDENTIFIED THE NEED FOR HIGH POWER ELECTRIC. THE APPEAL OF THE ION THRUSTERS FOR SUCH APPLICATIONS STEMS FROM THEIR OVERALL HIGH EFFICIENCY, TYPICALLY>70% AND LONG LIFE. IN RESPONSE TO THE NEED FOR A SINGLE, HIGH POWERED ENGINE TO FILL THE GULF BETWEEN THE 7 KW NEXT SYSTEM AND A NOTIONAL 25 KW ENGINE, A PHASE I ACTIVITY TO BUILD A 25 KW, 50 CM ION THRUSTER DISCHARGE CHAMBER WAS COMPLETED WITH A LABORATORY MODEL FABRICATED. THE PROPOSED PHASE II EFFORT AIMS TO MATURE THE LABORATORY MODEL INTO A PROTO-ENGINEERING MODEL ION THRUSTER. THE PROPOSED EFFORT INVOLVES THE EVOLUTION OF THE DISCHARGE CHAMBER TO A HIGH PERFORMANCE THRUSTER BY PERFORMANCE TESTING AND CHARACTERIZATION VIA SIMULATED AND FULL BEAM EXTRACTION TESTING. THROUGH SUCH TESTING THE DESIGN WILL BE OPTIMIZED LEADING ULTIMATELY TO THE PROPOSED DESIGN, BUILD AND PRELIMINARY CHECKOUT OF A PROTO-ENGINEERING MODEL THRUSTER, THEREBY ADVANCING THE TRL LEVEL TO 4-5 RANGE. DELIVERABLES INCLUDE THE THRUSTER, A DESIGN PACKAGE, AND A PERFORMANCE DATA DOCUMENT.

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