Address
Technology Transfer Office
Code AT
Houston, TX 77058
United StatesDescription
NASA's Johnson Space Center has served as a hub of human spaceflight activity for more than half a century. As the nucleus of the nation's astronaut corps and home to International Space Station mission operations and a host of future space developments, the center plays a pivotal role in surpassing the physical boundaries of Earth and enhancing technological and scientific knowledge to benefit all of humankind.
Established in 1961 on nearly 1,700 acres southeast of downtown Houston as the Manned Spacecraft Center, the bustling core of space activity was renamed in 1973 to honor the late president and Texas native, Lyndon B. Johnson. From the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs to the International Space Station and Orion, Johnson's nearly 14,000 person workforce helps bolster NASA's standing as an institution where creative and talented problem solvers push the boundaries of explorations innovation.
Mission
Every one of the more than 500 NASA astronauts and space explorers from our international partners who has crossed the threshold of the International Space Station or flown on the space shuttle has trained at Johnson. In the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, astronauts, engineers and other mission support professionals learn skills and procedures to operate the orbiting laboratory on full-scale modules. In facilities around the 200-plus building center, a precision air-bearing floor, a partial gravity simulator and a virtual reality simulator, among other training facilities, prepare astronauts to live and work in microgravity. At Johnson's satellite facilities close to the center, they maintain their flying skills in T-38 jets and practice spacewalks at the Neutral Buoyancy Lab.
NASA missions that explore new frontiers and expand understanding of how humans live and work in space are planned and supported from the Christopher C. Kraft, Jr. Mission Control Center. A host of engineers, scientists and mathematicians help the men and women living in low Earth orbit utilize the space station to its fullest capabilities, test new technologies, and sustain the life of the orbiting laboratory through 2020. Some of the agency's experts in human spaceflight work with private companies to develop safe, reliable and affordable commercial vehicles to transport humans and cargo to low Earth orbit.
Technology Disciplines
Displaying 31 - 40 of 412
Audio App Brings a Better Night_s Sleep
Description:
Neuroscientist Seth Horowitz was part of a NASA-funded team at State University of New York Stony Brook demonstrating that low-amplitude vestibular stimulation could induce sleep. After recognizing the same stimulation could be applied through sound, Horowitz founded Sleep Genius, located in Park City, Utah, and released a mobile app of the same name that helps people to get a more restful sleep.
Details
| Internal Lab Reference ID | JSC-SO-273 |
Automated Analysis Workstation
Description:
Information from NASA Tech Briefs of work done at Langley Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory assisted DiaSys Corporation in manufacturing their first product, the R/S 2000. Since then, the R/S 2000 and R/S 2003 have followed. Recently, DiaSys released their fourth workstation, the FE-2, which automates the process of making and manipulating wet-mount preparation of fecal concentrates. The time needed to read the sample is decreased, permitting technologists to rapidly spot parasites, ova and cysts, sometimes carried in the lower intestinal tract of humans and animals. Employing the FE-2 is non-invasive, can be performed on an out-patient basis, and quickly provides confirmatory results.
Details
| Internal Lab Reference ID | JSC-SO-176 |
Automated Blood Pressure Measurement
Description:
Vital-2 unit is semi-automatic device that permits highly accurate blood pressure measurement, even by untrained personnel. Vital-2 weighs only 6 lbs and can be carried anywhere. It operates either on its own rechargeable battery or by plugging it into a standard outlet. System requires positioning and inflation of arm cuff but after that it operates automatically. Interpretation is handled by its electronic equipment and blood pressure readings appear automatically on a digital display. Because it is accurate, reliable, and non-invasive, it has proved attractive to the medical profession. Several hundred units have been sold to hospitals, medical screening clinics, physicians and anesthesiologists. *Manufacturer information is no longer valid. No further information is available.
Details
| Internal Lab Reference ID | JSC-SO-13 |
Automated Urinalysis
Description:
Information from NASA Tech Briefs assisted DiaSys Corporation in the development of the R/S 2000 which automates urinalysis, eliminating most manual procedures. An automatic aspirator is inserted into a standard specimen tube, the Sample" button is pressed and within three seconds a consistent amount of urine sediment is transferred to a microscope. The instrument speeds up standardizes automates and makes urine analysis safer. Additional products based on the same technology are anticipated."
Details
| Internal Lab Reference ID | JSC-SO-114 |
Autonomous Precision Landing Navigation (APLNav) System
Description:
The APLNav system provides a simple, cost-effective, reliable, and proven optical terrain navigation tool for planetary landing applications. Passive optical digital cameras are used to create surface images that are rendered against a digital elevation model. The system is derived from the digital scene-mapping and area correlation navigation method that has been employed by cruise missiles for decades.
Details
| Internal Lab Reference ID | MSC-24721-1 |
| Patent Status | U.S. Government Purpose Release |
Balance Evaluation Systems
Description:
NeuroCom's Balance Master is a system to assess and then retrain patients with balance and mobility problems and is used in several medical centers. NeuroCom received assistance in research and funding from NASA, and incorporated technology from testing mechanisms for astronauts after shuttle flights. The EquiTest and Balance Master Systems are computerized posturography machines that measure patient responses to movement of a platform on which the subject is standing or sitting, then provide assessments of the patient's postural alignment and stability.
Details
| Internal Lab Reference ID | JSC-SO-164 |
Battery Charge Equalizer System
Description:
The innovation consists of a transformer array connected to a battery array through rectification and filtering circuits. The transformer array is connected to a drive circuit and a timing and control circuit, which enables individual battery cells or cell banks to be charged. The timing and control circuit connects to a charge controller that uses battery instrumentation to determine which battery bank to charge. The system is ultra lightweight because it uses much fewer than one transformer per battery cell. For instance, 40 battery cells can be balanced with an array of just five transformers. The innovation can charge an individual cell bank at the same time while the main battery charger is charging the high-voltage battery system.
Conventional equalization techniques require complex and costly electrical circuitry to achieve cell monitoring and balancing. Further, such techniques waste the energy from the most charged cells through a dummy resistive load (regulator), which is inefficient and generates excess heat. In contrast, this system equalizes battery strings by selectively charging cells that need it. The technology maintains battery state-of-charge to improve battery life and performance. In addition, the technology provides a fail-safe operation and a novel built-in electrical isolation for the main charge circuit, further improving the safety of high-voltage Li-ion batteries.
Abstract
A battery charge equalizer developed at NASA's Johnson Space Center provides individual cell charging in multi-cell battery strings using a minimum number of transformers. By effectively keeping all the cells in a multi-cell string at the same charge state, this technology maximizes the battery's life and performance. Designed to augment a simple high-current charger that supplies overall battery system energy, the innovation achieves equalization without wasting energy or creating excess heat. NASA's battery charge equalizer complements existing high voltage chargers and instrumentation systems and offers safe and low-cost management for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries used in electric vehicles and other next-generation renewable energy applications.
This NASA Technology is available for your company to license and develop into a commercial product. NASA does not manufacture products for commercial sale.
Benefits
Advanced equalization - charges specific individual cells
Sub Title:
Extending battery life and performance in large battery arrays
Details
| Internal Lab Reference ID | MSC-TOPS-35 |
| Patent Number | 8,896,315 |
| Patent Issue Date | Feb 20, 2015 |
Lab Representative
P:
281.483.3809Battery Management System
Description:
The technology is comprised of a simple and reliable circuit that detects a single bad cell within a battery pack of hundreds of cells and it can monitor and balance the charge of individual cells in series. NASA's BMS is cost effective and can enhance safety and extend the life of critical battery systems, including high-voltage Li-ion batteries that are used in electric vehicles and other next-generation renewable energy applications.
The BMS uses saturating transformers in a matrix arrangement to monitor cell voltage and balance the charge of individual battery cells that are in series within a battery string. The system includes a monitoring array and a voltage sensing and balancing system that integrates simply and efficiently with the battery cell array, limiting the number of pins and the complexity of circuitry in the battery. The arrangement has inherent galvanic isolation, low cell leakage currents, and allows a single bad or imbalanced cell in a series of several hundred to be identified. Cell balancing in multi-cell battery strings compensates for weaker cells by equalizing the charge on all the cells in the chain, thus extending battery life. Voltage sensing helps avoid damage from over-voltage that can occur during charging and from under-voltage that can occur through excessive discharging.
Abstract
NASA seeks interested parties to license the Battery Management System (BMS) developed by innovators at Johnson Space Center. NASA's BMS features the ability to monitor and balance the charge of individual battery cells that are in series and provide fault detection of individual cells in parallel within a battery pack of hundreds of cells. The circuit uses fewer connections (pins) than competing technologies, which reduces complexity and improves reliability. It offers a safe and potentially low-cost management system for high-voltage battery systems, including lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery systems that are used in electric vehicles and other next-generation renewable energy applications.
This NASA Technology is available for your company to license and develop into a commercial product. NASA does not manufacture products for commercial sale.
Benefits
Safety: decreases the occurrence of thermal runaway and catastrophic failures
Sub Title:
Simple, reliable, and safe battery management for high-voltage battery systems
Details
| Internal Lab Reference ID | MSC-TOPS-40 |
| Patent Number | 8183870 |
| Patent Issue Date | Feb 20, 2015 |
Lab Representative
P:
281.483.3809Beam Steering Devices Reduce Payload Weight
Description:
Through SBIR contracts with both Johnson Space Center and Langley Research Center, Boulder Nonlinear Systems Inc., of Lafayette, Colorado, developed a solution to mechanical laser beam steering problems. The company's advanced optical phase array chips now have applications across fields as varied as scientific research, aeronautics, defense, telecommunications, and biomedical engineering.
Details
| Internal Lab Reference ID | JSC-SO-252 |
Beamforming rectennas, systems and methods for wireless power transfer
Abstract
A passive beamforming rectenna includes a plurality of antennas, a plurality of terminal port rectifying circuits, and a beamforming network. The beamforming network includes (a) a plurality of antenna ports connecting to the plurality of antennas, and (b) a plurality of terminal ports connecting to the plurality of terminal port rectifying circuits. The beamforming network further includes a microwave lens or any of a variety of other structures. The beamforming rectenna is characterized by a plurality of radiation distribution patterns. Electromagnetic power is received through the plurality of antennas. The beamforming network directs the received electromagnetic power, in substantial portion, to a subset of the plurality of terminal ports associated with particular radiation distribution patterns whose amplitudes, in the direction from which the electromagnetic power was received, are large relative to the amplitudes, in the same direction, of other radiation distribution patterns associated with other terminal ports.
Details
| Internal Lab Reference ID | MSC-25636-1 |
| Patent Number | 10243412 |
| Patent Issue Date | Jan 01, 1970 |
Pages
Displaying 1 - 10 of 12
11 ft. Chamber, Space Suit Dev. & Cert, EC, B-7
Address:
2101 NASA Parkway
JPL:2800
Houston, TX 77058
United StatesRegion:
P: 281-483-3219Security Clearance : Non Security Lab Lab Reps:
Linda Ham
Chamber A, EC, B-32
Address:
2101 NASA Parkway
JP
Houston, TX 77058
United StatesRegion:
P: 281-483-3219Security Clearance : Non Security Lab Lab Reps:
Linda Ham
Chamber B, EC, B-32
Address:
2101 NASA Parkway
JP
Houston, TX 77058
United StatesRegion:
P: 281-483-3219Security Clearance : Non Security Lab Lab Reps:
Linda Ham
Dual Glove Thermal Vacuum Facility, EC, B-7
Address:
2101 NASA Parkway
JP
Houston, TX 77058
United StatesRegion:
P: 281-483-3219Security Clearance : Non Security Lab Lab Reps:
Linda Ham
General Vibration Lab (GVL)
Address:
2101 NASA Parkway
JP
Houston, TX 77058
United StatesRegion:
P: 281-483-3219Security Clearance : Non Security Lab Lab Reps:
Linda Ham
Insitu Resource Utilization Test Fac, EP, B-353
Address:
2101 NASA Parkway
JP
Houston, TX 77058
United StatesRegion:
P: 281-483-3219Security Clearance : Non Security Lab Lab Reps:
Linda Ham
Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL)
Address:
Security Clearance : Non Security LabSquare Footage: 0 13000 Space Center Blvd
Houston, TX 77059
United StatesLab Reps:
Linda Ham
The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) is an astronaut training facility and neutral buoyancy pool operated by NASA and located at the Sonny Carter Training Facility, near theJohnson Space Center.The NBL's main feature is a large indoor pool of waterin which astronauts may perform simulated EVA...
Sonic Fatique Lab (SFL), B-49
Address:
2101 NASA Parkway
Houston, TX 77058
United StatesRegion:
P: 281-483-0275E: jeffrey.w.loechel@nasa.govSecurity Clearance : Non Security LabSquare Footage: 0 Lab Reps:
Linda Ham
The Sonic Fatigue Lab (SFL) Reverberant acoustic chamber & Hemi-anechoic acoustic chamber at JSC Vibration and Acoustic Test Facility are currently active. Unique characteristics include: - compressed air as the sound media & therefore has unlimited run time - Vibro-acoustic testing with...
Expertise
Capabilities: acoustic chamber acoustic test cell anechoic test chamber data acquisition data reduction and data acquisition noise research test chamber test/anechoic test/reverberation
Spacecraft Acoustic Lab (SAL), B-49
Address:
2101 NASA Parkway
Houston, TX 77058
United StatesRegion:
P: 281-483-0275E: jeffrey.w.loechel@nasa.gov Security Clearance : Non Security LabSquare Footage: 0 Lab Reps:
Linda Ham
The Spacecraft Acoustic Lab (SAL) Reverberant acoustic chamber & Hemi-anechoic acoustic chamber at JSC Vibration and Acoustic Test Facility are currently active. Unique characteristics include: - compressed air as the sound media & therefore has unlimited run time - 2nd largest Reverberant...
Expertise
Capabilities: acoustic chamber acoustic test cell anechoic test chamber data acquisition data reduction and data acquisition noise research test chamber test/anechoic
Spacecraft Acoustic Lab (SAL), B-49
Address:
2101 NASA Parkway
JP
Houston, TX 77058
United StatesRegion:
P: 281-483-3219Security Clearance : Non Security Lab Lab Reps:
Linda Ham
Pages
The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive
Research,or EPSCoR,establishes partnerships with
government, higher education and industry that are designed to
effect lasting improvements in a state's or region's research
infrastructure, R&D capacity and hence, its national R&D
competitiveness.
The EPSCoR program is directed at those jurisdictions that have not
in the past participated equably in competitive aerospace and
aerospace-related research activities. Twenty-four states, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam
currently participate.Fivefederal agencies conduct
EPSCoR programs, including NASA.
NASA EPSCoR Jurisdictions and their Directors
View
EPSCoR Directors by State/Jurisdiction
The goal of EPSCoR is to provide seed funding that will enable
jurisdictions to develop an academic research enterprise directed
toward long-term, self-sustaining, nationally-competitive
capabilities in aerospace and aerospace-related research.
