From Concept to Reality

 From Concept to Reality

[ ACCOMPLISHMENTS REPORT 2012 ]

Goddard Space Flight Center’s Innovative Partnerships Program Office

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
 [ TABLE OF CONTENTS ]

 4 Overview 2012

 5 Greener Propulsion Systems 

 11 Integrated Design Center (IDC)

 15 Visualization and Earth Science Data 

 21 Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)

 27 2012 Technology Disclosures

 37 2012 Patents

 40 SBIR/STTR Activities

 42 Business Networking and Outreach

 45 2012 NASA Goddard Awards

 47 ICB Awards

 From Concept to Reality
It’s time once again to review the major accomplishments and milestones of the past year. 

And 2012 was an especially noteworthy one for both NASA Goddard and the Innovative Partnerships 

Program Office (IPPO). 

Few missions in recent memory have fired the public’s imagination as the Curiosity rover on Mars, 

which touched down on the Red Planet on August 6, 2012. A key component of the mission is the 

Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument package, developed at NASA Goddard. SAM has already 

made many scientific discoveries, and will continue to explore the Martian surface for years to come. 

At the same time, many technologies and innovations developed to support the SAM mission are now 

being made available to solve problems back here on Earth.

Another major news story in 2012 involved Hurricane Sandy. This highly unusual and destructive 

“superstorm” significantly increased awareness of global warming and how it will likely affect the world’s 

weather. A critical resource for climatologists researching this issue is the vast store of Earth Science 

data collected by NASA missions during the past two decades. NASA Goddard continues to make this 

data readily accessible to scientists and commercial interests, who use it for applications in agriculture, 

forestry, fire detection, volcano monitoring, and many others. This data is also being presented to the 

general public through visualization technologies such as Hyperwall and Science on a Sphere.

The focus on the environment is also driving interest in “greener” technologies that are safer, more 

sustainable, and have less ecological impact. As part of this effort, NASA Goddard is developing 

propulsion systems based on propellant that is potentially far cheaper and less hazardous than 

traditional chemicals such as hydrazine. This work will likely be of high interest to the developing 

commercial space flight sector. It also offers significant value to other industries where environmental 

sensitivity is essential.

Throughout 2012 the IPPO led efforts to make these and all other NASA Goddard technologies 

available to other entities developing applications that can help solve many of society’s most pressing 

needs. We also continue to explore collaborations and opportunities, bringing in technologies 

and capabilities of vital importance to future NASA Goddard missions and goals. In this 2012 

Accomplishments Report, we briefly review some of the technology transfer highlights of the past 12 

months. Along the way, we examine a few of the many examples in which public investment in space 

science continues to provide value in a broad spectrum of terrestrial applications and markets.

FROM THE CHIEF

Nona Minnifield Cheeks

CHIEF

Innovative Patnerships 

Program Office 

NASA Goddard Space 

Flight Center

—PHOTO BY NASA NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 3
OVERVIEW 2012

In this 2012 Accomplishments Report we review the major 

technology transfer related events and accomplishments 

of the past 12 months. We focus on four areas in which 

NASA Goddard has developed technologies that can be 

especially useful for terrestrial applications, including:

• Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) is a suite of three 

instruments onboard the Curiosity rover on Mars. 

SAM is designed to chemically analyze Martian air 

and soil. SAM’s components comprise a number of 

NASA Goddard technologies that potentially could be 

adapted to a wide variety of commercial applications.

• Visualization includes Hyperwall and Science on a 

Sphere, two systems that display Earth Science data 

in ways that are both easily understandable by the 

layperson and highly entertaining and compelling. In 

this section we also briefly review how NASA Goddard 

makes this Earth Science data available to outside 

entities including government, academic researchers, 

and commercial interests. This data is then used for a 

broad (and growing) spectrum of important applications.

• Green propulsion encompasses NASA Goddard 

initiatives to develop in-space propulsion 

technologies that do not rely on traditional highly 

hazardous propellants such as hydrazine. Related 

projects include a fuel tank designed to break up 

harmlessly upon re-entry, and a cleaning system that 

requires no chemical additives. 

• Integrated Design Center (IDC) provides a 

collaborative environment and facility for study 

sessions designed to define the parameters of 

potential NASA Goddard missions. This process 

helps guide decisions concerning which NASA 

work is appropriate for NASA Goddard. It also has 

potential value for commercial interests.

The 2012 Accomplishments Report also reviews 

technology transfer events and initiatives attended by 

the Innovative Partnerships Program Office. We also 

list patenting and technology reporting associated 

with NASA Goddard scientists and innovators.
The year 2012 witnessed continued interest in the development of more environmentally 

sensitive propulsion systems. The NASA Goddard Propulsion Branch develops in-space 

systems that provide NASA missions with the high-precision maneuverability required 

for tasks such as positioning, alignment, and interplanetary navigation. Traditionally, 

hydrazine and hydrazine derivatives have been used for in-space chemical propulsion. 

These substances are highly toxic and dangerous, and require special handling and 

storage to ensure the safety of humans and the environment. 

NASA Goddard is joining other NASA centers and space agencies around the world 

in seeking less hazardous alternatives to hydrazine. We are also actively developing 

propulsion systems based on technologies that are safer, use renewable resources, and 

have less overall impact on the environment.

These “greener” propulsion systems offer two very important benefits. 

First (and perhaps most obvious) there’s the ecological advantages. 

But a critical additional factor is economic. Most experts agree that 

Earth’s increasingly scarce natural resources, such as petroleum 

and natural gas, will grow more expensive in the future as their 

supplies dwindle. Renewable substitutes, on the other hand, 

should always remain available and abundant if properly and 

intelligently managed. And as hazardous materials are replaced with 

greener alternatives, there will be reduced downstream costs in terms of 

special handling, transportation, and disposal.

In this section, we present a general summary of the green propulsion 

efforts in which NASA Goddard has been involved in 2012. This includes 

participation in this year’s Space Propulsion 2012 Conference held in 

Bordeaux, France. We also look at NASA Goddard technologies developed 

with greener propulsion systems in mind. A number of these technologies 

also offer potential value in several commercial applications.

GREENER PROPULSION SYSTEMS

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 5
NASA Goddard and Greener 

Propulsion Technologies

Throughout 2012, the NASA Goddard Propulsion Branch continued its 

aggressive development of new and greener alternatives to current inspace propulsion technologies and processes. This includes replacing 

hydrazine as a propellant, and developing a cleaning system that uses 

nitrogen bubbles created through gas agitation. In addition, NASA 

Goddard participated in the Space Propulsion 2012 Conference held 

in Bordeaux, France, to share information with sister space agencies 

around the globe. 

2012 Space Propulsion Conference

The Space Propulsion 2012 Conference was held in Bordeaux, France on 

May 7 through 10. This event, organized by the Association Aéronautique 

et Astronautique de France in collaboration with ESA and CNES, is 

intended to “highlight programmatic and technical issues, to promote 

exchange of views and information in the two main areas of propulsion for 

spacecraft and for space transportation.”

Representatives from NASA Goddard’s Innovative Partnerships Program 

Office (IPPO) attended the Conference to participate in the NASA exhibit, 

engage interest in new NASA Goddard technologies related to advanced 

propulsion systems, and meet with members of the space propulsion 

industry.

The primary goals were to:

• Learn more about new propellants and propellant systems for space.

• Share ideas about applying current and new propellants to in-space 

propulsion for near and far term requirements.

• Encourage interest among other attendees to consider collaborating 

with NASA Goddard to advance the state-of-the-art of propulsion 

technologies.

• Promote the license of NASA Goddard component technologies that 

support space propulsion systems. 

The Conference provided an excellent opportunity for attendees to 

learn first-hand about new trends in space technology requirements. 

Sessions focused on regulations and priorities for new propulsion 

materials and ancillary technologies; this promoted discussion about 

strategies for adapting a broader array of propellants to respective space 

programs. Key topics for these discussions included propellants for 

on-orbit missions and corresponding hardware systems, and structuring 

government and industry partnerships to validate new technologies.

There was widespread interest in NASA’s position on and plans for 

alternative propulsion systems. Attendees frequently expressed the 

desire to meet with front line NASA technical personnel and decision 

makers about these technologies, strategies, and policies. 

NASA Goddard’s IPPO also promoted NASA Goddard intellectual 

property, such as the nitinol valve, for licensing and further development 

via partnering. This resulted in prospective licenses and possibly new 

agreements with several industry organizations. 

Developing “Greener” Propulsion System Technologies

This past year saw the NASA Goddard Propulsion Branch focus on 

propulsion systems that have less detrimental impact on Earth’s 

ecosystem. Three examples of related technologies include reducing 

NASA’s reliance on hydrazine as a propellant, developing a fuel tank that 

breaks up in the Earth’s atmosphere upon entry, and reducing the use of 

alcohol as a cleaning agent.

Replacing Hydrazine Propellant

The NASA Goddard Propulsion Branch continues to explore alternatives 

to hydrazine as a propellant. Although consistent and effective in terms 

of performance and reliability, hydrazine and its derivatives are highly 
toxic and require strict procedures for shipping, 

handling, and disposal. In addition to safety and 

environmental issues, the special preparations 

required for working with hydrazine can add 

significant time and difficulty to the development 

of a new propulsion system. These procedures 

can also be expensive. 

A propellant that can replace hydrazine could 

also be of value in business markets such as 

the commercial satellite industry or aircraft 

escape systems. It may also have utility in 

non-propellant applications such as auxiliary 

power units.

“Demiseable” Fuel Tank GSC-16525-1

In an effort to reduce the amount of space 

debris that returns to Earth after a satellite 

has completed its mission, the NASA 

Goddard Propulsion Branch developed the 

so-called “demiseable” hydrazine fuel tank. 

Initially created for the Global Precipitation 

Measurement (GPM) mission, this system is 

the first fuel tank designed to break up 

harmlessly upon re-entry. This removes the 

hydrazine tank (which typically accounts for 

up to 20% of spacecraft debris) from the list 

of surviving items that must be accounted for 

when designing demiseable spacecraft. 

In addition to its reduced environmental 

impact, a demiseable spacecraft can be 

lighter than traditional craft, which allows 

engineers to devote more mass to the 

payload. Such a spacecraft can also provide 

a mission with a longer lifetime, with more 

propellant dedicated to maneuvering. 

Commercial spacecraft vendors producing low 

earth orbiting spacecraft will likely be interested 

in this demiseable tank technology, as will other 

government agencies and organizations that fly 

Earth observing and similar missions. 

Green Precision Cleaning System 

GSC-16555-1

The effort to develop greener propulsion 

systems extends beyond finding alternatives 

to hydrazine. It also includes examining NASA 

Goddard Propulsion Branch processes, 

and looking for ways to do things in a more 

environmentally conscious way. For example, 

a comprehensive review of NASA Goddard 

Propulsion Branch methods revealed that the 

group routinely used high volumes of alcohol as 

a cleaning agent, including over 1000 gallons 

for one single mission. Not only did this present 

an environmental issue; it also resulted in 

considerable expense to NASA Goddard due to 

alcohol’s cost to procure and its strict disposal 

requirements.

In response to these findings, the NASA 

Goddard Propulsion Branch decided to reduce 

their use of alcohol as a cleaning agent by 

developing a novel cleaning system based on 

cavitation bubbles, creating nitrogen bubbles 

within water through a process called gas 

agitation. By combining the use of both water 

and pressurized gas, the cleaning system 

creates a gas agitation effect in which the 

pulsing water and gas bubbles “scrub” the 

inside surfaces of equipment such as tubing 

more thoroughly than water alone.

Romae Young

Technology Partnership 

Strategist

I have had the good fortune to 

have worked at both NASA and 

the Department of Defense. My 

interest is to explore partnership 

opportunities with other government 

agencies. The first step is to 

communicate with other government 

agencies the expansive development 

work being done at NASA Goddard 

in areas such as nanotechnology, 

materials, electronics, sensors, and 

cross-cutting technologies. 

When officials from other NASA 

centers and government agencies 

visit NASA Goddard, they are amazed 

at our development work, much of 

which is being performed by civil 

servants. Partnering and leveraging 

technology nationally is not only the 

right thing to do to increase national 

capabilities in space and defense; 

it also helps to reduce cost. NASA 

Goddard has a lot to offer and is 

open to partnering.

IPP OFFICE BIO

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 7
NASA Goddard Propulsion Branch reports that this system has 

allowed the group to reduce its usage of alcohol cleaner down to 50 

or 60 gallons per typical mission, a reduction of well over 90%. In 

addition, this system can be considered far “greener” and cheaper 

than alcohol cleaner, since it requires no additives, special shipping, 

handling, storage, or disposal. 

This system could have very wide applicability far beyond NASA 

Goddard. For example, its potential value is apparent for any 

commercial site that requires a safe, environmentally friendly, and 

inexpensive cleaning system for their hardware and equipment.

Here, critical welds are X-rayed on the MMS fluid transfer system. —PHOTO BY NASA

 
NASA Goddard Propulsion 

Systems Tech Transfer 

Opportunities

During 2012, a number of technologies 

developed by NASA Goddard Propulsion 

Branch have been made available for 

commercialization. These technologies may 

be of particular interest to the emerging 

commercial space flight industry. In addition 

to the new and greener in-space propulsion 

systems developed by NASA Goddard 

Propulsion Branch (described earlier in this 

Accomplishments Report), technologies that 

could be leveraged into this market include 

the Normally Open Permanent Isolation Valve 

(NOVA), and the Floating Orbital Weld Head 

Support Arm. 

NASA Goddard also offers laboratory and test 

capabilities that could help 

smaller companies develop and 

qualify their space technologies. 

In addition, some of these 

technologies and capabilities could 

be adapted to applications other 

than space flight.

Commercial Space Flight and NASA

In recent years, NASA has increasingly looked to 

the private sector to help develop technologies that 

can perform “routine” space flight tasks, such as 

flying crews to and from the International Space 

Station. In several respects, 2012 represents a 

breakthrough year in this area, with high-profile 

milestones such as the success of SpaceX’s 

SpaceX Dragon —PHOTO BY NASA

Ted Mecum

Senior Technology 

Transfer Manager

As a Senior Technology Manager, I 

am responsible for the identification, 

review, planning, and evaluation of 

advanced aerospace technologies 

for potential patenting, software 

release, and/or licensing options. 

I am also involved in negotiating 

mutually beneficial partnerships 

between NASA and private industry, 

academia, and/or other government 

organizations. Each one of those 

responsibilities speaks directly to the 

theme of “from concept to reality.” 

For example, we frequently start with 

an idea of how a NASA Goddard 

technology might be valuable in 

non-space applications, and we help 

move it along the path towards real 

commercial products. Similarly, we 

often begin with the identification 

of a specific NASA Goddard need, 

and help develop a collaborative 

partnership that turns that need into a 

new capability to support our Space 

Science missions.

IPP OFFICE BIO

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 9
Dragon mission.

According to industry observers, one of the challenges facing the commercial 

spaceflight industry is propellant, where there has been no significant 

improvement in thrust-per-pound within the last 50 years. Solving such technical 

issues could open a large global market for commercial space flight, both within 

the U.S. and internationally.

NASA Goddard Propulsion Branch has developed a number of propulsionrelated technologies that not only reduces the environmental impact of these 

systems; they also provide a number of other advantages, including cost, safety, 

and performance. For more information, see the article “NASA Goddard and 

Greener Propulsion Technologies” elsewhere in this Accomplishments Report.

Normally Open Permanent Isolation Valve (NOVA) GSC-16336-1

One technology that may be useful in commercial spaceflight and potentially 

many other applications is the “Nitinol-Actuated Normally Open Permanent 

Isolation Valve (NOVA),” a zero-leak permanent isolation valve designed for liquid 

propellant service on in-space propulsion systems. NOVA is a replacement to the 

currently used pyrovalve for all chemical propulsion systems. 

Pyrovalves are widely used in spacecraft fluid systems. Unfortunately, they tend 

to experience unacceptably high failure rates in qualification testing. To address 

this problem, NOVA uses a so-called “shape memory” material called nitinol. 

This substance can be shaped and then compressed. When the material is 

subsequently heated, it resumes its original shape. In the NOVA, heat is applied 

when the valve needs to be closed. The nitinol then assumes its original shape, 

creating a leak-tight seal. 

In addition to propulsion applications, NOVA could potentially be adapted to 

other purposes that require a safe heat-activated valve.

Floating Orbital Weld Head Support Arm GSC-16522-1 

As we noted earlier, commercial spacecraft systems are becoming more prevalent. 

This market is likely to produce an accompanying need to develop and manufacture 

in-space propulsion systems more effectively. One likely future requirement is the 

ability to weld expensive, delicate equipment in a way that maintains high precision 

and ensures a low failure percentage due to misalignment or porosity. 

The “Floating Orbital Weld Head Support Arm” technology developed by NASA 

Goddard Propulsion Branch may offer a number of benefits in this application. 

This technology, which is based on commercially available technology first used 

to support cameras at sporting events, aids in the critical alignment of the orbital 

weld head into the welding fixture. The system uses no extra “fixturing” to support 

heavy weld head cables. In addition, the arm acts as a zero gravity weld head 

support, making spacecraft propulsion manufacturing on the ground much easier 

and faster.

The support arm allows the operator to reach inside the spacecraft structure, 

which historically has been largely inaccessible and difficult to support. The arm is 

self-supporting, retractable, and safe to operate. 

Development and Testing Facilities

NASA Goddard Propulsion Branch includes extensive laboratory facilities. These 

comprise a valuable resource that outside companies and other entities can 

use to develop their own technologies. Among the capabilities provided by the 

laboratories is flight qualification, an essential tool for technologies designed for 

use in space. Potential services include modeling, testing, and fabrication. These 

can be highly valuable to smaller companies who may not have the resources 

necessary to easily absorb the expense typically associated with these tools.

First used to support cameras at sporting events, the support arm now aids in the development of 

mission critical propulsion components. —PHOTO BY NASA

 
At any given moment, NASA Goddard is awash in ideas. Some of these ideas may be newly 

formed, while others may be concepts that have been carefully considered and evolved over a 

period of time. 

Of course, even the most brilliant idea is of little practical value unless it can be eventually 

developed to serve a useful mission or application. Is the science behind it sound? Can it be 

reproduced reliably, consistently, and cheaply? How will it fit into existing components and 

systems? Answering these and similar questions can require a long and complicated process. 

Failure to properly consider and understand every implication associated with an 

idea, whether within the government, academia, or private enterprise, can 

have major consequences. For example, development can be seriously 

delayed when unanticipated problems arise late in the process, issues that 

might have been avoided with more effective up-front evaluation. Conversely, 

failure to fully appreciate an idea’s value and utility could prevent a promising 

technology from ever seeing the light of day.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has created the Integrated Design Center 

(IDC) to help better define the requirements of a proposed mission. The IDC 

brings together engineers from all discipline areas required for a mission, 

and provides a collaborative environment for a short (typically one week) and 

intense study session. Each study helps NASA Goddard define the parameters 

of an upcoming mission. This information can then be leveraged to help NASA 

Goddard build more complete and meaningful proposals — and also help identify 

which missions may or may not be worthwhile to pursue. This process also 

has obvious utility for private industry, for applications such as evaluating and 

analyzing the viability of a new concept or technology.

In this section, we describe IDC facilities and capabilities. We also briefly review 

the history of the IDC, and examine a typical one-week IDC session.

INTEGRATED DESIGN CENTER

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 11
Integrated Design Center and 

Product Development

The NASA Goddard Integrated Design Center’s (IDC) primary purpose is 

to support NASA space missions and related technology development. It 

can also provide significant value to non-NASA entities, including other 

government agencies, academia, and industry. For example, IDC studies 

can help companies prepare for proposals, vet technologies, and define 

technology roadmaps for long-term goals. 

Since its inception, the IDC’s client base has expanded to include nonNASA entities that have a need for the IDC’s facilities, processes, tools, 

and expertise from a wide variety of technical disciplines. IDC engineers 

collaborate with clients to define and deliver products that can include 

basic design, functional diagrams, conclusions and recommendations, 

cost data, and other materials that can be leveraged to accelerate 

development and eventual success of the client’s products and 

technologies. 

IDC Facilities

The IDC currently conducts these studies in two lab facilities, the 

Mission Design Lab and the Instrument Design Lab. The IDC will in the 

future also include an additional facility currently in development, the 

Architecture Design Lab (ADL).

Mission Design Lab (MDL) provides conceptual end-to-end design and 

analysis for a wide variety of space mission concepts and architectures. 

This includes integration and test, launch and orbit establishment, 

operations (including ground), data collection and handling from the 

spacecraft to the scientist, and post-mission considerations including 

orbital debris requirements, controlled and uncontrolled re-entry or 

orbital storage, and even servicing options.

Instrument Design Lab (IDL) offers design and analysis services for 

space mission instruments. All instrument families can be developed, 

including telescopes, cameras, hyperspectral imagers, lidars and laser 

altimeters, spectrometers, coronographs, and others. These cover the 

full electromagnetic spectrum from microwave through gamma ray. 

Studies can develop initial end-to-end instrument concepts; or examine, 

evaluate, and/or improve existing instrument concepts or elements. 

Trade studies, risk analyses, independent assessments, and technology 

incorporation analyses can also be performed.

Architecture Design Lab (ADL), currently in conceptual development, 

will bring together highly experienced engineers with program managers 

and scientists who want to develop a basic approach or “architecture” 

for ideas with very little definition. Rather than provide a high level of 

actual engineering; these studies will instead focus more on 

engineering judgment and basic calculations. The goal is to consider 

the “what ifs” not usually performed during typical conceptual design 

studies. The ADL may also help define areas within the architecture 

where new technologies are needed or could be introduced.

Integrated Design Center in Action. —PHOTO BY NASA

 
How the IDC Works

Perhaps the most critical value the IDC 

offers to prospective clients is the ability to 

assemble the most applicable and relevant 

pool of engineering talent for a particular 

project, within a collaborative environment 

that allows these engineers to work closely 

with the client team. To do this, the IDC 

brings together all involved parties to the 

same location at the same time, and requires 

them to remain in place throughout the study. 

This ensures that the client is an active and 

engaged part of the IDC team. 

As engineers contribute their input and 

views, the Lab Lead constantly evaluates 

the client’s needs and the Systems Engineer 

evaluates the evolving design toward meeting 

the system requirements. And as the design 

develops and evolves, the client provides 

real-time feedback, which the engineers 

consider and incorporate into their work. This 

helps ensure that the finished product is both 

thorough and relevant to the client’s needs.

The process begins several months before the 

IDC study is scheduled. This involves preplanning work for the session, including one 

or more meetings or teleconferences with the 

client. These discussions are intended to help 

define the goals, objectives, and scope of the 

upcoming IDC study.

Arranging an IDC Study

To arrange an IDC study, contact Dr. Bruce 

Campbell, IDC Manager (301-286-9808, 

bruce.a.campbell@nasa.gov). Dr. Campbell 

and his staff will help you define the best IDC 

study to suit your needs. 

The cost of an IDC session depends largely 

on factors such as the scope and complexity 

of the proposed study. Historically, the total 

cost for resources needed for a typical oneweek study averages around $100,000. IDC 

sessions can be funded from non-NASA 

sources. However, funding from outside 

sources may require Space Act Agreements 

or other official vehicles which may impact the 

lead time for the study, and therefore should 

be discussed directly with IDC personnel 

when scheduling a proposed session.

IDC Services and Products

IDC services and products can benefit 

businesses in a variety of ways. The IDC 

can provide a company with engineering 

information about their project that helps 

define the scope and complexity of the work, 

what technologies are involved, how much 

it will likely cost, and many other aspects. 

This information can then form the basis for 

a realistic proposal that helps ensure timely 

and profitable project completion. 

An IDC session can also vet a new 

technology. The session can explore 

whether or not a new technology will fit 

seamlessly into an existing system, and 

if so what advantages/disadvantages it 

may provide. The IDC can help with longterm planning, for instance by creating 

a technology roadmap to guide future 

Cynthia Firman

SBIR/STTR Program Manager and 

Technology Infusion Manager 

I have two primary responsibilities in the 

IPP Office: NASA Goddard SBIR/STTR 

Program Manager and NASA Goddard 

Technology Infusion Manager (TIM). 

The first role falls squarely into the 

“from concept to reality” theme. There 

are a lot of innovators out there who 

have an idea, but not the means to 

develop it. The SBIR/STTR program 

provides funding to help them turn the 

idea into something real. The second 

part of my work here, as the NASA 

Goddard TIM, involves the use and 

application of the development. In this 

capacity, I also help get the word out 

about what technology efforts are 

going on in the Small Business 

community. By the end of Phase II, 

the technology should be well along 

the development process, to be “infused” 

into NASA Goddard through Phase III 

contracts or via commercialization by 

the Small Business Concern and 

become part of our core technologies 

and capabilities. 

IPP OFFICE BIO

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 13
development and commercialization of a new idea. In this way, an IDC 

session can examine theoretical concepts and components that are 

not yet technically possible but may become so in the future. Even if 

the technology is years away, an IDC session can review it and ideally 

develop a technology roadmap that may help the theoretical become 

a reality.

When the IDC session concludes, the client receives an interim 

presentation of the session’s key conclusions. The interim presentation 

is reviewed and updated, to form the basis for the final presentation. 

The client also receives CAD drawings, spreadsheets, model outputs, 

and other related engineering materials. 

Conducting an Integrated Design 

Center Study

To address the increased competition for mission work 

between NASA Centers, NASA Goddard created the New 

Business Office (Code 100) in the 1990’s to help decide which 

work to pursue, and to develop compelling proposals for that 

work. This in turn required the ability to perform conceptual 

engineering to test the feasibility of each proposal and provide 

credibility of the design. 

To provide this capacity, in 1997 NASA Goddard created the 

Integrated Mission Design Center (IMDC), the forerunner to today’s 

Integrated Design Center (IDC). In 1999 NASA Goddard created 

the Instrument Synthesis and Analysis Lab (ISAL), to provide 

commensurate capability to design NASA Goddard instruments. The 

IMDC and ISAL were soon combined under a single management 

structure, the Integrated Design Center (IDC), with the two main 

components renamed Mission Design Lab (MDL) and Instrument 

Design Lab (IDL). Since its formation, the IDC has conducted 

approximately 550 studies, roughly 34 per year.

Today the IDC conducts studies that are both highly intensive and very 

short; most are completed within a single week. Deliverables for each 

session include a presentation that defines the technical requirements, 

feasibility, dependencies, and other aspects of the client’s concept. 

This presentation can then be leveraged by the client in multiple ways. 

The goal of a typical study is to begin the session on Monday with 

little more than a “blank sheet of paper,” and by the end of Friday the 

client will receive a credible conceptual engineering design that, after 

a cost estimate is conducted, could form the foundation of a formal 

proposal. 

Engineers Discussing a Proposed Mission Design. —PHOTO BY NASA

 
Over the years NASA Goddard has accumulated a vast amount of Earth Science data 

collected through numerous missions, for variables such as temperature, humidity, rainfall, ice 

cover, vegetation, and many others. NASA Goddard makes this data available for research 

and commercial applications. This data is also used for public outreach and informational 

purposes. This helps promote awareness and understanding of science concepts, presented 

in a way that is readily accessible and understandable to members of the general public, 

including younger students. 

To do this, NASA Goddard creates visualizations that help illustrate important scientific 

themes that underlie Earth Science data. Many of these visualizations are available for 

viewing through the internet. Others require more sophisticated display technologies such 

as Hyperwall and Science On a Sphere. These are two important tools for presenting large 

datasets -- that in some forms might appear arcane or difficult for the layperson to easily 

digest -- in ways that people find highly understandable, compelling, and entertaining. 

These visualizations, and the systems designed to display them to full advantage, perform 

a very important knowledge transfer function by presenting NASA’s Earth Science data 

in a way the public can easily comprehend. The visualizations may also inspire the next 

generation of young scientists, engineers, and inventors to seek out careers in science.

In this section we present a general overview of NASA Goddard visualization technologies, 

specifically Hyperwall and Science on a Sphere. We also discuss several of the many ways 

NASA Earth Science data is being used for the benefit of communities around the globe. 

This includes both public safety and health (such as fire and flood risk monitoring), as well as 

commercial opportunities, that help demonstrate the enormous and continuous value returned on 

the public’s investment in Space Science.

 VISUALIZATION AND  EARTH SCIENCE DATA

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 15
NASA Earth Science Visualizations

To help make Earth Science data more readily accessible and 

understandable to the public, NASA Goddard’s Scientific Visualization 

Studio creates animations and images that graphically “visualize” the 

data. NASA Goddard has made thousands of these visualizations freely 

available by distributing them through the Scientific Visualization Studio 

web site (see http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Gallery/index.html ) and through 

other sites such as YouTube. One example is “Perpetual Ocean,” which 

animates the Earth’s ocean currents. This video has collected over a 

million views by the end of 2012. Other popular visualizations include the 

2012 transit of Venus and the famous “Earthrise” photograph taken on 

Apollo 8.

Visualizations can be created from hard data, or from pure 

conceptualization. Although visualizations are not necessarily created 

for formal academic purposes, they could be assembled in ways that 

could form content for specific courses. In addition, visualizations can 

help prepare the public to make well-informed and effective decisions on 

important science and technology related issues, by presenting large sets 

of seemingly arcane data in ways that the average person can more easily 

understand.

Many visualizations can be easily viewed on an average computer 

screen. NASA Goddard is also involved in a pilot program for the NASA 

Visualization Explorer iPad app that allows schools to view sciencerelated visualizations. More sophisticated visualizations may require 

advanced display technologies to be fully appreciated. NASA Goddard 

has helped develop two such display technologies, Hyperwall and 

Science On a Sphere.

Hyperwall

A Hyperwall is a display system developed by NASA Goddard in 

collaboration with NASA Ames. Hyperwall can run up to 9 or 15 separate 

visualizations simultaneously, providing a sophisticated, high resolution 

platform for viewing visualizations. 

At present there are several Hyperwall installations, including a “travelling” 

version. Within NASA Goddard, the largest resides in the Computational 

and Information Sciences and Technology Office.

NASA Goddard continually develops new Hyperwall visualizations and 

makes these available for public outreach and to promote scientific literacy. 

The visualizations illustrate a broad spectrum of Earth Science topics by 

graphically presenting data collected from numerous NASA missions, 

several of which are currently active and continuously providing new data. 

Some illustrate change, such as climatological changes over the past 

several decades. Others show large-scale static images with associated 

text descriptions. 

In the future a Hyperwall may serve as a supercomputer monitor, to run very 

high-level visualizations of phenomena such as global weather patterns. 

Other enhancements may include a higher level of interactivity, allowing 

scientists to change variables in real-time and immediately see the results 

on the screen. These and other enhancements could be developed for 

potential use in real time modeling and simulation, applications that may be 

of high value and interest to researchers within the government, education, 

and private industry.

Dr. Phil Webster demonstrates the NASA Goddard Hyperwall. —PHOTO BY NASA

 
Science on a Sphere

Science On a Sphere is another advanced 

display technology for visualizing NASA Goddard 

Earth Science data. As the name suggests, 

Science On a Sphere uses computers and video 

projectors to display animated data onto the 

outside of a sphere. In a typical installation the 

sphere is suspended from above and surrounded 

at the corners of the room by four video 

projectors.

NASA Goddard is a major supplier of content 

for Science On a Sphere. The goal of each 

visualization is to present the “essence” of a 

NASA science mission, visualized in a way that 

makes it easily understood by children and other 

members of the public. For example, a series 

of Science on a Sphere visualizations have 

been created for climate change topics such as 

precipitation, ice mass, vegetation, and other 

factors, displayed as an organized presentation.

One of the first full-feature movies developed 

for Science On a Sphere is “Footprints,” 

produced by NASA Goddard. This movie depicts 

satellite data and other visual effects, including 

visualizations about the biosphere, planetary 

views of city lights at night, and hurricane 

formation.

NASA Goddard Climate 

Data and Technologies

NASA Goddard has compiled a vast store of 

Earth observational data, on phenomena such 

as precipitation, temperature, vegetation, ice 

mass, and others. This data archive represents 

the collective results of a number of important 

NASA Earth Science missions. In addition, 

NASA scientists have developed climate models 

that are becoming increasingly important to an 

expanding array of new customers, including 

private sector partners using this data to 

generate commercial products. 

Access to NASA Earth Science Data

NASA missions have accumulated – and continue 

to accumulate – a comprehensive database 

relating to the Earth’s natural weather, climate, 

and geological systems. NASA Goddard makes 

this data available to non-NASA entities through 

three software architectures that programmers can 

incorporate into their code.

IPOPP (International Polar Orbiter Processing 

Package GSC-15570-1) enables Direct Readout 

programs to process, visualize, and evaluate Earth 

Science data. IPOPP provides fast access to 

products derived from this data. It has been used 

for a number of important applications and events, 

including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill incident. 

IPOPP is currently used by the EOS and SoumiNPP missions for real-time performance and 

state-of-health monitoring. It is also being used 

operationally by the NASA/MSFC Short-term 

Science on a Sphere. —PHOTO BY NASA

 

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 17
Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Project; and by meteorological 

agencies around the globe, including the U.S. National Weather Service, U.S. Air 

Force Typhoon Warning Center, Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology, 

Météo-France, and the United Kingdom Met Office.

Sensor Web 2.0 (GSC-15535-1) gathers and assimilates data from a network 

of space-based, airborne, and ground-based sensors. This allows these 

disparate sensors to function as a single unit. This capability is of major potential 

value during natural disasters. 

Sensor Web 2.0 technology is an open architecture and system that can be 

used without licensing or other restrictions. This has resulted in collaborative 

relationships between NASA and several research universities, private 

laboratories, and other government agencies. Applications that are in 

development and/or are being contemplated for Sensor Web include flood 

early warning systems; volcano monitoring; hurricane location, strength, and 

trajectory determination; tsunami detection and mitigation; oil spill detection 

and monitoring, space-weather event detection, and detection of other harmful 

weather and natural phenomena, among others.

Land Information System (LIS) 6.1 GSC-16290-1 allows programmers to 

integrate satellite-based and ground-based observational data products into 

modeling forecasts.

LIS allows programmers to reuse and share modeling tools, data resources, 

and assimilation algorithms. Applications include hydrologic research to enable 

accurate global water and energy cycle predictions, disaster management, water 

resources management, agricultural management, numerical weather prediction, 

air quality, and military mobility assessment.

Uses of NASA Earth Science Data

NASA Goddard’s Earth Science data has been used for a broad spectrum 

of critical applications, including:

• Strategic fire mapping and resource planning. This includes fire 

monitoring for the Americas (Mexico), forest fire, hot spot and smoke 

plume detection in Thailand; and flashover fire detection in South Africa.

• Air quality monitoring and tracking, as first response detection for 

pollution tracking and source identification. This includes aerosol optical 

thickness measurement to monitor air quality following biomass burning 

in Indonesia.

• Weather forecasting for severe thunderstorm top detection and tracking.

• Daily and weekly tracking of sea ice for use in Russia and Japan.

• Oil spill monitoring.

• Water measurements to determine mosquito population in Thailand.

• Several flood early warning systems, developing in conjunction with the 

Namibia Department of Hydrology, Canadian Space Agency, Ukraine 

Space Research Institute, DRL (Germany), and 18 Caribbean countries.

• Flood potential mapping in Kenya and India.

NASA Goddard Hyperwall. —PHOTO BY NASA • Typhoon prediction and monitoring in Taiwan.

 
On June 10, 2012, NASA’s Aqua 

satellite passed over Colorado and New 

Mexico and captured smoke and heat 

from the High Park Fire in Colorado, 

and the Whitewater-Baldy Complex and 

Little Bear fires in New Mexico.

—PHOTO BY NASA

Enidia Santiago-Arce

Technology Transfer Manager 

As Technology Transfer Manager, my role 

is to dream up all the ways NASA Goddard 

technologies can be used. Typically when an 

engineer or scientist creates an invention, it’s 

for a very specific and narrow purpose, such as 

to improve an existing capability for a particular 

mission. My role is to understand the new 

technology and how it’s used, and then use 

my imagination to explore how that technology 

can be adapted to other uses. This doesn’t 

happen immediately, of course. It involves a 

lot of research on my part, and staying abreast 

with the latest publications in fields such as 

medicine, imaging, engineering, and others.

I also need to keep current with the latest 

business trends and developments. This is an 

important point: successful technology transfer 

requires me to be as up to date as possible 

with both technology and business, so I can 

make the connections that help turn “concept 

to reality” -- in other words, help turn my original 

idea about how a technology could be used into 

a viable potential product. This also involves 

finding the right partners and collaborators who 

can make this happen.

IPP OFFICE BIO

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 19
An example of how NASA Earth Science data can help protect lives 

involves a volcano monitoring system. This system imaged an eruption in 

the Republic of the Congo, and executed a lava temperature algorithm. 

In the process, the application determined that the direction of lava flow 

was confined to the west side of the volcano’s slope. Authorities therefor 

cancelled evacuation for the other areas, saving livestock and crops that 

would otherwise have been abandoned.

Another application serves Namibia. Previously, residents in northern 

Namibia often failed to heed flood evacuation warnings from the country’s 

Department of Hydrology and subsequently had to be rescued with 

boats and helicopters, resulting in major loss of farm animals. Authorities 

demonstrated a system developed from NASA Earth Science data by 

showing satellite imagery taken during peak flood conditions that revealed 

how extensive flooding could be. This helped convince residents to heed 

the next evacuation warnings, which saved lives, livestock, and government 

funds not spent on rescue efforts.

These are just a sampling of the many ways in which applications built on 

top of NASA Goddard technologies can utilize Earth Science data to address 

pressing societal needs around the world. By sharing this information, NASA 

Goddard can help inform developers and inspire them to build their own 

applications, thereby expanding the value and use of this data.

Earth Science Technologies

In 2012, NASA Goddard made available for technology transfer several 

technologies that provide easier management and manipulation of its Earth 

Science data. These technologies allow NASA and non-NASA users to maximize 

the value of NASA resources when developing applications and products based 

on NASA Goddard’s climate data.

For example, the Virtual Climate Data Server (vCDS) GSC-16444-1 

is a cloud-oriented software appliance designed specifically for the data 

management needs of data-centric climate applications. A growing challenge 

for the Earth Science and climate modeling communities is how to manage 

expanding volumes of data, literally hundreds of terabytes and constantly 

growing. To address this, the vCDS provides policy-based control over 

collection-building, managing, querying, accessing, and preserving large 

scientific data sets. vCDS benefits NASA’s aerospace and aeronautical mission 

by extending the effectiveness of NASA’s remote sensing and climate modeling 

capabilities.

The vCDS includes several associated technologies that are also being made 

available to users outside NASA Goddard. These include Administrative 

Extensions, NetCDF Module, and Repetitive Provisioning.

Virtual Climate Data Server Administrative Extensions GSC-16446-1

provide the Open Archive Information System (OAIS) database extensions, OAIS 

metadata views, and collection action logging required to manage system-level 

object provenance, provide views and QA over OAIS metadata compliance, and 

support administrative monitoring and control over vCDS-managed collections 

of scientific data. When provisioned with Administrative Extensions, a vCDS 

can deliver policy-based control over collection-building, managing, querying, 

accessing, and preserving scientific data sets. 

Administrative Extensions provide the core system capabilities for administrative 

control over vCDS managed collections. In addition, encapsulating systemlevel collections management operations as a module greatly simplifies the 

construction of tailored system administrator interfaces to the vCDS.

The vCDS NetCDF Module GSC-16445-1 is an iRODS kit that encapsulates 

the microservice code, supporting utilities, rules, and configuration files required 

to implement the canonical create, read, update, and delete operations of an 

OAIS-compliant NetCDF collections-management kernel. When provisioned into 

vCDS, the resulting image becomes a software appliance tailored to the data 

management needs of a scientific collection of NetCDF data. 

Repetitive Provisioning GSC-16447-1 provides an automated capability for 

building vCDS software stacks in various computing environments. vCDS itself 

is a software appliance that provides policy-based control over scientific data 

collections. Repetitive provisioning, along with the vCDS images produced by 

the provisioning process and the overall vCDS architecture, enable Virtualizationas-a-Service and various modes of deployment and distribution in cloud 

computing environments, including Platform-as-a-Service and Software-asa-Service. Repetitive provisioning allows vCDS technology to be conveniently 

deployed into a tiered array of storage and compute resources, thereby 

providing operational flexibility to data centers that use vCDS technology.
The NASA mission that probably attracted the most press and public attention in 

2012 is the Curiosity Mars rover. Curiosity touched down on the Red Planet on August 

6, 2012. Since then, it has reported back to Earth a number of important findings and 

discoveries that have advanced our understanding of the Martian surface.

Onboard Curiosity is the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument package, developed 

by NASA Goddard. SAM is a suite of three instruments that collectively investigate the 

chemistry of the Martian surface and atmosphere. SAM allows scientists to search for 

compounds of the element carbon that are associated with life. Researchers can also 

use SAM’s instruments to explore ways in which these compounds are generated and 

destroyed in the Martian ecosphere. 

SAM’s instruments consist of a number of separate NASA Goddard technologies, 

in areas such as chemical analysis, optics, software, mechanics, and others. 

A number of these technologies have been made available for 

commercialization outside NASA Goddard, and (either standalone 

or in various combinations) offer significant value to a broad array 

of potential applications. These technologies comprise yet another 

compelling example of how NASA Goddard inventions, developed 

originally with space science in mind, can offer practical utility and 

benefit here on Earth.

In this section of the 2012 Accomplishments Report, 

we present an overview of the Sample Analysis at 

Mars instrument suite and NASA Goddard’s role in 

developing it. We also examine a sampling of the 

individual technologies developed by NASA 

Goddard to support SAM and similar space 

science missions in the future.

SAMPLE ANALYSIS AT MARS

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 21
Curiosity and the Sample Analysis at Mars 

(SAM) Instrument Suite

For much of 2012 the science news was filled with articles about the 

Curiosity lander on Mars. This mission appears to be one of the more 

high-profile and avidly followed in recent years. Curiosity is the first 

Mars rover able to scoop soil into analytical instruments. Its highlyanticipated (and closely watched) landing occurred on August 6, 2012 

in Mars’ Gale Crater. 

A critical component of Curiosity’s onboard tool set is the Sample 

Analysis at Mars (SAM) package developed at NASA Goddard. SAM is a 

suite of instruments designed to allow scientists to examine the chemistry 

of the Martian surface and atmosphere. These measurements will help us 

better understand environmental conditions over time and potentially help 

determine whether or not Mars could support and preserve evidence of 

microbial life, either now or at some earlier point in its planetary history. 

For example, in late 2012 SAM tentatively identified perchlorate, a 

compound of oxygen and chlorine, in a soil sample. This reactive 

chemical was previously found in arctic Martian soil by NASA’s Phoenix 

Lander. Reactions with other chemicals heated in SAM have formed 

chlorinated methane compounds, one-carbon organics that were 

detected by the instrument. The chlorine is of Martian origin; but it may be 

possible that the carbon was carried from Earth by Curiosity and detected 

by SAM’s high sensitivity. Future tests will hopefully shed more light on 

this subject.

SAM Components

SAM comprises over half of Curiosity’s science payload, and consists 

of three primary instruments: a gas chromatograph, a quadrupole mass 

spectrometer, and a tunable laser spectrometer.

Gas chromatograph separates molecules of close molecular weight, 

measures and analyses the gases by mass, and routes gases to the 

mass spectrometer for further analysis. The gas chromatograph has its 

own detector; but also feeds the separated fractions to the quadrupole 

mass spectrometer and the tunable laser spectrometer for more detailed 

analysis.

Quadrupole mass spectrometer identifies gases by molecular weight 

and electrical charge of their ionized states. It performs this function 

by separating elements and compounds by mass for identification and 

measurement. A primary purpose of the mass spectrometer is to check for 

several elements associated with terrestrial life, such as carbon, nitrogen, 

sulfur, and oxygen. 

Tunable laser spectrometer uses absorption of light at specific 

wavelengths to measure the abundance of various isotopes of carbon, 

hydrogen, and oxygen in atmospheric gases such as methane, water 

vapor, and carbon dioxide. The isotope ratios can provide clues about 

Mars history. These measurements are accurate to within 10 parts per 

thousand.
In addition to these three primary 

components, SAM also includes a 

number of subsystems and technologies 

critical to its success. These include 

• Solid sample inlet tubes where 

Curiosity’s robotic arm delivers 

powdered samples that the rover drills 

from rocks or scoops from soil. 

• Sample manipulation system for moving

the powdered samples to the next 

steps in analysis. 

• Valves, pumps, carrier-gas reservoirs 

and regulators, pressure monitors, 

chemical scrubbers, and two ovens 

that can heat samples to about 1,000 

degrees C. 

Note that in addition to its science and 

analytical measurement capabilities, 

SAM also represents a significant 

technological accomplishment in terms 

of miniaturization. “Traditional” 

instruments that can provide SAM’s 

functionality and capabilities would 

likely fill a laboratory here on Earth; for 

Curiosity these instruments have been 

miniaturized to the approximate size 

of a microwave oven. Therefore these 

technologies may also be highly useful in 

space or Earth-based chemical analysis 

applications where size and weight are 

important considerations.

Going Forward 

Original plans called for Curiosity to 

remain active on the surface of Mars 

for two years. In December of 2012, 

Curiosity’s mission was extended 

indefinitely. 

Curiosity will also serve as a basic design 

for a future mission to Mars, tentatively 

scheduled for the 2020 timeframe. 

As explained in a December 2012 

announcement issued by NASA, this 

future mission will utilize technologies 

developed for Curiosity wherever feasible. 

It may also incorporate new instruments 

and technologies to fulfill its unique and 

advanced science agenda. An example of 

a potential new technology that may be 

included in this future Mars mission (and 

possibly others related to Solar System 

exploration) is the “In Situ Wet Chemistry 

Laboratory,” a lab-on-a-chip device 

designed for detecting and analyzing 

biological molecules in a sample.

In addition to future space missions, 

many SAM components individually 

or in combination could potentially be 

adapted to terrestrial applications. NASA 

Goddard’s Innovative Partnerships 

Program Office has helped make a 

number of these technologies available 

for commercial development. For more 

information, see the article “Sample 

Analysis at Mars (SAM) and Related 

Technologies” elsewhere in this 2012 

Accomplishments Report.

Dennis Small

Technology Transfer Manager

As Technology Transfer Manager, my 

responsibilities include identifying, reviewing, 

and evaluating new and innovative technologies 

for potential patenting and/or licensing 

consideration. I also have the role of negotiating 

partnerships between NASA and private 

industry, academia, and/or other government 

organizations. I have an opportunity to help 

define and participate in industry outreach 

activities about technology transfer practices 

and outcomes. I meet business leaders and talk 

about the broad range of technologies available 

for licensing at NASA Goddard. 

For me, the theme “from concept to reality” 

means being the conduit for NASA innovators 

and potential partners. NASA Goddard has 

a great deal of intellectual property. One of 

the greatest pleasures of my job is identifying 

intellectual property that leads to partnerships 

between the NASA and industry. I enjoy 

assisting teams to produce ideas (concepts) 

that lead to product fruition. These new 

products provide economic and societal 

benefits that fuel economic growth. Now 

that’s reality!

IPP OFFICE BIO

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 23
Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) 

and Related Technologies

Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument 

package, developed by NASA Goddard, provides scientists 

the capability to search for organic molecules on the Martian 

surface. SAM instruments are more sensitive and versatile 

than any similar instrument previously sent to Mars. It also can 

provide information about other ingredients of life and clues to 

past environments.

As mentioned earlier, SAM consists of three primary 

instruments:

• Mass spectrometer separates elements and compounds by 

mass for identification and measurement.

• Gas chromatograph separates molecules of close molecular 

weight, measures and analyzes the gases by mass, and 

routes gases to the mass spectrometer for further analysis. 

• Laser spectrometer measures the abundance of various 

isotopes of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in atmospheric 

gases such as methane, water vapor, and carbon dioxide. 

These measurements are accurate to within 10 parts per 

thousand.

These three instruments are supported by a sample 

manipulation system (SMS) and a Chemical Separation and 

Processing Laboratory (CSPL). The latter incorporates a 

number of separate technologies, including microvalves, 

gas manifolds, chemical and mechanical pumps, carrier gas 

reservoirs and regulators, and others. CSPL samples the 

atmosphere on Mars by introducing a small amount of gas 

through an inlet tube to the SAM instruments. SAM analyzes 

solid phase materials by transporting finely sieved materials 

to one of the SMS sample cups’ the cup with the sample then 

enters a SAM pyrolysis oven to release volatiles.
Microvalve GSC-15906-1

NASA Goddard has submitted many NTRs related 

to SAM. One example is the Miniaturized DoubleLatching Valve (a.k.a. microvalve) designed for gas 

sampling systems. The microvalve offers many 

advantages over other high-end high-performance 

valve technologies. For example, it has fewer 

parts than existing valves, and offers both reduced 

complexity and less stringent manufacturing 

tolerance requirements. Compared to other valves, 

the microvalve is more reliable, weighs less, and is 

easier and less expensive to fabricate.

Key innovations of the microvalve include:

• Floating pintletip that allows for relaxed 

manufacturing tolerances.

• Removable solenoid that can be easily replaced if 

there is a failure in any coil. 

• Shimming capability that determines the amount

of compression achieved in the Belleville washer 

stack and allows for looser tolerances for the 

individual parts. 

Collectively, these features offer easier, cheaper, 

and quicker manufacturing and maintenance. The 

floating pintletip provides higher reliability while 

simplifying assembly. And the removable solenoid 

reduces the impact of electrical failures discovered 

during ground testing.

SAM instruments incorporate over 40 microvalves. 

In addition, many upcoming and proposed NASA 

Darryl Mitchell

Senior Technology 

Transfer Manager

As a Tech Manager in the 

Innovative Partnerships Office, I 

have an opportunity to work on 

cases spanning the full spectrum 

from concept to reality. My job 

is to find new pathways and/or 

partners to get those cases that I 

can through the pipeline into the 

realm of reality. That’s much easier 

said than done; and unfortunately, 

there are many that don’t make 

it all the way. As a result, we are 

always looking for new ways 

to increase our effectiveness in 

transferring the brilliant ideas that 

cross our desks every day into 

practical applications. When it 

works, everybody wins!

IPP OFFICE BIO

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 25
missions could have a need for microvalve technology. For example, 

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is preparing proposals for two 

NASA Discovery Missions that would each employ up to 10 microvalves. 

The Europa Jupiter System Mission could require a similar number of 

microvalves. Kennedy Space Center’s Regolith and Environment Science 

and Oxygen and Lunar Volatiles Extraction (RESOLVE) mission is another 

prime candidate for microvalves, this mission could require approximately 

30 units.

In the commercial sector, the microvalve could be adapted for several 

applications and markets, such as gas regulation for the semiconductor 

industry, hand-held instruments for homeland security, and high 

temperature valves for use in the petroleum industry, among others.

Sample Analysis at Mars Instrument Simulator (SAMSIM) 

GSC-16566-1

Another SAM related invention is the Sample Analysis at Mars Instrument 

Simulator (SAMSIM). This is a high-fidelity numerical tool dedicated to 

plan-and-validate operations of the SAM instrument on the surface of 

Mars. The simulator provides mission planners with accurate predictions 

of the instrument electrical, thermal, and mechanical responses to 

scripted command loads. 

The simulator concept and techniques can be used to model other 

systems for space or industrial applications. The simulator can be readily 

modified to model a commercial gas chromatograph mass spectrometer 

(GCMS). And the SAMSIM gas flow library is a standalone entity that can 

be utilized to build models for complex gas flow of vacuum systems. 

HEXPANDO GSC-16109-1

It’s important to bear in mind that NASA inventions aren’t confined to 

high-tech applications; many have been adapted to everyday use. An 

example of this is HEXPANDO, originally developed for SAM. This is 

an expanding head hexagonal wrench designed to retain fasteners and 

keep them from being dislodged from the tool. 

The tool is intended to be used to remove or install socket head 

cap screws in remote hard-to-reach locations or in circumstances 

when a dropped fastener could cause damage to delicate or sensitive 

hardware. This tool could be useful for any mechanical assembly 

operation where the risk of losing a socket head cap screw could 

cause problems or failures.

Lab-on-a-Chip GSC-15970-1

As noted previously, SAM can detect faint traces of organics and 

identify a wide variety of them. To build upon and improve this capability 

for future missions to Mars and other Solar System bodies, NASA 

Goddard is currently developing the In Situ Wet Chemistry Laboratory. 

This is a lab-on-a-chip device designed for detecting and analyzing 

biological molecules in a sample. This combines multiple NASA Goddard 

technologies into a compact, lightweight unit designed for exobiology 

analysis on Mars, Titan, Europa, or any New Frontiers or Discovery 

Program missions that focus on the search for biologically relevant 

organic materials. And by offering the promise of portable, quick 

identification of DNA, this technology may also be useful in important 

health applications, such as testing drinking water in the field.

The lab not only offers the potential of detecting whether or not a 

sample is biological; it could also be eventually developed to the point 

where it may actually be able to identify whether or not certain DNA is 

present. This immediately raises a broad spectrum of possible health 

and medical related applications. For example, this capability could 

theoretically be used to analyze a sample of drinking water, to detect a 

variety of dangerous microbes or pathogens. And the fact that this unit 

is potentially portable means it could be used in the field, for example in 

remote locations where consuming contaminated drinking water is often 

the most common means for contracting disease.
2012 TECHNOLOGY DISCLOSURES

Disclosures

 REQUIREMENTS IN TIME AND 

FREQUENCY DOMAINS

Eddie Akpan

 

 DIRECT OBSERVATION OF NANOSCALE CONTACTING SURFACES

Timothy Longson

 

 MUTI-BEAM OPEN-PATH 

FIBER-TO-FIBER COUPLER

Emily Steel, Gordon Blalock, 

Kenneth Cory

 

 OPTIMIZED CARBON 

NANOTUBE GROWTH ON 

SELF-CATALYZING METAL 

FOILS FOR THERMAL 

INTERFACE APPLICATIONS

Timothy Longson, James 

Maddocks, Ali Kashani 

 

A DATA FUSION APPROACH 

FOR GLOBAL ESTIMATION OF 

FOREST CHARACTERISTICS 

FROM SPARSE LIDAR DATA

James Tilton, Bruce Cook, 

Paul Montesano

 

 A HIGH CROSS-POL 

ISOLATION MULTI-FREQUENCY 

ANTENNA FOR CLOUD AND 

PRECIPITATION RESEARCH

James Carswell

 A HYBRID FIBER/SOLID-STATE 

REGENERATIVE AMPLIFIER WITH 

TUNABLE PULSE WIDTHS FOR 

SATELLITE LASER RANGING

Demetrios Poulios, Donald Coyle

 

A RETURN TO ZERO PSEUDO 

NOISE LIDAR MODULATION 

TECHNIQUE FOR MAKING 

RANGE RESOLVED 

ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENTS

John Burris

 

 AUTOMATED EVALUATION 

SOFTWARE (AES) WEB 

APPLICATION

April Hildebrand

 

 CRUQS A MINIATURE 

FINE SUN SENSOR FOR 

NANOSATELLITES

Scott Heatwole, Carl Snow, Luis 

Santos

 

 FASR - FEEDBACK 

AUGMENTED SUB-RANGER

Gerard Quilligan, Charles McClain

 

 GRAPHENE BASED 

IMPERMEABLE BARRIER LAYER 

FOR CRYOGENIC TANKS

Mahmooda Sultana, Jeffrey 

Stewart, Stephen Scotti, 

Theodore Johnson, Emilie Siochi

 GREEN PRECISION CLEANING 

SYSTEM

Michael Wilks 

 HELIOS: EXTREME WEATHER 

VULNERABILITY WARNING 

SYSTEM

Austin Stanforth, Vijay Lulla, 

Daniel Johnson

 

 HIGH SPEED VISIBLE AND 

NIR CAMERAS AND GPU 

BASED FAST WAVE-FRONT 

CONTROL ELECTRONICS 

FOR BALLOON BORNE AND 

GROUND BASED DIRECT 

EXO-PLANET IMAGING

Richard Lyon, Peter Petrone, 

Udayan Mallik

 

 HIGH-POWER HIGH SPEED 

SLECTRO-OPTIC POCKELS 

CELL MODULATOR

Phillip Battle, Justin Hawthorne

 

 INTEGRATED GENOMIC AND 

PROTEOMIC INFORMATION 

SECURITY PROTOCOL

Harry Shaw, Brian Gosselin

 

 LARGE-AREA, UV-OPTIMIZED, 

BACK-ILLUMINATED SILICON 

PHOTOMULTIPLIER ARRAYS

Vinit Dhulla

 LOW COST MLI THERMAL 

BLANKET FOR HIGH 

TEMPERATURE APPLICATIONS 

UP TO 1400AND#730;C

Michael Choi

 

 LYMAN ALPHA DOPPLER 

IMAGING INTERFEROMETER 

(LADII)

Phillip Chamberlin, Qian Gong

 

 ON-ORBIT MODULATION 

TRANSFER FUNCTION 

CHARACTERIZATION OF 

TERRA MODIS USING THE 

MOON

Taeyoung Choi

 

 PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL 

FOR TEMPERATURE 

CONTROL OF IMAGER OR 

SOUNDER ON GOES TYPE 

SATELLITES IN GEO

Michael Choi

 

 PRACTICAL UAV OPTICAL 

SENSOR BENCH WITH 

MINIMAL ADJUSTABILITY

Paula Gonzales, Jeffrey Pilgrim

 

 RADIATION HARD BY DESIGN 

(RHBD) ELECTRONICS

Gary Maki, Sterling Whitaker

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 27
2012 TECHNOLOGY DISCLOSURES

 SAM/MSL CONTAMINANTS 

SPECTRAL LIBRARY

Prabhakar Misra, Raul GarciaSanchez, Paul Mahaffy, John 

Canham, Doris Jallice

 

 SCIENCE ANALOG BOARD

Seshagiri Nadendla

 

 THE RECOVER BURNED 

AREA EMERGENCY RESPONSE 

DECISION SUPPORT 

SYSTEM CONCEPT, DESIGN, 

ARCHITECTURE, AND 

OPERATION

John Schnase

 

 THREE CANTED RADIATOR 

PANELS TO PROVIDE 

ADEQUATE COOLING FOR 

INSTRUMENTS ON SLEWING 

SPACECRAFT IN LEO

Michael Choi

 

 TRANSLATIONAL MODULATORS 

FOR LINEAR POLARIZATION 

TRANSFORMATION OPERATING 

VIA THE INTRODUCTION OF 

A VARIABLE PHASE DELAY 

BETWEEN RIGHT- AND 

LEFT-HANDED CIRCULAR 

POLARIZATION STATES

David Chuss, Edward Wollack, 

Kongpop U-Yen, Giampaolo Pisano

 USING PRE-MELTED PHASE 

CHANGE MATERIAL TO KEEP 

PAYLOAD WARM WITHOUT 

POWER FOR HOURS IN SPACE

Michael Choi

 

 WIDE BAND, DUAL POLARIZED 

ULTRA-LOW NOISE FOCAL 

PLANE ARRAY FEED FOR 

ACTIVE/PASSIVE MICROWAVE 

REMOTE SENSING

Manohar Deshpande

 

 COMPARISON TOOL FOR JAVA 

ARCHIVE FILES AND JAVA 

CLASS FILES

Andrew Spina

 

 A NOVEL LENSLET COUPLED 

PINHOLE MASK TO SUPPRESS 

STARLIGHT FOR HIGH 

CONTRAST IMAGING

Qian Gong, Michael McElwain

 

 SOFTWARE FOR EXECUTING 

CCSDS 121B STANDARDS 

ON “LOSSLESS DATA 

COMPRESSION”

Penshu Yeh

 

 AUTOMATED ENCLOSED GATE 

TRANSISTOR LAYOUT CELLS 

FOR RADIATION TOLERANT 

ASIC DESIGN

Jeffrey DuMonthier

NEW RHBO ELECTRONICS

Gary Maki, Sterling Whitaker

 

 SOFTWARE FOR EXECUTING 

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD 

CCSDS 123B ON “LOSSLESS 

MULTISPECTRAL & 

HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGE 

COMPRESSION”

Penshu Yeh

 

 MIRRORLET ARRAY 

FOR INTEGRAL FIELD 

SPECTROMETERS (IFS)

Qian Gong, Phillip Chamberlin, 

David Content, Jeffrey Kruk

 

 HIGH PRECISION TECHNIQUE 

FOR STACKING FAR-INFRARED 

BANDPASS FILTERS 

Ari Brown, Willie Merrell

 

 PROCESS TO FORM DUPONT 

KAPTON HN POLYMIDE FILM 

INTO SPRINGS

John Moery

 

 GENERAL MISSION ANALYSIS 

TOOL (GMAT) R2012A

Steven Hughes, Linda Jun, 

Wendy Shoan, Tuan Nguyen, 

Thomas Grubb, Joel Parker, 

Harvey Walden, Vladimir 

Lumelskly, Darrel Conway, 

Shawn Hoffman, John Bez

 A NON-INTRUSIVE PRESSURELINE DRYER

Qiang Ji

 

 NOVEL FAR ULTRAVIOLET 

PHOTODECTECTOR FOR OPEN 

SPACEAPPLICATIONS

Paul Shnitser, Victor Grubsky, 

Keith Shoemaker, Roman 

Ostroumov

 

 SAMPLE ANALYSIS AT MARS 

INSTRUMENT SIMULATOR

Mehdi Benna, Tom Nolan 

 OPENLIS

Christa Peters-Lidard, 

Sujay Kumar, Yudong Tan, 

David Mocko, James Geiger, 

Luther Lighty, Randal Koster, 

Rolf Reichle, Susan Olden, 

Ben Zaitchik

 

 MINIATURE TIME-OF-FLIGHT 

MASS SPECTROMETER 

(TOF-MS) WITH A WIRE RING 

REFLECTRON AND COMBINED 

DETECTOR BODY / ION GATE 

Timothy Cornish, Scott Ecelberger

 

 GMSEC API GENERIC JMS 

MIDDLEWARE WRAPPER

Robert Wiegand, 

Matthew Handy
 BIAMOLED (BIOMETRIC 

INTEGRATED ACTIVE-MATRIX 

ORGANIC LIGHT-EMITTING 

DIODE) DISPLAY

Eleanya Onuma

 

SELF FOCUSED OPTICAL

VORTEX FOR USE AS A 

TRACTOR BEAM

Demetrios Poulios, Paul Stysley, 

Richard Kay, Donald Coyle, 

Gregory Clarke

 

SCOTCH-TAPE MIRROR FOR 

HARD X-RAYS

Maxim Markevitch

 

CICERO CONFIGURATION 

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A 

GENERIC, CUSTOMIZABLE, 

WEB-BASED DATABASE 

APPLICATIONTO FACILITATE 

DOCUMENTATION CHANGE

David Robshaw, Martyn Noss

 

GREAT (GODDARD MISSION 

SERVICES EVOLUTION CENTER 

(GMSEC) REUSABLE EVENTS 

ANALYSIS TOOLKIT)

Matthew Handy, Robert Wiegand

 

GIOVANNI TABLET APP SUITE

Christopher Lynnes, Hannah 

Kerner

THUNDER WHEEL

Eleanya Onuma

 

PACKET TO ELECTRICAL 

GROUND SUPPORT 

EQUIPMENT (EGSE) INTERFACE 

CONVERTER, VERSION 4.0.

Thomas Pfarr

 

 PARTIALLY TRANSPARENT 

PETALED MASK/OCCULTER FOR 

VISIBLE RANGE SPECTRUM

Shahram Shiri, Wasyl 

Wasylkiwskyj

 

 PHOTONIC WAVEGUIDE CHOKE 

JOINT WITH ABSORPTIVE 

LOADING

Edward Wollack, David Chuss, 

Kongpop U-Yen

 

 DEVELOPMENT OF A 1,920 X 

2,048 (2K X 2K) GAAS QWIP 

ARRAY

Murzban Jhabvala, Christine 

Jhabvala, Kwong Kit Choi

 

 PHASE II FOR FIBER COUPLED 

PULSE SHAPER FOR SUBNANOSECOND PULSE LIDAR

Tony Roberts, Gregg Switzer, 

Philip Battle

DRIVER COMMUNICATION 

DISRUPTOR

Eleanya Onuma

 

 MERRA ANALYTIC SERVICES 

(MERRA/AS) CONCEPT, 

DESIGN, ARCHITECTURE, AND 

OPERATION

John Schnase, Daniel Duffy

 

 PHASE II FOR DOMAIN 

ENGINEERED MAGNESIUM 

OXIDE DOPED LITHIUM NIOBATE 

FOR LIDAR-BASED REMOTE 

SENSING

Philip Battle, Martin Fejer, Carsten 

Lang

 

 FLEXIBLE MULTILAYER OXYGEN 

AND WATER BARRIER FILM FOR 

FOOD PACKAGING AND RELATED 

APPLICATIONS

Stuart Cogan, Michael Gilbert

 

 UV-TO-SWIR PHOTODIODE

Abhay Joshi, Shubhashish Datta

 

 FLASHPOSE: RANGE AND 

INTENSITY IMAGE-BASED 

TERRAIN AND VEHICLE RELATIVE 

POSE ESTIMATION ALGORITHM 

Nathaniel Gill, John Van Eepoel, 

Joseph Galante

 SYNTHETIC IMAGING 

MANEUVER OPTIMIZATION 

(SIMO) SBIR PHASE 2

Alvar Saenz-Otero, John Merk

 

 DUPLICATE OF MODIFIED 

COLLINS CRYOCOOLER FOR 

CRYO-PROPELLANT THERMAL 

MANAGEMENT

Chuck Hannon, Jake Hogan, 

Martin Segado, John Brisson

 

 COMPOSITE ROLLED 

MAGNETOMETER BOOM, 

CROMAG BOOM

Robert Taylor, Dana Turse, Mark 

Reavis 

 BROADBAND PHOTONCOUNTING MICROWAVE 

KINETIC INDUCTANCE 

DETECTOR

Samual Moseley, Kongpop 

U-yen, Ari Brown, Thomas 

Stevenson, Wen-Ting Hsieh, 

Edward Wollack, Negar Ehsan

 GEO SERVICING SATELLITE 

MISSION ARCITECTURE

Bo Naasz, Benjamin Reed, 

Joseph Pellegrino

 

 WAVELENGTH DRIFT 

CORRECTOR FOR WIND LIDAR 

RECEIVERS (T4.01-9860)

J. Sirota

Goddard’s Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 29
2012 TECHNOLOGY DISCLOSURES

 RIDGE WAVEGUIDE 

STRUCTURES IN MAGNESIUMDOPED LITHIUM NIOBATE

Justin Hawthorne, Gregg Switzer, 

Philip Battle, Phil Himmer

 

AN OMNIDIRECTIONAL,

CIRCULARLY POLARIZED, 

BROADBAND, S-BAND 

ANTENNA FOR SPACECRAFT 

COMMUNICATIONS

Ali Mahnad, Devid Green

 

FORTRAN TESTING 

AND REFACTORING 

INFRASTRUCTURE

David Alexander

 

PARTICLE FILTER SIMULATION 

AND ANALYSIS ENABLING NONTRADITIONAL NAVIGATION

John Gaebler, Alinda Mashiku, 

Russell Carpenter

 

CARBON FOAM WICK

STRUCTURES FOR LOOP 

HEAT PIPE AND HEAT PIPE 

APPLICATIONS

Eric Silk, David Myre, Brandon 

Stanley, Matthew Stanley

OPTICAL DEVICE FOR

CONVERTING A LASER BEAM 

INTO TWO COALIGNED BUT 

OPPOSITELY DIRECTED BEAMS

Donald Jennings

A SIMPLE ESD TEST

APPARATUS FOR SOLDERING 

IRONS

Jose Sancho, Robert Esser

 

SPACE OPERATIONS 

LEARNING CENTER (SOLC) 

IPHONE/IPAD APPLICATION 

Scott Hull, Daniel Binebrink, 

Heng Kuok

 

ALGORITHM SUPPORT 

FUNCTIONS (ASF) VIIRS DAY/

NIGHT BAND (DNB) LOOK UP 

TABLES (LUT) (GVVSSE 

& GVVSLE) GENERATION 

(VIIRS 001)

Calvin Liang

 

ALGORITHM SUPPORT 

FUNCTIONS (ASF) 

GEOLOCATION LOOK-UP TABLE 

(LUT) TOOL

Lushalan Liao

 

ALGORITHM SUPPORT 

FUNCTIONS (ASF) VIIRS DNB 

ZERO OFFSET VS. RESPONSE 

LOOK-UP TABLES (LUT) (VIIRS 047)

Stephanie Weiss

 

ALGORITHM SUPPORT 

FUNCTIONS (ASF) VIIRS DUAL 

GAIN ANOMALY TRACKING

Shu-Hsiang Lou

ALGORITHM SUPPORT 

FUNCTIONS (ASF) VIIRS 

H-SCALE FACTOR LOOK-UP 

TABLE (LUT) (VIIRS 100)

Tohru Ohnuki

 

ALGORITHM SUPPORT 

FUNCTIONS (ASF) VIIRS ICE 

SURFACE TEMPERATURE (IST) 

REGRESSION COEFFICIENT 

GENERATION TOOL (VIIRS 016)

Robert Mahoney

 

ALGORITHM SUPPORT 

FUNCTIONS (ASF) VIIRS LAND 

SURFACE TEMPERATURE (LST) 

REGRESSION COEFFICIENT 

GENERATION TOOL (VIIRS 014)

Robert Mahoney

 

ALGORITHM SUPPORT 

FUNCTIONS (ASF) VIIRS 

QUARTERLY SURFACE TYPE 

(QST) LAND WATER MASK (LWM) 

OVERLAY TOOL (VIIRS 200)

Robert Mahoney, Don Searcy

 

ALGORITHM SUPPORT 

FUNCTIONS (ASF) VIIRS SEA 

SURFACE TEMPERATURE 

(SST) REGRESSION 

COEFFICIENT GENERATION 

TOOL (VIIRS 004)

Robert Mahoney

ALGORITHM SUPPORT 

FUNCTIONS (ASF) VIIRS SEA 

SURFACE TEMPERATURE (SST) 

MATCHUP GENERATION TOOL 

(VIIRS 004A)

Albert Danial

 

ALGORITHM SUPPORT 

FUNCTIONS (ASF) VIIRS 

SURFACE TEMPERATURE (ST) 

IP REGRESSION COEFFICIENT 

GENERATION TOOL (VIIRS 028)

Robert Mahoney

 

ATMS RDR EXTRACTOR 

CALIBRATION/VALIDATION TOOL

Alex Foo

 

CRIS NONLINEARITY 

CORRECTION COEFFICIENTS 

ANALYSIS CALIBRATION/

VALIDATION TOOL

Chunming Wang

 

CRIS ON-ORBIT SPECTRAL

CALIBRATION/VALIDATION 

TOOL

Denise Hagan

 

CRLS RADIOSONDE 

OBSERVATION (RAOB) 

MATCHUP CALIBRATION/

VALIDATION TOOL

Alex Foo
CRLS RDR DATA READER 

CALIBRATION/VALIDATION

Chunming Wang

 

CRLS SDR QUALITY FLAG (QF) 

TRENDING PGE CALIBRATION/

VALIDATION TOOL

Denise Hagan

 

OMPS CALIBRATION SDR 

CHECK AND OMPS STATISTICS 

EARTH SDR CALIBRATION/

VALIDATION TOOL [OMPS SDR 

GLOBAL DISPLAY TOOL]

Wen-Hao Li, Bhaswar Sen

 

OMPS READER FOR 

OPERATIONAL BINARY TABLES 

CALIBRATION/VALIDATION 

TOOL

Bhaswar Sen

 

OMPS TOTAL COLUMN AND 

NADIR PROFILE READER, 

MAPPER AND ANALYSIS 

CALIBRATION/VALIDATION 

TOOLS

Megan Novicki, Wen-Hao Li

 

VALIDATING CRLS 

GEOLOCATION SDR USING 

VIIRS CALIBRATION/

VALIDATION TOOL

Denise Hagan

VIIRS AEROSOL OPTICAL 

THICKNESS (AOT)/ AEROSOL 

PARTICLE SIZE PARAMETER 

(APSP) CALIBRATION/

VALIDATION TOOL

Sid Jackson

 

VIIRS BAND-TO-BAND 

REGISTRATION, MTF, HSR AND 

LSF CALIBRATION/VALIDATION 

TOOL

Lushalan Liao

 

VIIRS CALIBRATOR VIEW 

VISUALIZATION AND ANALYSIS 

CALIBRATION/VALIDATION TOOL

Frank Sun

 

 VIIRS CLOUD MASK (VCM) TOOL 

AND COEFFICIENT GENERATION 

DOCUMENT CALIBRATION/

VALIDATION

Barbara Lisager, Keith Hutchinson

 

 VIIRS CLOUDS {CLOUD OPTICAL 

THICKNESS (COT), CLOUD 

TOP PARAMETERS (CTP) & 

CLOUD BASE HEIGHT (CBH)} 

CALIBRATION/VALIDATION TOOL

Eric Wong, Li Wen-Hao

 

 VIIRS COMMON MATCHUP 

CUTOUT CALIBRATION/

VALIDATION TOOL, V2.9

Albert Danial

 VIIRS CO-REGISTERED IMAGE 

VISUALIZATION CALIBRATION/

VALIDATION TOOL

Lushalan Liao

 

 VIIRS EARTH RDR VISUALIZATION 

& ANALYSIS CALIBRATION/

VALIDATION TOOL

Steven Mills, Frank Sun

 

 VIIRS ENCODER ANALYSIS 

CALIBRATION/VALIDATION TOOL

John Shepanski

 

 VIIRS GAIN MAP GENERATION 

CALIBRATION/VALIDATION TOOL 

Shu-Hsiang Lou

 

 VIIRS ICE SURFACE 

TEMPERATURE (IST) 

CALIBRATION/VALIDATION TOOL

Justin Ip

 

 VIIRS LAND SURFACE 

TEMPERATURE (LST) 

CALIBRATION/VALIDATION TOOL

Justin Ip

 

 VIIRS OCEAN COLOR PHASE 

I CALIBRATION/VALIDATION 

[OVERLAP MATCHUP (OMT) CAL/

VAL TOOL]

Patty Pratt

 VIIRS OCEAN COLOR (OC) 

POLARIZATION VERIFICATION 

TOOL (PVT) PHASE II 

CALIBRATION/VALIDATION TOOL

Patty Pratt

 

 VIIRS OVERPASS RADIOMETRIC 

COMPARISON CALIBRATION/

VALIDATION TOOL

Ziping Sun

 

 VIIRS QUARTERLY SURFACE 

TYPE (QST) LOGIC TREE 

UPDATES ALGORITHM SUPPORT 

FUNCTIONS (ASF) TOOL 

Alain Sei

 

VIIRS QUARTERLY SURFACE TYPE 

(QST) UPDATES ALGORITHM 

SUPPORT FUNCTION (ASF) TOOL 

Alain Sei

 

VIIRS RDR EXTRACTOR 

CALIBRATION/VALIDATION TOOL

Michael Plonski

 

 VIIRS SEA SURFACE

TEMPERATURE (SST) CALIBRATION/ 

VALIDATION TOOL

Sid Jackson

 

 VIIRS SURFACE REFLECTANCE 

AND VEGETATION INDEX 

CALIBRATION & VALIDATION TOOL

Alain Sei

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 31
2012 TECHNOLOGY DISCLOSURES

 VIIRS SUSPENDED MATTER 

CALIBRATION/VALIDATION TOOL

Sid Jackson

 

 VIIRS TELEMETRY PROBES - 

ON DEMAND CALIBRATION/

VALIDATION TOOL

Michael Plonski

 

 DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSITIONEDGE HOT-ELECTRON 

MICROBOLOMETERS (THM) 

FOR MILLIMETER AND 

SUBMILLIMETER ASTROPHYSICS

Wen-Ting Hsieh, Emily Barrentine, 

Thomas Stevenson, Kongpop 

U-yen, Edward Wollack

 

 MEASURING FOREST CANOPY 

HEIGHT USING ICESAT-2 

SIMULATED DATA

Ross Nelson, Ricardo Topham

 

 ACCELEROMETER FOR 

SPACE APPLICATIONS BASED 

ON LIGHT-PULSE ATOM 

INTERFEROMETRY

Adam Black, Frank Roller, Thang 

Tran

 ADVANCED EXOPLANET STAR 

TRACKER FOR ORBIT SELF 

DETERMINATION

George Hindman

 DUAL-LASER OPTICAL MODULE 

INTEGRATED WITH MICROCHIP 

CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS 

AND AUTOMATED ON-CHIP 

IMMUNOASSAY

Hong Jiao

 

 ELECTRONICALLY-TUNED 

HARMONIC MATCHING 

NETWORKS FOR HIGH 

EFFICIENCY RF POWER 

AMPLIFIER

Salvador Mendez, Timothy Wurth, 

Jeffrey Wells

 

 HIGH PRESSURE “PUMP-ON-ACHIP” TECHNOLOGY

Hong Jiao

 

 CARBON NANOTUBE-BASED 

SUPERCAPACITOR

Jun Ai, Fedor Dimov

 

 HIGH PRECISION METAL THIN 

FILM LIFTOFF TECHNIQUE

Ari Brown, Amil Patel

 

 TOOL FOR AUTOMATED 

RETRIEVAL OF GENERIC EVENT 

TRACKS (TARGET)

Shawn Freeman, Kwo-Sen Kuo, 

Thomas Clune, Carlos Cruz, Jules 

Kouatchou, Robert Burns

 LASER BASED, TEMPERATURE 

INSENSITIVE, CARBON 

DIOXIDE ISOTOPE RATIO 

MEASUREMENTS

Steven Massick, Kristen Peterson, 

Anthony Gomez

 

 LASER BASED, TEMPERATURE 

INSENSITIVE, CARBON 

DIOXIDE ISOTOPE RATIO 

MEASUREMENTS

Steven Massick, Kristen Peterson, 

Anthony Gomez

 

 HIGH TEMPERATURE AND HIGH 

QE BROADBAND LONGWAVE 

INFRARED SLS FPA FOR 

LANDSAT

Mani Sundaram

 

 THE NASA VIZ APPLICATION 

AIMS TO DEVELOP AN INTUITIVE 

AND HIGHLY INTERACTIVE 

APPLICATION FOR THE 

IPHONE TO SHOWCASE 

THE BEST MULTIMEDIA 

CONTENTPRODUCED BY THE 

NASA GSFC STORYTELLING 

TEAM. THIS APPLICATION IS AN 

EXTENSION OF THE NASAVIZ 

IPAD PROJECT, WHICH WAS 

RELEASED ON JULY 26, 2011.

Troy Ames, Carl Hostetter, Horace 

Mitchell, Joycelyn Jones, Wade 

Sisler, Katherine Lewis, HelenNicole Kostis, Kayvon Sharghi 

 GLOBAL PRECIPITATION 

MEASUREMENT (GPM) 

SPACECRAFT FLIGHT 

SOFTWARE (FSW) VERSION 

4.2.3

David McComas, Maureen 

Armbruster, Maureen 

Bartholomew, David Hardison, 

Susanne Strege, Nicholas 

Yanchik, Ji-Wei Wu, Michael 

Lambertson, David Kobe, Stephen 

Judy, Robert McGraw, Scott 

Applebee, Anren Hu, William 

Keksz, Bruce Trout, James Dailey, 

Chien-Cheng Fu

 

 SINGLE PHOTON COUNTING 

NANOWIRE SPECTROSCOPIC 

DETECTOR

John Hagopian

 

 SLIM FOR AGILE MISSION 

LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

Manas Bajaj, Andrew Scott, Anh 

Phung

 

 SPACECUBE V2.0 PROCESSOR 

CARD, ENGINEERING MODEL

David Petrick, Dennis Albaijes

 

 INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION 

(ISS) EXPERIMENT CONTROL 

CENTER

Jeffrey Hosler, Daniel Espinosa, 

David Petrick
 ATMS SDR READER 

CALIBRATION/VALIDATION TOOL

Alex Foo

 

 GODDARD MISSION SERVICES 

EVOLUTION CENTER (GMSEC) 

WEB SERVICE 1.1

Vuong Ly, Robert Wiegand, 

LaMont Ruley

 

 GEMS 1.2

Timothy Esposito, Danford Smith

 

 CUBESAT POWER SYSTEM WITH 

AUTOMATIC HIGH-POWERED 

PAYLOAD CYCLING

Thomas Flatley

 

 JWST/ISIM IC&DH INSTRUMENT 

FLIGHT SOFTWARE (IC12.5)

Bruce Savadkin, Gary Smith, 

Brett Mathews, Charles Rogers, 

Christos Xenophontos, Edgar 

Greville

 

 ADVANCED SPACECRAFT 

INTEGRATION & SYSTEM TEST 

SOFTWARE (ASIST) VERSION 9.7.N

Ryan Detter, Edwin Fung, James 

Dowling, Larry Alexander, Jeffrey 

Condron, Daniel Grogan, Thomas 

Green, Peter Gorog, George 

Wofford

 AN IPHONE/IPAD MOBILE 

APPLICATION FOR THE WALLOPS 

RESEARCH RANGE: WHATS UP 

AT WALLOPS

Pamela Pittman, Nathan Riolo

 

 AN ANDROID MOBILE 

APPLICATION FOR THE WALLOPS 

RESEARCH RANGE: WHATS UP 

AT WALLOPS

Pamela Pittman, Nathan Riolo

 

 SWITCHABLE VOLTAGE 

REGULATOR CIRCUIT WITH 

OVER CURRENT DETECTION

David Petrick

 

 ADVANCED MISSION GRAPHICS 

HEALTH AND STATUS MONITOR

Sandra Kleckner, Sarah 

Daugherty, Earl Taylor, Benjamin 

Cervantes, Nathan Riolo, Jeffrey 

Dorman, Deborah Stanley, 

Michael Matthews, Debra Parks

 

 AMMONIA LEAK DETECTION 

THROUGH X-RAY 

FLUORESCENCE

Jordan Camp, Scott Barthelmy, 

Gerry Skinner

 

 LIGHTWEIGHT LIQUID HELIUM 

DEWAR FOR HIGH-ALTITUDE 

BALLOON PAYLOADS

Alan Kogut, Bryan James, Dale 

Fixsen

 COMMON SENSE CLIMATE INDEX

James Hansen

 

 ASSERT-BASED UNIT TEST 

TOOLS

David McComas, Steven Slegel

 

 ADVANCED MISSION GRAPHICS 

(AMG) DISPLAY BUILDER

Debra Parks, Sandra Kleckner, 

Sarah Daugherty, Earl Taylor, 

Benjamin Cervantes, Nathan 

Riolo, Jeffrey Dorman, Deborah 

Stanley, Michael Matthews

 

 ADVANCED MISSION GRAPHICS 

(AMG) MISSION CONFIGURATION 

SERVER

Debra Parks, Sandra Kleckner, 

Sarah Daugherty, Earl Taylor, 

Benjamin Cervantes, Nathan 

Riolo, Jeffrey Dorman, Deborah 

Stanley, Michael Matthews

 

 RANGE SAFETY FLIGHT 

ELEVATION LIMIT CALCULATION 

SOFTWARE

Raymond Lanzi

 

 DUPLICATE OF MULTIPASS 

SPECTROSCOPY CELL WITH 

INTEGRATED INPUT OUTPUT 

FIBER DELIVERY

Philippe Bado, Tom Haddock

 OPEN SOURCE PLATFORMNEUTRAL BLAS LIBRARY

Kyle Spagnoli

 

 VERY LOW-COST, RUGGED, 

VACUUM SYSTEM PHASE II

Paul Sorensen, Christian Passow, 

Steve Bilski, Robert Kline-Schoder

 

EXPLORATION PORTABLE 

ELECTROSTATIC DETECTOR

Telana Jackson, William Farrell

 

SPHERICAL EMPIRICAL MODE 

DECOMPOSITION

Nicolas Gagarin

 

JAMES WEBB SPACE 

TELESCOPE INTEGRATED 

SCIENCE INSTRUMENT 

MODULE (ISIM) ALIGNMENT 

OPTIMIZATION TOOL

Brent Bos

 

ORBIT DETERMINATION 

TOOLBOX 2012A (V5.0)

Kenneth Getzandanner, Russell 

Carpenter, Kevin Berry, John 

Gaebler

 

SPACECUBE V2.0 FLIGHT 

PROCESSOR CARD

David Petrick, Thomas Flatley, 

Alessandro Geist

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 33
2012 TECHNOLOGY DISCLOSURES

DATA ENCODING AND 

PARALLELIZATION 

PORTING TECHNIQUES TO 

TRANSFORM DATA-INTENSIVE 

APPLICATIONS PROCESSING 

BINARY DATA FORMATS TO 

HADOOP/MAPREDUCE

Qiming He

 

VIRTUAL TELESCOPE 

DEMONSTRATION MISSION

Neerav Shah

 

NEAR-EARTH ASTEROID 

HYPER-RESOLUTION IMAGER 

(NEAHRI) DEVELOPMENT

Brent Bos, Patrick Thompson, 

James Rice

 

COMPACT FOCAL PLANE 

ASSEMBLY FOR PLANETARY 

SCIENCE

Ari Brown, Shahid Aslam, Weichung Huang, Rosalind SteptoeJackson

 

PROPELLANT LOADING 

VISUALIZATION SOFTWARE

Bryan Friia, Graham Webster

 

DEVELOPMENT OF 

TECHNOLOGY FOR A COMET 

SAMPLE RETURN MISSION

Joseph Nuth, Donald Wegel, 

Lloyd Purves, Edward Amatucci

METER CLASS SINGLE

CRYSTAL SILICON (SCSI) 

MIRROR FABRICATION

Peter Hill, Vincent Bly

 

CONFORMAL CARBON 

NANOTUBES FOR STRAY 

LIGHT SUPPRESSION, 

NEAR-IDEAL CALIBRATORS, 

DETECTORS AND OTHER 

APPLICATIONS

John Hagopian, Vivek Dwivedi

 

NANO-ANTENNA DESIGN FOR

ENERGY HARVESTING AND 

LIGHT DETECTION

John Hagopian, Edward Wollack, 

Shahram Shiri, Patrick Roman

 

NANO-ANTENNA DESIGN FOR 

EXTENDING THE BAND GAP OF 

SILICON DETECTORS

John Hagopian, Patrick Roman, 

Shahram Shiri

 

(HYPER)GAUSSIAN 

LIQUID CRYSTAL IRIS FOR 

DIFFRACTION SUPPRESSION 

IN OPTICAL SYSTEMS

John Hagopian, Shahram Shiri

 

HYDROLYSIS USING 

NANOSCALE ANTENNAS

John Hagopian, Shahram Shiri

HYDROLYSIS USING PLATINUM 

OR OTHER METALLIC NANOPARTICLES

John Hagopian

 

IN SITU AIRBORNE

FORMALDEHYDE 

INSTRUMENT

Andrew Swanson, Thomas 

Hanisco, Steven Bailey

 

PHOTONICS WAVEGUIDE 

CIRCUIT BASED FOURIER 

TRANSFORM SPECTROMETER 

ON A CHIP FOR INFRARED 

REMOTE SENSING 

APPLICATIONS REQUIRING LOWMASS, LOW-POWER SYSTEMS

Shahid Aslam, Tilak Hewagama, 

Patrick Roman, George Shaw, 

John Annen, Hollis Jones, John 

Allen, Theodor Kostiuk, Donald 

Jennings

 

THE GLOBAL MICROSCOPE: 

INTEGRATING NASA DATA 

INTO LEARNING AND 

TEACHING

Sarah Baker

 

FABRICATION METHOD FOR 

LOBSTER-EYE OPTICS IN <110> 

SILICON

James Chervenak, Michael Collier, 

Jennette Mateo

FLEXIBLE MICROSTRIP 

CIRCUITS FOR 

SUPERCONDUCTING 

ELECTRONICS

James Chervenak, Jennette 

Mateo

 

LASER-BASED TRACTOR 

BEAMS FOR REMOTE SENSING 

AND SAMPLE COLLECTION 

APPLICATIONS

Paul Stysley, Demetrios Poulios, 

Richard Kay, Donald Coyle

 

42: A COMPREHENSIVE

GENERAL-PURPOSE 

SIMULATION OF ATTITUDE 

AND TRAJECTORY DYNAMICS 

AND CONTROL OF MULTIPLE 

SPACECRAFT COMPOSED OF 

MULTIPLE RIGID OR FLEXIBLE 

BODIES

Eric Stoneking, Brayden Holus

 

EXPENDABLE COMPOSITE 

CANARIES FOR RADOME 

HEALTH MANAGEMENT

John Evans

 

TASS-ENHANCED NEAR 

EARTH NAVIGATION 

EXPERIMENT

Kenn Gold, Michael Mathews, 

Peter MacDoran, Michael Davies, 

Monther Hasouneh
A NOVEL HYBRID COLOR

MAPPING APPROACH 

TO GENERATING HIGH 

RESOLUTION HYPERSPECTRAL 

IMAGES

Chiman Kwan, Jin Zhou

 

PRECISION MINIATURE 

ATTITUDE DETERMINATION 

AND CONTROL SYSTEM

Steve Fujikawa

 

ADVANCED CMOS 

RADIATION HARDENED 

MICRO PROCESSOR BASED 

STRUCTURED ASIC AND 

DESIGN FLOW

Kelly DeGregorio, Dale Wilson, 

Douglas Hackler, Scott Dahl

 

COVARIANCE ANALYSIS OF 

ASTROMETRIC ALIGNMENT 

ESTIMATION ARCHITECTURES 

FOR PRECISION DUAL 

SPACECRAFT FORMATION 

FLYING

Neerav Shah, Philip Calhoun

 

ELECTROMAGNETIC SCATTERING 

AND ABSORPTION PROPERTIES 

OF MULTIPLE SPHERE CLUSTERS 

VIA PARALLELIZED T-MATRIX 

FORTRAN CODE

Michael Mishchenko, Daniel 

Mackowski

SINGLE-FREQUENCY

NARROW LINEWIDTH 1.5UM 

SEMICONDUCTOR LASER 

SUITABLE FOR SPACEFLIGHT 

OPERATION

Lew Stolpner, Georgious 

Margaritas

 

LOW-POWER RADIATIONHARDENED DELAYINSENSITIVE ASYNCHRONOUS 

MICROCONTROLLER 

TECHNOLOGY CAPABLE OF 

OPERATING IN EXTREME 

TEMPERATURE ENVIRONMENTS

Marcelo Sschupbach

 

INDEPENDENT TEST CAPABILITY 

(ITC) SYNCHRONOUS BUS (ITCSB)

Steven Saeger, Daniel Nawrocki, 

Scott Zemerick, Justin McCarty, 

Jeffrey Joltes, Brandon Bailey, 

Gary Carvell, Mark Pitts, Justin 

Morris

 

CRYOGENIC AND VACUUM 

COMPATIBLE METROLOGY 

SYSTEMS

Gregory Scharfstein

 

PASSIVATION OF FLEXIBLE 

YBCO SUPERCONDUCTING 

CURRENT LEAD WITH 

AMORPHOUS SILICON 

DIOXIDE LAYER

Daniel Yohannes, Robert Webber

METHOD FOR THE SYNTHESIS 

OF BULK AMORPHOUS 

FERROMAGNETIC MATERIALS

David Gray, Alex Aning

 

THE FIRST MONOLITHIC

SILICON CARBIDE ACTIVE 

PIXEL SENSOR ARRAY FOR 

SOLAR BLIND UV DETECTION

Leonid Fursin

 

LOW ER-DOPED YTTRIUM

GALLIUM GARNET (YGG) AS 

ACTIVE MEDIA FOR SOLID STATE 

LASERS (SSLS) AT 1651 NM

Igor Kudryashov

 

LOW-NOISE ANALOG APDS

WITH IMPACT IONIZATION 

ENGINEERING AND NEGATIVE 

FEEDBACK

Xudong Jiang, Mark Itzler

 

ADVANCED SPACECRAFT 

NAVIGATION AND TIMING 

USING CELESTIAL GAMMARAY SOURCES (GLINT)

Suneel Sheikh, Chuck Hisamoto, 

Zaven Arzoumanian

 

POROUS SILICON ON

SILICON-ON-INSULATOR 

SUBSTRATES

Amil Patel

JWST IV&V SIMULATION AND 

TEST (JIST) CORE

Justin Morris, Daniel Nawrocki, 

Scott Zemerick, Steven Seeger, 

Justin McCarty, Jeffrey Joltes, 

Brandon Bailey, Mark Pitts

 

JWST IV&V SIMULATION AND 

TEST (JIST) RT LOGIC T501 

EMULATOR

Daniel Nawrocki

 

JWST IV&V SIMULATION AND 

TEST (JIST) SOLID STATE 

RECORDER (SSR) SIMULATOR 

Scott Zemerick

 

SOFTWARE FOR PLANNING 

AND IMPLEMENTING OPTICAL 

TESTING

Scott Antonille, Randal Telfer, 

Cherie Miskey, Don Lindler, Eliot 

Malumuth, Derek Sabatke, Wayne 

Landsman

 

DIGITALLY STEERED ANTENNA 

ARRAY FOR NAVIGATOR GPS 

RECEIVER 

Monther Hasouneh, Heitor Pinto, 

Luke Winternitz, Jennifer Valdez

 

HADS ANALYSIS SOFTWARE 

FOR ASSEMBLY AND 

ALIGNMENT OF X-RAY MIRRORS

Timo Saha, Scott Rohrbach, 

William Zhang

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 35
2012 TECHNOLOGY DISCLOSURES

CART - CHALLENGE ACTION 

RESULT TRACKING TOOL 

Wesley Powell, Kenneth Li, Sharon 

Cooper, Lixa Rodriguez-Ramon, 

Malinda Thomas, Robert Lebair, 

Arletta Love

 

SOLAR DYNAMICS 

OBSERVATORY COMMAND 

AND DATA HANDLING 

ELECTRONICS

Kenneth Li, Harry Culver, Ronald 

Barasch, Kevin Ballou, Kevin 

Hawkins, Lars Hovmand, Michael 

Osman, John Pope, John Folk, 

Wesley Powell

 

GENTRE, VERSION 2 

Brent Newhall, Luther Lighty

 

CONTROLLED THERMAL 

EXPANSION ALLOYS

Timothy Stephenson

 

TRMM PRECIPITATION 

CALCULATOR WITH DATE AND 

SHAPEFILE INPUTS 

Gerasimos Michalitsianos

 

SELF-CALIBRATING VECTOR 

HELIUM MAGNETOMETER (SVHM)

Robert Slocum, Andy Brown

COOLSPICE: SPICE SIMULATOR 

FOR CRYOGENIC ELECTRONICS

Akin Akturk, Neil Goldsman, 

Siddharth Pothare

 

LASER FEMTOTESLA MAGNETIC 

GRADIOMETER

Robert Slocum

 

TOXOGRAPHY: MAPPING AND 

FORECASTING TOXINS AND 

ALLERGENS AS THEY MOVE 

ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT

James Perry

 

WIDEBAND, DUAL POLARIZED 

L-BAND ANTENNA ELEMENT 

FOR MICROWAVE REMOTE 

SENSING

Manohar Deshpande

 

WFF LDE WEB DATABASE

Prasad Hanagud, Angela Walker, 

Brandon Wright, Michelle 

Leimbach, Julie Hurst, Cheryl 

Maguire

 

THERMALLY AND SPECTRALLY 

CONTROLLED NISTTRACEABLE AMBIENT 

RADIOMETRIC CALIBRATIONS 

IN THE REFLECTED SOLAR 

WAVELENGTH REGION

James Butler, Si-Chee Tsay, Leibo 

Ding, Qjang Ji

NONLINEAR ADAPTIVE FILTER 

FOR MEMS GYRO THERMAL 

BIAS CANCELLATION

Joseph Galante

 

COMPACT KA BAND ANTENNA 

FEED WITH DOUBLE CIRCULARLY 

POLARIZED CAPABILITY 

FOR NASA’S KA BAND 

COMMUNICATION APPLICATIONS

Cornells Du Toit, Kenneth Hersey

 

HIGH COEFFICIENT OF 

PERFORMANCE HGCDTE AND 

METALLIC SUPERLATTICE-BASED 

THERMOELECTRIC COOLERS

Silviu Velicu, Cynthia Deters

 

MULTI FREQUENCY RADIO 

SIGNAL GENERATOR (MRSIG)

Kenn Gold, Michael Davies

 

NEW ACTION ITEMS SYSTEM

Christopher Martino, David Kuok

 

WEEKLY TOOL

Christopher Martino, David Kuok

 

APPARATUS FOR HIGH 

RESOLUTION MEASUREMENTS 

OF TOTAL HEMISPHERIC 

EMISSIVITY AT CRYOGENIC 

TEMPERATURES

James Tuttle, Edgar Canavan, 

Michael DiPirro

SATURN AND URANUS PROBE 

APPROACHES

Amato Michael

 

CONCEPT STUDY OF SPACE 

BORN MM-WAVE RADAR FOR 

SPACE AWARENESS 

Manohar Deshpande, John 

Gaebler

 

DUAL POLARIZED WIDEBAND 

P-BAND ANTENNA FOR NASA 

GSFCS ECOSAR CAMPAIGN

Manohar Deshpande, Quenton 

Bonds, Rafael Rincon

 

ULTRA WIDE BAND DUAL 

POLARIZED BEAM STEERING 

P-BAND ARRAY ANTENNA

Cornelis Du Toit
Patents Issued

 BLOCKING CONTACTS 

FOR N-TYPE CADMIUM ZINC 

CADMIUM ZINC TELLURIDE 

(CDZNTE)

Bradford Parker, Feng Yan, 

Sachidananda Babu, Carl 

Stahle

 

 OTOACOUSTIC PROTECTION 

IN BIOLOGICALLY-INSPIRED 

SYSTEMS

Michael Hinchey, Roy Sterritt

 

 SPACEFLIGHT KA-BAND 

HIGH RATE RAD HARD 

MODULATOR

Jeffrey Jaso

 

SPACE LINK EXTENSION 

RETURN CHANNEL FRAMES 

(SLE-RCF) SERVICE (USER 

SIDE) SOFTWARE LIBRARY

Vuong Ly, Timothy Ray

 

FORMULATION FOR EMOTION 

EMBEDDING IN LOGIC 

SYSTEMS 

Steven Curtis

 

HILBERT-TRANSFORMBASED PHASE 

REFERENCING ALGORITHM 

FOR WIDE-FIELD IMAGING 

INTERFEROMETRY

Stephen Rinehart, Nargess 

Memarsadeghi, Richard Lyon, 

David Leisawitz

LOW FREQUENCY 

WIDEBAND STEP 

FREQUENCY INVERSE 

SYNTHETIC APERTURE 

RADAR FOR 3-D IMAGING 

OF INTERIOR OF NEAR 

EARTH OBJECTS/

PLANETARY 

BODIES

Manohar Deshpande

 

FLIGHT MIRROR MOUNT

AND FLIGHT MOUNTING 

PROCEDURE FOR AN 

ULTRA-LIGHTWEIGHT HIGHPRECISION GLASS MIRROR

Thomas Wallace, Shane Wake, 

Scott Antonille, David Content

 

CROSSED SMALL 

DEFLECTION ANALYZER 

(SDEA) FOR WIND/

TEMPERATURE 

SPECTROMETER (WTS)

Theodore Finne, Federico 

Herrero

 

THE CORNER CATHODE: 

MAKING COLLIMATED 

ELECTRON BEAMS WITH 

A SMALL NUMBER OF 

ELECTRODES

Federico Herrero, Patrick 

Roman

 

 SENSOR COMPLETE 

REQUIREMENTS 

ALGORITHM FOR 

AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY

Steven Curtis

 OTOACOUSTIC PROTECTION 

IN BIOLOGICALLY-INSPIRED 

SYSTEMS

Michael Hinchey, Roy Sterritt

 

 COMPACT PLANAR 

MICROWAVE BLOCKING 

FILTER

Edward Wollack, Kongpop 

U-yen

 

AERODYNAMICALLY 

STABILIZED INSTRUMENT 

PLATFORM FOR KITES 

AND TETHERED BLIMPS 

(“AEROPOD”)

Ted Miles, Geoffrey Bland

 

HUGHES PARTICLE – 

SURFACE INTERACTION 

MODEL

David Hughes

 

OTOACOUSTIC PROTECTION 

IN BIOLOGICALLY-INSPIRED 

SYSTEMS

Michael Hinchey, Roy Sterritt

 

 PASSIVELY Q-SWITCHED 

SIDE PUMPED MONOLITHIC 

RING LASER

Steven Li

 

 SOFTWARE PACKAGE 

VERSION 1.3 FOR THE 

CAMERAS FOR ALL-SKY 

METEOR SURVEILLANCE 

(CAMS)

Peter Gural, Petrus Jenniskens

 ADVANCED SPACECRAFT 

INTEGRATION & SYSTEM 

TEST SOFTWARE (ASIST) 

VERSION 20.0

Ryan Detter, Edwin Fung, 

James Dowling, Jeffrey 

Condron, Thomas Green, 

George Wofford, Charles 

Englehart, Larry Alexander, 

Peter Gorog, Daniel Grogan

 

 SPACECRAFT PARAMETER 

DATABASE TOOL

Lawrence Alexander

 

 IMPROVED SYMBOL TIMING 

ESTIMATION DESIGN FOR 

A DISTORTED POISSON 

COMMUNICATIONS 

CHANNEL

Wai Fong, Wing-Tsz Lee

2012 PATENTS

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 37
2012 PATENTS

 ARC:A LOW COST AND 

SCALEABLE ARCHIVE STORAGE 

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Robert Mason

 

 ATMS ANTENNA BEAM 

ANALYSIS SOFTWARE 

Kenneth Hersey

 

 FITNESS (FREQUENCY 

INITIATED TECHNIQUE FOR A 

NOVEL EXERCISE STABILITY 

SYSTEM)

Steven Curtis

 

 SYMMETRIC ABSORBERCOUPLED MICROWAVE KINETIC 

INDUCTANCE DETECTOR DESIGN 

- 12 IRAD 

Kongpop U-yen, Edward Wollack, 

Ari Brown, Thomas Stevenson, 

Amil Patel

 

 RIDGE WAVEGUIDE 

STRUCTURES IN MAGNESIUMDOPED LITHIUM NIOBATE - 

STTR PHASE II

Justin Hawthorne, Gregg Switzer, 

Philip Battle, Phil Himmer

 

 STACKED CAPACITOR SPECIAL 

LEAD ADAPTER

Stuart Kai

 METHOD OF CONTROLLING 

A LARGE NUMBER OF 

THERMOELECTRIC COOLERS 

THAT MINIMIZE HEAT 

REJECTION SYSTEM SIZE FOR 

COOLING DETECTORS

Michael Choi

 

 RAPID OPTICAL 

CHARACTERIZATION SUITE FOR 

IN SITU TARGET ANALYSIS OF 

ROCK SURFACES (ROCSTAR)

Pamela Conrad, Barbara 

Zukowski, Peter Morey

 

 MISSION OPERATIONS 

CENTER - PRECIPITATION 

PROCESSING SYSTEM 

(MOC-PPS) INTERFACE 

SOFTWARE SYSTEM 

(MPISS) VERSION 3

Jeffrey Ferrara, William Calk, 

Tina Tsui

 

 SSSHIFT - SYNTHETIC 

SKELETAL-MUSCULAR 

SYSTEM HIERARCHICALLY 

IMPLEMENTED FLEXIBLE 

TOPOLOGY

Steven Curtis

 WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY 6U 

ADVANCED CUBESAT EJECTOR 

(ACE)

Luis Santos, John Hudeck

LEARNS (LOGIC EXPANSION 

FOR AUTONOMOUSLY 

RECONFIGURABLE NEURAL 

SYSTEMS)

Steven Curtis

 

SINAPSE ( STRUCTURE

OF INTERFACE FOR 

NEURAL ARCHITECTURES 

PSYCHOLOGICALLY STABLE 

EVOLUTION )

Steven Curtis

 

THE REMOVAL OF MIDSPATIAL FREQUENCY (MSF) 

ERRORS USING STRESSPOLISHING

Peter Hill

 

GEO-CORRECTION FOR 

AIRBORNE PLATFORMS

(GCAP) 1.0

Vuong Ly, Timothy Creech, 

Joshua Bronston

 

AN INNOVATIVE DESIGN 

TO MINIMIZE SIZE OF HEAT 

REJECTION SYSTEMS THAT 

USE THERMOELECTRIC 

COOLERS TO COOL 

DETECTORS IN SPACE

Michael Choi

 MIRRORLET ARRAY 

FOR INTEGRAL FIELD 

SPECTROMETERS (IFS)

Qian Gong, Philip Chamberlin, 

David Content, Jeffrey Kruk

 

A NON-INTRUSIVE 

METHOD OF RESOLVE THE 

THERMAL-DOME-EFFECT OF 

PYRANOMETERS

Si-Chee Tsay, Qiang Ji
2012 PATENTS

Provisional 

Patents Filed

 MINIATURIZED HIGH SPEED 

MODULATED X-RAY SOURCE

Keith Gendreau, Zaven 

Arzoumanian, Steve Kenyon, Nick 

Spartana

 

ADVANCED PLANETARY 

ATMOSPHEREMAGNETOSPHERE MASS 

SPECTROMETER (APAMMS): 

ASTID FUNDED FOR 

EUROPA

Edward Sittler

 

 APPARATUSES AND METHODS 

TO ENABLE SUB-MHZ 

PRECISION IN FAST LASER 

FREQUENCY TUNING

Jeffrey Chen, Kenji Numanta, 

Stewart Wu, Guangning Yang

 

INTEGRATED GENOMIC AND 

PROTEOMIC INFORMATION 

SECURITY PROTOCOL

Harry Shaw, Brian Gosselin

 

IMPLEMENTATION PLATFORM 

FOR NEW METHODOLOGY 

OF REDUCING SENSOR AND 

READOUT ELECTRONICS 

CIRCUITRY NOISE IN DIGITAL 

DOMAIN USING REFERENCE 

SPACE PIXELS

Semion Kizhner, Max Pinchinat, 

Thomas Flatley, Dominic Benford

DEVELOPMENT OF THE 

HILBERT-HUANG TRANSFORM 

REAL-TIME DATA PROCESSING 

SYSTEM WITH 2-D 

CAPABILITIES

Semion Kizhner

 

A CRYPTOGRAPHIC APPROACH 

TO MICRORNA TARGET 

BINDING ANALYSIS

Harry Shaw

 

A HIGH EVENT RATE, ZERO 

DEAD TIME, MULTI-STOP 

TIME-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER 

APPLICATION SPECIFIC 

INTEGRATED CIRCUIT

George Suarez, Jeffrey 

DuMonthier

 

A HIGH EVENT RATE, ZERO 

DEAD TIME, MULTI-STOP 

TIME-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER 

APPLICATION SPECIFIC 

INTEGRATED CIRCUIT

Roy Sterritt, Michael Hinchey

 

AUTONOMIC AUTOPOIESIS

Roy Sterritt, Michael Hinchey

 

ENHANCED ADHESION 

MULTIWALLED CARBON 

NANOTUBES ON TITANIUM 

SUBSTRATES FOR STRAY LIGHT 

CONTROL

John Hagopian, Stephanie Getty, 

Manuel Quijada

MINIATURIZED HIGH SPEED 

MODULATED X-RAY SOURCE

Keith Gendreau, Zaven 

Arzoumanian, Steve Kenyon, Nick 

Spartana

 

 SAMPLING THEOREM IN TERMS 

OF THE BANDWIDTH AND 

SAMPLING INTERVAL

Bruce Dean

 

MINIATURIZED LASER 

HETERODYNE RADIOMETER 

FOR CARBON DIOXIDE 

(CO2), METHANE (CH4), AND 

CARBON MONOXIDE (CO) 

MEASUREMENTS IN THE 

ATMOSPHERIC COLUMN

Emily Steel, Matthew McLinden

 

WAFER LEVEL 

MICROCHANNEL FABRICATION 

PROCESS FOR LAP-ON-A-CHIP 

DEVICES

Yun Zheng, Edward Wassell, 

Manuel Balvin, Stephanie Getty

 

PHASE CONTROLLED

MAGNETIC MIRROR FOR 

WAVEFRONT CORRECTION

John Hagopian, Edward Wollack

 

POWER PROVISION BASED

ON SELF-SACRIFICING 

SPACECRAFT

Michael Hinchey, Emil Vassev

RESOLUTION ENHANCED

PSEUDO RANDOM CODE 

TECHNIQUE

Steven Li

 

SPACECUBE MINI

Michael Lin, David Petrick, 

Alessandro Geist, Thomas Flatley

 

TIRS SINGLE CRYSTAL 

SILICONSCENE SELECT 

MIRROR ENVIRONMENTAL 

QUALIFICATION REPORT

John Hagopian, Scott Rohrbach, 

Vince Bly, Armando Morell, Jason 

Budinoff

 

V-ASSEMBLY DUAL HEAD 

EFFICIENCY RESONATOR 

(VADER) LASER TRANSMITTER

Barry Coyle, Paul Stysley, 

Demetrios Poulios

 

VECTORIZED REBINNING

ALGORITHM FOR FAST DATA 

DOWN-SAMPLING

Jeffrey Smith, David Aronstein, 

Bruce Dean

 

EXPANDABLE 

RECONFIGURABLE 

INSTRUMENT NODE - 

WEB SENSOR STRAND 

DEMONSTRATION

Lawrence Hilliard, Manohar 

Deshpande

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 39
SBIR/STTR ACTIVITIES

2011 SBIR 

Phase I

2011 STTR 

Phase I

2010 SBIR 

Phase II

 2011 SBIR Phase I 

Keystone Aerospace

Hot Springs, AR

Advanced Exoplanet Star 

Tracker for Orbit Self Determination

 

ASTER Labs, Inc.

Saint Paul, MN

Advanced Spacecraft 

Navigation and Timing Using Celestial Gamma-Ray 

Sources

 

Predictive Science 

Incorporated

San Diego, CA

Anticipating the Geoeffectiveness of Coronal Mass 

Ejections

Biospherical 

Instruments, Inc.

San Diego, CA

HybridSpectral Radiometer 

Systems to Support Ocean 

Color Cal/Val 

 

Southwest Sciences, Inc.

Santa Fe, NM 

Robust optical carbon dioxide isotope analyzer

 

Translume, Inc.

Ann Arbor, MI 

Quantitative Nutrient Analyzer for Autonomous Ocean 

Deployment

HJ Science & Technology, 

Inc.

Santa Clara, CA

Novel High Pressure Pumpon-a-Chip Technology

 

AOSense, Inc.

Sunnyvale, CA 

Accelerometer for Space 

Applications Based on LightPulse Atom Interferometry

Dallas Optical Systems, Inc.

Rockwall, TX

Diamond Turned Super 

Alloy Mandrel for Slump 

Forming X-Ray Observatory 

(IXO) Mirrors

American 

Semiconductor, Inc.

Boise, ID 

A 45 nm Low Cost, Radiation Hardened, Platform 

Based Structured ASIC

 

Luminit, LLC

Torrance, CA

Carbon Nanotube-based 

Supercapacitor

CrossTrac Engineering, inc.

Sunnyvale, CA 

Millisecond X-ray Star 

Tracker 

 2011 STTR Phase I

Intelligent Fiber Optic 

Systems Corporation

Santa Clara, CA 

Miniaurizable, High Performance, Fiber-Optic Gyroscopes for Small Satellites

Arkyd Astronautics, Inc.

Bellevue, WA

Multi-functional Optical 

Subsystem Enabling Laser 

Communication on Small 

Satellites

 2010 SBIR Phase II

Redfern Integrated 

Optics, Inc.

Santa Clara, CA

Development of a 

Single-Frequency Narrow 

Linewidth 1.5mm Semiconductor Laser Suitable for 

Spaceflight Operation

Tahoe RF 

Semiconductor Inc.

Auburn, CA 

Miniaturized Radiation Hardened Beam-Steerable GPS 

Receiver Front End

Voxtel, Inc.

Beaverton, OR 

Large-Area, UV-Optimized, 

Back-Illuminated Silicon 

Photomultiplier Arrays

 

Iris AO, Inc.

Berkeley, CA 

Picometer-Resolution 

MEMS Segmented DM

Applied Material Systems 

Engineering, Inc.

(AMSENG)

Schaumburg, IL 

The Conductive Thermal 

Control Material Systems for 

Space Applications
2011 SBIR 

Phase I

2011 STTR 

Phase I

2010 SBIR 

Phase II

 2011 SBIR Phase I 

Emergent Space 

Technologies, Inc.

Greenbelt, MD

TASS-Enhanced Near Earth 

Navigation System

ASTER Labs, Inc.

Saint Paul, MN

Advanced Spacecraft Navigation and Timing Using Celestial 

Gamma-Ray Sources 

Decisive Analytics 

Corporation

Huntsville, AL

Enhanced Path Planning, 

Guidance, and Estimation 

Algorithms for NASA’s GMAT

Princeton Lightwave, Inc.

Cranbury Township, NJ

Low-Noise Analog APDs with 

Impact Ionization Engineering 

and Negative Feedback

Princeton Lightwave, Inc.

Cranbury Township, NJ

Efficient in-band diode-pumped 

Q-switched solid state laser for 

methane detection 

QmagiQ

Nashua, NH 

High Temperature and High QE 

Broadband Longwave Infrared 

SLS FPA for LANDSAT

AGILTRON Corporation

Woburn, MA 

High Performance Spatial Filter 

Array Based on Signal Mode Fiber 

Bundle 

Radiation Monitoring 

Devices, Inc.

Watertown, MA

Modified High Gain APDs 

for Multi-beam Ladar 

Instrumentation

UNITED SILICON CARBIDE, INC.

Monmouth Junction, NJ 

The First Monolithic Silicon Carbide Active Pixel Sensor Array 

for Solar Blind UV Detection

Nu Waves Ltd.

Middletown, OH 

High Efficiency Switching Power 

amplifier for Earth Radar Observation System (HESPEROS)

Prime Photonics, LC

Blacksburg, VA 

Bulk metallic glass for low noise 

fluxgate

HYPRES, Inc.

Elmsford, NY 

Low Heat-Leak YBCO Leads for 

Satellite-Borne ADR Magnets

 

Translume, Inc.

Ann Arbor, MI 

Quantitative Nutrient Analyzer for 

Autonomous Ocean Deployment

Flexure Engineering

Greenbelt MD

Cryogenic and Vacuum Compatible Metrology Systems

 

Maryland Aerospace, Inc

Crofton, MD

Integrated CubeSat ADACS with 

Reaction Wheels and Star Tracker

 

InterCAX, LLC

Atlanta, GA

SLIM for Agile Mission Lifecycle 

Managemen 

 

EM Photonics

Newark, DE

OpenCL-Based Linear Algebra 

Libraries for High-Performance 

Computing

Open Research, Inc.

Gaithersburg, MD 

Towards Rapid Application 

Provisioning in the Cloud

Signal Processing, Inc.

Rockville, MD

High Performance and Accurate 

Change Detection System for 

HyspIRI Missions

 2011 STTR Phase I

Applied NanoFemto 

Technologies, LLC

Lowell, MA 

Photonic antenna coupled middlewave infrared photodetector and 

focal plane array with low noise 

and high quantum efficiency

 

EPIR Technologies, Inc.

Bolingbrook, IL

Infrared Microspectrometer 

based on MEOMS Lamellar 

Grating Interferometer

 2010 SBIR Phase II

CoolCAD Electronics

College Park, MD

Novel Silicon Carbide Deep 

Ultraviolet Detectors: Device 

Modeling, Characterization, 

Design and Prototyping

Creare, Inc.

Hanover, NH 

An Ultra Low Power Cryo-Refrigerator for Space

Q-Peak, Inc.

Bedford, MA

A LIBS/Raman System for Planetary Surface Measurement

Masstech, Inc.

Columbia, MD

Formaldehyde Profiler Using 

Laser Induced Fluorescence 

Technique

Applied Material Systems 

Engineering, Inc.(AMSENG)

Schaumburg, IL 

The Conductive Thermal 

Control Material Systems for 

Space Applications

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 41
NETWORKING AND OUTREACH

Spirit of Innovation Awards 

Conrad Foundation

(March 29-31, 2012, Moffett Field, CA)

The Conrad Foundation is based on the 

rich legacy of the late Apollo 12 astronaut 

and entrepreneur, Charles “Pete” Conrad. 

His wife, education activist Nancy Conrad, 

founded the organization in 2008. The Conrad 

Foundation is dedicated to fundamentally 

shifting how science, technology, engineering 

and math (STEM) are taught in K-12 schools 

and across socioeconomic levels. It is the 

only not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization of 

its kind to combine education, innovation and 

entrepreneurship to spark student interest 

in STEM careers and sustain a knowledgebased economy. Representatives from the 

NASA Goddard IPPO attended the Conrad 

Foundation’s 2012 Spirit of Innovation 

Summit on March 29th - March 31st at Ames 

Research Center to explore opportunities for 

collaboration involving the potential infusion of 

Goddard developed technologies into future 

student projects. For more information about 

the Conrad Foundation, go to 

http://www.conradawards.org/.

Satellite 2012 Conference 

& Exhibition

(March 12-15, 2012, Washington, DC)

The Satellite 2012 Conference is an annual 

commercial telecommunications conference that 

focuses on the latest trends in the commercial 

spacecraft industry. Conference topics range 

from satellite subsystem technologies to existing 

and future market trends, hosted payload 

opportunities and government/commercial 

partnerships. Representatives from NASA 

Goddard’s IPPO attended the Satellite 2012 

conference on March 12th - March 15th to 

investigate potential partnership opportunities 

in the areas of communication, guidance 

navigation and control as well as propulsion 

technologies.

NASA Optimus Prime Spinoff 

Awards

(April 12, 2012, Cape Canaveral, FL)

The NASA Optimus Prime Spinoff Awards 

ceremony was held April 12 at NASA 

Kennedy Space Center. The contest is run 

by NASA Goddard’s Innovative Partnerships 

Program Office (IPPO) with the goal to raise 

student awareness of how NASA technologies 

provide benefits to the public. A second goal 

is to show the similarities with the popular 

Optimus Prime character from Hasbro’s 

Transformers. Students nationwide in 

grades 3 through 12 participated in this 

year’s contest. 

The ceremony included managers from 

NASA and Hasbro, the winning students, 

and associated NASA innovators and their 

commercial partners. A special guest was 

actor Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus 

Prime in the highly successful Transformers 

movies. The NASA Optimus Prime Award 

is intended to help students recognize 

some of the many NASA space-related 

inventions that have found their way into 

everyday life and benefitted the public. 

Partners for this event included Hasbro, 

Rocket 21, ASME, the U.S. Patent Office, 

and Solar Protective Fabric.

Goddard’s Innovative Partnerships Program Office (IPPO) 

Senior Technology Manager Darryl Mitchell addresses 

parents, students, and teachers in the Rocket Garden of the

Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex.—PHOTO BY NASA

 
Participants in the NASA Optimus Prime 

program create videos highlighting how a 

particular NASA invention has been “spun 

off” as a product that can now be used 

by the public. This continues a long 

tradition of NASA inventions and research, 

originally intended for space missions, 

being made into products for everyday life. 

These include important breakthroughs in 

computers, medical science, communications, 

photography, and advanced materials.

Space Propulsion 2012 

Conference

(May 7 – 12, 2012, Bordeaux, France)

The Space Propulsion 2012 Conference 

was held May 7 through 12 in Bordeaux, 

France. In attendance were NASA Goddard 

representatives who led and participated in 

panel discussions, gave presentations, and 

oversaw the NASA exhibit. NASA Goddard 

personnel also took part in meetings with 

current and potential partners within NASA 

and industry.

NASA Goddard’s primary goals in attending 

were to learn more about new propellants and 

propellant systems for space, share ideas 

about applying current and new propellants 

to in-space propulsion for near and far term 

requirements, and encourage interest in 

collaborating with NASA Goddard to advance 

the state-of-the-art of propulsion technologies. 

An additional goal was to further promote 

the licensing of NASA Goddard component 

technologies that support space propulsion 

systems.

The Conference’s plenary and breakout 

sessions were focused on understanding 

regulations and priorities pertaining to various 

new propulsion materials and subsequent 

technologies. As a result, discussions during 

and following the sessions focused on the 

best strategies going forward for adapting 

a broader array of propellants in respective 

space programs.

Key areas of specific interest to NASA 

Goddard included:

• Propellants for on-orbit missions.

• Utilization of corresponding hardware 

systems.

• Structuring government and industry 

partnerships for technology demonstration 

to validate new materials.

• Other mechanisms to determine

performance requirements for new 

propulsion materials.

During the conference, the Innovative 

Partnerships Program Office (IPPO) marketed 

NASA Goddard intellectual property for 

component technologies (such as a nitinol 

valve, GSC-16336-1) for licensing and further 

development via partnering. This resulted 

in prospective licenses and possibly new 

agreements with several industry organizations 

that are currently being managed by NASA IPPO. 

Peter Cullen, the voice behind Hasbro’s popular 

Transformers character OPTIMUS PRIME, speaks 

to guests during the 2012 OPTIMUS PRIME Spinoff 

Award Ceremony held at the Kennedy Space Center 

Visitors Complex. —PHOTO BY NASA

 

Deputy Center Director for Science & Technology 

Christyl Johnson speaks with attendees at the NASA 

booth. —PHOTO BY NASA

 

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 43
Conference on Lasers and 

Electro-Optics (CLEO)

(May 9 – 11, 2012, San Jose, CA)

Innovative Partnerships Program Office 

(IPPO) Technology Manager, Enidia SantiagoArce, presented at CLEO 2012’s Tutorial: 

Technology Transfer 101: Technology 

Licensing and Tech Startups session. During 

this presentation Ms. Santiago-Arce 

described partnering and licensing processes 

and mechanisms, and shared some of 

NASA’s successful partnering stories.

2012 Nebula Awards Weekend

(May 17 – 20, 2012, Arlington, VA)

The 47th annual Nebula Awards Weekend 

was held Thursday, May 17 through Sunday, 

May 20, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal 

City in Arlington, VA. These awards, 

presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy 

Writers of America (SFWA), recognize the 

year’s best novel, novella, novelette, short 

story, and script in the science fiction and 

fantasy genres. The event was attended 

by many writers and editors, and included 

meetings and panel discussions, followed 

by a banquet on the evening of May 19. The 

SFWA, founded in 1965, currently has over 

1,500 members representing many of the 

leading writers of science fiction and fantasy.

The 2012 Nebula Awards Weekend included 

an exhibit presented by the NASA Goddard. 

The exhibit offered attendees the opportunity 

to meet NASA personnel, and also provided 

souvenir space photographs for visitors. In 

addition, NASA Goddard hosted two panel 

sessions. The first was “The Potential for Life 

Beyond Earth: Exoplanets and Astrobiology.” 

In this panel, NASA scientists who study 

exoplanets, life in extreme conditions, and 

complex molecules in the solar system 

discussed the current state of research and 

what discoveries might be coming in the near 

future. The second panel was “Exploring 

the Earth — From Above.” This featured 

a discussion of NASA’s latest scientific 

developments in areas such as climate 

change and space weather.

NASA’s presence at the Nebula Awards event 

was part of the Agency’s ongoing campaign 

to emphasize the historically strong affinity 

and synergy between the science research 

and science fiction communities. Many 

people currently involved in science and 

technology credit science fiction as a 

significant early inspiration for their career 

choices. In this way, the continued high 

popularity of science fiction literature, 

films, and games can serve as an important 

gateway to the general public.

Science Jamboree

(June 5, 2012, Greenbelt, MD)

The NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships 

Program Office (IPPO) hosted a table during 

this year’s annual Science Jamboree taking 

NETWORKING AND OUTREACH

Associate Lab Chief of Goddard’s Observational 

Cosmology Lab, Dr. Stephen Rinehart, speaks at 

a panel discussion on the potential for life beyond 

Earth at the 47th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend on 

May 17, 2012, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in 

Arlington,Virginia. —PHOTO BY NASA

 

IPPO Technology Manager Enidia Santiago-Arce hosts 

the IPPO booth and speaks with attendees during the 

2012 Goddard Science Jamboree. —PHOTO BY NASA

 
place on June 5, in the building 28 atrium. 

The IPPO distributed information on partnering 

with NASA as well as literature on NASA’s 

SBIR/STTR program. The Science Jamboree 

gives Goddard’s top scientists and engineers 

the opportunity to showcase their work to the 

thousands of people who work at Goddard. 

This year’s jamboree emphasized Earth 

Science, Heliophysics, and space weather 

and occurred in conjunction with “Sun-Earth 

Day” which was held to celebrate the transit 

of Venus.

2012 Celebrate Goddard Day

(June 28, 2012, Greenbelt, MD)

The IPPO participated in Celebrate Goddard 

Day on June 28, 2012. Celebrate Goddard 

Day allows Goddard personnel and interns 

the opportunity to get acquainted with many 

of the different aspects of Goddard while 

touring the center and taking part in various 

activities and games. The IPPO display 

explained how to become involved in new 

technology reporting, and also provided 

information about the NASA Goddard SBIR/

STTR program and the benefits it provides. 

The booth also hosted a prize wheel giving 

visitors a chance to have their photo taken 

as a memento.

Federal Lab Consortium (FLC) 

Mid-Atlantic and Northeast 

Regional Meeting

(August 28-30, 2012, Cambridge, Maryland)

Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) 

Office Senior Technology Manager, Enidia 

Santiago-Arce, presented at the FLC 

Regional meeting held in Cambridge, 

Maryland on August 28 - 30, 2012. Ms. 

Santiago-Arce’s presentation showcased 

specific examples of how technology 

development and technology transfer have 

made a positive impact on people’s lives. 

Collaborative efforts between federal agencies 

and outside parties that have resulted in 

tangible benefits to the public were presented 

to highlight the ultimate goal of NASA GSFC’s 

technology transfer activities.

Juxtopia® Urban Innovation and 

Cooperative Entrepreneurship 

(JUICE) Conference

(September 19, 2012, Baltimore, MD)

Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) Office 

Senior Technology Manager, Enidia SantiagoArce, presented to a group of microenterprises 

(MEs), small businesses, inventors, students 

and high tech investors at the Juxtopia(r) 

Urban Innovation and Cooperative 

Entrepreneurship (JUICE) Conference taking 

place on September 19, 2012 in Baltimore, 

Maryland. Ms. Santiago-Arce’s presentation 

dealt with partnering and collaborating with 

NASA by taking advantage of NASA Goddard’s 

reach portfolio of technologies that are 

available for licensing.

 

63rd International Astronautical 

Congress

(October 1 through 5, Naples, Italy)

Representatives from several NASA Centers 

attended the 63rd annual meeting of the 

International Astronautical Congress (IAC), 

held in October in Naples, Italy. The IAC is 

organizes by the International Astronautical 

Federation, the world’s leading space 

advocacy body with more than 200 members 

on six continents. 

Among the session at this year’s conference 

was “Moon, Mars and Beyond: Analogues, 

IPPO staff member Adil Anis hosts the IPPO prize wheel during 

the 2012 Celebrate Goddard Day event on the Goddard 

Mall. Guests could spin the wheel for a chance to have their 

photo taken or win various other prizes. —PHOTO BY NASA

 

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 45
Habitation and Spin-Offs,” co-chaired by Nona 

Cheeks, Chief for NASA Goddard’s Innovative 

Partnerships Program Office. The purpose 

of this session was to explore the design of 

habitats and habitable structures for analogue 

environments and extra-terrestrial planetary 

surfaces, including spin-offs for terrestrial 

applications. The session included two 

presentations delivered by the IPP:

• “Optimize Use of Space Research and 

Technology for Medical Devices” (IAC12,E5,2,8,x16096) presented by Ms. 

Cheeks reviewed the many ways the 

IPP Office facilitates technology transfer 

at NASA Goddard. It then presented 

numerous examples of how NASA Goddard 

innovations have been adapted for use 

within the medical community.

• “Using Real Options to See the Effect on 

Social Needs of Space Visualization Tools” 

(IAC-12,E5,2,9,x15843) presented by Dr. 

Phyl Speser of IPP’s commercialization 

partner Foresight Science & Technology. 

According to Dr. Speser, the contribution 

of space technology to the economy is 

seriously underestimated because we only 

look at one dimension of a technology’s 

value: its ability to generate revenues. 

In the commercial sector, patents and 

other IP is more than just a right to make 

a specific technology. As an asset, it has 

other uses – both as an enabler of future 

products and as a trading chip to protect 

potentially totally unrelated products. 

These uses affect the future value of the 

company, which is captured in its stock 

price. Just as real options help us better 

estimate the net discounted value of the 

revenues, stock options let us calculate 

contribution to the on-going concern value 

of the company. This value is, of course, 

less liquid because you have to sell stock 

or stock options to obtain it, but it is 

something you can take to the bank. By 

targeting potential licensees whose stock 

value is likely to be greater if they obtain 

the technology, we increase the likelihood 

of licensing.

Ms. Cheeks also co-chaired the session 

“Space Technologies - Earth Applications.” 

This session presented examples of 

technologies developed to support space 

programs that have (or offer the potential 

to) transform and shape future society. 

This session also featured presentations 

from Ms. Cheeks and Dr. Speser:

• “Vetting Space Based Technology 

Societal Impacts” (IAC-12, E5,1,12,x15639) 

presented by Ms. Cheeks reviewed 

the technology transfer process 

implemented at NASA Goddard. This 

includes identifying the new innovation, 

evaluating possible applications for it, 

and promoting awareness of it throughout 

industry and the public. the presentation 

also highlighted the many ways in which 

NASA technologies can provide important 

benefits to society.

• “Lessons from the Technology 

Transfer in the Academic Sector” 

(IAC-12,E5,1,1,x15641) presented by 

Dr. Speser. This presentation explained 

how technology transfer is like “the 

nucleus in the atom of commercialization 

in the molecule of knowledge 

dissemination.” Therefore doing 

technology transfer is much more than 

merely licensing, an awareness NASA 

Goddard has been acting on for years. 

Dr. Speser explored how offices like 

the IPP can be more entrepreneurial. 

An example is NASA Goddard’s role in 

catalyzing a multinational space agency 

initiative in space technology applied to 

telemedicine.

NETWORKING AND OUTREACH
4th Annual Donna Edwards 

College and Career Fair

(October 13, 2013, Landover, MD)

Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) 

Office staff members hosted a display at 

the 4th Annual Donna Edwards College and 

Career Fair at the Prince George’s Sports 

Complex in Landover, Maryland. The career 

fair was held for middle and high school 

students to plan and gather information for 

their educational and professional future. 

Representatives from colleges, universities, 

training centers and various government 

agencies were on hand offering resources 

in financial aid and education opportunities. 

The IPP demonstrated NASA’S Home 

and City website informing the public of 

technologies that were originally developed 

by NASA, and are now being used in homes 

and businesses for other purposes. The 

IPP also spoke with attendees about Spinoff 

technologies, the NASA OPTIMUS PRIME 

Spinoff Video Contest, and distributed Spinoff 

Brochures, NASA Home and City Cards, 

NASA Home and City Posters and the IPP 

2011 Accomplishments Report. 

Innovation 2 Commercialization: 

Making Tech Transfer Count

(November 2, 2012, Rockville, MD)

The Innovative Partnerships Program 

(IPP) Office participated in the Innovation 

2 Commercialization: Making Tech Transfer 

Count conference held at the Universities 

at Shady Grove, and hosted by the 

Montgomery County Department of 

Economic Development. The conference 

featured exhibits from federal, academic 

tech transfer offices, business resources, 

educational programs and funding 

resources, and offered panels on Innovation, 

Commercialization and Financing. The IPP 

Office was on hand to talk with attendees 

about partnerships, licensing opportunities 

and technology transfer.

20th Annual New Technology 

Reporting Program

(November 8, 2012, National Agricultural Library, 

Beltsville, Md.)

The Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) 

Office held its 20th Annual New Technology 

Reporting Program on November 8, 2012 

at the National Agricultural Library, located 

in Beltsville, Md. This annual program is 

held to recognize leadership in technology 

development and outreach support, and 

to recognize successful innovation and 

technology transfer. This year’s program 

featured guest speaker Lorry Lokey, founder of 

the press release company Business Wire. Mr. 

Lokey spoke on innovation and best business 

practices for managing science and technology. 

Innovative Partnerships Program Office Senior 

Technology Manager, Ted Mecum, talks with a visitor 

about NASA technologies that are used in our everyday 

lives. —PHOTO BY NASA

 

Phil Auerswald interviews Lorry Lokey at the 20th Annual 

New Technology Reporting Program at the National 

Agricultural Library in Beltsville, MD. —PHOTO BY NASA

 

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 47
NASA Goddard Center Management was 

also on hand to present patent awards to 

innovators as well as the 2012 James Kerley 

Award to Dr. Bruce Dean, Dr. Matthew Bolcar, 

Dr. Ron Shiri, Dr. Timo Saha, J. Scott Smith, 

Dr. David Aronstein and Rick Lyon for their 

work in Wavefront Sensing. The Kerley Award 

is presented to the individual or individuals 

who best exemplify leadership in technology 

transfer activities over the past year. 

NASA Technology Days Showcase

(November 28-30, 2012, Cleveland, OH)

Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) Office 

staff members Darryl Mitchell, Enidia SantiagoArce, and Brady Spenrath attended the 2012 

NASA Technology Days Showcase held in 

Cleveland, Ohio. This three-day event was 

held to connect industry representatives 

from the Aerospace, Automotive, Innovative 

Manufacturing, Advanced Energy, and Human 

Health fields, with NASA centers from across the 

country and provide information on technology 

transfer, licensing and partnership opportunities. 

Noche de Ciencias at USPTO

(December 13, 2012, USPTO, Alexandria, VA)

On December 13th, the Society of 

Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) hosted 

Noche de Ciencias (Science Night) at the US 

Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandira, 

Virginia. The event was targeted towards all 

local students interested in college studies or a 

career in science, engineering, or technology. 

Several engineering firms, local universities, 

the Department of Energy, and Goddard’s 

Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) Office 

hosted booths at the event. Students could 

talk about college experiences and gather 

information on obtaining careers in science or 

technology fields. IPP Technology Manager 

Enidia Santiago-Arce, sat down with several 

students for in-depth discussions, as additional 

staff members promoted the NASA OPTIMUS 

PRIME Spinoff Contest for students. The video 

contest is open to students in grades 3 – 12, 

and winners receive a scholarship donated 

from the American Society of Mechanical 

Engineers, as well as the opportunity to meet 

NASA astronauts and Peter Cullen, the voice of 

OPTIMUS PRIME.

 

2012 USPTO National 

Trademark Expo

(October 19-20, 2012, USPTO, Alexandria, VA)

The Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) 

Office participated in 2012 United States 

Patent and Trademark Organization (USPTO) 

National Trademark Expo in Alexandria, VA. 

This two day event is held to help educate the 

public about trademarks and their importance 

in the global marketplace by showcasing 

federally registered trademarks through 

educational exhibits and themed displays. 

IPP staff members were on hand to talk with 

attendees and promote the NASA OPTIMUS 

PRIME Spinoff Contest for students.

NETWORKING AND OUTREACH

Bert Pasquale talks with an attendee at the 2012 NASA 

Technology Days Showcase held November 28th – 30th in 

Cleveland, Ohio. —PHOTO BY NASA

 

Innovative Partnerships Program Office staff member 

Trina Cox, talks with attendees at the 2012 USPTO 

National Trademark Expo. —PHOTO BY NASA

 
2012 NASA GODDARD AWARDS

NASA Goddard IPP Office and 

Information Technology and 

Communications Directorate 

receive InformationWeek 

Technology Award

NASA Goddard’s IPP Office and 

the Information Technology and 

Communications Directorate were 

collectively named “Best Innovative 

Government Agency” by InformationWeek 

Magazine. This award was presented 

during the InformationWeek 500 

conference, which took place on 

September 9 through 11, 2012, in Dana 

Point, CA.

InformationWeek is a major provider of 

news and information for IT professionals. 

Its goal is to deliver mission-critical 

business and technology content though 

its web sites, applications, magazines, 

and events. The InformationWeek 

500 Conference is held annually to 

honor the most innovative U.S.-based 

users of business technology. This 

year’s conference featured talks and 

presentations from many of today’s 

leading technology visionaries and hosted 

over 275 of the nation’s top business 

technology executives.

Dr. James Tilton wins American 

Astronautical Society’s 2012 

Lloyd V. Berkner Award

The American Astronautical Society has 

named James Tilton the recipient of their 

2012 Lloyd V. Berkner Award. This annual 

award recognizes significant contributions 

to the commercial utilization of space 

technology. Dr. Tilton was honored for his 

efforts in commercializing his Recursive 

Hierarchical Segmentation (RHSEG) 

software.

RHSEG was originally developed at NASA 

Goddard to enhance and analyze images 

such as those taken of Earth from space 

by NASA’s Landsat and Terra missions. 

Applications include topographical 

analysis such as ice and snow mapping. 

Another application is “space archeology,” 

where satellite images are examined for 

subtle signs of previous human activity.

IPP Office Senior Technology Manager Ted Mecum 

(left), and Information Technology and Communications 

Directorate Director and Chief CIO Adrian Gardner, accept 

the award for Best Innovative Government Agency during 

the InformationWeek 500 Conference. —PHOTO BY NASA

 

Dr. James Tilton. —PHOTO BY NASA

 

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 49
2012 NASA GODDARD AWARDS

RHSEG was subsequently nonexclusively 

licensed to Bartron Medical Imaging, 

LLC, for application in the healthcare 

industry. Barton’s MED-SEG product 

utilizes RHSEG capabilities to enhance 

the clinician’s diagnostic power to 

analyze and interpret a wide range 

of medical images. This system is 

especially suited to enhance the 

diagnosis and management of diseases 

that are imaged using digital X-rays, 

soft-tissue imaging, mammograms, 

ultrasounds, MRI, CT, and PET scans. 

Dr. Tilton will be presented his award at 

the upcoming Awards Luncheon to be 

held in March 2013, in conjunction with 

the 51st Robert H. Goddard Memorial 

Symposium.

IPP Office presents James 

Kerley Award at 20th Annual 

New Technology Reporting 

Program

The IPP Office held its 20th Annual 

New Technology Reporting Program 

on November 8, 2012 at the National 

Agricultural Library, located in Beltsville, 

MD. This annual program recognizes 

leadership in technology development 

and the support of outreach to industry 

for commercial applications of NASA 

Goddard technology. 

This year’s program featured guest 

speaker Lorry Lokey, founder of the 

global press release company Business 

Wire. Mr. Lokey spoke on innovation and 

best business practices for managing 

science and technology. 

NASA Goddard management was 

on hand to present patent awards to 

innovators. The 2012 James Kerley 

Award was presented to Dr. Bruce Dean, 

Dr. Matthew Bolcar, Dr. Ron Shiri, Dr. 

Timo Saha, J. Scott Smith, Dr. David 

Aronstein, and Rick Lyon for their work 

in Wavefront Sensing. The James Kerley 

Award recognizes the individual(s) who 

best exemplify leadership in technology 

transfer activities over the past year. 

Wavefront Sensing team receives the 2012 James Kerley Award. Left to right: Bill Oegerle, Christyl Johnson, David 

Aronstein, Matt Bolcar, Ron Shiri, Rick Lyon, and Juan Roman. —PHOTO BY NASA

 
ICB AWARDS

Software Awards: 7

 GLOBAL PRECIPITATION 

MEASUREMENT (GPM) 

OPERATIONAL SIMULATOR 

(GO-SIM) INSTRUMENT 

SIMULATIONS 

Dan Nawrocki, Jeffery Joltes, 

Justin Morris, Steven Seeger

 

 ITC SYNCHRONOUS 

COMMUNICATIONS BUS - 

1553 (ITCSB_1553) / GPM 

OPERATIONAL SIMULATOR 

(GO-SIM) 1553 API

Jeffery Joltes, Justin McCarty, 

Justin Morris, Steven Seeger

 

 GLOBAL PRECIPITATION 

MEASUREMENT (GPM) 

OPERATIONAL SIMULATOR 

(GO-SIM) CORE 

Arturo Ferrer, Brandon Bailey, 

Charles Rogers, Dan Nawrocki, 

Jeffery Joltes, Justin Morris, 

Steven Seeger

 

 LUNAR RECONNAISANCE 

ORBITER (LRO) SPACECRAFT 

FLIGHT SOFTWARE

Michael Blau, Lonnie 

Walling, Bruce Trout, Thomas 

Clement, Michael Yang, Glenn 

Cammarata, Larry Shackelford, 

Joel Chiralo, Ji-Wei Wu, 

Susanne Strege

INTEGRATED SPACE WEATHER 

ANALYSIS SYSTEM ( ISWA )

David Berrios, Lutrz Rastaetter, 

Marlo Maddox, Michael Hesse, 

Peyush Jain, Richard Mullinix

 

 GODDARD SATELLITE DATA 

SIMULATION UNIT

Toshihisa Matsui

 

 SPACE WEATHER ANDROID 

APP; A STANDALONE 

ANDROID APPLICATION WHICH 

DISPLAYS SPACE WEATHER 

INFORMATION TO USERS

David Berrios, Michael Hesse, 

Richard Mullinix, Marlo Maddox

Board Action Award (SAA): 1

 FURTHER REFINEMENT OF THE 

COMPUTATIONALLY EFFICIENT 

HSEG ALGORITHM 

James Tilton

Board Award (SAA) - 

Invention of the Year 

Nomination: 2

 PIVOT 2.0: RADIATION 

HARDENED, FAST 

ACQUISITION/WEAK SIGNAL 

TRACKING GPS RECEIVER 

Gregory Boegner, Luke 

Winternitz, Steve Sirotzky

 MULTIMODAL PRESSURE 

FLOW ALGORITHM

Norden Huang, William Gloersen, 

Liming Salvino

Board Award (SAA) - 

Software of the Year 

Nomination: 3

 GO-SIM SUITE

Steven Seeger, Arturo Ferrer, 

Justin McCarty, Justin Morris, 

Charles Rogers, Dan Nawrocki, 

Brandon Bailey, Jeffery Joltes

 

 INTEGRATED SPACE WEATHER 

ANALYSIS SYSTEM ( ISWA )

David Berrios, Lutrz Rastaetter, 

Marlo Maddox, Michael Hesse, 

Peyush Jain, Richard Mullinix

 

 AUTOMATIC EXTRACTION OF 

PLANETARY IMAGE FEATURES

Jon Benediktsson, Sebastiano 

Serpico

NASA Goddard Innovative Partnerships Program Office Accomplishments 2012 PAGE 51
National Aeronautics 

and Space Administration

Goddard Space Flight Center

Innovative Partnerships Program Office

Building 22, Room 290, Mailstop 504

Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

phone: 301.286.5810

fax: 301.286.0301

e-mail: techtransfer@gsfc.nasa.gov

web: http://ipp.gsfc.nasa.gov

www.nasa.gov

NP-2013-3-013-GSFC