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Archives
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| COVER STORY | | | Green Propellants | | | | FROM THE EDITOR | | | The Importance of Innovation | | | | SOFTWARE | | | Improving Tracking Accuracy | | | | OPTICS | | | Keeping Focused | | | | Switching from Gas to Electric | | | | DISPLAYS | | | Trendy Shades Replace Tiny Screens
| | | | IMAGING | | | Tracking Targets on the Move | | | | Lasers in Space Keep an Eye on Earth | | | | COOLING | | | Cryogenic Cooler Electronics
Go Modular
| | | | VIBRATION CONTROL | | | No More Bumpy Rides for Satellites | | | | TECH PROFILES | | | Explore More Technologies Online | | |
Green Propellants
A safer new formulation rivals the bang of conventional fuels.
A new rocket-fuel formulation promises to bring greater safety to commercial space launches without sacrificing performance.
The less-toxic fuel, developed by Missile Defense Agency-funded Ogden Engineering & Associates, LLC (Tucson, AZ), could benefit NASA astronauts as well, because they would no longer have to decontaminate their spacesuits if they were exposed to leaked fuel during spacewalks. And while the fuel itself would not be used as a safer solvent for the dry-cleaning industry, the fuel is in the family of ionic liquids that are being evaluated by the industry as a nontoxic replacement for conventional solvents that, when spilled, often contaminate groundwater.  |
The Importance of Innovation
The Importance of Innovation
A few words in a centuries-old document still echo across today’s technology landscape.
Innovation is considered so essential to how America functions that in Article I, Section 8, the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to secure “for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” |
Improving Tracking Accuracy
Software system fuses radar and sensor data to provide single, integrated picture.
Software designed to classify and track multiple targets for active space-borne missile threats also holds the potential to track objects as diverse as ground moving military targets, aircraft, and automobiles. |
Keeping Focused
Company positioning itself to be supplier of durable deformable mirrors.
A Missile Defense Agency-funded company developing the next generation of deformable mirror systems hopes to become known as the supplier of the products because its are more precise, more versatile, stronger, and faster than those currently available. |
Switching from Gas to Electric
Years of effort bring new power capabilities to laser.
More than 30 years of effort have been devoted to bringing the chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) into existence, with the goal of creating a high-energy device that could reliably knock out ballistic missiles during their initial boost phase. |
Trendy Shades Replace Tiny Screens
A simple pair of glasses with a tiny monitor offers a full-screen sensation.
Addressing the principal drawback in viewing video and digital information via portable and mobile devices—namely, the itty-bitty screen—a company named Vuzix Corporation (Rochester, NY) has introduced a solution that resembles a pair of eyeglasses. The breakthrough visual device, a product called Video Eyewear, is worn like ordinary spectacles, but gives the viewer the sensation of seeing a wide screen measuring 44- to 62-inches from about 9 feet away. Any living, breathing human who is addicted to video games, the Internet, or movies can in fact thank early Missile Defense Agency work, which has ultimately led to this sublime, out-of-theatre experience in a pair of glasses. |
Tracking Targets on the Move
Surveillance technology offers 3-D monitoring for building security, missile defense, and more.
A new, highly versatile imaging technology can quickly give users accurate three-dimensional depictions of objects being tracked—be they incoming missiles or the faces of suspects in a crowd.
The technology, being developed by Visidyne, Inc. (Burlington, MA), promises plenty of application possibilities beyond missile defense. The Missile Defense Agency originally funded the company through a 2003 SBIR Phase II contract. Visidyne leaders are actively seeking commercial areas for which their imaging system would be a good fit. |
Lasers in Space Keep an Eye on Earth
A laser transmitter with MDA roots is helping gather data on climate features.
Fibertek, Inc. (Herndon, VA), has leveraged three Missile Defense Agency-funded SBIR awards to develop a suite of laser products, one of which now forms the basis for an important space weather platform. |
Cryogenic Cooler Electronics
Go Modular
System reduces electromagnetic, thermal, and vibration disturbance for all sizes of components.
A team of California-based engineers has developed precise and highly versatile electronic components capable of eliminating disruptive vibrations that can come from the cooling systems used in high-performance sensors in satellites and surveillance equipment. |
No More Bumpy Rides for Satellites
Vibration-mitigation strategies have made the race to space a smooth one.
Technologies developed for stabilizing space platforms and laser pointing for missile defense have made their way onto both commercial and NASA launch vehicles, credited with saving missions and cost.
CSA Engineering (Mountain View, CA) received several Missile Defense Agency SBIRs aimed at reducing vibration in various types of space platform settings, from diminishing vibration in cryocooling systems to damping individual components in laser weapons-pointing schemes, to steadying the missile imagers in airborne optical systems. |
Explore More Technologies Online
The MDA Technology Applications program features an extensive archive of technology profiles on its Web site. The summaries below spotlight two technologies featured on the site, which includes profiles on hundreds of innovations originally funded by MDA and its predecessor agencies. To browse other technologies—from advanced materials to software—visit www.mdatechnology.net. |
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